Chapter 1271 - 1270: Plan Change

Chapter 1271: Chapter 1270: Plan Change

The Tower of the Inversion Tide has stood unyielding for millions of years, yet the God of the Inversion Tide who was once trapped within this high tower is nowhere to be seen. Behind the unseen veil, a rift extending across the planet has opened a passage to other realms, and based on existing clues, the appearance of this rift might even be traced back several centuries ago.

This brings forth a very important question: Where did the God of the Inversion Tide go? What does He "intend" to do?

In the hall on the first floor of the tower, Gawain is using the data and visitor permissions emerging in his mind to verify the status of the various facilities of the tower, while behind him in a vast indoor space, dozens of Dragonkin and human investigators sent from the Winter are collecting information and exploring around—they are also teams on the Steel Island outside the tower, gathering various clues. This ancient relic, silent for countless years, has suddenly become lively today.

In the past, Talronde would never allow such chaos to occur, but now the true situation of the tower has been exposed—it’s very safe, ironically safe.

Ordinary people entering the tower are no longer subject to knowledge pollution, and as long as the Dragonkin don’t help to access the Voyager’s database, ordinary human investigators here won’t learn those dangerous technologies from interstellar civilization that are far beyond the current era.

"After escaping from here, the God of the Inversion Tide theoretically won’t honestly lie dormant. He is an ancient god out of control with a strong tendency for ’autonomous action’; causing trouble is His instinct, even His clerical status," Gawain stands beside the material transport track, casually touching the control panel in front of the track device, while reviewing the continuously refreshing data charts on the display screen and speaking casually to the holographic projection floating next to him, "But we have not found any suspected Inversion Tide faith in the Realm of the Mortals."

Heragor and Andar’s figures appear in the holographic projection, the latter’s old face looking exceptionally serious: "With our current capabilities, we can’t track where those rifts lead to—and even if we could track, it’s meaningless. ’Inversion Tide’ won’t honestly stay at the rift’s exit, and several centuries are enough for it to wander to any corner of this world."

At this moment, Heragor’s voice suddenly comes: "Actually... I’ve thought of something."

"Speak up," Gawain immediately nods and says, "Now any ideas and inspirations are of reference value."

"Adventurer Mr. Modir." Heragor’s gaze directly falls on Modir beside Gawain, this Great Adventurer at this moment is intently studying the ancient touch screen with a curious expression, seemingly very curious about its working principle. Upon suddenly hearing someone call his name, he snaps out of it and lifts his head: "Ah? You called me?"

"Yes," Heragor nods slightly, "Do you remember the scene you saw last time you accidentally entered that gray-white desolation? Lady Night fought against an indescribable entity appearing from the city’s ruins. That thing has the terrible and eerie aura of gods but doesn’t match any characteristic a ’Kehr’ should have—and your spirit almost suffered severe damage."

With this reminder, not only Modir himself but even Gawain standing beside him immediately recalls this piece of information. The latter’s eyes narrow slightly, and he guesses Heragor’s thoughts: "You suspect that the indescribable entity fighting Lady Night is..."

Heragor nods slowly, seriously saying: "Yes, I lack evidence, but I suspect so."

"...lack of evidence... But your suspicion is not baseless; indeed, clues point in this direction," Gawain says solemnly, as the outline of the clues held so far quickly combines in his mind, with related parts gradually connecting, forming no clear thread, yet a sharp observer can discern hints from this vague direction. "Modir once got polluted by the Inversion Tide in this high tower, and now inexplicably established a connection with Lady Night; the Inversion Tide has escaped from its bindings here for a long time, but its power has never appeared in the world, while Lady Night’s kingdom is precisely isolated from the real world; the ’indescribable entity’ appearing in Lady Night’s kingdom has a god-like terrible aspect, yet doesn’t conform to the glorious, majestic form of any ’Kehr,’ and seems like an unformed aberration, which also matches the theoretical characteristics of the Inversion Tide..."

Amber blinks her eyes, looks at Gawain and then at the two Dragon Tribe Leaders in the holographic projection, finally finding the chance to interject: "Yeah, I remember we speculated before, if the Inversion Tide escapes and stirs up trouble, its most likely target would be Lady Night—both solitary and weak and without followers as support, her kingdom is hidden in the blind spot of the gods’ vision, it’s like a lost old man wandering in a dark alley in the middle of the night, and even actively putting a sack over his head... It’s just that no one thought at that time that the Inversion Tide had actually escaped, and everyone’s thoughts didn’t extend in this direction..."

Just breaking off halfway with this description, Modir and the two Dragon Tribe Leaders couldn’t help but cast odd glances at her, and Gawain beside her couldn’t help but pat the shoulder of this Shadow Assault Goose: "You at least suspected you might be the divine chosen one of Lady Night before, treating her as the main god of faith; even if it later turned out you might have believed wrong, you should show some consideration when speaking now..."

Amber blinks innocently: "I didn’t say anything wrong, I was just expressing my feelings... To be honest, I still quite admire Lady Night, surviving under the Voyager’s watch for so many years, I’m really impressed..."

If others said this, it would undoubtedly carry a sense of mockery and ridicule, yet Gawain listening to Amber’s words did not feel any awkwardness, considering her cowardly yet lively character that could sneak around, she probably genuinely admires Lady Night who has been surviving under the Voyager’s watch for nearly two million years...

However, these words he didn’t say aloud—mainly because saying it face-to-face, Amber would surely respond with an uninhibited smile, so he merely shook his head and his attention returned to the issue of the "Inversion Tide" and Lady Night.

"Even if there is indeed evidence that points the ’Inversion Tide’ clues towards Lady Night, the situation likely won’t change," he says with a serious expression, voice low, "After all, no one knows where Lady Night’s kingdom is, no one knows how to establish stable contact with that goddess who left the real world nearly two million years ago—currently, our few interactions with the Kingdom of Shadows are entirely based on coincidence."

His gaze sweeps over Amber beside him, then falls upon Modir, the two parties involved responding with grins and shrugs.

"Only one piece of good news now," Andar, who hasn’t spoken much, breaks the silence suddenly, "If what appeared in Lady Night’s kingdom is indeed the ’Inversion Tide’... based on Modir’s description, He didn’t gain the upper hand in the struggle but was still blocked outside the Shadow Throne. Lady Night... is stronger than we imagined. But it’s uncertain what further delays might lead to."

"Moreover, I am worried about another matter," Gawain listens to the Speaker Andar, nods slightly, then continues, "Sentinels... this biggest shadow still remains outside all clues."

For a moment, the hall is a bit quiet, and at this point, the communication device on Amber’s waist suddenly rings. After connecting the call, Byron’s figure appears before Gawain, stationed on the Winter commanding.

"King, a messenger departing from Northport has just arrived at our communication station set up in Agondale," Byron, with graying hair and a burly figure, appears serious, evidently about to deliver something significant, "Emergency from the theocracy Authority Council, urgent communication from the ’Door’ project—Master Kamel and his team have successfully landed in the War God’s Divine Realm, and they’ve discovered something that exceeds the project plan."

"Something that exceeds the project plan?" Gawain immediately perceives something from Byron’s tone, his gaze sharpening, "What have they discovered?"

"A rift passing through the border of the kingdom, on the other side of the rift is the Deep Blue Webway, and an unidentified entity patrolling between the kingdoms—it doesn’t appear related to any of the Blessed or as remnants associated with them," Byron says with a tight expression, the usual carefree demeanor completely absent from his face, "Senior Advisor ’Lady Tower’ assesses that the entity has been operating undersea since the ancient era, bearing a ’veil’ capable of affecting divine perception, causing the Blessed to overlook it..."

A deep blue rift across the kingdom’s border, and... an unknown entity constantly patrolling the deep-sea?! And a veil capable of affecting the gods’ perception?!

The sudden news brought by Byron made Gawain widen his eyes in surprise, while beside him, Amber and the two Dragon Tribe Leaders in another set of communications shared the same unsettled expressions. Only Modir’s composure remained unchanged—this Great Adventurer had no idea what Byron was talking about; even having heard keywords like "kingdom" or "rift," he still couldn’t piece them together.

"What’s the situation on Kamel’s side now?" Gawain quickly steadied his thoughts, looking at Byron with a stern face. "Is there any other clue in the War God’s Divine Realm?"

"I’ve already sent a messenger on the Dragon Cavalry to the towers. He’ll deliver a complete report to you," Byron said swiftly. "As of the messenger’s departure from Northport, Master Kamel remains stuck in the War God’s Divine Realm. They are trying to investigate that unknown entity, while Lady Tower is analyzing that rift, but there’s currently no progress."

Speaking of this, Byron couldn’t help but frown and said somewhat regretfully, "If there’s any situation over there, they’ll transmit the message in the first instance, but even with the Wings of Steel-equipped Dragonborn messenger, it takes at least a day to bring the news from Loren Continent..."

With the Omega System damaged, communication between Loren and Talronde is tough; it’s an unavoidable situation.

Gawain temporarily ended his communication with Winter, exchanging glances with Amber, without a word, and she already guessed what Gawain wanted to convey.

"Looks like we have to leave here ahead of schedule," Amber sniffed. "This here is the Tower of the Inversion Tide, and over there, significant news discovered in the kingdom. Either has already exceeded the range that ’general plans’ can handle, and it’s time for you to personally intervene."

"Indeed," Gawain sighed helplessly, his gaze sweeping over the spacious hall, as well as the rift already presented before everyone above the hall. "The situation with this tower has been clarified. The ’Inversion Tide’ is not here, and the tower itself no longer holds a contamination for mortals. It’s become a regular ancient ruin, so what’s left here doesn’t need my personal attention, but over at the War God’s Divine Realm..."

He slightly squinted his eyes, but in his mind, the intelligence Byron had just described appeared, revealing the unknown entity continuously patrolling the kingdom’s domain, which even startled and frightened Goddess of Magic, Milmina.

That is evidently not a god nor a relic of the gods. Its "veil" effect seems specially designed for secret surveillance of the gods and monitoring of the kingdom.

He thought of those satellites and space stations hanging high in space, as well as the Firmament Orbit Space Station floating above the equator, which theoretically can be clearly seen from the surface—even these have a veil to obscure mortal’s sight, ensuring the monitoring of this planet without affecting civilization development.

He recalled the "propaganda posters" he’d seen in the elevator car before, and the promotional words mentioning "Firmament" and "sentinel."

The feeling of toothache flooded back.

"I have a feeling," he finally continued, his face calm, "I must go personally. What Kamel and the others discovered over there... is not something they can handle, only I can."

"It’s up to you," Amber responded immediately, sounding so natural that it seemed unthought of, "I trust your judgment."

Gawain nodded, then his gaze fell on Modir, who was listening intently and wearing a thoughtful expression.

The old mage immediately noticed the gaze upon him, raising his head to meet Gawain’s eyes. "Do you have any arrangements for me?"

"It depends on you," Gawain said calmly. "You can choose to stay here, waiting for us to further our investigation results. Victoria will be leaving with me for her must-complete work, but the ’treatment effect’ Amber left on you is assured not to let your condition worsen. Meanwhile, the Dragon Tribe will also ensure your safety. This tower is already harmless, and its ’attraction’ towards you should merely be the influence of your missing memories, making this the most secure option.

"On the other hand, I can also take you back to Loren Continent. You possess exceptional talents, and might have important clues hidden within you, so I’ll consider involving you in some actions where you might encounter dangerous ’elements.’ Your condition might undergo unpredictable changes in this process, and Amber’s ’treatment’ may not be able to cope with all situations, but this might help us reveal more secrets faster—it’s the risky option."

Gawain finished speaking, leaving the choice to the Great Adventurer in front of him.

But for Modir, it seemed he didn’t need much more thought or hesitation.

"I’ll go with you," the old mage said with a sincere smile on his face, his answer as Gawain expected. "I always look forward to the next adventure—a journey alongside Gawain Cecil, no less."

"Then it’s settled," Gawain breathed out softly, showing a slight smile at Amber beside him. "Looks like Aunt Heidi’s dark circles will deepen again—my return home is postponed."

"Actually, she has fewer dark circles when you’re not home..."

"...You might have a point in that."