Path of Light.

Chapter 973, Section 968: The Investigator from the Magic Guild
A three-masted sailing ship appeared in the distance, its sails lowered. The black hull swayed slightly in the sky. Without the help of the wind, the three-masted sailing ship was still able to move eastward with difficulty, relying on the powerful propulsion device at the stern of its hull...

The magic airship flies against the wind at low altitudes, which means it needs to burn at least twenty more magic crystals every day.

Roy stood beside the muddy road, along which a large group of gray dwarves were advancing towards the city of Boles.

Women and children make up at least 70% of these grey dwarves.

Many children follow behind adults with blank expressions, struggling to move forward step by step.

Roy reached into his pouch and pulled out a silver water cup, which looked exactly like the one he had just seen by the well.

"The half-elf has a large forging workshop in the Partington plane."

The workshop produces thousands of these silver cups every month. Originally, these silver cups with mithril patterns were destined for the Elf Kingdom.

Unfortunately, our trade negotiations in Castletown broke down six months ago.

"So this means that a large number of metal utensils produced in the Partington plane cannot enter the Elven kingdom. I still have many of these silver cups, but unfortunately, these kinds of products are not popular with orcs..." Roy said to Chief Grop.

Grand Chief Grop grinned and replied:
"Heh, we prefer larger containers, like heavy pots that are as thick as a shield! Exquisite and expensive utensils are not easy for us to accept; they are not only expensive but also not very durable..."

Roy patted his forehead in exasperation.

“Yes! We half-elf have opened two trading markets in the Mensa Plains. We originally planned to sell these products that were piling up in the warehouse, but after I brought these water cups over, I found that this kind of metalware is not popular in the Mensa Plains.”

"Orcs prefer sturdy and durable items. For example, they like to use recurve knives as dinner knives and dislike elven longswords with engraved patterns. Instead, they are more interested in the two-handed greatswords used by sword dancers..."

Chief Grop stroked the dagger at his waist and told Roy:

"To us, the elven longsword is indeed more like a delicate long dagger, but the two-handed greatsword is different. It's not only sharp enough, but also strong enough... Um... if I'm not mistaken, this silver goblet is a magical item, isn't it?"

Roy handed the silver cup to Grand Chief Grop and then explained:
"This silver cup looks impressive, but it's really nothing special."

The silk-like patterns on the surface of the cup are actually created using a sophisticated hot-setting technique, where mithril is inlaid onto ordinary silver blanks, and the two are fused together very well.

Therefore, you can't tell from the appearance that the pattern and the cup body are made of two different materials. If it were simply made of mithril, the cup would be very valuable, but if only the pattern on the cup is made of mithril, it wouldn't be so expensive.

Mithril is a very peculiar magical metal. It not only has good magical conductivity, but can also store a certain amount of magical energy within a certain time limit.

I just infused the silver cup with the power of holy light, which is why the water inside possesses a sacred aura.

However, if magic is simply infused into mithril, the magical effect will only last for a very short time.

Our artisans have made many attempts to forcibly inject magic into mithril, but they can only maintain it for about half an hour.

In order to extend the magic charging time, we have tried many methods, and the most effective method is to use magic rune arrays.

The pattern on the surface of that water glass contained a very simple energy storage array. Even with a magic array, our current manufacturing technology could only keep the divine power attached to the glass for one day.

Chief Grop looked at the exquisite cup in his hand and said with a sigh:
"Um, I really envy you elves for being able to create these magical items so easily."

Roy didn't actually mention that there are currently over 30,000 grey dwarf artisans in the Partington Plane's forging workshops. His ability to establish such a large-scale forging workshop in the Partington Plane is inseparable from the strong support of those grey dwarf bandits...

He said to the Great Chief Grop:
"This silver cup isn't exactly a magical item. If you like it, I'll have someone send you a set later. It's quite nice to use it for drinking tea."

"I'd rather you just give me a black iron pot that I can wear on my head, hahaha..."

Grand Chief Grop responded with a smile.

Chief Grop felt that this exquisite wine glass, which resembled a tulip and had even individual rubies and emeralds inlaid on each petal, was only fit to be displayed as a decorative piece in his tent.

He preferred the exquisitely crafted arrowheads and spears made in the half-elf workshop to this...

Who says orcs don't joke?
As they spoke, the Black Pearl slowly hovered above their heads.

The grey dwarves on the main road were so frightened that they scattered. The grey dwarf translator accompanying the group hurriedly ran out and explained in the dwarf language until the grey dwarf people stopped in their tracks.

Many half-elf crew members stood on both sides of the ship's side, looking down, but none of them had any playful expressions on their faces.

Many gray dwarves stopped and looked up, some gray dwarf warriors even had their hands on the axe handles at their waists.

But the situation did not worsen further, and the accompanying grey dwarf officials stepped forward and told everyone to stay where they were.

The Black Pearl descended slowly and hovered three meters above the ground.

The ship swayed violently in the north wind blowing through the valley, but thanks to the propulsion system, its direction was well controlled...

Two rope ladders were lowered down from the sides of the ship, and Roy invited everyone to board.

The orc leaders were strong and powerful; they used both hands and feet to climb onto the ship in just a few moments.

Moira climbed onto the boat first, then leaned over at the gunwale and pulled Roy and her sister up with her...

……

Graemus and Opea didn't have such trouble; they easily flew onto the Black Pearl using the magic broom.

The two stood in the flowerbed atop the ship's deck, where the flowers of light bloomed against the cold wind, filling the entire flowerbed with a sacred aura.

"Did he forge so many silver chalices in Partington in preparation for re-entering the Dark Lands?"

Opeia touched her smooth forehead; it gave her a headache.

Graemes asked, somewhat surprised:

"How could you have such an idea?"

"Don't tell me you can't tell? That water glass is a miniature version of the Holy Grail of Wisdom, just a little smaller, a bit rougher in workmanship, and without any magic gems. He created these water glasses to find a way to store holy light power in the glass for a long time!"

Opeia held a thin wand in her hand, an arc of electricity shooting from its tip, which landed precisely in the palm of her other hand. Then she sneered:

"Why would he go to such lengths to replicate the Holy Grail of Wisdom if he wanted to enter the Dark Lands?"

As a female Silvermoon Elf, Opeia's face was extremely exquisite; the ethereal beauty of an elf, enhanced by magic, was already perfect.

“I think he knew about the dark forces invading Durrag all along. He not only wanted to defeat the Nakhmar here, but he even wanted to enter the Darklands through that connecting passage…” Graemus leaned down to look at Roy, who was standing on the deck chatting with a group of orc leaders, and asked Opeia in return:

"With just the half-elf and those Aries orcs, do you think they can stop the Nakmar Black Riders?"

Opeia shook her head, looked around at the flowers of light in the flowerbed, and said:
"Of course not, but I think he might want to drag everyone down with him. Right now, besides the sirens in Partington's plane, even the Elf Magic Guild is fully supporting him."

Note that I'm not talking about the magic guild of the Silvermoon Elf Kingdom, but the magic guild of the entire elven kingdom!

"How can this be?"

Archmage Graemus also wanted to tell Opeia that he was in charge of all communications and procurement matters between the mine guards and the Magic Guild.

Opeia gave him a disdainful smile:
"Do you think that just because of your lobbying, all the elven mages in the guild will wholeheartedly support him and provide so many resources to a ragtag army of half-elf? Do you know how many enchanters worked day and night to create the giant magical crossbows they've been using?"

Graemus was somewhat speechless:

"..."

In fact, he never expected that purchasing the giant magic crossbow bolts would go so smoothly. What was the reason for this?

"Just as he said, although the Nachmar are currently only plundering in Durag, it is hard to guarantee that one day they will not cross the Black Gold Mountains and flood the Mensa Plains. We also cannot guarantee that the natural barrier of the Evernight Forest can stop the Nachmar Black Riders. That's why my teacher Jonas investigated this matter on behalf of the Astrologers' Guild a long time ago."

"Lord Cedric is also one of the main people in charge of this matter. He is mainly responsible for searching for potentially dangerous areas that could become connecting passages to the Dark Land throughout the Elven Continent. This matter involves teleportation passages, so naturally we astrologers are indispensable."

"Opeia, you wouldn't happen to be an investigator too, would you?"

Graemes was completely dumbfounded at this point.

Opeia glanced at Graemus, not answering his question directly, but letting his eyes tell him 'you guessed right'.

"I will report everything I have seen here to the Astrologers Guild headquarters."

Graemus stared wide-eyed at Opeia.

"Will our elven world intervene in the war on Durag's side?"

Opeia did not answer Graeme's question. She held onto the railing at the top of the ship's deck with both hands, her gaze fixed on the land of the Villaria Valley.

A cold wind ruffled her long, flowing golden hair as the magic airship began to drift slowly...

……

Roy originally commissioned the forging workshop to create these high-end silver cups simply so he could put them on the trading market of the Silvermoon Kingdom.

The Silvermoon Elves love exquisitely crafted gold and silver vessels. To give these silver cups even greater value, Roy even had artisans inlay mithril patterns on them.

The design of this silver stemmed wine glass was indeed inspired by the Holy Grail of Wisdom in the Temple of Liberty in Castletown...

When High Priest Reid took the Holy Grail of Wisdom to Golfito, he later entered the Dark Lands. It is said that after being infused with divine power countless times, the Holy Grail of Wisdom acquired a certain degree of divinity and could generate holy light in absolute darkness.

Roy kept wondering what the answer would be if this miracle were explained from a magical perspective.
For a long time, this problem troubled him.

It wasn't until after he broke through to the second stage that, in the western sea of ​​the Partington plane, during their battle with the Dark Faceless Ones, the Sacred Tree within his body was able to absorb the dark energy dissipating from the bodies of the fallen Dark Faceless One warriors and transform it into holy light.

At that time, he guessed that the Holy Grail of Wisdom in Priest Reed's hand must also contain a magic array that allows the transformation between darkness and light, which enabled him to persist in the dark land for so long.

Clearly, replicating a Holy Grail of Wisdom is completely impossible given the current magical craftsmanship available to the forging workshop.

But Roy also wanted to make some attempts in this area. For example, when forging some gold and silver utensils, in order to increase the price of the gold and silver utensils, he also asked the dwarven craftsmen to add mithril patterns to the utensils.

Roy hired some half-elf jewelers skilled in magical craftsmanship to add simple magical runes to the mithril decorations. Actually, making these silver cups did cost some money in the first place…

But the one thing they hadn't expected was that the Silvermoon Elf Kingdom would completely break with them, causing these high-end silver goblets to lose their market.

Roy brought them to the Mensa Plains, intending to sell them to the orcs, but the orcs didn't like this style of silver goblet.

While these silver cups cannot generate holy light from nothing, they can preserve the holy light injected into them for a period of time...

……

'boom'

The hatch slammed shut, nearly hitting Leah's nose; her face was only a centimeter away from the door.

Although she hid in the shadows behind Roy, Moira was still discovered.

The hatch was slammed shut by Moira the very next second after Roy entered the room, leaving her outside...

Unable to enter Boss Roy's room, she could only reluctantly go to the next room.

She mentally grumbled that Moira was still so stingy; she was Roy's bodyguard, not like the other sisters...

Never mind them, I'll get a good night's sleep first, and we'll talk about it tomorrow.

Upon arriving in Durag, Lia could clearly sense the dark aura permeating the air. It was much more comfortable here than on Quel'Thalas, though it was a bit cold.

It doesn't matter if it's cold! Just wear more clothes.

The dark atmosphere permeating this place is actually a real benefit to her...

She returned to her room, not wanting to take a shower, and took off her leather armor, wrapping herself in a thick blanket.

Hearing the groaning from next door, I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

She reached out and drew the curtains, curled up on the bed like a white cocoon, and then fell into a deep sleep.

When Leah woke up and drew back the curtains, she saw a white mountain range stretching into the distance...

In September, the peaks of the mountains on both the north and south sides of the Villaria Valley were still covered in snow. Leah leaned out of the window, and a cold wind blew in her face, instantly chilling her from her shoulders to the soles of her feet. She couldn't help but shiver...

The city in the distance slowly came into her view.

(End of this chapter)