A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 646 The Sixteenth Annual Meeting

The sixteen-year meeting, as the name suggests, is a meeting held every so often.

The attendees included elders of the Arcane Senate, including the chief of the Thirteen Towers, the leader of the Alchemy Order of the Tower of Stars, and the president of the Space Guild; as well as special attendees, the dwarven master craftsmen.

Would the Emperor be allowed to join the meeting? Neither Snow nor Simon offered their own opinion, merely relaying Paul's request. Snow emphasized that the Emperor's purpose was not to spy on the secret meeting of the top spellcasters, but rather to try and meet the convener of the meeting.

The other attendees tacitly handed the decision-making power over to Caroline.

Therefore, the chief of the Tower of Ten Thousand Arts questioned the chief of the Tower of Stars: "It must have been you who revealed the secret to Paul."

"Don't be so biased towards your fellow disciple, okay?" Snow's expression on the communication device was still playful, just like his predecessor, and he wasn't exactly a serious old man either: "The emperor's goal is very clear and his will is very firm, so I guess only Brother Rorschach can persuade him to give up."

"What?" Caroline didn't understand Snow's riddle for a moment.

The other party revealed the answer: "Whether the monarchs in history were foolish or wise, they often hoped to live longer. Our sorcerer emperor was no exception, and he was even more greedy. In this respect, the wisest emperor was also the most foolish."

"eternal life?"

"Exactly. What's even more regrettable is that he has already found some clues, and they are related to Brother Rorschach."

Caroline interrupted him, saying, "I understand. Ask him to come, but whether Rorschach is willing to meet is not up to me."

"Thank you so much, ma'am. Wait, there's one more thing—when are you going to release my man? That kid was just short on cash and trying to make some extra money, he didn't mean anything by it." As if to cover up his thoughts, Master Snow took a sip of purple soda to calm his nerves.

"Earning extra money should not be used to participate in subversion, which is unforgivable in any country."

"Brother Rorschach, you spent a lot of money back then! Hey, don't go! I was wrong, name your price!"

After cutting off the communication, Caroline rubbed her temples. The Imperial faction's conspiracy was just a minor episode, and it also completely cleared up the historical burden left by the Alliance. The descendants of the royal family had also integrated into the new society, and there shouldn't be any more trouble before the Fourth Sixteenth Annual Meeting.

She walked from her office to the next room, a very special room situated in a small, independent space, accessible only through Caroline's office. Inside, the furnishings remained unchanged for over sixty years, preserving the appearance as if the person had still been there.

This is Rorschach's workshop in the old mage tower.

Caroline quietly moved the chair aside and sat down, resting her elbows on the table, and removed the necklace from her neck.

The necklace pendant is a piece of colorful glass, without any polishing or faceting. It is exactly as it looked after it fell from the sky. Because of this, the smooth surface after melting and cooling feels as warm and smooth as jade when worn against the skin.

Now she would use this as a tool for a simple divination. She took a deep breath, grasped the other end of the pendant cord with her left hand, and recounted Paul's request to see Rorschach. Then she simply infused it with magic, and the pendant began to spin.

After getting the result, Caroline immediately put away the pendant and then got up to restore the room to its original state.

This kind of divination is only effective when the sixteen-year mark is approaching; in reality, it's just a simple means for her and Rorschach to communicate.

It took Rorschach sixteen years to make his first appearance after the Black Sun Cataclysm, but at that time he only vaguely conveyed the situation to Caroline, informing her of the Mother Goddess and the Lord of Order and urging them to migrate to the Astral Plane as soon as possible.

After that, the pendant stopped responding. Caroline waited until the second sixteen years, when Rorschach's voice was transmitted again through the glass, accompanied by a blurry phantom. The phantom was witnessed by the then-chief of the Arcane Tower and Andre, who was then the first ruler of the Alliance, and the record was submitted to the Senate.

In the third sixteen years, as Rorschach intended, all the chiefs of the Senate participated in the meeting, except for him, who could attend "online," while the others had to be present in a closed venue.

To this day, the conference has become an extremely high-level event. The outside world is unaware of the mysterious convener; all they know is that every so often, these reclusive top spellcasters will secretly gather and bring back news and initiatives that will change the world.

The appointed day has arrived.

A magnificent warship arrived at the outer orbital station of the air element plane. After hovering over the spaceport, several huge and imposing humanoid machines flew out from it. They combined classically beautiful armor designs with engine nozzles and modern weapons. They adjusted their steady posture in the air and lined up in two columns, facing each other.

These were the Emperor's "Grenadier Armored" guards, inheriting the glorious name and fulfilling an even more glorious duty—to provide a grand spectacle for the invincible Paul I.

The emperor himself was even somewhat insignificant in comparison. Although he could use magic to fly, he still stood with his hands behind his back on the head of a mecha, and flew to the ground after reaching his destination.

Andrei, who came to greet them, raised an eyebrow slightly, his disdain for the ostentatious display evident. The two had once been rivals; one had led an alliance, the other ruled the Valois Empire to this day.

"Welcome, Your Majesty."

Paul nodded and shook hands, then got straight to the point: "May I attend the meeting?"

"On behalf of Master Caroline, Your Majesty: You cannot attend the meeting, but you can meet with the person you wish to see privately after the meeting concludes. In fact, they have already begun; please follow me to the waiting room."

"Good, good, good!" the emperor exclaimed three times and strode into the room.

At the same time, Caroline also entered a hall, which was almost entirely white and empty except for a round table. Instead of chairs, the table had a base with intricate patterns and connecting points.

The other attendees had already taken their seats and were all focused on Caroline, watching her remove the pendant from her necklace, which then perfectly embedded itself in the base.

Next, they waited, watching as the glass gradually lit up, and specks of light floated out, forming the figure of a young man. Caroline's gaze remained fixed on Rorschach, who showed no change whatsoever.

Rorschach's gaze first fell on his teacher, who smiled and nodded before scanning the entire conference hall: "Long time no see. There are many familiar faces here, and a few new ones as well. Welcome."

"However, time is of the essence, so let's skip the introductions and get down to business." Rorschach held a virtual notebook in his hand.

"First of all, the number of times necromancy was used increased by 31% year-on-year over the past sixteen years, and entropy flux increased by 11.7%. What's going on?"

The new head of the Forest Tower is a woman who is familiar with the situation:

"It was you who suggested using the apoptosis procedure of necromancy to treat the distortions caused by the Mother Goddess's corruption. We now have mature experience in this area, and the Alliance and the Empire both deployed this treatment technology two years ago."

A participant from the Dark Tower added, "The dwarves have been trying to create their own golems for the past few years to enhance their mining operations in the Fire Elemental Plane and break our magic guild's monopoly. Could we prohibit them from using [Necromantic Enlightenment]?"

Rorschach refused: "I can't directly take action from the spell cloud. You must first investigate whether the dwarves violated technical standards and humanity in the process. If not, you absolutely cannot interfere."

He then moved on to the next topic: "Storm Tower proposes increasing the output power of the prototype lightning spell by 120 basis points to address the secondary threat posed by the Mother Goddess. Have you all seen the proposal? Should it be passed?"

The others readily agreed, and from then on, the power of lightning spells activated by the spell cloud increased by 1.2%, while the difficulty of casting them slightly increased. Of course, this effect would also be multiplied for higher-level spells.

Time passed slowly, and Rorschach reviewed the final matters submitted by the elders:

"A detachment of the Church of Order's pilgrimage fleet has gone missing and reappeared on the same old path, repeating this cycle multiple times. Hmm, this isn't really relevant to our topic, so let's not discuss it here. Now, let's talk about something more important:"

"The will of the Lord of Order has completely vanished, and His power is weakening and dissipating. This means that the process of the Mother Goddess's resurrection will restart, and it is very likely to accelerate."

"Are you ready for the end of the world, everyone?"

"Or are you ready to embrace a new world?"

(End of this chapter)