Above the mage

Chapter 803 Anivia

Submerged in the deep sea... a storm raged in Gao De's heart.

When Sunefa first received the knowledge about Anivia and glimpsed the ancient secrets, he said that Anivia did not perish after she fell.

Instead, it transformed into the unique Purple Jade Flower, slumbering in some corner of the North.

It could be anywhere.

Perhaps deep within an icy plain, perhaps inside a cave...

The North is vast and boundless, with countless perilous places where a single flower could be hidden.

Gao De never expected that Anivia's true hiding place was in the cold, dark, and isolated deep sea.

The deep sea of ​​the North.

Unseen by the light of day, forever silent.

What kind of lonely isolation does it mean to be left alone by a vast, dark ocean?

As his thoughts raced, the key message that Sunafa had previously conveyed echoed in Gao De's mind once again.

The number of people in the world who remember her name and know of her existence is dwindling. The forgetting of the masses is gradually stripping away the source of her power, causing her to grow increasingly weak and feeble.

"[Anivia's power can actually weaken as people forget it?]" God asked incredulously.

This completely contradicts his understanding of power.

Power belongs to oneself. A mage's level of skill and mastery of spells are all earned through hard work. How can one weaken because one's existence is forgotten?

"Although it sounds incredible, my inherited memories tell me that it is true," Sunefa affirmed.

"This involves Anivia's most core secrets. If she hadn't been so weak that she actively transmitted fragmented messages, and if I weren't of the Zhenbing bloodline, capable of receiving this information, I would never have known any of this," she added.

In other words, this is not a simple memory transfer; it is actually a distress signal that Anivia had no choice but to send to Sunefa.

Anivia's spirit is decaying and her power is exhausted, making it difficult for her to sustain her path of self-regeneration.

They could only desperately spill out fragmented information by taking advantage of the opportunity to unlock the inheritance through the Iceborn bloodline's upgrade ring.

She sent a distress signal to the land she had protected for millennia and to the Iceborn she sheltered.

Gao De lowered his eyes and pondered, his mind racing through all the clues, connecting the scattered information into a complete logical chain.

After a long while, he rubbed his throbbing temples and asked, "Besides this, is there any other information?"

Sunafa nodded and began to recount a long history.

That is the ancient history of the Iceborn people.

"Anivia is the first creature born in this polar frozen land of the North, and can be called the Spirit of the North."

"She is inextricably linked to this land and can command the power of winter."

"Over the long years, creatures from outside the region have migrated and native species have been born, settling in this vast frozen land and multiplying."

"Anivia has no interest in conflict and shares the North with them."

"Until humans set foot on the snowy northern plains."

"At that time, humans were far too weak compared to other creatures. They could neither withstand the harsh cold of the North nor the attacks of other creatures, and were struggling on the edge of life and death."

"Seeing that the human race was about to be wiped out by the snow and slaughter, Anivia's heart softened, and she chose to show herself instead of ignoring everything."

"She led displaced people to the sheltered ancient Frost Terrace to settle down and adapt to the environment."

Seeing the ferocity of other creatures and humanity's inability to resist slaughter, she chose to selflessly bestow her power upon humankind, granting them the power to defend against the harsh winter.

"Under her unreserved protection and gifts, humanity survived the most dangerous and brutal first few centuries in the North, allowing the people to continue and take root."

"Human beings therefore worship her, venerate her, and praise her true name."

"Initially, she acted out of pure goodwill, selflessly protecting humanity without ever asking for anything in return."

"But over time, she suddenly discovered that the praise from humans could actually nourish her power, making her Winter Power even stronger after it was split up."

"This group of humans, who were rescued by Anivia, bestowed with the power of her bloodline, and worshipped her for generations, are the ancestors of the Iceborn race."

"After the human race stabilized, it rapidly multiplied and grew stronger, and its population became increasingly prosperous. The praise of all living beings continuously raised the upper limit of her power, making her winter power even more magnificent."

"And the stronger her power, the more winter powers she can bestow upon the Iceborn. The two complement and nourish each other, forming a positive cycle."

"Until catastrophe struck..."

"What's next?" Gao De asked instinctively.

"That's it." Sunefa replied. "It's so short..." Gaode commented.

It's short enough, but it's also "fragmented"...

With the unveiling of this long-sealed history of the Iceborn, many of Gao De's doubts have been answered to some extent.

Did becoming stronger because their true name was spread also lead to their later weakening because their true name was forgotten?

After his initial shock, Gao De's eyes flashed with understanding as he quickly grasped the key point.

As a model young man who had received a modern education, he easily made connections to a similar system:

Incense offerings can be used to create deities.

In his previous life, there was a saying that gods need human offerings and faith to maintain their power.

The more popular the incense offerings, the stronger the power of the deity.

If a temple stops receiving offerings, the statue will gradually lose its spiritual power and eventually become just an ordinary piece of wood or stone, and the deity it represents will also die.

They are almost identical.

The same goes for Anivia.

In the blink of an eye, Gao De, having figured everything out, made a decision.

The root of decline is forgetting, so the solution becomes incredibly simple.

Let the name Anivia be known to the people of the North once more.

We must also strengthen the North, allowing its people to multiply rapidly and increasing the number of people who know the name Anivia.

May the reverence of the people once again nourish that purple magnolia flower that has been dormant in the deep sea.

"I originally had an idea that I wasn't prepared to implement so quickly because the conditions weren't fully mature and the demand hadn't yet taken shape, but now it seems we have to start it sooner." Gao De raised his eyes, the heavy look in his eyes completely gone. "What?" Sunafa didn't react.

"It's time to enrich the spiritual and entertainment life of the people of the North," Gao De said with a calm smile, pulling out a stack of parchment and a quill pen from the side.

"What do you want?" Sunafa was still puzzled.

"Don't let my science background fool you, I've always dreamed of being a director," Gao De said earnestly.

Sunefa: "????"

She turned her gaze to Gaode.

Gao De then drew lines to divide the parchment, using simple (and perhaps ugly) hand-drawn strokes to unfold the narrative scene on the parchment.

First, simple lines combining realism and abstraction are used to outline the snow-covered plains and the swirling snow, accompanied by neat text and simple narration: "Since Pangu separated heaven and earth, the world has been divided into four major continents: east, west, south, and north..."

"And who is Pangu?" Sunefa asked again.

"Sorry, I used the wrong reference." Gao De realized his mistake, corrected himself, crossed out the relevant part, and prepared to start over.

Just as he was about to start writing again, he suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to ask one thing.

"So, what exactly is Anivia? A person? A block of ice? Or a snake?"

How can we even make a movie when the main character's image hasn't been finalized yet?

"How could it possibly be a block of ice?" Sunefa was astonished by God's wild imagination.

"Why not? Even a rock can fly to the sky," Gao De muttered.

"Anivia's normal form is that of a bird, but it seems that because she is revered and worshipped by us Icefolk, she has also taken on a human form," Sunefa said.

"Bird form? What kind of bird? Eagle? Sparrow?" Gao De continued to ask.

Sunefa shook her head: "She has no fixed form; she can transform into any kind of bird, whenever she wants."

"I see..." Gao De seemed to be thinking, a glint of light flashing in his eyes: "Then I'll decide for myself."

Several more days passed in the blink of an eye.

Sunafa's "True Ice Secret Technique" completely stabilized the five-ring environment. The solid foundation of the two five-rings, along with the newly awakened spells and the True Ice Secret Technique, raised her strength to a new level.

However, Gaode Maps was not in a hurry to finalize the original itinerary of heading north to Viking Wolf Harbor.

Because both Gaode and Sunafa are perfectly clear about the priorities of the moment.

The survival crisis of Anivia is the most pressing issue in the North.

The memory is passed down through blood, and Sunefa knows better than anyone how much Anivia means to the Iceborn.

Anivia is not some insignificant ancient legend, but a great entity bound to the entire Northern Frontier and the entire Iceborn race.

Therefore, all foreign affairs must yield to it.

In addition, the spying from foreign mage mercenary groups has not been completely eliminated.

Although two groups of people had been captured before, everyone believed that this was definitely not the whole group.

More mercenary groups will inevitably be discovered in the future.

Sunafa will need to stay in Phoenix for a while to work with Canglan to conduct a thorough investigation.

She wanted to completely eliminate the hidden dangers of these foreign mercenary groups infiltrating and buy more time for the development of the Northern Territory.

In recent days, the people of Phoenix have noticed some new things in the city.

That's actually a pointless statement.

Since the appearance of the prophesied King of the North, the city of Phoenix has been undergoing a transformation and rebirth almost every moment.

The speed at which everything changes here has already overturned everyone's understanding.

What was once a barren and empty expanse of frozen ground can be transformed overnight into a vast gathering of craftsmen and laborers who break ground, build houses, and lay foundations.

While the people of Phoenix are delighted by this change, they have gradually become accustomed to it and no longer find it surprising.

But this new thing still managed to attract their attention.

Because this new thing is indeed too new.

Those were things called "posters," posted on the job posting board in front of the city hall, on the walls of the clock tower, and on public walls everywhere.

The poster was actually just a neat and exquisite piece of parchment with a beautiful picture drawn on it.

The painting is exquisite and has distinct layers, making it particularly eye-catching.

In the center of the picture is the image of a huge, unfamiliar bird.

It stands tall and proud, with its wings spread and its body rising upwards.

Its wings are long and magnificent, and the tail feathers resemble flowing ice silk, with ice crystals extending downwards like clouds.

The birds are surrounded by dark ice fields and snow fog, and a group of tiny human silhouettes can be vaguely seen at the bottom of the screen.

At the core position, embraced by the wings of a mythical bird, four large, snow-white characters are displayed with graceful strokes and unique patterns.

The strokes have a natural, feathery curve texture, making them highly design-oriented.

At the bottom of the screen are rows of neat and detailed generic text, clearly listing the key information.

Such a large-scale, city-wide publicity campaign instantly attracted a huge crowd of onlookers.

People flocked to the streets and alleys, stopping to look up and discuss the unfamiliar parchment scrolls, peering in to investigate.

Thanks to the implementation of universal compulsory education and night school, the literacy rate of Phoenix residents has greatly improved.

From the crowd, someone immediately spoke up, stumbling and stammering as they spelled out the four large characters in the center of the image: "Ai————Ni————Wei————Ya————".

The pronunciation was awkward and strange, and no one knew what these four characters meant, leaving everyone bewildered.

His gaze then moved down, carefully reading the announcement text at the bottom line.

"The first-ever animated film, *Anivia*, premieres on March 21, 9660... Premiere location... Free to watch... 3 PM... Limited seats, first come, first served..."

"9

I still don't quite understand, but I roughly know that three days later at 6 PM, something called "Shadow of the Demon" will be played in the square in front of the City Hall, and it's free...

But what exactly is this "Shadow Demon"?

For most people, it is simply impossible to imagine the meaning of a completely unfamiliar and never-before-heard-of term.

But curiosity is a universal human trait, and joining in the fun is human nature.

With such a high-profile promotion, and it's free, and it's happening after get off work, who wouldn't want to join in the fun?

For a time, the entire city was abuzz with discussion about the premiere of the movie "The Magic Film" three days later.

"Your Highness, I am also very curious, what exactly is this demonic shadow you created?"

In Gao De's office at the city hall, Elsa looked out the window at the crowd gathered around the poster on the bulletin board, discussing it animatedly. Finally, she couldn't help but turn to look at Gao De, who was sitting at his desk.

"Don't think of it as too mysterious; you can think of it as a new type of drama," Gao De said with a smile.

The so-called "shadow" is not mysterious at all; it's just a movie.

Frankly speaking, the conditions for making a movie in the North are not right.

They used a commemorative photo stone.

While photo-taking stones may seem useful, they actually have many drawbacks.

For example, the area it can record is very small; a single photographic stone can only hold a maximum of three people in its image, and it cannot record more than one person.

It's perfectly fine for recording online classes, since online classes only require recording one teacher and one blackboard.

But it's far too inadequate for making a movie.

However, there are always more solutions than problems.

If the image recorded by a single photo stone is small, then just play multiple photo stones together to create a larger image.

This approach, while seemingly simple, actually demands exceptional skills in overall planning, storyboard design, and synchronized editing.

Essentially, it involves piecing together multiple independent shots to create a coherent storyline.

The margin for error is extremely low; even a slight deviation can cause the image to be fragmented or the timing to be out of order.

Gao De is certainly not a good director; he doesn't even qualify as a director.

He spent a day writing a simple and straightforward script and storyboard, and then completed the filming in five days. Finally, the director pieced together footage with very obvious flaws and imperfections.

As a camera and player, the image quality of the recording stone is not very good.

Therefore, without a doubt, the final product he produced would have been a terrible movie in his previous life—lacking in both picture quality and plot, riddled with continuity errors and stuttering.

If it were rated on Douban, it probably wouldn't even get a score of three. Its only redeeming quality is that it's all filmed in real locations.

Fortunately, the audience in Phoenix wasn't exactly a "qualified" audience either.

Their lives were previously dull and monotonous, with their main forms of entertainment being beating children, having children, and gossiping.

So even the worst movies are still very interesting and appealing to them.

Just like someone reading an online novel for the first time, they can be completely engrossed in even something as simple as "The Return of the Dragon King".

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