Equipment Printing School Mage
Page 293
Naif, who held a high rank in the Council of Elders, sighed with a hint of disappointment. He then looked at the white-haired elders present and said, "I can only say this: a few days ago, Eimia of Lunya, the high-ranking Harper, promised me that he would plan to come to Abel. In fact, our last communication was when he informed us of his impending departure. Since then, we've lost contact. This precious crystal ball has lost its function ever since."
The leader of the Council of Elders, numbering 400, should have been the Mage King of Halruaa.
But at this moment, the highest seat was empty.
He was supposed to be the most prestigious and irreplaceable elder in all of Halrua. He was the weakest of all previous Mage Kings, severely unbalanced in his abilities, yet a Nine-Ring Mage who was incredibly powerful in his area of expertise.
For example, the previous Mage King, though not particularly skilled in combat, successfully predicted the coming of the Arcane Scourge. Using magic to predict the death of the God of Magic is a feat that can be considered an immortal monument in the history of prophecy.
And now, even the most outstanding members of the Elder Council can only cast six-ring spells.
No one wants to bear such an insulting title as the [Six-Ring Mage King] and become the successor of the greatest Mage King.
The mage sitting across from Naif was even older than he, his beard nearly reaching the ground. He coughed softly, looked at Naif, and said, "For nearly a hundred years, we've been isolated and helpless. We've used illusions to veil ourselves, but in reality, we remain bound to the mountain, unable to move. Now, the once bright arcane path has become a thorny one... Finally, have we given up hope and are ready to rely on these illusory outsiders to solve a problem that has been hopeless for a hundred years?"
Nayef looked embarrassed, but he stood up and said coldly, "Your Excellency Taqi Al-Mustafa, my opinion is that no matter what the outcome, Halua should at least be grateful for the other party's enthusiasm."
"We are mages," Tachi said unyieldingly. "To judge only by attitude, not by results, is a luxury enjoyed only by priests of the Church. Sadly, even the priests of the Church of Mystra have lost that luxury... We mages retain some spellcasting ability, while priests have degenerated into scholars who can only recite aloud from scripture. What do you expect us to do now? Stand in silence for a twenty-year-old whose existence you didn't even inform us of?"
"You're completely on a slippery slope—"
"Whether it's a fallacy or not doesn't matter right now." Tachi breathed heavily, as if absorbing all the oxygen in the air as the source of his life force. "Nayef, when the previous Mage King was still alive, you were a strict mage. Now that you've lost your greatest supporter, you can only rely on lies to maintain your prestige? I still didn't expect you to brazenly bring unconfirmed news to the Elders' Hall."
Faced with the relentless pressure, Nayef's patience was finally exhausted.
He himself did not think too much about this meeting. He simply came to share the progress with everyone, hoping to inject a shot of adrenaline into the increasingly depressed Halrua.
But only now did he finally become certain of one thing.
Unfortunately, the reason the Elders' Hall was so bustling today wasn't because everyone was recalling their shared ideals...
But they have a common enemy.
Looking up, the vast Elders' Hall had silently split into two groups—one in front of Naif and the other in front of Tachi. There was no one between them.
Tachi is here today to declare war.
Naif was silent for a moment, then slapped the table with a cold smile. "If I were to tell a lie, there's nothing more ridiculous than the theory of time: 'Halrua' didn't actually go anywhere, she simply returned to ancient times, to the Age of Dragons nearly a hundred thousand years ago!' Your argument only makes me wonder if Halrua's history lessons are too understated. Perhaps Mystril, the goddess of the Weave, officially ascended to godhood not that early. But now this land has neither the Weave nor any gods! How could this be Toril's ancient past?
"Mystra and Priest Azuth have even tried to seek help from various dragon gods—Ashgorath, Bahamut, even Tiamat! But all their efforts have fallen on deaf ears!" Naif slammed the table in anger. "The outlying villages are so desperate they're willing to sell their souls to the devil, but even the devil can't respond! You think the devil's history is only a little over ten thousand years old? Even Asmodeus hasn't been born yet? How absurd!"
Tachi snorted. "So-called history is nothing more than a patchwork and fabrication of church myths, filled with all sorts of attacks and forced interpretations. There are nearly double-digit churches claiming their main deity is the God of Creation—Oghma, the creator of the concept, Selûne and Shar, the light and darkness. The most ridiculous thing is that even the same church can write several versions of the myths! The most bizarre of these is the Church of the Dragon! The five-colored dragons and the metal dragons are so eager to make up their own creation myths! Church myths should have been relegated to extracurricular stories long ago instead of being kept in textbooks!"
It was at this very moment in Halrua that such treasonous words that mercilessly attacked the entire church could be spoken so brazenly.
"What you call loopholes are all based on unconditional belief in those myths!" Tachi said, "I only recognize the facts - we have come to a world where dragons have absolute dominance, and the celestial phenomena are almost identical to those in Toril!"
"That's the problem!" Nayef finally couldn't contain himself any longer and roared angrily, "The observatory's data records are all on file, and all the star maps are completely continuous! We didn't encounter any time jumps at all!"
"Yes, we just encountered an even more ridiculous [Displacement], right?!" The two old men completely lost their temper at this moment, arguing loudly in the magnificent conference hall, "There is such a planet in the material plane. It occupies the same spatial position as Toril, sharing the same universe, and even at the same fucking time point, every day, every hour, every minute, every second, without a millimeter of difference!
"Why don't you take your pig head and hit it against the stone wall of the Presbyterian Church and see if the bricks of the wall will smash your head or replace it with your head! You'd better not go to the toilet, because even if the stinking things inside replaced your brain, we wouldn't be able to tell what happened!"
"I'll give you my exact words." Naif sneered. "You actually assume that there was once such a moment in Faerûn that all celestial phenomena could be so perfectly aligned with a certain day tens of thousands of years later, allowing our star maps to be drawn as usual, even exactly as predicted. And yet the magical web that completely changed Faerûn's ecology is now completely gone, yet it could emerge from nothing in just ten thousand years, rapidly spreading to every corner of the planet, and ultimately helping the elves destroy the dragon's rule?! And now we haven't even seen Shar and Selûne!"
"If that's the case, how long will it take for the goddesses of light and darkness to be born? When will their battle begin? When will the magic web spread across the land? When will Mystril be born? Are you saying that this story, destined to be so long, will unfold in just a few thousand years?!"
At this moment, Tachi, the leader of the time theory, sat down, as if he had already won. He waved his hand triumphantly and asked a middle-aged wizard to walk in front of the two of them and to the center of the hall.
This middle-aged wizard is called Abdul Al Mustafa, the great-grandson of Taqi, and naturally one of his loyal supporters.
However, his condition at this moment was clearly slightly abnormal: his face flushed, his breathing rapid, his body trembling constantly, and he still carried the dust of a long journey that had not yet been thoroughly washed away.
Extreme fear...
Or, excitement.
Abdul took a deep breath and said in the middle of the elders' hall, "Your Excellency Nayef. Unfortunately, we have found conclusive evidence for the theory of time."
Nayef's pupils shrank.
This was outrageous. He had already reconnected with the people of Faerun; he was the victor. If he could reconnect with Eimia of Lunya, he could put an end to this farce.
The supporters of the resultant time theory now claim to have found conclusive evidence? !
Naif frowned. "...Have you made a breakthrough in your time spell and successfully traveled through time?"
“No,” Abdul said. “But we found our time and the truth.”
He stretched out his hand and displayed a spherical map like a globe in the hall.
"Everyone, our expedition has achieved astonishing results: we have crossed Mount Talas and discovered a decisive and bizarre landform to the west of Halrua."
He pointed at the globe and indicated to all the mages present the specific location of the landmark they had discovered through their adventure.
Then he dispelled the sphere and released another batch of illusions.
There were countless flashes of blazing white lightning in the sky.
These thunders that should have flashed across the sky were now surrounded by a ball of blue and white leaping flames, radiating and splitting at every moment, causing a terrifying storm.
Strands of silver threads extended from the flames into the thunderclouds, merging with the violent thunder.
Everyone present was a believer of the Church of Mystra. How could they not recognize what that silver flame was?
Tachi said calmly, "Naif, your most important argument against us is that there is no Weave in this world. This world is not Toril."
"Now, within this landmark we've named Thunder Flower, we've discovered a terrifyingly large cluster of magical webs. We've discovered the magical web."
Naif, however, was focused on something else. He slammed his fist on the table and spoke slowly, "—You actually sent an expedition across Mount Talas without authorization!? One of the most important resolutions in Abel is that all operations across the Halua Mountains must be approved by the Council of Elders! I've never missed a single meeting of the Council of Elders, so why haven't I seen any application for this?!"
Tachi shook his head slowly. "No, Naif, perhaps you forgot because you were so grief-stricken recently. On the day Lord Zarason passed away, the Elders' Council was convened urgently as per the rules. However, you were handling Lord Zarason's funeral arrangements at that time and were absent from the Elders' Council."
"That... no, the point is, your unauthorized actions could bring us catastrophic disaster!!!" Naif paused, then roared, "If it were Halrua in its prime, we would have dared to fight even the Dragon Nation. Now our strength has been greatly reduced, and the priests have lost all their power. How dare you take such a risk! Halrua will be reduced to ashes by the dragon's breath!"
"...Risk?" Tachi finally stood up and asked his great-grandson to retreat back into the crowd. "I just don't want future generations to live in unfounded fantasies! As long as we're prepared, what's so scary about dragons? We don't have a magic web, so do dragons have one? They're just a bunch of flying lizards that can breathe fire!
"We will be held accountable for our actions! What about you? Where are your imaginary guests from Faerun?!"
"This is not conjecture..."
At this moment, the crystal ball in front of Nayef's desk suddenly made a slight crackling sound, attracting the attention of everyone present.
Soon, human voices began to be heard in the crystal ball.
A strong male voice murmured, "...Halrua's communication crystal ball was hacked just like that?"
"That's called an improvement!" a clear female voice replied. "And this crystal ball was originally two-way, it just had a small lock added... it can be removed with just a little effort."
Finally, the face of the red-haired young man who had kept Naif awake for days came into view. Emiya's face was etched with fatigue, but she spoke seriously in Gunaisir: "...Mr. Naif Al Musa. Thankfully, we have fulfilled our mission and have made it from Faerun to Abel. We encountered some difficulties along the way, but we have finally arrived. According to astronomical observations, we should be over Halrua. Please send someone to guide us, otherwise I fear we may cause unforeseen damage to Halrua's current defenses."
The City of Ten Thousand Towers (Part 2)
Emiya and his group have been away from the Milky Way for a day.
They had thought they would linger in the Heavenly River for a while longer, but they never expected that the water element, conditioned by the magic net, would shed the constraints of that strange power and return to the common sense of water.
——In other words, it changed from a river hanging high in the sky to a waterfall.
Thus, the journey changed from a smooth inland river cruise to an extremely exciting waterfall rafting, and the speed of the Platinum was once again within the range of free fall.
After an extremely thrilling high-speed descent of dozens of kilometers, the Platinum finally managed to regain its flying posture before crashing and floated in the sky again.
"...I sincerely hope that I've used up all the time I've fallen in my entire life in just this month." Mars held onto the handrail and gasped in pain. "...During this time...we've fallen for at least a hundred kilometers, right?"
Emiya replied, "If we count being caught by the planet's gravity as falling, we've already fallen at least tens of thousands of kilometers."
"The verb 'fall' would one day be used with this distance..." Mars couldn't help but sigh.
Now Emiya was more concerned about another question: "Where are we now? The star map has been compared."
"Of course." Mars replied.
As for why a team of four mages had to have a paladin compare star charts...
It's fair to say that Metatron's self-proclaimed "wild mage" wasn't without reason—Emmia, as a mage, had never studied astronomy: there were no such things as celestial phenomena in Lunya. Even if there were, it wasn't the same sky as Faerun's. And her own astronomy wasn't particularly profound.
Halffont, the Nine-Ringed Master of Illusion, had barely left the Shadowfall Underworld for over a hundred years. Even if her mentor, Zarathon, wanted to teach, he ultimately couldn't do so through a crystal ball, facing a nonexistent starry sky. Furthermore, she was still struggling to maintain a massive illusion field, ensuring that no creature could detect the Platinum's presence from a distance.
Yin's astronomy was surprisingly good—unfortunately, she simply didn't have the energy to calculate astronomical orbits anymore. Although she wasn't completely deprived of movement like before, maintaining the normal operation of magic in a world without a magic network was still a difficult task.
Mars took out his pocket watch, pointed to the sky, and said, "It's night now. First, I found the stars Collier and Anadia that we observed before we set out. The changes in their motion trajectories and the phases of the moon are continuous, proving that we haven't encountered any time jumps. Based on this, I observed that our elevation angle with the North Star is 36 degrees 30 minutes. This means we are at 36 degrees 30 minutes north latitude. Eight hours have passed since the sun was at its highest point. It is now 8 o'clock in the evening, and the angle between the moon and Oghma V is 17 degrees 5..."
Finally, the paladin pulled out the latest edition of Candlekeep's astronomical chronology and concluded, "Our current longitude and latitude are approximately 36 degrees 30 minutes north latitude, 10 degrees 1 minute east longitude..."
Elastrid took out a map of Toril and then, with a smile on her face, said, "...So close? I remember Chult was located at approximately 35 degrees north latitude and 1 degree west longitude. And Halruaa is due east of Chult. So we're almost at the original site of Halruaa!"
After wandering all the way, he ended up at Halua's location by accident?
"That's really good news," Sig said. "We saw over a dozen dragons flying leisurely in the sky today... Baldur's Gate might not even have that many caravans visiting in a single day."
At this moment, Emiya could only pray that Halua had replaced her spatial position at the original location, rather than being randomly thrown to a certain position in Abel by the runaway magic net.
If this is the case, the spell given by Storm Silverhand will play a crucial role.
—Muirila’s Cartography.
Where does Nayef Al Moussa fit in my picture?
The next moment, several points of light appeared in Emiya's mind. After a brief comparison, Emiya leaned over the side of the ship in astonishment and pointed at the barren mountains diagonally below their ship. "...Right there. Naif should be in those mountains right now."
In the country of Halrua, there are an astonishing number of mages. Logically, the residential area would not be an ordinary barren mountain, but it is natural for them to make some disguises for this purpose.
Metatron glanced down and nodded. "A closer look reveals that the terrain here is simply perfect... High in the mountains, it's too cold for red dragons, too hot for white and silver dragons; the vast expanses of sparse forests and grasslands are too dry for green, black, and bronze dragons, but too moist for blue and brass dragons. The terrain is too flat for copper dragons, too barren and boring for gold dragons... Before the dragons crowded this land, few dragons would have considered settling in such a barren, mediocre area. Uninhabited, with little even for prey, this is a true desert for dragons... This illusion must be Master Halrua'a's masterpiece."
At this moment, Yin finally cheered: "—Done! I finally debugged this crystal ball. Now it can communicate with creatures on the same plane!"
"Yin, thank you for your hard work." Emiya took it from Yin's hand and connected the communication.
"...Mr. Naif Al Musa. Thankfully, we've completed our mission and have arrived in Abel from Faerun. We encountered some difficulties along the way, but we've finally arrived. According to astronomical phenomena, we should be over Halruaa right now. Please send someone to pick us up, otherwise I'm worried we might cause unintended damage to Halruaa's current defenses."
Unexpectedly, Nayef was not shocked by the accident, nor was he annoyed by the fact that he had unilaterally initiated the communication, nor did he become suspicious of them for cracking the communication crystal ball.
Instead, there is a kind of relief and liberation that is almost enough to make one cry.
"Mr. Naif? Can you hear me?" Emilia knocked on the crystal ball with some doubt, and was glared at by Yin for this act of distrust - could it be that this magic item also has poor contact?
At this moment, another voice came from afar through the crystal ball: "...Nayef, is this the reinforcement you mentioned?"
Nayef was silent for a moment, then said, "... Your Excellency Emiya. Do you know what we were doing before you connected the line?"
"Please advise."
Naif didn't answer. Instead, he closed his eyes, clutched his chest, and took a deep breath before finally speaking, "I'm trying to prove your existence to the Halruaan Council of Elders. And you haven't been heard from in days."
"I'm sorry," Emiya replied. "After all, we were taking a route no one had ever taken before, so various unexpected situations occurred, and communication was forced to be interrupted."
"I understand... I understand."
At that moment, another old man's voice suddenly rang out from the other side of the crystal ball, filled with disbelief. "Wait a minute! Naif, this is all about Halrua. I also want to speak to this... so-called outsider."
The image in the crystal ball spun rapidly, and it was only then that Emiya noticed that behind Nayef was no longer his study, but a crowd of heads.
Meeting room?
Before he could come up with an answer, Yin started laughing. "...They're casting prophecy spells. Just now, at least a hundred prophecy spells were activated simultaneously down there."
"Can this be seen through the crystal ball?" Elaster asked in surprise.
"No. Only someone like Emiya can use the crystal ball to restore anything. This crystal ball simply transmits images and sounds, it has no other functions." Yin replied, "It's just that Halrua'a is too close to us, and the fluctuations caused by a hundred simultaneous prophecy spells are somewhat conspicuous."
At this point, her voice paused. "The way they use prophecy is quite strange... like a storm giant carefully grasping a halfling dagger, its effectiveness is poor but conspicuous... probably influenced by the environment of Abeir, so they have no choice but to do so."
-----------------
Unfortunately, as Yin had said, the crystal ball clearly had no soundproofing capabilities. Normally, a communication crystal ball should be used in a solemn and quiet environment, but neither party had that luxury.
Her voice reached the Elders' Hall without much hindrance.
The chanting that had originally sounded in unison suddenly paused.
The old mages in the Elder Hall, who were originally casting divination spells, looked at each other awkwardly. In Halruaa, using divination to detect each other was not offensive. But trying to cast it secretly and being instantly exposed was a bit too embarrassing.
"Go on." Tachi was naturally one of the highest-ranking members of the Elder Council. He took the crystal ball from his student and fellow Elder Council member and looked at Emiya seriously.
——Too young.
This was Tachi's first reaction.
A human being who looks this young could be under 20 years old.
Such a person, a high-ranking harpist! ?
The last person to have intimidated Halrua at such a young age was Apodel Adrian. Before the age of thirty, he easily defeated all the eager members of the Secret Fire Knights and became the honorary leader of the Knights.
Taqi looked up at Nayef in disbelief and said: Why don’t you make a more reasonable one when you forge it?
You'll Also Like
-
An ordinary profession creates the world's strongest
Chapter 860 1 hours ago -
Equipment Printing School Mage
Chapter 478 1 hours ago -
1932: Playing with the Japanese Communist Party with a doll
Chapter 711 1 hours ago -
Ikari Shinji's Harem Comedy Daily Life
Chapter 122 1 hours ago -
Connect to Yuan Tiejue's chat group
Chapter 69 1 hours ago -
As a commander, I will never meet a heavy female ship girl
Chapter 290 1 hours ago -
Why wasn't I the one who got the male lead's script?
Chapter 189 1 hours ago -
This second dimension is too immortal
Chapter 580 1 hours ago -
Terra Succubus Development System, but calm office workers
Chapter 101 1 hours ago -
I'm collecting in the Pokémon world
Chapter 377 1 hours ago