Chapter 1075 The Method of Extension <TOC> Chapter 1077 The Demise of Morgheim
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Translator: SumTLMan
“Could it really be her?” Fafnir mumbled to herself, a hint of intrigue and uncertainty in her voice. Why would Balalaika hand over Bina Jonis’s dragon scale to a mere mortal like him? Was it simply because he was the bearer of Odeklaes’s Mark of Flame? Or was it, perhaps, a more malicious intent — to spite her?
The Abyss harbored many secrets, some of which concerned the intricacies of her relationship with Odeklaes and Bina Jonis. Given her longstanding feud with Bina Jonis, Balalaika using this opportunity to provoke her seemed entirely plausible.
Fafnir gave a cold, dismissive chuckle.
Yet, the others were oblivious to the fact that she also intended for Angel to return the dragon scale to Odeklaes — an act that clearly depicted where her loyalties lay. This lone scale was but a token, incapable of signifying anything substantial.
Choosing to remain silent, Fafnir allowed Angel a brief respite. Balalaika had once warned him that should the need arise to return the scale to Odeklaes, he should avoid letting Fafnir discover it at all costs.
Under these pressing circumstances, Angel had been anxious about revealing the scale, but, for the time being, Fafnir seemed to be less perturbed than Balalaika had suggested she might be.
This realization provided Angel with a certain degree of comfort.
Seeing that Olucia was still immersed in the Rhythm of the Ocean, Angel set Toby aside. He held Bina Jonis’s dragon scale in his other hand, attempting to sustain the Frost Seal using the method described by Olucia.
Upon placing the dragon scale atop the orb of ice, a misty frost emerged from the smooth surface of the scale. This mist flowed from the dragon scale and merged with the Frost Seal. As the exotic energy began to surge, the previously dim ice orb suddenly began to frost over anew.
“It actually works!” Angel’s eyes sparkled with delight as he witnessed the unexpected transformation.
Swiftly, Angel detected an anomaly. The frozen orb started to gather frost again, yet the speed at which it occurred was astonishingly sluggish. After scrutinizing for several minutes, he was able to affirm that the frost was indeed slowly accruing. However, to the naked eye, this glacial progression was challenging to discern.
Interpreting Olucia’s previous elucidation, when the frost entirely envelops the orb, the Frost Seal Spell should naturally extend. Nonetheless, the creeping speed of the frost formation was more ponderous than Angel had anticipated.
After making some mental calculations, Angel estimated that it would take at least a day and a half for the frost to completely cover the orb.
Fortunately, the rate of the frost formation was projected to complete before the previous Frost Seal Spell concluded.
Angel reached out, preparing to tuck the orb into his bracelet. Yet, as his hand neared the orb, he felt an enigmatic force surrounding it.
Just as Angel was pondering the situation, a sapphire gem embedded in the ceiling suddenly shattered. Fragments of the gem rained down from the ceiling, scattering like a surreal shower of dust.
The sapphire was a decorative piece placed in the shop by Canaan, previously glowing with a lustrous blue light. Now pulverized, the shimmering dust flickered brilliantly as it fell, creating a somewhat dreamlike spectacle.
However, Angel had no luxury to admire the scene. Swiftly, he summoned an ice wall to block the descending fragments. Once sure no more fragments were falling, his gaze turned to Olucia on the other side.
Thankfully, the commotion hadn’t roused Olucia from her Voyage of Experience.
Although relieved he hadn’t disturbed his client, Angel was still puzzled. Why had the sapphire gem suddenly exploded?
After a moment of reflection, it seemed to him that the gem’s destruction coincided with his attempt to pick up the Frost Sealed Toby. Was it a mysterious force that surged out and caused the gem to shatter? Was it some kind of energy spillover during the exchange?
“A full dragon scale without any energy loss.” At that moment, Fafnir’s voice whispered into Angel’s ears.
Angel, with an air of contemplation, posed his query to Fafnir: “My Lady, it appears that an enigmatic force entwines the exterior of this Frost Seal Spell. What could this signify?”
“Ever since the Abyss Dragons were first chronicled, Bina Jonis has been regarded as the most formidable Frost Dragon. Her power can freeze the very fabric of space without exerting herself,” Fafnir explained. Recollections of that massive figure, enshrouded in hoarfrost, danced in her mind. The indomitable power of Bina Jonis was undisputed, so much so that it dwarfed the might of her contemporaries. No Abyss Dragon dared challenge her until the emergence of Odeklaes.
Fafnir fell into a protracted silence, her mind awash with images of the past, a cocktail of jealousy, nostalgia, and regret.
After some time, she returned to the present and continued her dialogue with Angel, “This dragon scale has not expended any energy; it seems that Balalaika has preserved it rather well. When at full energy, the power contained within this scale may not be enough to freeze space, but it is sufficient to influence the surrounding spatial forces.”
In essence, the previously inexplicable force shrouding the Frost Seal Spell was nothing more than Unstable Spatial Energies, influenced by the formidable Frost Power.
Angel, whose strength was comparatively low, was unable to detect this, but Fafnir clearly observed the continuously distorting light surrounding the Frost Seal Spell. It was like an unnatural illusory mirage at the edge of a burning flame.
“And does this have any impact on the Frost Seal Spell?” Angel’s primary concern remained Toby.
“No significant impact,” replied Fafnir, nonchalantly. “The Abyss is rife with unstable spaces, like the Gloaming Mountains in the surface plane, which are largely unstable. Only my Whispering Wind Valley remains relatively stable.”
“What about the force that erupted earlier…”
“That was a mere anomaly. If you’re worried about more power leaking out, you can influence it with stable energy,” Fafnir suggested.
The so-called stable energy that Fafnir mentioned is akin to mental power. However, Angel does not possess the robust mental prowess that Fafnir does. If he were to use his mental tendrils to touch the Frost Seal, it would likely not be long before they were torn apart.
Eventually, Angel deftly navigated this predicament with a small trick from his alchemy practice — a conjuration known as the Magic Hand.
However, upon resolving this, Angel stumbled upon yet another grave issue.
“Lady Fafnir, didn’t you say this wouldn’t be a problem?” Angel lamented, looking at Fafnir. The ice orb was held aloft by the Magic Hand, bobbing up and down, with frosty mist spilling off it.
“Isn’t this to be expected?” retorted Fafnir. “The space around the Frost Seal has been influenced by its energies, and in its unstable state, it’s natural that it can’t be stored.”
Angel glanced at the ice orb, then at his bracelet, his expression one of exasperation.
His original plan was to put the ice orb into his bracelet and simply wait for the frost to form. But now Fafnir was telling him that it couldn’t be stored in his bracelet!
If he attempted to force it in, the space within his bracelet would be completely obliterated.
What was he to do then? Was he expected to carry it around all the time?
“Once the Frost Seal is successfully activated, the space around it will naturally stabilize,” Fafnir commented dismissively. “What’s the matter, can’t even wait that long?”
Angel kept quiet. One and a half days it was then. As Lord Night suggested, he should stay inside the Phantasmagoria and not leave. Fafnir was here as well, so safety should not be an issue. If he could endure this day and a half, it wouldn’t matter whether La Sutherland’s martial law was lifted or not. If need be, he could simply take a detour back to the Ice Valley via the inner layer.
With the utmost care, Angel manipulated the Magic Hand, allowing the ice orb — within which Toby was contained — to float above his right shoulder. It appeared as though he had gained an additional hovering adornment.
In due course, Olucia roused.
That’s not entirely accurate; rather, Olucia had never truly succumbed to slumber. She bifurcated her consciousness, part soaking in the ocean abyss, part in the external realm, enabling her to promptly respond to threats.
However, upon this awakening, Olucia realized the enormity of her folly.
Unlike demons, Olucia wasn’t bound by the uniformal affinity constraints typically imposed on them. While inherently aligned with fire, her flame bore traces of the most frigid frost.
In essence, she held a fragment of water-based affinity, making her susceptible to the influence of the Rhythm of the Ocean.
Despite this, the enhancement from this particular Voyage of Experience was rather insignificant.
Her predicament was entirely self-inflicted. By splitting her consciousness, with her superficial layer immersed in the Rhythm of the Ocean, she could indeed perceive the saturated Rhythm of Water surrounding her and be ceaselessly engulfed by it. However, this was merely a superficial layer of consciousness, hence her understanding remained restricted.
Had she, like Angel previously advised, offered no resistance, completely surrendering her consciousness to the Rhythm of the Ocean, embracing and absorbing the experience of this journey, her gains would have undoubtedly far exceeded her current state.
“Most esteemed Lady Olucia, the Voyage of Experience has come to its conclusion,” Angel announced in his customary tone.
Olucia felt a pang of regret, her gaze towards Angel tinged with a complex mix of emotions, “Quite an engaging experience… Is this the Magnum Opus of human wizards?”
Angel’s covert manipulation of the Rhythm of the Ocean had not eluded Olucia’s discerning gaze.
“One could say so,” Angel affirmed with a nod.
“Do you have any intent to sell?”
Angel shook his head, expressing, “I have no intention of selling at this moment.”
Olucia didn’t voice any objections, simply throwing a glance at Fafnir seated beside Angel and nodding noncommittally.
Angel was well aware that without Fafnir lending him the veneer of intimidation, Olucia would likely have resorted to outright seizure.
“Very well, let it be,” Olucia stood up, looking out the window where the fiery patterns in the sky grew increasingly vivid, signaling that the birth of the Source Fire was imminent.
Withdrawing her gaze from the sky, Olucia glanced at the small grove outside the shop where the shadow of the Young Fire Demon fluctuated markedly.
“Lady Fafnir, I shall take my leave. Should Bina Jonis awaken one day, I will follow her traces,” Olucia paused before turning to Angel.
It was unexpected for Angel that Olucia would bid him farewell upon her departure.
“Your name is… Angel, right? I’ll remember it,” Olucia reached out, delicately lifting half of her porcelain mask, “I hope we meet again. Hopefully, by then, your intentions would have changed.”
After Olucia’s departure, the image of her half-exposed profile as she left imprinted itself in Angel’s mind.
He still couldn’t discern her features from the revealed side of her face, but those green eyes, flickering with an abyssal flame, left a profound impression in his memory.
Chapter 1075 The Method of Extension <TOC> Chapter 1077 The Demise of Morgheim