Chapter 2447 Where Wind Rises <TOC> Chapter 2449 Recorders
Translator: SumTLMan
This was a silver-haired man standing atop a colossal stingray.
“Big Fish Wizard” Sirius.
Angel had once had an encounter with this wizard from the Song of the Deep Sea, but that encounter was not friendly, leading him to have a poor impression of this wizard.
At that time, Angel was still an apprentice, striving not to fail the five-year agreement with Jon, returning to the Old Land Continent from the Savage Grottoes. During his return journey, he accidentally obtained —Lucas’ Nautical Log—, which eventually led him step by step to that mysterious space on Silver Palm Island.
Although Angel had come into close contact with that Mysterious Object in that nearly abandoned space, his inexperienced eyes failed to recognize it, ultimately missing the opportunity.
But Angel had entered that space after all, and the slight traces left during his search were naturally suspicious; more coincidentally, Angel had just obtained the Dream Conch from Freud at that time. The mysterious fluctuations it emitted were discovered by others, leading Jiebo to suspect Angel.
Sirius, hearing from Jiebo that Angel might be related to the disappeared mysterious person on Silver Palm Island and suspecting Angel had taken the Mysterious Object from there, did not hesitate to lock onto Angel’s location and descend.
Although it turned out to be a false alarm, and with the deterrence of Sanders’ essence blood, Sirius abandoned the pursuit of Angel. Still, that experience left Angel feeling angry and frustrated.
For this reason, Angel had a poor impression of this Song of the Deep Sea wizard.
Setting aside these subjective impressions and speaking only of Sirius personally, Angel actually knew little about him. However, what could be certain was that he was a profit-seeker. Because whenever a Mysterious Object appeared, he would not miss it. It was true the last time, and it is true this time as well.
Only, this time might be different from the last, with the birth of the disorderly object, no one knew what consequences might arise. Would his luck be as good as last time, allowing him to leave at ease? Not necessarily.
After giving Sirius a deep look, Angel withdrew his gaze and paid him no more attention.
For these people who came upon hearing the news, all he could do was silently say in his heart: best of luck.
He wasn’t even sure if he could be safe next to the Enforcer, let alone these greedy visitors.
Besides, up to now, Angel hadn’t seen a single familiar face among the newcomers. Even if these people were to stay here forever, what did it have to do with him?
On the other side, after Angel shifted his gaze away from Sirius, Sirius seemed to vaguely sense something and looked forward.
However, beyond the surging bloody ocean waves, he could see nothing.
“Is it my illusion, or my mind playing tricks, ne?” Sirius murmured softly to himself.
And “Brigitte,” the colossal stingray beneath his feet, did not respond.
Sirius looked down at Brigitte in confusion, only to find that Brigitte’s condition was very strange, its entire body trembling.
Sirius could sense that Brigitte was not trembling out of fear but excitement. It seemed something ahead was stirring its inner desires, drawing it forward.
Not long after Sirius entered the Mist Zone, he perceived an attraction. As he delved deeper, the attraction grew stronger, and even he, not the sharpest, realized that this pull was far from normal.
Thus, Sirius stopped well before getting too close.
He personally thought that their current coordinates, not far from the center, were in a range of attraction that could be resisted, which seemed like a good position.
However, he overlooked a problem.
This attraction to humans and sea beasts was completely different.
Sirius could resist because the Mysterious Fruit didn’t exert much power over humans… After all, humans were scarce nearby, and the sea beasts were numerous. The number of humans couldn’t fill the gap needed for the Mysterious Fruit to mature, but the sea beasts could.
Therefore, the attraction on the sea beasts was far greater than on humans.
Brigitte, although Sirius’ mount, was undeniably a sea beast. Moreover, it was a sea beast raised by an ocean wizard, possessing immense strength.
The stronger it was, the deeper it felt the attraction.
At this moment, even Sirius, its master, was struggling to control Brigitte.
Under such circumstances, Sirius naturally forgot the feeling of being watched earlier, which might have been just an illusion.
…
As time passed, more and more wizards appeared near the Mist Zone.
Even with the sea tides and water mist obscuring vision, Angel could still vaguely see a large number of shadows. Each shadow represented a powerful wizard from the Southern Region.
Angel didn’t know if there were any friends he knew among these people.
Of course, the best scenario was not knowing any. If there were, Angel couldn’t offer help now unless he decided to turn back and leave, which, at this point, was clearly unrealistic.
So, the saying goes, everyone for themselves.
It’s worth mentioning that the wizards who came nearby mostly stood at a very rear position, where one could only see a small black dot with the naked eye.
It wasn’t that they didn’t want to get closer but that they couldn’t. Firstly, the closer to the center, the stronger the attraction, which they simply couldn’t withstand; secondly, those who became wizards were not fools. With the situation unclear, rashly approaching could mean greater danger. The most prudent approach was to stay in a controllable range of attraction and observe before doing anything else.
However, humans vary, and where there are those who act conservatively, there naturally are those who behave more recklessly.
At this moment, Magnusson belonged to the latter group.
His strength might not be the most formidable among the newcomers, yet as things stand, Magnusson is still the wizard closest to Angel.
Turning his head, Angel could even clearly see the excitement reddening Magnusson’s eyes.
Angel also sensed Magnusson’s greed for the Mysterious Object, but unlike others, his greed was more about the pursuit of the essence of the mysterious.
Angel remembered, during the Witness Ceremony, Fingernail Granny had once sarcastically mentioned that Magnusson had squandered his potential, stagnating for thousands of years. Although the situation was more about ensuring Angel’s smooth integration into the Research Institute, Fingernail Granny’s words weren’t entirely off the mark.
Magnusson had once been marked by the Time Thief, rising in the circle of alchemy shortly after, becoming a leading talent in the alchemical world at that time. However, as times changed, even though Magnusson held a revered position in the alchemical circle, his prominence was based on past laurels. He had made no significant progress in alchemy for many years.
Trapped in this dilemma, Magnusson sought a breakthrough but couldn’t find a way.
This emergence of the Mysterious Object represented the only opportunity for many years for Magnusson.
“Magnusson had also been marked by the Time Thief; perhaps he too sensed the ‘choice of destiny’, realizing the extraordinary nature of this Mysterious Object’s birth, which could turn into a pivotal moment in his life,” Angel thought to himself as he watched Magnusson still striving to move forward.
The Mysterious Object had appeared more than once, and Magnusson had never shown up at Silver Palm Island incident.
Thus, there’s only one explanation that makes sense.
Perhaps, the excuse of ‘coming to glimpse the mysterious realm’ that Angel used for himself fits Magnusson even better. He is the one truly using all his strength, wanting to witness the birth of the mysterious up close.
However, Angel wasn’t very optimistic about Magnusson.
The birth of a disorderly object might indeed provide Magnusson with an opportunity for a breakthrough, but being in such close contact with a disorderly object without a strong foundation, his demise seems predetermined.
…
From dusk till dawn, from daylight to twilight.
The reddening sky, connected with the churning blood sea below, seemed to link together.
Even if nothing is happening right now, the apocalyptic scene before them instills an indescribable pressure in the hearts of the wizards in the mist.
Angel’s mood is also uneasy, the “thump” sound from the Mysterious Fruit growing louder and more frequent, indicating its ripeness is near.
He doesn’t know if that lord has arrived?
He wanted to inquire through the void network, but his previous interaction with Haralenne had already attracted the attention of the Enforcer. Although he managed to bluff his way through then, doing so again now wouldn’t be as easy.
In a moment of intense anxiety for Angel, a sound suddenly emanated from not far away.
“Lord Editor, it seems we’re a bit off course, quite a distance from the fluctuation at the source point.”
“It’s no use telling me; it was Pursuit of Light who determined our position. We merely borrowed the way, so shut your mouth now. You’re only responsible for capturing the image; spare me from any more useless chatter.”
Turning around, Angel saw four indistinct figures materializing just twenty meters away.
The figures gradually became more solid.
The first to materialize were the two who had been speaking, a man and a woman. The woman wore a pointed hat and a crop-top robe, holding a device for capturing images in her hand.
The man, on the other hand, was dressed in a tailored black tailcoat, his hair neatly combed, holding a scroll and a pen. He exuded an aura of scholarly elegance, tall and handsome with an easygoing charm.
The witch with the imaging device was Rivetta, whom Angel had seen before in the Abyss. A first level witch from Night Whisper Forest, she was one of the editors of —City Firefly’s Night Whisper—. Initially, Rivetta had infiltrated the alliance camp as a “war correspondent” and documented the battle in La Sutherland.
It was Rivetta’s reports that primarily spread Angel’s deeds throughout the Southern Region, despite her attempts at objectivity, which still brought Angel considerable trouble.
As for the man beside Rivetta, though it was Angel’s first time seeing him in person, from Rivetta’s reference to him and previously seen portraits, he could almost be sure of his identity.
He was the famous “Dawn of the Lasting Night”, Dietrich, editor-in-chief of —City Firefly’s Night Whisper—.
Dietrich was a powerful true knowledge wizard, renowned not for his strength but for his grasp of the entire Southern Region Wizarding World’s intelligence.
Much of what Angel knew about the Southern Region’s wizards came from Dietrich’s magazine.
Glimpsing a part to understand the whole, it was clear that —City Firefly’s Night Whisper—, under Dietrich’s control, was one of the few pivotal intelligence organizations in the Southern Region.
Now, with Dietrich bringing Rivetta here, there was no doubt they were here to scoop frontline information. The emergence of the Mysterious Object was set to become a hot topic in the Southern Region for some time.
However, Angel was puzzled about how they resisted the attraction of the Mysterious Fruit.
Their current location had already far exceeded that of the backline, almost on par with Angel himself.
Yet, from their appearances, Rivetta and Dietrich seemed not at all troubled by the attraction?
Amidst his confusion, Angel’s gaze shifted slightly to the side.
He noticed that the other two figures were also beginning to solidify.
During this solidification process, Angel vaguely sensed something off… These didn’t seem to be real people at all? It appeared they were merely projections.
Quickly, two new figures revealed their true appearances.
When Angel saw the faces of the newcomers, his pupils involuntarily shrank.
It was beyond his expectation.
He thought the appearance of the true knowledge wizard, Dietrich, was already quite remarkable, but he didn’t expect that the two following were even more powerful than Dietrich.
One was a man and the other a woman.
The witch was dressed in a black noble’s attire, her expression cold, holding a black skull-headed staff in her hand, giving off a stern, serious, and dark aura.
This was none other than “Black Baroness” Adelaya, one of the permanent council members of the Council of True Knowledge of the City of Truth, and also one of the chief editors of the Southern Region’s most authoritative journal, —Forest of Time—.
Standing next to the Black Baroness was an old man wearing a loose wizard’s robe, smiling.
His reputation exceeded even the Black Baroness.
Nicknamed “Pursuit of Light,” he was the honorary city lord of the City of Truth and the sole Chairman of the Council of True Knowledge! Although he had not acted in a long time, it was speculated that his strength was not inferior to that of Mengke of the Frost Moon Alliance, definitely standing at the pinnacle of the Wizarding World in the Southern Region.
What Angel didn’t expect was that the City of Truth had actually sent “reporters” to the front line this time, and moreover, one was the chief editor and the other was the chairman, Pursuit of Light himself!
As Angel was surprised at the arrival of people from the City of Truth, he forgot to conceal his gaze.
The chairman, Pursuit of Light, seemed to notice something, looking towards Angel’s direction with a puzzled expression.
Angel quickly averted his gaze and dared not move.
At that moment, the Enforcer beside him said indifferently: “His strength is not bad, he felt your gaze even across the void. However, you don’t have to worry. In my Domain of Distortion, they won’t be able to find you.”
Unless, the opponent also possessed laws beyond the legendary realm. Just like the opposite, Magnificus De Pawel, otherwise, no one would be able to discover Angel.
Angel had also noticed this before; others seemed unable to see him, guessing it might be due to the Enforcer. Now, it seemed, his guess was confirmed.