Chapter 1276: Chapter 1275: Offline Meeting

The gigantic wings covered the sky as they flew over the castle area. The enormous dragon was slowly circling to decelerate, moving towards the large landing field behind Winterhold Castle. Simultaneously, Melita and Nuoletta were carefully observing this expansive facility complex, watching the towering energy towers, temporary roads, Alliance Member States’ camps, and the immense energy fluctuations in this area that ordinary people could not see with the naked eye.

Built with the joint efforts of Cecil and Typhon, gathering vast human resources and materials provided by many Alliance Member States, the "door" constructed in this cold and barren wilderness was a wondrous sight that Melita had never seen in her tens of thousands of years of dragon life. Her eyes, filled with the glow of magic, could see much more than ordinary people. In her Magi-sight, she saw the magic turbulence surging between the facility complexes, the gigantic energy converging in the center of Winterhold Castle, and a "focus" in a vortex state in the real world, seemingly devouring all magic. Even without reminders from others, she could guess that this was where the "door" was located.

This was indeed quite a spectacle.

The dragon slowly descended in altitude and finally landed on the field affiliated with Winterhold Castle. Before this, the facility’s technical directors had already gathered around the clearing, eagerly waiting.

"...This is my first time having close contact with a dragon," Windsor Maple said in a low voice with a sense of awe on her face as she watched the two dragons gradually retract their giant wings. The landing of their massive, heavy bodies even caused the entire square to tremble a little, "It’s hard to imagine... just two years ago, these powerful dragons were creatures that only appeared in adventure stories."

"And more than half of those adventure stories were written by the dragons themselves," Kamel remarked casually, shaking his head.

In the past, among the adventurous stories involving dragons circulated among the Mortal Nations, more than half were things the Dragonkin traveling the Loren Continent made up out of boredom. Writing those stories was a primary source of income for their travels. This truth spread as Talronde and the Loren countries established increasingly wide-ranging connections, with more and more Dragonkin entering human society as mercenaries, technical consultants, and visiting scholars. Upon learning the truth, the "Dragonkin scholars" of various countries pounded their chests, and countless renowned legendary dramas were suddenly shrouded in absurd colors overnight. However, for the mage scholars who didn’t really focus on these areas, these "truths" were no more than amusing jokes.

"...When I was sixteen, in my rebellious years, I almost gave up my magic studies to research ’dragon studies,’" Windsor Maple said softly, as if recalling something, "Luckily, I didn’t take that path. Otherwise, apart from my current achievements, I might have ended up like those ’Dragonkin scholars,’ utterly disheartened."

The old mage Daniel, standing next to her, snorted disdainfully, his tone full of undisguised contempt: "Those so-called ’Dragonkin scholars’ only have themselves to blame, taking a bunch of seemingly plausible legends and arbitrarily piecing them together into so-called ’historical evidence,’ forming groups to suppress dissidents, and ’inventing’ a whole heap of theories. Out of nowhere, they concocted a so-called academic field to deceive the world—they’ve been packaging themselves as scholars and swindling for so many years, never imagining that one day, dragons would actually step out of the stories and openly greet the whole world."

Unconsciously, Windsor Maple looked at her mentor a few more times. She had noticed that her ill-tempered teacher was increasingly "returning to normal." Especially after the "door" project’s inception, the fulfilling life of academic research was gradually restoring the elder’s vitality and kindness from many years ago, making her smile unintentionally: "So I’m thankful for your timely guidance back then—my rebellious nature didn’t ruin my life."

Daniel just gave his now legendary powerhouse student a brief look, face expressionless: "Also, we’re fortunate that your rebellious phase ended at sixteen—because by seventeen, I could hardly beat you anymore."

Windsor’s expression was fleetingly embarrassed. Daniel, however, had already turned away, his gaze fixed on the figures coming down from the dragon. His eyes seemed to sweep casually over the tallest figure, nodding slightly with a motion imperceptible to others, his lips moving subtly: "...I salute you..."

The epic master spy and his true master finally achieved their historic first face-to-face meeting.jpg.

Gawain walked down along Melita’s wings, followed closely by Amber, who was looking around curiously, and two young dragons who were enthusiastically excited. Nearby, Nuoletta, also bowing down and lowering her wings, was Victoria and Modir alighting from her back.

Initially, Victoria was supposed to "get off the dragon" at Northport and return to Bitter Winter Castle, but considering that Modir was also to go to the War God’s Divine Realm with Gawain, the Grand Governor had followed along.

As for the two young dragons accompanying them... it was still due to the Deep Blue Demon Marks they bore and their innate special "perception" talent near the Tower of the Inversion Tide. The two little ones had already proven they could directly observe the aura of the Deep Blue Rift. Since similar cracks existed at the War God’s Divine Realm’s border this time, Gawain and Melita both believed taking them along could perhaps play a significant role.

A light screen emerged out of thin air, gathering the dragon’s shadow into a humanoid figure amidst a radiant glow. Gawain walked toward the technical directors gathered by the landing field. He first looked at Kamel and Windsor before his gaze fell on Daniel, who was holding a serious expression, and Mary, trying hard to lower her presence behind her mentor.

This made Gawain involuntarily praise in his mind: Mary’s acting is really quite good, able to maintain her usual "persona" in such a tense and exciting situation—her cautious and timid personality is indeed the appropriate reaction upon meeting prominent foreign figures.

"Your Majesty," Kamel came forward first, a buzzing sound emanating from within him, "It’s a pleasure to have you here personally."

"I’ve heard about the progress you’ve made here—certain things I needed to see for myself," Gawain nodded, his gaze naturally falling on the others. Windsor Maple, as the highest technical official on the Typhon side, immediately stepped forward, courteously bowing slightly: "Salute to you, the great Gawain Cecil. I am Windsor Maple, president of the Typhon Royal Mage Association. I solemnly express, on behalf of the Typhon scholars, our gratitude and respect for your massive support in the field of frontier technology—so far as I know, no human emperor has ever propelled the development of technology as extensively as you have."

This was not casual flattery but genuine respect—even during the tense relations between Typhon and Cecil, even standing in the "opponent’s" shoes, Windsor Maple had to acknowledge Cecil’s advanced status in the Mage field and acknowledge the enormous changes Gawain Cecil brought with the "Magic Era." Unlike the obstinate politicians who at all times decide with their posterior, Windsor as a scholar could more frankly and straightforwardly express admiration towards Gawain, who brought "advancement."

"Lady Windsor Maple... I know of you, Rosetta said you are his most trusted magic consultant, especially in the battle against the ’Eye of the God,’ in which your contribution was irreplaceable," Gawain smiled slightly, nodding at the legendary mage, "And now, you’ve opened the gateway to the kingdom domain—in this era, we need experts like you who understand the gods more than ever."

After a cordial exchange of mutual praise, Gawain’s gaze fell on Daniel and Mary.

"Daniel Fred, current president of the Typhon Imperial Construction Association," Daniel stated flatly, "Salute to you. Behind me is my apprentice, Mary—not much of an important figure here."

"Daniel... I know you too," Gawain also showed a slight smile, looking up and down at the subordinate who reported to him at least twice a week, "You’ve cracked much of our Magic Guide Technology. We sold you an engine prototype, and it didn’t take long before you built your own engine."

These words immediately made Windsor, standing beside them, feel a wave of tension. Although Gawain maintained a smile while saying these words, the sensitivity of the topic itself made this president of the Royal Mage Association’s heart skip a beat — she actually already knew that her mentor had a special sensitive identity here, and the Magic Guide Technology team led by her mentor had been a backbone force against the "Cecil Magic Guide Hegemony" for years. The fact that Typhon wasn’t overwhelmingly defeated by its opponent in the face of the loudly arriving Magic Era owed more than half of the credit to Daniel, and this immense contribution to Typhon, if seen through Cecil’s eyes...

That wouldn’t be a good thing at all.

Yet while Windsor was nervously lost in thought, Daniel merely showed a somewhat gloomy smile as seen by others: "Knowledge and technology know no borders. Every country’s people have the right to enjoy technological advancement — our Magic Guide Engine prototype was initially hammered out by manpower one strike at a time."

Gawain looked at Daniel seriously and smiled slightly, "Every country’s people have the right to enjoy technological advancement... You’re quite right."

It seemed that his verbal "clash" with Daniel on sensitive topics just now was merely a trivial chat.

Windsor Maple felt a wave of relief in her heart.

Camel floated expressionlessly (really having no expression) at the side, while Daniel and Gawain both maintained smiles, and Mary tried hard to lower her head to reduce her presence. Amber seemed to be lost in her own world — everyone was aware of certain things, and only Lady Windsor Maple earnestly remained nervous for a long time before sincerely relaxing in a breath.

Gawain almost felt guilty about it — fortunately, he quickly overcame that small mental hurdle, swiftly becoming at ease.

And after a simple introduction and pleasantries, the group did not continue to waste time on formalities.

Gawain arrived in front of the portal to the War God’s Divine Realm.

The space conduit, like a mirror, was stabilized and constrained in the middle of the portal platform. The conduit reflected the scene on the other side, where on that open square shrouded by a gray sky, Gawain saw the outpost facilities set up by the explorers and the towering ramparts and palaces in the distance.

Camel floated beside him: "After these days of advancement and exploration, we have successfully set up several supply stations in the Divine Realm. With the Magic Power provided by these supply stations, our scouting teams have roughly mapped the situation of the temple area, arena area, and square area — these regions count as the ’stable zones’ of the entire Divine Realm, while on the outskirts of the stable zones, the ’border’ is continuously collapsing, slowly crumbling towards the Divine Realm’s center. We still know very little about the various properties of the border.

"We have sent the current exploration results to the theocracy Authority Council, and each member state shares these results according to the agreement...

"Additionally, due to the uniquely ’interference-free’ conditions in the War God’s Divine Realm, we have installed many experimental devices deep in the arena zone of the Divine Realm for researching various topics regarding the Essence of Magic. You probably received reports on this aspect while on the road..."

"Yes, I received them at Northport," Gawain nodded, his expression solemn, "You have finally verified the wave nature of Magic Power — the significance of this matter is as momentous as ’a mortal stepping into the Divine Realm’."

"We did not just verify the wave nature of Magic Power..." Camel said solemnly, "’Lady Tower’ discovered even more baffling and disconcerting phenomena during this process..."

"I also received her message," Gawain slowly nodded. He recalled the countless questions and conjectures that flooded his mind after arriving at Northport and receiving the transmission from the Goddess of Magic, and all of it eventually amassed into a furrowed brow and low voice, "She said that upon understanding the essence of Magic Power, she briefly entered a very bizarre ’self-state,’ and from that state, she viewed the ’explanation’ of the world through an incredible perspective. She said that she not only saw the waves of Magic Power directly but also ’saw’ the wave characteristics of all things in the world, observed the blurred boundary between matter and Magic Power — yet she also stated she couldn’t specifically explain this process because her ’perspective’... couldn’t be accurately described with text or language."

"Yes, that’s also what she told us," Camel gently nodded, "Both Lady Windsor and Mr. Daniel, as well as I, take ’Lady Tower’s’ discovery very seriously, but we have no clues at all."

"... Clues will emerge eventually," Gawain exhaled softly, "After returning, I will have a good talk with our senior consultants, but for now... let’s first take a look at what you have discovered on the edge of the Divine Realm."

As soon as Gawain finished speaking, all eyes naturally fell on the portal at the platform’s center.

Amber watched that mirror-like round area, and after a moment finally couldn’t resist swallowing her saliva, "I’m starting to feel a bit anxious..."

"Even I’m anxious, but I’m more filled with anticipation," Modir, who had been silent for a long time, couldn’t help but finally break the silence — he had remained silent because these were all figures in his mind who were ’changing the course of the world,’ and he felt a memory-lost adventurer like himself shouldn’t speak in such an academic setting. But now, with the upcoming journey to the Divine Realm, the emotions of this Great Adventurer finally couldn’t resist rising to excitement, "I even specially prepared a blank notebook for today..."

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