Sword of Dawn

Page 426

This ancient travel book contains staggeringly rich content, and its author, the Duke of the North 600 years ago, is obviously very different from the contemporary nobles.Mordir Wilde lived in an era closer to the first-generation pioneers, and he was even deeply influenced by the first-generation Grand Duke Wilde, which made him far more adventurous and...innovative in death than the descendants of later generations sex.

His footprints covered every corner that human beings could explore at that time (even including areas that no human beings have set foot on except him), especially after completing the transfer and arrangement of the duke's power and responsibility, his adventure journey It is even more astonishing, from the borders of the Gondor wasteland to the Violet Kingdom, which was still mysterious to human beings at that time, from the frozen mountains of the Holy Dragon Principality to the deep desert in the east of Typhon, and even some lands occupied by elemental creatures. The different space, the space fragments that never know which corner of the universe floated... He has set foot in it.

Every time he explores a new place, he will entrust the organized notes to one of his loyal servants in advance (this loyal servant will wait for the return of the master in a safe place), and write new notes during the subsequent exploration journey. After returning safely, he sorted out these new notes, integrated them with the previous notes, and took them to the next adventure.

This kind of behavior seemed quite incomprehensible to Amber, who was born hundreds of years later. After reading several thrilling expedition records, she couldn't help frowning and asked, "A nobleman like him...why is he like this?" Are you keen on taking risks? Many of the 'adventures' in this are obviously beyond the level of leisure and leisure, and it is no different from seeking death..."

"...he is from the generation close to the pioneers, and the descendants of the pioneers at that time were deeply influenced by their fathers and grandparents," Gao Wen shook his head, "Many people firmly believe that one day humans will return to Gondor In the heyday of the era, and for the arrival of that day, they have to travel every inch of land on this continent to find a safe boundary for the human civilization at that time. I have never seen Modil's generation, But I can imagine what their descendants would look like based on my generation, and I can be sure that Mordir Wilde was not the only adventurer at that time—only a great noble and extraordinary power like him The ability to pass down my notes to this day is nothing more than that.”

Amber blinked half-comprehensively, no more questions, and turned her attention to the second half of Mordir's notes. Beside her, Gawain's gaze was scanning some of the old pages. Words suddenly slowed down.

Amber noticed this immediately: "What did you see?"

"...I suspect that I found something that aroused your adoptive father's interest..." Gawain quickly flipped through the next few pages while talking, and glanced at the content inside. After a few changes in his eyes, he slowly frowned. I frowned.

"Then read it to me." Seeing that Gao Wen didn't continue, Amber became a little anxious, "Hey, I must know that most of this content has something to do with my background, I'm mentally prepared, tell me what……"

"In his later years, Mordir Wilde explored the Shadow Realm and successfully established communication with the residents of the Shadow Realm..." After a moment of thought, Gawain nodded and pointed to the words in the travel notes—

The following is the personal record left by Mordir Wilde:

"On X, X... After several unsuccessful attempts, I finally found a weak point in the real world, a natural shadow rift. This rift can be enlarged and stabilized by rituals, so that a human can Step into it completely and stay for a long time, instead of briefly shuttling through the shadow border like other shadow professions. I'm not sure if the ancient Gondor mages also used this method to open the shadow gate , but this is the best I could find...

"On X, X, with all the preparations, the rift opened. It was as stable as I imagined, but the scale was slightly smaller than expected, but still enough. I decided to go through this door at the time when the shadow power is at its strongest tonight. ,Wish me luck……

"... Opposite the door is a more desolate and strange world than I imagined... Colorless, lifeless black, white and gray make up everything in this world... Things in the real world are projected in this space in a strange state , the small town where I temporarily lived is presented here as a large pile of twisted building fragments, while the distant mountain peaks seem to have turned into a wriggling black mist...

"This world is obviously not suitable for ordinary people to live in, and I don't see any value in resource extraction, but I still decided to go deeper. The good news is that except for the imbalance of elements, the magic here is still the same as the outside world. I Here you can display more than [-]% of your strength...

"On X, X... I met those creatures! They looked very similar to humans, wearing strange clothes like runecloth, like smoke bound in human form... They drifted from far away, I don't think I alarmed them. I can be sure that they are the legendary shadow dwellers, intelligent residents living in the shadow world. It is said that only a few masters who specialize in the way of shadow have witnessed these mysterious creatures by accident , but even those masters have no record of successfully establishing communication with the shadow dwellers...

"I, Mordir Wilde, the most powerful human spellcaster in this country—although I am not a shadow mage—go to challenge me. I want to try to establish communication with these mysterious creatures. They may be able to tell me about this weirdness. What kind of secrets does this bizarre world hold...

"On X, X, I didn't call.

"On X, X, I didn't call.

"On X, X, I was fully prepared, and even returned to the real world to perform some special rituals. I believe I have accumulated enough experience, including how to deal with their elusive invisible bodies and their ever-increasing numbers. There is no more weakness.

"On X, X, I didn't call.

"Modir, Mordir! Look at your disgraceful record! You are the most powerful human spellcaster in this country! How could you be chased by a group of strange enemies who can only whisper?

"On X, X, I didn't call.

"I think it should be wise.

"I'm not young anymore, I have to rely on strategy like an old mage who fits my age... If the method is right, those shadow dwellers may also be reasonable.

"I want to keep all the previous failed experiences intact, maybe it can give some warnings to future adventurers. Of course, this may damage my image, but as an adventurer, it is my duty to try the road. The embarrassing experience is also a valuable experience. I can't hide my failure.

"On the bright side, I'm old enough so I can take the time to publish these records, leave a last word, and let posterity publish it so I don't hear the ridicule...maybe even Somebody was blown away by my sense of humor..."

Gao Wen had already glanced over it just now, so his expression could still be tense at this moment, but Hu Po beside him couldn't help but twitched the corners of his mouth, and after a long while couldn't help but say: "This person has a big brain..."

Gao Wen: "He is one of Victoria's ancestors..."

Amber: "This is what Dazhi Ruoyu said..."

"It's just that he has a special personality," Gawain said solemnly and calmly, pointing to the following words, "Let's go on, he's trying to approach those shadow dwellers in a special way."

Amber quickly shut up, and moved her head closer—even though she couldn't understand, she still followed Gawain's fingers and looked down:

"...The shadow dwellers seem to be extremely repulsive to outside uninvited guests. They regard me as an intruder in the real world, so they refuse to communicate again and again. So what if I make myself look like a creature living in the shadow world?

"This idea is bold and feasible. I know some special rituals and potions-a large dose of shadow potion may not be so friendly to the stomach, but it may make those shadow dwellers friendly to me, and a little stomach discomfort will not be so important...

"On X-month-X... I completed the ceremony according to the above ideas, transformed myself into a shape similar to a shadow creature, and took a sufficient amount of shadow potion. I found an old friend who knew shadow spells, and he said I 'look like a shadow' now, so I must be safe.

"I decided to try to get in touch with those shadow dwellers tonight—the shadow power in me will also reach its peak at that time, and my disguise must be flawless.

"On X, X, I didn't call.

"When I came back I experienced severe diarrhoea.

"...(Ancient Gondor foul language) (Anzu foul language) (Northern foul language) (unsightly foul language)"

Chapter 0899 Interleaved Mapping

After knowing what was written in the old mottled travel notes, Amber suddenly had a feeling of "why am I wasting my time here looking at this stuff"—so much so that she even forgot about this book for a while How special the book is, I forgot that my adoptive father lost his life because of this book.

But then again, it would be even more sad for her to think of this fact at this time - the content of this book was too much beyond her expectations.

But soon she noticed Gao Wen's serious expression, and realized from this expression that there must be some useful content in the follow-up of Mordir's travel notes.

"His attempt succeeded in the end," Gao Wen said as he turned a page, pointing to the content on it, "The things behind this... contain a lot of information."

Only then did Amber quickly rectify her expression, and once again moved her head closer——

"On XX, after... many failures, I think I've found a pattern.

"My camouflage plan was not successful, but it doesn't mean that there is something wrong with my thinking—trying to weaken the hostility of the shadow dwellers and allowing myself to 'blend in' is the right direction in itself. The problem is that my camouflage is only for It's very 'ingenious' for humans, but in the eyes of real shadow creatures, this disguise is probably very clumsy.

"So, when the shadow dwellers saw me, it might be as if humans in the real world saw a monster in human skin—the human skin was still bloody. Unsurprisingly, this can only lead to greater hostility and tension , It is understandable that I suffered more violent attacks.

"Recognizing the possibility, I decided to make a more radical switch, one that was... more risky than before.

"I took my soul out... using the method I 'learned' from a lich's head in the early years, plus a little improvement, so that I can maintain the 'humanity' of the soul, and I can return to it at any time original body.

"Here, I need to remind any subsequent readers-my method is not for reference, it is very dangerous and easy to lose control, even if you know the Lich stuff very well, don't be blindly confident, Consider yourself as powerful and knowledgeable as Mordir Wilder, my attempt is based on my own situation, and anyone who imitates me... well, I will be dead by then anyway, don't blame the mighty Mo Dill Wilder didn't make a warning."

"This person really has a brain problem!!" Amber finally couldn't help exclaiming, and blurted out vulgar words, "If you take out your soul, you have to go to the Shadow Realm to 'contact' those aborigines? Why is he so motivated? ?”

"... To be honest, I'm also a little surprised, this is beyond the courage of the pioneers... Maybe this is the persistence of the explorer," Gawain shook his head, "But no matter what, he succeeded."

Yes, this crazy operation of extracting the soul and then transforming it succeeded. Mordir Wilde wrote in his travel notes:

"...I succeeded, the feeling of observing the world from the perspective of the soul is amazing, and my body is lying there quietly now, and my old servant Malfoy is guarding 'it' nervously, which is imaginative The reunion even made me think of how I will look at the funeral a few years later... But now is obviously not the time to think about it.

"In the soul state, I can still use spells, and use spells to complete many actions that only living people can perform (such as writing things). I have completed the preparations for the ceremony. This time, I will transform my soul—no more The drag of the body, this kind of transformation will almost no longer carry any 'breath' of the material world, and the soul will not leave any traces after transformation, it will be the real shadow soul, almost exactly the same as those shadow dwellers... Theory That's it.

"I believe in my theory, in the name of Wilder.

"...On X, X, I came to the Shadow Realm again, in the form of a 'Shadow Soul'. After wandering around for a while, I finally caught the breath of those shadow dwellers again... wish me luck.

"I succeeded! I just completed a successful contact! I stood in front of the creature wrapped in strips, frankly, without any conflict, and everything went smoothly-the creature seemed to be very curious about me, he walked around He lingered at me for a while, but he didn't attack, and then he started muttering strange phrases to me... I want to emphasize these phrases, which are the language of the shadow dwellers. When we had conflicts before, they I also often mutter this kind of sleepy voice, but I couldn't understand it at all at that time, but the situation seems to have changed now-maybe it's because of the 'Shadow Soul', I think I can understand them vaguely meaning!

"It will take me a while to decipher the language of the shadow dwellers and get along well with some of them. They have intelligence and memory, as well as emotions and logic—although they don't seem to be the same as human beings, but I have experienced it deeply. Their emotions, so a good relationship is crucial to the next step..."

Gawain slowly flipped through the pages of the book, followed by a relatively boring description. Mordir Wilde wrote a lot in this part. Obviously, this wonderful adventure in the Shadow Realm meant a lot to him, and soon , his record has reached a more critical part:

"...I have been in this world for a long time, and I only return occasionally to replenish my soul energy and confirm the situation in the real world (mainly old Malfoy's mental state, he was a little nervous when he was taking care of my body , I'm afraid he'll bury me if I don't show up for too long.) For now, I need to document my progress here.

"I can already communicate with those shadow dwellers, and the communication is relatively smooth.

"Surprisingly, these shadow dwellers are quite... friendly when they can communicate. They are not completely alienated, vicious and brutal creatures as I imagined. In fact, they even have some... Lazy and dull. I can only think of such words to describe them, because all the shadow dwellers I have contacted—without calling—showed similar characteristics. They wandered around the world in a daze, Slow thinking, no rich daily life, they don't seem to pay attention to changes in the world, don't think much about their own affairs, although they do have wisdom, they don't use it most of the time-which is very Chic.

"Of course, it's another situation for them to get angry... Since I have already described the relevant details before, I won't say more here.

"All in all, the shadow dwellers give me the feeling that they are... sleepwalking. They seem to be immersed in a half-awake dream and wander around because of it, but they are shallower than human 'sleepwalking'. They can talk to me Communication, as long as I take the initiative to contact and ask some questions repeatedly, there will be interpretations from the shadow residents. Although their interpretations are often muddled, at least I can be sure that they are communicating with me.

"I couldn't help but wonder, is the 'sleepwalking' of the shadow dwellers a normal characteristic of this race? It's like this when they are sane? There was a state of being completely 'awake'... I wasn't sure about that, or whether it was a good idea to 'wake them up', so no further attempts were made.

"After many exchanges, I learned some interesting knowledge from these shadow creatures, based on the knowledge of their worldview. They obviously know the material world, but they call our material world a 'shallow world', a weird Title, it took me a long time to understand what it means... Shallow world? Interesting.

"...After asking many times, the shadow dweller told me another word called 'deep world', which seems to correspond to 'shallow world'. When I inquired deeply about this word, I got an unbelievable Harvest——The shadow dwellers said that they were all born from the "deep world", but when I subconsciously asked whether the "deep world" was "this world" (the shadow world), they told me——No! !

"They were not born in the Shadow Realm. Although they wandered and survived in this space, the place where they were really born was a world called 'Deep Realm' that anthropologists had never known before!!

"I took into account the difference between the vocabulary of the shadow dwellers and the vocabulary of the world - they call the material world the 'shallow world', so their 'deep world' may correspond to a place known to humans, but the name is different, However, after many inquiries, I have not found any evidence in this regard... There is no evidence to prove what the 'deep world' mentioned by the shadow dwellers is, and this has become a mystery...

"I think I need to stay here a little longer.

"There is a shadow dweller who maintains a good relationship with me, and I began to try to get more 'knowledge' from him. Unfortunately, I can't write down the name of this new friend-the shadow dweller does not have a name, Although I tried to call him something, he didn't seem to like it... I'll just call him 'Brian' privately.

"Brian also failed to help me solve the mystery of the 'deep world'. In this regard, he revealed similar information to other shadow dwellers, but in more conversations, Brian told me some things outside the deep world. Thing... He mentioned the Shadow Dwellers themselves, he didn't care what the mortal races of the 'shallow world' called themselves, he just said - 'We walk on the edge of a dream, along the border of the waking world Wandering', these are his exact words...

"A sentence that is very mysterious and seems to be full of metaphors. I tried to interpret it, but I suffered from the lack of key clues. What is this 'dream'? Brian didn't answer...

"After many attempts, I can only conclude this: all the shadow dwellers are wanderers walking on the edge of the dream, this seems to be a dream from the deep world, this dream has been maintained for many years, and the shadow dwellers …They also seem to be part of this dream in a sense, at least they themselves think so. They wander along the border of the dream, walking around again and again, seeming to outline the dream and waking world in this way dividing line...

"I thought of my 'feeling' about them before - they are a half-dream and half-awake race, as if sleepwalking, I think I have found the evidence of this feeling, they are really 'sleepwalking'...

"It creeps me out a bit, and furthermore... 'waking up' these shadow dwellers might not really be a good idea.

"In addition to the progress I got on the treacherous 'Dream of the Deep World', 'Brian' also helped me understand more about the Shadow Realm, the Deep Realm, and the Shallow Realm...

"They said that there is a certain connection between the 'deep world' and the 'shallow world', the two actually overlap, but the deep world and the shallow world cannot be directly connected, and only a few gifted people have ever noticed The moment they intersect, but those lucky ones cannot comprehend it, it is beyond human intelligence...

"They also talked about the 'homeland', the mysterious 'deep world'. They said that the deep world was not static. When the shadow dwellers were first born, it was a safe and beautiful place - I'm not sure about the shadow dwellers Whether the "beauty" in the mouth and the "beauty" in the eyes of ordinary people in the material world are the same concept, the aesthetic views of the two races may be very different, but I can feel it from "Brian" and several other familiar shadow dwellers To that kind of loss and depression - that stable and beautiful deep world is no longer there.

"In 'Bryan' terms, it is now a distorted, desolate, desolate realm that is gradually moving towards madness, the deep world is coming to an end, although it has also experienced a short-lived 'recovery', but the overall decline and perish It seems that it has been unstoppable... Therefore, the shadow dwellers left the deep world and wandered in the shadow world closer to the "shallow world".

"In addition, they also mentioned one thing, which is a big thing-it is not often recorded as a big thing in the whole muddled shadow-dwelling peoples, such a situation-they mentioned that not all The shadow dwellers are all hovering on the edge of the eternal "dream of the deep world". There was once an individual who accidentally fell into the "trap of soberness" and left the sight of the group by taking a wrong step...

"'Brian' told me that was the only Shadow Dweller ever to 'wake up'.

"Of course, the Shadow Dwellers don't have a 'history', 'ever since' is just an adjective.

"The strange thing is that although the shadow dwellers called this matter a 'big matter', they didn't seem to care much about it during the conversation. They didn't want to retrieve the 'missing' clansman, even though they included' Many shadow dwellers including Bryan expressed regret for this, but they didn't seem to care more about it...

"I asked Brian about this, and he had an interesting answer, saying—

"'Why bother looking—eventually we're all going to wake up'."

Chapter 0900 Another Record

Amber raised her head, just in time to meet Gao Wen's calm and deep gaze.

"And...then?" She couldn't help asking curiously.

Gao Wen turned to the next page of the travel notes, and among the mottled and ancient notes, the last few paragraphs of this record gradually unfolded in front of the reader:

"... Bryan's answer made me feel an inexplicable fear, and I believe that this fear has nothing to do with his words themselves——a kind of super-experienced, 'premonition' derived from the intuition of a transcendent brought this This kind of fear, I instinctively feel that what Brian mentioned is a rather bad situation, these shadow dwellers wandering on the edge of the dream of the deep world, maintaining the boundary between waking and dreaming, when they wake up collectively... I'm afraid it's not a good thing.

"The only good news is that this kind of thing doesn't seem to happen in the short term - so Brian replied. He said: We will wake up eventually, but it seems that this stage is still far away, The dream of the deep world was once on the verge of waking up, but not long ago, it has regained its stability, and this stability may last for a long time.

"I asked him what caused the fluctuation of the dream of the deep world, what made it wake up, and what made it stabilize-but Brian didn't answer, and he returned to the state of sleep talking and wandering. Then I tried I tried it a few times, including trying it on other shadow dwellers, and the results were similar. It seemed that as soon as this problem was involved, they would immediately enter a deeper dream... This further aggravated my uneasiness.

"On X, X...the investigation that went on for days without progress was frustrating, and even more frustrating...I found myself at the point where I had to leave.

"Unknowingly, I have been staying in this world dominated by shadow power for too long, even if I have the opportunity to return to the material world to recuperate, I am still under the influence of shadow power here—without a physical body as the basis 'Under the circumstances, the loss and assimilation of the soul is faster than expected. If I don't return, my soul will be irreversibly damaged, and even... I will become a member of this place forever.

"On X, X, it's time to say goodbye, to say goodbye to Brian, and to other shadow dwellers. Although we are not a race, and even I used a disguise to lurk by their side, I did and these mysterious people Creatures had a fulfilling time...they were unsettling but also brought me unimaginable knowledge that I think I will always remember and these special 'friends'.

"Before I leave, I will take off my shadow soul form and say goodbye to Brian and the others. This is a bit risky, but it is more in line with my principles, and I think... getting along for many days can at least change something, these shadows Residents also have reason and memory, maybe they will accept me as a special 'friend'...

"On X, X, I didn't call.

"Forget it, that's it. Any journey has its end, at least this journey is very fulfilling. It's time for me to go back to old Malfoy and get my body back—goodbye, Shadowlands."

"The main record ends here." Gao Wen raised his head from the travel notes and looked into Amber's eyes. "After this, there are two short paragraphs. Mordir Wilde mentioned that he returned once after his body recovered. Shadow Realm, but he failed to find those shadow dwellers—they seemed to have wandered elsewhere. And in the later years, due to his gradual aging and spending most of his energy on sorting out his early notes, he And never went back."

Amber opened her mouth, but she didn't say anything in the end. She took a step back, came to the chair by the desk, sat on it, and stared blankly at the travel notes on Gao Wen's desk, looking a little lost.

"The text on it...reveals a lot," Gao Wen said, "a lot of information about the Shadow Realm, about the shadow dwellers... and the mysterious shallow and deep realms. But I think the most important thing is for you The... should be..."

"A member who 'woke up' early and disappeared from the sight of the clansman... Then it should be me," Amber took a breath, and seemed to have regained her strength. She pointed to herself, "judging by the timeline , when Mordir Wilde was active, I should be sleeping in the Shadow Fortress... in the form of an artificial human embryo. The scholars of the Gondor Empire captured the souls of the shadow dwellers and successfully injected one of them into the artificial human Inside, that's where I come from."

"Yes, we all know about this." Gawain nodded, "Now it seems that your adoptive father should have learned part of the content of Mordir's travel notes from some sources back then, and learned that your life experience may be mentioned in it." , to take the risk of stealing it."

"But it's too worthless." Amber looked at the Mordir's travel book and whispered as if talking to herself, "The content on it...is not worth it! I don't care how I got here , wouldn't it be nice to live in seclusion in the countryside?"

"But he probably thinks it's necessary," Gao Wen shook his head, "and most likely he's not sure about the real content of this travel note, let alone that he would miss it. All of this is not something he can decide in advance."

Amber couldn't help muttering: "He's an idiot, dawdling in the countryside has long since worn out his skills as a hidden knight, yet he still thinks he's that elite royal shadow guard back then..."

"...It mentioned the 'birth' of the shadow dwellers." Gawain glanced at Amber, and didn't say anything to comfort him, but went directly to other topics, "They were born in a dream in the 'deep world', and this The persistence of the dream keeps them in their current state, they are wandering in the shadow realm, in fact, they are wandering on the boundary between dreams and waking... Can you understand what this means?"

Amber thought for a while and shook her head: "I don't know—although I can communicate with the shadow dwellers, they have never told me about it, but I can ask if I have a chance."

Then she added: "Of course, I have some conjectures of my own... I think the descriptions of the 'deep world' and the 'dream of the deep world' by the shadow dwellers are probably related to a place..."

Gao Wen frowned, and quickly guessed Amber's meaning based on the information he had: "You mean... the Shadow Realm?"

"If the real world we live in is a 'shallow world' to the shadow dwellers, and if the shadow world is an 'intermediate layer' between the deep world and the shallow world to them, then the shadow world... has a lot to offer. It may be the 'deep world' they call," Amber nodded and said, "From the perspective of spatial relationship, the Shadow World is also the deepest place among the several 'boundary layers' we know so far, so this aspect is still very important. possible."

"Then what is their so-called 'dream of the deep world'?" Gawain frowned and said, "There is nothing in the Shadow Realm... So far, except for a god of nature hiding in it and pretending to be dead , we found nothing there, let alone dreams."

"Do you think that giant deer Amorn will know anything?" Amber said while thinking, "He seems to have been in the Shadow Realm for a long time, and as a god, he must know more than us .”

"If possible, I would like to avoid getting 'knowledge' from Amon as much as possible," Gao Wen thought for a while and said seriously, "Intuition tells me that there is a great risk in it—the risk does not come from Amoen's "maliciousness" is a kind of "rule" that even Amoen himself cannot control. Since ancient times, countless mortals have encountered terrible fate after being over-exposed to the knowledge of the gods. The matter itself is the next step.

"Of course, if there is no other way in the end, and we urgently need to dig deeper into the secrets of the Shadow Realm, then asking Amorn is also an option, but before that... we'd better tell the scholars of the empire first, Let them find a way to use 'mortal wisdom' to solve this problem."