Chapter 1151 - 1150: Return and Arrival
Chapter 1151: Chapter 1150: Return and Arrival
Faded, desolate, vast and limitless, filled everywhere with a twisted and distorted sense of visual displacement.
Modir sat alone in the deserted sailor’s restaurant, feeling as if he were deeply entrenched in a bizarre and abnormal space-time. Everything he saw and heard here seemed as though separated by a thick curtain, and the reinforced window before him was the embodiment of that curtain—the vast yet barren "desert" outside the window was the opposite side of the curtain, where the truth he sought for a long time was hidden.
Yet he had a feeling that for now, that place was somewhere he absolutely should not tread.
The two voices had already vanished at some moment, and the entire world fell into silence. He looked outside to the desert, seeing the immense figure leaning against the throne or altar as if it were caught in an absolute stillness. The gray-white cracks that covered its body suddenly began to animate, gradually spreading outwards. Behind this colossal black silhouette, deep in the distant desert, he vaguely saw a mirage-like scene that appeared hazy and indistinct. It seemed there was a black city there, but in an instant it vanished into thin air as pale sandstorm swept across...
Suddenly, Modir felt the environment around him shake. In the next second, chaotic light and shadow filled his vision, and all the previously vanished sounds returned to his perception—the adventurers’ conversations, the mechanical operations deep within the cabin, the sounds of waves and wind, and the slightly anxious call of the huntress Miss Lora, "Mr. Modir? Mr. Modir, are you okay?!"
The old mage finally freed himself entirely from that soul-separated daze, and the confused lights and shadows before him quickly reassembled into a normal picture. He saw himself back in the sailor’s restaurant crowded with adventurers—bright lights, vivid colors, many faces still showing tension due to the chaotic turbulence that had not yet dispersed from this place, while the sea outside the porthole gradually returned to calm. The terrifying storm had ended, and the turbulent magical currents above the sea were also gradually calming, leaving only high-altitude colorful light curtains hinting that the previous storm was not another episode of illusion pieced together from his disordered, fragmented memories.
He shook his head hard again, finally focusing his sight on the huntress before him, "I... I seemed to have had some hallucination just now..."
"Just hallucination?" The huntress noticeably relaxed when she saw the old mage return to his senses, but then immediately widened her eyes, "You really don’t remember what happened just now?!"
"Just now?" Modir rubbed his forehead hard, "I only remember the storm hit, magic turbulence... Ah, I also remember discussing with you the theoretical issues behind chaotic turbulence, and how to verify environmental changes in high altitudes... after that, I don’t remember anything, I just feel like I had a... bizarre dream."
Lora quickly glanced around, confirmed nobody was paying attention, then leaned closer to whisper, "Just now, part of your body suddenly turned transparent!! Just the part near the window—I could even see the column on the other side through your body! You really don’t remember?"
"Me? My body turned transparent?" Modir pointed at himself in shock, but the huntress before him seemed to have no reason to joke about such matters, "Sorry, I don’t recall at all... Did anyone else see it?"
"I was the only one who saw it," Lora recalled briefly and affirmed—as a non-human hunter with sharp perception, she always had great confidence in her observational ability, "Everyone’s attention was on the storm outside—and the part of your body that became transparent was exactly in most people’s blind spot."
"That’s good." Modir showed an expression of relief, then fell into thought, starting to carefully organize the incredible phenomena he experienced in that short period of time. Regardless of the secrets behind these visions, all of it started happening after approaching Talronde, which seemed to confirm his long-held, inexplicable pursuit of this Far North Continent. It made him vaguely aware he was on the right path.
"Sir, have you experienced this before?" Lora couldn’t help her curiosity and asked, her tone carrying a bit of additional respect, "What exactly is this phenomenon..."
"Sorry, young lady, I’m afraid I can’t answer you because I’m just as perplexed myself," Modir interrupted her before she could finish and waved his hand casually. The large leather-bound book he carried floated out from his pocket, pages fluttering and turning until it reached a blank page, "So now I need more information to help crack this mystery—please try to recall, when did I start acting strangely? How long did the entire process last? Besides becoming transparent, was there anything else odd about me? How was the environment outside at the time? How far was the magic turbulence from our ship?"
Lora was stunned by the old mage’s barrage of questions, her expression hesitant, but after noticing the overly serious look on his face, she sighed, hesitance giving way to a helpless smile.
How to say this... It’s truly worthy of someone who calls himself a great adventurer, this constant fervor for research is something beyond the reach of most people.
...
Byron stood high on the captain’s platform, eyes fixed intently on the holographic images projected by the nearby magic crystals. The external surveillance device’s feed displayed the current conditions of the sea surface, while another projection device, equipped with a "Detection" filter effect, showed a parallel image of the entire area’s magic flows gradually calming.
At last, he gently exhaled, "The chaotic turbulence has disappeared, the sea is settling down—we brushed against the edge with no incident, truly a close call."
"I told you we wouldn’t collide," Cassandra slithered alongside the captain’s platform, wrapping her tail around a column, her upper body swaying casually as she spoke, "You have to trust a professional navigator’s judgement..."
"Honestly, sometimes I really have difficulty trusting your navigation," Byron glanced at the sea demon, muttering, "Don’t forget how you originally swam to Talronde..."
Cassandra immediately widened her eyes, "At least I was heading in the right direction then—you’d switch for Tiel, and by now we’d probably be in Northport."
Byron’s expression stiffened, recalling his experiences with these deep-sea characters over recent days brought a dull ache from his forehead to his toes. He quickly shook his head to reel in his thoughts when suddenly, almost simultaneously, a naval officer’s shout came from below, interrupting his and Cassandra’s conversation, "Talronde! We can see the coastline!"
The great sun filled the sky, glorious daylight spilling from thin clouds above. The storm induced by the recent chaotic turbulence had vanished as though it was never there, leaving only vast, endless seas and the distant coastline reflecting a bright glow from the sun. Large and small ice floes and majestic icebergs gently slid past the route’s edge, with the Winter fleet sailing against tiny white waves, the bows of nine mechanical ships pointed confidently toward the legendary Dragon Kingdom that has been considered mythical for centuries.
The people who sheltered within the ship during the storm heard of the approaching land, and quickly emerged from cabins and below decks, coming to the spacious deck to gaze towards the distance. At this moment, regardless of whether they were carefree adventurers or well-trained Imperial sailors, all couldn’t help but feel excited in the face of this completely unfamiliar land, even bursting into many sentiments—
There it was, a new continent. Human beings (and other intelligent creatures living on the Loren Continent) had been confined to the land for so many long years, and now, they finally reached the new continent for the first time... it was right before their eyes!
Byron Kirk stepped onto the deck, and the polar winds meant little to someone like him, a Transcendent, or to well-equipped sailors and adventurers. The wind blowing in their faces only kindled bravery in the hearts of these sea pioneers. This officer of the Empire, with a mercenary background and a life full of rough journeys, gazed at the distant undulating coast, unable to help but take a deep breath: "Talronde—"
Half a minute later, an orderly dressed in a neatly pressed uniform and sporting short brown hair couldn’t help but cough lightly beside him, "Sir, if you really can’t make it up, just don’t recite poetry..."
"Who said I was going to recite poetry?" Byron’s face twitched, immediately turning to glare at the aide, "I was just sighing—that we’ve been drifting at sea for days, is it not okay to express that?"
"Of course it is, it’s your call," the aide said, maintaining a serious look with all his might. Simultaneously, a few black shadows suddenly appearing far away caught his and Byron’s attention, "Wait a minute, Sir, it seems something is flying over from the direction of the land..."
Byron immediately looked towards the distant coastline, squinting slightly before breaking into a smile: "Looks like they’re here to welcome us—sending a welcoming party from so far away, those Dragonkin are really quite enthusiastic."
The dragons flew swiftly, and before Byron’s words had faded, those shadows that flew from Talronde had already reached a distance that ordinary people could easily see. The sailors and passengers of the fleet began to wave their arms excitedly at these massive creatures. On the Iceborne Mary, some adventurers even climbed onto nearby high platforms and masts—these jubilant fellows shouted loudly at the distant land and the dragons in the sky, calling out slogans like "New Continent" or "New Witness," which they felt were fitting markers for the start of a grand adventure, venting their excitement, and also releasing the pressure of drifting on the sea for consecutive days, accompanied by storms.
Then, these people would be individually ushered down by the crew who snapped back to their senses.
Rays of light rose from two escort ships behind the Winter, and the Dragonkin on escort duty transformed into their Dragon Forms, soaring into the sky to meet and communicate with the fellow kin who had come to meet the fleet; the sky resounded with the regal low roars of the dragons, the sound even shaking the thin clouds high above, smoothing the choppy sea.
Listening to the deep dragon roars, Byron couldn’t help but glance to his side—not all the escorting dragons had taken to the sky; the Black Dragon Mokrul had stayed on the Winter, and Byron consulted him, with whom he was already slightly acquainted after many days of traveling together: "What are they communicating about? It sounds quite serious."
Mokrul looked up at the sky, listening as he casually translated, "Why are they so slow, delayed on the way?" "How’s the food on the Loren side? Can you get used to human food?" "The dragon egg you adopted cracked a line this morning, better check on it after you get back, might catch it hatching..."
Byron listened in complete disbelief, finally unable to help but interrupt Mokrul’s translation: "Is that all?"
"Yeah, that’s about it, what else would it be?" The Black Dragon glanced at Byron, "Isn’t this quite normal for a greeting?"
"I thought it would be more serious, more...something," Byron spread his hands, seemingly trying to illustrate what "something" was, yet obviously failing, "I didn’t expect..."
"This isn’t a particularly grave diplomatic occasion," Mokrul found Byron’s reaction odd instead, "everyone’s just saying hello—in fact, we weren’t used to doing this in the past, but after the war, all surviving kinsfolk formed closer bonds than before; we’re all dragons from the Coastal Shire, so we all know each other... Speaking of it, isn’t this how you humans greet one another?"
Byron found himself momentarily speechless: "..."
Just then, another peculiar sound of flapping wings came from high up, catching Byron and the others’ attention.
The sound seemed to fly straight towards the Winter, accompanied by a certain mechanical whirr indicating some machinery in motion, prompting Byron to instinctively look up—a Red Dragon, noticeably smaller than a normal dragon, entered his view, flying towards the deck.
This Red Dragon was dressed in gleaming sturdy steel armor, mechanical structures on its dragon wings opened with radiating grilles, and a distinct iron chin gleamed brilliantly in the sunlight, allowing experienced individuals to recognize it instantly not as a dragon from Talronde, but as a "Dragonborn" from the Sacred Dragon Kingdom.
Why was there a Dragonborn here?
Byron had just raised this question in his mind when he saw the gleaming iron chin approach within a few hundred meters of the deck, causing nearby sailors to nervously tense up. But just as Byron himself began to wonder whether the iron chin was going to come and stab him, a ray of light suddenly enveloped the entire Red Dragon, and its armored body rapidly shrank within the glow, revealing a tall human silhouette that gracefully jumped to the deck of the Winter from high above.
With a "bang," the red-haired figure landed on one knee in front of Byron—a height that would be enough to kill an ordinary human on impact—but she stood up slowly without a scratch and turned her gaze upon Byron.
Byron looked astonished at the lady who had literally descended from the sky, and finally spoke after a moment: "A...Asuna?"
Asharena, who had just stepped forward, stumbled at his words, her mouth visibly twitching as she stared at Byron: "Maybe... you’d like to think about that again?"
(Wishing everyone a Happy New Year! Good health!!!
PS: Doubling monthly ticket period, asking for monthly tickets!!!)