Chapter 25: The Gate of Eternity
Although Israel appeared quite confident in his discovery, Joshua showed little reaction.
The [Void Observatory], built at the cost of three hundred years of the Empire's national strength, was a fortress on the outer side of the world, similar to the radio telescopes of Earth in his previous life. Through the superposition of twelve layers of Legendary-rank rune structures, its observation array could pierce through the chaotic and disordered temporal turbulence, observing distant other worlds. Unlike the other three great wonders, the Observatory was equipped with a special filtering array for 'life'. Within its observation array, all worlds without life signals were removed, leaving only the scattered, star-like life worlds in the darkness.
The [Sentry Array], jointly managed by the Sky-Piercing White Tower and the Seven Luminaries Council, had its main ability to control all information of the void outside the Mycroft World. Its range was relatively close, and most of the time, it could only detect world fragments within the temporal turbulence in advance, such as the Fusion Core Star and similar things. Due to the previous extinguishing of the Mycroft World's flame, the world's outer membrane was unstable, and the Sentry Array rooted upon it could not exert its full effect. It had to be constantly vigilant against the occasional spatial ripples, so it should now be able to display greater power than in his previous life.
The [Saint's Eye], presided over by the Church of the Seven Gods and jointly built with the Elves, the Far South Kingdom, and the Commercial Alliance, had an unknown function and was the most mysterious void wonder. However, based on the previous life where the Seven Gods once used this wonder to search for the Five-Colored Dragon God who fled into the Abyss after defeat, some boldly speculated that its function was 'detecting divine reactions' and 'observing Abyss seals'. It could locate all deities around the Mycroft World and also detect the invasion of Abyss Lord-level demons in advance. This was probably why the Church of the Seven Gods could always warn against Abyss sneak attacks.
The [Stellar Vision], jointly built by the three psychic kingdoms of the Western Mountain, was the smallest and newest of the wonders. Its ability was peculiar: it collected and organized information within the temporal turbulence. In a sense, it was a large-scale, indiscriminate radio receiver. If handled properly, it could detect anomalies from distant parts of the multiverse very early on. For example, the early detection of this Great Magic Tide was due to mages stationed in the Stellar Vision noticing the trajectory changes and violent energy flows of distant worlds.
The Void Observatory that Israel controlled was indeed the most powerful and greatest magical structure in this world, the supreme crystallization of a civilization, a 'world-multiverse' level observation method built at an immense cost by a transcendent civilization three hundred years ago, when everyone was still using cold weapons for warfare. But the question was, what could he discover?
— The remnants of the Grandia World in the Carlis World?
At the first moment, Joshua thought of this, because the Observatory was a wonder specialized for observing life worlds, so it was not strange that it immediately discovered that the nearby Carlis World had life again.
— Or had he noticed the Path of the Sage lit by His Majesty Xing Zheng?
This was also possible. Although theoretically, the Observatory could only see life worlds, by increasing consumption and temporarily canceling the filtering runes, it could also observe the distant multiverse to a certain extent. However, that would cause the information to be mixed with a large amount of disordered temporal turbulence, resulting in terrifying energy consumption.
Israel did have such authority, but he probably wouldn't notice it. After all, what the God of Might lit was not a real world, but the Order Force left by the Sage. Without this power, the Emperor would at most feel that a certain star was slightly conspicuous, not that it was bright enough to form a path.
Joshua could think of many other possibilities, but he was too lazy to bother. After all, it probably wasn't anything important. Meanwhile, Israel had already led him out of the main hall and into the depths of a hidden palace.
This was a hidden palace located in the center of the Morlai Palace, almost a small hut. It was short and inconspicuous, its mottled, moss-covered surface making this ancient-looking building more like a sculpture than an accessible structure. Joshua sensed layers upon layers of powerful magical energy surrounding this hut, forming a structure like three Möbius strips, completely locking and hiding its 'presence', 'space', and 'energy'.
If a warrior had not achieved Legendary status and possessed the 'vision' to directly see the Steel Force, he would not be able to detect the existence of this hut without destroying these three Möbius strips. At this moment, Israel raised his right hand. On the index finger of this Emperor's right hand was a ring with a simple design but engraved with...
No! Joshua frowned, looking at this seemingly unremarkable ring. After a moment, he nodded slightly—although this ring looked like a ring, it was actually a rune structure entirely composed of 'arcane power' and 'information'. It had no physical form, only serving as a key to activate some peculiar arrays. Israel noticed the warrior's gaze, smiled slightly, then clenched his fist, extended his right hand, and touched the array on the outer layer of the hut.
A faint blue light flickered, opening a door on the seamless array that allowed only one person to pass at a time. Israel walked in first, his voice coming from beyond the door: "Come, Lord Radcliffe. The teacher is waiting for us."
Nostradamus? Hadn't he just finished the ceremony and should still be around the main hall receiving congratulations from others?
This thought flashed through Joshua's mind for an instant, then was quickly extinguished. To quibble about such things with a Legendary Mage who mastered time and space would be foolish. The master had ten thousand ways to depart later than everyone else yet arrive at the destination earlier.
The warrior stepped through the door, and the powerful yet unobtrusive array closed behind him, sealing the ancient hut. Joshua looked around curiously and asked, "Where is this? I've never heard of such a hidden place within the Morlai Palace."
Under the isolation of the triple sealing array, the inside and outside of the array could be said to be two different worlds. The warrior could even confirm that the spatial coordinates here had indeed been shifted. It existed both in the center of the Imperial Capital's Morlai Palace and in another place in this world. Besides this, he also smelled an ancient scent in this narrow space—not the rotten smell of decay, but a heaviness settled from a long history.
"This is the palace where the founding emperor of the Northern Empire lived."
Standing before this ancient building, Israel looked up at the mottled stone wall. The man with short, dark-gold hair spoke in a calm tone: "That is, the first building of the Imperial Capital on the Three Mountains—the ancestor completed it with his own hands and planned the entire city around it."
He seemed about to say more, but suddenly, from the now-empty window of this ancient building, four points of light, each flickering with a different color, flew out. These points of light danced joyfully in the air like fireflies, then rapidly approached Israel.
These light points flew very fast, reaching twice the speed of sound, but probably due to their minimal mass, they did not create shockwaves or sonic booms. Both Joshua and Israel could easily catch these light points, but neither moved, letting them fly.
"Little Iser! You haven't come to visit us in a long time!"
"You're even more boring than your father! Until his return, he at least came by every few months to enjoy some 'peace and quiet', but you only come once every year or two!"
"Why are you here this time? Are you here to play cards with us? Let me tell you, we've developed a new game recently..."
"Dudulu~"
The four colored light points paused around Israel, then condensed into four semi-transparent humanoid figures, each about the size of two fingers of an ordinary person. These figures' bodies were entirely composed of pure energy, similar to Firefly but more pure 'psionic bodies'. They had elf-like features, and their bodies flowed with materialized elemental arcane power.
Golden-red light, semi-transparent ripples like ice and water, flowing distorted air, and material particles with a black, cold sheen—these four semi-transparent, tiny beings, though seemingly fragile, each possessed powerful energy fluctuations between Gold and Ultimate rank. And judging by their tone, it seemed that Israel and his father were merely their juniors.
"Flame, Flow, Wind, and Dust. I've been very busy lately, so I haven't had time to visit you all... I'll be more relaxed from now on."
Naming these four, Israel smiled and said, "I'm here this time to take someone to the Fairyland. Last time you said that 'that thing's' orbit had reached the vicinity of the Fairyland. I thought it might be clearer to see it from your place."
"That thing, indeed, it's right next to the Fairyland now." The golden-red tiny figure—a mature fairy with long hair who controlled the power of flame—patted her almost non-existent chest and said in a bold tone, "Bringing a few people to see it is your freedom, as long as it doesn't affect the other fairies having fun!"
"So you're not here to see us..." Another, more petite and girlish water-flow fairy pouted sulkily. She pulled a quiet fairy surrounded by a gentle breeze and flew back into the ancient hut: "Let's go, let's go. There's no point talking to such a heartless little one! Wind, come play chess with me!"
"Hey, I haven't explained my newly invented cards to Little Iser yet..." Though she said this, the fairy named Wind also understood that Israel was here for business today, so she pulled another black-haired fairy who seemed to be standing still beside Israel, forcibly dragging her back into the hut: "Alright, let's go back together and refine the rules..."
"Du, dudulu?!" The black-haired fairy let out a confused cry, then was dragged back into the hut, leaving only the golden-red glowing fairy beside Israel. However, she soon followed her companions back inside.
The Emperor shrugged at Joshua: "You know what they are, right?"
Only a fool wouldn't recognize them as fairies, the warrior thought.
And Israel, seeing that Joshua already knew their race, slowly explained: "The ancestor once stumbled into the fairies' dwelling, the Fairyland on the outer side of the world. For some reason, he gained the fairies' appreciation and help, receiving a set of indestructible armor and a ring that could command the elements."
As he spoke, he raised his hand, showing the warrior the rune ring on his right index finger: "Of course, it only has the power to command the elements when the four fairy ladies—the ones who signed the contract with my ancestor back then—are residing in the ring. Normally, it's just a key to open the array."
Joshua nodded slightly. The founding emperor of the Northern Empire receiving help from the fairies was a widely circulated street legend among the people. In fact, there was quite a bit of evidence supporting this claim. For example, two of the three entry points to the Fairyland in the Mycroft World were within the Northern Empire's territory, and the third was on the Central Life Tree of the Far South Elves. If this one in the Imperial Capital was counted, then three out of four entry points were in the Northern Empire.
"This is both the nameless palace in the center of the Imperial Capital and an ancient relic on the island in the center of Eternal Song Lake. The ancestor agreed with the fairies that after his death, his soul and body would return to the Fairyland, and his dwelling would become an entry point for the fairies to connect with the Mycroft Continent. The four fairy ladies maintain its existence."
After briefly clarifying the relationship between the Imperial Royal Family and the fairies, Israel began to explain why he had brought Joshua here. In this extremely secret place, where no one could spy, the Emperor seemed much more relaxed: "About half a month ago, Teacher Nostradamus and I, through the observation array of the Void Observatory, discovered a massive space-time distortion point within the turbulence of the Great Magic Tide. In the decades or centuries before that, no one had noticed its existence. If not for the violent scouring of the Great Magic Tide, it might have remained hidden for another few decades or centuries."
"This massive space-time distortion point moves. It slowly rotates around the Mycroft Continent in a very peculiar orbit. According to calculations, it completes one rotation every four hundred years or so. A few days ago, it just left the Observatory's observation angle, but I also received communication from the fairies—they saw this distortion point as well."
Fairies had no male or female gender. They, or rather, they were a peculiar life form composed of pure energy, able to shape their bodies according to their preferences. In the early days of ancient civilization, they were all clusters of glowing light balls in various elemental gathering places. But because the first foreign intelligent life they encountered was an elven woman, they mostly communicated with the outside world in the form of elves and female figures.
Israel's explanation continued. He opened the door of the ancient building and led Joshua inside. Although the hut seemed decayed on the outside, the interior was clean and tidy, probably thanks to the fairies. The Emperor said softly, "The Empire was only able to build the Void Observatory with the help of the fairies. Their understanding of time and space is extraordinarily high; otherwise, they couldn't live in the Fairyland on the outer side of the world. Of course, other regions were similar, either receiving help from deities or possessing precious data blueprints from ancient ruins."
But at this moment, Joshua had no mind to listen to Israel's explanation of the relationship between the Diamond family and the Fairy clan. His heart was stirred, because what Israel had just said contained news that was extremely shocking to him. It was a surprise that people of this era could never understand, and also a subtle familiarity of something known reappearing in the world.
— Not the Path of the Sage, nor the remnants of the Carlis World. What Israel discovered was the massive space-time distortion point near the Fairyland!
Perhaps this statement didn't mean much yet, but if another name were used, one might understand the shock in the warrior's heart.
The Astral Void, the outer side of the world, an ancient relic within the temporal turbulence, an artificial demiplane—[The Ancient Sacrificial Ground Connecting All Realms]!
That is, the 'Gate of Eternity' that was opened at the end of the Era of Radiance!