Chapter 1242 - 1241: Free Gift

Chapter 1242: Chapter 1241: Free Gift

A multitude of speculations flooded into Gawain’s mind at once; about the "Book of Wilder" mentioning the sentinels, and about the unsettling warnings. However, regardless of how these speculations were theorized, they inevitably lacked crucial and substantial clues – in the end, it was just idle contemplation.

"Wilder said he knows nothing about the ’sentinels’?" Awakened from his pondering, Gawain couldn’t help but look at Amber, confirming once more.

"That’s what he said," Amber nodded, "In fact, he doesn’t even know the contents of his ’book’. If I hadn’t suddenly decided to flip through it, he wouldn’t have realized he could be opened – it seems his cognitive state has issues, like Maji mentioned, Modir’s memories have many gaps. Now it seems Modir probably has similar symptoms."

"...Do you think the cause of Modir Vealt’s division might be that ’sentinel’?" Gawain mused, suddenly speaking up, "Let’s hypothesize that the sentinel is some dangerous entity with powerful abilities we haven’t yet understood, and Modir Vealt inadvertently encountered it during an adventure, leading to his division and leaving a strong impression about ’beware of sentinels’ in Wilder’s memory. But due to unknown reasons, this part of his memory disappeared, leaving only an unrecognized warning in the book..."

As Gawain finished speaking, Amber was nodding along, then remarked: "You know, I kind of guessed the same thing too... In so many stories, don’t adventurers encounter ancient specters, and after paying a huge price, they leave a message warning future generations, only to then suffer memory loss? It’s said that playwrights let the protagonist lose memory when the plot can no longer progress..."

Listening to the first part of Amber’s words, Gawain felt a comforting sense of alignment with his thoughts, thinking it was quite pleasing that the perspective of this shame upon all living things aligned with his own. But the next part made him feel foolish for trusting Amber’s words at all. Promptly shaking his head, he tried to eliminate the interference the Shadow Assault Goose had on his thoughts, his expression turning serious again: "Anyway, since you got that warning in the Kingdom of Shadows, this matter needs to be taken seriously. I’ll have Aunt Heidi arrange people to look up various texts, to see if any clues about the sentinels can be found... Also, we need to inquire Enya; as one of the oldest gods in this world, surely they know more than both of us..."

Listening to Gawain’s arrangements, Amber showed a pensive look and suddenly muttered to herself: "Actually, there’s one thing I’m quite curious about... Is the warning in that ’book’ really written for us? Or perhaps... is it only written for us?"

Gawain immediately frowned: "What do you mean?"

"Me entering the Kingdom of Shadows was entirely by accident – subsequently meeting Wilder and opening that book to see the warning on it, this was even more unpredictable. How could any mortal normally end up in a kingdom lost contact with the real world for over a million years to open a book that looks downright concerning? So... is the warning in that book really meant for mortals?"

Amber’s sudden question left Gawain stunned, only then realizing that there was indeed a cognitive error here – the warning was seen by Amber purely by coincidence, and the warning itself didn’t specify who it was for. Yet, both he and Amber instinctively thought the warning was for mortals... Is this judgment accurate?

Considering that the warning-laden "book" stayed within Lady Night’s kingdom, Gawain suddenly felt that the possible truth behind this matter might be much more horrifying.

While more disconcerting possibilities surged in his mind, his attention involuntarily returned to Amber, who recently had a bizarre experience: "Speaking of your entry into the Kingdom of Shadows... That must have had quite an impact on you, right?"

"Ah?" Amber seemed unprepared for Gawain to suddenly extend the topic to her, momentarily dumbfounded, and after two or three seconds finally reacted, "You’re actually concerned about me?"

"Nonsense, you’ve been clamoring to be the Shadow Chosen for years, always claiming to be quite devout, and suddenly you take a tour of the Kingdom of Shadows... Though you didn’t directly see Lady Night manifest, your mental state really isn’t affected?" Gawain’s gaze fell upon Amber, his tone as always teasing but with genuine concern in the depths of his eyes, "Whether or not you’re truly the Shadow Chosen, such an experience is no small matter for a believer..."

Amber blinked. Had this been earlier, she would certainly have immediately refuted Gawain’s skepticism about her being the Shadow Chosen and her devout attitude. But this time, she unusually didn’t rush to speak, instead quietly contemplating for a few seconds, as a serious expression seemed to rotate in her amber-colored eyes. This demeanor seemingly further affirmed Gawain’s worry – this self-proclaimed Shadow Chosen had really taken a spin in the Kingdom of Shadows and by the looks of it, was quite shaken.

But just as Gawain couldn’t help but want to continue speaking, Amber suddenly lifted her head, displaying a pure, warm, and clear smile rarely seen on her face.

"I don’t dwell on it anymore."

"Ah?" Gawain was at a loss, "You don’t dwell on it anymore?"

"I used to dwell on it, you know me being so carefree normally, but privately, I have many things I mull over. But this time, going to Lady Night’s kingdom... I discovered something, something even I hadn’t expected," Amber smiled, and somehow, an air of undeniable relaxation encircled her, an aura never before seen on her, "I found that... what my faith points to might not be Lady Night..."

Gawain never expected to hear this, immediately taken aback: "Your faith doesn’t point to Lady Night?"

"That’s right, not Her; I don’t know how to explain it... According to the research of the theocracy Authority Council, mortal faith shouldn’t have this kind of ’deviation’, but considering the unique state of faith in the shadow area, maybe I’ve encountered a low-probability event," Amber sighed, speaking while thinking, "In Lady Night’s kingdom, I felt Her presence, distinctly different from the ’voice’ I used to ’hear’. I suspect... the ’Goddess of Shadows’ I’ve always believed in may be someone else, an unknown, high existence, who transcends imagination."

Gawain was stunned, watching Amber still with a smile on her face, and couldn’t help but break the silence after a long while: "You can still laugh about this? Is this matter not more serious?! Your faith points towards Lady Night, at least we knew who usually responded to your prayers. Now you’re saying that who you believe in is an unknown entity, and if you tell this to Kamel, he could light up half the city on the spot; do you believe it?"

"So you’re finally not doubting that I can hear the gods’ voices normally now?" Amber showed no signs of tension, instead grew more impish and cheerful, "See, I’ve been saying I’m the Shadow Chosen, I’ve been Shadow Chosen for so many years now..."

"This isn’t the time for jokes," Gawain interrupted, "There is an unknown high existence responding to your prayers, which seems more serious than ’beware of sentinels’ – it’s not just about you. You should understand, although there are many gods, the ’Kehr’ able to respond to prayers have a confirmed number and names. They are born of thought tides, and the reflection mechanism of thought tides determines that they can neither hide their presence, nor disguise or falsify their clerical statuses... Are you sure you cannot ascertain which god this high existence responding to your prayers might be?"

"He says He is the Goddess of Shadows... but I don’t know the specifics," Amber finally subdued her cheeky smile and spoke more seriously, "In fact, my chance to communicate with Him isn’t frequent; although once the exchange is established, we can talk happily for a long time, mostly, between Him and me... it’s like separated by a great distance and cannot connect frequently. He rarely discusses matters of church or divine domains with me, and every time I inquire about this, He always expresses it’s too troublesome and that cooking is more interesting..."

Gawain wasn’t hearing this kind of absurd stuff from Amber’s mouth for the first time, but today was the first time he actually listened so intently, seriously contemplating as he did, and after Amber’s voice faded, he couldn’t help but speak: "You usually talk about only these things with your ’goddess’? Don’t you think something’s amiss?"

"I always thought other chosen are like this too!" Amber suddenly became righteous, "You know what I used to do, I had no chance to interact with big figures from various churches; I thought they were like this too – it was only in the past two years, as I interacted more with former ’big figures’, did I gradually realize something might be wrong with my situation, but only ’slightly realized’..."

"...It’s a wonder you’ve managed to live peacefully until now," Gawain couldn’t help but look Amber up and down with a peculiar expression, "Have you managed to live so happily just by being carefree?"

"What else?" Amber immediately widened her eyes and retorted even more confidently, "Rely on money and power? Do I look like someone who’s had those since childhood?"

Gawain mumbled to himself, realizing he really couldn’t argue with this goose...

But fortunately, Amber also knew that some things shouldn’t be joked about casually. She quickly waved her hand and said after a brief thought, "I know, an ambiguous High Existence like this makes people nervous. There are too many things in this world that mortals cannot contend with, and we have to tread carefully every step of the way. But there’s one thing I am certain of: the ’Goddess of Shadows’ I know... At least She is friendly."

"Of course, judging whether a High Existence is friendly from the perspective of a mortal might not be reliable, so my feelings are just for your reference."

Gawain pondered, and after thinking for a long time, he just nodded, neither agreeing nor disagreeing: "I understand."

He isn’t someone who would casually say "I believe you" in such a situation. His personality doesn’t allow him to do so, and neither does his position allow him to make judgments so easily.

"I will have the Divine Analysis Laboratory arrange some targeted tests as soon as possible to see if we can identify the High Existence you’ve connected with. Even if we can’t find Her, we need to figure out if She is one of the gods we know, and also check the ’connection’ status on you to see if there’s any risk of contamination. Do you have any objections to this?"

"Of course not," Amber immediately shook her head, "Following the rules is the way, I definitely can’t break the rules."

She and Gawain tacitly avoided mentioning the "termination of faith," because of an obvious fact:

Once a connection with a god is established, it’s not that easy to sever it unilaterally.

Afterwards, Gawain pondered for a moment and then said, "If you have another opportunity to connect with your ’Goddess of Shadows,’ remember to ask..."

"Of course, I will ask," Amber nodded before Gawain could finish, "I will ask who She really is, what She wants to do, and if there’s any connection between Her and Lady Night..."

Gawain slowly nodded.

After a few seconds of silence, Amber spoke again to break the quiet: "Also... actually, I have one more thing, it’s quite thrilling..."

Gawain immediately felt his heart, which he had barely managed to calm, start pounding again (he even slightly understood how My Little Pony felt when talking to him back then). He looked up at Amber, "How many thrilling things have you cooked up in just one afternoon?"

"Ah, this is the last one, really the last one," Amber hurriedly gestured with her hands, "Actually, I wanted to mention this at the beginning, but I thought official business should come first. I was worried that showing you this first might affect your subsequent mindset—not for any other reason, mainly because I discovered I might have... brought something back from Lady Night’s kingdom."

As she spoke, she raised her right hand slightly and gently rubbed her fingers in front of Gawain.

A wisp of grayish-white, water-like dust appeared out of nowhere at her fingertips, flowing onto the floor with a slight rustling sound. The gray-white hue spread where the dust covered, as if an otherworldly realm incompatible with the real world was covering this world.

Amber’s voice reached Gawain’s ears: "Even though I’ve confirmed that my faith doesn’t point to Lady Night, for some reason... I still feel connected to that ’kingdom,’ and I brought this back..."

Gawain looked in surprise as the dust piled up on the floor, listening to Amber’s voice in his ear, and finally widened his eyes: "Wait, you said what this thing is!?"

"Shadow Sand Dust," Amber stopped summoning the flowing dust and dispelled it into nothingness with a snap of her fingers, "I guess..."

"Guess?"

"Um... guess," Amber scratched her head, her expression turning odd, "because although this stuff looks very similar to the few grains Maggie brought back, there’s actually a big difference. After summoning them and testing them many times, I found that this sand seems to only serve as sand..."

Gawain: "...?"

"I mean... the grayish-white they spread is really just a layer of color, without any supernatural power in it. The sand itself also doesn’t have the ’transcendental force’ that completely isolates worldly interference. I grabbed some sand and rubbed it hard on the ground, and it even changed color, getting all black and messy..."

Gawain: "...No, why does this sound like a freebie?"