Chapter 1245 - 1244: The Door Gradually Opens

Chapter 1245: Chapter 1244: The Door Gradually Opens

The pale golden curtain, like a barrier separating reality from illusion, silently closed up beneath the golden oak tree, Gawain’s figure disappearing amidst the swirling fallen leaves, leaving the square tranquil once more.

Beside the square table, the oldest god and the deity governing nature and magic withdrew their gaze. Amon shook his head slightly and muttered, "He really can’t keep still..."

"If he ever actually gets some rest, we probably wouldn’t have the leisure to waste time here," the Goddess of Magic said casually, then glanced at Enya beside her, "He’s heading to Talronde... Don’t you have any thoughts on that?"

"That’s no longer a place where I can intervene," Enya said calmly, her voice deepening slowly. "I only hope everything goes smoothly with what he plans to do next... In Talronde, I truly left too much of a mess behind, and neither I nor the current Dragonkin can solve the problems at our doorstep. It goes against the Dragonkin’s way to let these burdens fall onto someone originally unrelated."

"Who hasn’t left a mess?" Amon suddenly chuckled. "We, the ones who ran here to avoid disturbances... have left all the troubles of the outside world to the mortals."

"After all, if we continued to linger in those positions, we’d only add to their chaos," the Goddess of Magic spoke leisurely as her gaze swept across the square table, "Ah, now it’s just the three of us—why don’t we switch from Mahjong to cards?"

"Can’t you think about anything else besides these things daily?" Amon muttered helplessly, casually brushing his hand across the ancient stone square table. The disorderly Mahjong tiles quietly transformed into playing cards. As he reached out to grab one, he continued to mumble, "You’ve almost become a card-playing bum lately..."

"Wasn’t it you who dragged me into card playing in the first place?" the Goddess of Magic retorted, glaring at the former God of Nature, but her hand didn’t slow down in reaching for a card. "What I originally did was meaningful, like helping the Administrator find breaches in the neural network... But Nariteer and those Administrators are truly unreasonable, not only not appreciating but always trouble me. Ultimately, card playing is more interesting. Ah, Lady Enya, are you free later?"

Enya glanced at the Goddess of Magic, holding the card in her hand, and casually replied, "I need to help with the kids in the evening, but there’s no other engagement before that. I can play with you for a while."

"Are the two little ones healthy?" Amon asked as he picked up a card, raising his head, "I heard the ’mutation’ caused by their deep blue magic contamination has been progressing lately. Let me know if you need my help."

"No issues, just normal development—the mark left by the deep blue magic has already become a part of their bodily structure. This part will evolve together with their growth, making it the most normal..." Enya replied casually but suddenly noticed the Goddess of Magic had a strange expression—this former Goddess of Magic seemed to be distracted and even forgot to grab a card, making Enya curious, "Lost in thought?"

"Wait, I suddenly feel... something’s not right..." the Goddess of Magic snapped, blinking with an expression of confusion, her gaze shifting slowly between Enya and Amon, "Sentinel... do you remember us discussing the Sentinel topic earlier?"

"Of course I remember, but we didn’t reach any conclusion," Amon responded casually but became serious upon noticing the Goddess of Magic’s expression, "Hmm? Did you... realize something?"

"No, I realized nothing," the Goddess of Magic slowly shook her head, her eyes seeming to gather a cloud of confusion. "I, like you, don’t know anything about the ’Sentinel.’ I suddenly feel something odd... like I’ve overlooked something important... but I don’t know what I overlooked."

"Is there an issue with your memory?" Amon immediately looked seriously at this "Goddess of Magic," "Theoretically, it’s impossible—gods’ memories are indestructible. I’ve never heard of a god experiencing memory loss."

"Check your state again," Enya put down her cards, her expression serious as she spoke in a deep voice. "If you can’t confirm the problem eventually... we must inform Gawain about this situation. Though it remains an insignificant clue, it could at least help him heighten his vigilance."

...

The late autumn winds howled across the vast, barren plains, connecting Winterwolf Fortress and Longwind Fortress, recently forming a cold whirlwind between the two on the plains. The alliance flag flying over Winterhold Castle fluttered in the wind, with dry dust and yellowed grass balls often seen swirling from unknown origins.

Winter is indeed approaching, yet for the technical and engineering teams stationed on this land, their fiery enthusiasm remains unwavering, day and night.

Around the castle built with boulders and molten metal, three enormous energy facilities stand proudly between heaven and earth. The iron-grey towers stand firm in the cold wind, surrounded by several pointed magic mechanisms built from metal and concrete, resembling giant "needles." Magic symbols glowing a pale blue emerge from the bases and shells of these magical facilities, and atop these pointed ends, bright magic sparks continuously jump around like lightning, forming arcane loops one after another—the release of powerful energy accompanies each spark flash. When approaching the towers, even ordinary people can feel a slight "magic infiltration" sensation like chills.

These sparks contain energy so immense even powerful mages struggle to gather effortlessly. In past eras, this energy was sufficient to maintain a medium-sized Mage tower. However, here, the fusion of advanced and ancient arcane extraction technology has transformed this massive energy into the most ordinary "fuel," compressing and extracting it with each blink of these towers, continuously feeding it into Winterhold Castle’s center, to an endlessly insatiable "door" inside the castle.

Inside Winterhold Castle’s main hall, lights blazed as technical personnel moved rapidly about.

A huge and complex structure has been erected within this transformed and fortified hall, featuring an alloy-made triangular base—a tiered structure resembling an ancient altar, with countless intricate magic symbols and magic conduction tracks visible at the edges, alongside embedded crystals and cooling copper pipes.

These brass pipes lead deep into the base, carrying activated pure water and liquefied crystal dust within. They must operate continuously, for a failure in their cooling function could almost immediately melt through the portal hardware with the enormous energy.

Above the triangular base was the "trunk" of the portal, with three curved alloy "arms" extending from the three vertices of the base, arching toward an invisible sphere in mid-air. Between these three arched alloy "arms" floated a massive metal ring, lying horizontally above the base, seemingly in a dormant state.

A tremendous energy continuously gathered in this hall. At the center of the portal device, the air encircled by the floating ring contained a constantly fluctuating light and shadow, from which a profound ancient aura spread.

Kamel floated beside the enormous portal device, looking up at the alloy "arms" and metal ring in their charging state. The Arcane Sparks embedded in his face flickered brightly, visible only to those most familiar with him, hinting at the ancient Arcane Master’s excited state.

"I never expected... this thing could function so smoothly," he murmured to himself.

"We’ve prepared for this day for many years," came a recently familiar female voice from beside him. Kamel turned his head, seeing Lady Windsor Maple, the Legendary Mage from the Typhon Empire, standing next to him. "The technology required for the portal comes from the Ancient Era. During that forgotten historical period, some opened doors to the kingdom using this technology, viewing the leaked power or certain ’entities’ as divine miracles to be worshipped... So advanced, yet so ignorant. The paradoxical results brought two hundred years of suffering to Typhon’s Augustus Clan."

"I know of this — the Eye of the God... Even from a Master Mage of Gondor’s and an ancient Defier’s perspective, what your emperor and his family achieved is truly great," Kamel said sincerely, as his gaze returned to the portal, "It is thanks to the Eye of the God that we can now build such a ’door,’ isn’t it?"

"Indeed, thanks to the Eye of the God... We’ve recreated the ancient technological miracle here, using our wisdom," Lady Windsor Maple said, her tone tinged with admiration, then continued with some curiosity and anticipation, "Master Kamel, what do you think lies beyond that door?"

"...I don’t know," Kamel paused in silence, then frankly shook his head and said, "No one has seen what the War God’s kingdom looks like. As a former Defier, I have never had romantic imagination or expectation for the ’kingdom.’ But one thing I am sure of... It will align with the collective imagination of countless War God’s believers over the past centuries."

"Then it surely has a city wall built with swords and shields, palaces and plazas for warriors to rest and feast, and the ’Eternal Arena’ under the gods’ gaze — that’s how the War God’s texts describe it," Windsor Maple said with a faint smile, "I just wonder whether the War God’s fall caused his kingdom to crumble... When we step through that gate, we might only see scattered remnants."

Kamel turned his head to look at the mage from Typhon, possibly one of the most outstanding of her time. On her less than beautiful face, he saw a familiar spark.

It was the spark belonging to researchers, explorers, pioneers — filled with curiosity, the urge for knowledge, and a smattering of ignorance and fearlessness.

Such expressions were very familiar to him. A thousand years ago, during the era when mortals knew almost nothing of gods and could only explore using limited knowledge and untested protective technologies, countless researchers threw themselves into the frontline against gods and fate. They were the smartest, most creative, and most capable of creating value — yet closest to danger. Nearly every day, some of them would fall, and those who survived... gradually became strangers to themselves.

But that era has passed — Kamel couldn’t help but think — the hard-earned accumulation from those before us finally formed a rich legacy, allowing the new generation of "Defiers" (now scholars of the theocracy Authority Council) to conduct research and exploration under safer conditions. They can be bolder than their predecessors without being squeezed into a state unlike human under extreme vigilance and caution... This truly is a good era.

Even so, Kamel felt necessary to remind this "junior" before him.

"Do not approach divine-related knowledge with excessive expectation and curiosity, even though we’ve confirmed those gods are essentially benevolent, their power remains dangerous to us," he urged, even if she was from Typhon; since the alliance’s formation, the order built by the King has gradually dissolved the past enmity, at least in this facility, he regarded her as a "comrade" in confronting fate. "Caution and vigilance should be the rightful and eternal stance."

Though she may already excel within her field, from Kamel’s perspective, the Master Mage from Typhon clearly lacks caution regarding the divine realm.

Windsor Maple couldn’t help but look at the "ancient scholar" emerging from old history, observing his Arcane magic-filled "eyes" on an utterly inhuman face, unable to discern the Arcane Master’s expression. However, she could hear the genuine advice in his tone and the weighty significance behind it.

How many pioneers’ lives paid for this weight?

Living in today’s era, Windsor couldn’t imagine it, so she lowered her head, humbly accepting the ancient scholar’s advice: "I will always remember, Master Kamel."

"You are also a master and possess much knowledge that even amazes me," Kamel said with a smile, though the smile was hardly noticed by others, "I hope we continue to collaborate pleasantly in the upcoming project stages."

Windsor showed a faint smile, extending her hand to Kamel: "I share the same anticipation."

Behind them, pure and powerful Ao energy surged within the massive portal device. This primal, pure energy was gradually constructing a gateway to the kingdom, radiant light leaking from the fleeting light and shadow, granting mortals a glimpse into an unknown realm, as the kingdom’s light bathed the hall.

Once, this light symbolized the highest will, universal follower reverence, and "grace" obtained by numerous priests sacrificing themselves.

However, now in this hall, no one worshipped the light as a divine miracle — to those gathered here, it was merely an essential part of mortals’ understanding of this world.