Pillar of Yita

”Brother Ade, look over there, there’s a ship!”

Golden Bay Anchorage lay nestled under a serene valley, and looking up, the towering cliffs and the gloomy snow line seemed almost within reach—it was the northern spur of the Green Dragon Mountain Range.

The storm halted here, and after howling through the Maple Forest, it calmed down, leaving only a slight chill intermingled in the curtain of rain that beat against the leaves.

The Berio slowly passed a Cloud Bay, and amid Tianlan’s cries of surprise, a moderately-sized brigantine appeared behind the valley.

It had a golden hull and red gunwales, hidden behind a stretch of maple trees. It had its sails furled and rested quietly.

A typical airship of the wing type, but it flew no navy flags—it was likely owned by an adventure group or a guild.

In fact, Fang Hong had already seen the heraldry at the stern, a crest he had not seen before. ”It’s a guild emblem, one I’ve never heard of,” Gita explained quietly beside the gunwale, ”It might be a local guild from Fenris Isle.”

Fang Hong knew this young girl had extensive knowledge about the guild forces in Colin Ishurian and even Eteliria, certainly more than he realized.

His main knowledge lay in the second world, and in the first world, even for branch guilds of the top ten guilds like Silver Forest Spear, his understanding was actually very limited.

”For a local small guild to have such a ship, that’s quite impressive,” Tianlan leaned over the gunwale and remarked, ”At least they must be pretty wealthy.”

”That’s the Rain Listener Guild, and the ship is rented. Moreover, it’s not just owned by them; it’s shared with three other small guilds,” the voice of Princess Briana came from behind everyone, and as Fang Hong turned around, he just saw the elf lady coming up from below deck. She continued, ”They came here, probably for the biannual trainee excursion, timing seems about right.”

”Sister Princess, how do you know so much?” Tianlan asked in surprise.

”I’ve been here twice, and the biggest guild around is a Semi-Called organization called Blood Oath Alliance. It’s said to have some connections with the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team, you know it, right?”

Gita nodded, while Fang Hong frowned slightly, instinctively categorizing this so-called Blood Oath Alliance into the indifferent kind of reputation.

But Tianlan’s concern clearly differed from the others: ”So that’s it, those people online said you secluded yourself in the mountains after the Battle of Bain. Turns out those guys were lying, making me think you never left the Elf Royal Court since then, Sister Briana.”

Princess Briana chuckled and walked up, patting her little head, ”Did you think I was a homebody?”

”Wow, you even know that word!”

The Elf Princess smiled generously: ”As a ’hero’ in your words, I ought to understand you somewhat, like Fuli. One day, if you turn into a little troublemaker, you better be careful.”

”Hehe,” as Briana tickled her neck, Tianlan couldn’t help but giggle, shrugging her neck to dodge the playful hands while hastily shaking her head, ”No, no.”

Fang Hong naturally also glanced at Princess Briana, somewhat surprised. He realized that whether it was Hilveld, Miss Tata, or Princess Briana, their understanding of Earthlings was not inferior to the Earthlings’ knowledge of this world.

He had always thought the people of this world were somewhat ignorant, but now it seemed more like his own wishful thinking.

Every world has its learned individuals, and of course, it also has its fair share of truly ignorant people, no wonder Invokers believe that the two worlds should come to understand each other better rather than continue to harbor mutual suspicion.

So, what does Eteliria or Earth mean to each other?

Fang Hong couldn’t help but recall that classic question above the community once again.

What exactly is Eteliria?

Yes, what does this world really mean? Why does it exist, and what role does Earth play relative to it?

With these messy thoughts, Berio had already slowly entered the anchorage. Being a floating airship and loaded with a belly full of cargo, its flying altitude was lower than that of the quietly anchored brigantine behind the maple forest.

The two ships were staggered within different air domains. Out of courtesy, Berio used light signals to send a simple greeting to the other, and after a few minutes, the stern light on that ship began to blink.

The response was roughly the same greeting.

Hilveld whispered to him that if the weather was clear, the current era’s interaction between airships was generally more through flag signals—a technique carried over from Earth but adapted locally.

But that was as far as the interaction between the two ships went.

The Sky Sea of Eteliria was vast, and it was difficult for terrestrial sovereignties to effectively govern the expansive Sky Sea, which was filled with various armed organizations. Besides pirates or sky pirates, there were privateering fleets and some armed merchant ships that operated in grey areas, possibly stripping down their flags and turning into something similar to the aforementioned.

Therefore, unfamiliar ships in the Sky Sea generally maintained a safe distance, and no one would cross this red line, even if anchored within the same anchorage, no one would seek trouble unnecessarily.