Pillar of Yita

A one-eyed Sand Thief led Mahazar to the corpses with missing limbs, pointing at the scattered remains and said, ”Take a look, boss, that’s how things are. Although I can’t explain it, I always feel that this isn’t a good omen.”

The King of the Sand Thief was squinting with one eye, watching wisps of red smoke rise from the pile of corpses. He drew his curved blade, held it in one hand, and fiddled with the corpses. At that moment, a stumbling Sand Thief ran over from afar, gasping and looking elated. ”Boss, we broke through!”

But Mahazar only glanced indifferently at the one-eyed Sand Thief and asked, ”When did you discover this?”

”Just a moment ago.”

”They told me to organize the corpses. Youngsters are clumsy and always lose many spoils of war, so I put them all here. That’s the situation. So, boss, what should we do?”

Mahazar was about to respond, but suddenly, his attention was drawn to a faint golden line appearing in the sky. Below the towering spires, Sand Thief men swarmed the city walls, chopping off the heads of the still-living and pushing the headless bodies over the edge. White light soon rose below the walls.

And on the horizon behind the tower, against the backdrop of dark clouds, the golden line slowly extended.

Until it stretched across the night sky.

”What’s that?” Mahazar suddenly turned and asked.

”What, boss?” The one-eyed Sand Thief clicked his tongue.

”I’m asking you, what is that?” Mahazar roared, ”Get our people down from there!”

But it was already too late.

The golden line extending forward had transformed into a meteor.

It was getting faster, and the ship rocked more violently. It wasn’t just rocking anymore; it emitted an ear-splitting creak, as if every plank, every rivet, was trying to break free and scatter in all directions.

But amidst this system on the brink of collapse, there was a gaze of extreme calmness.

Inside, Luo Yu felt a rare tranquility. Even though he wasn’t talkative by nature, often deemed reserved, two words he’d heard most growing up were ’excellent’ and the other being what seemed expected for him, ’reserved’, perhaps, the quintessential ’good child’.

But being reserved didn’t mean a lack of passionate heart inside. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have walked this path—albeit influenced by his parents—the ear and eye’s influence inevitably leads one to become like them, the first motivator for many children seeking recognition and mimicry.

But at this moment, he gathered his chaotic thoughts and complicated emotions, focusing solely on the altimeter of the Magic Guided Reactor. The needle trembled in its movement—judging from the altitude, the Eteliria altimeter calculated wind elements’ content in different altitude layers, generally accurate—and now the indicated number was dropping at a rate of a hundred per second.

Seven hundred, six hundred, five hundred...

But those numbers seemed to have become just mere numbers.

Luo Yu’s hands were frighteningly steady, sequentially rotating the three copper rings on the Crystal base, setting the detonation time for the last Explosive Crystal. But he didn’t place the Crystal back in its fixed compartment; instead, he held it in his hand. Over a hundred Crystals would detonate sequentially within 0.1 to 0.2 seconds to avoid Ether shock time.

Everything was ready, as long as the airship could reach the predetermined position at the set time—

Though to what extent was this possibility? To Luo Yu, everything seemed certain.

In his mind, appeared a chirpy girl, always bubbling with energetic vitality, starkly contrasting to himself.

In the dark underground swamp ruins, in the ancient Temple, in the dense jungle, it seemed she had endless energy, chattering tirelessly, sparring with Parker and blinking at him, curious about his spells, even calling him ’our hero.’

Hero, that was the definition of this profession to his parents.

And it was the reason he pursued.

From Tabopolis’s Youth Training Camp until now, all he saw were ordinary Invokers, never encountering any ’Heroes’. The glowing halos of ’Heroes’ were too far from him; before meeting Fang Hong, he found it hard to define what ’Hero’ really meant.

But now, perhaps it does—

Father, Mother.

He couldn’t help but recall those gentle words:

”The first time, there will be some suddenness.”

”In that world, people treasure their chances just as they cherish everything in this world.”

”But people will always give up something...”

”Passively, or actively.”

”After learning to choose, then you’d have truly grown. With such experiences, perhaps you’ll truly understand this world.”

The altimeter’s needle suddenly jumped, surpassing the number three hundred, which was the minimum height Fang Hong set for him to leave the ship—

A smear of azure flame leapt from the Magic Guided Reactor on the brink of overload. Azure wind elements turned into a bright flame upon contact with air, it extended backward, igniting the sails, long fiery flames unfurled like a golden banner fluttering vigorously in the wind.