Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 269 - 268: Deterioration

Since the last aberration attack on the camp, Gawain has never stopped paying attention to the Great Wall. Having personally witnessed the construction of the Great Wall, he knows better than anyone what that magic barrier means to the various races on this continent—and he knows even better the unimaginable consequences if that magic barrier were to fail.

So even in the most difficult times for the Cecil Clan, he still spent considerable resources to set up several observation posts near the Southern Pass of the Dark Mountain Range, monitoring the situation of the Great Wall around the clock—this pass was precisely the mountain gap where the aberrations had originally crossed and invaded the territory. It can be said to be the weakest point of the entire Dark Mountain Range barrier and the only ”window” from where the Great Wall can be viewed from a relatively safe place.

Just this morning, several observation posts reported that they observed a peculiar ”flicker” in the middle section of the Great Wall. The massive magic barrier dimmed slightly and then turned exceptionally bright again, the whole process lasting only a few seconds, but it was clearly visible.

The good news is that the flicker did not occur across the entire barrier, and after the flicker, the barrier returned to normal: it appears it still doesn’t face the risk of a full collapse, and its self-repair function is still operating normally.

Upon receiving the report, Gawain didn’t even attend the subsequent Magic Obelisk inauguration ceremony. He shut himself in his study at once, retrieving recent satellite surveillance data. Only after confirming that there weren’t significant chaotic magic surges around the territory and no abnormal energy readings from the direction of the Dark Mountain Range did he slightly relax: the issue was still with the Gondor wasteland itself, unrelated to the giant sun in the sky or the magic-pervasive environment of the entire world.

”What has Soldrin been up to these past two days?” Gawain suddenly switched topics, mentioning the bald strongman currently freeloading in the territory as a ”prisoner.”

Aunt Heidi thought for a moment and said uncertainly, ”He’s been quite cooperative, essentially not leaving his residence, but it’s said he’s recently been getting a bit close to Pittman. But that seems normal; after all, the Druids’ legacy originated from the elves. The two of them might have some common topics on natural powers.”

Gawain couldn’t help but twitch his mouth, thinking that Soldrin indeed never gives up—he still hasn’t given up on curing his baldness! But now he’s set his sights on Pittman, that unreliable seller of fake potions... Is Soldrin planning to convert all his earned commissions over the years into talismans and hair-restoring ointments?

The true nature of Soldrin as a strongman was known only to Gawain, so he couldn’t explain much to Aunt Heidi but simply instructed, ”Go find him and bring him here.”

Before long, Soldrin arrived at Gawain’s study. This ”Typhon Officer” who’s theoretically a battlefield prisoner hasn’t been mistreated in the Cecil territory at all. Apart from some necessary monitoring, his living conditions are about on par with Aunt Heidi and Rebecca, and he can move freely in most of the territory. The moment he showed up, he cheerfully greeted Gawain, ”Hey! Gawain, I have something to tell you, there’s someone on your territory...”

”Don’t believe it, apart from the regular potions from the Druids system, more than half of the ointments he sells privately are fake.”

Soldrin: ”...”

”The talismans are fake too. The so-called ancient talismans found in ancient ruins are all taken from the scrap heaps of steel mills.”

Soldrin: ”...”

”Also, don’t buy that hair health kit—his hair is plentiful because it’s genetic, and since you’re not the same species, it won’t work for you anyway.”

Soldrin: ”...I’ll go spill his blood!”

”Come back!” Gawain glared at the strongman, ”I have serious business with you!”

Soldrin finally noticed the seriousness in Gawain’s expression and immediately matched the seriousness, ”What happened?”

”You’re a silver elf, right?” Gawain pointed to the chair beside him, inviting Soldrin to sit by the desk, ”How much do you know about the Great Wall?”

”Indeed, it was the silver elves who built the Great Wall... but that was the work of the Master Mages, and I’m just a Ranger with limited understanding of magic,” Soldrin, having the virtue of never bragging in fields he wasn’t good at, replied, ”Is there something wrong with the Great Wall?”

Gawain did not hide anything; he told the Silver Elf about the flickering of the Great Wall and the aberration attacks that occurred when this new territory was established in detail. In the end, he also mentioned the disaster in the old Cecil territory: ”...The old Cecil territory was also destroyed by aberrations and the aura of the chaotic wave. You should know that the original Cecil territory wasn’t here, but in the hills further northwest.”

Soldrin’s expression grew more and more solemn as Gawain spoke, and upon hearing that similar aberration attacks had erupted more than once, his eyebrows nearly knit together with worry in his uniquely Silver Elf green eyes.

Mortal humans might completely forget the horrors of a nation-destroying disaster after a few hundred years, but the long-lived elves are not a forgetful race. To this day, Soldrin occasionally dreams of the hard-fought days in the Gondor Wastelands. He knew all too well what it would mean if what Gawain spoke of was true.

”Are you sure those are the same ’aberrations’ we dealt with back in the day?” Soldrin asked with some apprehension, receiving Gawain’s affirmative reply: ”Impossible to be mistaken. I fought them for decades—surrounded by them even when I died, how could I be mistaken?”

Before closing my eyes, damn it, a bunch of aberrations. Open my eyes again, damn it, still aberrations. That was Gawain’s most real feeling after inheriting the memories of Gawain Cecil.

”The power of the chaotic wave is sealed within the Great Wall; appearing again in the realm of civilization is indeed unusual...” Soldrin’s brows furrowed as he began to recall what he knew about the Great Wall, ”Hmm...Though I am not a Master Mage, I do know more about the Great Wall than you humans do. As far as I know, the Great Wall was constructed based on an ancient ’adaptive shield’ technology as a magical barrier, relying on a series of ’Sentinel Towers’ set along the borders of the Gondor Wastelands. The shield of the Great Wall can adjust itself to suit the complex chaotic magic environment of the Gondor Wastelands. You know, the chaotic wave brings about chaotic and disorderly energy surges, and this constant energy fluctuation is its most dangerous characteristic. Only an adaptive shield can constantly adjust itself according to these chaotic energy fluctuations, maintaining the required strength of defense with minimal energy consumption...”

Gawain listened earnestly and raised a question at this moment: ”So, if there were energy fluctuations in the Gondor Wastelands beyond the shield’s adaptive range, the Great Wall would ’fail to respond’, leading to local overload?”

”That’s the principle...” Soldrin said uncertainly, ”But I’ve heard from the Elven Mages back then that every Sentinel Tower is built with a lot of redundancy. They are sufficient to respond to sudden large-scale surges within the Gondor Wastelands, and there’s a fifty percent backup of the Sentinel Towers across the entire protective barrier region. If the barrier indeed begins to overload, those Sentinel Towers would immediately activate to balance the load, and there should not be such severe problems as temporary barrier breach...”

”Ah, backup Sentinel Towers, I’ve heard of that arrangement as well,” Gawain’s memory surfaced with corresponding information, ”Hmm...Have you gone back to your homeland these years?”

”Only once, three hundred years ago,” Soldrin smiled faintly, ”Going back is quite difficult—the central continent is blocked by the Gondor Wasteland, and returning to the Silver Empire from the northern continent requires circling around half the continent. I don’t own a gryphon or Dragonhawk.”

”How do you usually communicate with your compatriots? Or...do you still maintain contact with your homeland now?”

”There’s still contact,” Soldrin explained, ”The Sentinel Towers themselves have a magical communication function, capable of relaying signals from the Sacred Stars Temple—this function is used to monitor the condition of each Sentinel Tower. The Typhon borders and the Franklin Clan borders both have barrier monitoring stations set by the Silver Empire, where I can contact my homeland. But the frequency of contact isn’t very high—the information that can be transmitted by the Sentinel Towers is limited, and there are quite a few elves traveling out there.”

”When was the last time you were in contact with the Silver Empire?”

”Are you worried...” Soldrin realized Gawain’s concern, ”That there’s already a problem with the maintenance of the Great Wall, but the Silver Elves haven’t informed the world?”

”I do not dismiss that possibility. After all, since the collapse of the large-scale information network between the Gondor Empire and the Silver Empire, humans have found it difficult to receive timely updates from the elves; now only the Highmountain Kingdom at the southernmost part of the continent maintains direct contact with the elves, and the Highmountain Kingdom is the most mysterious among the four human kingdoms,” Gawain spoke slowly, ”Even if we leave everything else aside—currently the Great Wall is indeed having issues, and yet there’s no word from the Silver Elves. That in itself is something to be concerned about, isn’t it?”

Soldrin’s expression grew grave, not hiding the worry deep in his heart—though he had lived in the human world for many years, Soldrin himself was still a Silver Elf, and he could never put his homeland aside.

”The last time I contacted my homeland was ten years ago... You know, according to the elves’ sense of time, that was not long ago,” Soldrin raised his head, looking at Gawain, ”But now I feel that I need to get in touch again... As a High-Ranked Ranger, I know quite a few individuals with some status in the Silver Empire, and perhaps I could get some information about the condition of the Great Wall.”

”You could also tell them about the ’resurrection of Gawain Cecil’. I have quite a few acquaintances among your Silver Elves, which might give your communication more weight,” Gawain nodded, ”Even if there’s no internal issue within the Silver Empire, informing them of the temporary failure of the northern barrier is beneficial—it serves as a warning. After all, the Dark Mountain Range is the most difficult section of the Great Wall to monitor; perhaps your Mages are not aware of the barrier’s issues even now.”

Soldrin nodded gravely, ”Okay.”