Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 1243: Chapter 1242: Free God-Tier Skill

To be honest, when Gawain first saw the sand Amber produced, he got a jolt and suddenly felt much more awake, almost thinking this Shadow Assault Goose had silently achieved a leap in strength and rank—just imagine, with an unknown high existence backing her, constantly receiving protection from unspeakable powers, able to enter the Lady of Night’s Divine Kingdom, and now can summon sand from the kingdom that doesn’t belong to this world, this string of events is like stacking buffs. As long as this goose doesn’t open her mouth, she looks just like a main character.

But after she described the nature of the sand, Gawain felt something was off... The more he listened, the more it seemed that these things that looked like Shadow Sand Dust actually acted just like free giveaways, like the newbie zero-cost guarantee he saw in online games in his past life—card surface shining with golden light, but everyone ends up with a set in hand...

Equipment in the boss’s hands in the game (×), the actual equipment I got after defeating the boss (√).

Perhaps because all the information Amber brought today was too stimulating, once Gawain’s mind relaxed a little, all sorts of strange thoughts started running amok uncontrollably, even the memories of his past life that hadn’t surfaced in ages came up. Finally, Amber couldn’t hold back and spoke, poking Gawain’s arm as she said, ”Hey, your assessment isn’t right, no matter how you look at it, I went through quite some hardship to bring back this ’ability’...”

Gawain glanced at the goose and instinctively replied, ”Honestly, apart from when you fell on the floor and woke up, I really didn’t see how you went through any hardship...”

Amber suddenly glared—considering she couldn’t win a fight, she just glared.

”Alright, no more joking,” Gawain knew when to stop, joking was only to ease the awkward atmosphere. After a bit of teasing, his expression turned serious again as he looked into Amber’s eyes, ”Seriously, do you know how you summoned this sand? What exactly are they? Are they really... Shadow Sand Dust?”

”I don’t even know what exactly happened,” Amber scratched her head, instantly forgetting Gawain’s earlier teasing, ”It was after coming back ’from there’ that I found this small pile of sand next to me, and somehow I formed a connection with them—the method of summoning and retracting the sand suddenly appeared in my mind... Hmm, no, I shouldn’t say appeared in my mind, how should I put it...”

Amber seemed a bit conflicted, uncertain how to explain the consciousness and intuition-level occurrences to Gawain. After a lot of gestures, she struggled to squeeze out a few words: ”It’s like your heartbeat, the flow of blood in your veins, you don’t know how they operate, normally you don’t even perceive them, but they naturally run as part of your body—they just became part of my power, I don’t even know the principle behind their disappearance and appearance.”

”I understand what you mean,” Gawain attentively listened to Amber’s description and gently nodded, ”though it’s still a bit incredible. So, regarding these sands, there’s really no other special characteristic besides looking like Shadow Sand Dust?”

”... Is it considered special if they’re particularly hard to clean up when they fall on the ground?” Amber thought for a moment and said seriously, ”These sands are very light, if I don’t gather them up, they’d easily get blown all over...”

”Of course not!” Gawain immediately slapped his forehead, ”At least think of something with practical value!”

”... Then I really can’t think of anything,” Amber thought carefully again and finally shook her head, ”I tested them a few more times before coming to you. Aside from having a somewhat strange appearance and spreading some utterly useless gray-white ’phantom,’ they have no special ability. I sprinkled them on various objects, including various magic-conducting materials and ordinary matter, all results were the same.”

She paused for a moment, then added, ”Oh, right, I tried sprinkling them on living things, tested it on the two big black dogs in the garden...”

Gawain’s expression suddenly became serious, ”What was the result?”

Amber thumped her chest with a proud look on her face, ”I won!”

Gawain: ”...”

After a few seconds of silence in the room, Gawain finally reached a conclusion, ”So based on your summary, the greatest function of your new ability is to throw sand in someone’s face during a fight, is that right...”

”That’s pretty much it,” Amber nodded, looking quite content, ”I’m telling you, it’s a divine skill! During a fierce battle, throwing a handful of sand, countless experts have fallen because of this, plus mine is absolutely imperceptible, even a legend like you couldn’t see where my sand comes from, and I can throw as much as I want...”

Halfway through, Gawain couldn’t listen anymore... How did this experience, which would be a heaven-defying change for anyone else, become so twisted after Amber went through it?

But soon, his demeanor turned serious again as he started thinking deeply about this matter: although the result is speechless, the existence of these ”inferior Shadow Sand Dust” isn’t a trivial matter. No matter what form they degraded into after reaching Amber’s hands, it’s a fact that she gained the ability to summon Shadow Sand Dust after visiting the Lady of Night’s Divine Kingdom.

Back then, Modir also went to the Lady of Night’s Divine Kingdom, not just once, but he didn’t have such changes when he returned—he at best brought back a few grains of sand.

Though those sands were ”authentic.”

”What are you thinking?” Amber noticed Gawain suddenly showed a serious expression and she also got tense, holding it in for a while before she couldn’t help but speak, ”Let me tell you, it was those two dogs who started the fight first... Okay, maybe it was me...”

”Put those two unlucky dogs aside for now,” Gawain glanced at the half-elf, ”Aside from the ability to summon Shadow Sand Dust, have there been any other changes to you?”

”None,” Amber looked down at herself, then looked up to recall again, finally very sure to say, ”and not only have there been no additional changes, I also discovered... I seem unable to enter that ’displaced kingdom’ anymore.”

”You can’t enter anymore?” Gawain immediately frowned, ”What do you mean?”

”Initially, wasn’t it after touching the sands Modir brought to the real world that I entered the displaced ’Kingdom of Shadows’?” Amber explained her discovery, ”Later, when testing my new ability, I tried again... but no matter how much I touched those sands, nothing happened...”

”You actually dared to try several times?!” Gawain’s first reaction was to glare at the audacious half-elf. After the other shrunk her neck, he couldn’t help but sigh, ”Alright, since you’ve already done it, luckily nothing happened—are you really unable to go back?”

”Hmm,” Amber nodded, her face showing obvious regret, ”it’s like the door was shut. I tried to recall the ’feeling’ of entering that dislocated kingdom and used my positioning experience in the shadow realm to find that door’s location, but only ended up in the shadow realm. Alas, it’s really a shame. After coming back, I realized I hadn’t asked that book about many things.”

”The incident was indeed sudden. Nobody expected you to enter Lady Night’s domain, but since you can’t go back, don’t try to take risks again—at least wait until the tech team and the archives find some clues and have a certain level of safety guarantee and theoretical guidance,” Gawain looked at Amber solemnly, ”Your ’adventure’ this time has already yielded unexpected results, whether it’s the existence of Wilder or the warnings about the sentinels; both are valuable clues, so don’t feel too regretful.”

”Alright, you have a point,” Amber scratched her hair and nodded helplessly, then let out a big yawn, ”I need to go back and rest early. Today’s been exhausting, running back and forth between the real world and the shadow realm is too draining...”

Gawain nodded, but just as Amber was about to slip into the shadows to leave the room, he suddenly said, ”Wait a minute, there’s one more thing.”

Amber paused with one leg already in the shadow fissure and glanced back at Gawain: ”Huh?”

Gawain couldn’t help but twitch his eye corner at this high-difficulty maneuver, thinking perhaps only this ”Shadow Chosen (probably not self-proclaimed)” could play the shadow fissure like this. If it were some ordinary master of shadows here, even attempting this operation would probably spike their blood pressure to two hundred: ”You should pull your leg back, it looks rather scary—I just wanted to say, you’re coming with me to Talronde.”

Amber was very surprised: ”Huh? Didn’t you say you wouldn’t take me with you?”

”But now, you’ve visited the kingdom of Lady Night and also...” Gawain looked at her, ”brought back those ’sands’. Clearly, you can sense Lady Night’s power and even wield it to some extent. If Modir indeed carries some kind of... ’mark’ from Lady Night, then your new ability might come in handy.”

Amber’s eyes lit up—she wasn’t really concerned about how useful she’d be over there. The fact that she can go out and cause a ruckus is enough to excite her. She smiled, nodding repeatedly: ”Alright, alright, I’ll go back and prepare. Tomorrow I’ll delegate my tasks to my subordinates and get familiar with my new skills...”

”There’s no need for the last one!” Gawain interrupted hastily before she could finish, ”A bunch of counterfeit ’Shadow Sand Dust’ you keep getting familiar with won’t lead to any results. You’ll end up bothering the dogs in the garden again—I’m telling you, those dogs are raised by Betty, she will cry if you take it too far.”

”...Fine,” Amber pouted with disappointment, ”I’ll just seal this skill for now...”

”If you really want to use it, you can, but later, go find the people at the Divine Analysis Laboratory, get some sand to use as samples,” Gawain said after thinking about Amber’s disappointed look, ”The sand doesn’t disappear unless you actively retrieve it, right? This could be used for research, to see if the experts can analyze how your shadow sand dust differs from the ’real’ shadow dust.”

”Alright then, I’m also quite curious about this because so many inexplicable things happened during this time. With my brain, I’m probably not able to figure them out. I hope those smart people can find some clues...” Amber nodded and yawned big again, ”I can’t do it anymore, too sleepy, I’m out...”

As soon as her voice fell, Gawain saw a mass of shadows rise from the ground, and the next second, the half-elf’s figure disappeared in front of him.

...

The neural network, deep within the dream city in a peaceful square covered by golden oaks and fallen leaves, a square table was placed under the oak tree, and four figures sat around the table.

”... That’s the situation,” after recounting what happened to Amber, Gawain raised his head and stared at the three ”retired deities” before him, ”The most important clues or problems now are threefold: first is the warning ’Beware of sentinels’; second, who is the high-level existence connected to Amber; third... her sands.”

”Such a thing happened...” The former God of Nature, who logged in with an aged elf appearance and sat to Gawain’s left, stroked his beard with a serious expression, ”It was indeed worth gathering all three of us here...”

”You scared me again,” Enya, with cascading golden hair and perfect, elegant features, focused her gaze on Gawain, ”You really have a knack for creating a stir that can even startle the gods.”

”This time it’s not me,” Gawain spread his hands, ”Amber is the one stirring things up.”

”Is there a difference? You’re the one who brought us together.” The former Goddess of Magic, wearing an intricate, elegant court gown, glanced at Gawain and casually said.

”Alright, we won’t debate this,” Gawain waved his hand, ”Let’s focus on the matter—has anyone heard of or can guess what the ’sentinel’ mentioned in the warning refers to?”

The three retired deities exchanged glances, and after this very human-like gesture, Amon broke the silence first: ”I cannot think of anything—there are countless entities or things in this world that can be called ’sentinel,’ but none come to mind as appearing in a ’Book of Adventurers’ in Lady Night’s kingdom.”

”’Sentinel’ might just be a metaphor; it doesn’t necessarily refer to an actual ’sentinel,’” Gawain reminded from the side, ”The warning in the book might not only be meant for us mortals. Think about it, what else in this world fits the definition of sentinel or conceptually is close...”

Before he finished, Mirmina silently raised her hand and pointed to the sky.

She was clearly not referring to the simulated blue sky in this virtual world.

”Things left in space by the Voyager...” Gawain sighed softly, ”I indeed speculated in this direction, those orbital facilities used for monitoring the planet... by definition, they are quite close to sentinels, but I can’t find any evidence or clues of them losing control.”

”What if the problem isn’t with the batch hanging in the sky?” Enya suddenly broke the silence, ”You shouldn’t be able to perceive creations beyond the orbit facilities made by the Voyager, right, ’Outland Wanderer’?”