Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 3172: Chapter 3173: Crystal Dust

”Ceremony?” Laplace cast a cool glance at the guard. ”What ceremony?”

”Uh... I’m not really sure either.” The guard originally hadn’t wanted to speak, but with Laplace’s heterochromatic eyes fixed on him, his back went cold. He swallowed hard and finally opened his mouth.

”The specifics of the ceremony are only known to the Elders Council. We just carry out the lockdown and security management... I don’t know anything.”

Laplace gave the guard a deep look, made no comment on his words, and only said softly, ”No need.”

Guard: ”???” No need for what?

Seeing the guard’s baffled expression, Luigi sighed at the side and explained, ”She means we won’t be going to the VIP room. Besides, we never intended to stay here anyway. Our destination is the main station of the Ring Fort gathering.”

The guard froze for a moment before he reacted. ”Oh... oh! You intend to take Passage 003 to the Ring Fort gathering? Then... then this way, please.”

Seeing that no one moved, the guard scratched at his temple under the crystal cap. ”I mean, I’ll lead the way for our distinguished guests.”

The guard’s duty was to ensure that there were no outsiders lingering outside this Ring Fort. As long as Laplace and the others did not remain in this Ring Fort, whether they went to the VIP room or Passage 003, it was fine.

Watching the guard’s eager performance, Laplace fell silent for a moment and glanced at Angel from the corner of her eye.

Angel clearly noticed Laplace’s sidelong look. With a barely noticeable motion, he gave a slight nod.

Only then did Laplace say, ”Fine.”

The guard let out a long breath of relief and promptly led the group toward the next passage.

Only when Angel and the others had completely vanished into the pitch-black corridor did the guard wipe the cold sweat from his forehead, then quickly summon a wisp of drifting Crystal Dust.

—He needed to use the Crystal Dust to send a Message to the Elder presiding over the Ceremony.

Don’t be fooled by the fact that he alone had come to block Laplace and the others; in truth, the other patrolling guards in the Ring Fort had all noticed what was happening here, they had simply chosen not to come over.

”Their identities are unknown, but their strength... is extremely high.” The guard rapidly condensed the Crystal Dust. ”However, their target is the Ring Fort gathering. They appeared at this Ring Fort after coming through Passage 013 not long ago. They’ve now entered Passage 003 and should just be passing through.”

As his words fell, the condensed Crystal Dust quickly dispersed.

After finishing his report, the guard did not relax the tension in his heart. Instead, he stared nervously at the drifting Crystal Dust.

A few seconds later, the Crystal Dust floating in the air condensed once more.

A kind of information that only the guard could read came through the Crystal Dust: ”Since they’ve already left, there’s no need to pay them any mind. However, make sure to cleanse all residual Energy in the vicinity and ensure that no information leaks. It must be scrubbed clean. In just a few minutes, the Old Day Heroic Spirit will be born; absolutely nothing can be allowed to go wrong.”

This was a Message from an Elder.

The guard immediately said, ”Understood.”

With that, the guard began summoning his other companions to cleanse all pheromonal traces and any possible residual Energy along the route Angel and the others had taken.

While they were finishing the final cleansing, in the pitch-dark passageway, Laplace’s barrier once again enveloped the group.

Angel looked at Laplace. ”You’re sure it’s fine?”

While Angel was asking Laplace, Laplace was actually watching a tiny Illusion Screen within the barrier.

This wasn’t Laplace’s first time seeing a screen simulated with Illusion. Back in the Crystal Origin of Dreams, she had seen it multiple times.

According to Angel, this was called—Illusionary Realm live broadcast.

Illusionary Realm live broadcast was divided into: full-holographic live and screen live.

Full-holographic live was similar to a Shadow Box, letting you personally experience the Streamer’s current situation; while screen live was akin to watching a moving flat picture book.

There was no doubt that what they had now was a screen live.

The Light Screen was currently broadcasting the situation at that Ring Fort just now: a group of guards were cleaning up the possible traces they had left.

The reason Angel had asked ”You’re sure it’s fine?” was precisely because he saw these guards cleaning traces and was worried that the Illusion Node he’d left behind would be discovered.

The Illusion Node Angel had left was attached to a Mirror that Laplace had set up.

Yes, Laplace had left a Mirror at the scene.

Moreover, that Mirror was floating directly above the Ring Fort.

Previously, the exchanged glances between Angel and Laplace were also about this.

In Angel’s opinion, that Mirror’s position was a bit too conspicuous. With his Illusion Node anchored to that Mirror, was it really not going to be discovered?

Laplace said blandly, ”The Mirror you see is the one I want you to see. In reality, it doesn’t exist in this space at all...”

As Laplace explained, Angel gradually understood the underlying principle.

The Mirror Laplace had placed actually existed in a deeper layer of space... If one were to use a metaphor, it was similar to an Interlayer Space.

The Number of Interlayer Spaces was practically infinite.

So even if it were discovered by the Crystal Eye Clan, they would not necessarily be able to locate the corresponding Interlayer Space.

”The Mirror’s set in an Interlayer Space, yet it can reflect the real-world scene... Is this something like a Mirror Corridor?” Angel asked with curiosity.

A Mirror Corridor was precisely located in an interlayer, and within the corridor you could still see the outside world. But people outside could not see what was going on inside the Mirror Corridor.

Laplace: ”The effect is similar, but it’s far more concealed.”

A Mirror Corridor was only invisible to the naked eye, while the Aggregation Energy fluctuations would seep from the interlayer into reality and could be sensed. So it wasn’t truly hidden; any Mirror creature with a bit of strength had ways to detect it.

But the Mirror Laplace had just released was concealed in a much deeper place and emitted no Aggregation Energy at all, so it was basically undetectable.

Thus, Angel’s worry that the Illusion Node would be noticed and scrubbed away by those guards was unfounded.

The facts were indeed so: the Guard Team at the Ring Fort had finished cleaning the so-called ”residual traces,” yet they had never once discovered the ”Mirror” high in the sky.

Through the live broadcast, Angel had already seen the guards use Crystal Dust to report to some unknown person that the traces had been completely cleansed.

Before long, all the guards dispersed and resumed their patrols. Clearly, they had entirely ignored the Mirror in midair.

Once he was certain the live broadcast wouldn’t be affected, Angel also breathed a sigh of relief and had the spare attention to ask some unrelated questions. ”The guards of the Crystal Eye Clan use that drifting Crystal Dust to send Messages?”

Angel had noticed that the guards had repeatedly used Crystal Dust’s condensation to send Messages. However, he could collect the relevant signals from the guard’s Messages through the live broadcast, but he could not capture any information from the replies on the other end of the Crystal Dust at all.

Yet the guards clearly understood the meaning contained in the condensed Crystal Dust, which made Angel quite curious.

Luigi: ”The Crystal Eye Clan does indeed rely on the gathering and dispersing of crystal dust to transmit messages. They have their own way to read the meanings represented by clustered crystal dust... but for outsiders, it’s very hard to interpret.”

This is somewhat akin to a ”racial talent.” The bodies of the Crystal Eye Clan are made of crystal; their understanding and perception of crystal far surpass those of any other race. Thus, they can read the meaning of crystal dust, while others can’t obtain any information from it at all.

Angel nodded in understanding. To put it plainly: without a physiological structure and living environment similar to the Crystal Eye Clan’s, one simply can’t comprehend the significance of crystal dust.

The live projection was still ongoing.

The scene was still much the same as before. No outsiders had appeared at the Ring Fort, but quite a few patrolling guards had been added to each level.

At the very bottom of the central section of the Ring Fort, that oval mirror surface filled with drifting crystal dust was still continuously spewing out new dust.

Judging from what the live projection showed, the place in the Ring Fort most likely to see some kind of upheaval should be this oval mirror surface... Perhaps the ”ceremony” the guards mentioned was also connected to this mirror?

Since there were no major changes in the projected scene, Angel once more turned his gaze to Laplace.

”You seem very concerned about their ceremony?” Angel asked, curious.

This live projection itself was an accident.

Laplace had first brought out the suspended mirror surface, then sent a Message to ask Angel if he wanted to watch a good show. Only then had Angel released the Illusion Node and turned it into this live projection.

So the one who truly proposed the live projection was Laplace.

Angel was curious about this so‑called ceremony of the Crystal Eye Clan, but not to the extent of wanting to secretly spy on it.

Thus, Angel was a bit curious why Laplace would take the initiative to peek at the Crystal Eye Clan’s ceremony. Was it simple curiosity, wanting to watch some gossip? Or was there another reason?

”I’m not concerned, but Glaipnir is,” Laplace replied. ”Glaipnir contacted me earlier—she’s already met Fata.”

”As she expected, Fata didn’t tell her about the matter of Lita. However, based on Glaipnir’s Observation and the information Fata ’occasionally’ let slip, it’s clear that Lita’s case does involve some hidden truths of the Crystal Eye Clan.”

”After meeting Glaipnir, Fata intentionally or unintentionally brought up the ceremony.”

One should know that ceremonies are not mainstream in the Mirror Domain; it’s very rare for mirror‑dwelling races to hold formal ceremonies. Glaipnir had heard Fata mention a ceremony just a moment ago, and the next moment heard that Laplace had run into a ceremony at the Ring Fort. Naturally she linked the two together and wanted to know the specifics.

Thus, Laplace had taken the initiative to release the mirror surface and, in passing, invited Angel to watch the show.

”So that means it’s not just the three of us watching this live projection... Glaipnir is watching too?” Angel asked, puzzled.

Laplace nodded. ”That’s right. I shared the image feed with Glaipnir.”

So, it was remote shared live projection.

After a brief silence, Laplace said, ”Glaipnir said that if you have any questions, you can ask now, while the ceremony hasn’t started yet.”

Angel: ”She’s already left Fata’s side?”

Laplace shook her head. ”No. She and Fata are in Hiluda’s study.”

After Glaipnir had firmed up some thoughts in her heart, she’d been ready to leave. But just as she was taking her leave, Fata invited her to go take a look at Hiluda’s study.

Given how well Glaipnir understood Fata, she knew Fata would never do something superfluous.

Since Fata had spoken, it meant Hiluda’s study might hide certain secrets.

Right now Glaipnir was rummaging through Hiluda’s study while watching the live projection from afar.

”From the looks of it, it’s not that Fata is unwilling to speak, but that she’s constrained by certain reasons and can’t, or doesn’t dare to, speak?”

Judging by the current situation, Fata did want to tell Glaipnir some truths. Otherwise she wouldn’t be constantly hinting, and she wouldn’t have asked Glaipnir to go to Hiluda’s study. It was just that Fata couldn’t state them outright.

Laplace nodded. ”That should be the case. Fata... she must have her difficulties as well.”

Angel: ”So has Glaipnir now confirmed the hidden truths behind Lita’s case?”

Laplace: ”She’s grasped part of the picture, but there are still some ’pieces of the puzzle’ missing. Glaipnir suspects the remaining pieces are likely to be found in Hiluda’s study.”

Angel could ask now, or wait until Glaipnir had found the remaining puzzle pieces and then ask.

Angel chose the latter. Rather than a vague half‑understanding, he wanted a definitive answer.

Since the hidden truths of the Crystal Eye Clan couldn’t yet be confirmed, Angel turned to another matter that could be considered settled: information on the Prophet of the Crystal Eye Clan—Tunyta.

Laplace’s knowledge of Tunyta still stopped at how he’d been in her youth. But Glaipnir often visited the Crystal Eye Clan and had become close friends with Hiluda, so she naturally knew a great deal about the clan’s history.

Very quickly, Glaipnir conveyed everything she knew.

However, this time she didn’t speak of Tunyta through Laplace’s mouth; instead, she passed the information to Luigi, and Luigi began recounting Tunyta’s ”later” years.

Luigi: ”After Tunyta returned from the Sea of Void Mirror, he became the target of all arrows...”

As Luigi relayed Glaipnir’s words, not only Angel listened, Laplace beside him listened as well. With the unfolding of the story, the image of Tunyta in Laplace’s heart gradually grew more concrete...

Tunyta was the only one who came back alive, so he naturally became the one everyone besieged. Those parents who had lost their offspring, and the ambitious figures who longed to uncover the secrets of the Sea of Void Mirror, all surrounded Tunyta and threatened him.

In such circumstances, Tunyta fell into immense trouble.

Yet in the end, Tunyta responded to the outside world’s problems by assuming the identity of an Empty‑hearted Person.

Although in the process he could not avoid being used as a pawn, he ultimately endured it all.

After decades of silence, Tunyta, through cooperation with the then‑Pirush Sage, developed a number of projects beneficial to the Crystal Eye Clan. One Elder of the clan at the time took notice of him and raised Tunyta from a mere commoner to the status of Great Scholar.

From Great Scholar to Elder, and from Elder promoted to Prophet.

Tunyta spent two hundred years.

The struggle within those years was naturally not something that could be explained in a few words. What can be known is that Tunyta worked extremely hard... But what puzzled many of the Crystal Eye Clan was that any effort needs a goal, and Tunyta’s efforts seemed to lack a clear goal. He did not strive for himself, nor for his career, because he had abandoned the positions of Elder and Prophet countless times—this spoke volumes.

No one knew for what goal he fought and labored.

Later, Tunyta invented the Crystal Shell, granting the Crystal Eye Clan a terrifying defensive capability and ushering in a new era for them.

In that year, Tunyta was hailed as the greatest Prophet of the Crystal Eye Clan.

It was also in that year that Tunyta began the expansion and reconstruction of Crystal City. At the same time, Holy Corpse Crystal officially came into being, becoming the building material of Crystal City.

Several centuries later, Tunyta passed away of old age.

The expansion of Crystal City did not end with Tunyta’s death. After two thousand years of construction, having gone through the collapse of mirrors and even relocation of the city itself, the Crystal City now towering upon the frozen ground had already become a truly majestic... The Spectacle!