Above The Sky
Chapter 478 - 478 448 The Journey Once More 33

478: Chapter 448: The Journey Once More (3/3) 478: Chapter 448: The Journey Once More (3/3) A thread of faint moonlight, passing through the gap left in the vault of the grand hall, shone upon a highly mystical silver mirror engraved with numerous inscriptions.

The moonlight refracted outwards, falling upon another mirror, and then transmitted, casting a reflection into a deep spring.

Between the mirrors, light crisscrossed like a river, and this thread of thin moonlight, through one reflection after another, grew increasingly radiant, more glittering and rippling.

With the inscriptions gleaming, the moonlight became like water, and at this moment, through the interweaving of countless mirrors, it seemed as if many rivers converged, ultimately forming an ocean made of moonlight at the apex of the vault.

‘Mirror Light Sea’.

A serious and dignified man lay reclining in a chair, his platinum hair cascading behind him, clutching a longsword in his arms, from the hilt of which flowed a pale blue moon’s glow.

He was clothed in a moon-white felt coat, the hem adorned with inscription-engraved bone needles that swayed gently in the wind, sending ripples through the air.

As the bone needles trembled slightly, the man opened his eyes, their gaze initially dim but quickly ignited with a deep blue spirit light.

That light was brilliant as the sun and moon, profound as the ocean.

“Has something unexpected occurred in South Ridge?”

He turned his head, looking toward the south with some confusion, “Solas quietly left me, perhaps indeed by accident, he likes to pull chestnuts out of the fire, to gain accomplishment from danger, this is his dream.”

“But Chris is different, he stands in the light, always cautious, what exactly caused him to leave as well?”

“Moreover…”

He closed his eyes, the man sensing his Spirit Energy, “He did use his dream, but still he was defeated, bested head-on.”

“What a pity.”

Sensing this, the man sighed softly, “It seems that this is his limit…

the power of his dream could not help him walk a few more steps.”

“He didn’t heed my advice, did he.”

——In this world, there are many people we cannot control, and many things we cannot understand.

——Chris, we must understand humility, excessive caution is no different from recklessness.

Reflecting on his past conversations with Chris, he remained silent for a while, then stood up and walked out to the balcony beyond the grand hall.

Gazing up at the firmament, at an Illusory Moon a little larger than the usual moon, he silently recited something as if praying for his departed ‘companion’.

Afterward, he turned and settled back into his reclining chair.

The man believed that the companions he had found all had their extraordinary talent and potential.

As long as they could overcome that barrier within their hearts, they could indeed be reborn from the ashes like a phoenix and achieve something completely different from their former selves.

He called this power ‘dream’—only those willing to change themselves for their dreams can wield the transformative power of ‘dream’ and undergo a complete metamorphosis.

But if not… If his companions could not break through that preset mindset and predetermined limit.

Then it could only signify one thing.

The man sighed deeply with regret, “Oh, Chris.”

[——It appears your dream is no more than this——]

He lay back in his reclining chair, meditating under the gleam of the Mirror Light Sea.

Another day dawned.

The junction of South Ridge and West Frontier Plains, the Golden Prairie.

A troop of cavalry galloped across the vast plain, the radiant sunlight shining upon the earth, making the accumulated water next to the stony forest give off wisps of steam amidst the ruins of battle.

“Halt!”

The lead soldier raised his arm, his pitch-black reflective armor slicing an arc through the air, “This is the place.

Dismount and inspect.”

The soldiers dismounted one after another, without any sound of communication, these well-trained troops silently conducted an exceptionally thorough search of the entire battlefield.

After gathering the results, a soldier with a sergeant’s insignia came forward to report to the leader, “Report to the platoon leader, the captain’s body is not found!”

“The former captain.”

The armored soldier emphasized, “Chris had already been stripped of his rank for desertion when he left the city.

Remember that.

What else?”

“Report to the platoon leader, the battlefield ruins are covered with corrosive marks and explosive traces of alchemical potions; it’s impossible to analyze the details of the battle!”

The soldier shuddered, then reported loudly, “The air is filled with remnants of Thunder Attribute Essentia, but with evidence of rapid ‘compression’.

Based on the analysis, it’s highly likely that the former captain was defeated at his weak point during a full-power assault and then was continuously bombarded, dying on the spot with a plethora of accumulated essentia!”

“In addition, there were traces of Earth Attribute Sublimators attempting to sabotage the scene.

They are not deep, only superficially treated, with no real intention of thoroughly destroying the evidence.”

“Good, seems like there’s still a solid understanding.

You’ve done quite well.

In the report for the general, just record it as such, saying the scene was utterly destroyed by several Earth Attribute Magical Beasts and nothing can be discerned.”

The squadron leader nodded in approval and said, “Let’s hear any other thoughts you might have.”

“Report, squadron leader, the person who fought with the previous captain is really rich!”

The soldier reported spiritedly, “He used a total of more than twenty basic alchemical potions and seven elite alchemical potions, and there was even one that was at least of an elite superior rank!

All together, their total value exceeds nineteen hundred Talle, enough to buy an Armored Clothing Inscription Crystal.

And we can’t be sure if there are even more expensive items like alchemical bombs.”

“Captain, if the previous captain really lost, then he was literally smashed to death by money!”

“Fool, that’s the price they sell it to you for,” the squadron leader scolded mercilessly.

“Barna, I remember your brother is an alchemy craftsman.

Why don’t you tell this silly kid how much those potions cost to make?”

“Report, squadron leader,” another soldier, referred to as Barna, said while stifling a laugh, “Not counting the cost of labor, it all adds up to no more than one hundred and fifty Talle!

And if you start from raw materials rather than from a base, it’s even cheaper!”

“Well said, let’s drink a few bottles when we get back.”

The squadron leader glanced over the battlefield, shaking his head slightly, “Hmph, one hundred some Talle is still a lot of money, but compared to a Second Energy Level, it’s as cheap as our daily drink of red plum juice.”

“How sad, the previous captain…

why bother, the general was not unkind to you.”

Out of a decade-long camaraderie, he sighed, then he raised his hand and ordered, “Level this place.”

Subsequently, he patted the soldier on the head and said, “Silly boy, he’s an alchemist, how could he possibly calculate using market prices?

Do you want to take over my position in the future or not?

Huh?”

“So, what do we do next?”

“Dad…” The soldier was bewildered by the slap, he had just begun to speak when the gaze of the knight in black armor made him shrink back, “Squadron leader…

I was thinking…

about the report to the outside, how should we write it?

Do we say it was the work of Fiery Flame Land, or the doing of the Dragon Worship Cult?”

This was indeed a problem, and the squadron leader frowned as well.

He pondered for a while, then said, “It can’t be the Dragon Worship Cult.

Attacking and killing the captain of The Empire’s Marquis’ Knight Order and dumping the body in the wilderness, if it’s recorded like that, it’s too arrogant.

What if the higher-ups issue a decimation order?

Wouldn’t we still be the ones to go into battle?”

——Most importantly, the Dragon Worship Cult is not an outsider, and even if we were just putting on a show by hitting them, wouldn’t it still be hard on ourselves?

The squadron leader, who knew more about the internal situation, sighed inwardly.

He was about to continue speaking when he found his son cutting in.

“But the Fiery Flame Land excuse has been used too much,” the soldier frowned in thought, looking quite troubled, “If we use Fiery Flame Land again, we’ll be criticized for incompetence!”

“You’re thinking thoroughly,” the knight in black armor glanced at his son, without saying much, because it was indeed the case, “If a Second Energy Level Knight Order’s Captain was killed in an attack by Fiery Flame Land, the general will be reprimanded by those above.

We can’t disgrace the general…”

After thinking it over for a bit, he nodded and said, “That’s it then, we’ll hold off on reporting for now, head back and report to the general first.

After all, the general didn’t say we needed an immediate answer, so let’s just drag it out.”

“As for the previous captain…

let’s just have him go missing for a while, until everyone almost forgets, or until a suitable moment arrives and then submit a report.”

“That’s how it is…”

The soldier looked enlightened, clearly having learned something.

He still seemed somewhat melancholic, looking towards the sky above the northern Golden Plains, “But it really is incredible, facing alchemy, even a Second Energy Level…”

Whack!

Another slap on the back of the head, the knight in black armor stared fiercely at the soldier, “Silly boy, you don’t really want to know the truth, do you?

Forget your guesses!”

“Okay…” His vision blurred, the soldier nodded bewilderedly, “I’ve forgotten it all…”

Meanwhile, the other soldiers who were tidying up the aftermath and leveling the ground also started to make a racket, “Captain, stop hitting him all the time!”

“Yeah, won’t he get dumber if you hit him too much?”

“Captain, I’ll acknowledge you as my godfather, just treat me like your son, all right?

I definitely won’t make you angry!”

“Get back to work!

The sooner we clean up, the sooner we head back to the city!” the knight in black armor shouted, then couldn’t help but laugh, “Hahaha, that idiot Chris is gone, with the ranks blooming up, I might even become the head of the big brigade.”

“If it’s true, I’ll treat you all to fish egg noodles when we get back!”

Ian, unaware of the events that transpired at yesterday’s camp, could guess a thing or two.

At that moment, the white-haired youth rode the Camel Beast, slowly traversing the sweltering land of the plains.

The sunlight pierced through layers of clouds, casting down on the endless expanse of the Golden Plains, the horizon blurred.

Even with the youth’s vision, he could barely make out a slender cloud pillar that stretched tens of thousands of meters into the sky, twisting the distant spiral clouds of the blue-white firmament.

That was the Terrestrial Whirlwind Cloud Pillar of the Bart Great Rift Valley – violent winds that surged from the depths of the earth had been pushing the underground water vapor towards the top of the firmament for hundreds of years, creating that magnificent sight that rose like a mountain of clouds.

As Ian gazed at the distant clouds, he felt a slight chill in his chest.

Upon reflection, the breathing holes of his Entangling Void Armor opened, and the Frost Butterfly flew out with a look of relief, traveling along the cool air that encircled the youth.

“Look, Frost Butterfly,”

Ian chuckled, watching the Frost Butterfly become more animated and seemingly more intelligent, then he looked up and gestured for it to gaze into the distance together, “Our journey has overcome another small hurdle, drawing us one step closer to the truth of this world.”

“And now, we continue forward.”

The somewhat puzzled Frost Butterfly looked into the distance along with its ‘Great Fairy’, and the Camel Beast let out a soft moo, stepping over the plains with a smooth gait.

In the grass beside them, a few Grass Feather Gulls foraging for food, startled by the Camel Beast’s steps, rose from searching for insects beneath the roots, casting fluttering wing beats across the wide plains.

With bird calls and cloud shadows, they moved ahead.

Ian, once again alone, continued on his journey.