Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 270 - 263: Relapse of an Old Illness

Chapter 270: Chapter 263: Relapse of an Old Illness

Before long, Tangmo sent a reply to the headquarters, responding to the directions it gave, and reminding them to guard against being instigated into conflict. He hoped for them to reach a consensus with the CIA and not to directly confront the Church Court at this critical juncture.

In truth, Cheng Ziang had his own thoughts about a potential three-way conflict. The Aud people wanted the Church and Earth’s inhabitants to be enemies. If they could lure the Judgement Legion away from Yazhi City, they could ensure that a conflict would not break out in the vicinity of the city and the crisis would be naturally resolved.

Of course, all these are merely speculations. Although they did not know what the Aud who attacked Saint Bawa wished to achieve, it was still crucial to be on guard.

After all, the United Nations’ proposal concerning the stationed troops in Otherworld has essentially gained unanimous support. Yazhi City had turned into a powder keg, where a slightest spark could immediately ignite an explosion, much like the Balkan Peninsula during World War One.

The sending of Earth troops to Otherworld has always been a top secret of Earth. Only the upper echelons of participating countries and some insiders knew of it, but those in Otherworld were not informed.

Clearly, if this conflict led to the Church rallying troops in Yazhi City, Earth’s plan to station troops would fundamentally lose its confidentiality. The Church has been ruling over Otherworld for a thousand years, its power complex and deeply entrenched, making it nearly impossible for worldly authorities to fully eliminate it.

Moreover, the Church holds considerable sway among the nations of the Human Race. If the Pope were to call on the nations to resist Earth’s army, even if the nobility disagreed, the common people would still show their support for the Pope.

After completing the transmission of information, the group continued to travel upstream along the Roen River. They had altered the course of their journey. They planned to disembark halfway through their travel and hire a carriage to reach a secluded manor. The manor was roughly two days away from Yazhi City. Once they arrived, the headquarters would send someone to retrieve the blueprint, then find a way to transport it back to Yazhi City before taking it to Earth.

In this meantime, the two girls were assigned with a new task, which was to draw the runes on Arya’s Blade. Baiyue was responsible for taking photos, hand-drawing the blueprints, and disassembling the rune pattern. Tangmo, being the team member with the highest proficiency in runes, mainly assisted Baiyue.

It was important to keep in mind that this was not a simple task. There were several types of runes engraved on Arya’s Blade, intricately overlapping each other. They were differentiated by their depth and width. A mistake in any part would result in a rune disorder. The disastrous consequences of rune disorder were mentioned before, so need not be reiterated here.

To decipher the pattern of the runes on Arya’s Blade, the best approach would be to use Earth’s high-tech scanners to scan and generate 3D models within the computer. However, they lacked these facilities at the moment. Two big forces were intently watching over the Otherworld Gate, and another was eagerly waiting to join the fray. The current Yazhi City was rife with dangers, there was no way to safely transport Arya’s Blade back to Earth.

The depth and width of the rune patterns on the body of Arya’s Blade differed, thus requiring careful observation during the drawing process to prevent errors. Baiyue was responsible for the sketching, and Tangmo was responsible for checking if the runes could be activated.

In this aspect, it was reassuring to have Tangmo present. Without her, the best way to test the operability of the runes would be to activate them. However, if the runes were disordered, the consequences could be severe. As such, they could not be activated on the ship as that might risk an explosion.

During her time at Haiya Academy, Tangmo had displayed an exceptional talent for runes. Coupled with an additional month of advanced study at Sacred Heart Magic Academy, her skills were now on par with those of an expert. Whether the runes could be activated could be determined just by letting her take a look, with an error margin of around five percent. Although it wasn’t completely flawless, she could entirely prevent the runes from getting disordered.

"Wait, you’ve drawn this part wrong. It’s not going to work like this," Tangmo checked the rune pattern Baiyue drew and pointed out the mistake.

"This part?" Baiyue asked.

"Yes, this stroke represents the pattern for a protection rune. You’ve drawn it wrong. It isn’t going to work this way," Tangmo patiently explained. In terms of magic and runes, she displayed a level of focus higher than anyone else.

"You should first draw out the pattern for the protection rune, so this rune can be excluded," Tangmo suggested.

"Okay!" Baiyue nodded in agreement.

"If only we were on Earth. We’d just have to put it into the scanner, hit print on the computer, and everything will be settled!" lamented Hu Daoke from the side.

"Given the tense current situation, we’ll probably be able to transport it to Earth after a while. For now, we should first get the blueprint to Earth, and let the research center simulate it on their computers to see if it can be activated," Luo’er suggested.

Cheng Ziang looked at the two girls and felt a bit reluctant to part with Arya’s Blade. Facing the crowded cabin, he shook his head and turned to walk outside.

"Where are you headed?" Hu Daoke asked, looking at Cheng Ziang’s retreating figure.

"Just going out for some fresh air," Cheng Ziang responded without turning back.

"Ah, in that case, I’ll come too!" Upon hearing this, Hu Daoke perked up and eagerly volunteered to go.

"Alright then, you guys go ahead. I’ll stay here and keep an eye on the two of them," Luo’er said.

Cheng Ziang turned his head to glance at Luo’er. He had actually hoped to get a chance to talk to Luo’er, but seeing his disinclination to leave, Cheng Ziang decided against it.

"What’s up with you? You seem awfully upset about going out with me," seeing Cheng Ziang’s despondent expression, Hu Daoke couldn’t help asking.

"Congratulations on figuring it out!" Cheng Ziang rolled his eyes and said.

"Let’s go, let’s go. We haven’t hung out together for a long time!" Hu Daoke, unaffected by him, walked out the cabin enthusiastically with his arm around Cheng Ziang’s shoulder.

After the two had left, Luo’er sat across from the girls, chin in the hand, watching them with interest.

"This should be fine. Let’s try activating it, it should not malfunction!" Tangmo said as she place her magic wand on the diagram with runes drawn on it and softly recited the gathering spell.

Immediately, the runes on the diagram emitted an unusual light. The runes were initially sketched out with a pencil and later drawn over with a special magical material. Ordinary drawing materials wouldn’t activate the runes.

As the runes activated, the wrinkled diagram started to smooth out like glass. Luo’er felt a surge of magic entering his body. He felt an intense pain in his chest and he coughed, an instant gush of blood sprayed out of his nose, splattering on the table.

"Luo’er, what’s wrong with you!" The girls were horrified at the sight of Luo’er’s bloody nose. Tangmo asked, shocked.

"I’m fine, must’ve got a nosebleed." Luo’er said casually as he plugged his continuously bleeding nose and cleaned the blood off the table.

He was clearly lying because when he was talking, the girls could clearly see blood in his mouth too.

Baiyue bit her lip and said nothing. She knew why Luo’er was bleeding. Cheng Ziang had warned her before not to let Luo’er interact with magic or perform any magic around him; excessive magic disturbances would exacerbate his illness.

But when Tangmo had activated the rune, she had momentarily forgotten to stop and this led to such a tragedy. Baiyue felt guilty and began to resent those responsible for Luo’er’s injury.

"Are you sick?" Tangmo, unaware of Luo’er’s condition, sat next to him and while helping to clean his blood asked worryingly.

"Just a heatstroke, I guess!" Luo’er chuckled, showing both confidence and acceptance on his somewhat sickly face.

"Quit kidding. What’s really wrong?" Tangmo asked concerned, furrowing her brows.

"I’m totally fine!" Luo’er replied, still smiling, shaking his head.

Following this, there were hurried footsteps echoing from the aisle of the cabin. Then Cheng Ziang, panting, appeared in the doorway. Seeing Luo’er’s bloodied face, he sighed deeply, lost for words.

He glanced at an innocently and worried Tangmo, then at a silently bowed Baiyue and sighed again. Furrowing his brow he said, "Luo’er, come with me and clean yourself up. You two, clean up this place."

With that, he stepped forward, took Luo’er by the arm and led him out of the cabin.

"I can come along too," Tangmo said worriedly as she stood up.

"Didn’t I tell you to clean up here. Didn’t you hear me?" Cheng Ziang turned and snapped at Tangmo.

Maybe his tone was too harsh because even Tangmo was taken aback. She watched him nervously.

"Why are you yelling," Luo’er furrowed his brows and scolded him. And then turned to Tangmo and gave her a forced smile, "It’s okay. You guys clean up here. I’ll go wash my face."

"Oh." Although she was used to Luo’er being gentle, this time it left a bad taste in her mouth. She felt like she had done something wrong.

Cheng Ziang, supporting Luo’er, reached the cabin’s corridor and went straight to the bathroom. A concept of hygiene that the people of Otherworld had adopted from Earth. The bathroom was well maintained, with clean water for washing. Feces and wastewater would be directly discharged into the river or sea.

Once they reached the bathroom, Cheng Ziang threw Luo’er by the washbasin and, with arms crossed, asked exasperatedly, "Just how long do you plan on dragging this illness on?"

"I’m fine. I just need to be a bit careful!" Luo’er said guiltily while washing the blood off his face.

"So you’re sacrificing your health for the mission, for staying in the Otherworld, for Moumou? Luo’er, do you really want to die? Do you know how dangerous magic power erosion is? Have you forgotten how your father died? Do you even plan on finding your mother alive?" Cheng Ziang asked a series of questions, vexed.

"I..." Luo’er, opening his mouth to say something, closed it again. He didn’t know how to express himself, just felt that he could hold on a while longer.