Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 304 - 16 - Intelligence Exchange_1

Chapter 304: Chapter 16 - Intelligence Exchange_1

"That’s exactly what I mean." As the representative of Elves from the Temple of Art and Music, Muir vigorously tossed the rubbing in his hand onto the table, his finger tapping incessantly, a touch of anger seeping through his voice, "It’s identical. It’s because of this array that I happen to be here."

"It’s also appeared in the Elven Forest?" Pannis asked with some surprise, "That’s a bit unlikely, isn’t it?"

"Not to that extent yet." Muir rose from his seat, pacing in place as he said, "Two months ago, another of our kind went missing during an adventure. At the same time, the Tree of Life with which she was bound withered, indicating that she has returned to the embrace of the forest. This is the eleventh report of an elven adventurer’s death in the last six months, all within the Neville Federation. For adventurers, dying in their ventures is actually very normal. However, such high-frequency deaths have never occurred among the elves. Even the weakest of the elves who are granted permission to leave the Elven Forest to participate in human adventurers are of the Upper Silver Rank, with strong self-protection capabilities. For example, our fellow who disappeared two months ago was a Beginner Gold Rank archer. Not only did she die without any reason, but there was also no news. It was as if she had completely disappeared from this world."

"No wonder the Elven Royal Court is concerned." Pannis nodded, understandingly. "This is probably the first time since the 214-Day War twelve hundred years ago that someone has targeted elves."

Before Pannis had finished speaking, the rest of the people were waiting for him with a displeased gaze. Although twelve hundred years had passed, mentioning that war that severely damaged the human world still stung a little for every human. Pannis, however, completely ignored the hostile glances and casually continued. "But, even though they’ve died, you all should have some way to find them, right?"

"Yes, we found them." Muir nodded gravely. "Guided by the Tree of Life, we found the remains or rather remnants of seven individuals. The Tree of Life of the other four individuals had completely withered due to unnoticed in the beginning and had no guiding ability."

"I’ve already guessed the outcome." Pannis said with a bitter smile, "Those people, like the victims we’re discussing now, right?"

Muir closed his eyes in acknowledgement, somewhat melancholy. The Elven population of the Yarran World is very sparse, with less than 700 to 800 thousand, so every elf is very concerned about the safety of their kind. Once an elf dies unexpectedly, the whole clan would feel grief. After silently blessing the departed fellow elves, Muir continued, "It’s exactly the same; they all died of old age. But this is simply unbelievable. Our life spans are two thousand years, and the oldest of those who died was only five hundred years old, the youngest only two hundred. It’s impossible for their life spans to have run out. Moreover, elves will sense their death ten years in advance, at which time they will return to their respective Trees of Life and wait for the forest’s reception. No elf would die of old age in the outside world unless someone forcibly takes away their remaining life span."

"So in the end, are you saying that someone was collecting vitality?" Lina asked, "We have also suspected this answer."

"No, not vitality." Muir denied, "If what was taken was vitality, our Trees of Life would change and would not wither naturally. That’s why I used the word ’life span’."

"I can’t understand." Lina sighed, "I do not understand. ’Life span’ is more of a non-material and conceptual thing. How can such a non-material element be taken away?"

"I would love to know." Muir said helplessly, "If I knew, I wouldn’t feel so bothered."

"All right, let’s not study what exactly was taken at first, or how to take away some non-existing things." Pannis said, "Besides finding the remains of your kind, did you gain anything else? Also, unless they were caught in the act this time, they would completely destroy the array after the crime so that people cannot investigate. How did you recognize this?"

"The perpetrator indeed was very cautious. After each crime, they used magic to destroy the surrounding environment, making all retrospective investigative magic ineffective. However, we elves have our own secrets. The caster can sacrifice fifty years of his life span to activate some of the special abilities of the Tree of Life. Through the Tree of Life’s shared perception, we can retrospect the scene at that time." Muir stammered out, gently stroking a withered twig, "She was just a 200-year-old child, naturally lively and wanted to see the outside world. She would never have thought that she would never be able to return to the forest in her true body ever again. Through the Tree of Life, I could feel her fear and pain. I could see the two Legendary Rank mages and the one Legendary Rank warrior who committed the crime. I could also see the complex, evil and bizarre magic array on the ground. I could even feel the utter despair and unwillingness of the child when she realized she was aging rapidly. Alas, such a good child, who will never be able to see the world she loved with her own eyes again."

Among the attendees, apart from a group of security team members serving as hall attendants officially, most of them are senior clergy members of each temple. The Clergy’s unique sensitivity to the heart and reverence for life made them sympathize with Muir’s regret and sadness. Each person was using their religion’s special ways to pray for the young elf and for all the innocent lives harmed by this group of perpetrators, hoping that their souls could find eternal peace.

"Thank you very much, everyone." Noticing that the atmosphere in the conference room was a bit low, Muir managed a smile, "By the way, Pannis, last month I sent the results of the retrospection to the Royal Court via Falcon. The Royal Court responded the day before yesterday. It was not just for me; there was also a message for you. The Queen has asked me to give you a suggestion."

"Hmm?" Pannis seemed startled, asking, "Her suggestions?"

"No, she asked the three Star Vision elders in the King’s Court to forecast the outcome of this matter together." Muir said with a bitter smile, "Even with the joint efforts of the three Demigods, they could only vaguely see something related to you. Although it was so ambiguous, the prediction process was still incredibly difficult, and you understand why. The three elders couldn’t see much, but they were sure of one thing, which the Empress asked me to convey to you--your speculation is correct. Pursue it according to your thoughts, no matter how much time it may take, you will eventually find the answer."

Pannis and Lina looked at each other. Lina nodded, "If this prophecy is correct, it seems that your earlier speculation was correct, there is indeed a connection between the two."

"What guess?" Teresa, the priestess of the Wind God Church, who had remained silent, finally spoke, "Can we all hear it?"

"No problem." Pannis quickly sketched a magic array on a piece of paper and passed it around, "The rubbings in our hands are of the Magic Array used by the killer. This one I am passing around now is of another Array we discovered. While we do not know the type of mana for each pattern or their directions, the number of overlaps and sequence at each intersection point, so we are unable to replicate the Array’s effect. But those here who are familiar with Magic Array Studies should be able to notice that these two arrays share more than sixty percent of the same characteristics. There is a high possibility that they originated from the same period, or even from the same hand."

"Indeed, that’s the case." Among the representatives of the various temples, while Enbow and Marcia knew nothing about magic and were pure physical professionals, Muir and Teresa had studied Magic Array in-depth. With Pannis’ guidance, they quickly confirmed his statement. Teresa, with her lake-like eyes, stared at Pannis and said, "Indeed, they are of the same origin. But I don’t know where you got this Magic Array you just showed us..."

"I first saw this Magic Array when my teammate and I accidentally interfered with an evil god’s sacrifice. The simplified version of this Array was used during the ritual, but I didn’t think much of it at the time. Recently, our adventure team received a commission from the City of Innocence. Two of our team members were sent to assist them in investigating a series of consecutive sacrifice incidents; hence they couldn’t come here with us. In the information provided to us by the Shadow Hand, they found this completed version of the Magic Array, which is what I just showed you, at the scene."

"So, you’re saying that the two groups of people are connected?" Teresa asked.

"Not necessarily, but at least they must be related." Pannis responded, "Otherwise, the existence of these two related Magic Arrays can’t be explained."

"So what about the incident we are encountering now?" Teresa pursued, "Do you also think it’s a kind of sacrifice?"

"No, in this case, I lean more towards Muir’s view." Pannis shook his head, "I also think that they are collecting lifespan. In the Memory Crystal, we submitted to the Adventurers’ Guild, they showed us that they had collected some special black crystals from the scene. They should be using these special crystals to collect something. However, although their methods differ, I don’t think they contradict each other. One side is directly performing sacrifices, the other is collecting and then processing, and they could be existing as offerings during the sacrifice. All kinds of explanations can be consistent."

"What you said makes sense." Teresa replied, "But it seems to be of little help to our recent investigation."

"There is a little though." Pannis did not agree with Teresa’s opinion, "If the two Magic Arrays are confirmed to be related, and the two groups are linked in some way, the trouble is even greater. Because the one I showed you, used for sacrifices, the accompanying sacrificial text... originates from the language used by the First Epoch Deities."

All the expressions of the high-ranking professionals changed. As clergy, each person understood far more than outsiders about those terrifying Deities who once waged war against the gods and remained evenly matched. Anything remotely connected with these beings would become far more complicated and terrifying.

"So I have a suggestion." Pannis coughed to attract everyone’s attention, "All those below the Gold Rank should not participate in this investigation, and those who are not confident in their combat abilities should also abstain. Because the danger could be far higher than you think." (To be continued. If you like this piece of work, feel free to recommend it at qidian.com and support it with monthly tickets. Your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)