Yarra’s Adventure Notes -
Chapter 672 - 36: Shadow of Death_1
Chapter 672: Chapter 36: Shadow of Death_1
"Well, I actually wanted you to investigate the Forest of Death," explained Pannis with a sigh, "You’re well aware of how hostile its environment is. It’s not feasible to conduct a comprehensive survey on foot. As for the Winged people, their flying speed is much slower than yours, and they can’t fly as high. It would be equivalent to sending them on a suicide mission if they had to scout the heart of the Forest of Death. Only you Drakes can freely move around the Core Area of the Forest of Death."
"Just an investigation, huh?" Mina began to pace in place again, musing, "It’s a crisis of uncertain degree, which is appropriate if it’s merely an investigation. It wouldn’t violate the rules set by the Heavenly Father."
"I’m not quite clear about what rules Lord Yarra has established for you, but I believe that merely scouting wouldn’t affect the world balance and won’t interfere with the free development of the world," said Pannis lightly. "I think these two points should be the only restrictions Lord Yarra has imposed on you. There shouldn’t be any other problems."
"I need to discuss this matter with Waren," Mina said sorrowfully. "There shouldn’t be any issues, considering it concerns a problem left over from prior inadequate work. All I need to do is give Waren a heads up. But, about the investigation scope, is there a rough range? If there’s no range, searching the entire Forest of Death, even from the sky, would be a lengthy process."
"Really, there isn’t a range," Pannis said, spreading his hands helplessly, "I’ll speak with the Elves later. Let’s see if they can handle some of the peripherals. However, I guess you’ll need to take care of everything from Bone Mountain to the north of the Tree of the End. Even for the Elves, venturing north of there would be too dangerous."
"The range is still a bit large, but there isn’t much help for it." Mina sighed, "Alright, afterwards, I’ll head to the Lost Forest. I’ll discuss it thoroughly with Queen Flare. Do you want to come along? It could help clarify certain things."
"I’ll pass. We need to cure Vivian’s illness first," responded Pannis. "That’s mainly why we came looking for you. We hope to get some information from you and find a place where she can be cured."
"Even if you ask me, I don’t know where to treat her," Mina said in confusion, "Why are you asking me?"
"Because only your lineage, the Guardians, would know. Denia told us that," Pannis thought for a moment, then recounted in detail their discovery of the Goblin Research Center, their encounter with Sigein and Denia there, and finally from Denia’s words, their learning that the Guardians might know details about the situation. "This is how it happened. For Vivian, this is her last chance and this matter isn’t related to the safety of the Yarran World. Providing a bit of personal information shouldn’t violate your rules. Please see if you could help us find out if anyone knows where exactly these scattered parts of the research center are."
"This is troublesome," Mina fell silent for a while, then said in a low voice. "I am aware of this incident. We indeed found some Spatial Fragments of the demiplane to compensate for Yarran World’s missing parts, and some of these fragments were indeed built artificially. But, there is an issue. There were five such artificial Spatial Fragments in total, scattered in different corners of the Yarran Continent. I don’t know which fragment you need to find. Plus, the landscape has changed drastically over the past few thousand years. It’s almost impossible to locate the fragments accurately."
"You don’t need to worry about their specific locations," Ava, who had remained silent the entire time, suddenly raised her head and said expressionlessly. "I have a solution."
"Oh? A young Triclops, you have a solution?" Mina asked uncertainly, "Even though you are born from that research center, I find it hard to imagine what solution you might have."
"We just need to pass near them," Ava explained. "You know about my origin. Although the links between the scattered elements and the center’s main control system have been severed, as long as I am within fifty kilometers of these elements, I can make a direct psychic connection with them. This will allow us to locate exactly where we need to go."
"Alright, let me think back," Mina mused, "There are five Spatial Fragments. One is in your Neutral Land, one in Perpetual Icefield, one in the Shining Forest, and the remaining two are both in that human empire, what’s it called again?"
"The Falar Empire?" Catherine asked uncertainly, "The only place currently that’s an empire is Falar."
"It should be this Falar Empire. I can’t remember their ever-changing names, but its location is in the southeast of the Yarran Continent, which should be Falar Empire," Mina said, "however, I feel that your search for these scattered pieces is... quite pointless now."
"What do you mean by that?" Clutching Vivian’s hand tightly, Catherine demanded, "Can you explain more clearly? Why is it pointless to look for them now?"
"It’s no surprise you’re unaware of her condition," Mina’s golden pupils under her hood shone like two crystal energy lamps, her gaze almost tangible as it moved up and down Vivian’s body. "You’ve been too optimistic about her situation. Her nervous system, or what goblins would call it, is being slowly consumed by the disease and is on the brink of collapse. The ordeal is random. If she’s lucky and it invades less important nerves first, she might have enough time to look for a cure. But her luck hasn’t been so good. It’s attacking significant nerves. There’s hardly any time left to seek treatment."
"How much time does she have?" Pannis asked calmly, wearing a natural expression. "What’s the worst-case scenario for how long she can hold out?"
Mina looked at Vivian again, hesitating before saying, "I can’t be entirely sure, but based on her current situation, in two days, she won’t be able to breathe normally. Even if she tries to control her breaths, she’ll lose cognitive abilities five days later. By that time, it’ll be impossible even if she wanted to breathe manually."
"So, realistically, we have two days left?" Pannis asked, tapping his fingers on a rock below him. "But at the Goblin Research Center previously, Sigein of the Triclops said that Vivian had three hundred days left. She wouldn’t have lied to us then."
"You remembered it wrong." Ava corrected coldly, "Sigein said a maximum of three hundred days. That’s the best-case scenario. Didn’t you also cut the three hundred days estimate by half while planning?"
"Hmm, is that how it is?" Pannis took a deep breath, rubbing his temple. "It seems we are facing the worst-case scenario."
At this point, Catherine, Lina, and Freya seemed calm. They weren’t as anxious and tense as they were before. They sat quietly beside Vivian, thinking hard about a solution. The girls would occasionally whisper to each other, only to shake their heads and dismiss previous ideas. Keeping calm is a vital quality for an adventurer. Those who can’t manage their temperaments likely lost their lives due to such crises.
"You all are a bit panicked." The calmest of them all, ironically, was Vivian, who should be the most panicked and upset. As though everything was happening to someone else, she swung her legs on her stone-stool, smiling while her eyes curved into crescents. She seemed delighted with the girls’ actions, saying cheerfully, "If you weren’t panicked, you would’ve noticed that Pannis didn’t seem surprised or shocked at all. It seems as though he had prepared for this long ago. Am I right, Pannis?"
"Consider the worst scenarios and prepare accordingly, that has been his habit for many years, correct, my friend?" Mina’s voice echoed from under her hood. "In this entire life, he only made a mistake once. But that one blunder made him..."
"That’s enough, Mina, that’s irrelevant," Pannis interrupted with a heavy cough, "I did prepare for this situation. In my thought process, this is still not the worst-case scenario but I have prepared a solution. Although it’s dangerous, it’s not yet time to lose hope."
"Oh? What do you think is the worst-case scenario?" Vivian was the only one relaxed enough to ask this question. "I get it. The worst outcome would be that I faint suddenly, without any warning. Is there a way to deal with that too?"
"Yes." Pannis’s face was slightly stiff as he shook his head. "But it’s taboo. Until we come to that, I won’t disclose it."
"Alright, so since you have a solution, let’s not wait anymore." Catherine suddenly felt her back soaked with sweat, her hands trembling in the dark, even her voice wavered slightly. "What preparations are needed?"
"Mina." Pannis suddenly said solemnly to the dragon Mina, "We’re friends, right?"
"Heh." Mina, under her cloak, laughed at Pannis’s question, saying quietly, "We became friends the day you were willing to accompany me to face death. We are forever friends. Your question was quite foolish."
"Then I want to ask you a favor." Pannis said, "Fly to the Elven Forest as fast as you can, ask Queen Flare to come here and tell her to bring their Lifespring Ring."
"You want to..." Mina was shocked by Pannis’s request, "force a surgery?" (To be continued. If you like this work, please vote for it at qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please go to m.qidian.com to read.)
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