Chapter 1230: The Sea Witches Begin Their Move

The original purpose of repairing the faster-than-light communication array was to reestablish contact with the other immigrant ships lost long ago.

But even the naturally optimistic sea witches knew just how slim the chances were.

It had been far too long… Since the fleet fled their homeworld and lost contact between ships, countless ages had passed. Even the ageless, immortal sea witches struggled against the weight of such endless time. The vast, dark cosmos had swallowed so much in those years.

Queen Petia gazed upward at the antenna tower components slowly rotating high above. She knew these parts had been silent for far too long—the sea witches should have repaired these critical systems sooner. But the world’s own laws had resisted them, causing the sisters to waste precious time stranded on this strange planet. By the time they fully understood this world and sensed the omnipresent “magic” here… the world had already changed beyond recognition.

Still, the sea witches poured immense passion and hope into this task. They knew how much time had been lost, but they didn’t care—they were slow but resilient creatures, accustomed to spending vast stretches of time on a single simple task. Everything was as their creed said:

As long as you begin, it’s never too late.

Besides… although the antenna system failed to pick up signals from other immigrant ships as hoped, it brought an unexpected reward. The newly reactivated receivers caught voices echoing between the stars. This universe was not as empty and desolate as they had first imagined—and among those voices was one particularly special signal, one that might help the sea witches’ new allies solve the troubles they faced.

Rosalia, the queen’s attendant, came to stand beside Petia, both watching the direction of the communication antennas. Almost simultaneously, a low, steady hum rose from the central axis of the antenna array.

Petia narrowed her eyes slightly. She saw the sensitive floating structures swiftly adjusting their positions and orientations. Bright arcs of electricity leapt densely between the tower and its auxiliary devices, quickly weaving several circular “intercept fields.” Through the open “windows” near the tower’s base, she could clearly see many internal structures lighting up. The recently repaired receivers were running at full power, listening intently to the distant cosmic voices—

Right on schedule, the faster-than-light signal from four light-years away returned to this star system.

Queen Petia stood quietly on the deck’s high platform, watching the deepwater technicians and sea witches bustling below. Each time the signal arrived was the perfect moment to calibrate the antenna’s key systems. On this primitive, backward planet, a distant faster-than-light communication signal was a rare and precious “reference line” for the technicians.

Of course, the sea witches also recorded the signal’s content, using the decoding methods provided by their ally Cecil to translate it into recognizable images. Petia didn’t have to wait long—the signal’s content repeated in a loop, and soon she had the latest monitoring report.

“…No changes,” Petia said, shaking her head with a hint of disappointment as she looked at the charts Rosalia handed her. “Straightforward geometric patterns, simple basic math operations, and strange, indecipherable ancient text. The signal just keeps repeating the same content.”

“This might be a ‘greeting’ broadcast continuously for hundreds or thousands of years,” Rosalia added. “The deepwater witches even suspect it’s an automated machine transmission. They say maybe the original sender will only check in if a response comes from the stars.”

“…Assuming there really is a ‘sender’ behind this signal,” Petia said, handing the report back to Rosalia. “If a timed signal has been broadcasting automatically for so many years, it’s hard not to wonder if the original sender is still alive. After all, from our long observations… most lifeforms on this world don’t live as long as sea witches, and their civilizations follow similar cycles.”

Rosalia curled her tail tip around the report and continued, “Master Hecate is still organizing personnel to decode the text behind the signal, but progress is slow. We don’t have experts in linguistics or cryptography among the sea witches. However, a group of naga recently heard about our situation and volunteered to help. Maybe we can look forward to some breakthroughs…”

“Naga, huh…” Petia’s silvery eyebrows lifted slightly, a faint smile touching her lips. “That’s promising. They were once human, and humans have always been more gifted with language than sea witches. Anyway, whatever progress they make, just send it straight to Tyr. Our ally Cecil seems very interested in this matter. Humans have a saying these days… something about ‘going with the flow.’ I like that phrase—rarely do they use ‘water’ so vividly as a metaphor.”

The deep-sea ruler spoke calmly as she slowly made her way toward the edge of Antavien. Stretching and yawning at the deck’s edge, her gaze drifted toward the sunlit beach. The sunlight was growing stronger, the giant star’s rays making the shore shimmer brilliantly at the waves’ edge. Some sea witches who had just finished their night shifts were already settling comfortably on the sand, digging small pits to curl up in, waiting for the sun to strengthen before flipping over to dry.

Further inland, the naga had built a town on a clearing near the coast. It had grown into a modest settlement, blending human charm with deep-sea elements. Dark rooftops and gray-white walls created a landscape unseen on this land for millions of years. Tall towers rose in the town’s center, decorated with winding octopus tentacles and shell patterns. A massive, somber mechanical clock face crowned the tower, embraced by deep-sea motifs. A damp stone path stretched from the town to the shore, ending at a small harbor and a stone ramp leading directly into the sea.

Besides the underwater “Trench City” and Antavien’s “Naga District,” nearly a third of the former Stormborn now lived in this land-based town.

They were deep-sea kin, their flesh and souls soaked in moist sea breezes and tidal forces. Yet the lingering remnants of their human heritage led them to choose life on land, building this eclectic new home.

Petia had once visited the town. It was an intriguing place—its streets always faintly scented with briny sea air, damp ground and walls blurring the line between land and ocean. Totems of deep-sea creatures and dark wave runes were everywhere. Scaled deep-sea kin lived in the tall houses, rarely venturing out under the strong daylight. But at night, the streets, soaked with the scent of the sea, echoed with the sound of scales scraping stone as these scaled and serpentine beings emerged from hiding to sell seafood barbecue and “deep-sea special drinks” in the town square.

Sea witches often came here on their days off, partying all night at the local night market.

In Petia’s million-year memory, none of this had ever happened before. The sea witches had long lived quietly and secluded, never changing so drastically because of “outsiders.” But now it had happened—and it seemed the clan enjoyed these new changes.

“Maybe some change isn’t such a bad thing…” Petia murmured thoughtfully.

Rosalia, curious, asked, “Your Majesty, what did you say?”

“Nothing, just talking to myself,” Petia waved her hand and turned to leave. As the deep-sea ruler, she had many tasks ahead today—when suddenly, a tall sea witch with long sky-blue hair appeared in her line of sight, halting her steps.

“General Vanessa,” Petia nodded slightly to the blue-haired sea witch standing before her. “What’s the matter?”

“Your Majesty, I just received a message from Tyr,” Vanessa said, bowing respectfully. “It’s urgent.”

“Tyr sending a message at this hour? She’s still awake?” Petia was surprised, then nodded. “Go ahead, what’s the situation?”

“Our allies want us to help monitor some… phenomena in the elemental realm,” Vanessa recalled the message. “They’ve detected some disturbing anomalies in an energy system spanning the entire planet, called the ‘Deep Blue Network.’ This energy system is showing all kinds of irregularities…”

She relayed Tyr’s message in detail, emphasizing the part about the Deep Blue Network. Petia listened intently, her expression growing serious.

“The Deep Blue Network… I’ve heard of similar concepts before. Some ancient civilization studied it long ago, but back then we couldn’t perceive or understand ‘magic.’ To us sea witches, the Deep Blue Network was an invisible, intangible ‘anomaly,’” Petia said thoughtfully after Vanessa finished. “Now things are different…”

“This sounds serious,” Rosalia said, looking at her queen. “What do you intend to do?”

“It is serious. I trust our human allies’ judgment—they’re more expert on this planet’s magic system, and they have no reason to deceive us,” Petia said gravely. “If this planetary-scale ‘power structure’ really malfunctions, none of us will be safe.”

“So…” Vanessa looked at Petia expectantly. “Should we send a reconnaissance team to the water elemental realm? Or set up a permanent outpost there…?”

“A temporary scout team won’t be enough for something this critical,” Petia said after a moment’s thought, shaking her head. “We need to establish a long-term outpost, and open a stable elemental gateway here in Antavien.”

The ruler of the deep sea was actually a decisive person—once a decision was made, it had to be carried out immediately. Yet, when Vanessa and Rosalia heard the queen’s verdict, they couldn’t help but exchange uneasy glances, each wearing a somewhat troubled expression. Rosalia was the first to speak up.

“Your Majesty, should we double-check with the humans before moving forward? And maybe prepare a bit more on our side—like reaching out to the lords of the Water Elemental Realm, giving them a heads-up, making some arrangements in advance… After all, our past dealings with them haven’t been exactly smooth. Even though we’ve signed agreements and are at peace now, things are still a bit sensitive.”

“…That’s true,” Petya furrowed her brow slightly, recognizing the wisdom in her attendants’ words. “We had quite a fierce fight with them before the treaty. Sending people over to build outposts without any notice might come off as rude… Since we were the ones at fault back then, we need to be extra careful now.”

She paused, then looked at her most trusted maid and her most reliable military officer. “What do you suggest?”

“This came up suddenly, and we don’t have much time to negotiate slowly with the elemental lords,” Vanessa said thoughtfully. “It’s best to make our intentions clear quickly and do everything we can to avoid any friction.”

“Maybe… we could bring some local specialties as gifts?” Rosalia offered after a moment’s thought. “At least proper etiquette can’t hurt. We definitely don’t want to be the ones at fault this time.”

“I think that’s a good idea,” Petya immediately approved. “Elemental lords respond to reason. Even when reckless human mages summon them, as long as they’re given enough offerings, they don’t turn hostile…”

As she spoke, her mind raced, trying to figure out what kind of “local specialty” could quickly soothe the elemental lords, especially those who had tense, delicate relations with the sea sirens. Soon, a confident smile appeared on the deep sea ruler’s face.

“Vanessa, prepare the elemental teleportation device. We’ll open a portal to the Water Elemental Realm. Rosalia, organize a skilled excavation team to head down to the seabed and pick out a large one…”

Rosalia quickly caught on to the queen’s meaning but looked a bit uncertain. “Your Majesty, is this really going to work…?”

“I believe it will,” Petya nodded confidently. “Antavien’s greatest specialty is exactly that—we’ll bring the finest, most delicious specimen to the elemental lords as a gift. And I’ll deliver it myself; that’ll show our sincerity…”

With that, she waved her hand at the two subordinates before turning and walking away without another word, leaving the deep sea maid and the siren general staring at each other in silence.

After a long moment, Rosalia finally broke the quiet. “General Vanessa… do you really think this will work?”

“…If Her Majesty says it will, then it will,” Vanessa shrugged. “Honestly, I can’t think of a better plan.”

(End of chapter)