Chapter 1249: Amber Is a Professional

The moment Modir caught sight of those shifting sands, a look of stunned bewilderment crossed his face. Clearly, he was deeply impressed by the peculiar appearance of the dust, and when he saw the grains responding to Amber’s guidance as if alive, his gaze toward her grew even more unusual. For a moment, it was hard to tell what theories were racing through the veteran adventurer’s mind, but in the end, he gave Gawain a look of genuine admiration.

Gawain blinked in confusion.

“Truly worthy of being by your side,” the old mage suddenly said. “I once thought my own incredible experiences were stories fit to be written down, but now it seems… these strange and mysterious things might be nothing to you.”

“Oh, you might be misunderstanding,” Gawain quickly responded, waving a hand. “Her sands are…”

He stopped mid-sentence, realizing he had no easy way to explain Amber’s unique nature to this first-time acquaintance. The concept of a “free Chosen” probably meant nothing to Modir. So he glossed over the rest: “These sands aren’t like any dust you’ve seen before. It’s a bit complicated—though it does relate to shadow divine power, so they might help us detect what kind of changes have taken place in you.”

As he spoke, the pale gray sands began to drift through the air like flowing water, swirling around Modir under Amber’s command. Compared to the first time she summoned them, Amber’s control had clearly improved. She could now make the sands appear and vanish at will, and even shape them into complex forms. The old adventurer, surrounded by the swirling dust, suddenly looked a bit tense. Sitting upright, he fixed his eyes on the sands circling him and cautiously asked, “Is there anything I should do to cooperate?”

“No, just sit still. I’m checking how much of that ‘other’ presence remains in you,” Amber replied, her expression unusually serious. But Gawain, who knew her well, recognized that she was entering her “playful focus” mode—an intense state where she took her work seriously. It was rare to see this mischievous, lively half-elf so solemnly engaged, and for a legendary warrior like Modir to be cooperating so earnestly was a first for Gawain. Naturally, he decided not to interrupt the moment.

Amber’s forehead began to glisten with cold sweat.

“What did you find?” Gawain finally broke the silence, noticing Amber’s expression growing more tense and alarmed, her amber eyes wide with shock.

Amber didn’t answer immediately. She stood frozen for a few seconds before suddenly turning to Modir. “Sir, do you ever feel anything unusual about your body?”

“Unusual?” Modir blinked. “What do you mean?”

Amber chose her words carefully, trying to express her thoughts delicately. “Like… strange sensations, feeling like a part of your body doesn’t belong to you, numbness in your limbs, as if you’ve lost an arm or a leg…”

Her initial phrasing was straightforward, but the latter part grew more ambiguous. Yet Modir didn’t seem offended. Instead, he looked down at his body in mild surprise, moving his wrists and ankles as if to confirm something, then shrugged with a puzzled expression. “No, I don’t feel anything like that. I think I’m still quite robust.”

Gawain glanced between Modir and Amber, who looked utterly unsettled—as if she’d just glimpsed something bizarre and inexplicable. He leaned in and whispered, “What exactly did you see?”

Amber’s eyes locked onto the adventurer sitting across from her. Gawain’s sudden closeness startled her, but she lowered her voice to a whisper only he could hear: “You really can’t see it, can you?”

“See what?”

“Half of Modir’s body is made up of shadow dust…”

Her voice was soft, as if describing a surreal vision. Gawain’s eyes widened in shock, but Amber never took her gaze off Modir. She clearly saw it: as the shadow dust she summoned swirled around him, she finally sensed that familiar aura from the Lady of Night’s divine realm. The flowing gray-white sands moved over Modir’s body, precisely outlining half of his torso. The dust streamed across his skin in a way that was eerie and unsettling.

At first, Amber thought the sands merely covered part of Modir’s skin, but when gaps appeared in the flowing dust, revealing the chair’s backrest behind, she realized the truth: the sands didn’t just coat the surface. In fact, half of Modir’s body was composed of that shadow dust!

Yet Modir himself seemed completely unaware of this, and no one else around him could perceive it either—only Amber, through some secret connection to the shadow divine realm, could see it.

Gawain instinctively focused on Modir, who looked puzzled. He studied the adventurer, wrapped in mystery, for a long moment.

Of course, he saw nothing unusual—but he believed Amber had truly witnessed something terrifying.

“Miss Amber, have you figured out what’s wrong with me?” Modir finally asked. Though a legendary warrior like him could have overheard the whispered exchange between Amber and Gawain, he chose not to overstep in front of a hero he respected. “Is it serious?”

“You do carry the Lady of Night’s power, and your body has undergone some degree of transformation,” Amber answered immediately, carefully withholding the full truth. Modir’s perception of himself seemed tied to the anomaly, so she had to be cautious not to trigger any critical mental blocks. “But don’t worry too much. Since you don’t feel anything wrong, the changes aren’t fatal. The Lady’s power… at least, it doesn’t seem to have any malicious intent.”

“Oh, that’s a relief.” Modir exhaled, and Gawain relaxed alongside him.

For a moment, Gawain had worried Amber might blurt out everything as usual, but seeing her take this seriously, he realized her usual mischievous attitude was probably reserved just for him. That thought only made him more annoyed.

While Gawain mulled over this, Amber seemed to have an idea. Watching Modir carefully, she said, “Sir, there’s one more thing I want to confirm… but first, I need to know—do you trust me?”

“At this point, what’s there not to trust?” Modir chuckled. “Besides, if even His Majesty Gawain trusts you, why would I worry about the Empire’s intelligence chief trying to steal something from an old codger like me?”

Gawain couldn’t help but smirk at that. Clearly, Modir didn’t know what the Empire’s intelligence chief’s real job was. But the bigger surprise was Amber nodding seriously and saying, “In a way, I do intend to ‘steal’ something from you, sir.”

Gawain almost blurted out “What?” along with Modir.

“I want to try extracting a small part of the ‘foreign substance’ inside you,” Amber explained, manipulating the shadow dust swirling around Modir with a gleam of excitement. Though she was speaking to Modir, her words were really for Gawain’s ears. “I can sense how the power flows and see which parts are operable. The process should be safe, but it requires your full cooperation—most importantly, no resistance.”

“Extract the ‘foreign substance’ from him?” Gawain raised an eyebrow, skeptical that this shadowy assault goose could be so capable. But he quickly realized Amber was serious, so he turned to Modir. “What do you think? I can vouch for Amber’s dedication, but I can’t guarantee her skill…”

Amber rolled her eyes, about to retort, but Modir beat her to it. “I’m willing to try. Given my condition, even the dragon leader couldn’t find a solution. Now that there’s at least a plan… it’s worth a shot. Miss Amber, besides not resisting, is there anything else I should do?”

“Just don’t resist, and if you feel uncomfortable, speak up immediately. Don’t lash out,” Amber said earnestly. She might not boast about everything, but she was confident in her abilities. Facing a legendary combat mage like Modir, she knew one wrong move from him could be fatal—even Gawain might not be able to save her.

After Modir promised again to cooperate, Amber finally relaxed. She stepped forward, waving her hand to disperse the shadow dust she’d summoned, then placed a hand just above Modir’s head.

The old mage sat upright, expression serious and ready for the experiment. Gawain and Victoria watched with curiosity and concern, wondering what Amber was about to do. After a few tense seconds, a faint, almost imperceptible rustling sound emerged.

Gawain’s eyes widened. He saw shadow dust, like smoke or mist, separating from Modir’s body. The grains were fine and light, rising upward like steam. As soon as they left Modir’s form, they scattered briefly, but Amber’s control quickly gathered them back. The dust swirled and ascended, finally condensing into a tiny vortex no larger than a palm, resting at Amber’s fingertips.

A flicker of daze crossed Modir’s eyes. He seemed completely unaware of what had just happened. Amber’s operation was done.

“Do you feel anything?” Victoria asked immediately, her voice full of concern.

“Is it over already?” Modril rubbed the top of his head, then glanced over at Amber, who had just dispelled the swirling dust storm—though no one knew where she’d hidden it now. He looked utterly bewildered. “I just spaced out for a moment. I don’t feel a thing.”

“Zoning out, huh…” Amber murmured thoughtfully under her breath, then nodded. “It’s done. If you don’t feel anything unusual, that’s actually a good sign.”

“What exactly did you ‘steal’ from me?” Modril furrowed his brow slightly, curious as he looked at Amber. “Why don’t I feel anything at all?”

“I told you, it’s the ‘anomaly’ on your body—more precisely, the ‘influence’ the Lady of Night left behind,” Amber said casually. “But I can’t strip it all away at once. I had to take just a small sample to study for now. You’ll need to be patient and wait to see what I can uncover from those ‘samples.’”

Modril blinked, his gaze sweeping over the others in the room. There was a flicker of suspicion in his eyes, like he was thinking, Are you all in on this together, trying to pull one over on an old man? But when he caught sight of Gawain sitting there with a serious expression, his doubts quickly faded. Slowly, he nodded. “I understand.”

Gawain looked at Amber, and the two exchanged a quick glance. Then he stood and nodded to Modril. “That’s enough for today. Amber has gathered plenty of clues. Next, we’ll head back and work on a more concrete ‘solution.’”

Modril hurried to his feet, smiling. “Of course. I look forward to hearing good news from you soon.”

Gawain extended his hand. “Hopefully, in the near future, we can talk about your thrilling adventures—and those groundbreaking discoveries of yours.”

…

After Gawain and Amber left the room, a black-haired girl named Coretta was waiting in the hallway. Seeing the guests, she immediately stepped forward.

“Take us to the resting quarters,” Gawain said casually to the humanoid dragon. “It seems the situation with that great adventurer is definitely worth a thorough study.”

Coretta glanced at Gawain with curiosity before lowering her head. “Right this way, please.”

On the way to the resting area, Gawain glanced at Amber several times. Just before they reached the room, he finally couldn’t hold back and asked, “What exactly did you ‘extract’ from Modril?”

“I knew you’d ask,” Amber sighed softly, her voice calm and measured. “Unfortunately, I’m not certain yet. But I suspect… those dust particles might reveal what happened around the critical moment when Modril Wilde was split in two.”

(End of chapter)