Chapter 1494: Limited Protection

At the same time, in the northern part of the continent, near the edge of Violet Island, the Morning Star was drifting on the sea about four nautical miles from the shore.

The midday sun blazed down fiercely on the vast ocean and the wild, untamed coastline opposite. Sunlight danced over the choppy waves, jagged rocks jutted out along the shore, and the forests of Violet Island stretched lush and green. Modir stood at the edge of the Morning Star’s deck, guiding his Mage’s Eye as it prowled near the coast. The magical orb’s images streamed directly into his mind, along with his own sensing of the magical energy and shadow forces near the shoreline.

Midday was when shadow power was at its weakest. If anything on the island was hidden by shadow, now was the best time to find it.

Footsteps approached from behind. Without turning, Modir sensed the visitor’s identity by their aura. He casually said, “Everything’s still normal for now. The next wave of landing troops should be ready to deploy, right?”

“Yes,” Victoria replied respectfully. “It’s noon now—the scheduled time for exploration. Have you found anything on the island?”

“Nothing,” Modir shook his head. “The magical environment is stable, no trace of shadow power, and no anomalies or hidden entrances near the edges. At least the coastline area should be safe. Plus, the detection devices we set up along the shore last night haven’t sent back any unusual signals or images. I think the situation is as I suspected—the force behind the Prandel Mist incident has completely dissipated. We can proceed with operations deeper into Violet Island.”

Victoria gazed toward the distant shoreline, pondering briefly before speaking. “The whole kingdom is just a dream of the gods… If anyone else said that, I’d think they’d lost their mind.”

“There are always things in this world that challenge our understanding,” Modir smiled and shook his head. “You should get used to it.” Then, casually, he asked, “Any news from the capital?”

“The Emperor has ordered us to continue exploration and report back at any time. A dedicated communication line has been established between the Morning Star and the capital. He also said that Typhon has sent their own investigation team—they’ll likely land on the eastern coast. We probably won’t cross paths in the short term, but if we do, we’re to handle it according to the International ‘Otherworld Exploration Regulations’: avoid conflict, cooperate within limits, or operate independently.”

“Typhon?” Modir raised an eyebrow in surprise. “They’re here too?”

“Of course. Typhon lost intelligence personnel in the Great Mist incident just like Cecil did,” Victoria explained. “Their intelligence department is just as overwhelmed. I heard their Warden leader, Diana, is personally leading the team this time. Besides Typhon, the Ogure, the Northern City-States Confederation, and the Holy Dragon Principality will also send investigation teams soon. The capital has already coordinated with their leaders.”

“…Looks like the disappearance of the Violet Kingdom has shaken the alliance more than we thought,” Modir muttered. “Several major northern nations have dispatched teams. This must have become a top priority for the alliance.”

“After all, an entire country vanished,” Victoria sighed. “Even though Violet was a ‘hidden realm,’ it was part of the world order. For centuries, it maintained contact with northern regions. Some cities in the Northern City-States even had dedicated ‘Violet Magic Academies’ deeply influenced by it. In the end, Lady Night’s dream… was more than just a dream to the world.”

She shook her head, staring at the lush forests and sunlit coast of Violet Island with a hint of melancholy. “If we weren’t facing a greater crisis, and if the leaders weren’t so occupied with the magical tide monitoring devices and the ‘Unified Mind Field’ project, the disappearance of the Violet Kingdom would definitely be the alliance’s headline event.”

“…We’ve got too many ‘headline events’ to deal with right now,” Modir shrugged helplessly. Just then, a series of sharp, urgent bells rang from the deck, accompanied by the distant commands of rangers. The old mage quickly composed himself and layered dozens of magical protections and resistance buffs over his body. “Sounds like the landing troops are ready. I’ll go with them.”

“Please be careful and protect your—” Victoria started instinctively, but then noticed the layers of magical shielding around the old master, probably stronger than a fortress wall. She choked on her words, pausing for several seconds before managing, “If you see something unfamiliar, it’s best not to… touch it?”

“If I’m too scared to touch anything, what kind of adventurer would I be? Might as well buy a ticket and visit a park,” Modir waved her off. Then, adding even more layers of mage armor to himself, he looked like a walking tank as he headed toward the deck, waving back without looking, “Don’t worry, I’ve got plenty of adventure experience. I’ve seen every kind of predicament…”

Victoria: “…”

Even the calm and composed Ice Duchess was at a loss for how to communicate with her eccentric old ancestor. After a long moment, she could only wish him good health…

Meanwhile, elsewhere, after leaving Amber’s room, Gawain didn’t return to his study or head to the High Council as usual. Instead, he went straight to the Arcane Technology Department and entered Rebecca’s office.

Rebecca and Jenny had been waiting there for some time.

Seeing Gawain enter, Rebecca was the first to greet him. Though a bit tired, she was full of energy, her voice lively as always. “Ancestor! You’re finally here! By the way, is Amber okay?”

“She just overslept,” Gawain waved off any further explanation, his gaze shifting to Jenny standing nearby. He nodded slightly to the empire’s chief runesmith before getting straight to the point. “How’s the preparation for the ‘Magical Tide Defense Construction Plan’ briefing?”

“The meeting will start in about forty minutes,” Jenny replied promptly. “Besides us, the participants include technical experts and leaders from Typhon, Silver, the Holy Dragon, and Talrond. Other alliance members won’t attend.”

“Good,” Gawain nodded approvingly. “The meeting can’t be too large. A full alliance conference would just mix experts and laymen, causing chaos. For now, let the top technical experts hammer out the general framework.”

Jenny nodded. After a brief pause, Gawain asked, “What’s the situation at the Ancestor’s Peak?”

“‘Lady Tower’ has fully taken control of Ancestor’s Peak. The entire mountain is under lockdown,” Rebecca answered. “According to the latest intelligence, she’s successfully located the deep blue ley lines deep within the mountain and has activated and guided thirty-six pairs, seventy-two energy arcs as per the blueprint. Data from several observation points around the peak show the process is stable and under control. Oh, here’s a magical image sent by the Spirit King Stur—you can see it for yourself.”

As she spoke, Rebecca activated a terminal on her desk. The crystal above it shimmered faintly, and a clear holographic projection appeared before Gawain’s eyes.

A breathtaking spectacle instantly captured his full attention—Ancestor’s Peak, transformed beyond recognition. The majestic mountain, steeped in history and prestige, stood at the center of the plain. Its entire body was wrapped in blue veins like blood vessels or spiderwebs. Massive blue flows, like solar coronas, surged from fissures, tracing grand arcs through the air, spanning ridges and chasms. Layer upon layer of rune-lit curtains hung from the sky like auroras, circling the mountain in the clouds.

Its scale even surpassed the Deep Blue Well at its peak!

“…So this is the marvel personally forged by the ‘Master of All Laws’…” Gawain murmured, staring at the magnificent scene. “Truly spectacular… no wonder forging wonders is addictive.”

“Indeed, it’s awe-inspiring,” Jenny said, her face glowing with excitement and pride. She pointed at the hologram of Ancestor’s Peak with one hand and gestured broadly with the other. “And the even more impressive part is yet to come. It will be realized by the hundreds of thousands of mortal engineering crews already gathered on the Ogure Ancestor Plains, and those arriving over the next two weeks. This includes mechanized construction units from the Cecil Empire, engineering mage corps from Typhon, local Ogure artisans, craftsman battalions from the Dwarven Kingdom, engineering teams from the Holy Dragon Principality and Talrond, and other skilled workers who helped build the Wasteland Barrier Wall.”

Rebecca also spread her hands before the hologram, outlining the massive ring structures around Ancestor’s Peak and pointing out key construction nodes on the mountain. Her tone was unusually enthusiastic. “According to the plan, once Lady Tower stabilizes the ley lines, we’ll begin surrounding construction. First, we’ll establish hundreds of engineering bases across the plains, arranged in a ring. These bases will form 322 sensor array nodes. Massive arcane towers will rise between nodes to balance the energy load of the entire observation device and facilitate data exchange between the sensor ring and the excitation focus.

“At the same time, once Lady Tower fully stabilizes the mountain’s ley lines, we’ll start ‘transforming’ Ancestor’s Peak. All deep blue ley lines will be converted into controllable energy points. We’ll install countless control stations, hub towers, and computing nodes to ‘bring the mountain to life.’ High-strength reflective armor will shield critical parts of the mountain to prevent interference during operation.

“The entire project will last a full year, maybe longer. But no matter what, we’ll finish before the magical tide reaches the planet’s atmosphere. Then Lady Tower will serve as the observer, providing data to the defense system on the eve of the tide…”

Only when discussing technical matters did Rebecca’s face shine with such confident brilliance. Even then, her radiant expression was rare for Gawain to see. He found himself caught up in her enthusiasm, imagining the forging of this marvel, his spirits lifting. Jenny quickly added, “Rebecca and I have reviewed the Noyan’s ‘Unified Mind Field’ blueprint again, confirming its connection to our ‘Anti-Divinity Barrier’ and verifying the true role of the magical tide observation data in this defense system.”

“The real purpose of that data?” Gawain’s interest was immediately piqued. “Tell me more specifically.”

Jenny nodded. “Sure. Simply put, we’ve deduced that the protective principle behind the Mind Unification Field is that a ‘closed information system is immune to the observer effect running out of control.’ It can generate a powerful, non-directional ideological layer above a planet, effectively isolating the minds within the planetary barrier from the true external universe. But in reality… completely isolating the entire mortal population’s minds from the outside universe is simply impossible.

“This would require an unimaginably vast scale of ideological energy and computational power—an astronomical figure beyond our comprehension.

“The Noyans explicitly mention this in their technical documents, speculating that only the Voyagers possess the capability to build a truly closed information domain that can fully isolate the real universe. For us, still at a planetary-level civilization, this is unattainable.

“Therefore, what the Mind Unification Field actually provides is a form of ‘limited protection.’ Since it can’t completely isolate the real universe, it narrows the protective ‘domain’ to filter only the fluctuations caused by the Chaos Tide.

“It’s precisely under these conditions that we need the precise data from the observation devices. The purpose of this data is to adjust the Mind Unification Field’s ‘emission frequency’ to selectively block the runaway observer effect triggered by the Chaos Tide.

“You can think of it as a kind of ‘frequency tuning’ process, and the observation devices provide the tuning parameters…”

Listening to Jenny’s clear and straightforward explanation, Gawain finally had an epiphany. He understood a technical question that had long puzzled him—if the Mind Unification Field could truly isolate information between observers and the real universe, it should be an airtight, all-encompassing defense. So why would it need observation devices to provide Chaos Tide parameters?

Now he finally got it.

It all came down to technological limitations. To put it plainly, if the Mind Unification Field were a solid shield, then the shields the Loren Alliance and Noyan civilization can currently build are actually very small—so small that they only cover a single direction of attack. That’s why the Chaos Tide observation devices are necessary: to determine from which ‘direction’ the Chaos Tide will strike, so the shield can be raised just in time to block the assault.

Of course, the word ‘direction’ here is just a convenient way to understand it. In reality, the Chaos Tide sweeps across the entire planet from all angles. What both the observation and protection devices actually need to identify is a certain ‘frequency characteristic’ of the Chaos Tide.

(End of chapter)