Chapter 584: Within the Shadows
Above the base of the Sentinel Tower, suspended midair by anti-gravity technology, floated the tower’s most vital “functional facility”—a shield projection device known simply as the “Stone Tablet.”
The massive energy barrier of the Great Wall relied on the Stone Tablet to maintain its integrity. But its role extended far beyond merely generating a protective shield. As a high-powered magical apparatus, the Stone Tablet housed an intricate internal structure and multiple functions. While projecting the shield, it also served as an upper-level sensor array, constantly monitoring the barrier’s condition thousands of meters above ground, tracking the energy tides across the wasteland, and relaying its status in real time to the magical intelligence housed within the tower’s base.
The sensor array inside the Stone Tablet was perhaps the last component that could fail without immediately triggering the magical intelligence’s safeguards.
“There’s an elevator platform on the top floor of this chamber that leads up to the Stone Tablet,” Banner said quickly, opening a new control interface on the alloy pillar beside the magical intelligence as he checked the system. “Let me see… Thank the Forest Spirit, the elevator’s in good condition.”
Gawain nodded. “Let’s go take a look inside the Stone Tablet.”
No one objected. Gawain assigned Solderin and the ranger warriors to continue guarding the base while he and Banner, along with the others, ascended to the upper level of the chamber housing the magical intelligence. There, a circular elevator platform rested quietly in a recessed niche at the ceiling.
This elevator platform had remained docked here for seven centuries, yet the Sentinel Tower’s protective systems kept it in excellent condition. After Banner infused it with magical energy and input control commands, faint blue magical patterns and faint Elven runes shimmered to life on the platform’s surface. Gawain felt a subtle tremor beneath his feet as the platform began its slow ascent.
The glowing cloud of magical energy above drew closer in their view. An energy shield automatically rose around the platform to protect its passengers, but Gawain paid little attention to the magical cloud or the shield. His focus was fixed on the intricate runes appearing on the platform’s surface.
This was Elven anti-gravity technology—far more advanced than anything humans had developed.
It required only a small amount of magic to lift a substantial load, and the ascent was astonishingly smooth. The rune structure had clearly been optimized to such a degree that Banner barely needed to intervene.
Humans had their own levitation magic and gravity-based floating devices. In the towers of great mages, similar floating platforms were often used to transport people or goods. But Gawain knew their fatal flaw: they consumed enormous amounts of energy, limiting their use to within mage towers. They were difficult to control and required the tower’s spirit to assist in stabilization, or else risk plummeting. They were expensive and complex, affordable only to mid- to high-level adepts.
Researchers at the Rune Institute had long tried to crack and optimize human gravity magic, but they faced the same “black box” problem that had plagued communication magic in the past.
Gravity magic was not of human origin; its source was a mystery. The spell models contained many structures that defied explanation. Despite Jenny and her technical team’s efforts, they had yet to optimize large-scale anti-gravity arrays to a practical level. So far, the Rune Institute’s only achievements in gravity magic were “Weight Reduction” and “Floating Trick.” The former had been applied in construction and logistics, but the latter—due to its minimal load capacity and interference issues when multiple arrays were combined—remained impractical.
The black box of communication magic had been cracked after introducing Sleeper technology. Could the black box of gravity magic find its breakthrough within Elven knowledge?
The floating platform continued its ascent, piercing through the thick magical cloud. The crackling arcs of electricity sparked as the platform’s shield rubbed against the dense mist. Amber seemed startled by this seemingly perilous “passage,” instinctively shrinking her neck, while Gawain’s mind remained absorbed in the applications of anti-gravity technology.
To break free from gravity and soar through the skies—that was a dream shared by nearly every intelligent being. Its military and civilian significance was obvious, but more importantly, mastering gravity-defying technology had long been Gawain’s obsession. In his lifetime, within the realms of possibility, it seemed the only way to reach the satellites in space, to touch his “true self.”
On this path, griffins wouldn’t suffice, nor giant eagles, nor even a mage’s personal flight spell.
When conditions were right, a flying machine had to be built.
The platform emerged from the ten-meter-thick magical cloud. The crackling arcs and mist receded below their feet, revealing a breathtaking panorama.
The colossal Great Wall stretched before them like a luminous aurora descending to the earth, tracing the borders of the ancient Gondor Empire. To the north, the dark silhouette of the Black Mountains undulated on the horizon. To the south, the vast expanse of corrupted, purple-black wasteland stretched endlessly, jagged, grotesque rocks and withered plants scattered across the plains. Twisted, unrecognizable ruins dotted the distant landscape, bleak and desolate.
Amber stared in awe at the scene beyond the barrier, finally exclaiming, “Wow…”
“That’s Gondor—the mightiest empire in human history. Seven hundred years ago, the ancestors of Ansu fled from there,” Gawain’s memories surged forth as he gazed southward across the wasteland, breaking the silence. “See that faintly reddish strip? That’s the road where we lost a fifth of our people. And those crooked ruins in the distance, looking like they’ve melted—that’s Seranduran, the last border city still organizing resistance. Back then, Charles tried to persuade the lord of Seranduran to flee with the people immediately, but the stubborn old count insisted on standing with the city to the end. He ultimately detonated the city’s magical conduits. Those twisted remnants are the remains of those conduits.”
Everyone listened quietly to Gawain’s account. Even Amber fell silent. In that brief stillness, the elevator platform slipped into shadow—
They had arrived at the Stone Tablet’s lower docking area.
After a moment to adjust, their eyes grew accustomed to the dim magical lighting inside the Stone Tablet. Amber blinked and looked around, surprised to find that the massive Stone Tablet’s interior was not very spacious—within sight was only a circular hall with a high ceiling, no more than a few dozen meters tall. Beyond the hall, she saw no other exits.
Rows of neat silver-white metal pillars stood within the hall. These pillars were likely the Stone Tablet’s monitoring and control devices.
“Most of the Stone Tablet is sealed off, wrapped in thick artificial rock and multiple layers of magical materials,” Banner explained. “That’s because it contains extremely powerful and dangerous energy. It must maintain a closed energy environment to prevent shield imbalance, so it’s tightly sealed. The walls of this hall are ten meters thick, connected through a massive magical array set in the ceiling that links to various points within the Stone Tablet. Through this array, we can monitor the Stone Tablet’s operational status.”
As Banner spoke, he approached one of the silver pillars and activated it. Complex, arcane Elven runes appeared on its surface, accompanied by a faint hum. A holographic projection displaying extensive data materialized in the air around the pillar.
Gawain and Sonia watched Banner’s work tensely. They hoped he would find some anomaly, but feared discovering a critical failure in the Sentinel Tower. The Stone Tablet was the tower’s most crucial structure; any malfunction here was almost certainly fatal. If the problem lay within the Stone Tablet…
The entire shield repair and reinforcement plan would become a joke.
Amber observed Banner’s operation for a while but, knowing nothing of Elven runes or the tower’s workings, quickly lost interest and began to look around.
The series of “visions” she’d experienced today weighed heavily on her mind.
She was a rough-and-ready girl, carefree in many ways, but that didn’t mean she was careless—though many thought so. She refused to dismiss what she’d seen as mere hallucinations. She understood one thing clearly: those things were likely visible only to her.
They were projections from the Shadow Realm—or phenomena caused by partial incursions of the Shadow Realm into the physical world.
Was there a shadow rift here? Why would such a rift suddenly appear in the natural world?
Amber frowned and tried to relax her mind, allowing her innate, inexplicable shadow affinity to gradually take over her senses. She breathed steadily, scanning the entire hall.
She began to perceive the place through the eyes of a shadow creature.
The shadow figures she’d glimpsed below were mostly shadow dwellers—beings who had no interaction with the material world’s living creatures and seemed to harbor some hostility. Yet, toward her, they were somewhat… familiar. Amber wasn’t sure if their attitude counted as friendly, but she had indeed interacted with them before.
Those strange, seemingly illogical beings were intelligent creatures. They wouldn’t randomly direct her this way unless something was disturbing the order between the material world and the Shadow Realm.
“The devices here also show everything is normal,” Banner’s puzzled voice came from nearby. The Elven mage repeatedly checked several key sensors within the Stone Tablet, his tone full of confusion. “Strange… it’s almost too normal.”
Sonia joined Banner. “The sensors seem to be functioning well. What about the connection to the magical intelligence?”
“Connection is smooth… wait, too smooth…”
Banner and Sonia’s voices grew distant and faint in Amber’s ears.
Unconsciously, her hair lengthened, floating weightlessly in midair. Her eyes turned an eerie pale gold, reflecting the black-and-white landscape of the Shadow Realm. A writhing cloud of smoke gathered at her feet, forming a gateway into the Shadow Realm.
She had entered the Shadow Realm.
Hollow, rune-wrapped shadow figures appeared around her, whispering softly:
“You’re in deep trouble…”
“They’ve already caused destruction…”
“But it seems you can still delay them a little.”
“That has nothing to do with us…”
“Just a reminder—you belong here after all…”
“Look up, above.”
Amber lifted her gaze to the hall’s ceiling.
Massive hatching vines and roots sprawled across every silver pillar, crawling along the hall’s walls, and slithering through the cracks in the elevator docking area—extending outward beyond the Stone Tablet itself.
They seemed to be linked to the base below, which in turn connected to the earth beneath, stretching out into the wasteland—and deeper still, to something even more profane hidden within that desolation.
“Holy hell!!”
(End of chapter)