Chapter 900: Another Entry

Amber looked up, meeting Gawain’s calm, deep gaze.

“And… then what happened?” she asked, curiosity getting the better of her.

Gawain flipped to the next page of the travelogue. Amid the faded, ancient notes, the final paragraphs of this particular entry gradually unfolded before them:

“…Brian’s answer stirred an inexplicable fear within me—not one tied to his words themselves, but rather a kind of preternatural intuition, a ‘premonition’ born from the extraordinary. Instinctively, I sensed Brian was describing a dire situation. These shadow dwellers, who drift along the edge of the Dream of the Deep Realm, maintaining the fragile boundary between wakefulness and slumber—if they were to awaken en masse… it would spell trouble for the material world.

“The only relief is that such an event seems unlikely in the near future—Brian assured me of this. He said: ‘We will awaken eventually, but that time is still far off. The Dream of the Deep Realm once teetered on the brink of waking, but recently it has regained stability, and this balance may last for quite some time.’

“I asked him what had caused the Dream of the Deep Realm to fluctuate, what had roused it, and what had restored its calm—but Brian gave no answer. He slipped back into murmurs and wandering dreams. I tried again, even with other shadow dwellers, but the result was the same: whenever the topic arose, they immediately sank into deeper layers of dreaming… which only heightened my unease.

“X Month, X Day… Days of fruitless investigation left me frustrated, and more so because I realized it was time for me to leave.

“Unconsciously, I had lingered too long in this world ruled by shadow forces. Even with opportunities to return to the material world for rest, I remained under the influence of these shadows. Without a physical body as an anchor, the soul’s erosion and assimilation happen far faster than I imagined. If I didn’t leave soon, my soul might suffer irreversible damage—or worse… become one of them forever.

“X Month, X Day—time to say goodbye. Farewell to Brian, farewell to the other shadow dwellers. Though we are not of the same kind, and I had to disguise myself to blend among them, I truly spent a meaningful time with these mysterious beings… They were unsettling, yet they imparted knowledge beyond imagination. I will remember both the knowledge and these unusual ‘friends’ forever.

“Before leaving, I will shed my shadow soul form and bid Brian and the others farewell face to face. It’s risky, but it aligns with my principles. And I believe… after all this time together, perhaps something can change. These shadow dwellers possess reason and memory; maybe they will accept me as a special ‘friend’…

“X Month, X Day—no fight.

“Enough. Every journey must end. At least this one was fulfilling. I must return to find old Malfoy and reclaim my body—farewell, Shadow Realm.”

“That’s the main part of the record,” Gawain said, looking up from the travelogue to meet Amber’s eyes. “After this, there are two brief entries. Modril Wilde mentions returning once more to the Shadow Realm after his body was restored, but he couldn’t find those shadow dwellers again—they seemed to have drifted elsewhere. In the years that followed, as he aged and focused on organizing his earlier notes, he never went back.”

Amber opened her mouth but said nothing. She stepped back, sat down in the chair by the desk, and stared blankly at the travelogue on Gawain’s desk, a hint of melancholy in her expression.

“The words here… reveal so much,” Gawain said. “A wealth of information about the Shadow Realm, the shadow dwellers, and the mysterious Shallow and Deep Realms. But I think the most important part for you is…”

“A member who ‘awoke’ early and vanished from their kind’s sight—that must be me,” Amber said, taking a breath as if gathering strength. She pointed to herself. “Judging by the timeline, during Modril Wilde’s era, I should have been dormant in the Shadow Fortress… as an artificial embryo. Scholars of the Gondor Empire captured the soul of a shadow dweller and successfully implanted it into an artificial body—that’s how I came to be.”

“Yes, we all know that,” Gawain nodded. “It seems your foster father must have learned about parts of Modril’s travelogue through some channel, discovered it might mention your origins, and risked stealing it.”

“But it wasn’t worth it,” Amber muttered, almost to herself, staring at the travelogue. “What’s in here that’s worth all that? I don’t care how I came to be. Wouldn’t it have been better to live quietly in the countryside?”

“But he probably thought it was necessary,” Gawain shook his head. “And he likely didn’t know the full contents of the travelogue, nor did he expect to fail. None of this was something he could have foreseen.”

Amber grumbled, “He’s an idiot. Living in the countryside wore down all his skills as a secret knight, but he still thought he was the elite royal shadow guard from back then…”

“…This mentions the ‘birth’ of the shadow dwellers,” Gawain glanced at Amber, not offering comfort but shifting the topic. “They were born in a dream within the ‘Deep Realm,’ and the persistence of that dream sustains their current state. They wander the Shadow Realm, actually moving along the boundary between dream and wakefulness… Do you understand what that means?”

Amber thought for a moment, then shook her head. “I don’t. Though I can communicate with the shadow dwellers, they’ve never told me about this. But if I get the chance, I’ll ask.”

She added, “Of course, I have my own guesses… I think their descriptions of the ‘Deep Realm’ and the ‘Dream of the Deep Realm’ might relate to a certain place…”

Gawain frowned but quickly pieced together Amber’s meaning from the information he had. “You mean… the Umbral Realm?”

“If the world we live in is the ‘Shallow Realm’ to the shadow dwellers, and the Shadow Realm is an ‘intermediate layer’ between the Deep and Shallow Realms, then the Umbral Realm is very likely their so-called ‘Deep Realm,’” Amber nodded. “Spatially, the Umbral Realm is the deepest of the known layers, so it fits.”

“Then what is this ‘Dream of the Deep Realm’ they speak of?” Gawain frowned. “The Umbral Realm is empty… so far, aside from a nature deity feigning death there, we’ve found nothing—no dreams, no signs of anything.”

“Do you think that great stag, Amon, might know something?” Amber pondered aloud. “He’s been in the Umbral Realm a long time, and as a god, he should know more than we do.”

“If possible, I’d rather avoid seeking ‘knowledge’ from Amon,” Gawain said seriously after a moment’s thought. “My intuition warns me there’s great risk—not from any malice on Amon’s part, but from some ‘law’ even he cannot control. Throughout history, countless mortals who delved too deeply into divine knowledge met terrible fates. Asking gods questions is a last resort.

“Of course, if we have no other choice and urgently need to uncover the Shadow Realm’s secrets, consulting Amon might be an option. But until then, it’s best to share this information with the Empire’s scholars and let them try to solve it with ‘mortal wisdom.’”

“Alright, you have a point,” Amber waved her hand, then suddenly remembered something. “By the way, I just thought of something… You said this ‘Deep Realm’—could it be connected to the ‘Deep Sea’ Amon mentioned earlier?”

“At first, I wondered the same,” Gawain frowned. “But I feel the ‘Deep Sea’ Amon takes so seriously can’t be something so simple. If the Umbral Realm were the Deep Sea or its entrance… why would Amon say that no mortal has ever touched the Deep Sea, and even gods are but ripples on its surface?”

Amber considered this carefully, finding Gawain’s reasoning convincing. After a long, serious pause, she sighed and slumped in her chair, utterly unglamorous. “Ugh… my head hurts just thinking about all this nonsense. I’m telling you, I’m just not cut out for this kind of thinking…”

Gawain couldn’t help but laugh at the ‘shame of the Empire’—it seemed she was finally back to her old self.

He returned his gaze to the travelogue. After a couple of seconds’ thought, he looked at Amber and broke the silence: “Next, we should figure out what to do with this travelogue…”

Amber instinctively followed his gaze to the worn, ancient book. For a moment, she seemed about to reach out, but then she laughed and shook her head. “What’s there to discuss? Of course, we return it to its rightful owner. According to protocol, after making a copy, we give it back to that Ice Duchess. Most of this book is Modril’s travelogue anyway… You can just remove the irrelevant parts before returning it.”

Gawain looked surprised. “I thought you’d want to keep it.”

“…I did, for a moment,” Amber said, lazily sprawling in her chair. “After all, my foster father lost his life over this lousy book. But thinking it through… what does this book have to do with me? It’s just the notes of an adventurer who had nothing to do with me, recording an adventure unrelated to me, and it happens to mention my original race… I have no reason to keep someone else’s property.”

Gawain was even more surprised. “That doesn’t sound like the words of someone who once swore to be the Southlands’ greatest thief—you weren’t so careful when you dug up my grave.”

Amber immediately waved her hands. “Don’t remind me! I got caught with the loot when I dug that grave. That was the end of my last career, okay…”

Gawain: “…”

After a brief pause, he glanced at the Guardian’s Shield and Pioneer’s Sword nearby. “Have you considered the possibility of getting beaten up for stolen goods?”

The next moment, Amber vanished from the study.

Outside, the sun shone brightly.

Autumn was approaching; the sunlight was less harsh, and the air felt more pleasant than usual.

Amber walked down the bustling street, gradually shedding her shadowy invisibility. The hazy, black veil faded from all directions, letting the brilliant sunlight pour freely over her face.

Walking in the sun felt good.

She lifted her head, gazing at the radiant sun hanging high in the sky, a faint smile slowly spreading across her face.

Gawain withdrew his gaze from the window and stepped away from the large eastern-facing glass doors.

After a moment of quiet reflection, he shook his head and returned to his desk. First, he pulled out paper and pen, quickly drafting a letter to be sent to Winterhold in the Northern Territories. Then his gaze fell back on the book before him: The Adventures of Modir.

Modir Wilde—perhaps the greatest adventurer Ansu had ever known—had traversed every corner of the known world, even venturing into realms beyond human knowledge. He left behind a treasure trove of invaluable knowledge, though much of it was lost to the tides of history amid turbulent times.

For instance, few knew that Modir Wilde had once dared to challenge the sea itself…

Gawain picked up the travelogue and flipped to the section he had been reading before Amber arrived—unfinished, yet captivating.

Beyond tales of his journeys through the Shadowlands, there was a part that held Gawain’s particular interest: the mysterious “Frostbane Amulet,” a family heirloom of the Velds, its origins shrouded in enigma.

The neat, ancient handwriting came into focus:

“X Month, X Day. While sorting through some folk legends from the Eastern Territories, I stumbled upon intriguing clues that might mark the beginning of my next adventure…

“There is evidence suggesting that about a century ago, the great pioneering hero, Duke Gawain Cecil, left his lands to embark on a daring venture that even an adventurer like myself finds astonishing—a challenge against the sea.

“Few know of this secret voyage, and what remains are mostly strange, half-true tales. Yet, from scattered fragments, I have pieced together corroborating clues. Trusting my instincts and experience as an adventurer, I believe this was no mere bard’s tale, but a real journey.

“This fills me with excitement!

“Just think—a hero from a hundred years past, not a professional adventurer, braved the ocean and returned alive. Meanwhile, I, who claim to be the greatest adventurer of this age, have spent half my life wandering safely on land… What a bitter irony, and yet what a powerful inspiration!

“It’s time I set out on a new quest—gathering more information, following more leads, preparing thoroughly. Modir Wilde is about to face the most thrilling challenge of his career…

“To seek out Gawain Cecil’s ‘Heroic Voyage’!”

(Recommended reading: I Just Want to Win, a book about esports and gaming. It’s been a while since I’ve seen something like this—definitely worth checking out.)

(End of chapter)