Chapter 942: Precious Knowledge

The treefolk leader’s furious curses did nothing to change the reality before him. The vines that had recklessly crossed the border and tried to infiltrate the explosion crater had been utterly decimated by the Deep Blue Well’s garrison forces. As the beams swept over the area, the last wisp of ash scattered in the wind. This small probe, like the dozens before it, ended in failure.

Another treefolk beside the leader stepped forward. His branches were withered and twisted, yet a powerful magic pulsed through his dry canopy. The tangled limbs above his head had grown into a bizarre, swollen mass resembling an oversized brain—an eerie and unsettling sight.

This twisted creature with the “brain canopy” lowered his gaze toward the crystal pillar hill inside the crater. Watching the magical glow between the pillars fade, he shook his crown, causing the flickering lights within to waver uncertainly. “We’ve successfully taken control of several iron soldier squads, but through these steel warriors, we can only penetrate the outermost defenses… The spirit at the heart of the Deep Blue Well is far too vigilant. She’s constantly reconstructing the security protocols within the ruins, even though this place hasn’t seen an invasion in seven hundred years.”

The High Priest snorted, his voice low and grim. “Paranoia, stubbornness, delusions of persecution… That spirit has lingered in this tomb for seven centuries. She’s probably long gone mad.”

“A thinking matrix doesn’t go mad,” two female voices suddenly chimed in from nearby, tinged with a hint of teasing, interrupting the High Priest’s muttered curses. “We just heard you ranting here—it’s not like the dignified demeanor we’re used to from you.”

The High Priest turned, his yellow-brown eyes reflecting the figures of two approaching elves.

“Relna, Philna…” he said gravely. “Are you here just to watch the show?”

“Please calm down, High Priest,” the elven twins approached the treefolk leader with gentle, sweet smiles, bowing slightly. “As a plant, you should maintain a more peaceful and steady mindset—too much agitation can harm your roots and canopy.”

The High Priest grunted in displeasure, dry branches rustling. “Save the witty remarks for elsewhere. Focus on the facts. Look at these ruins—the energy of the Deep Blue Well is right before us, yet after all this time, we’re still stuck patrolling the outer defenses. You promised a way to bypass the ancient security system here, but from where I stand… your promises remain unfulfilled.”

“What we promised was only to infiltrate part of the iron soldiers’ minds, not the entire defense system,” the elven twins said in unison, their expressions calm and sincere. “We trust your memory isn’t so poor as to forget that.”

The High Priest’s yellow-brown eyes fixed on the twins, but after a few seconds, he looked away. “You’re right, but you also said it was possible to bypass the matrix through the iron soldiers’ mental network. Clearly, you failed. Even after controlling several squads, we still can’t penetrate the depths of the ruins.”

“No, that approach is indeed viable—it just requires some luck and timing,” Relna replied immediately. “That’s why we told you to be patient. But rest assured, we’re here today with good news. Forget that minor failure; the time for the next phase of infiltration has come.”

“Hm?” The High Priest’s gaze sharpened. “You mean…?”

“We’ve been indirectly observing the interior of the Deep Blue Fortress through the captured iron soldiers’ mental cores. Based on data collected just hours ago, we can confirm one thing…” Philna’s sweet smile brightened as her tone rose slightly. “The efficiency of the Ophelia Matrix has declined, Your Excellency.”

“The Ophelia Matrix’s efficiency has dropped?!” The High Priest was stunned, then disbelief crept into his voice. “Are you certain?”

“We’re confident in our assessment, High Priest,” Relna’s smile faded as she grew serious. “Starting two days ago, we noticed abnormal fluctuations in the Ophelia Matrix. It seems to have undergone a massive internal data exchange and restructuring. We don’t yet know what exactly she’s doing, but since that exchange, her operational efficiency has steadily declined—only stabilizing at a lower level a few hours ago, and it remains there.”

Relna paused, and Philna continued without hesitation: “According to our latest calculations, if the Ophelia Matrix maintains this efficiency level for another forty-eight hours, tiny vulnerabilities will appear in her internal defense protocols. If it lasts longer, those vulnerabilities will become exploitable. We could then push our infiltration line into the impact crater, and possibly even take control of some of the outermost energy conduits of the Deep Blue Well.”

The High Priest’s gaze lingered on the elven twins. His wooden, twisted face betrayed no obvious emotion, but the flicker in his eyes revealed a rare excitement. He let out a hoarse laugh, but soon voiced a doubt: “Wait—if this change happened two days ago, why didn’t you report it then?”

“We needed confirmation,” Philna answered frankly. “Although the Ophelia Matrix has run smoothly for seven centuries, it could experience brief, normal fluctuations due to internal maintenance or node replacements. We only report when we’re sure there’s a real problem. Unless you want to be bothered repeatedly with trivial, meaningless details—then we can report every little thing.”

The High Priest stared at the twins for a long moment before finally looking away again.

“Fine. I don’t care for your ‘details.’ I respect our ‘partnership,’” he said flatly. “Now show some sincerity as collaborators. Tell me how to proceed with deeper infiltration—we need the energy of the Deep Blue Well. Even controlling a single outer conduit would be a huge step forward.”

Relna and Philna smiled.

They lifted their heads, gazing toward the distant Deep Blue Well, where pure energy burst from the crystal pillars like a giant sword piercing the murky clouds, stirring the gloomy cyclones that blanketed the wasteland.

“Of course,” the elven twins said in unison, “we will obtain the energy of the Deep Blue Well.”

…

Contact with the mainland had been completely severed moments ago.

Gawain rose from the dragon’s back and looked toward the special devices mounted behind Melita’s shoulder blades. The equipment no longer relayed signals from the mainland; the holographic displays showed error messages, and some of the runes on the bases dimmed—a sign that even basic response signals had vanished. All this had happened faster than the technicians had anticipated.

He frowned. It seemed that even the most powerful and sensitive custom models couldn’t maintain contact with the mainland once past the nearshore boundary. To keep the magical network communications working over the ocean, relay nodes would need to be set up at sea, or some kind of underwater communication infrastructure laid.

As for launching communication satellites… that was probably premature.

The howling sea wind swept past Melita’s protective barrier, its roar already faint by the time it reached their ears. The ocean shimmered under the setting sun, revealing a grandeur few who lived on land could imagine.

Melita had lowered her altitude twice already; she was now flying at low altitude.

“The signal’s completely cut off,” Amber scratched her head. “Signal decay over the ocean is definitely faster than on land—the big hub at North Harbor should cover this area.”

“I can lower altitude further. I’m pretty good at ultra-low flight,” Melita’s voice came from ahead. “Flying close to the sea surface shortens the straight-line distance between your communication devices and the mainland, and interference is a bit better too.”

“Thanks, that’d be great,” Gawain didn’t refuse the offer; he wanted to gather more data. “Lower the altitude.”

“No problem, just a flap of the wings.”

Melita stretched her powerful wings and adjusted her flight posture, descending once more to nearly skim the ocean’s surface. Waves churned beneath her wings, and the rushing air stirred foam and debris floating on the water, leaving a broken white trail behind the dragon.

A hum came from the devices; two of them, designed to detect response signals and identify distant hubs, powered on automatically. Their holographic displays flickered with characters. As Melita had said, interference improved somewhat closer to the sea surface—but it didn’t last long.

Minutes later, the connection was lost again—this time, truly gone.

“Want me to circle around a bit?” Melita offered thoughtfully. “Maybe we can find a more precise ‘boundary point.’”

“No need,” Gawain shook his head after a moment. “The devices have already recorded the data automatically. The technicians will analyze it later. The ocean’s conditions change too quickly; a few more laps won’t add much.”

“Alright, then I’ll climb,” Melita nodded. “Flying higher means I don’t have to worry about the sea surface. There are a few islands nearby, and I’m worried about crashing into one if I keep flying low.”

As she spoke, the mighty dragon flapped her wings powerfully. With a slight tilt and acceleration, the ocean and sky in Gawain’s view began to sink downward. Amber leaned over and whispered curiously, “Hey, have you ever crashed into a mountain before?”

“Of course not!” Melita replied immediately. “My flying skills are the best among my peers!”

Amber leaned closer to Gawain and murmured, “I don’t know why, but I feel like she’s not telling the truth…”

Gawain maintained his stern silence.

But he had to admit, Amber might be right…

At that moment, Veronica, who had been quietly resting behind them and barely speaking, suddenly stood up.

The “Saint Princess” stepped forward, came beside Gawain, and gazed into the distance, speaking softly: “We’re approaching that storm…”

“Holy hell!” Amber exclaimed beside Gawain. “Are we seriously going to fly right through it?!”

Ahead of Melita’s flight path, a majestic wall of clouds stood tall at the horizon where sky meets sea. As they drew closer, every intricate detail of this magnificent cloud barrier came into sharp focus for all to see—it bridged ocean and sky, its surface roiling with massive, horizontally shifting cloud masses. Driven by the storm’s fierce suction, vast quantities of seawater were drawn up into the air, only to cascade back down through the middle of the cloud wall. Around the storm’s outer edge, this created a long-lasting tempest of howling winds and torrential rain. Even from this distance, Gawain could clearly sense the overwhelming power of the downpour and the even mightier storm raging above it—undeniably, a natural wonder far beyond anything humanity could dare to challenge at this stage.

Not even the mightiest, most heavily armored warships of the Cecile Empire could withstand it.

And yet, at this very moment, Melita’s flight path was aimed straight at the heart of that storm.

“Of course we’re flying through it,” the dragoness’s deep, thunderous voice came from ahead, calm and unbothered. “This storm is enormous. Going around it would take a huge amount of effort and a lot of time.”

As she spoke, she beat her massive wings again, the primal runes along their edges lighting up one by one. Propelled by magic, her altitude began to climb rapidly, while the towering cloud wall of the storm seemed to lower itself in their view.

“Flying over the cloud wall to bypass the storm?” Gawain asked immediately.

“Ah… if we wanted to completely clear the storm’s core, we’d have to reach the boundary between the turbulent layer and the stable limit layer—that’s an altitude even dragons can’t stay at for long,” Melita said with a hint of a smile. “But we won’t be flying that high—midway through the turbulent layer will be enough.”

Gawain frowned instinctively, sensing something odd about the storm’s structure if Melita’s plan was correct. “Is the storm weaker at that height?”

“Exactly. The storm’s power is somewhat weaker up there—still dangerous for most flying creatures, of course, but for dragons, it’s just a ‘strong wind’ we can handle,” Melita said proudly. “I’ll shield you all with magic, so just sit tight. Enjoy the journey ahead—I think it’s going to be spectacular for you.”

The winds grow weaker higher up? Could it be that the eternal storm’s true source of power isn’t the upper atmosphere, but… near the ocean’s surface?

(End of chapter)