72 Magic Network and Calendar of Disasters
Although the Blackwater Province was in the warm and humid south, the weather during the Morning Moon still carried a hint of winter. This was even more so for people who left home early in the morning.
A palm-sized girl with dragonfly wings sat on the shoulder of a tall black-robed man carrying two swords on his back. She tightly grabbed the cloak draped over the other party’s back and wrapped it around her body. She kept trembling and sneezing from time to time.
After the other party sneezed for the umpteenth time, Cass finally couldn’t suppress his curiosity and asked, “So faeries can catch a cold as well?”
The other party rolled her eyes at him before pulling up his cloak as if nothing had happened and wiping her nose.
“There’s only one kind of person in this world who doesn’t catch a cold. Guess what it is?”
“What is it?” Cass asked.
She smiled smugly and was about to answer when the gray-haired magic chanter in a tattered brown robe ahead said, “I never expected to hear such a saying here. Where did you learn that from?”
“I think I saw it in a children’s comic strip I flipped through in the past... Ah choo!”
As she spoke, she sneezed again.
“A comic strip? Yes, that’s very reasonable... Cass, you don’t have to worry too much. After a faerie is born, she will be vulnerable to the world for some time. They usually recover in a few months.”
With that said, William turned to look at the worried Cass.
“Therefore, I wanted her to rest in the Twilight Fortress for some time, but she insisted on following me...” Cass said helplessly.
“Why? You’re allowed to leave that stripped fortress and have fun, but I’m not allowed to come out too?”
She widened her golden eyes and interrupted Cass.
His gaze and tone were identical.
Cass replied with a headache, “I’ve already said that I’m out on a mission with the Presiding Judge, not to have fun...”
“Ah, there’s actually no difference, right? However, isn’t your description of the Twilight Fortress a little too much, Liz? That’s dismantling the fortress’s structure and laying down the basic Elementium Silver circuits. It will be further refurbished,” William said helplessly as he walked ahead.
This was also the reason why he had brought Cass out. This was because the other party’s training in the control of God King Oka had just begun. Previously, he had always gotten the other party to undergo simulation training in the Twilight Fortress’s underground meditation chamber. If anything went out of control, he could suppress the impact using the remaining sealing spells inside.
However, the entire Twilight Fortress was about to be renovated and new circuits were laid. The meditation room was temporarily out of commission. Therefore, William brought Cass along with him, planning on teaching him how to control his strength on the way.
After all, the effect of learning and training in actual combat was far better than simulation training created through illusions.
To his surprise, the newborn faerie insisted on following him. Cass couldn’t dissuade her, so he asked William for his permission uneasily.
Such trivial matters had never mattered to William.
By the way, Cass originally planned on giving the newborn faerie a new name, but she insisted on calling herself Liz.
William didn’t know if this was attributed to the Golden Fog Rose he used from the Treasure Hall. William remembered that the better the flower medium the faeries used when they were reborn, the more memories they could retain from their previous life. Therefore, William flipped through the Treasure Hall and found the flowers that were said to have been used by demigods to hold divine marriage rituals in the Silver Age.
As a result, other than the fact that her eyes had turned pure gold after her rebirth, this faerie’s personality, looks, and even memories were almost identical to Liz’s from before.
Then, should he treat the other party as the same person under such circumstances?
William felt that he should share the concept of the Ship of Theseus with Cass when he had the chance in the future.
“So who doesn’t catch a cold?”
“Hehe, guess~”
The human and faerie continued bickering behind him. William tactfully didn’t disturb the two of them.
“Lord Kane.”
Nizemar, who had been silent behind William all this time, suddenly spoke.
“What is it?”
William breathed in the humid morning air and asked without turning his head.
“There’s something I don’t quite understand. Why are you in a hurry to master figurine blessing... Uh, what about craftsmanship? If you go straight to Platinum City or Myriad Feet City and use the figurines there to show your divinity, won’t you be able to announce your return to the world faster?”
Upon hearing this question, William sighed and replied, “First of all, this idea of yours is still based on the premise that I’m the Eighth Holy Spirit. But I’m not. Believe me, I know what happens when a true Holy Spirit power is used.”
As he spoke, William recalled his memories of using the incarnations of the Seven Holy Spirits to beat up the three Void Sovereigns in the waning moon ending.
He continued, “Then, and most importantly, if I do this, the figurine can only be used as a figurine in the future. The equation of me being equivalent to the Eighth Holy Spirit will be fixed in the hearts of the people.”
“But shouldn’t a figurine be...”
“Something that can allow people to monitor the surroundings in real-time and can be used as a long-range casting medium, and I’m only using it for preaching?”
Looking at the confused expression on Nizemar’s face, William pointed at the rice field by the roadside and planned to give her an example.
Due to the Year of Starvation, blight spread in the rice fields. More than half of the rice seedlings were sickly gray, and some of them had already withered and collapsed weakly on the ground like dried corpses.
“According to the standards of the Astral Laws, you’re a level-7 magic chanter who has studied life spells. Tell me, if I order you to be in charge of slowing the spread of the blight, how much arable land can you tend to?”
Nizemar looked at the endless rice field and did some mental calculations before replying, “If I’m only responsible for cleansing the blight, considering the recurrence of the epidemic, it’s about a few hundred acres.”
Dispelling the Plague was considered the most basic life spell. With her level, especially when using this spell on plants, she only needed to consider if her mind would be able to withstand it. The consumption of mana was negligible. What mainly restricted her was transportation, or rather, space-she couldn’t travel to so many places a day to purify the area.
“The annual production of a few hundred acres of arable land is at most enough to support a few hundred people, and Thorn City alone has hundreds of thousands of residents. Even if we send out all the magic chanters in the Blackwater Province who study life magic, it will only be a drop in the bucket in the face of the epidemic that has spread throughout the Blackwater Swamp.”
As William spoke, the magical medium in his hand emitted a circle of green ripples. The sickly gray color on the rice seedlings melted like snow after coming into contact with the green ripples.
As the ripples spread, a circle of green seedlings that seemed aqueous appeared where William’s magical medium pointed. However, compared to the endless gray rice fields around them, they were as tiny as emeralds that had fallen on the beach.
William continued, “Spells have to rely on the perception of a magic chanter, and the range of spells has a limit. I can’t cast spells on things I can’t sense either. If I want to rely on magic to stop the spread of this plague, I have to cast spells on every acre of land like you. At best, I’ll be more efficient than you. But if I can mass produce those figurines and place one on every field... Do you understand the true use of those figurines now?”
After discovering that the figurines could be used as a medium, William never thought of using them to show off his divinity or preach. To William, the figurines were sensors and casting nodes that could be used to extend his strength to the greatest extent.
Moreover, that might not be all...
William thought as he looked at Nizemar’s enlightened expression.
If the essence represented by the Eighth Holy Spirit was really as the manuscript of the Hidden Holy Spirit said, and it was an indestructible spirituality in every living being’s heart, since he could obtain a portion of the Eighth Holy Spirit’s authority because of the centuries of faith, it was enough to prove that this authority could be reconstructed by changing the faith.
Faith was only a concept of common understanding. It didn’t have to appear in the form of religion, nor did it have to be centered on a few believers.
If he could change the Eighth Holy Spirit’s faith format in the future and make everyone a node of this network, he might be able to bypass the current Astral Circuit form and create a magical network protocol that existed based on consensus.
“Lord Kane!”
Nizemar’s voice pulled William back to reality from his exciting imagination.
“What happened?” William asked curiously when he saw the other party’s fervent gaze.
“The question I posed was too superficial. I didn’t expect you to be so merciful as to be willing to use your figurines to provide relief for the suffering of the living beings in Currere. You’re really...”
Ahh...
William didn’t listen to her gush her praises. He only resisted the urge to facepalm.
The first obstacle he imagined was probably how to change the minds of people like her.
Of course, it was still too early to consider such matters. The greatest use of the figurines was probably to extend his strength in the near, extended future.
At the very least, he had to use it to resolve the blight that was spreading in Blackwater Province.
“Year of Starvation...”
William gritted his teeth.
He had only learned from Vincent not long ago that there was a so-called disaster calendar.
Vincent had found William and said that he had sealed Duke Simon’s secret warehouse hidden in the underground palace and asked him what to do with the supplies.
After all, that batch of supplies was huge. Just the refined Elementium Silver alone weighed more than 50 tonnes. It was a strategic resource Simon had accumulated for more than 20 years.
William finally recalled the reason why he came to Thorn City. He immediately planned on buying 15 tonnes of Elementium Silver.
Vincent allocated 20 tonnes to William and said that he didn’t need to fork out a single cent.
“That’s not too nice...”
William said embarrassedly as he watched the Rock and Earth Souls transport boxes of Elementium Silver ingots to the Twilight Fortress through a portal.
Vincent shook his head and said, “You saved this city and the entire Blackwater Swamp. This bit of Elementium Silver is far from enough as remuneration. Moreover...”
Vincent sighed and said, “Moreover, there’s no point in the Rose Palace having so much money now. Under the Empire’s request, the surrounding provinces have already severed their trade with us, and the Astral Council has completely stopped providing awakening services to the new mages in the Blackwater Province. With our current situation, we can’t export or digest this Elementium Silver internally. It can only be piled up here. If you’re in a hurry to use a large amount of Elementium Silver, it’s better to leave it in your hands. At least they will still be of some use.”
Finally, William accepted the sum of money under Vincent’s strong insistence.
“After all, it’s Thorn City’s property. You’ll compensate a portion of it to the miners when the time comes. I’ll have to trouble you to help me hire some trustworthy enchanters to help process the Elementium Silver into the most basic Demon Sealing runes and magic circuits. By the way, did the Empire do anything other than sever trade and stop the mage’s awakening?”
William originally thought that the Empire would give him more pressure after such a big hooha.
Vincent said solemnly, “This is the Year of Starvation. Just the prohibition of trade is enough to cause us heavy losses. If we can’t trade with Emerald Province, we will be suffering a serious food problem this year.”
William had an uneasy guess when he heard this word. He hurriedly asked, “Hold on, what Year of Starvation?”
He learned from Vincent’s subsequent answer that this was a periodic law obtained by the Empire’s astrologers from observing the changes in the stars. There was a cycle every 13 years, and a related disaster might appear on the continent every year. The ruler needed to make the corresponding preparations to reduce the losses caused by the disaster.
Year of Death and Blood, Year of Starvation, Year of Absurdity, Year of Mad Power, Year of Conspiracy...
War, famine, madness, ambition, chaos...
In this world, the changes in the stars could affect the trajectory of a person’s fate. The constellations were a classic example. Children born under a specific constellation might have a special talent in certain aspects.
In the game, players were required to choose their constellations when establishing a character. The corresponding constellation would increase the level of a skill.
However, these years corresponded to the Void Sovereigns’ domains!
Vincent nodded at William’s doubts and said, “That’s right. It’s a disaster chronology caused by the combined influence of the Astral World and the Moon Realm on Currere. It’s said that in the past, the 13 Void Sovereigns would affect Currere together, but after the Astral Laws were formulated, only one Void Sovereign will take preside over the year.”
So you guys think you’ve had it easy, right?
William almost blurted out.
Back then, that situation only happened because of the Moon Realm rift. After the Moon Realm rift was sealed, the Void Sovereigns could only affect the Vic Continent on Their summoning days.
How could there be a Moon Realm rift now...
William recalled what he had seen in Thorn City’s Astral Lighthouse.
Not only that, but there might also be 24 of them.
William finally understood why the Moon Realm rift created by the Astral Lighthouse was in an ownerless area in the Moon Realm.
This was because the Void Sovereigns didn’t need to rely on snatching rifts to exert influence on the Vic Continent. Directly invading Currere was inefficient and wasteful. They only needed to wait for the year they presided over to stir up waves to strengthen their domain.
This was also why he discovered that the 13 domains had become stronger than a thousand years ago when he observed from the Moon Realm’s vantage point.
How could it not be powerful after so many years of disasters?
“You said this is the Year of Starvation, right?”
William asked slowly after hearing Vincent’s reply.
The other party nodded.
“Then, I want that b*tch on duty this year to lose everything.”
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