Chapter 16 Premonition

At a distance of only a few hundred meters from the place where everyone was attacked, Gawain found the small wooden house that had been reduced to ruins.

It fell between the trees. From the scorch marks, it can be judged that it was a fire from the inside out, but the fire did not spread farther - perhaps a rain saved the forest in time . Knight Byron checked the remaining traces around the wooden house and determined that the fire should have occurred more than half a month ago.

Hetty detected an already very thin magical response on the spot.

"What we saw in the Shadow Realm should be a reflection," Gawain said as he looked at the wooden house that had been turned into ruins in the forest clearing, "This wild mage has been living in seclusion in this place for many years. This is outside the territory, and even hunters won't come here, so no one knows that a hermit lives here."

"The question is... how did the accident happen?" Heidi frowned, "There is only a weak focus of magic, and the strength of the wild mage living here is also very low, even if one of his magic experiments got out of control and burned down. Without this house, it is impossible to create a long-term projection in the shadow world, and it also generates such a powerful fog of resentment... The magic required for all this is not something that a mere wild mage can provide."

"Maybe this notebook can answer your doubts." Gawain said, handing a worn notebook to Heidi.

That is exactly the note obtained from Betty in the Shadow Realm before. It is not only the diary of the unknown wild mage, but also a research note.

Hetty opened the second half of the note according to Gawain's instructions and read it carefully.

"...Ansu 729, Fire Moon, XX day. It's been half a year since I moved to this place, and I found a magic focus on the edge of the Cecil family's territory, although the intensity is not comparable to the public magic focus of the City of Thousand Towers. Compared, but it is enough to support my laboratory. The elemental power here is single and stable, and Anne's condition should be relieved.

"Annsu 729, harvest month, XX. Anne's condition seems to be getting better, she hasn't had another episode for a long time - but it's not known if the circumstances here have played a role, or if my rituals and potions really The magic focus here is too weak, and even with the help of the boosting circle, the effect of my ritual will be greatly reduced. Maybe I should reconsider the formulas I have deduced before... Although the people of the secret magic society always Taunting my calculations, but I've already left the Secret Law Society anyway, they can't control it here...

"Ansu 730, foggy moon, XX day. Those formulas and derivations are completely in line with expectations! No, it should be said that the development of facts is just as I calculated - under the new amplification method, the power of the magic focus is greatly increased. Enhanced! With the help of extra magic, I can finally start the next stage of treatment for Annie. Although she has hardly gotten sick again in the past few months, the treatment must continue because she can't stand any more toss...

"Ansu 731, a cold month, XX. After the treatment, Annie could get up and walk around, even to make a meal! There are fried sausages and vegetable soup, I feel like I haven't eaten this in a hundred years. Delicious stuff - although the sausage is mushy and the vegetable soup forgot to put salt in it...it turns out that my regimen is working, and as long as this mana focus here continues to supply the mana steadily, Annie's recovery will be Just around the corner…”

After that, the contents of the diary were more about the daily life of the writer and his daughter, and Hetty skipped this part quickly until a scribbled record appeared on the last few pages:

"Ansu 734, Frost Moon, XX day. Annie is sick. Damn!!

"I don't know what's wrong, all treatments are going according to plan, every step of the ritual is flawless, and so are the potions--haven't had any problems for years! But Anne still got sick,

And it's terribly ill... worse than every time before. I have to find out why asap. I'm going to jot down all the details, all...I'm going to find out why. Annie will be fine...

"Anzu 734, Frost Moon, XX day. Annie is still not getting better, the new potion has no effect, she is still weakening, and... is gradually moving away from this world. I saw her hands this morning. Translucent like mist, and blisters all over her face. The world is repelling her and pushing her to the shadow world, what should I do...

"Ansu 734, foggy moon, XX day. The damn sun, its dark red patterns seem to laugh at my weakness! I finally found the problem, but I can't solve it at all... Elements are enriching , abnormally enriched, the magic power is rising, this weak magic power focus can't hold excessive magic power at all, even if I remove those augmentation circles, it will not help. At this time, it is wise to keep Annie away from the place where the elements are enriched , but she has been in this place for too long, her body resonates with the elemental environment here, and this resonance continues her life... but it will kill her again!

"Ansu 734, foggy month, XX day. The magic power in the whole area is not right, the torment is so fierce, the border of Cecil's territory seems to fall into the legendary sea of ​​magic power. I can no longer reverse the changes in Annie. , She has left the material world with half of her body now, and in the morning she even said that she saw the whole room turned black and white. Maybe... I can only find another way...

"Ansu 735, Fire Moon. The long preparations are finally over, and Annie's weakness has reached its limit.

"This is my only chance, there is no other option.

"Since I can't keep Annie alive in the material world, it's better to choose another way.

"The ritual of shadow transformation is recorded in the book, but the magic power required is unimaginable, but for me, it may not be impossible to achieve. I used a new amplification formula and magic circle drawing method, and will use the help of The power of surging magic. The magic in this area is in an abnormally active state. The energy accumulated in the magic focus has been suppressed by me for several months, and it is finally enough today. Next, as long as the sun rises to the center, the magic At my strongest, I can start transforming.

"Annie, hold on, Dad will save you, and Dad will accompany you to the Shadow Realm, we will live there for a long time, and you will never hurt again."

The diary ends here.

Hetty was about to close the diary when Gawain suddenly pointed to the corner of the last page: "There are actually a few more words here."

Hetty hurriedly looked at it - there was a black ink stain in the corner. She originally thought it was the dirt caused by knocking over the ink bottle, but now after careful identification, she realized that it was actually a finger stained with ink Written in scribbled handwriting:

"The magic is out of control... the sun is red..."

Hetty repeated these words inexplicably: "The sun is red... How can the sun be red?"

"Could it be the last time red spots erupted?" Rebecca said suddenly as if remembering something, "It was more than half a month ago that there were many more red spots on the surface of the sun than usual. If this wild The mage was not very clear at the time, maybe he thought the sun was red..."

Hetty blinked, as if to accept Rebecca's statement, then she shook the note in her hand: "With this note, it can explain a lot of things. It seems that this unknown mage is for himself. When his daughter healed, he set up a large-scale magic array here. Later, he came up with the crazy idea of ​​transforming himself and his daughter into a shadow form to prolong life, but his transformation ritual was out of control due to the surge of magic power. It led to the fire half a month ago, and also led to the formation of the fog of resentment, and what the ancestors saw in the Shadow Realm..."

"These are not the point," Gawain interrupted Hetty suddenly, "Whether it's the Wraith Mist or the wooden house in the Shadow Realm, all of these can be explained directly in the notes. What I want you to see is the notes in the notes. We got two details - one on the dark red pattern on the sun's surface, and one on the massive red spot eruption on the sun's surface."

Hetty noticed the serious look on Gawain's face, and became a little nervous: "Ancestor, these two things..."

Gawain waved his hand: "In addition, the magic power that this wild mage mentioned in the diary is rising, you two should also feel it as mage?"

Heidi and Rebecca looked at each other and nodded at the same time: "Cecile has indeed experienced a surge of magic power a few times recently, but it is normal for magic power to surge up - all magic power in the world comes from the sun. , and the sun is changing all the time, the magic power on the ground will naturally fluctuate, and although the magic power in the territory has been surging frequently recently, it has not reached a level of concern."

Gawain looked at the two of them and said slowly: "In 1736 of the Gondor calendar, large-scale dark red patterns were observed on the surface of the sun, and in 1738, the largest red spot eruption in history was observed, and the sun Nearly half of the surface area was covered by red patches, and in the same year, twenty-six provinces in the empire reported a large-scale surge of magical power—the surge was not large, but it covered nearly two-thirds of the area. Homeland. In 1739, the blood sun was in the sky, and the whole country was shrouded in a dark red sky, but there was no disaster at that time. Instead, a large number of babies with outstanding magical talents were born. According to records, nearly one-third of the newborns born on that day were born. Yidu has an innate ability to affinity with elements, and the newborn testing institutions around the country even have a situation where the supply of resonance stones is in short supply, so the palace scholars announced that that day was called the 'Magic Dawn'. But it was also in the same year, the largest near the imperial capital of Gondor. The magic power supply facility 'Deep Blue Well' had a big explosion. The reason for the explosion was that the magic focus of the Deep Blue Well was suddenly filled with chaotic and powerful magic. …”

Gawain stopped, but Hetty continued with a pale face: "...In Gondor 1740, the magic tide broke out, and the most powerful human empire in history was destroyed within a few months..."