bookpower Chapter 228: The Egg
Chapter 228: The Egg
Chapter 228: The Egg
I watch as Lin continues to try and find out how the Airship works, examining the walls and muttering to himself.
“We’ll reach land in about half an hour,” I say with a clone near him.
He nods simply and touches the wall as if it will help him understand the airship better.
“The Royal Enchanter knows how to infuse enchantments to make them last much longer, almost indefinitely, but your work goes far beyond even that. It’s like your Enchantments are literally built into the wall.” Lin compliments my work. He’s been doing that a lot for the past three days, and I’m getting sick of it.
“That’s because it is,” I admit.
I’m not giving away any information that he doesn’t already know, and while I could keep him guessing, confirming his suspicions means that he’ll see me as more valuable and will be even more encouraged to maintain positive relations with me.
“Incredible! I suppose you won’t tell us how you manage it?”
“That’s correct.” I nod, swishing my tails dismissively.
“I wonder what else you know; there is much knowledge we want to buy from you, most notably the cure for Cursed Skills.”
“And enchanting, airships, mana, my life’s work....” I add before trailing off.
Lin cracks a smile.
“Yes. That and more. You are everything the Empire is looking for. We need someone to show the world that lesser races can achieve great things even if they start at the bottom. We need a role model to inspire and encourage the lesser races of the Empire to elevate themselves to and beyond the greater races.”
Lin had eagerly told me about the Empire’s mission. To end discrimination, war, and slavery. However, when I asked how they plan to do that, I didn’t get an answer I liked.
“Discrimination comes from the apparent differences between physiology, economy, environment, and ideological differences. So, in order to eliminate it, we must eliminate those factors. We must raise the lesser races – and other greater races, for that matter – to see each other as just people. To do that, we must eliminate the barbaric cultures that are intolerant of others.”
On one hand, I like that they want to end racism, war, and slavery, but the more I hear about their methods, the more I disagree with them. Especially the culture destruction part. Knowing what I do about Miasma, I can only hope that it isn’t causing a big problem.
I haven't said anything to Lin about the importance of rituals to eliminate Miasma; I need to see how bad their situation is first. Right now, the biggest danger would be them trying to reduce the Miasma and having it backfire.
Scouting ahead, I see the first Human city that we will soon fly over. It is a massive city, much larger than the ones in the Lunaleyan Islands, and densely packed with people. Most houses stand at least three stories tall and act more like apartment houses with a family on each floor.
The metropolis spills over the main walls, and a smaller, less impressive walled perimeter has been erected to keep animals and monsters out. However, there any large slums, even in the outer sections of the city. The roads are well maintained, the buildings stand strong and numerous patrols of guards roam the city. The Empire has clearly made heavy investments into the quality of life for the people living in the city.
However, the most surprising thing is that there is almost no Miasma! From what I heard, the place should be smothered by it. However, I do see a branching structure of highly dense Miasma, like roots, all throughout the city.
It’s nothing I’ve seen or even heard about before, nor does the Miasma seem to behave like ambient Miasma. Instead, the Miasma ‘feels’ almost like it is alive, and it is drawing in more Miasma from its roots.
Is it something they’ve done on purpose? Or is it an indication of something far worse? What even is it? I haven’t gotten a new breakthrough yet.
“Is something wrong, Alysara?” Lin asks, noticing a change in my demeanor.
“Maybe. You wouldn’t happen to employ anything to control the levels of Miasma in your cities, do you?” I ask.
Lin turns serious, giving me his full attention.
I don’t envy the Emperor, it seems like he has good intentions and is trying his best, but is forced to do things in ways he thinks are more practical. However, I should probably reserve my judgment until I meet him myself.
As we approach the next city, I observe the same miasma roots there as well, which branch out to other cities and towns. It seems like the whole country is infested with it.
“I suspect all of your cities have these roots,” I inform Lin
“I see. Is there any way you know of to get rid of them?” he asks.
“I’ll have to study it further. It’s different from normal Miasma, so it may have different ways of removing it.”
“What’s the normal way?” Lin asks.
“I cannot tell you without potentially making the situation worse,” I answer truthfully.
Lin opens his mouth to protest but pauses, sensing the genuineness of my statement.
“So the knowledge itself is dangerous?” Lin asks.
“No,” I shake my head. “It’s the inevitable actions you’ll take in response to what you will learn.”
“It’s Magic, then?” Lin asks, fishing for the knowledge.
I don’t answer him. In a way, it confirms his guess, but he should know that Magic doesn’t like being controlled.
“We’re coming up upon the Capital,” I say, seeing a city with an impressive palace filled with mana and powerful beings.
Lin nods and walks up to the deck, leaning on the rail.
The city is the largest I've seen in this life, a true metropolis, and ancient too judging by the numerous mundane magical items that have been around for thousands of years.
The city is flatter, as there are fewer tall buildings, and wider with most houses being mansions. Many trees line the roads, granting shade to the pedestrians walking among the markets. A lone mountain stands behind the city, and atop the peak a massive tower is built with a large shining ball of condensed light mana at the top, kind of like a lighthouse.
Star of Alaxan
(Heroic) (Ancient)
This tower serves as the guiding light for all lands governed by the Alaxan Empire. It can be seen everywhere within the nation’s borders and appears as a bright star in the sky.
The entire tower is a magical item, and I have to admit that it is quite useful. No one will get lost traveling in the Empire, and they will always know where the capital is. But that isn’t the only thing that stood out to me. Below the palace dungeons is a long, long elevator shaft, and at the bottom are half a dozen cursed beings that almost appear to be sleeping.
Safyr mentioned how some nations try to control cursed beings, and it seems the Alaxan Empire is at least successful in pacifying a few of them.
However, that is completely overshadowed by the giant mass of Miasma hovering above the city from which all the Miasma roots originate. The Miasma forms a complex network of veins that connects to a core at the center that appears to be beating like a heart.
Somehow, I know what this is. It’s not anything from this life, or my past life, but I know it deep in my soul as if it is recorded history.
Ting! Sense Magic has met the requirements for a breakthrough and will continue leveling past level 1080!
54th Breakthrough: You have seen a Calamity Egg; this will help you study the birth of Calamities.