Sword of Dawnbreaker

”Yes, theoretically, negotiations have made some progress,” Gawain sighed helplessly, ”They agreed to establish alliance communication stations in several major coastal cities to facilitate merchants and adventurers from Loren Continent doing business at the Violet Frontier. However, they refused to establish an interface between the ’Violet Webway’ and the alliance communication network, no interfaces at all, nor do they accept the introduction of Immersion Capsules or neural network nodes, crucial equipment of the sort.”

”This is troubling,” Aunt Heidi understood Gawain’s dilemma, her expression turning solemn as well, ”Refusing these key installations means the neural network cannot connect at all—erecting a few Magic Obelisks in border cities is meaningless; the key to the Anti-Divine Barrier is the coverage rate of the neural network...”

She paused and could not help but ask: ”Do they not perceive the threat of divine disaster? Or do they not believe the things we’ve already made public?”

”No, judging from the response from the City of Thousand Towers, they know and believe, they’ve even expressed respect and blessings for the entire world,” Gawain opened his hands, ”But they simply do not care.”

Aunt Heidi was speechless: ”...This is... isn’t this a form of provocation?”

”I’ve suspected that for a long time, but now I can only affirm that they genuinely do not care,” Gawain uttered with some headache, ”Those enigmatic ’hermits of the high towers’ in the City of Thousand Towers... they seem to have exiled themselves from this world, not caring about the survival of the world, the continuity of mortal civilization, or even whether they would perish in the next divine disaster or chaotic wave. Frankly, I find it hard to comprehend their mindset... It feels as if they are not beings living in the same world as us.”

”It’s rare to see you quite so troubled,” Aunt Heidi remarked, watching Gawain’s troubled demeanor, though unable to suppress a faint smile; quickly she withdrew that smile and resumed seriousness, ”Ancestor, honestly, I’ve always had an extra focus on the Violet Kingdom, and perhaps you’d be interested in hearing my impression of this kingdom.

”You know, I myself am also a Mage, and any Mage knows that there are two peaks of magical mystery in this world. One is located within the Silver Empire, established and led by the elves, the ’Association of Astrologers,’ whose profound magical foundation is unquestionable. However, due to differences in neural systems, the elves’ magic system isn’t compatible with other races, so this ’magical peak’ has never been open to outsiders. The other peak... is the ’Association of Mystics’ in the Violet Kingdom.

”The Violet Kingdom is a hermit-like Mage nation, but its ’periphery’ is not completely sealed off as if it’s some sort of ’transition zone’. This kingdom still maintains communication with the Loren Continent, and its coastal cities have institutions specifically open to merchants and travelers. The citizens living there have a lifestyle similar to ours; those who have been to the Violet Kingdom know that the people living there are much like us, average and ordinary.

”However, once you step beyond the edge of the giant island and take a few steps deeper, the situation becomes vastly different—it’s said that there lies a magic city with a style vastly distinct from the Loren Continent, with ancient, eerie towers standing like a forest, where magic permeates and reshapes the kingdom’s core environment, blurring the lines between reality and illusion. Even people living in those regions... appear mysterious and bizarre.”

”Those who have ventured into that ’core’ region unanimously describe it as entering a kind of ’foreign land,’ shrouded by an inexplicable ’strangeness.’ You may even feel like you’re being assimilated by the peculiar environment, gradually forgetting what ’normal life’ outside feels like... Of course, this part of the description often proves exaggerated, but the rumors of such nature imply that the core region of the Violet Kingdom truly holds peculiarities.”

Gawain listened intently to Aunt Heidi’s narration; these are contents he rarely encounters in previous reports—within them are Aunt Heidi’s personal folklore and her impressions as a Mage of the Violet Kingdom, with perhaps not much accuracy in intelligence, but sufficient to spark some new thoughts for him.