Chapter 902 — Morjin's Voyage

Gao Song's eyes traveled back and forth over that page several times before he finally managed to suppress the urge to complain that had risen in his mind.

This sixth-century-ago Grand Duke Veld was, incredibly, a devoted fan of Gao Yang Cecil... which gave the present Gao Yang—currently wearing the identity of Gao Yang Cecil—a peculiar and inexplicable sense of embarrassment.

Only then did he continue reading downward, following how that ancient nobleman who made "explorer" his calling recorded the series of preparations he had undertaken for this adventure—

"...Once my resolve was set, I began to build a ship large enough to withstand such perils—no easy task. As everyone knows, ever since those storm worshippers suddenly went mad, stole or scuttled every seagoing vessel and fled to the sea, the human world has not undertaken a proper 'voyage' for nearly a century. There are no navigators capable of challenging the ocean, nor anyone who knows how to build a seagoing ship...

"I appealed to a dwarven friend I had made in earlier years. The dwarven kingdom is said to retain some techniques for sailing in relatively safe waters—at the very least they know how to build a ship, and my friend could help me find shipwrights. Beyond that, I knew two sea elves—they had no interest in matters on land, but they were very interested in my magic gems. For the price of a few gems, they agreed to serve as my navigators...

"While this grand (and likely long-drawn-out) shipbuilding plan was under way, I also took the opportunity to make a trip to the Southern Reach—to visit the Cecil Grand Duke of the present day. I clung to a sliver of hope, wondering whether the Cecil family still kept records of Duke Gao Yang's voyage in those years, but I was prepared to return empty-handed as well, for it was plain that Gao Yang Cecil a century ago had not wished too many people to know of his adventures—otherwise there would have been no need to erase those clues...

"And my guess proved correct—the descendants of the Cecil family knew nothing of their great-grandfather's voyage a century ago. When the Cecil Grand Duke heard of my expedition plans and the intelligence concerning 'Gao Yang Cecil's mysterious voyage,' he even showed a certain worry. Plainly he took it for nothing more than an evidence-free folk tale, and thought I was gambling with my own safety... Yet our exchange remained most pleasant. The Cecil family is a family worthy of respect—of that there is no doubt. Upon finding my determination fixed, they chose to give me their blessing.

"After visiting the tomb chamber of Gao Yang Cecil and offering my respects and spiced wine, I returned to my own adventure preparations..."

Gao Yang quickly skimmed past this section and the long stretches of records that followed concerning shipbuilding and the recruiting of sailors. His eyes swept line by line over those neat handwritten words, and a portion of Morjin Veld's life flew through his mind like a film on fast-forward—only when the text reached the day of Morjin's departure did his reading speed suddenly slow.

This was the part that concerned him most.

On pages that had endured several centuries were recorded all that Morjin Veld experienced after he entered the sea:

"...Day X of Month X. After lengthy preparation and meticulous planning, the 'Adventurer' finally set sail on a clear summer day. We departed from the coast of the Eastern Reach and, on the advice of the sea-elven navigator, first sailed a short distance south along the coastline before turning east. This would minimize the risk of entering the storm region too early—though I had great confidence in the protective magic and magic-sensing system I had designed myself, I could not gamble with the sailors' lives, and so I resolved to follow the navigator's counsel to the greatest extent possible...

"Day X of Month X. A day worth recording!

"Not long after we adjusted our course eastward, we witnessed from afar a 'Disordered Turbulence.' A wall of storm cloud, nearly connecting to the sky, rose into the air and in an instant sent the entire sea surface surging into terrifying waves. Between the storm and the waves were energy lightnings dense as a net, and every flash held a power that made even a mage as formidable as myself tremble with dread. And this entire cloud wall was moving at a pace that seemed slow yet was nearly impossible to evade. Never in my life had I seen anything like it!

"Some of the sailors were frightened out of their wits and began kneeling on the deck praying to their gods, but the first mate soon restored order—the first mate is a trustworthy retired officer, and I count myself fortunate to have brought him aboard. Before long the sea elf serving as navigator announced that the way ahead was safe; the expedition ship stood at a relatively safe distance, and that dreadful storm was moving away from us...

"Once the crew had calmed, I had the chance to observe that storm from such a perfect distance—and it was necessary that I record all its characteristics.

"'Disordered Turbulence' is not simply giant waves or a tsunami, nor simply an energy storm, but rather a complex system formed by a mixture of both. From observation, I conclude that the cloud wall connecting to the vault of heaven and ceaselessly releasing energy lightnings must be the 'pillar' and 'engine' of the whole system. Its energy fluctuations cause the water-element-rich atmosphere above the sea to resonate, and at the same time I sensed that its base was connected to the entire body of water—it seems that the 'ocean,' as a highly concentrated elemental medium, plays a role akin to a 'polar focus' in a magic array, giving the atmospheric energy turbulence a vent, and only thus is such a dreadful cloud wall produced...

"Perhaps this is why terrible Disordered Turbulence appears over the ocean but not over land?

"Moreover, at the visible top of the cloud wall there appear phenomena of cloud layers tearing and floating lights surging. Above regions where the storm is stronger, one can observe luminous phenomena unlike the energy flashes within the cloud wall; they look like sheets of connected 'curtains' that shift slowly as the cloud wall moves... They seem to lie at an extremely high altitude, and their scale must be greater than imagination can compass...

"In certain magic works handed down from ancient times, the scholars of Gondor divided the atmosphere into several layers—the static magic boundary layer, the turbulent layer, the steady-state limit layer, and so on. Seeing the scene atop that cloud wall, I could not help but make a connection... The Disordered Turbulence over the sea is so violent that it exceeds human understanding of the magical environment. So could it be some manner of 'leakage' from a higher layer of the atmosphere? Perhaps the magic of the turbulent layer has pierced the protection formed by the near-surface magnetic field, and only thus produced such a dreadful phenomenon within the static boundary layer... This is a phenomenon worth recording and studying.

"Truly the sea is full of secrets, and riddled with dangers.

"Fortunately, the sensing device I designed performed its function well—the beam of light within the crystal ball points accurately toward that distant storm, which proves that it can detect the presence of Disordered Turbulence from very far away. This will help the expedition ship avoid in advance those sea regions ravaged by wind and wave..."

As Gao Cen read through these precious words, he frowned in thought from time to time, or gave a slight nod. He even drew a sheet of scratch paper from beside him and scribbled down whatever came to mind as he went.

Without question, The Travels of Morjin was a treasure-house. Its most precious contents were not those thrilling and bizarre tales of adventure, but the experiences and observations Morjin Veld had recorded in the course of his adventures—and his knowledge!