Chapter 1477 — Tidings from the North

Before the first light of dawn had seeped through the castle windows into the room, the old man lying in bed abruptly opened his eyes.

The chill breath of that fog-shrouded city seemed still to linger deep in his senses, and a false perception—hard to tell truth from illusion—pulsed through his nervous system like some counterfeit memory implanted in his mind. Mojin Wilde felt as though he were still standing in Violet Ember, that border city; he could still smell its air, feel its breeze. This vivid "sensation" was utterly different from the lingering impressions one normally carried out of a dream.

Drawing on his vast learning and his long experience with all manner of supernatural anomalies, the old mage swiftly completed his assessment of his own condition: over the past hours, his mind had journeyed far away, to a place where the boundaries between true and false, dream and reality, had utterly dissolved—and for a pure human mind to operate in such an environment was no different from making a real journey.

In the next instant, Mojin's eyes were clear once more. Skipping the "adjustment" process that could last a whole day, he used his formidable mental power to bring his mind directly back to a normal state. Then he rose, changed out of his nightclothes, and summoned the attendant waiting in the corridor: "Go and bring Victoria to me. I have something important to tell her."

It was not long before Victoria arrived at Mojin's room in her house dress. The Duchess of the North had clearly not expected her ancestor to summon her at such an early hour. Surprise in her voice, she asked, "The attendant said you had something urgent... Has something happened?"

Her astonishment was only natural. From any normal person's perspective, Mojin Wilde had spent the whole of the past night inside the castle—what emergency could possibly befall a Xuanmai practitioner while he slept? And his present condition did not suggest any sudden illness...

As Victoria stood there perplexed, Mojin spoke: "Are there ships at Northport that can put to sea for Violet at once? If possible, it would be best to bring along a professional team skilled in tracking and search-and-rescue, and a squad of supernatural-anomaly experts."

The Duchess was momentarily dumbfounded. She had no idea why the Xuanmai practitioner would suddenly raise such a matter, but at the word "Violet," her mind turned to the intelligence she had received over the past while—to the various anomalous signs that had emerged from that mysterious nation of mages across the strait over the past month... Her expression was puzzled yet grave: "Very well, I will arrange it at once—but can you tell me what has actually happened? What is wrong with the Kingdom of Violet? How did you—"

"I have just come back from there," Mojin said in a low, heavy voice. "Don't be in such a hurry to be astonished, Victoria. Hear me out first. If my deductions are correct, Prandel City should no longer exist by now... I need you to send people at once to search the beaches southeast of Prandel for two Military Intelligence agents trapped there. They are still alive at this moment, but if they remain on the island when night falls again, survival will not come so easily. In addition, I need you to send word to the Imperial Capital immediately..."

...

The "Great Migration" of the shadow-dwellers.

Truly, Gaoyu Dao knew that tremendous mysteries lay hidden in the mysterious Shadow Realm, and he knew that those eerie shadow-dwellers had always roamed between shadow and the waking world as though fulfilling some mission—but he had never imagined that one day the latter would undergo such a bizarre change. Fortunately, Amber had discovered and reported this change at the very first moment.

That morning, Hedy came early to Gaosong's study to report on the Administrative Hall's response to the "Great Migration of the shadow-dwellers" that Amber had discovered.

"...As of now, we have completed observations in Tenwoods City, Saint Sunil, Kant, and the White Sands region. In all these areas, shadow mages have observed through the rifts traces of large numbers of shadow-dwellers gathering and shifting northward—of course, given the limits of 'normal humans' in the Shadow Realm and the constraints of existing technology, the mages find it difficult to obtain sufficiently clear and accurate images, but the available evidence is enough to prove that the phenomenon Amber observed is not confined to a single location, and is most likely occurring throughout the entire Shadow Realm...

"Typhon, Silver, the Holy Dragon Duchy, and other nations possessing shadow-observation technology or high-tier shadow transcendents have also begun observations within their own territories. Because the event came so suddenly, no nation has yet reported back its findings...

"Considering that the 'Great Migration' phenomenon may be occurring worldwide, and that shadow-dwellers are extremely aggressive toward 'intruders,' the Administrative Hall has already issued a Shadow Realm risk warning across the entire realm, requiring transcendents of every level—stalkers, shadow mages, shadow spirit-walkers, and others—to refrain from approaching the Shadow Realm in the near future, and, unless absolutely necessary, to avoid prolonged use of supernatural powers such as Shadow Step or Shadow Leap, which may cause them to 'cross the boundary'..."

Listening to Hedy's well-ordered report, Gao Xi nodded slowly, then could not help murmuring: "Though ordinary shadow practitioners can hardly possess Amber's astonishing shadow talent, it is not absolutely impossible for them to cross that 'boundary.' If they enter the Shadow Realm knowing nothing and happen to encounter the 'Great Migration' procession, the consequences would be unthinkable... After all, not everyone can coexist peacefully with shadow-dwellers as Amber does."

"Our own shadow transcendents should be safe for the time being," Hedy nodded, but then her expression turned stern and she shifted her tone. "Other nations, however, are another matter... After all, not every country has professionalized all transcendents and brought them under a national regulatory system as Cecil has. In many countries and regions of the Alliance, there are still high-tier mages living in isolation beyond government control, and secretive practitioners who shut themselves away in hidden realms for three years at a stretch. These so-called 'classical transcendents' have always been the most vexing problem for governments as they advance modern household-registration systems and transcendent-profession management..."

Gao Yang sighed. "Be that as it may, after this period, at least where the 'shadow' line is concerned, the world's 'classical transcendents' will likely come to a profound realization of the necessity of embracing the progress of the age... Living apart from the world, not even reading a newspaper, then turning around to run an experiment only to be pinned to the ground and beaten by ten thousand shadow-dwellers—if any of them make it out alive, they will surely be eager to register with their local governments from now on."

"The world used to change slowly. An archmage could shut himself in his mage tower and vanish from the world for twenty years; when he emerged he was still outstanding in his field, and the order of the world he knew was still everyone's order. But the world today will not permit them to keep living that closed 'pastoral life,'" Hedy shook her head. "But none of that is the point. The point is what this 'Great Migration of the shadow-dwellers' is really about..."