Chapter 96: Remember to Send Me a Copy |
Lila floated where the rift had once existed. The area had now calmed down, but the surrounding space remained extremely fragile. She let out a long sigh.
“The problem is finally solved.”
She raised her right hand, her five fingers slightly spread apart.
In the next moment, countless tiny golden lights seeped out from the surrounding void like stars, rapidly gathering toward her palm before finally condensing once more into a hollow golden sphere.
However, compared to before, the golden sphere’s radiance had dimmed considerably, and the light emitted from its surface had clearly weakened as well.
“This time, I truly suffered heavy losses…”
Lila murmured softly as her fingers gently stroked the icy surface of the golden sphere. “I’ll have to think of a way to make up for these losses…”
She once again released a large amount of magic power, carefully scanning every inch of space in the area. Only after confirming that the secret realm rift had indeed been completely erased, with no hidden dangers remaining, did she finally feel somewhat relieved.
Turning her gaze toward Coral Thorn City, she raised her hand and tore open the space before her, stepping inside.
Now that the secret realm issue had been resolved both emotionally and rationally, she had to go take a look.
By the way, she also wanted to see whether she could use the long-distance teleportation array there to return to the Aurelia Imperial Capital.
She only hoped the teleportation array hadn’t been affected by last night’s violent spatial fluctuations. Otherwise, she would have to fly back personally.
It only took Lila a few breaths to traverse space and silently appear above Coral Thorn City.
At this moment, Coral Thorn City had already lost the bustling atmosphere brought by the auction; the entire city was enveloped in the oppressive silence and heaviness of post-disaster survival.
However, under the coordination of O’Brien and Gann Cole, normal order had already been restored.
Lila raised an eyebrow as a magical crystal ball appeared in her palm.
A rune of time reversal flashed by, and the crystal ball rapidly began replaying scenes from Coral Thorn City the previous night.
When she saw the entire ghost fleet, she could not help but suck in a breath of cold air.
At the same time, however, she became increasingly curious about how the people of Coral Thorn City had survived the ghost fleet’s assault.
Yet when the towering metal armor appeared above the ghost ships, the image suddenly froze.
“Oh?”
She found it somewhat strange and immediately cast several more spells in succession, but they still had no effect.
It was as though this segment of imagery was protected by some kind of power.
“Interesting. Looks like I’ll have to ask someone what exactly happened here last night.”
Lila’s gaze quickly locked onto the two strongest people currently within the city—O’Brien and Gann Cole.
At this moment, Gann Cole was already mentally exhausted, lazily reclining on a lounge chair to rest.
Now that the city’s order had basically recovered, this old man no longer needed to continue commanding things; nor did he have the mood to manage affairs anymore. He only wanted to rest properly.
“This little Gann sure knows how to find a place to hide.”
A faint smile curved at the corner of Lila’s lips as her figure flashed and lightly landed on the guest chair beside Gann Cole’s lounge chair like a feather.
Then, acting completely naturally, she picked up the expensive-looking tea set on the table and poured herself a cup of still-warm tea.
“Little Gann, living quite leisurely, aren’t you?”
The gentle voice entered his ears. Gann Cole, who had originally been resting with his eyes closed, suddenly sprang upright from the lounge chair. The qi within his body instinctively circulated as he assumed a defensive stance.
Who could appear beside him without making a sound while he remained completely unaware?
The moment he saw who it was, Gann’s eyes nearly bulged out.
He immediately dropped to one knee and performed a solemn standard bow.
“Greetings… greetings, Legendary Lord Lila!” His voice trembled slightly from nervousness.
As the branch president of the Crescent Empire Adventurers’ Guild, Gann Cole naturally knew of the Empire’s legendary adventurers; their information was officially registered within the Empire.
The Adventurers’ Guild was a lawful and legitimate organization, unlike the Shadow Guild, which was nothing more than a sinister bunch of clowns.
“Get up. There’s no need to be so restrained.”
Lila waved her hand, signaling for him to stand.
“I was just passing by and wanted to ask—things were quite lively here last night, weren’t they?”
Gann Cole immediately stood up. Like a student who had made a mistake and was waiting for a teacher’s questioning, he seemed unsure of where to place his hands.
“Yes, yes, Your Excellency. Last night… some rather… unexpected things did happen.”
Lila took a sip of tea; the flavor was unexpectedly good.
“Tell me everything in detail. Especially… those ghost ships and the changes that happened afterward.”
At this moment, her mind was filled with curiosity about those ghost ships.
“Yes, yes. It happened like this…”
Gann Cole slowly recounted the chain of events that occurred in Coral Thorn City after he sensed the violent spatial fluctuations last night.
But when he reached the part involving Alvaro’s metal armor, he suddenly stopped. The contract deep within his soul had already begun stirring restlessly, as though saying even one more word would earn him another slap.
Gann Cole could only open and close his mouth, his face flushed red, while looking at Lila with pleading eyes.
Lila immediately sensed the fluctuations of the soul contract on him.
Setting down her teacup, a trace of understanding flashed through her eyes.
“Tell me what you can.”
Gann Cole let out a sigh of relief and briefly described the astonishing transformation of the ghost fleet after the “Mysterious Figure” forced it to stop, along with the appearance and disappearance of the Saint-tier staircase leading to an unknown world.
Lila listened with her brows nearly furrowed together.
The transformation of the ghost ship forms and that tower-like staircase reaching the heavens were things she had never heard of before.
Even within the archives of the Mage Alliance, she had never found any related records.
“How interesting…”
The Mage Alliance was an extremely ancient organization. A situation like this either involved deliberately sealed history, or some ancient existence that even the Alliance had failed to fully record… otherwise, with her qualifications, it would have been impossible for her not to have access to such historical information.
It seemed she would have to make another trip back to the Mage Alliance when she had the time.
She glanced at Gann Cole, who still stood respectfully to the side, before changing the subject.
“That Holy Knight—how much do you know about him?”
“I don’t know. I only found out last night that there was actually a Holy Knight in Coral Thorn City. Normally, they should all stay in remote little towns, the kind of places where disasters frequently occur.”
Gann Cole shook his head and answered honestly.
“Forget it, it doesn’t matter. Where’s Coral Thorn City’s long-distance teleportation array? Can it still be used?”
Lila had little interest in those dull and rigid Holy Knights. Now that she understood the situation, she was preparing to leave.
As long as it didn’t threaten the Empire, Lila would not interfere; there were simply too many people in this world hiding secrets.
There was absolutely no need for her to create trouble for herself.
“Uh…”
Gann Cole looked awkward.
“Sorry, Lady Lila, the teleportation array is indeed temporarily unusable.
Last night’s spatial fluctuations were far too intense, directly causing all spatial arrays to suffer varying degrees of damage.
Especially highly precise positioning arrays like long-distance teleportation arrays. If they’re used rashly without repeated adjustments and testing, where one ends up teleporting would depend entirely on luck.”
“Tch—what a hassle!”
Lila rubbed her forehead.
“That’s enough for today. If any special news comes up, remember to send me a copy through this token.”
She casually tossed Gann Cole a silver token engraved with a complicated star-pattern design. Her intuition told her that many interesting things might happen here in the future.
Before Gann Cole could reply, Lila directly tore open space and flew toward the Imperial Capital.