Chapter 947 - 946: Talronde

The sudden change left Gawain momentarily dazed.

The vast and vivid landscape had stabilized in his vision, the brief dizziness and trance had faded away, and all his senses and cognitive abilities had returned to normal. The seaside view at dusk, the distant drooping sky, and the clouds overhead were slowly shifting with Melita’s flight. Suddenly, the dragon lowered its altitude again, and the sound of flapping wings echoed from both sides, jolting Gawain out of his stupor.

He suddenly turned his head and saw Amber’s amber eyes sparkling under the twilight sky. She was excitedly gazing at the distant sea and sky with a look of joy on her face, as if she had not just experienced the terrifying upheaval earlier.

Veronica sat quietly nearby, seemingly resting with her eyes closed, as if she had been in that position from the beginning and had never changed.

Gawain lifted his gaze and looked toward the direction of Melita’s tail, gazing at the magnificent and grand cloud wall—the barrier of the Eternal Storm had already been left behind by the dragon. Although it still appeared grand from this distance, it no longer exerted the suffocating pressure it did when approaching head-on. It slowly moved away in Gawain’s sight, and the many details on the outer surface of the cloud wall gradually blurred in the dim sky.

"Hey, what’s wrong with you? Why aren’t you speaking suddenly?" Amber’s voice suddenly sounded beside him, filled with confusion, "Still looking at that storm? Didn’t we just come through from there?"

Gawain looked into Amber’s eyes, trying to find even the slightest hint of discord on her face, but found nothing. Before the confusion on Amber’s face became more apparent, he withdrew his gaze and asked seemingly casually, "Did we pass through the storm smoothly?"

"Of course it went smoothly," Amber nodded, "Although it was pretty scary when we first rushed in, Melita flew quite steadily, and once I got used to it, I even found it rather interesting..."

Gawain’s brow furrowed slightly, and before he could continue questioning, Veronica, sitting nearby with her eyes closed, suddenly opened them: "Is there something unusual?"

"Do you remember the process when we passed through the storm?" Gawain looked at Veronica, asking while discreetly pinching his thigh—although pinching himself doesn’t necessarily verify whether he was dreaming or hallucinating in this world full of extraordinary powers, the sensation of pain did bring him some reassurance.

Veronica seemed unaware of Gawain’s small action. She carefully thought and recalled after hearing his question, then nodded, "After crashing into the cloud wall, we flew in a dark and discharging thundercloud cyclone. The external environment was extremely harsh, but Melita wasn’t much affected. Amber appeared very excited all the way, while you kept meticulously observing various phenomena deep in the cyclone—nothing dramatic happened throughout the journey. Afterward, Melita bypassed the storm’s center and passed over the other end of the cloud wall, allowing us to come out safely."

"Just that?" Gawain couldn’t help confirming again, and after seeing Veronica’s serious expression, he pondered for a moment and further inquired, "Did I say or do anything after crossing the storm’s center?"

"You continued observing various phenomena in the cyclone, Amber kept talking a lot of nonsense, I was resting, and Melita was flying earnestly."

Veronica spoke slowly, showing no expression on her face, then looked at Gawain’s eyes with a serious tone: "So, what’s the problem?"

Gawain didn’t answer immediately, just quietly scanning around—his gaze swept across a nearby piece of dragon scale, which appeared smooth and undamaged.

He remembered leaving writing on this scale, yet the inscription seemed to have vanished.

"The events in my memory seem somewhat different from what you’re describing..." he uttered casually, then his gaze shifted to a large Magic Web Terminal not far away.

He recalled the situation in the storm cyclone, remembered Amber’s first reaction to salvage data when Melita’s flight suddenly derailed, and after a moment of reflection, he strode to the Magic Web Terminal, bending over to open a metal panel at its base—a palm-sized crystal plate emitting a faint blue glow appeared before him.

The Storage Crystal Plate was still securely inserted in the machine, looking as if it hadn’t been removed by anyone.

Even if Amber was somewhat oblivious, she realized something might be amiss now. She approached from behind, curiously observing Gawain’s actions: "Hey, what did you find?"

"...If only we had audio-visual records of the entire process... We really weren’t well-prepared in this aspect... Ultimately, it’s due to limited technology," Gawain murmured regretfully to himself, the words seemingly inexplicable to Amber.

The Magic Web Terminal was capable of recording images, and after Melita took off, the equipment installed on the dragon’s back not only collected meteorological and magical data from the ocean environment but also conducted audio-visual recording for some time. However, the Magic Guide Technology, in modern times, is still not advanced enough, and upon nearing the Eternal Storm, various devices on Melita’s back ceased functioning due to the strong interference, the only one capable of recording audio-visual being no exception.

Therefore, Gawain couldn’t trace back what exactly happened from the equipment data, and truthfully, given the bizarre situation in front of him, he suspected even with a camera recording the whole process of Melita traversing the storm, what’s recorded might not have been reliable...

Some mysterious force erased the events that once occurred, leaving only his memories as clues...

At this moment, he even began to doubt his memories—perhaps, as Amber and Veronica said, nothing had happened? Were his memories merely hallucinations? Some kind of dream?

Gawain sighed, casually closing the metal panel on the device base, but as his fingers brushed over the edge of the panel, he suddenly felt a slight irregular groove, instinctively pausing.

He removed his fingers and saw a subtle mark at the panel edge, appearing as if having been pried by some sharp and hard object, a shape that was definitely not originally designed.

It was a mark left by forcibly prying open with a dagger in an emergency.

Just then, Amber’s flustered voice once again sounded beside him: "Hey hey, what’s happening? Why did your expression suddenly become so serious?"

Gawain looked up at Amber, then glanced at Veronica not far away who was curiously casting her gaze. After a brief silence and contemplation, he suddenly smiled and shook his head, "Don’t worry about it, nothing happened."

Amber couldn’t figure out the situation for a moment, "Ah?"

Gawain did not explain anything, merely reached out to pat the head of this short pumpkin, with some comfort and praise, "You’ve behaved well."

When Melita suddenly encountered a situation earlier, Amber’s first reaction was recklessly to rush to rescue the data... If this had been a few years ago, it would have been an unimaginable thing for her; even now, Gawain still couldn’t believe it was a reaction Amber would have exhibited. However, she indeed did—though she seemed to have forgotten it herself.

Amber dumbfoundly felt the touch from above her head, looking at Gawain who suddenly smiled like a comforting old father. Her first reaction was whether long-time high-altitude flight could produce some adverse effects on an elderly person’s mental state, yet she at least did not utter the disrespectful thought in her mind but rather accepted the compliment calmly—although she couldn’t understand what happened, Miss Amber never declined free good fortune.

On the other side, Veronica had been quietly observing all of this. Clearly, what she pondered and considered was far deeper than Amber, vaguely realizing that during the storm crossing, there might have been some "anomalous phenomenon" only perceptible to Gawain. However, she did not step forward to ask anything but sent a trace of inquiry intention through her gaze.

Gawain simply shook his head slightly.

Veronica knowingly withdrew her gaze, returned to her resting spot, and continued to meditate.

The dragon continued flying northward. As a guide and traffic tool, Melita instead became the most unaware "person" at the scene. It appeared she wasn’t very interested in what was happening on her back. She already felt the chilling winds of her homeland, sensed the atmosphere of Tarlande from changes in nearby magnetic fields and magical environments. Attracted by the warmth of the Dragon Nest and mission stipend, Lady Blue Dragon let out a cheerful low roar, increasing her speed a bit.

Night had fallen, and starlight was spilling across the boundless Ice Ocean. In the dry, cloudless Arctic Region, the starry sky was evidently more brilliant than in the continental area.

Gawain could distinctly sense that the speed and manner in which night fell differed from the continental area—they did not clearly see from which direction the sun descended, nor the complete changes of the sunset glow. This night veil didn’t rise from the horizon but rather seemed like... they rode upon the dragon, actively flying into a realm of night.

Polar regions’ polar night—mentioned in Modir’s travelogue and various scholars’ treatises.

Under this night mist, Gawain seemed to suddenly regain some "sense of reality," he breathed out lightly, gazing toward the distant sea—the direction beneath the night sky where a haze of light already appeared. It seemed countless artificial lights illuminated the sea in the polar night, and in that hazy brightness’s depths, a land’s outline and something akin to a barrier’s arc could be faintly seen.

"We’re almost there!" Melita’s somewhat excited voice came from the front at this moment, "That’s Tarlande!"

"I’m about to lower altitude continuously—are you all ready?"

Subsequently, accompanied by Lady Dragon’s thunderous roar, Gawain felt a slight tremor beneath his feet, his vision tilted as Melita began adjusting her flight posture, constantly lowering altitude under the night, achieving the perfect balance point through short-distance dives—in this rapid flight, Tarlande’s contour became increasingly distinct.

Amber couldn’t hold back and ran to the front first. She stood in front of Melita’s shoulder blades, craning her neck to look at the distant sea appearing in that continent’s expanse, exclaiming with exaggerated prolongation, "Wow—I see it! I see it! A continent! Tarlande, that is Tarlande!"

"The lights are brighter and denser than in the Cecil Empire... even surpass the imperial capital during Gondor’s time," Veronica couldn’t help but stand up, gazing into the distant speaking to Gawain with admiration, "Do you see that dome-like thing? That... seems like a huge barrier, actually covering the entire continent?!"

"...The Dragonkin’s technical capability evidently surpasses any nation on the Loren Continent," Gawain said gravely, the scene he witnessed was not beyond his prior assessment of the Dragonkin, "It’s within reason—they’ve existed for so many years in this world, various civilization interruptions on the Loren Continent haven’t impacted the Dragonkin, naturally, they would be more advanced than us..."

"Tarlande will certainly open your eyes!" Melita said happily, her tone carrying a distinct pride—in this homeward journey, Lady Dragon seemed to have finally abandoned the elegant and composed persona of a high-ranking agent of the Mithril Vault, appearing much more talkative, vivacious, and spirited, "I’ll take you to visit the place where I live, our cities and churches... of course, we must first listen to what the gods have arranged. But rest assured, there won’t be any troublesome matters, you are after all guests of Tarlande..."

Gawain casually responded a few sentences, his attention was actually entirely focused on that distant land, not quite concerned with what Melita was saying.

He gazed intently at that ancient land bathed in starlight and countless artificial lights, an anticipation and eagerness of visiting the unknown place inevitably permeated his heart. He watched the light dome potentially some ultra-advanced barrier, the city lights on the land and the flowing glowing tracers sweeping low. He watched the bright dazzling starlight reflecting off Tarlande and surrounding sea, witnessing the white glaciers in the ocean and undulating waves shimmering faintly in the night. He observed some enormous tendril-like flesh masses suddenly emerge above Tarlande, licking over the entire Dragon Kingdom, seeing countless pairs of eyes vaguely surfaced in the skies over the ocean, casting cold, frigid gazes over the entire continent...

A massive, twisted thing formed of countless tendrils, limbs, eyes, and various chaotic objects appeared in Gawain’s view, akin to some knowledge-surpassing stitched abomination covering the skies over Tarlande, robed in a cloak made of starlight and Flowing Fire. Blood sprouted sword-wielding arms, giant animal limbs, chaotic flame, and glittering crystals, draping over the entire sea region ahead. Numerous chain-like intricate structures extended from its surface, connecting to Tarlande’s earth. Among them, a chain extended from the darkness, reaching Melita.

Melita was unwittingly enmeshed within this chain, joyously flying towards home.

Gawain suddenly inhaled sharply.

As he blinked again, that indescribable hallucination had already vanished.

The clear and bright starlight illuminated Tarlande, under the tranquil night, there was only a prosperous and ancient realm—a homeland in the Dragon Era living beneath resplendent lights.

"We’ve arrived!" Melita said joyfully, "I’m about to make the final slowdown!"