Only a few hundred meters away from where everyone was attacked, Gawain found the small wooden house that had been reduced to ruins.
It fell among the trees. Judging from the scorch marks, it was a fire that destroyed it from the inside out, but the fire did not spread further - maybe it was a fire. The rains came in time to save the forest. Knight Byron checked the remaining traces around the wooden house and determined that the fire should have occurred more than half a month ago.
Hetty detected a very weak magic reaction at the scene.
"What we saw in the Shadow Realm should be a reflection," Gawain said as he looked at the ruined wooden house in the forest clearing, "This wild mage has been with us for many years. Laidu lives in seclusion in this place. It is outside the territory and even the hunters will not come here, so no one knows that there is a hermit living here."
"The problem is...how the accident happened. ?" Hetty frowned, "There is only a weak magic focus here, and the strength of the wild mage living here is also very low. Even if one of his magic experiments goes out of control and burns down the house, there is no way he can do it in the shadows. The world creates a long-term projection, and also generates such a powerful mist of resentful spirits... The magic power required for all this is not something that a mere wild mage can provide."
"Maybe this book. Notes can answer your questions," Gawain said, handing a worn notebook to Hetty's hand.
That is the note that I got from Betty in the Shadow Realm before. It is both the diary of the unknown wild mage and a research note.
Hetty opened the second half of the note according to Gawain's instructions and read it carefully.
"... Ansu 729, Fire Moon, XX day. It has been half a year since I moved to this place, and I found a magic focus on the edge of the Cecil family's territory. Although the intensity is not comparable to that of Qian. Compared with the public magic focus of the Tower City, it is enough to support my laboratory. The elemental power here is single and stable, and Annie’s condition should be alleviated.
"Ansu 729, the harvest. Month, XX day. Anne's condition seems to be improving, and she hasn't had another attack for a long time - but I don't know if it's the environment here that's having an effect, or if my rituals and potions are actually working. The magic focus here is too weak. Even with the help of the amplification circle, the effect of my ritual will be greatly reduced. Maybe I should reconsider the formulas I have derived before... Although the people in the Arcana Society always laugh at my calculations, I have left the Arcana Society anyway, and they have nothing to do with this...
"In the year 730 of Anzu, on the Misty Moon, on XXth day. Those formulas and derivation are completely in line with expectations! No, it should be said that the development of the facts is just as I calculated - under the new amplification method, the power of the magic focus is maximized. Greatly enhanced! With the help of extra magic power, I can finally start the next stage of treatment for Annie. Although she has hardly had any symptoms in the past few months, the treatment must continue because she hasI can't stand any more torture...
"Ansu 731, a cold month, XX day. After treatment, Anne was able to get up and walk around, and even cooked a meal! Frying sausages and vegetable soup, I feel like I haven't eaten anything so delicious in a hundred years - although the sausages are burnt and I forgot to put salt in the vegetable soup... It turns out that my treatment plan is effective, And as long as this magic focus here can continue to supply magic power steadily, Anne's recovery will be just around the corner..."
After that, the content of the diary was more about the daily life of the writer and his daughter. Hetty put it This part of the content was quickly skipped until a scrawled and messy record appeared on the last few pages:
"Ansu 734, Frost Moon, XX day. Anne is sick. Damn it!!
“I don’t know what went wrong, all the treatments went according to plan, every step of the ritual was flawless, and so did the potions – I’ve been using them for several years, and there’s never been a problem! But Annie still got sick, and she got really sick... worse than every time before. I have to find the reason as soon as possible. I'm going to write down all the details, all... I'm going to find out why. Anne will be fine...
"Ansu 734, Frost Moon, XX day. Anne still has not improved, the new medicine has no effect, she is still getting weaker, and... is gradually moving away This world. This morning I saw that her hands were as transparent as mist, and there were many blisters on her face. This world was rejecting her and pushing her into the shadow realm. What should I do...< /p>
“Ansu 734, the foggy month, XX day. That damn sun, its dark red patterns seem to be mocking my weakness! I finally discovered the problem, but I couldn't solve it at all... The elements are enriching, abnormally enriching, and the magic power is rising. This weak magic focus can't accommodate the excess magic power at all, even if I remove those amplifying magic circles. To no avail. At this time, it is wise to keep Annie away from places rich in elements, but she has stayed in this place for too long. Her body resonates with the elemental environment here, and this resonance continues her life... but It will kill her!
"In the year 734 of Anzu, on the Misty Month, on XXth day. The magic power in the entire area was not right. It was churning violently. The border of Cecil Territory seemed to have fallen into the legendary sea of magic. I It is impossible to reverse the changes in Annie. Half of her body has now left the material world. In the morning, she even said that she saw the whole house turned into black and white. Maybe... I can only find another way...
"Ansu 735, Fire Moon. The long preparation was finally over, and Anne's weakness reached its limit.
“This is my only chance, there is no other choice.
“Since I can’t let Annie live in the material world, it’s better to choose another path.
“The ritual of shadow transformation is recorded in books, but the magic power required is so huge that it cannot beIt’s imaginable, but for me, maybe it’s not unattainable. I used a new amplification formula and circle drawing method, and will use the power of magic surge. The magic power in this area is in an abnormally active state. The energy accumulated in the magic focus has been suppressed by me for several months, and it is finally enough today. Next, I only need to wait until the sun rises to the middle, when the magic power is the most powerful, and then I can start the transformation.
"Annie, hold on, dad will save you, and dad will accompany you to the Shadow Realm. We will live there for a long time, and you will never feel pain again."
The diary ends here.
Hetty was about to close the diary when Gawain suddenly pointed to the corner of the last page: "There are actually a few more words here."
Hetty quickly looked at it intently. Go - there was a black ink stain in the corner. At first she thought it was the stain caused by knocking over the ink bottle, but now after looking carefully, she realized that it was actually scrawled handwriting written by her fingers stained with ink. :
"The magic is out of control...The sun is red..."
Hetty repeated these words for no reason: "The sun is red...How can the sun be red? "?"
"Could it be the last time the red spot erupted?" Rebecca said as if she suddenly remembered something, "It was more than half a month ago, and the sun's surface appeared darker than usual. There are a lot more red spots. If the wild mage was not very clear at the time, he might think that the sun is red..."
Hetty blinked, as if accepting Rebecca. This statement, then she shook the note in her hand: "With this note, it can explain a lot of things. It seems that this unknown mage set up a large-scale magic here in order to cure his daughter. Array, and later came up with the crazy idea of transforming himself and his daughter into shadow forms to extend their lives. However, his transformation ritual went out of control due to the surge of magic power, which resulted in a fire half a month ago and also led to resentment. The formation of the Spirit Mist, and what the ancestors saw in the Shadow Realm..."
"These are not the point," Gawain suddenly interrupted Hetty, "Whether it is the Ghost Mist or the Shadow Realm wooden house, these can be directly explained in the notes. What I want you to see are the two details mentioned in the notes - one is about the dark red patterns on the surface of the sun, and the other is the large-scale red spots on the surface of the sun. Exploded."
Hetty noticed the serious look on Gawain's face and became a little nervous: "Ancestor, these two things..."
Gawain waved his hand: "The other one. The surge of magic power mentioned in the wild mage's diary, you two as mages should also be aware of it, right?"
Hetty and Rebecca looked at each other and nodded at the same time: "There has been a surge of magic power in recent times, right? There has indeed been an upsurge in magic power here in Xi'er Territory several times, but upsurges in magic power are normal - all magic power in the world comes from the sun, and the sun is changing all the time, so the magic power on the ground will naturally fluctuate. Uncertain, within the territory in the recent periodAlthough the surge of magic power is frequent, it is not to the level that people care about. "
Gawain looked at the two of them and said slowly: "In the year 1736 of the Gondor calendar, reports from various parts of the empire observed the observation of large-scale dark red patterns on the surface of the sun. The largest red spot erupted, nearly half of the sun's surface was covered with red spots. In the same year, 26 provinces in the empire reported large-scale magic surges - the surges were not large in scale, but their scope was huge. Covering nearly two-thirds of the country. In 1739, there was a bloody sun in the sky, and the whole country was shrouded in a dark red sky. However, no disaster broke out at that time. Instead, a large number of babies with outstanding magical talents were born. According to records, nearly one-third of the newborns born that day were Possessing a natural affinity for elements, newborn testing institutions across the country were even in short supply of resonance stones, so the palace scholars announced that that day would be called the 'Magic Dawn'. But also in the same year, a big explosion occurred in the 'Deep Blue Well', the largest magic energy supply facility near the Imperial Capital of Gondor. The reason for the explosion was that the focus of magic in the Deep Blue Well was suddenly filled with chaotic and powerful magic, and the magic circle could not be extracted. The power to deal with these chaos eventually caused the heart of the furnace to melt..."
Gawain stopped, but Hetty continued with a pale face: "... In the year 1740 of Gondor, the magic tide broke out, The most powerful human empire in history fell within a few months..."