Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 905 - 904: Anomalous Record

Modir Vealt’s notes revealed details that piqued Gawain’s interest.

No matter how you look at it, the food and water mentioned by the adventurer from six hundred years ago seemed like... canned goods and bottled water.

This inconspicuous little detail prompted Gawain to ponder further. Although he had previously realized that dragons were an ancient, wise race far older than human history, and thus might possess a civilization stronger than all nations on the continent, it wasn’t until now that he seriously considered what kind of civilization could continue to develop despite ignoring the chaotic wave—

Canned goods and bottled water may seem insignificant; Cecil Clan could produce them easily at the moment (in fact, similar products had already appeared). However, the canned goods Melita Ponia brought to Modir were a symbol, one that provoked deep contemplation in Gawain. His thoughts couldn’t help but expand in this direction, even gradually stretching to the peculiar questions of whether Dragonkin consume in human form or dragon form, and whether the meal size differs greatly between the two forms, how does human form’s intake efficiency sustain the enormous energy consumption of dragon form. But soon, his scattered thoughts coalesced, pointing toward a question he had long overlooked:

Why haven’t Dragonkin, unaffected by the chaotic wave and possessing a curiosity akin to humans, entered the space age after developing for so many years?!

Is it because they don’t yearn for the stars? Or do they heavily rely on the planetary environment, encountering bottlenecks when leaving the planet? Or have they simply not progressed in the correct technological tree, never breaking through the atmosphere despite countless years?

Gawain vaguely felt this might be a crucial issue, yet no one here could answer his query.

"I’ll ask Melita next time..." he softly muttered to himself after pondering for a moment, "Her name actually appeared in this travelogue... I should indeed inquire with her."

As he spoke, his eyes returned to Modir Vealt’s writings:

"...In the forthcoming days, I explored most parts of this Steel Island—by which I mean accessible areas. Who knows how many years this ruin has been abandoned, an atmosphere of solitude pervades it everywhere. Yet, the ancient architecture is incredibly sturdy. After weathering countless storms, they remain unbreakable, and barring the unimportant structures, the material of these columns, foundations, and roofs is tougher than any artificial material I’ve seen, and has excellent Magic Power resistance...

"...On X Month X Day, the day appointed by Lady Dragon for her return, earlier uneasiness turned true—she did not come.

"X Month X Day, after waiting another day, Melita still did not appear... I couldn’t help but recall her abnormal behavior upon departing, her poor mental state... It seems she genuinely forgot, even mentally screened out memories related to me. This is an unbelievable yet solely plausible explanation. I couldn’t help but be deeply concerned about what happened to Lady Dragon to lead to such unsettling results.

"I know no other dragons to compare whether this is some ’illness’ among Dragonkin, but I suspect it is all connected to this Steel Island itself, which is a forbidden land, feared even by Dragonkin... Now I’m left here, being a more pathetic fellow, I fear I am not qualified to worry about a dragon’s health—I must first solve my own survival issue.

"There are still some food stored in iron boxes and water bottles, enough for three days, and even if they finish, I can continue to collect supplies from the ocean. As a powerful Mage, I have no fear of dying of hunger or thirst, unless Chaotic Turbulence strikes the island; otherwise, I could survive here for a long time... However, I don’t wish to grow old alone in this bizarre haunted place!

"I’ve devised several plans for leaving Steel Island and returning to the human world, but before executing them, I’ve decided to further explore these ruins in hopes of obtaining some resources or other assistance... Alas, I can’t lie to myself; it’s damned curiosity acting up. Modir Vealt is an audacious, reckless scoundrel—I just can’t restrain my impulsive adventuring!

"Now, I’ve roamed around the island, leaving only one unexplored spot... That awe-inspiring huge Metal Tower."

From here onward, Modir Vealt’s handwriting suddenly trembles violently, as if he was in an extremely excited state while recording these contents—

"...I must document everything I see, that shocking, unbelievable everything!

"Today is X Month X Day, as anticipated, Melita did not appear, while after a night’s rest, I have fully regained my energy. Today is action day. After packing limited supplies, I arrived at the base of the huge tower—the entrance was not hard to find. In fact, during previous explorations, I had already discovered several doors at the base, and most excitingly, some doors were slightly ajar.

"For the first time, I stepped through an open door, into its interior, and after traversing several dark abandoned corridors, I heard sounds, saw lights—Goddess of Magic, Milmina! The inside of this tower is alive!

"Well, that’s not accurate. I mean to say, inside this tower... it’s still operating! Abandoned for countless years, appearing externally decayed and lifeless, yet inside it has been operating all along!

"I saw a cylindrical hall, brightly lit, with enormous pillars piercing through its dome and floor, countless glittering lights operating around the hall, emitting humming or clicking sounds; at the center of the hall stood a gigantic pillar, made of metal and crystals, its interior hollow, with occasional rapid flashes zipping by; numerous places within the hall floated Magic Projection, with numerous characters and geometric patterns momentarily traversing those phantoms, in a language unfamiliar to me; of course it’s unfamiliar to me!

"A kind of ecstatic feeling suddenly surged, and I felt this failed adventure suddenly seemed worthwhile—such an astonishing discovery! A prehistoric relic still operating, a legacy of an unknown human civilization! It lay before my eyes in an awe-inspiring stance, displaying its greatness; I couldn’t resist calling the Goddess of Magic’s name more devoutly than ever before. Of course, the goddess gave no response whatsoever, but I didn’t mind... I approached the hall’s center, stood before the pillar, then made an even more remarkable discovery.

"The entire pillar... I don’t know if my eyes deceive me or if excitement disrupted my judgment, but it seemed like it was made of ’Eternal Stone Slate’! The whole pillar is made of it!

"At Holy Light, I’ve seen their treasured Eternal Stone Slate, merely a foot square, its edges shattered, guarded by priests as a precious treasure, even buried deep within the tomb of past Popes—how precious it is! But here, standing before me was a pillar, seemingly like a bell tower, wholly made of that material!

"Filled with excitement, I wrote these words. Now, I’m going to attempt to touch that ancient metal—if they do share some commonality with Eternal Stone Slate, my touch should evoke some reaction..."

At this point, Gawain suddenly frowned.

Modir Vealt’s behavior... seemed a bit abnormal.

Although he was indeed an exceptionally daring adventurer, with a penchant for impulsiveness driven by exploratory curiosity, his actions within that huge Metal Tower... seemed overly reckless, overly rash. This was not the judgment a wise and learned powerful Mage should exhibit when facing the unknown.

Furthermore, this violently shaking handwriting, this somewhat exaggerated writing style... all of this seems a little off, as if another consciousness suddenly infiltrated Modir’s actions, subtly and secretly altering the adventurer’s behavior, while he remained completely unaware!

Yet since this notebook has passed down, and Modir Vealt later returned safely and continued his adventures for many years, Gawain believed there must be some explanation or reflection left by Modir behind all this (if not, the situation would indeed be terrifying), so he settled down and continued reading —

"...When my hand touched that pillar, all doubts vanished into thin air.

"Without a doubt, it is the Eternal Stone Slate, or perhaps another gigantic piece of ’artifact’ made from the same material as the Eternal Stone Slate.

"I felt some knowledge enter my mind, and suddenly this place became familiar, those floating characters in the projection became recognizable, and in an instant, I knew the name of this place... ah, it’s called ’No.1 Monitoring Tower’, also named ’Arctic Foundry Center’, it is a factory, a factory once used to produce weapons...

"I also learned there are two other monitoring towers in the world, though they aren’t factories, but some kind of... channel? bridge? I don’t know the specifics of those knowledge..."

The text on the notebook suddenly becomes more chaotic and messy, the shaking lines seem to contain some kind of madness, Gawain frowned tightly, beside those words, there are notes left by scholars responsible for repairing ancient books — chaotic and meaningless letters, currently unreadable.

And among these chaotic writings, Gawain found only a few useful passages:

"...I know how to use this machine now! I discovered... I also found casting materials, the past users haven’t had time to fully consume them... I must record the usage method... (unrecognizable text)!

"Knowledge! Precious knowledge!! I must record them (messy strokes), I can’t leave out a single word!

"I plan to craft something to prove I was here, oh... I have thoughts... (messy and scrawled words)"

Each passage is interspersed with numerous marks of heavy smearing, these unsettling signs seem to convey some kind of... resistance, as if Modir kept writing something, then kept smearing them off, after a few barely readable passages, Gawain suddenly saw on the next page, huge letters seemingly piercing through the paper:

"Leave!!"

An entire page, with just these letters written on it.

Gawain was drawn to these letters, his eyebrows couldn’t help but twitch slightly, he was already a hundred percent sure that Modir Vealt encountered trouble after entering that tower — his actions definitely became uncontrolled, yet not completely out of control, his remaining sanity and almost instinctive ’recording behavior’ left these unsettling words, and ultimately, in the end, he was exceedingly fortunate to escape this state.

The word "leave" signifies the ultimate victor of this mental struggle, yet for some reason, the handwriting of this word was unlike any previous handwriting of Modir Vealt... Gawain even subconsciously developed a bizarre notion, he felt that those letters were neither left by Modir nor a consciousness influencing Modir, but... a third consciousness.

And after this alarming word, Modir Vealt’s handwriting noticeably returned to normal:

"I woke up outside the tower.

"A certain kind of terrible dizziness and headache plagued me for a few minutes, and I completely forgot my experiences inside the tower, only a certain terrifying palpitation lingered, refusing to disappear.

"I found my notebook, it lay beside me, seemingly where I tossed it after staggering outside. I opened it, and seeing the words I left earlier... cold sweat instantly poured down my spine.

"Goddess of Magic! What on earth happened?

"I almost have no memory of that experience, from the moment I entered that door, everything that happened thereafter seemed shrouded in a thick veil, I only remember wandering in a bizarre place, did I shout? Did I write things? Why did I touch mysterious unknown ancient artifacts? This completely defies logic!

"The only thing I remember is a fleeting light that passed through my mind... A beam of golden light, it seemed to awaken me, I recalled a scene: me furiously writing, and then suddenly uncontrollably writing the word ’leave’, I looked at that word in terror, as if it carried magic, then I turned and ran... I remembered more things, recollecting how I sprinted out of the tower, like a frightened fool...

"While checking if there was anything unusual on my body, I found something in the pocket of my outer robe, it was a snowflake-shaped talisman, I don’t recall ever owning such a talisman, but it bore the family’s crest... It contained immense magical power, clearly power I infused myself, and moreover... its material seemed to be Eternal Stone Slate...

"This thing distressed me greatly, it seemed to confirm some of the crazy words I left in the previous notes, my instincts told me to toss it far away, yet I hesitated... Perhaps it’s the sole gain I collected from this mysterious place, the only thing I could bring back, my memories inside the tower have been erased for some reason, and I don’t intend to go back again...

"I need to carefully think about this.

"X month X day, this is an added note written later — after a night of tossing and turning, I still haven’t decided how to deal with this talisman, and on this morning, someone... or a human-shaped dragon, suddenly appeared.

"She was an elegant, graceful, and incomparably beautiful lady with very long blonde hair..."