"Then the Red Moon Kingdom and the Golden Cloud Kingdom..." Yun Wei thought for a moment and made a reasonable guess, "were also once legions under the Second Dynasty?"
Isaac nodded approvingly and affirmed, "That's right. The Red Moon Legion was once renowned for its exquisite combat skills, while the Golden Cloud Legion was famous throughout the continent for its superb mechanical arts. This is probably the origin of the Alchemy City's rise to prominence today."
In other words, after the glorious war, the three former legions each established a kingdom, forming the current tripartite balance of power on the continent of Zhuyuan.
Yun Wei, however, felt that something was still not quite right.
Based on his observations and experiences on the continent over the past five years, all he knew was that during the War of Glory, Dilis defeated the evil god at the Glory Fortress and founded the Holy Church of Glory, whose followers were spread throughout the continent.
If the three kingdoms were originally the three legions under the Second Dynasty—
Yun Wei felt he had grasped the crux of the problem, and he pondered for a moment before asking, "So, what happened to the Second Dynasty afterward?"
What about their royal family members? Haven't any of their descendants survived?
Compared to medieval Europe in the original world, the social system here was in a very rudimentary stage of feudalism. The disintegration of an empire into three independent kingdoms could only have one possible explanation:
All family members who originally held the right to claim the imperial title have died.
But he didn't hear a reply for a long time. He looked up and saw that Isaac was unusually lost in thought.
His gaze was so deep and weathered, his smoky gray eyes, illuminated by the light, resembled shattered, swirling mountain dust. The silent knight seemed to have transformed into an immortal statue, vanishing into the distant history known only to him.
That kind of Isaac is really, really far away from him.
Although they are so close, it feels as if a thousand years have passed between them.
Yun Wei felt a pang of sorrow and couldn't help but cry out, "Isaac..."
Isaac, who suddenly snapped out of his reverie upon hearing Yun Wei's voice, gave a pale smile and said, "Your history teacher will tell you. When I was a student, I always hated learning this kind of dusty knowledge. Yun, I said from the beginning that I'm not a good teacher."
Isaac no longer addressed Yun Wei by his full name, but only by the first character. In the custom of the Zhuyuan Continent, the family name comes last, which is consistent with the Western tradition of his previous life.
The two sounded like they had become much closer.
Yun Wei didn't intend to correct him, since Yun and Wei were both his parents' surnames anyway. Besides, Claude himself meant "cloud" in Common.
"Oh, okay. Hopefully it will be covered in class tomorrow, otherwise I'll go to the library and look it up myself." Yun Wei nodded, seemingly understanding, and let the matter drop.
He nodded toward the table, his eyelashes drooping, but his eyes were shimmering.
He knew Isaac was avoiding the question, and that the other man must have some reason for it. He couldn't help but suspect that Isaac himself might be connected to the Second Dynasty.
But then he thought of another possibility.
Lord Dilis of Glory defeated the evil god at Glory Fortress, and Isaac claimed to be Dilis's enemy.
Could Isaac be the legendary defeated evil god?
If that's the case, then should he still stand on Isaac's side?
Yes, he would stand by Isaac's side. Yun Wei thought to himself, his gaze gradually hardening.
The answer is actually quite simple: if it weren't for Isaac, he might have died long ago in the underground of the Holy Church, or in the wild beast-infested southern forests.
Moreover, Yun Wei, as a notorious necromancer in the eyes of the world, was originally an enemy of the gods.
"Clang, clang..."
The distant, deep, resonant chimes of a clock tower interrupted his thoughts. Yun Wei looked up at the window, silently counting in his mind; the chimes stopped exactly eleven times.
At this moment, the scenery outside the window also changed significantly. The once vast lawn and square disappeared, and the view was obstructed by thick white fog when looking towards the Tower of Ten Thousand Laws.
"What's going on? Have we entered another space?" Yun Wei got up and walked to the window, looking at the constantly billowing and spreading mist outside, but all he heard was a deathly silence.
The eerie white mist inexplicably filled him with fear, as if countless unknown creatures were lurking within, making him instinctively want to stay away from the window.
“I’m afraid it’s not just about space.” Isaac summoned a ball of light in each of his palms, placing one in mid-air inside the room and throwing the other out the window.
As time passed, the sphere of light outside the window quickly dimmed, while the sphere of light inside remained bright as ever.
“The annihilation speed of elements is completely different,” Yun Wei pondered. “Light, fire, and lightning are the most unstable of the seven elements. They will naturally dissipate without the guidance of magic. The annihilation speed of the light sphere outdoors is much faster than that indoors, which means that the flow of time is faster outdoors than indoors.”
Isaac picked up the thread, "Perhaps you've overlooked one aspect: maybe the outdoor space absorbs elements from the light sphere."
A rapid decrease in elemental quantity is not necessarily due to natural decay; external factors may also be involved.
"When you were in the academy, were you like this at night too?" Yun Wei looked up at Isaac and asked curiously.
Why did he feel that Isaac, like him, was experiencing this situation for the first time?
“Well, of course,” Isaac coughed lightly, resting his chin on his fist, and explained, “I wasn’t interested in it at all back then, you know, I had already decided to become a warrior.”
This "it" refers to the Tower of All Laws.
"So you go to bed on time every night?" Yun Wei was quite incredulous; this person was far too self-disciplined. He hesitated before suggesting, "Why don't you take a break first? I'll go out and scout around; I won't go far, I'll be right back."
Regardless, he remained filled with curiosity about the Tower of All Laws. So, while sincerely assuring Isaac, he took out a pure black cloak and mask from his spatial storage.
Of course, he knew the other party would not agree to this suggestion.
As expected.
“Hey, Yun, this joke isn’t funny at all.” Isaac didn’t take the bait and instead stretched out his hand to Yun Wei. “Give it to me, and I’ll go with you.”
They're now in a life-or-death relationship, how could he possibly let Yun Wei go out alone?
It seems his acting skills still need improvement. Yun Wei shook his head regretfully and handed Isaac another set of night-clothes that had been prepared in his space.
After they finished getting ready, their eyes, which were visible through their masks, met and they couldn't help but burst into laughter.
Regardless, Yun Wei felt that even if he was completely unaware beforehand, he would recognize Isaac if he saw the other person's figure and movements.
Yun Wei arrived at the door.
The thick oak door was intricately carved with a wind magic array, preventing those outside from hearing any sounds they made inside.
He gently opened the door, glanced into the hallway and living room where the wall lamps were lit, and after confirming that no one was outside, he made a gesture to Isaac.
The two tiptoed down to the lobby on the first floor. The entire dormitory building was very quiet, as if all the students had obediently followed the school motto and were determined not to touch the "third taboo".
But Yunwei and Isaac both understood that on this night, many freshmen who, like them, had different thoughts about entering the university, would be unable to resist going to explore the vicinity of the clock tower.
Yun Wei followed Isaac and quietly slipped behind a stone pillar closest to the gate. He cautiously surveyed his surroundings. In the darkness, the nearby reliefs seemed to be silently gazing at the spot where they stood.
Outside the main gate, an automatic magical searchlight, glowing from all four sides, slowly rotated in circles, repelling the ever-approaching thick fog. Occasionally, a ray of light shone into the dark hall, casting long, dim, yellowish shadows on the floor.
Yun Wei was still somewhat uneasy. He lowered his voice and asked, "Isaac, what do you think is the worst-case scenario we could encounter if we sneak out?"
“Isn’t it a bit late to say this now?” Isaac gave him a reassuring look, amused, but then said seriously, “However, we really can’t stay outside for too long. If the flow of time is different, who knows if we’ll get stuck in the gaps in time. So, no matter what, we have to be back before dawn.”
Yun Wei nodded and added, "We don't need to go too far today, just to figure out the situation in the thick fog."
Anyway, they can stay at the Deer-Nagal Academy for a long time.
If everything goes smoothly, it's not impossible to stay here until graduation.
Taking advantage of a brief moment when the automatically rotating searchlight outside the gate swept across the area again, the two exchanged a glance and then walked together into the thick fog.
...
The substance that makes up the dense fog is peculiar; it is neither water nor necromantic power. Yun Wei understands that this means the substance constituting the fog originates from outside the Zhuyuan Continent.
Moreover, this dense fog not only obstructs vision but also blocks the perception of spiritual power.
Yun Wei tried to project his mental energy outward, but found that his mental energy, which could originally extend about fifty meters, could now only extend to a radius of about five meters.
Isaac squatted down, pointed to the stone ground beneath his feet, and said to Yun Wei, "Look, there's a straight scratch here."
Yun Wei stared intently and saw that the scratch was exceptionally sharp, extending straight into the thick fog in the distance, dividing the two patches of ground beneath his feet into two distinct colors of black and white, like the keys of a piano.
He nodded, speculating, "So we're inside a giant magic circle? But I don't sense any magical fluctuations, and—"
He suddenly shut his mouth and listened carefully.
In the silence, one could vaguely hear something slowly approaching, a rustling sound like a blade slicing through a skull, sending chills down one's spine.
Isaac gestured to him, and the two of them slowly moved away from the direction from which the sound was coming from.
But the unknown monster behind them continued its relentless pursuit.
Suddenly, Yun Wei's mental energy came into contact with a hard object.
He looked up, only to be suddenly horrified to find that what lay before him was a vast, boundless, towering shadow.
“I think we’ve reached the ‘wall,’ which is the boundary of this space.” Isaac gently patted Yun Wei’s back, comforting him. “It’s okay, at least we’re staying close to it so we don’t suddenly fall off the edge of space.”
“But hiding like this isn’t a solution.” Yun Wei frowned. “We can’t find our way back.”
Losing his senses and direction in the dense fog, and facing pursuit by unknown creatures, he had to shift his focus from exploration to ensuring his own safety.
Yun Wei stared nervously at the thick fog behind Isaac. Judging from the volume of the sound, the monster was getting closer and closer to them.
“I have an idea. Do you remember the poisonous miasma spell you cast outside Red Moon City? Let’s try it out.”
Isaac suddenly put his arm around Yun Wei and made a suggestion.
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