Their eyes were a clear cerulean, seeming to shine with ingenuity.
Apart from that, everything was similar to a wild Gnome.
“Let us introduce ourselves first. I am Zac Rael, and this is my younger brother, David Rael.”
“We met some troubles and need help. But we don’t trust Humans.”
The older Gnome looked at Marvin vigilantly before saying, “But we are willing to trust Elves.”
“There are few Elves in the Dead Area, and most of those are corrupt Elves.”
“Thus, I hope you can help us,” he concluded.
Ivan scratched his head. It was quite a surprise to find a pair of Ancient Gnomes looking for him.
This wasn’t an ordinary race. The Ancient Gnomes were different from the current wild Gnomes. They were knowledgeable and had forged deep friendships with the High Elves.
There seemed to have been covenants between them.
Even his father Nicholas most likely didn’t remember these ancient covenants.
Ordinarily, he wouldn’t mind helping.
But they were rather pressed for time. He wanted to refuse, but Marvin suddenly asked, “What kind of help, can you explain?”
He was rather interested and it almost looked like the words “We’ll help if the price is right!” were written on his face.
Chapter 394: Return
Chapter 394: Return
Translator: Translation Nation Editor: Translation Nation
The Ancient Gnomes’ descendants glanced at each other and turned back to Marvin, reiterating determinedly, “We don’t trust Humans!”
Marvin rolled his eyes.
From their attitude, the two must have definitely eaten a loss while dealing with Humans.
But fortunately, Ivan was there. He clearly saw Marvin’s interest and immediately interacted with them on Marvin’s behalf.
Zac and David really were Ancient Gnomes.
The great disaster that year destroyed the Ancient Gnome Empire but there were still some who survived.
They hid in a Sanctuary for who knew how many years.
They almost never communicated with the outside world because nobody knew whether the disaster mentioned by their ancestors in the records had passed or not.
The two Ancient Gnomes naturally wouldn’t mention the location of that Sanctuary even if beaten to death.
The Ancient Gnomes that had survived up till now knew that the era was different from the past. Humans ruled this era.
They had hoped that they could stay cut off from the rest of the world.
But there was an issue with their Sanctuary.
Everything was as the prophecy had said: The Sanctuary was on the verge of collapsing and they were about to face an even more frightening disaster!
…
“Prophecy? What prophecy?”
Marvin and Ivan’s faces were full of shock.
Zac elaborated, “In our tribe, there was a prophetic book page. No one knew when this page appeared. Someday after we moved to the Sanctuary, it suddenly appeared on our ancestral shrine’s altar. It was written in Ancient God Language, which only our High Priest could read, and he read the prophecy to us all.”
“This prophecy roughly meant that a disaster was unavoidable.”
“Although our tribe managed to survive the disaster that destroyed the Ancient Gnome Empire countless years ago, it was bound to suffer another one.”
“That’s what I’ve heard,” the Ancient Gnome finished, looking at Ivan with sincerity.
It seemed like the Wood Elf’s identity was quite useful. At least it could make many ancient races trust him.
Compared with the terrible Humans… Although mankind had no lack of heroes, it also had many who were despicable scum. The stubborn Dwarves and Ancient Gnomes clearly wouldn’t trust Humans so easily.
Ivan turned silent after this.
A ripple quivered through Marvin’s heart!
The Sanctuary collapsing meant that the Ancient Gnomes were on the verge of returning to Feinan.
This scene felt like déjà vu.
‘It’s… The next expansion.’
‘[Return]!’
Marvin took a deep breath.
When he transmigrated, there had been only a rough explanation of the storyline of the next expansion.
Not only did the Gods return to Feinan, but the ancient races would also return one after the other.
The Ancient Gnomes definitely weren’t the only ones.
It was the same for the High Elves who had left for the Eternal Country. They returned for the same reason as the Ancient Gnomes. The blessed High Elven Eternal Country was also on the verge of shattering.
They were forced to move back to Feinan once again, but this wasn’t their world.
There were other races, races that had disappeared in the 2nd and 3rd Eras like the Dark Iron Dwarves and the banished Numans, that would return from all over.
The entire plane of Feinan would be thrown into chaos.
But the issue was that it was something that was supposed to happen in the future!
What was going on with these two guys?
…
Marvin inquired impatiently but was treated as Human scum coveting their Sanctuary.
Fortunately, Ivan vouched for him so Zac unwillingly answered, “Our Sanctuary… can still last for a few years, but I don’t believe that prophetic page.”
“Yes! It’s clearly nonsense!” David interrupted. “I am an expert in plane structure knowledge. From my research, the Sanctuary is far from the end of its life. It only lacks energy.”
“We need to find some Purple Fire Crystals, which would be enough to keep the flame of the Sanctuary burning for… over a hundred years!”
Marvin nodded.
Sure enough, the Ancient Gnomes were using Purple Fire Crystals for energy.
This meant that the Mechanical Titan’s system also needed Purple Fire Crystals.
Ivan sighed. “It’s not that we don’t want to help you.”
“But do you know how many Purple Fire Crystals are left in this world?”
“None! It was all dug out by those wretched Dark Iron Dwarves!” Zac seethed while gnashing his teeth.
It seemed like these two guys did their research after leaving their Sanctuary.
“What about you?” Marvin asked.
“You went into the Secret Garden to look for Purple Fire Crystals? There’s no such thing inside.” Marvin looked at them strangely.
David shook his head. “Nothing we can do about it, we have to try. We obtained a piece of information saying that there might be some there.”
“The Elves are the only race left from the ancient times. If you don’t know where to look for Purple Fire Crystal, then we don’t know where we should look anymore.”
The two brothers were disappointed.
They had secretly left the refuge with the lofty goal of getting enough Purple Fire Crystals before returning home with honor.
But they didn’t know that the world had changed so much after all these years.
They even had to carefully hide their identity!
Marvin scratched his nose, thinking carefully before saying, “As far as I know, the Purple Fire Crystals in this world aren’t completely gone.”
The Ancient Gnome brothers suddenly became hopeful. “Where?”
“Your Ancient Gnomes’ vestiges,” Marvin explained. “Along Feinan Continent’s western coast, there are many vestiges of the Ancient Gnomes. There should still be Purple Fire Crystals remaining in some of them, in places like Saruha.”
“Saruha? You went to Saruha?”
Zac and David’s eyes shone. “Did that place have any Purple Fire Crystals?”
“None,” Marvin answered honestly, “only a Mechanical Titan, which I controlled.”
“It’s a pity it wasn’t designed for me; it was very uncomfortable to operate.”
A Mechanical Titan!
The eyes of
the brothers were almost glowing!
They immediately pleaded, “Take us there!”
“Our teleportation had an issue when we left the Sanctuary and we somehow ended up on this continent.”
“Take us to see the Mechanical Titan!”
Ivan saw through Marvin’s sly expression and he couldn’t help but chuckle to himself.
Marvin was clearly leading the two brothers’ thought processes.
But he hadn’t been aware that Marvin had obtained a Mechanical Titan, and was also very interested in it. In any case, the scroll used to return would be very quick.
Adding two more Ancient Gnomes wasn’t an issue.
“Good, then let’s go.”
Ivan and Marvin each grabbed an Ancient Gnome and Ivan opened the return scroll.
“Woosh!” After a long five seconds, they appeared in a green room.
“Your Highness Ivan, you finally returned!” The Elven woman called Joan was full of admiration as she looked at Ivan.
Chapter 395: Purple Fire Crystal
Chapter 395: Purple Fire Crystal
Translator: Translation Nation Editor: Translation Nation
The Elven woman’s enthusiasm was ignored by Ivan.
Marvin’s group left Ruins City and headed south to reach Rocky Mountain.
When the two Ancient Gnomes saw the Mechanical Titan set up outside Rocky Mountain, they almost went crazy.
They ignored everything else and crawled in, starting to toss around blindly.
Marvin didn’t care about them, because even if they had a way to activate it, it would still be useless. This thing’s energy had already been completely exhausted. Unless they found Purple Fire Crystals, this thing would remain an inert piece of metal.
This trip to Rocky Mountain was mainly to warn the three sisters.
He and Ivan didn’t stay long in there and most of the time was spent in secret talks.
The information about the Great Calamity clearly shocked the three sisters.
Rocky Mountain was in a remote region. If not for Marvin giving them information ahead of time, they might not have known about it when the disaster started.
Although Rocky Mountain had many Sorcerers able to communicate with Demons, none of them were at the level of Demon Overlords.
They only knew that a major event was about to happen.
Otherwise, the Source of Fire’s Order wouldn’t have come down.
Since Marvin told the information to the three sisters, with their intelligence and might, along with the Fortune Fairy’s buffs, they should be able to safely survive the early stages of the Great Calamity.
They had the Source of Fire’s Order in hand while the Shadow Prince, the only one who could steal them, had been blown up by Marvin, so they should be secure as long as they took proper steps.
But anything could happen during the Chaos Era, which Marvin warned them of repeatedly.
Rocky Mountain and White River Valley also formed an Alliance.
This time, Marvin was in quite a hurry. Lorie’s mood clearly showed her reluctance to see him leave, giving Marvin a bit of a headache.
He was very fond of this smart little girl.
But right now, he had someone very important that needed to be saved.
…
While Ivan and the two Ancient Gnomes were still exploring Hope City, Marvin took a trip further south.
Soon, he arrived at the Pearl Tower of the City of Knowledge.
Mark 47 was surprised to see him pay another visit. After all, how long had it been? And Marvin already found another Memory Chip!
After incorporating this Memory Chip, Mark 47 recalled some more things.
But this time, he didn’t have any relevant and useful memories.
This made Marvin feel a bit helpless.
50 000 exp was basically not as valuable for the current Marvin, so he asked whether he could change it for something else.
Mark 47 apologized for holding something back before and gladly agreed to Marvin’s request.
Marvin asked, “Is there any Purple Fire Crystal?”
This thing had already vanished from the continent and there was almost no trace of it in the Ancient Gnomes’ vestiges.
What he said before was in order to convince the two Ancient Gnomes to come to his territory.
Zac and David were genuine descendants of the Ancient Gnomes. If they agreed to work for him, with those Alchemy books he obtained in Saruha, White River Valley would have the support of the Ancient Gnomes’ science and technology.
As for that unreliable Alchemist, Marvin didn’t have much hope for him. That guy had wasted such a large amount of resources. It was already very nice of Marvin to not throw him out.
After all, that guy looked very pathetic.
He kept company with Necromancer Fidel and they were considered a pair of weirdos of the territory. They also made people laugh on ordinary days.
But if the territory wanted to develop technologically, it still needed to rely on a professional.
The Dark Iron Dwarves had already disappeared, while the Sha clans mostly just dabbled a bit and were only making firearms that weren’t that powerful.
The technology of the Ancient Gnomes was able to found an empire. Even if they couldn’t completely develop the territory, if they could make a few constructs to protect the territory, that would be more than enough.
The most important matter was still to tempt these two Gnomes.
Marvin believed that the key to that was the Mechanical Titan.
The Ancient Gnomes’ Sanctuary definitely didn’t have this kind of weapon. With the Ancient Gnomes’ infatuation with machinery, if the Mechanical Titan could be moved to White River Valley, these two would naturally follow.
As for the Sanctuary, it also needed Purple Fire Crystal.
Marvin had already asked and the amount of Purple Fire Crystal required for the Sanctuary and the Mechanical Titan were on two completely different levels.
When the two brothers decided to sneak out, it was only to try their luck.
If one said that the Mechanical Titan needed a Purple Fire Crystal the size of a fist, then the amount of Purple Fire Crystal the Sanctuary needed was the size of a small hill.
In this era, it was almost impossible to find so much.
In other words, the return of the Ancient Gnomes to Feinan was already inevitable.
The two brothers weren’t dumb and had realized this, so they merely followed Ivan and Marvin to the western coast of Feinan Continent for the Mechanical Titan.
…
In the Pearl Tower, Mark 47’s answer to the question was outside his expectations:
“Purple Fire Crystal, that thing is very valuable.”
“Sometimes I would have one as a snack when I was in a very good mood…”
Marvin almost spat blood.
Purple Fire Crystal, such a valuable thing was actually considered food by this strange construct?
How strong was this guy?
Sure enough, things related to God Lance couldn’t be measured with common sense.
The construct hesitated for a while before handing a chunk of Purple Fire Crystal the size of half of a fist to Marvin, while saying with a pained expression, “50 000 isn’t worth so much.”
Marvin laughed mischievously. “But since I didn’t get any information from your memories in this Memory Chip, this should make up for it.”
Mark 47 was at a loss. He seemed to be in an ill temper and grumpily sent Marvin away.
Marvin held the Purple Fire Crystal, and although he didn’t know what memory put the construct in such a bad mood, he still obediently left the Pearl Tower.
This wasn’t a place where he could behave as he wished.
Even after the Great Calamity, the Gods didn’t dare to take half a step into the City of Knowledge.
This place was also the first location in Feinan where a Source of Fire’s Order was ignited.
This was def
initely related to Mark 47.
As for those secrets, if he kept helping him, he would certainly find a way to learn about them.
…
Marvin immediately left the Pearl Tower and returned to Hope City.
The appearance of the crystal almost made the two Ancient Gnomes go crazy, but when they found out that Marvin’s Purple Fire Crystal originated from the Pearl Tower, they were left in shock.
They no longer asked any more questions, making Marvin curious.
After Marvin inquired carefully, the brothers mumbled an answer that unsettled Marvin.
The destruction of the Ancient Gnome Empire that year was apparently related to the City of Knowledge.
They weren’t too clear about the specifics, but the elders of the Sanctuary kept warning them that they shouldn’t approach that Pearl Tower to the south.
Even for the Purple Fire Crystal, they wouldn’t dare to approach Wind Castle.
In the words of those Ancient Gnomes, a frightening Devil resided there.
Marvin didn’t believe those tales, but analyzed the information.
The circumstances of the empire’s destruction were very strange. When the High Elves arrived there, besides the Ancient Gnomes sealed in the Sanctuary, the others had all been exterminated.
No one knew what had happened.
In this regard, there was no mention from the nearby City of Knowledge. When the people dispatched by the High Elven King paid a visit, they also avoided the question.
The record on the History Calendar was also surprising:
[Eve of the 2nd Era, Ancient Gnome Empire destroyed overnight. Reason unknown.]
Regardless of which kind of Divination spell was used, the results were always useless, making everyone puzzled.
Marvin always thought that there was a big conspiracy behind this, just like the Great Calamity that was about to happen. It felt like there was a hand manipulating everything from behind the scenes.
Was his transmigration a result of someone manipulating the board too?
Thinking of this, Marvin couldn’t help but feel a bit bitter.
What he could do was very limited. He could only protect the people near him.
…
With the help of the Ancient Gnome brothers, Marvin loaded the Purple Fire Crystal in the Mechanical Titan’s energy system.
In the operating room, the screen regained its shine after a long time.
Night Ranger - Full Series - 735 Chapters Page 231