After a long time, he finally retracted his gaze and turned back into the tower.
This place was a magical room filled with the aura of knowledge. There was barely any furniture around. Instead, there were only all sorts of books and tomes. All of the books were stacked atop each other, such that the massive piles reached the ceiling a dozen meters above the ground. The books were messily arranged. The only reason the pile had not simply collapsed was the sheer weight and number of the books there.
If one took a look around the room, the only thing they would see, apart from books, would only be more books. There was a small desk, about half a meter tall, at the center of the room. Many scrolls, tomes, notes, and books lay on the desk; some sprawled open, others remained shut, and some were crushed beneath the other documents.
There were several stacks of books along the path where the old man walked towards the desk. Anyone who walked through here would have to be very careful not to cause all the books to collapse instantly.
Given the old man’s frail Physique, he would not be able to survive such a disaster.
Moreover, most of these tomes glowed with magical light and were protected by defensive arrays. If they all collapsed onto the ground in a massive fall, triggering their magic, a calamity would erupt in this room.
A young child with tender features sat at the desk, cross-legged. He had a strange quill in his hand, seemingly scribbling something on a scroll.
The child lifted his head when the old man returned from his break. The light of curiosity gleamed in his shiny eyes.
“Teacher, did you see something again?”
It was no wonder that the child would ask such a question.
The old man’s habit was to take a look at the Castle in the Sky’s scenery from the balcony once every evening. Typically, this break wouldn’t take more than half an hour and was his only leisure activity.
Most of the time, the old man bunkered down in this sea of books, writing and scratching, continually recording the important events happening across the world.
Indeed, this was the strange ability of archivists.
Archivists were witnesses to history. They were the recorders of history. They could see all sorts of mysterious and unknown happenings occurring all over the plane, no matter how far away. These events could be minor or major. Without exception, all of them would profoundly affect the future of the world.
Archivists did not require powerful and mighty magic. The only thing they needed was a firm and devoted conviction towards Fate. If the World of Adepts was a world that belonged to the adepts, then the archivists were the spiritualists among the adepts. However, the archivists did not believe in or worship any god or higher being. Instead, they revered the River of Fate that ran behind the scenes, like an impossibly complicated yet incomparably accurate machine that held the strings to everything.
They were servants to the Fate powers and devoted believers of Fate.
They never intervened in the flow of Fate. They simply watched with their eyes as lowly servants and recorded every event that would affect the future of the World of Adepts with their pens.
When and where they appeared, it would often mean a critical event that would drastically affect the world’s future was about to occur.
They would use their pen and paper to record the birth of a genius adept, record their trajectory of growth, as well as their instant of glory. They archived these detailed records in a secret room within the Diviner’s Tower.
Even the senate heads of the Silver Union had no authority to read these scrolls and documents. The archivists were the only ones allowed to access them.
The Diviner’s Tower was like a mysterious organization that remained completely isolated from the outside world. They did not rely on anyone, and they did not harm anyone. They only observed in silence from a height that no ordinary adept could imagine, monitoring every crucial thing that happened within the plane.
What gave the archivists such authority was the Omniscient Eye placed above the top of the tower.
The Omniscient Eye amplified every archivist’s powers while they were in the Diviners’ Tower. Apart from a few areas within the World of Adepts that were affected by unusual powers, everything in the plane was like an open book to them. They could cast their gaze towards any location at any time.
In the eyes of the archivists, there were no secrets in this world!
However, at this moment, this inconspicuous old man who held the ultimate authority of the Diviner’s Tower and the one hundred archivists within seemed exceptionally excited. He waved his arms around uncontrollably upon walking into the room.
“Fate is flowing. Fate is flowing…the River of Fate is warning me again. A revolution that will change the future of the World of Adepts forever is happening in the Central Lands right now. Hurry…hurry! Inform Indal immediately. I want all of his Eagles to move out now and record everything happening there.”
It was the first time the young archivist had seen his teacher so excited, so much so that he seemed almost insane. The young child hastily brushed away the scroll he was writing on and took out a crystal from between the books. He placed the crystal on the desk, rubbed it slowly, and whispered into it.
A short moment later, lights flickered in the room as the image of a middle-aged man with firm facial features appeared. The man wore an emblem with a scroll and quill on his robe. The strange tattoo of an eye was also drawn on his forehead.
That was the symbol of the Omniscient Eye!
“Tower Master, what has happened? Why did you summon me in such a hurry?” The man bowed respectfully to the old man, somewhat confused.
“Indal, send out all members of your Eagle Squad and hurry to the Central Lands! There, in a place known as Ironwood City, something important is currently happening. I ask that you observe from a close distance and accurately record everything that happens there.”
“All members of Eagle?” The man lifted his head in surprise, but quickly nodded and said, “Understood, my lord. I will give the order immediately! I will also be going there in person to oversee everything personally. I won’t let you down.”
“As long as you understand! Remember, the main Fateline is always hidden and concealed under countless events and happenings. Your task is to peel away everything and find the true Fateline. Then, observe carefully and record how Fate affects the future through each individual involved and each event that occurs. Most importantly, you must find out the individuals that are pushing the Fateline forward. They are the core of Fate that we must observe and understand!”
“Understood!”
As Indal acknowledged his orders, his image slowly faded away.
Five minutes later, several strange individuals dressed in silver robes with scrolls and quills in hand walked out of their rooms all over the tower. They walked to their balconies and transformed into handsome and majestic eagles. They cried out loud and dashed into the air.
Eleven massive eagles circled above the Diviner’s Tower before turning under their captain’s lead and flying towards the Central Lands.
The young archivist apprentice crouching on the banister had no choice but to turn his envious gaze away and back to his teacher.
“Teacher, I—”
“Don’t even think about it! You’re still young. You have not experienced the real world and have no idea of the evil hearts of people. You will suffer greatly if you go on an expedition now.”
“It shouldn’t be a problem if I go with Uncle Indal, will it?”
“Hmph! They have a mission on hand right now. They can’t be distracted by taking care of you. Also, how many of the scrolls on the Central Lands have you read?”
The apprentice felt his head swell when the old man mentioned those records.
“Teacher, there are over three hundred rooms full of records on the Central Lands’ history alone. I…I’m only on Year 31,428.”
“So you’ve only understood the most recent
1,500 years of the Central Lands. That’s 31,000 years more to go! I won’t let you go out until you’ve finished reading the complete history of the continent and become an actual archivist.”
The young child’s face twitched when he heard the old man’s reply. He had been studying diligently without rest for two years, and he barely managed to grasp the changes and development of the Centra Lands in the past thousand years.
If he had to master the history that reached over thirty thousand years ago, along with the development of the three major organizations, he would go insane just at the thought of all the reading he had to do.
“Sonke, these are the basics of an archivist. You won’t be able to hold that quill firmly if you don’t wear away the instinctual impatience and sloth of humans upon the vast sea of books. Every scholar that walks out of the Diviner’s Tower as a representative of the Omniscient Eye is a reliable companion. You, on the other hand…have a long way to go!”
“Then…teacher, if an apprentice can’t bear this boring and tedious lifestyle any longer and wants to give up halfway through, what would happen to them?” Sonke’s eyes started gleaming.
“Haha! What kind of place do you think the Diviner’s Tower is? No one can take away any secrets of the world from here. If you can’t become an archivist, then the moment you give up, everything you committed to memory will vanish without a trace.”
Having said that, the old man looked towards the distant horizon out of his window. “No one can take away the secrets here! They belong only to this tower.”
The young Sonke wiped away the cold sweat from his forehead and composed himself. He bowed to the old man and returned to the desk, committing himself fully to his studying and recording again.
A strange eyeball glowing with a golden sheen watched the distance tirelessly atop the tower.
Where its gaze landed, the mists of Fate dissipated, and an image would appear, revealing the truths of the world.
Chapter 1277 - Sun’s Water
Silver Union, the Castle in the Sky.
As the core location of the Castle in the Sky, every action from the Diviner’s Tower would tug on the strings and minds of the Silver Union leaders.
News of the complete mobilization of the archivists’ Eagles reached the Union senate leader’s desk in less than five minutes. His expression turned solemn.
Union Senate Head Salvini had a humanoid form, but his skin gleamed with a light golden color resembling that of metal. His every action appeared somewhat stiff and slow, and a strange noise could be heard when the magical machinery within his body moved.
As a Fourth Grade mechanical adept, Senate Head Salvini had mechanically modified his body to a shocking extent. At this point, it would be more accurate to call him a new form of metallic lifeform than a mechanical adept.
“The Eagles. Complete mobilization.”
Salvini pushed open the scroll with his stiff fingers and slowly read the report that appeared on the parchment.
“Those rigid bookworms of the Diviner’s Tower. They always reject our applications to access the information they have. They keep saying that Fate’s secrets can’t be revealed or that the information we are requesting is too sensitive. All of our attempts to obtain any information have failed. Hmph! The Union provides them with so many magical crystals every year, yet they refuse to contribute a single thing. How utterly ridiculous!” Vice-Senate Head Melone, who had also modified himself with all sorts of magical machinery, complained resentfully.
Salvini shook his head and smiled bitterly. “There’s no point in complaining! The two of us are higher-ups of the Silver Union and rulers of the Castle in the Sky. We might seem to be on top of the world, but only the two of us know that all this is fake. At the very least, the three most important locations in the Castle in the Sky aren’t even in our control: the Diviner’s Tower, the Vortex Tower, and the Obelisk. If it weren’t for the previous senate’s insistent and reckless demands, we probably wouldn’t even have access to the Mystic Realm of Machines.”
Melone was still furious. He gritted his teeth and said, “Why don’t we pause all magical crystal supply to the Diviner’s Tower and force them into a compromise?”
Salvini shook his head even harder when he heard this horrible idea.
“The Diviner’s Tower is a mysterious place left behind by the older generations of the Silver Union; it’s completely out of the Union Senate’s jurisdiction. You should know that the last senate head repeatedly warned me not to cut off the supply of resources to those few locations when he handed over the position to me, no matter the conditions. We are also not to intervene or interfere in their affairs in any manner.”
That was the first time Melone had heard of such a thing.
He was stunned and stuttered as he said, “Then what he means is—”
“The previous senate head’s meaning couldn’t be more clearly expressed. What is essential in the Castle isn’t us or all the things out there, but those few key locations. The reason the first Union Senate had expended such tremendous resources and human resources to construct the Castle in the Sky wasn’t to boast of the Silver Union’s power, but to protect these places.”
“Thus, in all honesty, we are not the owners of this place. We are little more than guardians!”
“……”
A period of silence sank in.
After a long while, Melone finally spoke again.
“Then what do you think of the incident this time?”
“Those archivists have always been this mysterious. They keep their mouths tightly shut. The only things that could interest them are the significant events that occur all over the plane, especially events that can affect the world’s future development. So, the fact that they are mobilizing so many of their forces means something big is bound to happen soon. Speaking of which, have you figured out their destination yet?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, I have. They seem to be headed to the Central Lands!”
“The Central Lands? What has happened there recently? Have Lodin immediately bring us all information on the Central Lands in recent years. We need to assess everything. Perhaps we can find a clue in there.”
“Understood, I will call for him now.”
…………
Fire Throne.
Greem, who had never liked being involved in worldly affairs, hid in his tower after leaving all the academy administration to his subordinates. He started a new series of magical research.
At his level, all research could not avoid the strange existences that were the principles. However, as a Fourth Grade adept, it was a little too early for him to research the principles themselves. He could only lower his standards and began an in-depth analysis of the various planar laws that made up the principles.
Moreover, the research of laws could bring him an innumerable number of benefits.
Disregarding the fire laws’ unique effects could provide his spells with, the fire laws themselves were his stairway to Fifth Grade.
Greem had been too unfamiliar with the law powers in the past. Naturally, this meant that he treasured every one of them and tried to grab hold of every fire law he came across, refusing to give up even a single one. However, having experienced the formation of the law runes and having obtained the method of extracting principles fires from the Fire King, Greem finally had a comprehensive understanding of the law powers.
Not all fire laws suited him.
If he wanted his future path to be smoother and his power to be greater, the only choice was to carefully select the appropriate fire laws!
Being indiscriminate and pursuing sheer numbers in the number of planar laws possessed was probably a common mistake among all elementium adepts.
After all, not everyone had such excellent talent that they could pick and choose what elementium laws they wanted. Even though the grasp of the elementium laws greatly correlated with the direction of an individual adept’s research and understanding, there were
still many uncontrollable factors involved in the process.
Consequently, most elementium adepts had incredible trouble improving their Spirit to 50 points and merging sufficient elementium laws to form their own unique principle power before their lifespan ended.
Most Fourth Grade adepts were incapable of accumulating so much knowledge and could only rely on unique resources like origin substances to shorten the process of grasping the laws. However, the law powers provided by the origin substances were often random and uncontrollable.
Elementium adepts that managed to reach Fifth Grade out of sheer luck and the accumulation of origin substances would be the weakest of Fifth Grade Great Adepts.
Most of the Seventh and Eighth Grade Great Adepts were actually ancient adepts. There were simply far too few new adepts that could reach that level in the past ten thousand years. The ultimate reason for that was the origin substances.
Adepts sought to hasten their growth and take shortcuts. The consequence was a tremendous exhaustion of their innate talents and potential at the hands of origin substances.
The duality of origin substances caused adept camps all over the realms beyond to put a strict restriction on the supply and flow of this resource. It was to prevent too many adepts in the World of Adepts from relying on origin substances to push them to Fifth Grade, simply because they couldn’t bear the dull and monotonous process of grasping the laws.
In the eyes of the Great Adepts, the birth of a single Sixth Grade Great Adept was more significant than the appearance of ten Fifth Grade Great Adepts that barely achieved their advancement.
Greem stood in front of an alchemy platform in a brightly lit laboratory. He was carefully mixing the alchemical liquid in front of him.
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