Spring seemed to be approaching faster; the accumulated snow in the swamp had melted considerably, revealing the damp black soil beneath and tenacious mosses and lichens pushing through.
On the Rift Plaza outside Mudu, the Slime Engineers were busy at work.
They emitted coordinated “gurgle gurgle” sounds, manipulating spells with their tiny gel hands as they performed the final fixes and calibrations on a strange tall tower whose main structure had just been completed.
The tower rose about four meters, its core made from a deep purple crystal pillar, its surface inlaid with silver-glinting mithril conduction lines and rune plates.
Inside the crystal pillar’s center, a faintly visible mass of sealed emerald-green gel pulsed slowly, like the tower’s heart beating.
This was the experimental Gel Signal Tower, the latest result of a month of research by the sage team led by Selene, combining the floating fortress’s magic formation principles with arcane formation theory.
It could amplify and directionally enhance the mental signals sent by gel communicators, allowing the Gel Brain in Mudu to connect to farther gel nodes while speeding up transmission efficiency and stabilizing signals.
Right now, the cone at the tower’s tip blinked with a steady pale-purple magical radiance, mental waves rippling outward in concentric circles like water waves.
Chen Yu and Lya stood a short distance beneath the tower.
Selene and several other elf sages who participated in the project stood nearby, their faces showing fatigue mixed with excitement.
It looked like Selene’s experiment had succeeded.
The elf grand sage’s original research goal had been to build an independent long-range command communications network for the future floating fortress, one that would not rely on conventional magical messaging, so that efficient wartime communication could occur.
Unexpectedly, the prototype of the “signal tower” achieved a breakthrough first by expanding and strengthening the existing gel network.
That said...
Chen Yu looked at the purple crystal tower glittering with an expensive sheen in the sunlight, and his gel mind silently tallied the costs.
This single experimental signal tower alone consumed an entire high-quality purple crystal pillar four meters long. Such material is the core component of many high-grade magic formations and enchantments. Add the refined mithril and other auxiliary materials, and the total cost likely approached five units of the gold market.
That figure, even for the Slime Kingdom’s currently healthy finances, was staggering.
Mass-deploying such towers was utterly unrealistic in the short term.
But the effect of this single tower was immediate. According to Selene’s preliminary tests, erecting a signal tower at the Storm Fortress would be enough to extend the gel network’s stable coverage from the Storm Fortress’s edge to the battlefields of the Southern Territory.
What normally took days of network communication could be compressed into within an hour, which would be hugely significant for military command and intelligence transmission.
As for the magic Silver Sparrow had used for real-time communications with him in the Southern Territory, it relied on an ancient and complex high-grade magic formation within the floating castle.
Its efficiency was indeed far higher than the signal tower’s, almost ignoring distance entirely.
But when Chen Yu learned the formation’s core materials came from a rare crystal outside the Prime Material Plane, he completely abandoned any thought of replicating it.
There was no choice — out-of-plane magical materials were extraordinarily scarce and virtually impossible to buy, no matter how many gold coins one had. He could only look on enviously.
By comparison, the Gel Signal Tower, for Selene’s kingdom, could hardly be called white-tech beneath the gel magic tree.
After the Slime Engineers finished their routine report to Jibang on detailed research data and subsequent modification directions, they hurried back to continue their studies.
Judging by how dark the elves’ eye circles were, Jibang thought they must not have slept properly for days; they were far too dedicated.
When Lya, who had just come back to the Slime Kingdom with him, first met Selene and the others, she had thought she’d encountered fellow dark-eyed kin, given how noticeable her own dark eye circles were.
“Ouch!” a small exclamation interrupted Chen Yu’s thoughts.
A shard of ice crystal, loosened from somewhere overhead, fell and landed squarely on the top of Lya’s head as she craned her neck to curiously study the signal tower.
The gel layer covering her had weakened the Misfortune Curse’s effects but had not fully blocked them.
On the way back from Eagle’s Nest Fortress to the kingdom, Lya had continued to encounter little misfortunes: tripping over suddenly jutting stones, inexplicably choking on water, even birds dropping droppings on her while she rested.
Yet she seemed unfazed; after each near-miss she would cheerfully think that in the past she would certainly have died from such a blow, and now it only hurt a little — she was even more optimistic than Chen Yu.
Lya covered her forehead, where a small bump had formed from the impact, blinked in confusion, tilted her face up to scan the sky for the culprit, but saw only drifting clouds and the signal tower’s spire.
She puckered her lips, then, right under Chen Yu’s nose, reached out a small hand. A warm, gentle milky-white glow rose in her palm and she pressed it softly against the swelling spot on her forehead.
Great Healing Spell
A surge of rich life energy radiated out, instantly smoothing away the insignificant bump without leaving even a red mark.
A healing spell of that caliber would be enough to restore a gravely wounded soldier most of their combat strength in the outside world; here, she casually used it to fix a little bump from an ice crystal.
No wonder she was truly a shepherd, Chen Yu thought.
With pain gone, Lya lowered her hand and looked at Chen Yu, who was floating a Stone Sword at low altitude. Curiously she asked, “Round-and-roll Your Majesty, are we going to see that Silver Dragon lord next?”
Chen Yu ignored her odd moniker and hopped, “Follow me.”
The gel film wrapping Lya’s body moved like a living thing, sprouting a pair of gel wings from her back.
The wings flapped lightly and lifted Lya gently off the ground. Chen Yu rode the Stone Sword ahead to guide them, and they flew straight into the planar rift.
Familiar blizzard scenery rushed at them; biting cold winds whipped snowflakes, but under the gel’s protection Lya felt no chill, only a soft sense of being enveloped by protective power.
She peered curiously at the boundless snowfields and rolling glaciers below, letting out low murmurs of wonder.
When Winterhold, veiled and revealed through the storm, and its grand castle came into view, Lya suddenly uttered a soft sound of recognition, a puzzled expression forming on her face.
“This place... I’ve been here.” she said with certainty, then frowned. “But why did I come here.... uh, I don’t remember.”
Chen Yu was used to this.
On their travels, whenever they passed certain ancient-looking places, Lya would always experience similar déjà vu and say the same thing, but the concrete details of those memories were blocked by a dense fog, impossible to recover.
They passed through the magical barrier shrouding the castle and landed in the carefully tended courtyard before it.
Olivia, who was watering garden flowers, looked up as if sensing something. Seeing Chen Yu and Lya, she set down the watering can and walked over with a gentle smile.
At the same time, Silver Sparrow’s ethereal form appeared in the courtyard, bowing slightly to Chen Yu: “Master, Miss Lya, welcome back.”
Lya copied the bowing etiquette she had previously seen and performed a solemn curtsey toward Olivia and Silver Sparrow: “Hello, Miss Olivia. Miss Silver Sparrow.”
Chen Yu asked Olivia, “So, do you know Lya’s origins?”
Olivia stepped closer to scrutinize Lya. After a moment she shook her head softly, her voice tinged with regret: “Her aura is very ancient, like old vines that have wound for years. But I’m sorry — in my memory I have not heard of a shepherd who walks so closely along the boundary between life and death.”
The faint hope that had lit Lya’s eyes instantly dimmed, and her small head drooped.
Yet Olivia’s next words made her lift it again. “I do not know her, but perhaps the elders will. Dragons live long lives and have seen far more strange events than mortals can imagine. I will ask those old relics when I have time; perhaps they can provide clues.”
Saying this, Olivia regarded Lya with interest and asked, “I heard His Majesty mention you seem to see blurry fate visions — quite an interesting ability.
“Can you see my fate?”
Hearing this, Lya hesitated, then instinctively glanced at Chen Yu as if asking whether she should answer.
Chen Yu bobbed encouragingly, “It’s fine, just say what you see.”
With permission, Lya looked back at Olivia and tentatively described, “I saw... a very, very terrifying black.”
“Not the kind of black like nighttime, but one that swallows light, thick enough to make you unable to breathe, able to obscure every fate’s trajectory — like facing death itself. Cold, hollow, endless.”
She felt her description too shocking and her voice grew small: “Maybe... maybe I saw wrongly...”
Olivia listened and gently shook her head. Calmly she revealed the truth: “No, you did not missee.”
“Actually, my body has long been near death. The wounds from that time were far worse than they appear on the surface and have never been fully cured. It’s only because Silver Sparrow helps me maintain the injuries that I cannot leave the castle for long.”
This was the first time Chen Yu had heard Olivia speak openly about her reasons for staying at the castle. He had always assumed the Silver Dragon lord simply had untreated old wounds that required rest; he had not imagined the situation was this dire.
Olivia seemed to notice Chen Yu’s surprise and winked at him playfully: “Actually, this is no strictly guarded secret. Since Little Majesty, you trust me enough as a guest to allow me to live here, I should return that trust.”
“Of course, I will guard this snowplain for you; don’t think of me as merely a lazy dragon who lives off others.”
Chen Yu’s gel brain mulled the matter and after a long moment he asked seriously, “Why not let Lya try to treat you?”
Olivia sighed and shook her head: “This wound touches the root; it’s not something simple healing spells can cure. My mother once mentioned that the castle’s previous owner seemed to have a miraculous pill that could heal my injury.”
“Unfortunately, I waited nearly a hundred years and he never returned. Perhaps he is gone for good.”
A miraculous pill?
Isn’t that just a pill?
If this were Xu Xuan Heaven, with his status he could probably find a way to obtain the pill she needed.
But in Zeyarila, Alchemy was something slimes had to figure out from scratch; even locating spirit herbs required searching and cultivation.
He thought for a moment and then, via the gel network, sent Olivia a compiled set of alchemy techniques.
Surprise clearly showed on Olivia’s face for the first time; a thoughtful light flashed in her silver eyes. She looked at Chen Yu: “Is this the method for making such a pill?”
Chen Yu wobbled his gel body in affirmation: “Yes, but the kingdom currently lacks skilled alchemists and the spirit herbs necessary for pillmaking, so we cannot yet produce high-grade pills.”
Olivia was not disappointed. Instead she pondered and asked, “What characteristics do these spirit herbs generally have?”
Chen Yu’s gel body gurgled as he tried to describe them in terms his local audience could understand.
“They are plants that emit arcane radiance, somewhat akin to natural mana.”
Hearing this, Olivia went into contemplation.
“Emit arcane radiance... I may have a lead.”
She paused, then said with some regret, “However, as I said, I cannot leave the castle for long. I will need time; perhaps I can ask some trusted kin to keep watch and search.”
Chen Yu cheerfully promised to do his best to help.
Olivia seemed reluctant to continue the heavy topic and changed the subject: “Little Majesty, you returned mainly for the Slime trials, right?”
“Trials usually involve witnesses, a specific venue environment, some ceremony, and formidable foes or obstacles to overcome.”
“Based on what Little Lya described, the Metal Slimes’ Golden Trial probably requires them to defeat metal magical creatures in an environment full of extreme heat.”
Chen Yu bobbed his gel body in agreement.
Just as he had suspected.
So before he left Eagle’s Nest Fortress, he had already arranged through the gel network for Anvil to set up the trial venue ahead of time in the Obsidian Mining Area.
He had also selected the resolute Big Brother Slime among the Metal Slimes as the first trial challenger.
To defeat metal magical creatures in a lava field is nearly impossible for ordinary Metal Slimes; no wonder he had never seen naturally ascending Metal Slimes.
But the Slime Kingdom’s Metal Slimes were different — perhaps they would bring surprising results.