As Eliot described, Ron began to understand the reason for his haggard state.
The "Wind of Listening" talent allows the bearer to perceive the flow of information within the magic network, but this ability is also a double-edged sword.
When the entire environment is saturated with negative information, the talent bearer is often the first to be impacted.
"What exactly did you hear?" Ron asked.
Eliot closed his eyes, as if recalling some painful experience:
"Chaos... endless chaos. I can hear the clang of metal from far away, a sound so sharp it’s like someone driving nails into my brain.
And screams, countless screams, some of which don’t even sound human."
His voice began to tremble:
"The most terrifying are those whispers. I can’t make out the specifics, but the tone... the tone reminds me of the echoes of the Abyss. And these sounds, they all come from the direction of the Otherworld."
Eliot’s description filled Ron with a sense of foreboding.
"How long has this been going on?"
"An entire week." Eliot’s answer confirmed Ron’s concern:
"These abnormal pieces of information began appearing seven days ago. Initially, it was just occasional static, but now... now, it’s almost incessant."
He added with a wry smile:
"I haven’t slept well for three days. Every time I close my eyes, those sounds become clearer. I’m even beginning to wonder if I’m going insane."
Looking at his friend’s pained expression, Ron felt a rush of sympathy and concern.
At the same time, he realized that Eliot might be bringing extremely important information.
"Can you ascertain the source of this information?"
"Most of it points to the Zephyr Starfield in the seventh quadrant, the civilization Cassandra Tower Master is currently conquering."
Eliot’s tone grew more serious:
"But there are some... some even more distant echoes. It’s as if they’re coming from other Otherworlds, or... or from deeper places."
He paused, his eyes revealing deep fear:
"Speaking of the Vital world..."
Eliot’s expression became unusually grave, and his voice lowered:
"I intercepted some fragments of official internal communications via the ’Wind of Listening.’ Ron, the situation there is much worse than anyone publicly acknowledges."
He paced back and forth in the chamber, each step filled with anxiety:
"According to the information I heard, Cassandra’s expeditionary army encountered an ancient deity calling itself the ’Star Domain Lord’ in the Vital Republic.
Note, I’m not talking about a myth from native civilizations, but a true god in every sense."
Ron’s heartbeat involuntarily quickened.
An ancient deity level, said to be a terrifying existence capable of momentarily contending with the Witch King.
"That ’Star Domain Lord’ seems to be the real ruler of the Vital Republic, or rather... its protector. The collective consciousness network of the Vital People is likely constructed by It."
He took a deep breath, as if organizing words to describe an unimaginable terror:
"In the intercepted communication fragments, there’s an urgent report from the fleet commander. The terms he used were ’reality distortion,’ ’dimension misalignment,’ ’distortion of existence itself.’
Eliot’s voice began to tremble:
"The specific details of that battle are under the highest level of secrecy, but the fragmentary information I heard shows the expeditionary army lost at least one-fifth of their forces."
He paused, his eyes revealing deep fear:
"Those wizard casualties, their deaths are not an ordinary end to life, but... but an existential dissolution."
Ron felt a chill run up his spine.
Existential dissolution means even the void remains cannot be preserved, the soul is utterly obliterated beyond reality.
For a wizard, this is an outcome more terrifying than death.
"There must be important people on the casualty list this time, right?"
"Two Dark Sun Level squadron commanders died: Adrian and Serene, and more than ten Dark Sun Level Wizards were severely injured."
Eliot’s voice was exceptionally heavy:
"Adrian was a candidate for Vice Tower Master of the Elemental Garden; Serene was a Rune Expert of the Tower of Vibrations, capable of creating stable spatial passages with her Phantom Skeleton Prototype."
He shook his head with a bitter smile: "The importance of these two people..."
Eliot did not finish, but the implication was already clear.
Dark Sun Level Wizards, in the Central Lands, are already quasi-high-ranking, second only to those great wizards who are leaders of Schools.
The loss of these two important figures means the Conquest Faction is probably in an uproar.
"So, the most terrifying thing is the subsequent impact."
Eliot continued:
"This disastrous defeat completely shattered the expeditionary army’s morale. The communications I heard were filled with doubt, anger, and fear."
He began detailing the internal divisions within the expeditionary army:
"The Elemental Garden faction is now openly demanding a reevaluation of the conquest strategy.
Their leader, the Great Wizard Elizabeth, has formally protested to Cassandra, demanding a halt to the offensive against the Vital world."
"The Great Wizard Melviss of the Tower of Vibrations is even more aggressive.
He directly questioned Cassandra’s command ability at an internal meeting. The terms he used were ’reckless,’ ’irresponsible,’ ’treating allies as expendables.’
Eliot’s expression grew more worried:
"The ’Starhammer’ clan and the ’Mithril’ clan have already begun secretly discussing the possibility of withdrawing from the Expedition Alliance."
Hearing this information, Ron suddenly realized that Cassandra’s conquest plan might be on the brink of complete collapse.