Chapter 989 — Aldernan in the Mist

He raised his head and looked at the wall on one side of the corridor. There were still several blank places on this wall, and one of those blanks had already been painted with simple lines, while the faint scent of some pigment drifted through the air.

After a long while, he suddenly withdrew his gaze and looked toward another direction at the corridor's corner—a female mage in a pale violet dress-style robe seemed to have appeared there out of thin air, walking toward him.

Mages passing by all stopped when they saw this woman, bowing respectfully and addressing her as "President Mabel."

Windsor Mabel responded warmly and amiably to the greetings around her, but did not slow her steps in the least. She came straight up to Daniel, a slight smile appearing on her face: "I did not expect you to arrive so early."

"Mm, I happened to have some free time," Daniel said with a faint nod. Though his manner remained cold, it no longer held such obvious resistance or contempt for the Mages Association. As he spoke, he raised his head to look at the nearby corridor, his brows furrowing slightly. "And whose fame and fortune is to be painted on this corridor now?"

Windsor Mabel looked at her mentor for a couple of moments, then suddenly could not help laughing: "It is you, my mentor."

Daniel's stiff face finally changed with surprise. He opened his yellowish eyes slightly wider, glanced at the portrait on the wall, then turned back to look at his former apprentice, his brows furrowing more noticeably than before: "Me? That is not funny."

"This is no joke. It is something the high-ranking representatives of the Mages Association agreed upon unanimously, and even His Majesty approved it."

"I ceased to be a member of your association long ago," Daniel said in a somewhat odd tone.

"Nor is the fourth portrait, Lord Richard, nor is the twelfth, Lady Marina Vinton," Windsor Mabel said with a smile. "No one ever stipulated that only portraits of association members may be painted in the Mages Association's Hall of Sages, and you clearly have the qualifications to stand among them—you almost single-handedly built the foundational system of the Empire's magitech industry, enabling us to find our direction in time at a crucial turning point of the age. That alone already meets the standard of a 'sage.'"

Daniel's eyebrows twitched slightly. His eyes moved several times over the mural whose outlines had yet to be sketched in, yet he said not a word; only Windsor Mapple's voice came from beside him: "I know—this was one of your greatest dreams back then. You may no longer care about it now, but I believe you are fully qualified to take your place in this corridor.

"In achievements that could change an era, you who laid the foundation for the Empire's arcane-industrial system clearly far surpass an association chairman who merely discharged his duties by the book."

After a few seconds of silence, Daniel tugged at the corner of his mouth and turned to walk on ahead: "A pointless exercise."

Hearing that disdainful, cold appraisal, Windsor Mapple could not help but smile: her mentor had not asked her to send anyone to scrape the things off the wall.

She turned and followed in Daniel's wake, while the latter turned his head slightly and remarked offhandedly, "I came to hand over the technical documents for the communications device to you. The Artificers' Association has finished the blueprints for the energy and amplification structures and passed laboratory acceptance testing. Our work is done; the rest is yours."

"Just in time!" Windsor Mapple said with a smile. "With this, the transceiver I designed will resolve the energy problem completely, and the next step is to move into the practical phase. The communications towers across the realm are already prepared for a complete overhaul—the timing of everything is perfect."

Daniel grunted, then a faintly mocking smile surfaced at the corner of his mouth: "Not long ago, more than half the Mage's Association was still fiercely debating the cost and feasibility of overhauling the nationwide communications tower network, arguing themselves red in the face one and all, as though they were ready to break with the whole world for the Empire's sake—and now you have already drawn up the overhaul plans... The wind in the Association shifts as fast as ever."

A flicker of embarrassment crossed Windsor Mapple's face. She shook her head with a bitter smile: "You must know of the recent shift in the city's mood, and you have heard some of the unconfirmed... rumors."

"I've heard plenty," Daniel said casually. "Not that I wished to, but living in Aldernan, it is hard for anyone's ears to find peace."

"...Mages are the most perceptive of people," Windsor Mapple sighed. "Proud, yes, but pride is no match for imperial authority. It is not that the wind in the Association has shifted too fast—it is that the wind over Aldernan has shifted too fast."

Daniel's steps halted. With a thoughtful expression he murmured softly: "The wind over Aldernan, is it..."

"Mentor," said Windsor Mapple, who seemed not to have caught the old man's indistinct words, "what did you say?"

"Nothing—only lamenting that there is altogether too much bustle and turmoil in the cities of Xuanque," Daniel said, shaking his head. Then, as though casually, he asked, "By the way, I hear you have figured out those peculiar 'deep-sea runes' the Cecilians gave us?"

"Nowhere near figured out," Windsor Mapple said. "Those things are stranger than I imagined—so strange as to be downright baffling. Just as the Cecilians stated in advance, those so-called deep-sea runes come from the hands of a civilization other than humanity, and the gulf between the two civilizations is vaster than that between humans and elves, so it is likely no easy task to grasp the logic underlying those runes. Fortunately, even without understanding the deeper logic, the runes still function. Experiments have already proven that a fully enclosed space constructed with those deep-sea runes can block mental contamination in any form—and can even produce a powerful purifying effect on individuals already contaminated..."

"...Oh, that does sound interesting," Daniel raised an eyebrow. "If I have the time, I would like to see that facility of yours once it is built."

"Of course. It is in the Obsidian Palace. His Majesty should be delighted that you take an interest in it—after all, you are an expert in the field of runes as well."