Chapter 96 – Elvis

“So, the gods from bedtime stories aren’t fictional after all. They are reviving, and your goal is to kill them?”

Daniel thought for a moment and continued, “Moreover, the Goddess of Light is the leader of the gods, the main culprit behind the Elemental Storm, and your number one enemy?—This doesn’t sound like a fairy tale at all.”

“Of course, it’s not a fairy tale,” Lin Wei shrugged.

“But I have a question,” Daniel said.

“What is it?”

“You, Duan Yu, the people of the Valley of Elements, plus the Astrology Tower, led by that detestable Schneider—who seems to have another very long name—anyway, this is one faction with the goal of resolving the Elemental Storm.”

Lin Wei nodded.

“But why are you going up against the gods?”

“The founding members of the Magic Association, Kui Ling, the creator of the academy, and some other races at the time, they burned their lives to build and activate a Magic Array that covered most of the continent. The array, centered around the Spear of Longinus, utilized the power of the gods to suppress the ‘Source,’ halt the Elemental Storm, and lasted for a thousand years,” Lin Wei explained to Daniel while also organizing his thoughts. “Over the long years, the power of the Holy Spear was exhausted, and the array lost its ability to suppress the gods—the gods were not completely killed but had fallen into a deep sleep. The people of the Valley of Elements, by this generation, possess a special power that provides an opportunity for ‘eternal life,’ which the gods desire. The Water God, Asa, was the first to seize a body and officially resurrect, and he wanted to help his friend Dirichlet awaken as soon as possible. He went to the Valley of Wind, and then what happened was the incident with Ah Lan and I leaving Siren Island.”

“As for Adrishig… well, that’s Schneider. I suspect he can’t harm the sleeping gods because they only have souls and consciousness without physical forms. What he wants to do is to awaken the Goddess of Light in a controlled manner and kill her before she fully regains her power,” Lin Wei frowned. “I don’t know exactly how he plans to do it, but the plan sounds feasible.”

“I can understand that. What I don’t understand is, why must you go after the gods? They also use magic, and the Elemental Storm doesn’t benefit them—if the Elemental Storm fully breaks out, they should try to help calm it,” Daniel said. “According to what you’ve said, the current dire situation on the continent was caused by them in the first place. Although they were collectively schemed against and suppressed for a thousand years, there isn’t any particular, irreconcilable hatred—they even gained eternal life through it!”

Lin Wei shook his head, “If you’re suggesting that we can coexist peacefully with the gods… that’s probably not possible.”

He leaned against the withered tree trunk and pointed to the sky, “Obviously, the Goddess of Light has awakened prematurely and has targeted me.”

“Why you?”

“I just figured it out. She knows of my existence, perhaps informed by Asa.”

Daniel looked Lin Wei up and down, as if pondering what could make him a threat.

Lin Wei, “Compared to her, I’m extremely weak, but I still have something special—I’m a Spirit Channeler, and I’m also connected to Katanaphia. She attacked with mental power, not magic, so I suspect she hasn’t fully awakened yet.”

“Katanaphia isn’t dead, perhaps she’s asleep or hiding somewhere… and the Goddess of Light—this madwoman, she wants to eliminate any possibility of the Dark Goddess’s return. Adrishig tried to use me to find traces of Katanaphia, while she wants to stop that from happening.”

“Alright, but what exactly is the feud between them?”

“Maybe it’s about interests, maybe something else—that’s beyond what I know,” Lin Wei sighed. Daniel’s question was valid. While he had a rough framework, there were still many things he couldn’t explain.

He held the droplet pendant, “With this, we shouldn’t have to fear the Goddess of Light’s mental attacks anymore. We can safely return to the Imperial Capital first. Tomorrow morning, we have an audience with the Emperor.”

“It defended against the Goddess of Light’s attack. Does this thing have something to do with the Dark Goddess?”

“From that story, it seems very likely… I’ll probe it with my soul.”

The soul tendrils extended toward the pendant, and as expected, Lin Wei saw fragments of dreams floating within it.

His consciousness sank into them.

The familiar song once again flowed from the pebble-filled stream valley, surrounding the lush trees, green grass, and clear streams. The vines bore bright red fruits, picked by the slender, beautiful hands of elves and placed into a white woven basket.

Lin Wei’s consciousness drifted around but didn’t find the person he wanted to see.

He knew that the memories of the elven forest took place during the goddess’s youth—she had left later.

Finally, he saw Katanaphia in a small treehouse deep in the forest.

Elven architecture was exquisite and beautiful, but this treehouse was crude and rough.

She sat in the corner, hugging her knees, her long black hair cascading down, her gaze empty and lost.

Footsteps sounded outside the window, and Lin Wei was surprised to find that he could now understand the elven language—probably because his soul strength had increased, allowing deeper integration with the goddess’s dream fragments.

The passing elves’ voices were as clear as birds on the branches, but their words were not so pleasant.

“Is she still here?”

“Yes—our kind Queen hasn’t expelled her yet, only restricted her movement from here to the nearest stream, so she doesn’t get close to our settlement.”

“I haven’t seen her yet. Can I peek through the window?”

“How could you even think of that! I’d bet ten life fruits that her room is filled with rotting bones!”

“Why does she associate with those evil undead creatures? Why does such a wicked talent appear in our race? Her sister is gentle and kind, and a powerful Light Mage!”

“No, no, my dear Giltena, you must understand, it’s far worse than that! She wasn’t an evil Necromancer later—this filthy girl, her birth was like a curse. Undead creatures kept crawling out from the ground—the aura of death corrupted everything. Her mother died of guilt, and she brought misfortune to the entire forest!”

The clear voices faded away with the footsteps, but the girl in the corner remained expressionless, only biting her lower lip.

Suddenly, a snow-white skeleton appeared before her, its empty eye sockets glowing with faint blue soul flames.

The skeleton reached out, carefully touching her hair, as if to comfort her.

Other undead creatures emerged from the ground, their soul flames silently watching her.

“Go away,” she said softly.

The skeleton paused for a moment, withdrew its hand, and took a few steps back.

“Why do you follow me?” Her tone was questioning, with a slight tremble.

Only the sound of creaking bones filled the room, no answer came.

“Why…” Her eyes reddened, her nails digging into the skin of her calves, almost drawing blood.

The undead creatures seemed to realize they were unwelcome and silently sank back into the ground.

The room was empty again, only the distant laughter of elves playing on the vines carried in by the wind.

She stared blankly at the sunlight streaming through the door crack, a tear streaking down her cheek.

“They just can’t help but want to be near you,” a voice suddenly answered her.

—It was a man’s voice.

She looked toward the window, “Who are you?”

“Humans often call me ‘that evil Necromancer.’”

“I’d love to tell them my name… but no one is willing to listen,” the voice outside the window sighed.

“Then what is your name?”

“My name is Elvis.”

The memory abruptly ended.

A pure surge of soul power traveled back along Lin Wei’s soul tendrils, making him feel much better.

“It really is related to Katanaphia,” Lin Wei said.

When they left, he left Haitie and Daniel in the underground palace—as it turned out, “Hieru City” wasn’t reliable, and the Death Swamp was much safer.

He and Duan Yu returned to the Imperial Capital, planning to complete their negotiations with the capital as soon as possible and then meet up with Adrishig—the Goddess of Light had already awakened from her slumber, at least her consciousness had.

Lin Wei plucked the strings leading to the Imperial Capital, and at Tidis’s mansion, they were greeted by the dangerous gaze of the Duke.

Well, before they left, they had caused a huge commotion, using magic to directly break through two doors—Tidis, as a deeply rooted hereditary noble, undoubtedly used the most durable materials for their doors… The loud noise must have alarmed the servants, and eventually, the Duke.

Then, they would find that the three guest rooms were empty.

Another serious issue was that the bedroom of the Young Duke of the Tidis family was also empty, without even a trace of anyone having stayed there!

Familiar with the Duke’s temperament, Lin Wei quickly clarified the situation, “Father, this is due to some urgent matters in the Magic World—we had to go to another place.”

“Yes, yes… Of course, I can’t control the affairs of the Magic World. I can only pray that my suddenly missing son is safe and sound.”

“But, my dear eldest son, there’s something you’ll need to explain,” the Duke’s hand unconsciously caressed the hilt of his sword. “After you suddenly disappeared at midnight, in order to find possible clues, I had to carefully question the servants about your whereabouts after you left the study.”

Lin Wei felt a bit panicked.

The Magic World was facing a severe crisis; the continent could be torn apart by the Elemental Storm; the Goddess of Light might strike again at any moment to take his life.

And his father was concerned about who his son had slept with at night!

And there was no way for him to talk his way out of it!

The Duke wasn’t the type of father who insisted on digging to the bottom of things.

He sighed, “It’s really too late. You can explain another day.”

Lin Wei felt slightly relieved, “Good night, Father.”

After saying this, he suddenly realized something.

He couldn’t sleep alone; he had to be with Duan Yu.

The pendant’s protection had a limited range, and the Goddess of Light’s mental attacks could come at any moment.

Lin Wei silently returned to his bedroom—dragging the mage along with him.

He felt he didn’t need to explain anymore.