Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 341 - 340: The Grand Gift

Kamel and Pittman arrived earlier than Gawain had expected—in the courtyard of Gran Castle, a thunderous explosion rang out the next day, startling the servants who were cleaning up, as a massive spherical lightning suddenly appeared in mid-air. Gawain and Lady Ropeney, who were discussing matters inside the castle, rushed to the scene upon hearing the noise. They witnessed the brilliance of arcane energy roaming along the courtyard ground, and at the center of that energy surge, quietly hovered an arcanist spirit with a vaguely human contour.

And an explosive-haired old man.

The spirit floating in mid-air glanced down at the explosive-haired Pittman, and from its energy-surging body came a buzzing sound: "You see, I told you, a lightning jump is much faster than your summoned forest deer—and it’s quite safe."

Pittman’s face was pitch black, his hair standing on end. He blinked and opened his mouth to say a deeply heartfelt word: "...Ptoo..." (spitting out black smoke)

Standing beside Gawain, Ropeney watched the black and white human-like creatures in front of her in shock. The lady knew about Gawain’s command to have his personal guards return to the territory to summon people, but firstly, she didn’t expect them to arrive so quickly, and secondly, she didn’t expect such individuals to arrive... Kamel’s surging arcane energy appeared like a brilliant lighthouse to her, a newly advanced middle-ranked Mage, and this powerful magical being left her astounded. She couldn’t help but glance at Gawain with a gaze full of surprise and uncertainty: "Your Excellency, this is..."

"Kamel, my magic consultant, and Pittman, my Druid Advisor," Gawain said casually as he stepped forward. "I thought you wouldn’t arrive for another couple of days—Amber didn’t come along?"

"Upon hearing about the situation here, I felt that the matter couldn’t be delayed," Kamel said, "As for Miss Amber... I did initially intend to bring her along, but during the first lightning jump, she suddenly ran off. Her shadow power is too strong, I couldn’t catch her."

Pittman wore an expression of resignation far greater than grief: "She just ran off on her own... and I even took care of her back in the day..."

Gawain understood, believing Amber’s actions were perfectly normal—he wasn’t surprised at all that the "disgrace of the elves" could escape from Kamel’s lightning jumps. The girl must’ve allocated all her skill points into escaping and lock-picking in her life, so how could a simple science worker (though quite capable) possibly catch her?

"No need to worry, Kamel is a powerful Arcanist, though he turned into this form due to a failed magic experiment. Pittman, on the other hand, is an excellent Druid; his skin color was just freshly smoked," Gawain smiled to ease the slightly tense Ropeney and casually disclosed Kamel’s public identity—a millennium-ago identity as a Grand Magus Gondor would be too attention-grabbing, so Gawain always concealed it to some degree when unnecessary. "Now we can go check on Patty and that magical device, of course, Pittman, you should wash your face first."

Ropeney seemed to come to her senses at that moment. She took a deep look at the all-powerful and mysterious Master Mage surrounded by arcane brilliance, a sudden realization dawning on her:

The world claims that Gawain Cecil, who rose out of his coffin, is nothing but an empty name, his family legacy squandered by his descendants. But now it appears... this renowned founding hero indeed has unknown cards, and this powerful mage might be the hidden strength of the Cecil Clan...

This is what a great family is like... though it might have declined for a century, it can still reveal astonishing hidden strength when the time ripens.

"No matter the inspection result, the Gran Family will always be grateful for your help." Lowering her head, Ropeney said sincerely.

The Cecil Clan remains powerful, and that’s really good news.

In front of Patty’s room, Kamel hesitated slightly. He looked at Gawain: "Will I scare the child if I go in like this?"

"I’ve already let her know in advance, it won’t," Gawain smiled faintly. "Plus, she should be quite excited—Patty seldom has the chance to see fresh things outside the castle, her curiosity is greater than most children."

Ropeney opened the door, inside the bright bedroom with enormous windows and skylights, little girl Patty was sitting in a chair at the center, quietly sunbathing while listening to a maid read her a story.

Upon hearing the door’s motion, the maid let out a low gasp seeing Kamel, while Patty looked somewhat dazed. She stared fixedly at Kamel for a long time and noticed that Gawain had entered the room with him, thus, after a few seconds, she opened her mouth wide: "Wow!"

Gawain walked over with a smile: "Patty, I brought a doctor."

"Uncle Gawain!" Patty beamed, with her only arm trying hard to wave, as if to greet, but the attempt failed soon. Yet she stayed joyful, "You’re here!"

"...In the name of all gods..." Pittman stared wide-eyed at the little girl strapped to the chair with belts, muttering after a long silence, "It’s a miracle she’s alive..."

"I didn’t call you here to marvel at miracles," Gawain gave Pittman a glance, "I want you to heal her."

"I’ve already sought out the best Druid and Holy Light clerics, but they were powerless," Lady Ropeney said in a low voice, "So even if this doesn’t work, I will still accept it warmly."

"To be honest, leader, this is quite tricky," Pittman looked up and down at Patty’s external injuries and sensed her life energy, "With my Druid level..."

"You have to do your best," Gawain patted Pittman’s shoulder and repeated the last part with emphasis, "Your ’best’."

Pittman silently glanced at Gawain, and after a few seconds, he laughed, "I probably can’t restore her to full health, but... at least I can make her better than she is now."

As he spoke, he walked towards Patty, muttering to himself, "The shoddy Druids keeping her in this state... really lack skill."

"Kamel, I need you to check on something else," Gawain turned his head towards the ancient Arcanist, "You’ve been studying those Eternal Sleeper’s Magic Arrays for some time, I wonder if you can discern anything from their creations."

Lady Ropeney immediately ordered the maidservant, who stood by nervously, to bring the peculiar magical device used to put Patty to sleep.

Upon seeing the magical device, the arcane magic around Kamel visibly brightened, and he voiced his interest, "Interesting..."

Gravity Magic and The Sculpture Hand gently took the magical device from the maid’s hands and let it rotate in mid-air. Kamel concentrated on observing every detail and structure of the device, the arcane fire in his eyes shining with a light of curiosity and inquiry.

This magical device had the characteristics of most magical items in this world: it was luxurious, expensive, and the countless additional decorations in its details made the entire device look more like a work of art. Considering its form, it almost resembled a uniquely shaped small coronet—if it were in the past, Kamel might not have felt anything towards such a device, but after adopting Gawain’s "cheap mass-produced utilitarianism" philosophy, he gradually found the practice of inscribing numerous useless patterns on magical devices quite wasteful.

So he gently waved his hand, and a virtual image of the same outline as the "Dream-Entering Device" immediately appeared in the air beside him. This shadow also contained numerous magic symbols, but it was clearly much simpler and clearer than the "Dream-Entering Device."

For easier observation, after erasing the useless decorations and patterns from the "Dream-Entering Device," Kamel duplicated its magic symbol structure.

Gawain watched Kamel’s operation with some amazement and spoke with a tone of reflection, "That is indeed a convenient ability..."

"Ao energy has become an extension of my limbs, shaping them is as easy as bending a finger." Kamel said with a buzzing sound, his tone carrying a hint of pride: this was arguably one of his greatest gains after losing his human body.

Gawain looked at Kamel in this form, pondering, "Perhaps you could study the principles behind your own body. If your ability to control Ao energy could be replicated by magic symbols, it would surely have significant benefits for the territory’s development."

Kamel seemed to pause for a moment (though it was hard to tell since there was no change of expression), then he remarked with a touch of sentiment, "Mr. Nicholas Egg would probably be pleased to know this—he often had reservations about his past experiences of ’being researched,’ and seeing the researchers of that time being researched in turn would probably bring him balance."

To this response, Gawain could only chuckle, "After all, his experience back then wasn’t very pleasant... let’s not dwell on that. Have you found anything? Is there any danger in this device?"

"Based on the observed magic symbol structure, there is no danger, and the coronet’s material contains no harmful substances," Kamel enlarged the magic symbol structure of the coronet while observing it from various angles, "Moreover, I have discovered very valuable... techniques from it."

"Oh?"

"It’s the brainwave connection technique of the Eternal Sleepers, and a more effective magic ’shock’ structure," Kamel said with a hint of joy, "Especially the latter, which is exactly what we urgently need right now!"

"The magic arrays you gave me last time also contain a magic shock structure, but its efficiency is not high, and stability is a real issue, so the entire magic array is very demanding on the user. I suspect only middle-ranked or higher Mages can successfully control it, but this coronet... Its magic shock structure is very finely designed, with numerous auxiliary stabilization symbols at work... Though these are complicated due to lack of optimization, they undoubtedly have superior performance!"

Listening to Kamel, Gawain couldn’t help but feel validated—

Daniel is a powerful Mage, so his magic arrays naturally required high standards, but Patty is just an ordinary little girl, so the Eternal Sleepers would certainly have specially designed this coronet for her!

Gawain couldn’t help but smile, "We really should thank the Eternal Sleepers for racking their brains to design this coronet."

"Indeed," Kamel replied with a tone of amusement, "They have truly prepared us a ’gift’..."