Chapter 204 - Transition of Magical Power (2/2)

On a rock formation not far from the campsite, Gawain saw the few collection points that the exploration team excavated.

Such ores with immense potential value were actually “buried” in such shallow areas.

Gawain came to the collection point. He saw a layer of thick grayish-white porous rock stratum that looked weathered covering those ores, and those ores with faint purple or blue lusters were “mounted” in it, like some kind of condensation nuclei.

“They’re all very small pieces of ores on the surface — the deeper we dig, the better and bigger the quality and size of the ores. I think the veins that truly have exploitation value still needs to be dug deep to find.” Holme explained at the side. “Such a loose weathered rock stratum isn’t too suitable to be dug as a mine—— It will collapse easily, so it would be better to directly make it a quarry. With Rebecca Crystals, blowing up the rock layers wouldn’t be difficult.”

Gawain nodded. “I saw the reports that you sent back. You all discovered many things that the outside world has never seen. Moreover, the animals and plants all show signs of mutation.”

“Yes, Lord,” Holme replied. “This is the first time an extensive area of mineral ores like this were found.”

Gawain responded with an “mm” before lifting his head to survey the surrounding terrain —— Gawain Cecil from 700 years ago had once led troops to search for paths in this Dark Range. And back then, this area had yet to be affected by the Dark Wave. In Gawain Cecil’s memories, there were no such peculiar things here.

They had appeared after the Dark Wave.

Amber pulled out her dagger and curiously picked up a broken piece with a mixed bluish-purple luster from one of the rocks that had been dug out in the collection point. She held it under the sun and examined it. “What a strange thing, old… Gawain. This is what you mentioned — changes to natural substances due to the influence of the Dark Wave?”

“The essence of the Dark Wave is an extremely powerful surge of magical power. Although this portion of magical power cannot be used by mortals, it can still engender a far-reaching influence on the natural environment,” Gawain explained casually. “Do you know that the magical materials that can be found in the ruins of the ancient Well of Deep Blue are even more than the amount found here?”

Amber’s eyes were wide. “How reckless does a person have to be to dare to mine in there!”

Gawain shook his head but did not answer her question.

He looked at the ore before his eyes, but what he was thinking about at heart wasn’t just these ores in sight.

He’d once guessed that perhaps the Dark Wave had not broken out just that one time.

The surveillance satellite left in the sky was clearly a kind of early warning equipment targeted at the Dark Wave (or similar phenomenon). The calamity that happened previously at the Cecil territory also showed signs of the Dark Wave making a comeback. And the surveillance records from when he hung in the sky in the past had also shown the phenomenon of all civilization on the continent vanishing entirely for no reason, the whole ecosphere starting from zero like a shuffle and reboot.

In the “satellite era”, his observation of the world was disjointed due to severe “frameskip”, so there were many times when he couldn’t figure out how those earthshaking changes had come about —— in the blink of an eye, primitive man had created magical power cannons; then with another blink, they were living in tree trunks wearing animal skins and line dancing around a bonfire. The geomorphology and distribution of vegetation in his vision were also turned upside down. Perhaps there had been a destructive war lasting decades or possibly 49 days of floods and tsunamis. However, to a satellite spirit who saw one frame per thousand years, this “swift yet brief” moment of disaster was really difficult to capture.

But there was definitely something causing such “shuffling” —— if there weren’t other answers, the only answer would be the Dark Wave.

The Dark Wave would cause qualitative changes in the substances in the natural world. These things in the Dark Range that had never been seen before in other places were enough to prove this point.

And even if the Dark Wave had retreated, these changed objects would not resume their original form; instead, they would be consolidated to become an all-new material —— the ores found in the Dark Range could similarly prove this.

Then, supposing that the Dark Wave had occurred more than once in the world, Gawain would have reason to believe that the majority of the things in this world might have been influenced by the Dark Wave.

He came up with the boldest guess throughout history:

Those magical materials, magical creatures, or the common soil and rocks that appeared to be completely unrelated to magical power had been gradually molded to become what they were at present through the tempering of the Dark Wave time and time again.

The Dark Wave was a “world-shaping phenomenon” that would persistently occur and had not stopped showing signs of recurring, even to this day.