Chapter 122: Act 54 – The Path Beyond (Part 1)
“Traveler Mage?”
Brendel almost groaned out loud. He couldn’t help but touch his forehead, doubting whether he was dreaming. The young man in front of him, who called himself Tumen, along with this peculiar space he was drawn into and the bizarre information, left his mind in a tangle.
He had never heard of the profession of Traveler Mage in the “Amber Sword.”
His first thought was whether this was a profession he had not learned about. After all, in such a vast and complex world, which improved on itself every day, it was impossible for him to be all-knowing. But soon, Brendel felt a sense of discomfort; his instincts suggested that this assumption was unfounded.
Brendel appeared calm on the surface, but internally he kept wondering: what on earth was going on? What is a Traveler Mage? And where exactly was this place?
Tumen had his hands cupped in his sleeves, floating in the dark void. Noticing Brendel’s confusion, he smiled and replied, “It seems you’re still quite puzzled. This is just a refractive magic; the information I left behind can be projected into your mind, so you don’t need to be nervous. This is merely your inner world—everything here is constructed according to your internal thoughts—”
Brendel understood he meant the subconscious.
“You’re saying this is a spell that affects the mind? But why hasn’t my indomitable will reacted?” He had calmed down a little but immediately asked, “How do I leave here?” Suddenly remembering he was still in danger, he couldn’t afford to waste time here.
“Why are you in such a hurry to leave? This is your mental world; everything that happens here is as quick as your thoughts—there’s a saying among the Bastos people: ‘A person can complete a long dream in the blink of an eye.’ Because human thought is as swift as lightning; countless thoughts can arise in an instant, and before those thoughts come to an end, not even a second has passed.”
Tumen chuckled, “Even if you were to die in the next moment, here, you could live for a quarter of an hour.”
Brendel pondered over what this elemental emperor said. Rationally, he preferred this explanation, but his instincts still urged him to consider the dangers outside. He took a deep breath and asked, “I understand, but let’s finish this piece of information quickly. What do you wish to tell me, Tumen? What is a Traveler Mage?”
Forcing himself to calm down, Brendel began to contemplate the meaning of this “dream.” Since Tumen said this was a projection of information, it indicated he had something to convey. But what could it be? Brendel did not believe there was any connection between him and the other party.
Brendel himself was of pure Erluin southern descent, neither of Minren blood nor a Bastos. If there were any heritage, Tumen wouldn’t single him out.
Moreover, stored spells must have a medium, meaning this information was likely triggered by a spell stored on something close to him. Brendel lowered his head, unable to suppress a careful recollection, trying to identify any suspicious items on him—first eliminating the ordinary items: his clothing and a few small objects like matches and fire cotton. Next, he excluded items made with Tam, such as the cursed crossbow bolts, the saint statue (white deer), and the mana potion over there. Lastly, he considered naturally occurring items, such as the fruit from the Golden Mage Tree and a few magical materials.
Now, the only suspicious items left were the pieces of trivial loot collected from the battlefield and the Wind Queen Ring.
However, those trivial pseudo-magical items were untraceable, and the Wind Queen Ring had long been identified in the game—it had an ongoing storyline, and Brendel had already asked Lohn about it. That moneylender indeed knew about the ring depicted in the painting, as he said: that painting was once given by a merchant to the knight served by Brendel’s grandfather, who then passed it on to Brendel’s grandfather. After that, the painting had remained in Brendel’s old home.
As for the preceding story, it’s a long tale. Lohn had mentioned that a total of thirteen replica rings were made. Although they were not genuine, each would be worth a fortune hundreds of years later. The merchant of that time wished to please the local lord, but what happened afterward, he couldn’t clarify.
Although Brendel remained skeptical about what Lohn had said, it at least indicated that even if this item had something to do with the Wind Sage Saint Ausoor, it had nothing to do with Tumen.
The next suspect was the mysterious shard obtained from Bog Neson’s corpse. Brendel had always suspected that this minor noble’s background was more complicated than it seemed. How could Antinna, as a noble daughter, coincidentally learn the design and manufacturing of magical devices? In Erluin, this was not an ordinary matter.
Moreover, Brendel believed he could sense this, and others could as well; that Viscount Test must also be aware of this.
He had begun to doubt that the motivations of the viscount were not pure.
Now, it seemed this stone shard was particularly worthy of suspicion. But then he shook his head, recalling another matter, the other object of unknown origin he had touched before entering this world—the Elemental Revelation Scroll. Brendel remembered clearly that the scroll bore the seal of the Crystal Forest and the unique numbering attributed to the fairies.
In other words, the scroll itself was not problematic.
However, he suddenly realized what had triggered this spell: opening the elemental pool.
But what was the connection?
He immediately thought of the fate cards. Yes, he had always regarded these mysterious cards as skills rather than items, which was why he hadn’t thought of them earlier. But now, looking back, he found these cards increasingly suspicious.
First of all, these cards had never appeared in “Amber Sword.”
Perhaps it’s understandable that he hadn’t heard of certain magical items in the game, so this alone wasn’t suspicious. But if an entire series of magical items had never appeared in the vision of a hardcore player, it raised suspicions. Imagine if a person had never heard of a particular piece of a mage’s professional gear; if we assume this world is vast—it isn’t so incredible. But if they had never even heard of the grand concept of “mage’s professional gear,” it would seem rather peculiar.
You might say that must mean they are a newcomer.
But Brendel was no newbie.
Moreover, these cards themselves were not trivial or inconsequential items. Their vast potential even allowed a warrior to manipulate magic freely; it could be said that they constituted a complete professional system.
Such a set of magical items, Brendel could not possibly have never heard about.
Furthermore, these items were not found in a far-off land; for example, if they only appeared within Madara, Brendel might have had even less chance of knowing about them. But on the contrary, the places where these cards had appeared were at least now looking like the areas Brendel was most familiar with.
The Tomb of Jirande, the Valley of Golden Mage Trees, Ridenburg, Bruglas.
These regions were ones Brendel had explored countless times, knowing every corner and detail. He could even clearly describe the rumors and actions of all the famous players in this area during the first three years of the game. He loved this world so much that he empathized with everything in Erluin.
But the problem was, he truly hadn’t heard of these cards; he even questioned himself on how he had been so simple-minded at that time—of course, he hadn’t realized he had encountered these cards while struggling for survival, and anyone in such an environment would rejoice at the slightest help rather than doubt. Therefore, this was, in fact, quite human.
Once he realized this, his suspicions deepened.
He couldn’t help but touch his chest, instinctively recalling the concept that had flashed in his mind earlier: “It seems they constitute a complete professional system.” Brendel gasped and instinctively raised his head in disbelief, exclaiming, “You mean the Traveler Mage is…?”
Tumen smiled, “You guessed it right; there is indeed an inseparable connection between the fate cards and the Traveler Mage.”
Brendel immediately fell silent, as he knew that Tumen, in this youthful era, would tell him everything.
“First, I want to clarify a misunderstanding; these fate cards were not created by me, as you can see, they are far older than any history we know.” Tumen spread his hands, holding a fate card—just the back, decorated with that complex holy pattern: “You see this mark? It is the original sample of the holy pattern. I simplified them based on my limited knowledge and compiled this knowledge to teach humans, elves, and Minren.”
“Wait—” Tumen raised a hand, stopping Brendel from asking, “I know what you want to ask: as a descendant of Bastos and Minren, the deadly enemies of all beings that aspire to the light, why would I help humans and elves?”
He smiled slightly, “It’s actually simple. As a Traveler Mage, my way of looking at problems is already somewhat different from ordinary people. Of course, this is just my personal view, but it’s related to my own deck—when I was young, I blindly pursued the laws and principles of this world, so my deck is called ‘All Things Return to One.’ In adhering to this deck’s meaning, besides the most essential things, everything else to me isn’t too different.”
After hearing these words, Brendel sat back down, pondering, and asked the question on his mind, “To be honest, I don’t quite understand what you mean. Could you explain it more simply?”
At this moment, he had no intention of leaving; he vaguely felt that this profession mentioned by Tumen might bring about significant changes in his future. He didn’t know why he had this feeling; it might be an illusion or perhaps an instinct that had already sensed something unusual.
Tumen nodded, “Certainly, I will explain it to you in detail.”
He continued, “To mention Traveler Mages, we must start from the fate cards. Traveler Mages are the only group in this world that can touch the essence of fate cards—this essence is the power of the world. Every fate card is a manifestation of a world from a certain perspective; it is neither a simple projection of rules nor a shallow copy of reality—many such cards together form a small world.”
“Just like my deck, ‘All Things Return to One,’ this set of cards uses the harmony of six elements to describe the essence of the world; thus, it is also my deck’s meaning: the power of rules.”
“And another Traveler Mage I know, I know his deck is called ‘Infinite Power’; that’s a deck composed of a large number of red and black fate cards, and his deck’s meaning is the pursuit of supreme power. The red deck can be seen as fire or power. The black deck can be viewed as darkness but can also represent death and destruction.”
“Of course, we both failed.”
Tumen smiled, “Thus, the meaning of the cards is actually endowed by the deck. The marvelous aspect of fate cards is that they can articulate your thoughts about the world from multiple perspectives. Even your deck represents another version of yourself in your heart.”
“As for why these cards exist and where they came from, we actually don’t know. The earliest Traveler Mages should have emerged in dark ages among the Mataratanians; I even suspect that this profession itself was birthed from that society.”
“It’s said that the Mataratanians are a nomadic people, always migrating from one place to another. Their understanding of the world is somewhat different from ours. We view the world as vast and infinite, encompassing infinite things and knowledge. However, in the Mataratanians’ worldview, the world is small and narrow. They have a broader concept similar to our ‘world,’ called ‘Uhs,’ which is the root of the word for infinity in both the elven and Cruz languages. In the Mataratanians’ worldview, Uhs contains countless small worlds, and they always traverse from one world to another.”
“I suspect they misinterpreted the relationship between the Guardian Lands and the entire world, which formed this perspective; of course, past humans had a limited understanding of this world.” Tumen suddenly smiled and said, “I ended up saying so much irrelevant stuff; it seems I really have a hard time breaking this old habit.”
Brendel thought for a moment and asked, “I have also heard of the Mataratanians; perhaps I now know they were among the earliest Traveler Mages. But what does this have to do with me?”
Tumen shook his head, “Just listen to me. The Mataratanians divide the day into six stages, and a Traveler Mage’s day is also strictly divided into six stages.”
The young man with shoulder-length black hair glanced at Brendel and continued, “The first stage is from dawn until mid-morning. That is, from six to ten o’clock. The Mataratanians refer to this time of day as: the sun’s growth, while Traveler Mages call it the ‘Growing Stage.’ During this stage, Traveler Mages can lay down their land cards to gain the necessary mana for the day—”
“Wait!” Brendel exclaimed, “Lay down land cards?”
“Precisely, laying down land cards is the most basic ability of every Traveler Mage, and also the source of their power.”
“Wait, can you elaborate on that?”
“It’s simple. As long as you have basic land cards, along with your own elemental pool and mana pool, you can lay them down during this time of the day. The land cards will connect the power of their ‘territory’ to your elemental pool and infuse the elemental power generated in the territory throughout the day.”
“Wait, but the land cards state that they generate a bit of elemental power per week, right?” Brendel couldn’t help but blurt out.
“That bit of elemental power exists outside the elemental and mana pools; its purpose is to ‘lend’ the minimum capital to newcomers who can walk the path of Traveler Mages, allowing them to understand and engage with the power of this world. Once you become a formal Traveler Mage, you will no longer need it,” Tumen replied.
Brendel considered for a moment before nodding, “I understand. Please continue.”
“In the Growing Stage, Traveler Mages can also obtain benefits from the ‘payment’ capabilities of other cards. I remember you have a gray land/water card named Highland Attendant, which states that when the Highland Attendant is present on the field, the lord can gain a point of reputation each day. And that point of reputation is something to be paid for in the Growing Stage.”
“Simultaneously, Traveler Mages can use any cards involving green (life, nature), white (light, protection, nurturing), and red (fire, vitality, life), blue (water, nourishment, irrigation), and mixed cards containing these elements during the Growing Stage.”
Brendel frowned; he had never noticed this issue before. But Charles had actually mentioned something similar to him, referring to a special case that was the white spell card that didn’t require payment.
“Next comes the second stage of the day: from after mid-morning to the peak of the sun, which is from ten o’clock to two in the afternoon. Not only do the Mataratanians refer to this time of day as: ‘All Things Flourish,’ but wizards and witches also describe these four hours of the day as ‘Ebb Tide’—because this is the moment when the power of the sun is strongest, and the power of the moon is weakest, resulting in a period of magical decline. Magic and elements rise and fall in alternation; thus, this stage is the most active and aggressive phase of the elements, and Traveler Mages call this phase the ‘Peak Stage.’”
“In this stage, it is the only time when a Traveler Mage can use any cards without restriction. At the same time, he can draw three cards from the deck to add to his hand.”
“Wait,” Brendel was taken aback, “What does this mean?”
“This is the rule of the Traveler Mage. At the beginning of each day, the number of cards available to a Traveler Mage is fixed. He may have more cards drawn than this limit during the day, but when it comes to the ‘reset stage’ of the day, he must discard the excess cards. We call this fixed number of fate cards the hand size.”
“On the other hand, the more powerful a Traveler Mage is, the more cards he can control. However, like you, as a newly born Traveler Mage, you can only control five cards.”
“Are the hand sizes determined by me?” Brendel asked.
“No, the hand sizes are drawn from your designated partition deck. For example, my deck, ‘All Things Return to One,’ is divided into six sections according to the six elemental powers, so I have six partition decks,” Tumen replied.
Brendel frowned, “But this means uncertainty increases significantly. So if I only control a few powerful cards and discard those useless ones, isn’t it possible to maintain my card strength at a fixed level?”
“Theoretically, that is true, but that is not the ultimate goal pursued by Traveler Mages,” Tumen shook his head.
“Ultimate goal?”
“You know there are some people who can refine elements after reaching the third-level power system, making themselves incredibly powerful. But what you may not know is that after refining elements, the next stage of power is the perfect body, from black iron to gold, and the final step is to pursue the existence that only exists in legends.”
“You know, fire is an element, and its highest manifestation is the Fire Element, as the fire element is the source of all flames in this world. Nevertheless, there has always been a rumor that above the Fire Element, there lies a higher element that we refer to as ‘Existence.’”
“Elements like ‘Substance,’ ‘Time,’ ‘Space,’ and even ‘Logic,’ ‘Power’ itself, which represent the most fundamental meanings of the deep world, we call these existential powers.”
Brendel stared at Tumen, momentarily speechless. He certainly knew about the perfect body because he had experienced that stage in past games—level 130, Silver Body. He also had heard of existential power, but it was rumored that once players reached 160 and completed the Gold Body, their experience would no longer advance, leaving no one knowing how to break through that final barrier to reach that existence which was almost just a step away—existential power.
Yet none of them had considered that such a path existed.
“You mean,” he couldn’t help but ask in astonishment, “the Traveler Mage can ultimately lead to existential power?”
Tumen nodded, pointing at the cards, “When you perfect your ‘world,’ and when this ‘rule’ can be self-consistent, the door to existential power will open. Of course, before that, you will have to walk a long road,” Tumen seemed to notice Brendel’s agitation and continued, “starting with constructing your basic card set.”
“What should I do?” Brendel subconsciously asked.
“In fact, when you first touched the first fate card, you had already unveiled your fate deck. However, I’m somewhat puzzled; your deck is different from any I’ve seen; it seems to express a vast professional system through the deck. I don’t understand why you are interested in a professional system and have this idea of ‘All Profession Domination’—what does that mean?” Tumen pondered with some curiosity.
When Brendel heard this, he couldn’t help but break into a cold sweat. His first encounter with the fate cards had been the soul of Sue, and as a professional player, he instinctively thought of pursuing a powerful profession. After all, who among ordinary players didn’t have a little dream of mastering all professions? He never thought they could intricately capture that with the fate cards.
He now realized what the significance of the Knight’s Path opening was…
Oh no! Brendel thought, if the cards were a manifestation of a worldview, could it be that he was really going to dominate all professions this time?
(PS: I returned from tomb-sweeping, and I was away these past two days. Normal updates will resume tomorrow, and I will add back a week’s worth of text I owe; this chapter is roughly 7,000 words, and I won’t divide it into sections to avoid inconvenience in reading.
By the way, let me complain a bit. In my hometown, while others are eating meat and drinking wine, I’m over here on the side looking at a table full of dishes, eating only vegetables and gruel; this year has been particularly bleak. Now, just hearing about meal times makes me want to die. Due to a lack of time, this chapter was written over two days, and I’m not used to using a notebook, and I have no materials at hand, so I don’t know if there are any issues.) (To be continued. To know what happens next, please log in for more chapters, support the author, and support legitimate reading!)
