Boundaries


    Despite his powerful memory, Richard could only memorise a thousand-odd runes emitting from the barrier protecting the light. These runes were a newnguage that could exinws themselves, ranked far higher than the divine tongue of Nond. So long as he learnt this newnguage he would be able to pick up newws much easier.


    However, he was currently overwhelmed by the unbelievable power within that light. Everything else aside, thews of the shield alone were on par with what he was working on with the Godnest. However, this analysis required that he understand the newnguage, an immensely difficult task.


    And all this was only to be able to reach that light!


    Richard could hardly imagine just how much power one would need to control suchws, or the expertise required to trap such an orb in this ancient library. Perhaps only beings like the abyssal king or Iskara qualified, but their powers conflicted with this light. Any contact would cause an enormous explosion that could wipe out entire nes.


    Knowing he currently didn’t have the power to use that light, Richard looked around and noted some of the runes before examining the other records in the library to try and figure out where Sharon would have gone. After repeated attempts, he found three books and one te that could be cracked easily, with seven more that he could work on over a reasonable timeframe. This was the limit of what he could read, and there would be no way to start on the rest.


    Richard stayed in the library for an entire day, cracking the easiest shields in the hopes that it was a journal or something. He realised after deciphering thews that he now had easy ess to their tomes, able to retrieve them at will. Amongst these books, two exined the power of the elements and one was about the origin andposition of various life forms. It wasn’t of any direct help to his situation, but it did help hisws.


    After a quick readthrough, he discovered that the descriptions from the three books were about a kind ofw that stood beyond mere nes,parable to the primordialws that could give rise to primary nes. As for the book on life, a single chapter boosted his analysis of the Forest ne’sws greatly. He mastered six of thews he was working on in an instant.


    The te was an introduction to the mysterious runes of the shield. It was thenguage of primal celestials,pletely different from both divine and demonguages in the current world. Reading through it allowed one to master thenguage itself before moving on tows.


    The three books and the te would be a challenge to digest in a short period of time, and the seven others would take years. However, mastering thenguage would make either effort significantly easier.


    ......


    The books couldn’t leave the library, and with a day gone away Richard felt like he had stayed on the demine long enough. He went to the library and continued his search, eventually finding the control centre of the ce. Most mages couldn’t move theirs, but Sharon had built a system that allowed her demine to move freely. The energy needed was astronomical, but with the energy absorbing trees that wasn’t really a problem. The voidcked a lot of things, but pure energy wasn’t one.


    Standing next to the tform, he pondered about a lot of things before cing his hands on the two metal balls. His mind quickly linked to the demine, and he entered the coordinates of his own before activating the portal. The demine roared to life, an enormous portal appearing in front of it. The ne entered the portal and disappeared.


    ......


    A short while after Richard left, a near-transparent being appeared in the void. It looked at the emptiness and grunted, “It should have been here!”


    The face of the humanoid tentacle creature suddenly changed, a loud scream ringing through the void as it flew away. In its ce was a blue arc that cut off a few tentacles, but the void rippled as it escaped.


    Richard walked out of the void with Moonlight in hand, his eyes filled with cold rage. He sneered at the twitching tentacles in his hand, “You still hope to run?”


    He reached out and grabbed one of the tentacles, activating the Field of Truth to see streaks of different colour flying away. These were the threads of fate, joining those creatures who were connected in spirit. This was one of the bases of prophecy, a foundational element of magic. The Field of Truth was growing in power with him, and he could already sense the vague movements ofws in the world.


    Just as he prepared to give chase, the threads began to vibrate intensely. They quickly tangled up into a mess and vanished, leaving only a few dim strands that pointed in various directions. Richard immediately grunted, his face livid as he realised the half-beast actually had the ability to cut off the threads of destiny. This immediately ended his pursuit; there was no way for him to figure out where the creature went.


    The opponent definitely paid a considerable price for this; cutting off the threads of destiny was the same as cutting off a part of one’s soul, greatly wounding one’s existence. This creature had the grit and determination to escape immediately without hesitation, which meant it roughly knew of his power. Such mysterious abilities and a wish to attack him... there was only one such group he could think of.


    “Those motherfuckers!” he hissed. This confirmed that Sharon’s sudden disappearance was rted to the Schrs, the same bastards who had meddled with his life time and time and time and time again. Those cowards always hid in the dark, conspiring and plotting while acting like fucking saints!


    Richard had umted a great deal of power and wealth over the years, approaching the top of Nond. However, he still remained unable to track Soremburg Castle, only reacting to their moves. He killed every single Schr that he sniffed, but that clearly wasn’t enough.


    He stared at the empty void for a while before teleporting away.


    .......


    Sharon’s demine eventually appeared right where Richard’s was, the two slowly drawing closer until they were a few hundred kilometres apart at which point he locked them in orbit. His small demine then started revolving around hers.


    A new option appeared in his mind when the two nes approached: if he so wished, he could merge them into one. However, he shut it down without hesitation, refusing to believe that Sharon could die so easily. He found it much more likely for her to be trapped somewhere that disconnected her soul from her demine. So long as the demine itself was still moving, she was alive.


    If he couldn’t find her, he always had thest resort of the Eternal Dragon. While the old dragon wouldn’t show him where she was now, it could show episodes of the past so he could trace her. The only problem was the hefty price for such a thing, something that even all of his wealth would not cover. As for what form that price took, Philip and Ferlyn were a prime example.


    Once the two demines were connected, Richard walked out of the pce and stared into the void. It took a few minutes for him to mutter softly, “Don’t you worry, I’ll show these bastards the price.”