Chapter 252: The Map

Helag nodded. “Yes, Lord Parker mentioned before that he recommended I wait until I become a second-level wizard before participating in the conquest wars.”

Pruis agreed. “Lord Parker is right. A first-level wizard faces considerable danger in such wars. In fact, the reason we deployed the airship this time was to deliver some special equipment to Lord Parker and reinforce the troops. Picking you up was just a side task.”

Helag nodded again. “That makes sense.”

He had initially thought it was a bit excessive to send such a large airship just to pick up a few people.

The value the three of them could generate as first-level wizards over the next few years wouldn’t even come close to the cost of running the airship for a single trip.

Helag had suspected the airship had another purpose, and now his suspicions were confirmed.

There was no way Seranthiel would go to such lengths just for a few small-time wizards.

The fact that Seranthiel had deployed such a large airship meant that whatever they were transporting was significant, and the additional personnel were likely important as well.

The natives of the Elven Plane, who were facing off against Base 27, were probably in for a major blow.

But for now, that had nothing to do with Helag.

He glanced out the window, where the airship had already entered the clouds. Occasionally, he could catch glimpses of the land below through gaps in the clouds.

Before they knew it, the airship had ascended into the cloud layer.

About two hours later, Helag noticed that the clouds below had given way to a vast mountain range.

However, there was something strange about these mountains, though Helag couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was.

Reese, who was also peering out the window, muttered, “These mountains look so strange.”

Pruis poured himself another cup of hot coffee and smiled. “They do seem odd, don’t they? Have you noticed how unnaturally uniform the mountains are?”

“Uniform…” Helag suddenly realized what had been bothering him.

The mountains below were too orderly. Normally, mountain ranges have peaks of varying shapes and sizes, and their arrangement is random and natural.

But the Ten Thousand Mountains below looked almost like they had been copy-pasted, with each peak identical and arranged in a perfectly straight line.

It gave off an eerie, artificial feeling, as if the mountains had been carved by hand.

And in fact, that was exactly the case—these mountains were man-made. It was just that their sheer size made it hard to immediately realize they were artificial.

Thanks to Pruis’s reminder, Helag, Reese, and David all marveled at the sight of the Ten Thousand Mountains outside the window.

Helag couldn’t even begin to imagine the kind of power it would take to create such a massive mountain range.

“Do you know why the wizards of the Land of Dawn created the Ten Thousand Mountains?” Pruis asked with a smile.

“Why…” Helag thought for a moment before answering, “I’ve heard it was to prevent wizards from the Barrens from entering the Land of Dawn, so they created this natural barrier.”

Pruis smiled but didn’t say anything. After taking a sip of coffee, he replied, “That’s true, but it’s not the whole story. The barrier against wizards from the Barrens is just a secondary function. The main purpose was to stop the spread of the Wasteland.”

“The Wasteland? What’s that?” Helag asked.

Reese and David also looked confused, not understanding what Pruis meant by the Wasteland.

From Pruis’s tone, it was clear that the Wasteland was no trivial matter. Otherwise, the wizards of the Land of Dawn wouldn’t have gone to such lengths to create such a massive mountain range.

Pruis thought for a moment before explaining, “You know that the Wizard Plane is just one of many planes, and there are others far more powerful than ours. The Abyssal Plane is one of them.”

“The Abyssal Plane…”

Reese and David nodded slightly. They had heard of the Abyssal Plane in various stories and legends, though they had never encountered it themselves.

Of course, they didn’t know that the bloodline of the person sitting next to them, Helag, contained power from the Abyssal Plane.

In many stories from the Barrens, the Abyssal Plane was depicted as an immensely powerful place, home to all sorts of terrifying and powerful creatures.

Now that Pruis had mentioned the Abyssal Plane, it seemed likely that the Wasteland was connected to it.

Pruis continued, “A long time ago, the Abyssal Plane launched a large-scale invasion of the Wizard Plane. It was a war that lasted many years, and countless powerful wizards died in the conflict.”

“We paid a heavy price, but we eventually managed to repel the invaders from the Abyssal Plane. Many lives were lost, and it took years for the population to recover. I’m sure you’ve heard of the rule in the Barrens that forbids the mass slaughter of ordinary people—that rule actually dates back to that time.”

“Wizards are incredibly powerful, and a single strike can kill many ordinary people. Long ago, ordinary people were treated no better than livestock. But after that war, the wizards realized how important ordinary people were to the Wizard Plane, so they established the rule forbidding their slaughter.”

“Although we managed to repel the invaders from the Abyssal Plane, many lingering issues from that war remain unresolved to this day.”

“I’m sure you’ve seen maps of the Barrens. This is the current map of the Land of Dawn.”

Pruis pulled out a map and spread it out on the table.

Helag, Reese, and David leaned in to take a look. After a while, they finally found the Barrens on the map.

On this map, the Barrens was just a small corner of the continent, extending into the sea. It was so insignificant that if it weren’t labeled, Helag wouldn’t have been able to find it.

To the north of the Barrens were the Ten Thousand Mountains, and beyond the mountains lay the territories of the six major wizard organizations.

Seranthiel was located in the south, closest to the Ten Thousand Mountains, while the other five wizard organizations were spread out in different directions.

In the center of the six organizations was the Central Zone.

This was the full extent of the Land of Dawn. Seranthiel alone was several times larger than the entire Barrens.

When you added the other five wizard organizations and the Central Zone, the Barrens seemed pitifully small by comparison.

But this wasn’t the entire map.

The map of the Land of Dawn only showed the territories of the six major wizard organizations and the Central Zone. Beyond these areas lay vast, uncharted regions.

Compared to these unknown regions, the Land of Dawn was just a small piece of land.

“Did you know that before the Abyssal Plane’s invasion, these areas were all part of our active territory?” Pruis pointed to the vast, unknown regions on the map.

“Why aren’t they part of our territory anymore? What happened?” Helag asked.

Pruis smiled bitterly. “Those areas have become death zones, filled with strange, eerie phenomena and powerful, mysterious entities.”