New Continent

A few unexpected developments had pushed back the exploration of the Wizard Tower by several days.

Old Sea Dog had returned.

In fact, Soren had already assumed Old Sea Dog was dead. Accidents were unavoidable at sea: a powerful sea monster, a terrible storm, a ship running aground. The fleet Old Sea Dog had taken out had been out of contact for two months. Port Nyanzaru's administrators had largely written him off and assigned his position to someone else. No one expected the man to come back alive.

His survival alone would not have caused much of a stir. Old Sea Dog had never been particularly important to Port Nyanzaru's leadership.

But this time, his return was interesting.

Old Sea Dog had brought Soren a great deal of useful information. He had not returned to Port Nyanzaru by the Eastern Route. Instead, he had followed a different route from the far side of the Amazon Tropical Rainforest. It was a new sea route, and the fact that Old Sea Dog had made it back safely suggested it was not especially dangerous. According to his rough nautical chart, the route ended at a vast, somewhat barren island.

The island lay on the edge of the Eastern World. It was larger than several southern kingdoms combined. A third of its land showed signs of desertification, though nowhere near as severe as in the Eastern Realm. Ancient Ruins remained there. Little could be seen on the surface after so many years, but more might lie undiscovered underground.

Old Sea Dog and his men had found the ruins of a huge city, but they had seen no inhabitants.

The island was roughly two or three days from the shipping lanes of the Eastern Waters. In the area they had explored, only a few Eastern