From Today On, You Are My Silent Ones

With Huozi and Tiger having left to carry out their orders, the only ones remaining beside Li Wei were Remlu, eagerly eyeing the thing in front of her and itching to take a bite, and Bald Guy Fischer, who looked weighed down by immense pressure. After hesitating for a while, he finally couldn't hold back his curiosity and asked:

"Boss, what exactly is this thing? Surely it isn't a Titan?"

Li Wei turned and looked at him gravely. "This is unspeakable. Titans aren't this big. From now on, don't look at it, don't speak its name, and don't think about anything related to it. Better yet, forget it ever existed! To be honest, I'm not even certain what it is, but if my guess is right and word gets out, all of Zelandia could face utter annihilation."

As he spoke, he couldn't help but laugh. "And it might not just be us. Even the Drow up in Gershon City could very well get caught up in it and be wiped out without a trace."

Fischer visibly stiffened as soon as he heard the word "it." When Li Wei warned him not to look, speak, or think of it, he hurriedly lowered his eyes, wishing he could pluck them out. A dense sheen of cold sweat appeared on his shiny bald head, and his legs nearly gave way.

Even with his limited knowledge from the Thay Red Wizards, he knew what the word "it" implied. Combined with Li Wei's unmistakable warning, he couldn't help thinking that things had gone terribly wrong.

This is either some kind of God's Remains or a godspawn. No, shouldn't godspawn all be born in the Astral Plane? With his limited knowledge, Fischer could only guess that the thing before him was probably connected to the gods.

Some of the more powerful gods could vaguely sense it if someone spoke their names. But that only applied when their names were spoken aloud. Had it become dangerous to even imagine the gods in one's thoughts?

Honestly, this guess turned his entire worldview upside down. He was even starting to worry that the gods he'd privately cursed in the past might have written his name down in a little book, waiting to settle the score after he died.

If Li Wei had known what he was thinking, he probably would have laughed. In his view, if the thing before them really was "it," then as long as it was still "alive," the gods would be nothing but amateurs playing with fire in its presence!

Probably only Ao, the God Above All Gods, could handle it or take it away. There was a small chance that it was a bug left behind by Ao himself, but it was far more likely to be an Outer Realm Being.

Once Fischer grasped the gravity of the situation, he asked cautiously, "So those three Orcs whose minds were affected might have been subjected to some kind of 'corruption'? Then why don't we just—"

As he spoke, he made a throat-slitting gesture.

Still thinking like a Battle-Mage Barbarian. If Igg were here, he'd never make such a clueless suggestion, Li Wei thought.

Given the severity of the situation, Li Wei wasn't exactly a saint. If eliminating three Orcs he didn't know was all it took to remove the threat entirely, he wouldn't have hesitated. But he shook his head all the same.

"No. If those three Orcs really were affected by 'it,' that would mean it's still 'alive.' That makes them the most direct evidence for testing my theory. If the theory proves true, they'll also be ideal subjects for observation, allowing us to determine how close 'it' is to waking based on their condition. Of course, I really don't want that to happen. It's far too soon."

Yes, its appearance was far too unexpected and far too soon.

If something like this had appeared on some future day, after Li Wei had managed to become a Dragon King or ascend to godhood through faith, he might have made every possible preparation and then studied the thing with the utmost care.

After all, controlling the power of an entity like that would mean transcending the ordinary. It might even mean breaking free of the existing universe and spacetime, opening the door to countless unknown possibilities.

At this stage? Heh. It was an unexploded bomb you couldn't even touch, and it had a nuclear warhead.

The slightest accident, and the whole family would go up in a spiral of flames.

Only after hearing Li Wei's plan did Fischer realize just how ignorant he was. He felt a twinge of regret for what he'd said, and had just begun to speak when Li Wei called his name.

"Fischer."

"Here." Fischer immediately bowed, adopting an even more deferential posture than he had as an apprentice in the Red Robe Mage Association.

The one before him might only be a Half-Dragon Gnoll. In the Red Robe Mage Association, that would make him no more than a capable goon and a rare specimen for dissection.

But from their brief exchanges, Fischer had gained a deep sense of just how learned Li Wei was. And the fact that Li Wei had unified Zelandia, which had been divided for decades, without bloodshed in a matter of days, then developed it to this point in just five years, proved he was far more than a brute.

In fact, Fischer had an odd impression whenever he faced Li Wei. It felt as though he was speaking not to a stupid, bestial Gnoll but to a wise and learned dragon.

That was why he'd put aside the schemes he'd had before their first meeting and started working hard for Li Wei in earnest.

Li Wei asked, "Back when you were with the Red Robe Mage Association, did you learn the coordinates of any of Coriel's other planes?"

"Coordinates for another plane?" Fischer paused, then forced a smile. "I do have one, actually. I never studied Conjuration, but years ago, while collecting a bad debt, I got the coordinates to an undead plane from someone who did. He was a novice, though, and wasn't sure whether it was one of the seventeen Outer Planes—the Grey Wastes of Hades. His specialty was summoning Skeleton Warriors from that plane, though they weren't much good in a fight."

At this point, Fischer rubbed his hands together excitedly. "If you need them, you can authorize me to go back to Zelandia and collect more. You should know that most Mages of the middle ranks and above—and especially us Red Robe Mages—have at least a few. There's a saying in the northern reaches of the Coriel Continent: 'A Red Robe who can't cast a fireball isn't a proper Red Robe; one who can't summon monsters isn't a capable Red Robe; and one who doesn't want to become a lich after death can't possibly be a powerful Red Robe.' So most of us Red Robe Mages study these schools of magic as well."

"Oh? Then it sounds like you aren't a proper or powerful Red Robe Mage, Fischer," Li Wei said with a laugh.

"Uh..." Fischer had tried to please his Master and ended up digging himself a hole. He wanted to slap himself twice. With a wry smile, he scratched his bald head. "I'm just a bit of a specialist. But if you let me reconnect to the Weave, my Evocation Magic definitely won't disappoint you, Master! I'm not just boasting—"

"Enough." Li Wei waved off the rest of his words and said seriously, "That's a good suggestion. In my capacity as Chairman of Hogg Mining, I hereby authorize you, Fischer, to return to Zelandia in my name and collect the coordinates of various planes. Go."

"Yes!" Fischer answered, delighted, and left.

Li Wei smiled as he watched Fischer walk away. How could he not know what Fischer was up to? He was simply hoping to make a copy for himself while collecting the coordinates on Li Wei's behalf. After all, coordinates to other planes were valuable commodities, too.

Among Mages, knowledge was always a harder currency than money.

But Li Wei only needed the results. Whatever Fischer managed to get out of it could be his reward. Li Wei wasn't that petty.

After Fischer left, Li Wei bent down to look at the last one remaining, Remlu, his expression grave.

"Remlu, I need your Slime clan to do something for me!"

"Mm?" A big question mark rose above Remlu's soft little head.

"Gather your clan in this Thirteenth Floor Mine Area. Have them dig around this thing while keeping watch, and don't let any intelligent creatures get close!"

"Mm!" Remlu bobbed her little head, apparently quite happy to accept the task.

"One more thing! If you hear any call from the unknown, don't answer. Don't answer. Don't answer! Do you understand?"

"Mm..." The little creature seemed a bit frightened by Li Wei's stern, solemn manner.

"Don't worry too much. When you're on your own, you generally don't have many thought processes. You're like ghosts without any sense of self. Even if it eventually awakens, it'll most likely ignore you. So you Silent Ones are actually among the safest.

"The only problem is that you're still a little too weak. Wait a moment."

As he spoke, Li Wei bit down on one of his own claws while Remlu watched expectantly.

"Creeeek—"

An extremely shrill, piercing sound rang out amid bursts of sparks. The scales all over Li Wei's body bristled, and he quickly stopped, afraid of waking the giant before him.

"Damn, are my scales really that tough? I'll leave it for now. You'll just have to keep eating my waste and evolve slowly." Li Wei sounded frustrated.

"..." Remlu.

Li Wei reached out and tapped Remlu's little head with one claw.

"From today on, you are my Silent Ones!"

Thank you to [Zi丿Su] for the 500-reward, to [xiaotang246] for the 200-reward, and to [Muye Canglan] for the 100-reward.