The Guardian [Seeking Recommendation Tickets]

As Lord Elrond departed, Gandalf immediately followed.

Thorin Oakenshield and the white-bearded Balin quickly followed suit.

Watching these figures reenact a scene from his memory, Morgan naturally followed without hesitation.

Morgan did not want to miss a single plot point that was guaranteed to increase his system's world exploration progress.

Seeing Morgan rise to leave, Gloin the dwarf beside him hurriedly called out, "Morgan, your roasted sausages are ready."

"You eat them for me."

Morgan waved his hand without looking back.

Hearing this, Gloin immediately grinned, "Then I won't stand on ceremony."

Kili the dwarf watched the back of his "teacher" Morgan, looked at the surrounding dwarves, and asked, "Aren't you all planning to go over and take a look?"

"What's there to see? We wouldn't understand a word of it anyway."

"Not going. Who knows, Gandalf and Thorin might start arguing again in a moment."

"With Gandalf there, and Thorin and Balin too, it makes no difference whether we go or not. Might as well eat more roasted sausages. Honestly, the elves' roasted sausages taste pretty good."

"Hey, Bofur, give me five more skewers of sausage."

"None left. If you want to eat, do it yourself."

"Haha, Bofur has gotten smart."

The moment the group left, the dwarves quickly returned to their boisterous laughter.

Bilbo watched Morgan's retreating figure, hesitated for a moment, then decided to go and see for himself, rising to trot quickly after Morgan.

Lord Elrond passed through a garden and two pavilions with practiced familiarity.

They soon arrived before a wide, open-air observation deck.

The entire deck was situated halfway up a towering mountain in Rivendell.

It looked as if a massive chunk had been carved out of the mountainside.

On the deck, there was nothing but a stand made of transparent crystal that resembled a table.

The front was empty, the surroundings were empty, with nothing to obstruct the view.

On both sides of the deck, two majestic waterfalls thundered down from the heavens, flowing day and night, sending up plumes of mist.

In the night sky, the bright and gentle moonlight poured down, shrouding all things.

When Morgan arrived at the observation deck, Lord Elrond was standing before the crystal stand, spreading out the ancient map from the pale yellow parchment in his hands.

"These moon-letters were written on the eve of a midsummer's night two hundred years ago, under the light of a new moon."

"It seems you were destined to come to Rivendell."

"Fate is with you, Thorin Oakenshield."

"The same moonlight shines upon us both tonight."

Lord Elrond looked at Thorin Oakenshield beside him and spoke slowly.

Not long after Lord Elrond finished speaking, a dark cloud drifted across the clear horizon in the distance, instantly swallowing more than half of the bright full moon, turning it into a sharp crescent.

Immediately following, as the light of the crescent moon shone down, a strange thing happened.

On the ancient map spread across the crystal stand, obscure characters emitting a pale white light suddenly began to emerge.

Watching the changes on the map, Lord Elrond began to speak in a deep, slow voice:

"When the thrush knocks upon the grey stone,"

"The last light of Durin's Day will shine upon the keyhole."

Lord Elrond recited the information hidden in the moon-letters on the map, causing the expressions of Thorin Oakenshield, Gandalf, and Balin to darken.

"What is Durin's Day?"

Lord Elrond suddenly asked.

Gandalf explained, "That is the Dwarves' New Year. It is the day when the last moon of autumn and the first sun of winter will appear in the sky together."

"This is bad news!"

"Summer is over, and it is already autumn. Durin's Day will be here soon."

Thorin Oakenshield said in a deep voice.

"We still have time!"

Standing to the side, the white-bearded Balin, who had understood everything, suddenly spoke up, "But we must be in the right place at the right time."

"Only then, and only then, can we open the door!"

Hearing these words and combining them with the information gleaned from the map, King Elrond finally understood what this group of dwarves intended to do.

King Elrond handed the map back to Thorin Oakenshield and spoke, "So, this is your goal—to enter that mountain?"

Thorin Oakenshield took the map and said calmly, "And what if it is?"

King Elrond said in a deep voice, "There are certainly those who would consider this move unwise."

Gandalf frowned and immediately asked, "To whom are you referring?"

King Elrond turned to look at Gandalf and said sternly, "You are not the only guardian watching over Middle-earth."

King Elrond departed.

On the viewing platform, Thorin Oakenshield, having finally obtained the hidden information on the map, felt both joy and a touch of anxiety.

The joy, naturally, was that the greatest problem for the Company had been solved: he now knew the location of the hidden entrance to the Lonely Mountain.

The anxiety was that it was already early autumn, and the arrival of Durin's Day was not far off.

Yet, they still had a very long journey ahead of them before reaching the Lonely Mountain.

Thorin Oakenshield and the white-bearded Balin were talking incessantly.

Bilbo stood to the side, half-understanding, just going through the motions.

Morgan gazed at the dreamlike night scenery outside the viewing platform, saying nothing.

Gandalf, meanwhile, frowned as he pondered King Elrond's final words.

Soon, Gandalf was the first to leave the viewing platform.

Thorin Oakenshield, Balin, and Bilbo followed one after another.

Only Morgan remained on the viewing platform for a good while, admiring the night view of Rivendell before finally taking his leave.

Once out of the viewing platform, Morgan no longer had the heart for the romantic encounter with a beautiful elf maiden he had initially hoped for.

He walked straight toward the quarters the elves had arranged for him.

When he returned to the small garden, the barbecue party the dwarves were holding around the campfire was still going on.

Morgan scanned the group and noticed that everyone was there except for Bilbo and Thorin Oakenshield.

He tried his best to recall the plot from his memories.

It was then he realized that in the story, those two had gone for a night stroll through Rivendell and had happened to overhear a conversation between Gandalf and Lord Elrond regarding the expedition.

This was also the reason why, in the original plot, Thorin Oakenshield had led the team to leave Rivendell in the middle of the night.

Although the plot had already changed to a certain extent.

Morgan would not trust the plot entirely now, but using it as a rough reference for comparison was still fine.

Thinking of this, Morgan couldn't sit still, as there was more world exploration progress to be gained.

"I have something to discuss with Thorin. Do you know where he went?"

Morgan asked, looking at the line of dwarves.

"Over there, he went for a walk," Balin said, pointing in a certain direction.

Morgan nodded and strode toward the direction Balin had indicated.

But just as he took a step, he suddenly stopped.

"Wait."

"The plot doesn't seem to be like this."

Morgan tapped his head, struggling to recall the movie plot.

Then he remembered: the Hobbit movies seemed to have two versions.

A theatrical version and an extended version.

In the theatrical version, the plot was exactly as he had just recalled.

But in the extended version, the Company stayed in Rivendell for quite a long time.

He had watched the extended, complete version of the plot as well.

It was just that he had watched the theatrical version more often, which was why he hadn't recalled it immediately.

Thinking of this, Morgan immediately turned around and headed back.

He hadn't had a proper night's sleep in over a month.

This time, he was definitely going to sleep his fill.