The closest elite civilization from here… would take on the order of years to reach. Furthermore, that was using a special transportation tool that allowed them to travel through the sky. They could avoid the dangers of the wilderness that way. The wilderness referred to the unexplored lands outside the boundaries of the Alzar Kingdom, the Xingyuu Empire, and the Zino Kingdom. It was extremely dangerous to pioneer these new lands. Treacherous terrain, wild beasts, and bizarre phenomenon were as common as grass. Perception Realms could easily die! With the ongoing wars, official exploration and expansion stagnated centuries ago. This formed the known human world. Who would have thought that this world, encompassing three civilizations and over five hundred years of history, would be a small, tiny, insignificant speck in the grand world?
This was why Lord Wenmord became baffled that Elizabeth was here. Humanity had yet to develop to the stage where it could be recognized on the global level. Sure, its breadth was vast, but the depth was shallow. They were still fondling their way through the Realms of Mastery and the Core Levels. Their technology level was primitive at best. Through his understanding, it might be impossible for humanity to progress beyond this level. So, why did this superior civilization gain an interest here? Humanity was practically indistinguishable from wilderness! Elizabeth, and possibly humanity, must be hiding a huge secret!
As for those true superpower civilizations… He chuckled darkly. The closest superpower was an insurmountably mind-boggling massive distance away! They existed in locations secluded far away from the rest of the world. Their power was not something that a person could estimate. With one hand, they could crush mountains. With another, they could split oceans. The earth, sky, oceans… Everything would be their play toy. The world was theirs to mold! They would not spare a glance at Sword King Sin's power. Rank 3 combat power? How insignificant! A superpower civilization could truly dominate the entire world, known and unknown! They were invincible! The thought that a superpower would be interested in humanity was laughable!
The more he thought about it, he realized that there was a third option. The world was largely unexplored and unconquered. It was simply too large for one civilization to dominate. Superpower civilizations as well, they had the power to, but it would take an astronomical amount of time to thoroughly explore, expand, develop, and integrate everything. In a cost-to-benefit ratio, the benefits were too few while the costs were too many. These superpowers may want true hegemony over the world, but they valued stability. They did not want to risk their position by devoting all their resources into needless expansion. Therefore, the realm of explored land, even to the more powerful civilizations, slowly expanded, but that was a mere drop in the bucket compared to the true size of the world!
So, this third option focused on these factors. Outside of the jurisdiction of the powerful civilizations, there were all kinds of minor civilizations or organizations existing across the world. Some were small, others were large. Some were weak, others were strong. Some were hidden, others were public. Some were allied, others were independent. Some were righteous, others were evil. The world was far more complicated than the human world of three measly civilizations! Naturally, there were organizations that could nurture a talent like Elizabeth and forge a weapon like the Whiteangel bow. This was by far the most likely option Lord Wenmord considered.
Thinking this, Lord Wenmord's wariness reduced greatly. He might be powerful, but he was not almighty. Elite or superpower civilizations were not something he could match. If it was one of those weaker organizations, then he could handle it. Still, he stayed on the side of caution as he circulated his Magic Energy. Responding to his energy, the Magic Arrays inside the room hummed into life. They were placed on the walls, floor, and ceiling, covering every speck of the room in a strange myriad of runes and lights. They isolated this room from the outside world! These precautions were absolutely necessary if he wanted to use his more powerful methods. Underestimating the detection methods of powerful civilizations would be foolish!
With all the initial preparations complete, Lord Wenmord carefully undid the restraints on his power. He rose from the initial stages of Rank 3 to the peak! While doing so, he continuously placed newer, stronger defenses in the room. Layer upon layer of thick Magical Circles suffused one atop another, creating an impregnable fortress! If Sir Winstin were here, he could attack the room day and night for years and never scratch the surface. Sword King Sin was the same. But Lord Wenmord did not stop. He continued to add denser and more sophisticated layers and arrays, enhancing its power to a ridiculous degree. This single room contained enough power to fend off several armies! That was the bare minimum he was satisfied with.
Once he was done, the room was completely transformed into a bright, spiraling network of closely interlinked spells and arrays. However, none of them interfered with one another! They all collectively worked together, amplifying each other's power by several times! This led to a qualitative transformation to everything as a whole and elevated the defenses to the next level. That was the most impressive part. Like water and fire, there were some elements that simply could not interact well. Forcing them together could create a cataclysmic chain reaction, destroying the entire array or inflicting an enormous backlash to the caster!
But everything worked here to compliment one another. The difficulty of this could not be explained! It revealed an extraordinary level of mastery from Lord Wenmord that no human could match! Thanks to this, he could suppress his aura to become nearly non-existent. If he let his aura rampage outside wantonly, it would be far more destructive than Sword King Sin. Now, he could act freely without risking detection!
He walked forward and raised his hand toward Elizabeth while casting an extremely complex and powerful spell. A faint apparition of Elizabeth emerged in the air, separate from her physical body. It was currently asleep like her, except there seemed to be some struggling. As if she was tangled in a bad nightmare, the apparition tried freeing itself from Lord Wenmord's grasp. But Lord Wenmord sneered. Elizabeth could not escape! Soul search! It was a supremely powerful spell that he could not cast without returning to the peak of Rank 3 combat strength. A comprehensive swarm of information flooded his mind. Everything from Elizabeth's birth right to now, every memory was processed by him! Lord Wenmord sifted through the useless memories and boiled them down to a few interesting ones.
He frowned. The information he was looking for… was absent and it soured his mood instantly. Throughout all of Elizabeth's memories, the only things worthy of note were New Havens and her mother. Lord Wenmord lived an extremely long time and saw many things. A flying island was not exactly new, and he could create one too. But it fell to the same problem as the Whiteangel bow! Indeed, as Ten Dawn Nassandra and Tengon once remarked, the technology used to create and sustain New Havens went far beyond the capabilities of the Zino Kingdom. It had to be made by a supreme existence, far above them! The mystery of humanity continued to grow deeper…
Finally, there was Elizabeth's mysterious mother, Sonae Nor. Lord Wenmord had no recollection of this name, and Elizabeth's memories were just as blank. If she were a powerful figure, then she would leave a trace inevitably somewhere in the world. Unless she spent her entire life curled up hiding somewhere, or she was too weak to enter his notice! Lord Wenmord pondered, but eventually shrugged his shoulders. There was too little information to go by. He noted that he should investigate New Havens personally. However, that would be an unknown time in the future. He was on a tight schedule! Otherwise, he would have handled things gentler like the Xingyuu Empire's Minister Linshi.