When a person has enough talent to learn something quickly, learning no longer becomes a tedious and difficult task. At least for Garon, this was the case.
"Master, I'm amazed by your talent in Imaska language," the Imaska Magic Ring said to Garon.
In just under a week, Garon had completely mastered the Imaska language, a language comprised of both text and symbols and more complex than simpler languages like the common tongue, which Garon could have learned in a day.
"Do all of your masters learn the Imaska language?" Garon gently touched the Imaska Magic Ring and asked.
"Yes, but not everyone can fully comprehend it."
Those who couldn't fully understand the Imaska language would find it challenging to comprehend the knowledge recorded in the mechanic's legacy.
At Garon's request, the Imaska Magic Ring once again displayed the light screen containing the mechanic's legacy.
A week ago, Garon couldn't understand the floating texts and symbols, but now they were as clear to him as the common tongue and Dragonic, comprehensible in every way.
"Mechanic Legacy Chapter One: The Art of Mechanism Enchantment."
"Mechanic Legacy Chapter Two: Mechanical Materials."
"Mechanic Legacy Chapter Three: Mechanical Energy Sources."
"..."
"Mechanic Legacy Chapter Nine: The Construction of Giant Mechanics."
Garon focused on the first chapter about mechanism enchantment.
For a new system of magic, starting from the basics and gradually advancing to more profound knowledge was essential. Garon was particularly interested in the ancient Imaska Empire's legacy. He didn't necessarily have to follow the path of a mechanic, but learning different systems could enhance his understanding of the essence of magic. Garon had always valued the power of magic.
Returning to the subject at hand, when Garon focused on the chapter of enchantment, the light screen presented by the Imaska Magic Ring flickered like pages turning, and the Imaska text changed to new content.
"Mechanics is the art of intertwining magic and machinery."
"Enchantment, in short, means infusing the power of magic into machinery, the first and most critical step in creating mechanics."
Garon murmured to himself, his mind gradually immersing in mastering the knowledge of mechanics.
At this time, Garon was in his main nest in the Far North Ice Field.
Inside the gold and silver interwoven fortress nest, Una looked at Garon, who was in a state of intense concentration, muttering to himself as if chanting spells. She couldn't help but cover her ears.
Garon had a bad habit.
When reading new knowledge, if undisturbed, he would subconsciously recite it aloud. Since Garon read quickly, he spoke quickly, sounding like chanting spells to other creatures.
Una perked up her tail and waved it in front of Garon.
However, Garon, captivated by the light screen of the Imaska Magic Ring, didn't notice Una's antics.
"How can he find such a boring thing so interesting? He's ignoring me now."
Una didn't know much about magic; her spells were learned directly through the legacy of the dragon. Spell knowledge was profound and obscure, and Una found it tedious to learn voluntarily.
She glanced at the sparse treasures around her and shook her head slightly.
"When will Garon bring back the magical gems?"
Feeling bored, Una started piling up the coins around Garon.
Garon, unaware of her actions, continued to be absorbed in his world.
Half an hour later, a small mound almost burying Garon's head appeared in the dragon's nest. Surrounded by energy, it was secured from sliding down. Una looked at her creation with a satisfied and mischievous smile, then used her energy to form a sound barrier and fell asleep.
Time ticked away, and aside from the echoing dragon whispers, the atmosphere in the nest became peaceful and calm.
Cain Continent, the Second Imaska Empire, Magic Ship Dockyard.
Huge magical ships were docked on the mountain tracks, bustling with countless ant-like personnel moving among them like gears in a giant machine, each performing their tasks.
At the top of the mountain, in the Ship Captain's Council Hall, a long table over ten meters long was set in the spacious hall, with expensive northern icebird plush on the floor and wall lamps with an ancient Imaska Empire style.
As time passed, people dressed in ship captain uniforms like Grantham's arrived at the council hall.
Their arrival gradually filled the once-empty space.
After about fifteen minutes, many people sat on both sides of the long table in the middle of the council hall.
Those present were captains of various magical fleets of the Second Imaska Empire.
Their faces were grave and silent.
In this heavy atmosphere, the air in the council hall seemed to stagnate, as if dark clouds loomed over the not-too-large hall, creating a frighteningly low air pressure.
In this almost stagnant air.
A few minutes later, a captain with furrowed brows slowly started to speak.
"I think everyone is aware of the incident with the 21st Magical Fleet."
"Captain Grantham led the 21st Magical Fleet to explore a demiplane and has not sent any message back to the empire. We have now passed our safety deadline."
"What this means, everyone understands."
The safety deadline referred to a magical fleet venturing to other plane worlds needing to send a message back to the empire within a certain time.
Now that the deadline had passed without any news from Grantham's fleet.
The empire's fleet had tried to contact Grantham across planes using large mechanics but received no response.
This wasn't the first time the empire's fleet had encountered such a situation.
After all, in the many plane worlds, there might be forces far stronger than a magical fleet. It was normal for a fleet to venture out and never return. Every member of each fleet was prepared for this.
"The bad news is, the coordinates of the demiplane visited by the 21st Magical Fleet have disappeared."
"And the seventh Imaska artifact, in Grantham's hands, was lost with him in that demiplane."
The value of the artifact was more important than a magical fleet.
All the captains understood this.
The Second Imaska Empire would not allow an artifact to be lost. They treasured the legacy of the mechanics and did not want to see the emergence of other mechanic empires.
Another captain sighed and continued, "Once the imperial family hears this news, the other fleets will be questioned."
The Second Imaska Empire supplied the magical fleets with vast resources, and other departments of the empire had long been critical of this.
Now that the legacy artifact was lost, it gave them a reason to make trouble.
If not handled well, the days ahead for the magical fleets would be difficult.
"Gentlemen, our only purpose in gathering here is to find a way to lock the coordinates of that demiplane and retrieve the Imaska Magic Ring. We all know the importance of the empire's artifact, and the Imaska Magic Ring must not be lost."
The captains began to discuss.
Suggestions were made and rejected, their brows tightly furrowed as they pondered feasible solutions.
The sealed crystal wall of the Lava Demiplane made many typical solutions ineffective.
Without coordinates, in the vast expanse of plane worlds, even 420 magical fleets couldn't locate the Lava Demiplane, let alone 42. If they had such ability, they would have already found the location of the Faerûn continent.
After discussing for several hours, the voices in the council hall gradually diminished, eventually falling silent. The captains of the magical fleets sat with locked brows, visibly agitated.
Finally, one captain let out a deep sigh.
"We can't solve this alone; we need the help of the imperial family."
"Everyone, we have no other choice."
"Report the loss of the Imaska artifact to the imperial family."
The Imaska artifacts were interlinked.
Gathering the remaining six artifacts and amplifying their connection with mechanics could penetrate countless plane worlds and locate the lost artifact.
To gather the six artifacts, only the imperial family could issue the command.
It wouldn't be easy to gather all the artifact holders, who held high positions and had their own tasks. Gathering them would impact other aspects of the empire significantly, and constructing the mechanics to penetrate countless plane worlds was also challenging.
"It's the only way."
Without a better solution, the other captains agreed.
To avoid further accidents, the loss of the seventh Imaska artifact must be reported to the imperial family as soon as possible. This could make the future of the magical fleets difficult, but there was no other way. In the face of the bigger picture, this had to be done.
So, the imperial family soon learned of the loss of the Imaska Magic Ring.
The imperial family reacted immediately.
The power to annihilate the 21st Magical Fleet and seal the crystal wall indicated a formidable opponent. But the Second Imaska Empire highly valued the legacy artifacts.
They could not sit idly by and lose the artifact.
The imperial family swiftly issued orders, and one by one, the artifact holders received commands to return to the empire. At the same time, the mechanics to amplify the artifacts' connection were being rapidly constructed.
A golden butterfly fluttered and danced in the air, eventually landing on Una's nose.
Una curiously watched the golden butterfly.
About the size of one of Garon's scales, it was made entirely of shimmering gold. Between the hollow golden butterfly wings, there were glimmers of magical light. Closer inspection revealed magical symbols and spell patterns etched onto the butterfly, with magic flowing through them.
"So this is mechanics? Quite fun."
Una reached out her dragon claw to catch the small golden butterfly.
But as soon as she got close, the golden butterfly fluttered its wings and flew up, skillfully avoiding Una's claw under Garon's control, then darted around her at great speed, far more agile than a real butterfly.
"Make me some little mechanics to play with too."
Una failed to catch it and didn't try again. She turned to Garon and spoke softly.
On the other side, Garon smiled gently and said, "No problem, but I've just started with mechanics and can't create very high-quality ones yet."
Garon withdrew his spiritual power from the golden butterfly.
It stopped abruptly and fell onto a pile of coins.
This was the simplest and most basic mechanic, requiring active control by the mechanic. Once control was lost, it lacked even the most basic autonomous action capability. High-level mechanics, however, had intelligence comparable to sentient beings.
Magic gave life to cold machinery.
Compared to constructs Garon had seen before, mechanics were more intricate and versatile, while constructs were mostly for war. The mechanic's legacy included methods to build war golems.
Garon's ability to create mechanics, even basic ones, shortly after accessing the mechanic's legacy, was exceptionally fast.
Among the previous holders of the Imaska Magic Ring, Garon's progress in mechanics was among the best.
This was despite him not focusing all his energy on the mechanic's legacy.
However, Garon's greatest gain from the mechanic's legacy wasn't the methods of creating mechanics.
Mechanics were, after all, external objects. Garon disliked relying on external powers and preferred his innate abilities. In the mechanic's legacy, there were many ancient mechanics runes.
These runes were mainly used to imprint on machinery, giving it the power of magic and turning it into mechanics.
Some of these runes stabilized the energy core of the mechanics.
Garon's golden butterfly was a trivial creation that didn't require these runes.
However, in the Giant Mechanics chapter, the runes stabilizing the energy core of the gigantic mechanics, hundreds of meters tall and weighing thousands of tons, caught Garon's eye.
The time vortex was wildly unstable.
Garon couldn't directly use these mechanics runes but could gain insights and apply them alongside the runes shown by future Garon and Golden Garon. He slowly refined his own runes to more effectively stabilize temporal power.
The Imaska Magic Ring's protective power also came into play. Garon had attempted many times, and the chaotic time vortex, under the influence of the Imaska Magic Ring and new runes, was almost stable enough to form a doorway.
"Garcon, how old are you now?" Una looked at Garon and suddenly asked.
Garon paused slightly.
"Ten years old."
A ten-year-old dragon was still in the juvenile stage.
Una nodded, then blinked her light purple eyes and said, "I'm thirteen years older than you. I'm already twenty-three."
After a pause, Una thoughtfully continued, "Hmm, in two more years, I'll be twenty-five and enter the young adult dragon stage."
From twenty-five to fifty years old, dragons were considered young adults, a stage where dragons in all aspects became mature.
Una was about to reach this stage.
"What's up?" Garon didn't understand why Una suddenly brought this up and asked curiously.
Una seemed to be pondering something and was interrupted by Garon's question. She quickly shook her head and said, "Nothing, nothing. I was just thinking about age, just asking."
Garon nodded and didn't pursue the matter further.
After studying the mechanics runes for a while, Garon said to the bored Una, "Let's try cross-temporal teleportation again."
Due to the draining nature of merging energy and temporal power, Garon had been experimenting with a small time vortex alone for a long time, rarely combining powers with Una.
He was now more adept at stabilizing the time vortex and it was time to test at full power.
"Okay," Una immediately replied upon hearing Garon's words.
Immediately, Garon focused his mind and steadily gazed at the river of time.
Temporal power radiated from his body, condensing into a force.
Centered around Garon's temporal power, the river of time was stirred, causing evident ripples at a rapid pace. As the power of time continuously poured in, the once calmly flowing river of time became increasingly violent.
A high-speed spinning vortex appeared in Garon's vision.
The more temporal power infused, the larger and more violent the vortex became.
Soon, the time vortex reached its limit, only a few meters in diameter, still too small for Garon's size to pass through.
"You can release the energy now," Garon said.
Hearing Garon's words, Una didn't hesitate. She had been ready for a while and now controlled the omnipresent energy to enter the time vortex, intertwining with the temporal power in an instant.
Energy acted like a catalyst.
The moment it entered the time vortex and mingled with the temporal power, the already maximal vortex expanded wildly again. On the calm surface of the river of time, this all-consuming vortex grew larger.
With Garon and Una's growth, these two legendary dragons had finer control over their powers.
Unlike the first time they created a time vortex, this one slowly grew to a diameter large enough for a super-giant dragon to pass through, emanating a mysterious aura perceivable even by ordinary creatures.
Garon could enter if he wished.
However, this wildly chaotic vortex might take him anywhere – possibly to the end of time or the beginning of the universe, filled with uncertainty and danger.
Uncontrollable temporal power was still extremely dangerous for Garon.
"We can maintain this level of energy input," Garon communicated telepathically with Una.
The larger the vortex, the harder it was to control.
This size, just enough for passage, was perfect.
However, strong suction forces were emanating from the time vortex, drawing Garon's temporal power and Una's energy, leading to numerous failures.
Garon wasted no time.
Temporal power and magic together constructed numerous illusory runes, entering the time vortex continuously, integrating with it, and gradually stabilizing the chaotic time.
The Imaska Magic Ring flew out from his left wrist, the crystals dispersing and surrounding the time vortex.
The Imaska Magic Ring shone brightly, enveloping the time vortex.
Garon's focus was entirely on the time vortex.
Ignoring the consumption of temporal power and magic, countless illusory runes formed with the movement of his claw, entering the time vortex.
Una watched the time vortex intently.
Under her gaze, the rapid rotation of the time vortex gradually slowed.
The immense suction also weakened, its scale no longer expanding, confined within Garon's control.
As time passed, Garon's temporal power was 80% depleted, and his magic significantly drained. Despite his concentration causing fatigue, his eyes sparkled with vitality.
He had a strong intuition that he was about to succeed.
Garon had initially thought several more attempts were needed and didn't hope for success in one go. He underestimated his current abilities.
One rune after another entered the now-stable time vortex, shimmering and floating within.
Finally, under Garon's control, a perfectly circular stable portal appeared before him.
Its body was the no longer wildly spinning time vortex, surrounded by a faint ring of runes, with the Imaska Magic Ring among them. Countless runes together stabilized the time vortex, restraining its violent power.
"We've finally succeeded!" Garon's eyes showed genuine joy.
Different times represented different spaces, and Garon decided to name this ring-shaped portal the Space-Time Portal.
Its form differed from Golden Garon's Golden Gate, but its function was similar.
Garon had drawn inspiration from the Golden Gate displayed by Golden Garon.
Under Garon's will, the Imaska Magic Ring controlling the Space-Time Portal slowly shrank, finally held in his hand like an exquisitely crafted mirror emitting strange energy.
Contained within were vast amounts of temporal power and energy. Once stabilized, they no longer dissipated randomly. As long as the Imaska Magic Ring remained, it was a physical portal similar to the Lava Stone Gate.
"The Imaska Magic Ring and mechanics runes have been a great help," Garon sincerely thanked the Second Imaska Empire.
Without either of these, he couldn't have completed the Space-Time Portal so quickly.
Garon had thought that based on his research progress, it might take until his twenties to succeed. However, the legacy and artifact of the Second Imaska Empire significantly shortened this timeline.
Garon almost wanted to go to the Emperor of the Second Imaska Empire and sincerely tell him how useful their artifact and legacy were!
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