At this time, Garon was unaware that the Imaskar Empire was about to pay a price for their actions.
The silver dragon, hidden in the Dragonjaw Mountains, was studying Eternal Life, a tenth-level spell. A variety of wild beasts and some magical creatures, captured by the Blood Howl tribe, were imprisoned in Garon's lair.
These creatures were the subjects of Garon's experiment with Eternal Life.
"Eternal Life operates by seizing the lifeforce of other beings to extend one's own."
"However, I lack the concept of lifespan. For an immortal being like me, what effect would Eternal Life have?"
Under the majesty of the silver dragon, although the captured creatures had not yet perished, they had all fallen into unconsciousness. The lair was utterly silent, filled only with the rhythmic breathing of the dragon.
Garon pondered his question in silence.
"After all, it's a tenth-level spell; it should have some effect on me."
Eternal Life was no ordinary spell.
This spell was developed by Iolum for legendary grand arcanists, and only they could cast tenth-level spells. Other arcanists couldn't use Eternal Life to achieve pseudo-immortality.
Then, Garon slightly closed his eyes.
In his mind, he meticulously crafted the complex spell model. Magic erupted, connecting to the omnipresent Weave, drawing vast elemental energies from its depths.
Although Eternal Life borrowed some necromantic runes, it still utilized an arcane framework. The casting of this tenth-level spell was inseparable from the Weave, as Iolum had said. From birth, arcanists breathe air imbued with the Weave, and their arcane system is built upon it.
This makes it difficult for them to create spells outside the Weave system.
Back to the topic, this was Garon's first attempt at casting Eternal Life after learning it. His lack of experience made the construction of the spell model slow but steady and orderly. As long as he wasn't disturbed, he would be able to cast the spell.
However,
The avatar of the Goddess of Misfortune appeared not far from Garon.
She emerged at the southwestern edge of the Dragonjaw Mountains.
The moment she appeared, a vast divine presence emanated, not as bright and gentle as a light deity's, but bringing an ominous sense of evil and terror, inviting an irresistibly peering fascination.
But this presence vanished in an instant.
Garon, who had encountered gods before, sensed the fleeting divine power even in that split-second.
"An avatar of a god?"
Garon narrowed his eyes.
However, the disturbance of the divine power interrupted his focus, halting the casting of Eternal Life.
The surrounding Weave violently collapsed.
Yet at the moment of collapse, an invisible and omnipresent force repaired it.
Garon wasn't overly concerned with the backlash from the failed Eternal Life spell. Reacting promptly, the backlash didn't cause him much harm.
After briefly observing the repaired Weave, Garon shook his wings, leaving the lair amidst swirling winds, and rose thousands of meters into the sky. His actions summoned clouds that obscured his form.
"Coming near the Imaskar Empire, is she here for this mechanized empire?"
Garon concealed his aura, scanning the Dragonjaw Mountains and focusing on the initial detection spot.
Perhaps an evil deity was responsible. The instant of chaotic and catastrophic feeling made Garon apprehensive.
Since it was nearby, Garon wasn't sure if this deity was specifically targeting him or the Imaskar Empire for some nefarious purpose. Hence, the wary Garon sought to locate her.
The avatar of the goddess didn't conceal herself.
Thus, Garon saw her.
She was an incredibly beautiful girl with antler-like decorations on her head, which were actually part of her body. Her skin was deathly pale, as if belonging to a cold corpse, and she wore a black gauze skirt.
Her chillingly pale complexion was the most bizarre and unsettling feature.
Meanwhile,
The avatar of the Goddess of Misfortune lifted her head, her eyes filled with madness, destroying her beautiful visage.
Her snow-white hair moved on its own, fluttering wildly in the air. Her gaze penetrated thousands of meters, tearing through the clouds to meet Garon's.
"To conceal from the eyes of a god is indeed impossible."
Garon's heart tensed.
With his strength, the avatar must have sensed his presence the moment she arrived.
Then, the girl with antlers suddenly disappeared from Garon's view.
Simultaneously,
Amidst a delicate, harmless giggle, her figure appeared from the high sky, hovering only a few hundred meters from Garon.
"Fascinating to notice my arrival."
"Do you find me attractive?"
The avatar of the Goddess of Misfortune looked at the enormous silver dragon and asked with a smile.
Garon was slightly taken aback but calmly said, "I cannot deny your beauty."
However, her demeanor suddenly turned cold, "Peering at a goddess without permission, are you prepared to pay the price?"
Garon's gaze sharpened.
Could it be she came specifically to provoke him?
Frankly, in the material world, he wasn't too afraid of such a divine avatar.
Divine avatars wield godly authority and are much stronger than ordinary legendary creatures, but their strength varies. A dire serpent avatar like the one he faced before is rare. Garon didn't feel a fatal threat from this antlered girl; she wasn't an unbeatable existence for him.
However, Garon didn't disrespect deities.
Unless necessary, he didn't want to provoke a deity's hostility needlessly.
Garon replied neither submissively nor arrogantly, "Mighty deity, your arrival near my territory compelled me to understand your intentions."
"My intentions?"
The girl with antlers blinked, her gaze sharp and icy, "If I came with hostile intent towards you, what would you do?"
Garon pondered, then looked at the avatar and said earnestly, "Then, I would like to taste the flavor of a divine avatar."
Mighty dragon aura erupted, unfurling like a storm from the silver dragon.
Nearly overwhelming dragon might parted the clouds, revealing a clear blue sky within several kilometers.
In this tense atmosphere, Garon braced for an imminent battle with the avatar.
Unexpectedly, the girl with antlers first looked sharply, "Another ignorant creature who disrespects the gods," then suddenly brightened up with a warm smile, "But I admire your courage."
"Mighty dragon, you have earned the favor of me, the great Goddess of Misfortune."
Garon thought to himself, favor from a goddess of misfortune was not something he desired.
Judging by her behavior, Garon guessed she probably wasn't here for him but happened to encounter him.
The avatar sensed an unfathomable strength in Garon, possibly one of the top beings in the material world. Ordinary divine avatars would struggle against him, and the Goddess of Misfortune had her own objectives, not wanting to waste energy on Garon.
"It is an honor to meet you, beautiful Goddess of Misfortune."
Garon offered her a way out.
The girl with antlers scrutinized Garon, "My divine realm welcomes powerful and robust dragons like you."
Pausing, she extended her red tongue, licking her lips seductively at Garon, "If you wish to enter my realm and become my messenger, I will grant you the opportunity to be close to me, to a goddess."
Just this?
It was nothing but a ploy for free labor without any tangible benefits.
Garon decisively refused, "I am honored by your favor, goddess, but I have no intention of leaving the material realm."
Upon hearing Garon's response, the Goddess of Misfortune's gaze suddenly chilled.
"Refusing a god's invitation, how unwise."
The atmosphere froze again, and Garon narrowed his eyes, ready to act.
However, to his bewilderment, the Goddess of Misfortune once again beamed, her face blooming like a flower, "I do like proud dragons."
Garon: .
Her facial expressions flipped like pages, each moment different, making her true intentions inscrutable.
"I have matters to attend to, farewell."
Unwilling to tangle further with this evil deity, Garon turned and left.
The Goddess of Misfortune watched Garon's glittering figure in the sunlight and soon vanished from the high sky.
Garon flew to a mountaintop in the Dragonjaw Mountains, his claws firmly grasping the rugged rocks, gazing towards the Imaskar Empire. If not for him, her appearance near the Imaskar Empire, coupled with the Empire's recent actions, suggested she was probably targeting them.
"The Imaskar Empire seeks to dominate Faerûn."
"But this mechanized empire doesn't worship deities. If they succeed, the gods will lose many sources of faith."
Normally, if an evil deity like the Goddess of Misfortune incarnated to interfere in worldly wars, the benevolent deities would not ignore it and would likely intervene.
But this time,
The benevolent gods chose to watch coldly.
Being good didn't mean they wouldn't get angry.
Several of the conquered nations by the Imaskar Empire had many followers of benevolent deities, but the mechanists showed no mercy, flaunting the empire's arrogance and pride.
This angered the benevolent gods.
"Will the destruction of the Imaskar Empire be caused by this goddess?"
The thought barely formed before Garon dismissed it.
The Goddess of Misfortune could bring some trouble to the Imaskar Empire.
But destroying a material realm's magic empire wasn't easy.
"However, this might be an opportunity."
The silver dragon surveyed the Imaskar Empire from the mountaintop.
Time quietly passed.
The avatar of the Goddess of Misfortune roamed the lands of the Imaskar Empire.
She strolled through bustling streets, but curiously, her conspicuous appearance drew no attention, as if she was invisible, unable to be seen by others. Passing through oncoming pedestrians and buildings like a ghost, those who came into contact with her inexplicably felt a chill.
As she moved, her misfortune spread, inch by inch infiltrating the Empire's territory.
A divine avatar might not possess the power to annihilate an empire or even be as strong as an ancient dragon, but through divine authority, they could do things legendary creatures could only dream of.
A week later, the avatar traversed the Empire's territory, reaching its center.
In front of a grand sculpture made of metal and gears, the girl with antlers paused.
Her form had become more ethereal.
This avatar's divine power was now less than half.
The missing power was obviously used elsewhere.
"Many do not understand why gods are gods."
The Goddess of Misfortune smiled malevolently.
Her bell-like laughter resonated, drawing the attention of passersby, seeking the source of the sound.
"Mortals."
"Face the wrath of a god!"
Her body suddenly disintegrated into streams of misfortune, spreading in all directions.
To avenge the Imaskar Empire, she sacrificed a precious avatar, expending millennia of divine power, casting a terrible curse of misfortune on the Empire. All this happened silently, with the Imaskar Empire unaware.
Only some powerful legendary mechanists suddenly felt an ominous intuition.
Their instincts told them something terrible had happened, but they didn't know what.
Meanwhile,
In a dense forest within the Imaskar Empire,
A low-level magical creature, a Plague Bird, flew out of a dark cave.
It hadn't flown far when a lightning-fast figure shot out from the underbrush, biting the Plague Bird in one swift move.
The figure landed, revealing its identity.
A small, pitch-black snake.
The Black Fang Snake, also a low-level magical creature, was influenced by the Goddess of Misfortune's power. Having bitten and killed the Plague Bird and infected by its virus, the snake underwent a terrifying transformation.
Hours later, a human team collecting herbs hurriedly left the forest.
One of them had fallen unconscious.
Two distinct black holes were visible on his ankle.
By the time he was brought back near an Imaskar medical facility, he was dead.
His body was burned afterwards.
However, as the body disintegrated into ashes in the flames, something invisible spread into the air, permeating it silently.
Thus,
A disaster that would sweep the entire Imaskar Empire erupted.
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