Dragon Tribulation of All Realms

Chapter 247 - As expected, he still wanted to be a faith warrior.

Wu Chen hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.

Wu Chen stopped speaking but then wanted to.

Wu Chen's words were on the tip of his tongue—

“Dust, Dust,” Hera spoke first, a half-smile playing on her lips. “What has turned you into this? So young, and you've lost even the slightest bit of drive and adventurous spirit?”

Ah this...

“You still haven’t adjusted, Dust.” She shook her head and continued walking forward. The wind flowing through the forest seemed less cold, and their steps gradually pointed south. “You are no longer burdened by destiny, you are no longer pushed forward by external forces, but can follow your own desires, your own preferences, and go to places that interest you.”

"You don't actually enjoy using magic that much, do you? You were just driven by the destiny you carried, which forced you to choose efficiency over personal preference..."

Wu Chen's eye twitched; he felt he needed to correct himself. That is, he did indeed have an unusual fondness for fireball spells…

“I can see that you actually prefer hand-to-hand combat and close-quarters fighting. Magic should be a supporting tool for you rather than the main purpose of your actions—you want to become a magic warrior, right?”

Wu Chen fell silent. He had to admit that Hera did indeed have a remarkably sharp eye.

I would indeed choose to fight for faith if given the choice, and as a warrior, I would naturally stand on the front lines. And since I'm on the front lines... how could I not take risks?

The two stopped.

Hera's arrow appeared before their eyes, its tip piercing the heart of a stag. A single, deadly strike, swift and efficient. Hera then raised her dagger once more.

"Besides exploring magic, I actually quite enjoy hunting—finding the vital points, seizing the opportunity, and then striking decisively with the most swift and decisive means... Sometimes, in my spare time from academic research, I'll venture to the Ghost Sea north of the academy, carrying only a small boat and a bundle of harpoons. Hmm... don't you think I wouldn't personally go fishing?"

Wu Chen indeed thought so.

No, that's not necessarily true.

He watched as Hera swiftly and decisively cut up the unfortunate deer, sharing with him the fresh, steaming, and nutritious animal heart and liver, and a distant memory of a game immediately surfaced in his mind.

"Hermes Mora would expend a great deal of energy and resources, even sacrificing precious esoteric knowledge, for a novel method of walrus skinning."

She didn't stop—she just finished peeling off the deerskin.

"Is it something that has already happened, or something that hasn't happened yet?"

"Something that hasn't happened yet."

"Then it definitely wants more than just a walrus skinning method—is it something related to Morrowind Province and Southum?"

“Yes.” Wu Chen looked around, keeping watch for her for the time being. “The first dragonborn, Miraak. It is currently sealed within the anomaly of Thorsham. However, the anomaly of Mora now essentially belongs to him.”

"That's why Hermes was so easy to talk to in Windhelm." This statement didn't surprise Hera. After butchering the venison and removing the organs and bones, she used the wild deer's blood to draw a magic circle different from the previous wolf ritual.

"Dust, that projectile."

Wu Chen handed her the Infinite Desert Eagle.

"This is called a pistol. It uses the expansion of gas caused by a chemical reaction to propel a metal bullet, thus causing a penetrating and lethal effect."

“Yes, I’ve seen similar things in the library. They’re commonly found in the ruins of Dwarf, but their specifications and styles are completely different from the one you have.” Hera placed the pistol in the magic circle, followed by a series of multiple incantations that didn’t interfere with her speech. “But the one in your hand is special, isn’t it? I can sense that it hides some kind of secret deep within, and it’s not just simple power.”

One by one, the runes on the magic circle lit up, finally emitting a brilliant light. Seconds later, a ball of azure flame leaped and burned away the remaining remains of the wild deer, but the two deer eyeballs, now like glass beads after the fire, remained in the center of the magic circle. She returned the gun to Wuchen and continued chanting over the deer's eyeballs. Until a magic rune she had drawn emerged from the depths of the deer's eyeballs. And in the next moment, she pressed them together until both eyeballs shattered.

An illusion appeared before them: a magnificent spectacle, a vast, seemingly endless wall of ice. And deep within the wall, a faint light shimmered.

"……what is that?"

“I don’t know either.” Hera tossed the fragments into the air, and the fine dust drifted south. “I strengthened the invisible bond between you and this ‘pistol’ with the souls of animals, thus creating a resonance effect—this item belongs to you, and your ownership of it is even above the destiny I know. And you must have brought more than one item like this into this world.”

“There’s one right under that ice city wall… well, it happens to be in the south. I think you’d be quite interested in recovering lost items, or do you have other plans?”

not at all.

However, Wu Chen recalled Hera's earlier words.

He realized that he wasn't the only one feeling lost in this new world—Hera herself didn't know what she should do or achieve in this unfamiliar place. Perhaps the ultimate goal was the confirmed return to Nirn, but before that, there needed to be a guiding principle to support the plan.

Reshaping the soul and regaining the ability to cast spells could be one of them.

Collect lost items and retrieve all equipment; it can also be a single task.

But these are all secondary issues, details that can be ignored or managed. What both she and I need is an ultimate goal that serves as the main axis.

“…I have a plan,” he said. “Senior, I need your help.”

“I’d like to hear more.” Hera smiled. She wasn’t surprised.

“I’m looking for something, something I don’t know how to describe to you, but I’m certain it exists somewhere in this world. This thing should be impossible to locate by any supernatural means. And even normal sight and hearing… might not be able to detect it.”

"But it still belongs to you, doesn't it?" Hera smoothed her long hair behind her. "You still own it; it's just not in your hands now?"

"You can think so."

“Then you don’t need to be in such a hurry.” She shook her head slightly and said, “Since you’re certain that it can’t be observed by conventional magical means, it means that its existence is already above all magic, miracles, and even the rules of the world. It will inevitably return to your hands sooner or later. Ah… I understand.”

Hera paused for a moment, then looked in a direction slightly to the south.

"Let me ask you this, Duster. Have you already set your life's purpose, a goal that you yourself would call a 'grand ambition'?"

"There is one." — To uncover the secrets of the otherworldly projection phenomenon and, in the end, normalize everything.

"If we head south and help the people of this world to break free from the fate of the struggle between the god of cold and the god of red, between long summer and eternal winter—would that conflict with your grand ambition?"

"Not at all."

“Then you do indeed have a very great wish.” Hera nodded, took the bow from her back, and held several arrows in her hand. “And coincidentally, I also just had a wish.”

“I intend to explore a system.” She drew her bow, and Wu Chen gripped his sword. Their gazes turned south together. “A magical system that can still function even when traversing worlds, and can quickly adapt to the local environment even when arriving in a completely unfamiliar new world. And coincidentally, both now and before, we have been on the same path.”

Hand, release. Arrow, release.

"And the obstacles that need to be cleared are exactly the same."

(End of this chapter)