Just a few hundred meters away from where the crowd had been attacked, Gawain found the cabin, which had been reduced to rubble.

It collapsed between the trees, and the scorched marks suggest that it was destroyed by a fire from the inside out, but the fire did not spread further – perhaps a rain saved the forest in time. The Byron knight checked the remaining traces around the wooden house and judged that the fire should have broken out more than half a month ago.

Hetty, on the other hand, detected an already very thin magic reaction on the spot.

"What we see in the Shadow Realm is supposed to be a reflection," Gawain said his judgment as he looked at the wooden house in the clearing of the forest that had been reduced to ruins, "This wild mage has lived in seclusion in this place for many years, and this is outside the territory, and even Orion will not come, so no one knows that there is a hermit living here." ”

"The problem is...... How did the accident happen? Hetty frowned, "There is only a weak focus of magic here, and the strength of the wild mage who lives here is also very low, even if one of his magic experiments gets out of control and burns down this house, it is impossible to create a long-term projection in the Shadow Realm, and it also generates such a powerful wraith fog...... The magic needed for all of this is not something that a mere wild mage can provide. ”

"Maybe this notebook will answer your questions." Gawain said, handing a worn-out notebook to Hetty.

It was the same note I had gotten from Betty in the Shadow Realm, and it was both the journal and research notes of the nameless mage.

Hetty opened the second half of the note as Gawain instructed and read it carefully.

“…… Ansu 729, the month of fire, XX day. It's been half a year since I moved to this place, and I've found a magic focus on the edge of the Cecil family's territory, and although the strength can't compare to the public magic focus in the City of a Thousand Towers, it's enough to support my lab. The elemental power here is single and stable, and Anne's condition should be relieved.

"Ansu 729, the month of harvest, XX day. Anne's condition seems to be improving, and she hasn't had another seizure in a long time—but I don't know if it's the environment that is working, or if my rituals and potions are really working. The focus of mana here is too weak, and even with the help of the amplification circle, the effect of my ritual will be greatly reduced. Maybe I should reconsider the formulas that I have deduced before...... Although the people in the Esoteric Festival always mock my calculations, I'm out of the Esoteric Society anyway, so they can't control it......

"Ansu 730, Fog Moon, XX day. Those formulas and derivations are exactly as expected! No, it's just as I calculated - the power of Mana Focus has been greatly increased with the new kicker method! With the help of extra magic, I was finally able to start the next phase of Anne's treatment, and although she had barely recurred in the past few months, the treatment had to go on because she couldn't afford any more tossing......

"Ansu 731, the cold month, XX day. After the treatment, Anne was able to get up and walk around, even in order to cook a meal! There were fried sausages and vegetable soups, and I felt like I hadn't eaten anything so delicious in a hundred years – even though the sausages were pasted and salt was forgotten in the vegetable soup...... My treatment has proven to be effective, and as long as there is a steady supply of magic in this focal point, Anne's healing will be just around the corner......"

After that, the diary was more about the writer's daily life with his daughter, and Hetty quickly skimmed over this part until a scribbled record appeared on the last few pages:

"Ansu 734, frost month, XX day. Anne became ill. Damn it!!

"I don't know what went wrong, all the treatments went according to plan, every step of the ritual went wrong, and so did the potions – all for years and never had a problem! But Anne still got sick, and very sick...... More serious than every time before. I have to find the cause as soon as possible. I'm going to jot down all the details, all the ...... I'm going to find out why. Anne will be fine......

"Ansu 734, frost month, XX day. Anne still didn't get better, the new potions didn't work, she was still getting weaker, and ...... is gradually moving away from this world. This morning I saw her hands become clear like a mist, and her face was blistered. The world is rejecting her and pushing her into the Shadow Realm, what should I do......

"Ansu 734, Fog Month, XX day. The damn sun, its dark red patterns seemed to laugh at my weakness! I finally figured out what the problem was, but I couldn't solve it at all...... The elements are being enriched, abnormally enriched, mana is surging, and this weak focus of mana simply can't contain an excess of mana, even if I remove those amplification circles. It would have been wise to keep Anne away from the elemental enrichment at this time, but she had been in this place for too long, and her body resonated with the elemental environment here, and this resonance continued her life...... But it will kill her again!

"Ansu 734, Fog Month, XX day. The magic of the whole region was wrong, churning so violently that the borders of Cecil's territory seemed to have fallen into the legendary sea of magic. I can't reverse the changes in Anne, she's half of her body out of the physical world now, and in the morning she even says she saw the whole room turn black and white. Maybe...... I had to find another way......

"Ansu 735, Fire Moon. The long preparation is finally over, and Anne's weakness has reached its limit.

"This is my only chance, there is no other choice.

"Since I can't let Anne live in the material world, it is better to choose another path.

"The ritual of the Shadow Transformation is documented in the books, but the magic required is unimaginably large, but it may not be impossible for me to do so. I've used a new kicker formula and circle drawing method, and I'm going to use the power of the mana surge. The mana in this area is unusually active, and the energy stored in the mana focus has been suppressed by me for months, and today it is finally enough. Then I just have to wait until the sun rises in the middle and the magic is at its strongest, and I can start transforming.

"Hold on, Anne, Daddy will save you, and Daddy will accompany you to the Shadow Realm, we will live there for a long time, and you will never hurt again."

This is the end of the diary.

Hetty was about to close the journal when Gawain suddenly pointed to the corner of the last page: "There are actually a few words here. ”

Hetty hurriedly looked at it—there was a black ink stain in the corner, and she thought it was a dirt caused by knocking over the inkwell, but now after careful identification, she realized that it was actually scribbled writing on her fingers with ink:

"The magic is out of control...... The sun is red......"

Hetty repeated the words inexplicably: "The sun is red...... How can the sun be red? ”

"Could it be the last time the red spots broke out?" Rebecca suddenly remembered something and said, "Just over half a month ago, there were many more red spots on the surface of the sun than usual. If this wild mage hadn't been very conscious at the time, he might have thought that the sun was red......"

Hetty blinked, as if accepting Rebecca's statement, and then she shook the note in her hand: "If you have this notebook, you can explain a lot of things." It seems that this nameless mage set up a large-scale magic array here in order to cure his daughter's illness, and later came up with the crazy idea of transforming himself and his daughter into a shadow form to continue his life, but his transformation ritual got out of control due to the upsurge of magic power, which led to the fire half a month ago, and also led to the formation of the mist of resentful spirits, and the ...... that the ancestors saw in the shadow world"

"None of this is the point," Gawain interrupted Hetty abruptly, "whether it's the Wraith's Mist or the Shadow Realm Cabin, these can be explained directly in the notes, and I want you to see the details mentioned twice in the notes - one about the dark red pattern on the surface of the sun, and the other about the massive red spot explosion on the surface of the sun. ”

Hetty noticed the serious look on Gawain's face, and then became a little nervous: "Ancestor, these two things ......"

Gao Wen waved his hand: "In addition, the magic power that this wild mage mentioned in his diary is surging, you two should also feel it as mages, right?" ”

Hetty and Rebecca glanced at each other, and nodded at the same time: "There have indeed been a few times of mana upsurge on Cecil's side recently, but it is normal for mana to surge - all the magic power in the world comes from the sun, and the sun is changing all the time, and the magic power on the ground will naturally fluctuate, although the magic surge within the territory has been frequent in recent times, it has not reached the level of concern." ”

Gawain looked at the two of them and said slowly: "In the year 1736 of the Gondor calendar, the Empire reported that a large-scale dark red pattern appeared on the surface of the sun, and in 1738, the largest red spot outbreak in history was observed, and nearly half of the surface of the sun was covered by red patches, and in the same year, twenty-six provinces in the empire reported a large-scale surge of magical power—the surge was not large, but the scope covered nearly two-thirds of the country. In 1739, when the blood day was in the sky, the whole country was shrouded in a dark red canopy, but at that time, there was no catastrophe at that time, but a large number of babies with outstanding magical talents were born, according to records, nearly one-third of the newborns born on that day had natural elemental affinity, and there was even a shortage of resonance stones in various newborn testing institutions, so the court scholars declared that day as the 'Dawn of Magic'. But also in the same year, the largest magical energy supply facility near the Imperial Capital of Gondor, the 'Deep Blue Well', exploded, and the reason for the explosion was that the magic focus where the Deep Blue Well was located was suddenly filled with chaotic and powerful magical power, and the Pure Circle was unable to deal with these chaotic powers, which eventually led to the melting of the hearth......"

Gawain stopped, but Hetty continued with a somewhat pale face, "...... In 1740, the Demon Tide erupted, and the most powerful human empire in history was destroyed in a matter of months......"