novelAscian Runes
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Translator: Shiraishi Editor: TheAlliance
Sky Eyes Oliver was one of the most legendary Heaven Rank Mages from the middle of the 3rd Dynasty, and his influence impacted the entire era.
The Mage Eye that almost every mage mastered these days had been the masterpiece of that Heaven Mage. Oliver was called Sky Eyes because of his unique eyes mentioned in all kinds of legends from the 3rd Dynasty.
It was said that his sky blue eyes could see through the fabric of reality, through the fog of time, and even follow the path of fate. In his heyday, Oliver was the most powerful Astrologian of the empire, and even the emperor himself would act like a student in front of Oliver.
But in his later years, Oliver was very unfortunate.
Many people thought that because of seeing such things while only having a mortal body, Oliver suffered from the judgement of fate. By the age of eighty, Oliver had already gone insane. He would shut himself in his tower, crazily researching Ascian Runes and would spend years without leaving his tower. Even if he occasionally stepped out, he didn't look like a human, more like a ghost. He didn't have the same grace he had in the past and would crazily mutter, "Run! Run! He is approaching..."
At first, many people asked him who that "he" was.
But soon, people found out that this kind of question would agitate Oliver even more. A crazy Heaven Mage was simply a disaster to the empire. It triggered huge disturbances every time. One time, Oliver almost killed the emperor on the spot.
Fortunately, the three Court Mages acted and kept the irrational Oliver under control.
The emperor took into account the great contributions that Oliver had brought to the empire and didn't punish the Sky Eyes Mage that had fallen to madness. He sent some people to escort Oliver back to his tower and then had his three Court Mages seal the tower.
This disguised imprisonment lasted for a hundred years.
During that century, Oliver didn't try to leave his tower. Someone would visit him from time to time, but they didn't find any differences. Oliver was crazily researching information about the Ascian Dynasty while mumbling.
"Run! Run! He is approaching..."
But this time, no one asked him for any clarification...
After an entire century, Oliver still remained in that state of madness. As years passed, people already forgot about Oliver's existence. Up until a century later, when the new emperor succeeded the throne and suddenly wanted to see the Sky Eyes that shook the empire.
Under the protection of the three Court Mages, the emperor stepped into Oliver's tower.
There, they found out that Oliver had gone missing.
This had been world-shaking news at the time. How frightening was a crazy Heaven Mage? The three Court Mages had seen it with their own eyes. The empire got ready as if they were preparing to fight an overwhelming enemy, and flyers spread through the empire as they started looking for traces of Oliver.
But...
Oliver seemed to have vanished. The empire searched for a decade but didn't find any trace of him.
Years slowly passed...
Ultimately, Oliver's disappearance became the unsolved mystery of the empire, and Sky Eyes Oliver never reappeared in the countless years following the destruction of the empire...
'That... ' Lin Yun didn't think that he would find Sky Eyes Oliver here after countless years.
At this time, Lin Yun didn't even know how he should react.
'How could it be Oliver? But... The Astrology Magic Staff in the right hand, and the Divining Stone in the left... There is only one person in Noscent that held these two True Spirit Magic Tools, Sky Eyes Oliver... '
Lin Yun didn't even need to remove that black cloth.
Because he knew that this black cloth was covering the vaunted Sky Eyes that could see through the fabric of reality, through the fog of time, and even follow the path of fate.
Lin Yun stood there just looking at the body for no less than ten minutes.
Finally, Lin Yun suddenly recalled that he should confirm Oliver's death.
Naturally, that confirmation wasn't really necessary.
As Lin Yun expected, that Heaven Rank Mage had already died a long time ago, just like the previous powerhouses that they had met on the path. Although his corpse hadn't decayed, there was no trace of power remaining.
At this point, Lin Yun slowly regained his calm.
'Looks like just as people conjectured, Sky Eyes Oliver set foot on an unknown Planar Path after escaping the tower... But the plane that it led to was a bit... ' After Lin Yun calmed down, he was finally able to think about it a bit more. 'Oliver was quite unfortunate in the end... The esteemed Sky Eyes, the number one Astrologian of the empire, met such misfortune in his later years... After luckily escaping from his hundred years of imprisonment, he arrived in such a strange Planar Path... '
At this time, Lin Yun's began to feel more anxious than before.
Because the danger of this Planar Path was far higher than he could have imagined.
On the way, Lin Yun had seen corpses belonging to all the intelligent races, and each corpse had been a powerful and famous person before their death, but none of the corpses had brought him as much pressure as Oliver.
After all, Oliver was a legendary figure that Lin Yun knew a lot about. Sky Eyes Oliver had left behind countless legends, and the Mage Eye he had personally created was used by almost every mage. He was a legendary figure that had influenced an entire era.
But now, this legend's corpse was motionless in front of him, dead for countless years just like the others.
And this was all because Oliver set foot on that Planar Path.
And of course, what was most frightening was that Lin Yun was now also walking on that Planar Path.
Just thinking about it made Lin Yun feel a chill.
'Should we retreat?' This thought flashed in his mind.
But it was immediately rejected.
Because the risk of retreating wouldn't necessarily be less than what they'd face by continuing.
Although Planar Paths sounded like they'd be direct, in reality, Planar Paths were incomparably complex mazes. The space within was completely distorted. There would be no issue with following the path, but if they messed up with the route, they would immediately be lost in the maze and would have to rely on luck to be able to get out.
"Eh?" Just then, some traces at Oliver's feet came to Lin Yun's attention. 'Strange. This is... '
It looked like some bloodstains made from many droplets that had dried long ago and turned dark brown.
Lin Yun didn't care at first, assuming that Sky Eyes Oliver had fought a very frightening battle and that these bloodstains had been left during the fight.
But after carefully studying them, he discovered that this wasn't the case.
Although the droplets of blood seemed inconspicuous, after some careful examination, he noticed that they were scattered too evenly, it didn't look like they spilled out normally. Moreover, they seemed to be forming an inverted character.
'Wait... ' Lin Yun froze. 'Those really are characters written in blood... They're Ascian Runes!'
It was rumored to be the first type of runes born in Noscent. The Ascian Runes had been created by the distant Gods, marking the start of Noscent's growth of knowledge, and the true start of the Golden Era.
But the Ascian Dynasty was far too distant.
Distant to the point that many people believed that whether it was the Ascian Dynasty or the ancient Gods, they were all myths and had never truly existed. Even now, many scholars insisted on calling the Golden Era the Mythological Era, an era that only existed in myths and legends.
The Ascian Runes that had been born in such an era had already been lost in the river of time. Even Lin Yun, who had extensive knowledge on all matter of subjects and had read some documents pertaining to the Ascian Runes, didn't know more than thirty Ascian Runes...
After studying the Ascian Runes for a long time, he only managed to make out a few characters.
"Run... He... Destroy... No path..."
Ascian Runes had mysterious power, and just translating these several characters almost exhausted Lin Yun. After doing all this, Lin Yun sat down on the ground, thinking while breathing heavily.
'If I'm not wrong, the first part was the sentence Oliver kept repeating after going mad..."Run! Run! He is coming!"'
This sentence had been very famous in the 3rd Dynasty, and many people used it with ridicule. But Lin Yun didn't dare to think so now.
Lin Yun knew some things about Ascian Runes, such as how harsh the requirements to use Ascian Runes were. Let alone a crazy man, even an ordinary Heaven Mage might not necessarily be able to properly use Ascian Runes. That was knowledge from the Ancient Gods, the source of all of Noscent's knowledge.
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