Published at 11th of January 2026 8:28 am

Chapter 1407: Speculations

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Adam read the letter with a dark frown on his face.

Berger had replied not too long after Adam had sent his message. He learned that Berger had already taken care of the portal in Nahua. But more importantly, he was relieved to learn that Anna was fine and was currently within the Soaring Rivers Secret Plane.

There were, however, a couple of things that bothered him. Firstly, it was the fact that the Brotherhood had sent agents to hunt him down. This further strengthened his assumption that the upper echelons of the clandestine organization were now firmly within the Cult’s grasp.

Secondly, and most importantly...

"Twenty-four years have passed since the Battle of Ravenfell," he murmured. "That means I spent twenty years inside Dark Valley!"

While he was in that forbidden zone, sometimes he felt like a second stretched on for years, while at other times, he felt that years passed by in moments. So, he wasn’t exactly sure how much time truly had passed.

In fact, one of his greatest fears was that so much time would have passed that he would have missed the planetary alignment. But now that he realized that only twenty years had gone by, he silently heaved a sigh of relief.

Twenty years was barely any time in a Magus’s life. Yet at the same time, a lot of things could still happen within those twenty years.

For example, he learned from Berger that, under Lucian Acadia’s leadership, a great many changes had taken place in the Ulier Continent.

Unsurprisingly, the Empire had annexed the Southern Federation. All the kingdoms there were now under the direct rule of the Acadian royal family.

"...So that traitorous assassin has also been taken care of, huh?" Adam murmured as he read about the death of the Silent King at the hands of Lucian Acadia.

"That’s one name off my list." He scoffed.

Now that the entire continent was under the Empire’s rule, its resources had increased exponentially, and so had the number of Magi. After all, the Southern Federation, no matter how backward a place it was compared to the Empire, was still home to countless Magi.

"Magus Feno has become the Headmaster..." Adam muttered with a faint smile.

Berger informed him that Saratoga Castle had recovered from their loss in the Battle of Ravenfell. The city had also been rebuilt. Moreover, with the help of the Empire and the other Pillars, it had regained its status as a booming metropolis once again.

A shocking piece of news he learned was that in these twenty years, the other Pillars had also been attacked. However, Berger didn’t get into too much detail. Still, that information caused Adam to turn solemn.

Other than that, his identity as a traitor remained. The population of the Empire was still under the impression that he was a cultist who had infiltrated Saratoga Castle and betrayed them.

Learning about this, his lips curled into a smile. He’d had a lot of time to think about why things had happened the way they did. After all, the scene of his men from the Black Legion stabbing him was still fresh in his mind after watching it in the river.

He could only come to one conclusion.

"It has to be that," he coldly muttered as his smile deepened.

The Forgotten Rune.

It was an artifact capable of warping the minds of its victims, making them accept lies as truth. Moreover, it could tamper with memories, reshaping fragments of the past to suit the wielder’s machinations.

The Cult of Bones had employed it in Hannes City, in Blackshore, in Corvid Quarter, and towards the end of the Battle of Ravenfell to alter the memories of the survivors in the city.

Adam believed that the Cult must have used this artifact in other locations that were pivotal to their plans. However, there was something that he still couldn’t understand.

The effects of this artifact are reminiscent of a few Rank 5 spells that I know, he thought.

Or if I wish to be more specific, then the classification should fall under a Rank 2 spell from the Greater Universe. But this is merely a matter of semantics.

The important thing to note is, such an artifact should not have been so readily available in Tron. Yet, the Cult is able to use them so frequently.

How can this even be possible?

Suddenly, his eyes narrowed.

Unless...

The devils provided the Cult with these artifacts!

Although these were just his speculations, he had a feeling that his deduction wasn’t far from the truth.

Adam heaved a heavy sigh and leaned back in his chair. He languidly watched the wooden ceiling of his room and murmured:

"It doesn’t matter what people think of me. The important thing is Anna is safe. Eddie and Lisa also seem to be doing fine."

As for the matter of clearing his name in Ulier, he never gave much thought to it. There were far more important matters he needed to tend to. Perhaps, in the future, if an opportunity presented itself, he would work on correcting his public image.

But for now, since he was en route to Europa, he planned to gather intelligence on both the Cult and the Brotherhood.

And maybe, just maybe, visit the traitorous scums.

Of course, he was going to wear a different face if he did decide to visit them.

After all, why use his own face when he could wear a thousand other faces and speak with a thousand different voices?

Adam completed reading the letter, then burned it to ashes. He remained seated in the chair, however. He was waiting for another letter.

The youth closed his eyes and thought to himself:

It will take another month to reach Amberfell. I should begin experimenting now.

Just like how I instinctively found out about my deepened comprehension of the School of Summoning, maybe I can find out more about other magical abilities that I might have received from the transplant.

At the same time, I should also proactively try to understand the knowledge locked deep within my consciousness. I don’t know how to access it yet, but maybe I can through trial and error.

Other than that, I need to keep an eye on Valerian’s health. I wasn’t able to while I was drowning in madness in the past, but now I can focus more on him.

Something tells me it won’t be long before he wakes up. And when he does, I’m sure he will have become much stronger!

This should be directly connected to the lotus. I don’t know the exact reason, but...

His thoughts came to a halt when he abruptly turned his head to the side. A few moments later, a tiny serpent carrying a letter in its jaws emerged from a portal.

The letter he had been waiting for had finally arrived.

A letter from Yen-Lu!

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