Chapter 884 — Returned to Its Rightful Owner

Yet they clearly had no intention—and no possibility—of revealing those secrets. He had once asked Metzen about this, and after nearly causing the agent lady to drop dead on the spot, he had become profoundly certain of it.

Considering that all dragons were probably much the same, a question that could kill Metzen would probably kill Noretta too, so he did not press further on the matter of "god-metal" and the "Godslayer Fleet." Instead he let out a soft breath, and while sorting through the memories in his mind, answered Noretta's earlier question: "I obtained this shield when the Northern Expeditionary Force crossed the Arcane Scar—its main material was found while we were searching a supply depot at the Vipulant Observatory."

Noretta showed a flicker of curiosity: "The Vipulant Observatory?"

"The largest astronomical observation and celestial research center in the northern regions of the Gondor Empire," Gao Yang said. "The famous Vipulant meteor shower once occurred there, and afterward the Gondorians established research facilities on the site to study the extraterrestrial material that had fallen to the surface. Some years later they added an observatory, an astrological hall, and a giant gravitational analysis station called the 'Star Axis'—of course, all of it was reduced to ashes when the magic tide came. Our northern forces at the time were only searching those surviving underground depots for supplies."

As he spoke, Gao Yang could not help but sigh inwardly.

The Gondor Empire of old... its technology had been far more advanced even than the Earth of his previous life. Though because of where their technological tree had branched, the Gondorians of those days had never attempted to step into the cosmos, the scholars of that era had still possessed a degree of understanding of planets, stars, and space. What a pity that all these splendid achievements vanished utterly with a single magic tide—not only were the technical talents and records of the empire's heartland reduced to ashes, even some research facilities in remote regions had not survived.

To this day, among ordinary people, what remained of the Gondor Empire's knowledge of the stars was nothing but crude commonplaces like "we live on a planet" and "there are other planets beyond this one"—and even these commonplaces were rapidly fading and vanishing, gradually merging with vague, blurred legends.

Fortunately, the revival of civilization brought by arcane technology was now checking this decline, and scholars, newly gathered and inspired, had begun to share the knowledge sealed away in the various mages' towers, and to set about rebuilding modern astronomical observation and research facilities in suitable regions.

Noretta had no way of knowing what Gao Yang was lamenting. She simply seized at once on the background of the "Vipulant Observatory's" founding: "In other words, that observatory was originally built to study meteorites—and the thing you found in the depot ruins most likely fell from the sky along with the meteorites."

Though Gao Yang was answering Noretta's questions, he himself was now gradually becoming aware of the clues behind this exchange of question and answer. Many things he had never noticed, or which had lain deep in his memory, slowly surfaced and linked together into a complete conjecture—the Godslayer Fleet, the Vipulant meteor shower, the metal of unknown origin...

All of it was linking into a vast truth. He had never imagined that this truth had been beside Gao Yang Cecil all along, hidden in the deepest recesses of his own memory.

"You mean the metal we found in the Vipulant ruins was part of that 'meteor shower,'" Gao Yang looked at the Guardian's Shield in his hand, and the process by which this shield had been forged—or rather, worked—could not help but rise before his mind's eye. "Fallen from the sky... no wonder..."

"I am a little curious," Metzen suddenly put in from the side. "What you found back then should have been nothing but a metal plate of unknown origin—how did it finally become the Guardian's Shield?"

Gao Yang thought for a moment, then answered frankly: "None of us recognized the thing—most of the expeditionary force at the time came from very humble backgrounds, and the few scholars, mages, and priests knew nothing at all about the Vipulant Observatory. But we found that this metal was extraordinarily sturdy, could resist almost any magical attack completely, and showed not the slightest sign of corrosion in a magic-tide environment. And its size was just right, so Charlie suggested we give it a handle..."

Metzen: "..."

Noretta: "..."

Gao Yang looked at the two agent ladies, their eyes wide, and spread his hands helplessly. "You can't expect the human expeditionary force—short on supplies, in a crisis, and lacking high-level technical talent—to have done any better when faced with an unknown metal. We couldn't have assembled a team of experts to slowly study what it was, and at the time the expeditionary force desperately needed greater combat power. A shield that was practically invincible back then could let a powerful knight protect more people through the contamination zones, whereas a heavy lump of metal would only drag the journey down. Of course, I admit that 'slap a handle on it' does look a bit hasty and crude... but there was no one in the expeditionary force with a wilder imagination than Charlie. No one had a better idea, so Charlie's plan was at least an option."

"We're just surprised that you dared turn an unknown metal into personal equipment without first figuring out whether it was harmful," Metz said, looking at Gao Dai with a serious expression. "As a Gondorian, you should at least have some concept of elemental erosion and energy radiation, shouldn't you?"

Gao Yang glanced at Metz, then suddenly laughed. "Greater than the elemental erosion and energy radiation of the Gondorian wasteland itself?"

"...Fair enough."

Metz reluctantly admitted that behind Gao Yang and the others' seemingly crude and ignorant methods back then there had in fact been careful deliberation and no other choice, while Gao Yang looked at the Guardian's Shield in his hand, his thoughts growing heavier and heavier—

When he used this shield as a keyword to search the memories of Gao Yang Cecil in his mind, sure enough, he found a gap!