Chapter 1166 — Victoria's Recollection

"Yes, but concerned or not, that is simply how they conduct themselves," Victoria nodded. "Of course, some have guessed that they are merely skilled at disguise and at concealing their aims... But across six hundred years, with countless eyes watching, the mages from Violet never betrayed a single slip. That in itself amounts to a kind of 'iron proof.'"

"That only shows their goal truly is not to meddle in the powers of the Loren Continent. But whether that goal is really limited to travel and study is hard to say. This kingdom is too mysterious... mysterious to the point of inspiring dread," Gao Yang said, rubbing his chin with a cautious expression. Then he suddenly looked up at Victoria. "Can you speak in detail about your experiences as a child? How were you chosen? And by what method do they guide the chosen 'gifted'?"

"The Violet Kingdom's process for selecting seeds has always been a mystery; they have never made their specific criteria public," Victoria shook her head. "You know that Emberfall City holds an extraordinary standing among casters, like heaven in the minds of the faithful or the temple of the Goddess of Magic. To be chosen by them is the lifelong dream of many mages — it means a 'guaranteed road' to high rank, or even to legend.

"Any mage returning from Emberfall City, no matter how mediocre before, starts at high rank upon return. So there have always been people trying to discover the Violet Kingdom's selection criteria, and certain secret-society organizations have racked their brains trying to open a channel for sending apprentices to the Violet Kingdom. But no one has ever succeeded in finding the pattern. Their selection appears to prioritize casting talent, yet there have also been cases of mediocre farmers suddenly encountering a 'guide' in the fields. Most of the time they choose only the young, but there are also older people who enter their apprentice rolls. There are even rumors that they take kobolds and wild goblins away from the wilderness... Of course, such rumors have little credibility.

"In short, I do not know why I was chosen either. I only remember that one day a mage suddenly visited Winterhold. My father received him. The mage produced the seal of the Violet Kingdom and a 'Great Library Admission Certificate' awaiting signature. My father and mother talked with that mage for a long time, discussing some details of enrollment and contractual matters, and in the end they asked my opinion. After I nodded, I became a preparatory apprentice."

Gao Yang looked at the Grand Duchess in the holographic projection with some surprise: "On one side, the heir to the Northern Duke; on the other, a foreigner who suddenly turns up saying he wants to recruit students — and the studies to follow would require traveling far from home and closed management... And your parents agreed? Was that not a bit hasty?"

"Because such a thing had happened more than once," Victoria said mildly. "Over six hundred years, five members of the Wilder family have become apprentices of Emberfall City one after another. Although the Violet Kingdom's 'recruitment' is a very rare opportunity for the mage community as a whole, if placed within the history of several centuries and across the whole of the Northern Region, such things have in fact happened many times. We are no strangers to it.

"Second, the Violet Kingdom's 'selection' is not compulsory. In fact, compared with the traditional process by which mages choose apprentices, an invitation from Emberfall City is gentle and lenient to an almost unbelievable degree. You may refuse freely, change your mind, and even if you are already within Violet territory, so long as you wish to go home, they will send you back at once. In addition, they have a very, very detailed... in our present terms, one would call it an 'Enrollment Agreement,' which specifies in detail the new student's board and lodging standards, health guarantees, travel schedules, and course content. It is just..."

Victoria thought carefully about how to put it, and finally spread her hands: "Very proper. Extremely proper."

"Proper... All right, I still think this is off, that there are big problems in it," Gao Yang sighed. "But you can go on — what happened after the 'admission'? How did they bring the apprentices to Emberfall City?"

"Outsiders say that Violet's guides take the chosen apprentices away on a ship that sails through dreams and the sea of stars. While all the crew are dreaming, the ship sails itself, crosses an invisible horizon, plunges into a cavern wreathed in auroras, and arrives by dawn the next day in the courtyard of the Archmage Prince..." Victoria's lips curved slightly. "A very romantic and 'magical' fantasy. Unfortunately, the truth is far more plain than that.

"They collect people in ordinary passenger ships — ships far more backward than our present magitek warships. The apprentices usually gather in some small town in the north, and after boarding, it takes less than half a day to cross the little strait between Violet and the Loren Continent. The food in the ship's dining hall was not bad — that much I still remember.

"After crossing the strait, the ship full of apprentices puts in at some coastal city. The location of the port differs each time — I remember that the year I arrived it was a small town called 'Prandell,' a place forever drizzling... a very uncommon weather in the north.

"After a short rest, we met the envoy from Emberfall City. I remember she was a very kindly old lady, responsible for guiding the new apprentices into the heartland of the Violet Kingdom... I remember that old lady said this — that it was the 'true, eternal Violet Realm'..."

"The true, eternal Violet Realm?" Gao Shao instantly caught these unusual words, and his gaze grew solemn. "Why did she say that?"

"She never explained, or perhaps she explained later but I no longer remember," Victoria shook her head. "But I still remember the feeling she conveyed when she said those words... It was a tone deep and nostalgic, as though what she spoke of was not a kingdom still flourishing, but a place already destroyed, one that could only be remembered forever..."

"...That is a very important clue. I will note it down for now," Gao Yan nodded. "What happened after that? Were you taken to Emberfall City? How did you get there?"

"We were brought outside the city. In the direction leading from the city to the kingdom's heartland there was no road at all — nothing met the eye but endless dense forest and mist filling the woods. And that old lady told us that Violet's roads do not extend in reality; they connect the various cities in a higher dimension, and that if one wished to reach Emberfall City, the only way was to find those hidden paths in the mist..."

Beside them, Hedy, who had been silent all along, could not help speaking at last: "So after arriving in the Violet Kingdom, the apprentices must first face some kind of trial, and only those who pass can truly reach Emberfall City?"

"No, only local mage apprentices need to take that test. Because we paid additional tuition, we could go straight in — those were the old lady's exact words."

Gao Yang: "..."

Beside him, Hedy's mouth twitched despite herself: "And then?"

"And then she led us through that thick fog — that is all I remember."