Chapter 710 — Deep Underground
Blade of Dawn · Page 1 of 4
What sort of preparation was there to make?
Bardwindel raised his head and gazed up at the vast canopy that blotted out the sky, and at the countless vines and pillars hanging down beneath it. This "plant," which could almost be called a product of myth, lay far beyond his experience and understanding; even among the ancient tomes of the Order of All Things' End, he could find no description that matched it...
No — not entirely. He remembered that in the library of the Order of All Things' End, certain religious texts inherited from the ancient Senming Church had described something of the kind: in the depths of a divine realm no mortal could reach, the ancient god of nature, the giant stag Amoen, dwelt beneath a great tree called "Reincarnation." That tree blotted out the sun and sky; upon its canopy rested a city called "Life," and its roots sank deep into the earth, entwined about a vast tomb called "Death"...
Could the great tree before him be a byproduct of the Order of All Things' End's forced manufacture of an artificial god?
Faced with a thing like this, there was really nothing to prepare.
Set your heart at ease, write a will whose wording is at least passably decent, eat a good meal — and if he were still the Wolf General, he could have offered a few stirring words for the occasion. Unfortunately, his present station was still that of a prisoner, so the stirring words were unnecessary.
He lowered his head. "I'm ready."
Gao Yang nodded and signaled to the soldiers beside him; soon the necessary equipment was brought over.
Bard was a former cultist who had to atone for his crimes by service, and his mission was much like that of a forlorn hope — but Gao Yang had not brought him here out of a wish to vent his anger or to exact private punishment. The task genuinely required a priest of All Things' End like Bard, someone who understood the situation. Pi Yun would not do; he had been away from the dark sects for over a decade, and many of the arrangements in this subterranean palace had long since changed. But Bard could — he knew what structures lay below, and he knew how to disarm the newest magical mechanisms and traps in the palace.
Regardless — setting aside his identity as a cultist, Bardwindel himself was of considerable value to Gao Yang, and he did not wish to see the man simply expended in this exploration mission. If possible, he still hoped Bard would come back alive. To that end, he had ordered a full set of equipment prepared to help him complete the task.
What the soldiers carried over was a large chest. Inside it lay a suit of Iron Ranger standard-issue light armor, designed for ease of movement — the armor in Cecil's current arcane kit best suited to special operations, and the finest of them all in both protection and auxiliary function. There were also pre-portioned emergency potions, an additional shield device, and weapons for self-defense.
Considering that Bard was unfamiliar with the operation of arcane equipment, Gao Yang had chosen items that ran automatically or were exceptionally simple to use — the blades, too, were traditional enchanted fine-steel weapons. He was confident these would suffice; after all, equipment aside, Bard himself was a Transcender of no small strength, and possessed a certain capacity for self-preservation.
Looking at the gear — strange in style, yet at a glance obviously of fine workmanship — Bard immediately understood Gao Yang's meaning.
"I don't know whether you have already resolved to atone with your death, and I don't care. But at least this once, you are to come back alive if you can," Gao Yang said, nodding slightly at Bard. "These things will protect you to the greatest extent possible. Try them on first, and then I'll go over the details with you."