The black sun hangs high

Chapter 376 Pressure
“Nice to meet you, Professor Vickers.”

"me too."

Compared to half a month ago, old Vika is now noticeably older, but his spirit is extremely vigorous, and his eyes are shining with a bright and sharp light, making him look less like those mage scholars and more like an officer or politician from Wotel or Delan.

After giving a brief greeting to everyone present, old Vickers sat down in the seat reserved for him: "I'm sorry that it's only now that I finally have the opportunity to meet with you all. This is my dereliction of duty, and also an oversight on the part of the entire Merlinler and the Office of Emergency Affairs."

He looked directly at Mayer ahead, making no attempt to conceal his guilt and remorse: "I also ask that everyone in the Dawn Society understand that the more critical the situation, the more extreme our strategies became, and the more likely we were to show obvious bias. Fortunately, we woke up from that quagmire in time."

“Professor Vickers, we completely understand what you’ve said.”

Mayer nodded sincerely: "However, I think you can have more confidence in us and in the Dawn Society. We are a group of people who take 'practical work' as our fundamental goal, and the Dawn Society is also an organization that takes this as its own creed. Those simple conflicts of interest and so-called status are not what we pursue."

"Yes, I understand."

Old Vika nodded: "Mr. Ernst has reiterated this point to me and to several 'big shots' at the top of the Baron Mage Tower many times before, and now he has also proven the consistency between his words and deeds with his actions... Please rest assured, the proposal put forward in the previous meeting is already being implemented. A piece of land adjacent to the Duchy of Imep is being divided up, and it will soon be handed over to the Dawn Society."

"Dawn Society thanks you for your support and contributions, Professor."

Meyer nodded his thanks to old Vickers, but then his smile faded, and he said seriously, "However, this is not what we really want to discuss with you, with Merlinler."

"Yes, I know... We've already reviewed the proposal that Dawn Society submitted before."

Old Vickers nodded slowly, his expression turning serious and his voice becoming somewhat somber: "Regarding this 'peace talks with the sea' proposal, we have already encountered very serious disagreements within our ranks, and the coastal nations, led by Hein, also have differing opinions on it."

Professor Vickers paused briefly, then sighed: “This is too risky. Compared to the confrontation with the Black Sun Society and those plans to oppose the Black Sun, the Dawn Society’s proposals are more like… an unfounded and audacious assumption, and so far we have no way of assessing the risks behind such an action.”

Upon hearing this, Mayer nodded to Darthville, who then slowly rose and said to old Vika, "If all you need is evidence of whether communities can communicate, then the Dawn Society can certainly provide more concrete cases and research records."

As he spoke, Darth Vader smoothed his somewhat disheveled hair with his hand: "But if what prevents you from making a decision is the fear of risk, then I'm sorry, the Dawn Society is powerless to help you with that, because in our view, such concern is simply... well, courting death."

"You must be Mr. Darthwell, right?"

Old Vickers wasn't angered by Darthwell's sharp words. He looked at him with interest and asked, "Many people within Merlinler and the organization have mentioned you. They believe that Mr. Darthwell is the one most similar to those politicians and officials within the entire Dawn Society..."

Well, I'll take those words as a compliment for now.

Darthwell shrugged indifferently and said slowly, "Professor Wecker, if possible, I would like you to pass on exactly what we said today to those 'important officials' who are still staying in Merlinle and discussing various matters."

“Now, every action and every decision we make in Vaan is actually risky, because what we are facing is no longer the kind of things that were ‘under our control’ in the past. The so-called Black Sun, the Ocean Cluster, or the Black Sun Society which is closely related to those ancient forces are all abnormal and unpredictable.”

Darthwell spoke slowly, but his words were extremely powerful, sounding as loud as a hammer striking metal: "We can certainly choose to delay or avoid, but doing so is no different from walking alongside a ferocious beast with a sense of luck."

"Perhaps initially we were able to walk past these beasts unharmed, but this so-called safety was neither stable nor lasting, because we knew almost nothing about these terrible animals. They did not pounce on us, perhaps simply because they were not hungry yet, or because they did not consider us to be worth the effort to kill... However, a hidden danger is a hidden danger; it always exists and will not disappear just because we forget about it for a moment."

"Mr. Darswell means that we should proactively learn about and engage with them before they cause greater impact and damage?"

"exactly."

Mayer took over the conversation at the opportune moment, saying to old Vickers, "The real war between us and the Black Sun Society has not yet begun. In this important preparatory phase, we should do everything we can to identify or eliminate the potential risks and concentrate our efforts on the most important issues."

As he spoke, he took a magic drawing from his file bag and handed it to old Vika on the other side.

Professor Vika reached out and took it. On this brand-new magical drawing, he saw surging waves, fierce cannon fire pouring from the shore and ships, and deformed sea monsters looming in the waves. Of course, there was also that figure that no one who saw it once would forget.

The figure covered in fine scales, possessing characteristics of various marine life forms, yet maintaining a human form.

Old Vika stared at the strange figure for several seconds, then he sighed and nodded heavily: "I have seen it in the materials you submitted before... It's just a pity that the image was a bit blurry at the time, and it was not a magical image, otherwise there would definitely be more people who were convinced like me."

"When it appeared on the sea, everyone who saw it was shocked, including me."

Meyer said, “Before that, like everyone else, I viewed these ancient beings from the ocean as dangerous monsters and absolute enemies, but when it appeared, my intuition told me that there might be some subtle common ground between us and them.”

"What do they have in common?" "Yes, or rather, what are they similar to?"

Mayer nodded and said, “For some reasons that are not yet certain, they are indeed full of hostility towards us land creatures, but at the same time, they are also full of curiosity and confusion about us, and may even feel fear towards those beings they have never encountered before... I think the experiences of the Windless Fleet at sea should also corroborate this point.”

Old Vika said in a low voice, "Yes, but the encounters with the Windless and the coastal villages of the Kingdom of Hein have made many people unwilling to engage in any form of 'peace talks' with these monsters. They believe that from the beginning, we have been on opposing sides, and the theme of our interactions is destined to be killing and confrontation."

“Professor Vickers, I am not denying that.”

Meyer responded: "On the contrary, I agree with those who hold these views. Race, form, mode of existence and all sorts of issues make it impossible for us to truly coexist with those deep-sea creatures, and what we seek is not cooperation with them."

"Here, I would like to confirm one thing with you, Professor—after the influence of the Black Sun intensified, were there still any incidents of marine communities attacking coastal towns or villages throughout Vaan?"

"Based on the current situation, similar situations have not occurred again, but this is not enough to be considered strong evidence."

A bitter smile appeared on Old Vica's face: "After those two incidents, various places have imposed considerable restrictions on fishermen and ocean hunters going out to sea. Their frequency of going out to sea has been greatly reduced. As for cargo ships that sail to the open ocean, they now have to hire armed vessels for escort... We don't know about the sea monsters yet, but those armed pirates from the past have almost disappeared."

Old Vika stopped talking after that.

The meaning that Mayer and others wanted to express was very clear: after the obvious changes in the black sun, the dangerous groups lurking in the ocean did not become more active. Instead, they became extremely restrained. Although people did not know the specific reasons for their cessation of activity, this was definitely a very obvious and representative phenomenon. No matter how the opponents viewed this matter, they absolutely could not ignore this change.

After thinking carefully for a few minutes, Professor Wekka said, "Even if Mellinger can actually facilitate a meeting with these communities, we will need a volunteer facilitator and several participants..."

“I can guarantee that either Daswell or I will be in this, or even both of us at the same time.”

Without hesitation, Mayer said, "In addition, Professor Vika can try asking our newly established Vaan Magic Society, especially those scholars who were on the Windless before. I think there will be many brave volunteers among them, and the Law Committee may even need to expand their quota."

……

Hugh, who was inside the Rock Lake Mine, slowly opened his eyes.

Sleep has gradually lost its original meaning for him now; he now treats every short nap as a visit to the sanctuary of dreams.

However, even now, the master of the Dream Sanctuary has still not appeared.

Theseus has never appeared since the dark dome that shrouded Watchtower was torn apart by a force that resembled the legendary "divine punishment".

Inside the Dream Sanctuary, everything was as usual. Although the mist protecting the sanctuary looked somewhat thin, it was still operating steadily. Every time Hugh entered the dream, he could see twisted figures outside the mist trying to crash and destroy it—these were some strange creations from the Dark Abyss. They were clearly full of malice and had completely locked onto the exact location of the sanctuary.

However, these alone are clearly insufficient to contend with the "God of a Thousand Faces".

However, Theseus's mysterious disappearance this time also put considerable pressure on Hugh.

He truly didn't know whether Theseus's temporary departure was due to some unusual turn of events, or whether he was brewing some "interesting" plan...

Overall, Hugh's own guess was closer to the former, because after checking, he found that the computer that Theseus always used was even running a strategy game. The guy had even forgotten to save the game, which meant he was in a very, very hurry when he left.

Hugh got out of bed. The daylight outside was still dim, but in the distance, he could still see the remnants of power left behind after the collapse of the dark dome. Although these remnants of power were disordered, they were also extremely dense. Even though Hugh was still quite a distance from Watchtower City, he could feel the intense disturbance brought about by those remnants of power.

The rituals performed by the Black Sun Society were far more complex and terrifying than he had imagined.

Even the remaining traces still contain extremely rich dark abyssal magic. Combined with the memories he gleaned from Baron Fiorlando, Hugh even suspected that the dark domes that shrouded the important town of Saint Steel were themselves fragments from that distant dark abyss. Only in this way could they have such a direct and rapid impact on all the residents of the town.

After successfully taking control of the Kingdom of Saint Steel, the Black Sun Society made rapid progress in all aspects.

With abundant resources and manpower, their accumulated experience and strength began to fully erupt. Now, turning this northern land into a gathering place for the followers of those ancient gods is only the first step in their plan. Next, they will definitely use their connection with the black sun to bring more power belonging to the Dark Abyss to Vaan.

What they really wanted to do was to turn the entire Vaan back into a "colony" of that black sun.

(End of this chapter)