Chapter 101
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Chapter 101: Disappeared
When Miranda appeared again, Tasha was startled by her appearance.
The dark circle under the black-robed wizard’s eyes was more severe than before, almost comparable to a witch with smoky makeup. Her hair was messy, complexion pale, eyes red. If a half-elf pharmacist saw her, they would shake their head and offer her food.
Only Mavis dared to straighten out the situation at the moment. Miranda’s sharp gaze was more piercing than usual, as if any little movement would trigger an attack from her. The disheveled appearance of this black-robed wizard was enough to indicate that she was not like Edwin, a clueless wizard. Miranda preferred an organized life and always kept herself neat and tidy, like arranging things neatly on a table.
Judging from her current unkempt appearance, not having eaten, drunk, or cleaned up for who knows how long, she probably discovered something and rushed to report it to Tasha without even tidying herself up.
"We haven’t found anything," Miranda said. "We searched through all the information, visited every possible location, asked anyone who might know, but to no avail. That’s the problem!"
About half a year ago, Tasha disclosed the matter of the Astral Plane in the Casters Association.
Wizards who inherit knowledge through books, witches who inherit power through bloodline, Druids who let nature convey memories… after the turbulent times, these spellcasters were most likely to have heard of the Astral Plane. However, when Tasha described the outer realms she had seen, everyone appeared astonished.
The expression on the wizard’s face could perhaps be best described as one of shock.
"Is there space beyond the three major planes…?" muttered White Robed Wizard Bruno to himself, "Yes, introducing this constant could explain the inconsistency in magic circulation. Why didn’t I think of this before?"
"The fifth element, Ether!" exclaimed Alchemist Gloria wearing a rainbow-colored robe, "‘Not existing in the Heavenly Realm, Abyss, or Primary Material Plane, yet encompassing everything,’ could this be what it’s referring to?"
"But there are no records of it," Dark Robed Wizard Miranda furrowed her brows into a knot, "If what you’re saying isn’t some hallucination, the significance of this concept could fundamentally unravel many studies…"
The wizards murmured in a language only they could understand, as if suddenly enlightened but also puzzled. In contrast, other spellcasters’ astonishment was more straightforward, akin to ordinary people’s wonder towards the unknown.
"There’s no such notion in Druid lore, no legends mention it," replied Druid Eugene, the caretaker of Druid knowledge and history, "Druid knowledge mainly revolves around Aryan’s nature, rarely touching upon other planes. I’m afraid we can’t be of much help, sorry."
"I don’t know much about it either," nodded half-elf Mavis, "Neither my mother nor I have studied it. Perhaps my grandfather is the same; he’s not a wizard but an archer."
"Sounds impressive," said the unknown witch, "but I’ve never heard of it."
"What about the Astrologer Witch?" interrupted Bruno, "Has any Astrologer Witch mentioned the concept of Astral Plane?"
"I’ve seen Shadow Witch, Plague Witch, Echo Witch, Flame Witch, Evil Eye Witch, Ghostly Witch… but I’ve never seen an Astrologer Witch," said the shadow on the wall as it counted on its fingers, "None of my daughters have been Astrologer Witches, nor anyone in our clan that I met before I started wandering the world. I did hear about a few. Oh, I wonder what kind of witch Aphra’s daughter will grow up to be."
Aphra is one of the Echo Witches, and currently the only witch who has given birth to a child. Her ten-year-old daughter has a witch as her birth mother and six other witches as godmothers. Tasha, with the heart of a panda caregiver, also played a role in this backstage scene, which could easily tip the scales in Tasmarin and even the empire. Thanks to the girl’s shy nature, she is a once-in-a-lifetime gentle and caring little angel among witches, otherwise who knows what trouble could arise.
"From a probability standpoint, this doesn’t make sense," Miranda frowned. "The main branch of witches only has thirteen types, the chance of not encountering one in two hundred years is lower than all the remaining witches belonging to one type."
"Type?" the unnamed witch said disapprovingly, "Are you talking about purebred dogs or something?"
"Aren’t you all a purebred half-magical species?" Miranda replied.
The Druid and the half-elf sighed and saw many "tails" rising on the wall like poisonous snakes. Then, the protective spell set up in the meeting room lit up.
Places where wizards and witches both frequent need to have isolation and protective spells set up, this is a universal truth.
The meeting that day ended in a fierce argument in the ruthless nursery. Tasha didn’t gain much and decided to hand this problem over to the Wizard Association. Miranda volunteered to take on the task, despite her temper, tendency to clash with witches, and somewhat ruthless demeanor, she was very serious and responsible in magical research, with high skills, Tasha trusted her.
Time jumped back to the present.
Miranda looked haggard as she stood in front of Tasha, as if going mad because of the lack of progress in her research – as if she read Tasha’s mind, she promptly shook her head.
"It’s not a bottleneck or a directionless situation," she said, "All possibilities have been ruled out, whether from our existing data or the Grand Library of the Empire. Unless new relics are unearthed, there is nothing more we can do."
The Empire and Tasmanian’s cooperation is progressing further. The research institute of the former is collaborating with the Wizard Association of the latter, and their joint workplace is known as the "Archmage Tower." The books from the Grand Library and the Scored Bookstore are stored on a certain floor of the tall tower, sharing the same management system. Most researchers focus on the Abyss Passage, while Miranda’s research team investigates the mysteries of the Astral Plane.
All books are cataloged in the dungeon. Despite having more knowledge capacity than any wizard, Tasha’s understanding of the information is basic at best. She can only serve as a search engine, leaving the specific research work to the professionals. She still acts as the library catalog, where all entries can be directly queried to her. A ghost was separated out and placed in the Archmage Tower, guiding all inquirers to relevant books containing key words, much like the Tower Spirit of Legendary Wizards from the past. Her presence significantly increased the efficiency of the wizards, allowing Miranda’s team to search through all the books in half a year.
The search results came up blank.
None of the books mentioned the "Astral Plane." The word itself, or related concepts, seem to have never been proposed by people in the past, as if they never considered the existence of a world beyond this world.
This is completely illogical.
Wizards are not bookworms; on the contrary, they are meticulous and imaginative magic researchers. These intelligent individuals possess vast knowledge of the magical world and have a deep curiosity. Some of their research may seem absurd to ordinary people (such as discussions on "anomalous changes in frogmen’s webbed feet indicating the migratory patterns of the Northern Sea Nymph clan"). The founder of the White Tower once proudly proclaimed, "There are no truths beyond a wizard’s speculations."
When it comes to the fading of magical power, among the surviving books today, Tasha encountered various outlandish hypotheses, ranging from concepts of karma to cyclical nature, from magical tides to energy depletion. There are even daring speculations like the "brain in a jar," which could rival the creativity of novelists. However, among this diverse range of guesses, none are connected to the existence of the Astral Plane.
They are aware of the Abyss and the Heavenly Realm beyond the Primary Material Plane, yet the speculation about "is there anything else beyond this" has never been raised. Throughout history, it seems that wizards from all over the world have shared the same blind spot.
"The existence of the Astral Plane is like it’s being blocked," said Miranda straightforwardly. "Where did the energy dispersed in the magic cycle go? Dragon, elf, and Great Druids from the Primary Material Plane disappearing but unlikely to go to the Heavenly Realm or the Abyss… Where can the Fifth Element be if not in the three major planes? The strange paths of the stars… Among all these questions, it seems like very easy guesses, why haven’t we thought of them? I didn’t think of it, they didn’t think of it, nobody for all these years thought of it, it’s impossible!"
Why didn’t they think of it before? Wizards, upon hearing Tasha’s story, suddenly understood yet remained puzzled, unable to comprehend such an oversight. It wasn’t just wizards. The great demon Victor, upon seeing the outer realm, blurted out the name Astral Plane, then cryptically said, "Why haven’t I thought of it all this time?"
Why? Why?
The astrologer families of the empire had doubts about the strangeness of the star paths but somehow never explored; Astrologer Witches disappeared over these two hundred years; the most long-lived unnamed witch only knew that those Astrologer Witches "knew the secrets of the stars" and were "especially short-lived"; Douglas’s giant dragon had no idea about the whereabouts of its kin, and when Tasha mentioned the possibility of "dragons going to the Astral Plane," it nodded in astonishment, wondering why it had never thought of it…
The Astral Plane seemed unwilling to be known by the living beings of Aryan.
Tasha looked at the dungeon card again.
[Astral Traveler], "You have briefly stayed in the Astral Plane and passed the will testing of the Astral Plane. Your capacity can only take a spoonful of water from the endless river of knowledge, but the experience of being submerged in the river water prevents you from drowning too quickly next time – your soul has been baptized by the Astral Plane, for some reason, you left an anchor there. It’s fragile, but it still exists."
Perhaps this experience was not only her own permit, as Tasha gained the ability to tear apart others’ blind spots after returning from the Astral Plane.
"It hasn’t been like this since ancient times," Miranda said firmly. "Three hundred years ago, dragons could still leave; in the records of the last White Tower Master, the ‘journey’ of Druids and elves was not yet a puzzle to be studied; the last recorded Astrologer Witch died two hundred and twelve years ago… Various signs can show that the knowledge about the Astral Plane might not have always been a blank slate. Like the disappearing magical creatures, the knowledge and records about the Astral Plane have inexplicably vanished in these few hundred years."
