Arbidis

Richard admired his art for a while before walking out of the treasury, gently closing the door. As long as this demiplane existed, as long as the treasury had enough value, he would cling onto his hope that Sharon was still alive. At this point, his truename would allow him to restore her even if she had missing limbs or a broken soul. While the price to be paid for such a resurrection was heavy, he was willing to give up everything for her sake.

He returned to the library and started filling out a number of scrolls, packing them all into his bracelet before leaving the demiplane.

Back in Faelor, things were finally starting to stabilise. Salwyn had taken up the position of Prime Minister of the Crimson Empire and was managing the plane in Richard’s stead. The former emperor was even given access to Goldflow Valley and the Forest Plane, taking care of internal affairs there as well. While he shuttled between his three dominions, his permanent residence was to be in Faelor where he would dedicate the rest of his life to returning the plane to its original splendour.

Richard’s destruction of the reapers had garnered Salwyn’s undying loyalty. He had wanted to be transformed by the broodmother and become a special unit so he could live longer, but had to give up on the idea when he was told that he would slowly lose his independence and creativity in such a relationship. Thankfully, the Forest Plane gave Richard a constant supply of fruits of life while his proximity to the Eternal Dragon ensured he never truly lacked blessings of time for his inner circle. Time would not be a problem for at least a few decades, if not centuries.

Salwyn truly was a genius administrator, comparable to when Raymond had managed things in Faelor. Richard only needed to tell him what he wanted done, and things would be settled quickly. Although Faelor was a secondary plane, its potential and resources were high enough for it to advance.

Had Richard not landed here by accident, the Iron Triangle Empire would have reached a new peak under Salwyn’s rule. Of course, it would then have been destroyed by the invasion of the reapers. Fate tended to work in strange ways, often taking away some things and compensating for them later in one’s life.

......

In Bluewater Oasis, Perrin was standing on the plaza before the rune workshop and directing a group of apprentices as they carried equipment onto a wasp. He loudly berated them for their carelessness, but at the same time was complaining about how slow they were being.

“You seem excited,” a warm hand patted his shoulder.

“How couldn’t I be when there’s a reaper base bigger than this city waiting for me to study it? Oh...” the aged-looking mage suddenly seemed to realise something, turning around and yelping in surprise, “Your Majesty!”

Richard smiled, “No need to be so anxious, the base isn’t going anywhere. But you might want to take a look at this first, it should help with your research.”

Perrin took the scroll he was handed and opened it, his eyes going wide even as his breathing grew more rushed. His hands were trembling by the time he had unfurled the entirety, “Is this... a warplane?”

“Only the smallest one.”

“Then there’s more?”

“All here, you can take your time studying them.”

Perrin took the spatial bracelet on offer, probing it with his mind and going mute as he saw hundreds of scrolls within. A look of slight depression spread across his face.

Richard smiled understandingly, “This is all of my research on the reapers, I hope it’ll be of help. Your strengths aren’t in analysis, they lie in your ability to apply your genius to a problem. I feel like you’ll have something surprising for me the next time I return.”

Forcing his dejection into the back of his mind, Perrin shook his head and asked, “Then what domain do you want a breakthrough in?”

“Hmm... Well... I’ve ordered a few battleships that will arrive soon, seafaring ones I mean. If possible, figure out some improvements.”

“And the design?”

“You don’t need it. Just design your dream battleships, I’ll take care of bringing them to reality.”

“I understand,” Perrin nodded.

“I’ll be waiting,” Richard smiled, marking out a portal to leave. Perrin stood rooted in place for a long while, countless thoughts flowing through his mind. He was someone with extensive knowledge of magic theory, but the idea that a portal could be formed so soundlessly flew in the face of everything he knew about teleportation, destroying the fundamentals he had built up over so many years.

......

Richard didn’t know about Perrin’s thoughts, focusing his entire attention on Arbidis the moment he returned to Norland. According to Macy, the elven empire had searched their way through the abyss to eventually reach Arbidis, but their army was repelled at the boundary to the alter world. In theory, it was faster to go through the hells— the abyssal layers were interconnected in all three dimensions and following a straight line didn’t guarantee getting anywhere— but as someone with demonic blood himself he felt more secure going to the abyss. The abyss was also the place they had the most complete knowledge of; Emperor Charles had mapped out nearly all of the layer that Daramore had been the lord of. They didn’t even know if that layer had a new lord now, so their information was still fragmented, but it was still better than the near-nothing they knew about the hells.

The brute force method to reach Arbidis was simple in theory— one just had to fight through layer after layer of the abyss and reach its depths. The elven empire had done just that, but they were fortunate enough to actually succeed before they died of old age. Of course, the pinnacle of Norland’s magic evolution had played a part as well; there were a number of elven scholars who focused on all kinds of esoteric fields, expanding both the cultural depth and the technical ability of the plane as a whole. The human empires still hadn’t reached the elves’ peak after millennia of growth.

With these thoughts in mind, Richard connected to the communication circle of the Millennial Empire, jumping straight into a question when Macy showed her face, “Are there any records of the path the elves took to reach Arbidis?”

“Exploring the alter world was the primary goal of the elven empire for centuries at that point, they almost certainly have records of it. But they took all the important information away when they withdrew from Norland; we don’t have much information on the matter either.”

He nodded, “Looks like I’ll be paying them a visit then.”

Concern flashed across Macy’s face, but she quickly realised that there was no need for Richard to fear elves if he could vanquish even the reapers. However, he couldn’t bring too many soldiers if he was crossing the vast oceans, making the risk significant. Biting her lower lip, she asked, “When are you planning to leave?”