Chapter 368: Three Paths Converge

"What a sight... This is the first time I've ever laid eyes on a sea in this world. Near the shore it looks much like Earth's seas, but that wall in the distance must be the Tidewall."

From the summit of the St. Anna Snowfields, Wang Yu stood shoulder to shoulder with Avia, gazing beyond the white expanse to the endless waters stretching all the way to the horizon.

The stretch of the Endless Sea right by the St. Anna Snowfields was largely frozen, a realm of drifting ice floes and heaving glaciers, where eternal snowstorms swept unceasingly across the waters. But this harshness was limited only to the coast.

From the peak of the snowfields, Wang Yu could see the icebergs thinning and fading as they passed a certain boundary—until all that remained was a deep blue sea, indistinguishable from any other in the world. In its endless monotonic expanse lay an indescribable majesty that weighed upon the soul.

"No wonder they call it the Endless Sea. Still, if we're speaking of awe... nothing compares to that."

He drew a long breath, his gaze fastening on the colossal wall that crowned the horizon. He could not even guess how far from shore it stood. Its base was too distant to glimpse, yet its summit was so high it was visible even from here.

The Tidewall rose into the dissociation layer itself. It was a wall of water and storm ten thousand meters high, a wonder beyond imagination. Neither Earth nor this world could ever raise such a thing by mortal hands; it was the handiwork of nature's own vast power.

"Avia," Wang Yu asked quietly, "when you first learned that this continent is encircled by such a wall, how did you feel?"

It was more than idle curiosity. Knowing of Earth's seas, he wondered how the people of this world perceived so unnatural a boundary.

To him, it was an oddity; to another human of Earth, it might be an unbearable revelation—a horizon cut off by an impenetrable barrier, splitting the very heavens.

Avia's reply was calm, as he expected. "Much the same as with many other peculiarities of this world. It has always been here, and we've grown up with it. It's the norm."

She shrugged lightly. In her eyes, the Tidewall was no stranger than the existence of magic itself. To Wang Yu it was a defiance of all natural law, but here... it was simply part of life.

"Diana and the tidecaller Thalassos are waiting below. Shall we?"

She extended her hand. The two she spoke of were merfolk: Diana, whom Wang Yu had once encountered in the capital's shadow, and Thalassos, a tidecaller of stature among his people—akin to an elven elder—and Diana's uncle besides.

"Let's go."

Wang Yu clasped her hand. Mana surged. As storm winds rose, vast crystalline wings of air and ice unfurled at their backs. Together, they leapt from the crest of the snowfields and glided downward to the shore.

The storm winds ebbed and shards of ice fell as they touched down upon the coast of the Endless Sea. Two figures awaited them by a modest alchemical vessel moored at the water's edge.

"Archbishop Wang Yu! It's been too long!"

The voice bright with joy was Diana's. The young merfolk woman was no taller than Avia. Her hair was a pale rose hue, and her face touched with delicate scales. She bore no tail, only legs. Her beauty was striking.

"It's been a while," Wang Yu replied, lifting a hand in greeting.

In truth, he scarcely remembered her from the capital's shadow. He had met many strange faces in those days; it was only natural he didn't remember all their names.

"Archbishop Wang Yu, it is an honor to meet you," said the man beside her, bowing his head with solemn respect. "Call me Thalassos. To aid you is our privilege."

The middle-aged man was a towering figure broad of shoulder, his bearing reminiscent of modern depictions of Poseidon back on Earth.

"No need for such courtesy. Your aid in helping us cross the Tidewall is of tremendous value."

Even as he spoke, Wang Yu wondered at their warmth. He had had little to do with the merfolk. Why would they show him such reverence?

Diana only laughed, waving as she clambered aboard the vessel. "You two talk. I'll see to the ship. Human craft are a novelty to me. They're all so fascinating!"

"I'd best take the helm," Thalassos muttered, following after her with a shake of his head. "I don't trust her with this vessel."

The vessel shuddered, then slid into motion. Arcane sigils of wind and water flared at its stern, driving it forward with a speed to rival any modern ship.

Avia boarded first. Wang Yu lingered a moment, casting his gaze along the shoreline. There, shrouded in black, stood the Lady of the Night. She faced the sea, veil concealing her features as always.

"What are you looking at?" Wang Yu asked idly.

Surely she had seen the sea through the eyes of her merfolk followers before. What novelty was there?

"I cannot see."

Her words carried an edge of puzzlement.

"What?"

The Lady of the Night did have a tendency to speak in riddles, but this was a particularly startling assertion.

"Beyond the Tidewall," she said, lifting a hand toward the far horizon, "there lies nothing in my perception but the void."

Wang Yu frowned. Her bond with Avia made her presence here stronger than a mere projection of faith.

In other words, compared to when she saw through the eyes of her merfolk devotees, her powers were stronger now with Avia here as a nexus—and her claim of impeded vision was thus all the more serious.

Wang Yu frowned. Though he had anticipated that being out at sea would cause them to lose contact with the Prayer Network, the Lady's pronouncement was still quite troubling.

"Is it serious?" he asked.

"No. I merely can't see beyond it. If you reach what lies beyond the Tidewall, however, my power should extend across it with you."

Her tone was calm, though there yet remained a trace of uncertainty. Even as the Lady of the Night reassured him, he couldn't help but feel more cautious.

"Could it be," he mused, "that the domain beyond the Tidewall belongs to the Lord of Sea and Storm?"

Wang Yu suddenly recalled something he had read. That god's realm encompassed the seas within the Tidewall. The Lady of the Night might be unable to perceive what lay beyond as a result of a divine boundary.

"Either way, we can't turn back now."

He stepped aboard, then turned back to the Lady with a final admonition: "If we do meet the Lord of Sea and Storm, best keep clear. No sense in provoking a god."

The vessel sailed out to sea. Two merfolk guided the way, steering them toward their city. They had set out early; the crimson moon was still four or five days from rising. Given the length of the voyage and a short stay among the merfolk, the timing would be close.

Once they had found their course and Diana had taken the wheel, Thalassos joined Wang Yu again and offered him a cup of some murky green draught.

It was only then that he understood the respect he was afforded. In the end, it was all thanks to the Church of Nightfall and, in particular, the Midnight Library.

"Our people are little accustomed to the ways of the mainland, Archbishop. Few of the intelligent races beyond are so kind as yourself. You understand, I hope."

Wang Yu tentatively sipped at the murky liquid, only for his eyes to widen. Then, calmly, he set the cup aside as far from him as possible.

"The appearance of the Midnight Library allowed the earliest devotees of the Lady of the Night among our kind to share its knowledge with the rest of us. The contents are varied—fragmentary and eclectic, even—but each fragment has proved of great use to our people.

"And in turn, with our understanding of the Endless Sea, we've been able to obtain records that are absent from the public archives. The most valuable among them are the works on magitech and alchemy. Take this vessel, for instance. We built it recently using such knowledge."

Whether or not he had noticed Wang Yu discreetly discard the vile seaweed drink, Thalassos only smiled and patted the hull of the ship, his tone warm as he explained the changes their faith had wrought.

"Still, it's very impressive that the merfolk were able to make a working prototype so quickly," Wang Yu remarked, sweeping the vessel with the power of the Chariot. His own grasp of alchemy found no fault in the design. That, more than anything else, surprised him.

Thalassos chuckled. "It's not quite what you think. We lack the facilities to sustain such work. It's all thanks to the Church of Nightfall.

"The scholars among us, those most devoted to the Midnight Library, forged ties with two guilds of devotees on land: the Dusk Consortium and the Twilight School. We have built stable channels of trade through them.

"This vessel was not crafted by our own hands, but rather commissioned from a shipyard at the coast. Still, in time, we too shall establish our own shipyards—and all this, by the grace of the great Lady of the Night. Praise be to Her."

As he spoke, Thalassos assumed the familiar posture of prayer, his voice heavy with reverence.

𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Wang Yu's expression barely shifted, but he felt a ripple within. The Midnight Library had only just revealed its potential, and already it was shaping the world far faster than he had foreseen.

He had never heard of the Dusk Consortium or Twilight School, but it was only to be expected that such societies would form. The Prayer Network linked devotees together. The power of stable long-distance communication was itself a resource of immeasurable value in this day and age.

The trust and kinship born among the devotees had bridged a gulf that centuries of suspicion had left unbroken. Once hunted for the wealth of their bodies, the merfolk now found themselves linked to the mainland in ways they had never known.

"To be of service to you, Archbishop, is our greatest honor," Thalassos said with quiet pride. "Compared to the help the Church of Nightfall has given us, guiding you across these seas is no burden at all."

With that, he excused himself to consult his kin and see to the whims of the capricious sea.

Wang Yu took to the deck, where Avia, Sieg, and Noelle leaned over the rail and gazed at the open sea. For Sieg, this journey recalled memories of his voyage from the Isle of Dragons; for Avia and Noelle, this was their first true sight of the boundless sea.

Wang Yu drew out a lump of metal from Avia's Seed of Eden. Then, with the power of the Chariot, he shaped it swiftly into a fishing rod and flicked the line into the surf. He had decided to pass the time fishing.

From below deck, faintly, came Diana's voice. She sang in the clear, haunting tongue of her people, a language strange to him. Born to the sea, the merfolk had mellifluous voices quite unlike anything on land.

Avia leaned close against Wang Yu, listening with quiet delight. When the song faded, she began to hum one of the Earth melodies he had taught her. Wang Yu lifted a brow and shot a glance at Sieg and Noelle. The three exchanged a knowing smile.

The reason was simple: Avia was out of tune. She might surpass him in all other domains, but Wang Yu had finally found one in which he had the advantage. Wang Yu himself was hardly a singer, but compared to her, his rendition was almost professional.

"Why are you smiling like that?" Avia asked.

"Because," Wang Yu replied, "a bite's coming."

"Really? You're not making that up?"

As Wang Yu and his companions made their way toward the merfolk city, two other forces upon the Endless Sea were stirring.

Nine dragons, each bearing different traits, soared across the skies before halting in front of the Tidewall. Together, they exhaled their dragonbreath upon the colossal barrier that joined sea and sky.

On a far isle of the Endless Sea, amid ruins buried beneath countless layers of draconic bones, a twisted half-draconian stared up at the glowing eyes of a divine statue. Confusion flickered across his face as light flared from the statue.