Chapter 62
Aside from these battles, Casteriar is known to the sentient races as the [Master of Dragsterra]. Dragsterra is the largest and most complex dungeon found in the world. It is located on the longest mountain range, in the impenetrable forest of Zarax, inhabited by legendary and mythical creatures. Several people over the millennia of civilization have tried their hand at it, but nothing more is known of them.
At the top of the mountain is an entrance to a dungeon where an image of dragonids worshiping the Dragon and several lines on a stone plate in the language of dragons are engraved.
"[Guardian of the World], [Master of Dragsterra], [God of the Draconids], [Slayer of the Corrupt], Casteriar desires your presence, if you are worthy."
Dylan didn't know what to think after reading these few pages. He couldn't even imagine something as big as a Dragon, let alone a Dreadful.
This threshold of power is something I can't even imagine. Spells capable of emptying thousands of kilometers, unknown magic that I have never heard of before, physical strength capable of splitting mountains. These are all really legends and myths...
If a Greater Demon could last 15 seconds against a Dragon, what could an Archdemon do? I think I should put it on the same level as a Eldritch. The fact that Holy Magic is so effective against them and that a Dragon even uses it speaks volumes. I should definitely study it.
Having said this in his head, Dylan became slightly disappointed in life. He was too weak, how did the gods even expect to make a weapon out of him against this? He didn't understand it. But he decided that it was not the time to sit in depression and continued reading to distract himself.
The third known [Guardian of the World] is [Phoenix] [Heavenly], [Desert Calamity], Theia. She was seen when intelligent races were just arriving on the world of Ramiast to conquer it. At that time, the planet did not have a desert, it was full of life. According to information from that time, Theia fought an unknown plant-type monster that had grown to 1000 kilometers. In order to kill it forever, she burned out the forests and everyone who stood in her way, thereby turning the fertile land into a desert and covering the skies with ash, causing an ice age. This caused a lot of trouble for the intelligent races, but the other guardians did not act to correct her mistake. It is not known for certain whether this was necessary and whether she deserves the title of [Guardian of the World] after this, but she is considered one.
The fourth known [Guardian of the World] is the [Earth Spirit King] [Heavenly], [Sleeping], Lan. The Earth Spirit King was discovered by the dwarves during their invasion of the world, deep within the earth. They were able to dig up a cave in which they saw a huge glowing stone resembling an eye with many rune. Contrary to the dwarves' expectation that they would be killed instantly, Lan took the form of a man thanks to an unknown spell and politely began a conversation with them. The dwarves were in great shock, but did not contradict the spirit. Lan said that he was the Guardian of the World, but warned the dwarves that the other guards were not as friendly as he was. He asked how the dwarves came to the world, and they told him everything honestly. After a short conversation, Lan was pleased and gave all the dwarves present his blessing. After meeting him, each dwarf could easily say where the useful resources buried in the ground were, a kilometer away, thereby proving that this really happened. Since then, [Earth Spirit King] Lan has not shown himself to the world.
The fifth known [Guardian of the World], the most hated of all - [???] [Heavenly], [Lord of Nightmares], Aspen. The hatred towards him has been growing since ancient times. When intelligent races were able to settle on the continent of Latius, they wanted to expand their territory, but they faced a big problem. The monsters of other territories were too strong for them and they simply did not have the necessary resources for a long war. Instead of getting involved in a hopeless battle, intelligent races decided that it would be easier to try to capture another continent. At first, everything went well, people were able to build a fortress on another continent and everything was really going successful. Until at some point, every ship that was heading to the fort disappeared without a trace, the same thing happened with the ships that were going to Latias. People were in a panic and threw a lot of resources into searching for the monster that did this, after a while they found several of their ships. But what they saw horrified them. People no longer resembled themselves, but turned into cursed creatures resembling sea monsters. Naturally, each of these creatures was only a fragment of something mad. People tried to cure these creatures, but it was impossible. Whoever changed them did it only as the creator himself could, perverting their mind, body and soul.
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Further travel to another continent was made by people using only a network of portals. The following years, everything began to return to normal, people built several fortresses on another continent and looked for easy resources. Until the monsters from the depths of the sea began to rage and try to get to land. People fought them and at first received a lot of valuable resources, with almost no losses. This continued for years until people met a new monster. According to legends from other worlds, the monster was very similar to a mermaid. It had the upper half of a man, and the lower half of a fish, used water magic, illusions and reason, but was much stronger and could use the [Polymorph] [Epic] skill to completely turn into a human. During the battle with them, people learned that their creator was the [Lord of Nightmares] Aspen. Intelligent races tried to defeat them, but there was no end to them. No matter how many of these [Special] rank creatures they killed, their number did not decrease. Eventually, the intelligent races gave up on attempting to colonize the other continent and retreated, unable to counterattack and endure endless attacks. These creatures were later called [Aspen Spawn] [Special]. They occasionally attacked the coastal cities of Latias, but never advanced into the interior of the continent.
The next thing that is associated with Aspen is a huge storm that happened 20,000 years ago. It destroyed many cities on the continent of Latius and turned the former Beastmen Kingdom into ruins, plunging them into despair. The soothsayers of that time believed that Aspen was fulfilling the duties of the [Guardian of the World] by fighting someone, which is why the echoes of their magic fell upon the continent. After three days, the storm died down and Aspen addressed the strongest beastmen of the continent in a dream. He appeared as a man in black and blue armor with a huge spear that rested on his throne. He evoked a feeling of unimaginable power and had an aura that made souls tremble with fear. Aspen introduced himself and told these people that from now on they should not dare to cross the ocean and he would continue to protect them. Otherwise, he would repeat the storm on purpose. From then on, all attacks from his side ceased and there was no mention of him.
Reading the book further, Dylan did not see any specific knowledge about the Guardians. Everything that was written in the book further, only expressed the crazy territories of different people and the author himself. Leaning to the back of the chair, Dylan thought about it.
3 out of 5 guardians are a threat to the world on their own. The Dragon seems sane compared to the Phoenix and the Nightmare Lord. One made a desert on this continent, the other created a new race and almost drowned one kingdom. They are monsters and the Archdemon is probably the same.
Dylan's head hurt from everything he read in the book. So he decided to calm down and spend time in meditation, restoring his mana reserves and filling his sword with it. After meditating for a few hours, he was able to calm down a little and decide that everything written in this book is much higher than his salary and he is not going to kill himself because of it.
Opening another book without a title, he saw formulas for various spells in it. Turning to the first page, he realized that these were personal notes on spells from teacher Elton. Turning over it again, Dylan was very grateful to him for such a gift. This book had many powerful and useful spells that he would definitely learn in the future, including Holy Magic.
Dylan couldn't decide what to read next, but after a while he put Elton's book aside and picked up the book "How to Become a Great Mage".
"Sorry, Teacher Elton."
The first few paragraphs told what he already knew perfectly well. To become a Great Mage, you need to have the skill Meditation, Mana Sense, Mana Manipulation, Spell Creation and the skill of the chosen school of magic [Special] level. But in addition to this, you need to be able to cast spells with the will put into them and be able to cast a 7th level spell. For Dylan, this was also no secret, he learned this by asking Lady Alice for a long time.
The book talked about how important it was to start trying to control your will once you became a full-fledged mage. That it was an integral part of gaining true power. Dylan closed the book with a crazy smile, thinking that the author hadn't read the book about guardians and didn't even know what the word meant. He laughed at this and continued reading.
The book described exercises on will control. Dylan even found some of them useful, but nothing fundamentally new. Leafing through the book further, Dylan began to see various spells and descriptions of how to properly infuse will and how to use it. Reading this book, Dylan found many useful nuances in the spells and could not be more happy with this discovery. Having finished reading the book, Dylan once again thanked teacher Elton, or perhaps the director, for the knowledge provided.