Angel and the Black Earl exchanged a glance. Neither of them spoke, yet both understood what the other meant.
The Black Earl hesitated and said, "It’s possible that the Frostmoon Alliance is pulling strings behind the scenes. However, almost all of the core members of the Frostmoon Alliance can be traced. They’re mostly distributed among the Southern Domain, Abyss, and various world frontlines. Let’s not mention those still in the Southern Domain; the wizards in the Abyss and at the conquest frontlines have other organization wizards nearby who can vouch for them."
Which means the Frostmoon Alliance didn’t send anyone to the Panic Realm at all.
Even if a few agents were sent to the Panic Realm, they are definitely not core members.
If that’s the case, then the Frostmoon Alliance has no need to deliberately conceal the truth about the Panic Realm.
Just like what the Black Earl said about the case of the Manluo Plane, once the Sky Mechanical City found an opportunity for profit, they sent a large force to seize control of the Manluo Plane.
At that time, the wizards who stayed behind in the Sky Mechanical City were mostly pure members of the Academy Faction.
Comparing this to the situation in the Panic Realm.
If the Panic Realm was truly worth it for the Frostmoon Alliance to conceal for profit, at least some wizards would visit the Panic Realm, secretly bringing some materials back.
However, the Frostmoon Alliance did not do so, and all core members in the alliance can be tracked, indicating they never went to the Panic Realm.
There’s another point the Black Earl couldn’t understand.
Though the Frostmoon Alliance did spread some "rumors," those harmless rumors alone cannot stop the steps of wizards.
Even though many wizards pursue profit, some pursue truth and walk alone, never stopping their exploration or research.
This relentless pursuit cannot be stopped by any adverse conditions. Adverse conditions can be overcome, but the pursuit is never-ending.
In such a scenario, many wizards will go to the Panic Realm purely for knowledge, not profit.
If the Frostmoon Alliance was truly hiding something, wanting to monopolize the Panic Realm’s resources, they would try to stop them. But they did not do so and even recorded the coordinates of the Panic Realm in the "Plane Conquest Record."
This coordinate is undoubtedly correct; otherwise, where did Earl Mi come from?
So, considering all these details, although the Frostmoon Alliance appears to be the spreader of rumors, they might not be the actual mastermind.
It’s possible that there are other unknown forces behind the Frostmoon Alliance, directing the flow of public opinion.
It’s also possible that the Frostmoon Alliance saw only a partial view in the Panic Realm and didn’t know there were other wizard factions there.
The former is too conspiratorial and, upon careful thought, also has contradictions. For instance, if there are other forces directing opinions, why would they allow wizards from the Southern Domain, who are willing, to go to the Panic Realm?
The latter assumes the Frostmoon Alliance’s forward wizards are naive, which also seems unlikely.
Therefore, even the Black Earl is uncertain about the specific situation.
During their conversation, on the other side, Dox’s gaze remained fixed on the mural Kaier took out.
His eyes were focused, and his left hand kept stroking his chin, as if he was deep in thought.
"Sir, did you discover something?" Kaier had long wanted to put away the mural, but Dox was so engrossed in looking at it that he hesitated to move.
Dox: "Since there’s a second awakening, I’m wondering if the butterfly-winged girl in the mural has already gone through a second awakening. So, she can control that silly lion below."
Vay, who was beside Dox, couldn’t help but say, "Even if there’s a second awakening, wouldn’t there be flowers and plants on the head? Did you see these things on the head of this butterfly-winged person? You just think she’s pretty and want to look a few more times, right... huh."
Dox didn’t respond to Vay and continued looking at the painting. He felt like he had overlooked something.
Whether it was this painting or the previous two memories listed by Laplace.
As Dox was deep in thought, he suddenly heard a quiet exchange between Vay and Kaier.
Vay: "Did you really not find anything else in that ruin?"
Kaier shook his head: "No, the ruin might have contained something initially, but judging by the human traces, it was probably taken a long time ago."
Vay wondered: "Not mentioning the outside ruins. Just the secret room you discovered is strange enough; with only a mural related to the Panic Realm and no other things? Even some traces would suffice. Building a secret room just for a mural, that’s too bizarre."
Kaier pondered for a while: "There were other things in the secret room. I saw a small sacrificial instrument resembling an altar there. It should have been an extraordinary device, but over time, without energy replenishment, it gradually turned into ordinary objects. Some instruments were even cracked and broken, it’s been too long."
Vay: "Thinking about it like this, it kind of makes sense. Events from the Fallen Meteor Era happened thousands of years ago, if it were just ordinary extraordinary items, they would have long decayed to dust, and an empty room is normal."
The underground aqueduct at least had a huge Magical Energy Array, with spare energy that could transfer to some Extraordinary Items. Yet even so, most of the items in the aqueduct had turned to ashes. Let alone, a completely energy-less nondescript ruin.
With this thought, Vay was relieved.
"Right, time! It’s about time!" After hearing Vay and Kaier’s dialogue, Dox suddenly exclaimed.
Dox’s shout attracted everyone’s attention.
Dox, with his thick skin, showed no discomfort when everyone looked at him; instead, he became more excited: "I always felt like something was overlooked. But I couldn’t figure out what was wrong."
"Then I heard their conversation, and I realized."
"It’s time! Have we overlooked the timeline?"
Dox’s excitement did not infect the others. Mainly Vay and Kaier didn’t get it, while Angel and the Black Earl followed Dox’s words and fell into contemplation.
With a pensive look, Angel turned to Laplace behind the prism: "Can you estimate how long ago the two previous scenes occurred?"
Laplace: "Based on the memory reflected by the mirror, it won’t exist for too long in the Sea of Void Mirror. The moment I saw the memory was likely when the event occurred."
Laplace pointed at the prism, displaying the previously shown scene of the second awakening girl.
"This scene, calculated using your human time, likely took place five thousand years ago. As for the specific years, I’m sorry I cannot determine... I’ve seen too many memories."
Angel nodded understandingly.
If it was more than five thousand years ago, it indeed related to the events during the Fallen Meteor Era. It’s currently the New Calendar year 7378, and the Southern Domain’s Fallen Meteor Era generally refers to between New Calendar 2300 and 4100. That was exactly the Southern Domain Wizard World’s rising period, with countless geniuses emerging. Although not the most prosperous time in the Southern Domain, it made a notable mark in history, hence it’s called the Fallen Meteor Era.