Mage Legend
Chapter 47 - 5 episodes Stone Tablet_2

Chapter 47: 5 episodes Stone Tablet_2

"Actually, our magic is something everyone figures out for themselves. Maybe one day, someone suddenly has a breakthrough and uses their first spell. It’s like suddenly having a spell in your mind, so we don’t really know what those words are. As for the materials," Moni stroked his chin thoughtfully, "Wait a moment, I’ll get it for you. Fortunately, it’s here with me now." The dwarf stood up and began rummaging through the clutter beneath his workbench. Soon, he pulled out a one-foot square stone tablet and handed it to Lynch. "Here it is. This is something from a long time ago, said to have been left by a Dwarf Great Arcanist. It’s been in the museum storage for many years. When I was little, I used to see this stone tablet while playing hide and seek there. Now, the council has asked me to try to translate it, so it’s been with me ever since."

"Translate?" Lynch took the item. It was just something carved from ordinary hard stone, densely packed with characters in Dragon Language. Lynch glanced over it briefly; even though he was familiar with Dragon Language, he couldn’t understand its meaning: rather than a coherent text, it seemed more like a random jumble of Dragon Language characters. The mage quickly read from beginning to end, identifying many Ancient Dragon Language letters no longer in use today. Combined with the wear and tear on the tablet, this thing must be at least a hundred years old.

"This stone was originally placed near the entrance to the museum storage, so everyone who went there could see it. But no one could understand what was written on it. Three years ago, it suddenly started glowing in the middle of the night, radiating a glaring light and emitting a strange chanting sound. It sounded a bit like a spell, similar to what I heard a Human Mage say when casting spells as a child. Since then, everyone’s ability to use spells here has generally improved. I couldn’t cast a spell at all before that. They all say my spells are the best now, so the council wants me to research this stone tablet to see if I can find out why it glows and sings. Understanding it completely would be ideal, as we might improve our spellcasting ability further. However, I’ve always wanted to create an everything-making machine, but the council hasn’t been willing to fund it. I understand they’re afraid I’ll get distracted and won’t concentrate on studying the stone tablet. But I’ve been looking at it for almost two years and haven’t figured out what’s written on it."

"Lynch, maybe the secret to your recovery is on it," Moni said.

Lynch became intrigued by the stone tablet, silently and attentively reading the characters on it without any outside distraction. Moni and Nimo took this opportunity to quietly leave the room.

"Uncle, is this really okay?" Nimo asked as they walked to a more secluded corner. "That stone tablet isn’t really that magical. It did glow, but it’s not some secret to restoring magic, and it’s not in the storage; it’s in the graveyard! The council didn’t tell Uncle to study the stone tablet at all. Isn’t deceiving him bad?"

Moni sighed. "Kid, I understand what you mean. But imagine if you could never make anything again in your life—specifically, if you lost the chance to do what you love the most. How would you feel? Right now, Lynch just needs a reason to get back on his feet. Besides, there’s no harm in him studying the stone tablet. After all, it is indeed something from our only dwarf Great Mage long ago. Don’t look at me like that. I know it’s a tombstone, but since I was tasked with restoring several tombstones because the graveyard needed fixing, I might as well carve an identical one to replace it. Surely there’s some secret in a tombstone carved by the Great Mage himself."

"Uncle, you really are something..."

Lynch was still staring intently at the stone tablet. He recognized all the characters; using Ancient Dragon Language was as simple as speaking to him, yet the disordered characters didn’t convey any meaning. On the other hand, an item from an Ancient Great Arcanist could hardly be such a chaotic and nonsensical thing. Since Moni suggested there might be secrets of dwarf magic inside, there must be a way to decipher it to uncover those secrets.

........

The next day, Lynch, who hadn’t slept all night, was escorted, bleary-eyed and bloodshot, by the excited duo of uncle and nephew to the entrance of the museum storage. The place was already packed with gawking dwarves, densely jostling about. Langda and several other members of the council smiled as they watched Lynch stumble toward them.

Behind them, heaps of peculiar items awaited, and several dwarves were assisting in moving them into the museum storage. Yesterday, the team responsible for the installation of that refined gold arm practically turned the storage upside down before they finally found the refined gold arm in a distant corner, which was the result of yesterday’s storage turning. At the break of dawn, the dwarf priest, blacksmith, craftsman, and a large crowd had already assembled. Now, with preparations complete, only the main act awaited—the injured Lynch.

Lynch was wrestlingly pinned down on a recliner by four dwarves, seeing the metal arm for the first time. A very robust-looking metal arm lay quietly on the workbench, its whole body exuding a dark yellow sheen, with red patterns engraved on it, looking like tattoos spiraling around the arm. At the connections of the shoulder, elbow, wrist, and fingers, mechanisms connected them, appearing to allow movement.

Before Lynch had another chance to scrutinize the details of the arm, a dwarf in a dark green robe approached, smiling kindly and gently rested his hand on Lynch’s forehead: "Try to relax, don’t resist this divine art. It’s only going to hypnotize you and relieve your pain, which will make you feel better."

Lynch nodded and willingly closed his eyes. Then he slipped into a deep sleep.

Langda, seeing Lynch asleep, gestured, and several council members began working with the arm. The dwarves held their breath, silently watching the council at work. This was a rare learning opportunity. Council members were the top in their fields among dwarves and often taught others how to improve their craftsmanship, but instances of collaborative work like this one were very rare. All the dwarves were so focused that they wished to channel all the energy they spent on breathing into their eyes to more attentively memorize each worker’s every moment.

The surgery took far more time than anticipated. Several hours passed, and sweat began to form on the head of the dwarf priest standing by—the hypnotic spell had worn off, but the arm was not yet fully attached, with some joints still immobile. Lynch’s eyelids were beginning to twitch; he was about to wake up.

The priest dwarf tugged at Langda’s robe and relayed the situation. Langda frowned, picked up a pair of tongs, and struck Lynch on the head. After a "clang," Lynch’s eyelids stopped twitching.

"We had to knock him out. Come on, everyone, let’s work harder, we’re too slow!" Langda wiped the sweat off his forehead and threw himself back into the task.

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