Ethereal Ascendance: A Journey of Transformation(1-3VOL)

Executive Director

It seemed like nothing bad had happened. When we arrived at the tower about ten minutes later, Nicola excitedly ran over to me and pulled my hand, saying,

"See what I found?"

"What is it?" I asked, puzzled. Even if she had discovered the Celestial Weapon, she wouldn't be so thrilled since she already had one herself.

"Come inside and you'll see!" Nicola immediately started pushing me into the tower. The others also curiously followed us in, wondering what she had found.

At first glance, there was nothing special about the basement hall we entered. It wasn't very big and the interior decoration was simple. The structure was like a lighthouse with a spiral staircase along the inner wall leading up.

Except for a desk placed in the center of the hall.

When I saw the desk, Nicola and I exchanged glances. Even by Earth's technological standards, it looked very futuristic, not to mention in this magical world.

I didn't think it should be called a desk. With its streamlined metallic shine and modern look, I felt "control console" was more fitting.

It had several triangular buttons arranged in a circle that glowed white. A red indicator light flashed continuously in the center. But there was no text or instructions on what the buttons did.

What was most astonishing wasn't the buttons though. It was the floating virtual projection screen hovering over the console, densely filled with land images including an aerial view of where we currently were.

"Don't tell me those are satellite images?!" I asked Nicola excitedly, barely able to contain myself. When I saw the images I specifically ran outside to look up but didn't see anything flying overhead.

Although I had lived in this world for months and knew surveillance could be achieved with magic. But I didn't think the current magical capabilities I had witnessed could accomplish satellite monitoring to this extent. The aerial perspectives were so familiar from when I used to look at satellite maps on my computer.

"Probably not. As you saw, thick dark clouds always shroud the skies over this continent," Nicola shook her head and pulled me aside while everyone else was captivated by the screen. She whispered,

"Satellites probably can't penetrate the cloud cover to capture ground images right? And there are barely any visible cables or energy sources powering this room. It's likely still magic..."

"But why does something made with magic look so high-tech?"

I didn't feel like the magic I had experienced so far could achieve this satellite-like surveillance.

"Hard to say. Our magic skills are quite low after all..." Nicola admitted. Glancing at Eleanora and Selene scrutinizing the console, she suggested,

"Why don't we ask the experts?"

"Selene, what do you think this console...device is? Are the images generated by magic?" Nicola directly started questioning without hesitation.

I figured Eleanora's magic mastery exceeded ours but Selene was easier to talk to.

"I don't know," Selene shook her head. "I've never seen anything like this either. It doesn't seem like magic but there are faint traces of fire elemental essence..."

"Fire elemental?" I immediately thought of the Fire Goddess. Did this console have something to do with her?

"Are the images in real-time?" Alfreed asked while staring intently at the surveillance feeds. He was examining ones that looked lush and green, somewhat similar to areas within the Astral Realm kingdom, unlike the barren exterior landscape. When he noticed a bird flying by in one of the feeds, he curiously questioned,