Chapter 189: Profit
Adyr felt a flicker of satisfaction at Maruun’s reaction and delivered his lie with careful precision.
"I stumbled upon a merchant caravan while traveling near the Outer Region," he said evenly. "Got these from a trader out there."
His tone was casual, truthful enough to avoid suspicion, but vague enough to protect the reality behind the gear’s origin.
Among the many books he had studied, several contained crude maps of the known world and its fractured regions. While most were incomplete or filled with blank, uncharted zones, they had been enough to piece together a general understanding of the continent’s structure.
The area Adyr currently resides in was known as the Eastern Region, a territory comprised mostly of minor kingdoms and practitioner groups who rarely exceeded Rank 4. The term Outer Region referred to the fringes of this eastern territory—wild, loosely governed areas near its borders.
Beyond the Eastern Region lay a broader and far more formidable land known as the Midlands—a region of powerful empires, structured dominions, and practitioners who routinely reached Rank 5 and beyond. Compared to the Eastern Region, where finding a single Rank 5 Adept was a rarity, the Midlands housed dozens.
It was from the Midlands that the Wandering Merchant was said to originate, traveling into weaker regions to barter, influence, and observe.
As for what lay beyond the Midlands, information became sparse, hazy at best. The next known expanse was called the Central Region, a place spoken of only in whispers. A land where Rank 7 Sparks and even Sages roamed freely, shaping the flow of power on a scale incomprehensible to mortals.
And past that... there was only one name.
The Abyss Line.
A final border where knowledge failed and records ended. No maps, no cities, no kingdoms—just a stretch of silence in every account, as if the world itself refused to speak of what lay beyond.