Lava World
Knowing that it was a trap, those who still jumped straight in were idiots!
Leylin was obviously not an idiot. Since the other party had revealed that they had the ability to interfere with astral gates, Leylin obviously would not ignore them.
In fact, in these five years, he had been silently surveying the other world. He had even attempted projecting spiritual seeds, all in order to thoroughly understand the other party’s ability to interfere.
Through the five years of probing that seemed to only last a day, he had long since understood the methods they could use like the back of his hand. He’d even prepared a contingency plan.
“It’s offensive pattern number 3. Activate corresponding countermeasures!” Leylin’s eyes glinted with intelligence.
[Task initiated. Spatial anchor being projected. Tracing target’s coordinates…] The A.I. Chip began to operate methodically.
A layer of mysterious spatial undulations was emanated from Leylin’s body.
[Target coordinates have been determined. Proceed with attack?] The A.I. Chip asked with a robotic voice.
“Yes!” A smile appeared about Leylin’s lips.
*Bang!* *Boom!* A glass meter exploded, and many pieces of apparatus burst into flames. Collins, who was watching on, was about to go berserk.
“What’s going on? Who can tell me what’s going on?” Collins roared, his eyes red.
Even Breaking Dawn Magi would find it difficult to obtain this high-grade spatial interference apparatus. This time, so many pieces had readings that went off the charts, and his master would probably murder him.
“The other party seems to have grasped some sort of spatial technique and is counter-attacking!” An old man pushed at the lens in his glasses and concluded.
“Are you kidding me? Do you know how valuable research on spatial techniques is? How did he get it?” Collins’ first reaction was that of disbelief.
“But that’s the only explanation! If the other party’s spatial knowledge reserves are vaster than ours, we’ll probably have to be on our guard against the following spatial attacks!” The old man spoke rapidly.
“Spatial attacks?” Collins was stunned, and immediately after, saw the earth-shattering spatial turbulence that submerged the area...
“The effects aren’t half bad!” Listening to the prompt from the A.I. Chip, Leylin’s mood immediately improved.
Arcane Arts and knowledge regarding spatial coordinates were obviously insanely expensive. They were rarely seen, even in the Morning Star area.
However, he had the A.I. Chip and did not need very complete information. Hence, he had purchased just a few incomplete ones.
Though he could not be considered a great master in this area, attacking a few guys who were similarly newbies wouldn’t be a problem.
“You dare—” An enraged voice sounded. Another Magus with a black moon rune on his forehead suddenly appeared at the boundary of the world, trying to intercept Leylin.
“I am your opponent!” Along with the sounds of a lion growling, another Warlock with hair that seemed to be cast out of gold appeared in front of that Magus.
“Wayde…” The Radiant Moon Magus called out in a low tone, his expression revealing his fear.
“The other plan has been launched! Is that the Radiant Moon Magus from Jupiter’s Lightning?” Leylin turned and took a glimpse, storing the other party’s appearance in his memory.
*Whoosh!* As he was breaking through the protective sphere of a world, enormous astral forces had been activated and Leylin felt himself go dizzy. His body seemed to turn into a streak of light and then completely disappeared.
Compared to a prepared teleportation formation, the strength one required to move freely about the astral plane was much higher.
The huge pressure was as if a slab of steel was pressing down on Leylin’s body.
Cold, stifling, frenzied! Leylin immediately felt his bones creaking, and the defensive aurora on his body began to shatter bit by bit.
‘Perhaps even the pressure tens of thousands of meters under the sea can’t compare to this…’ This was the last conscious thought Leylin had. Before he completely fainted, the only thing he could do was to use Multilimb Strength and cover his body with dark green energy.
……
In a world of lava, large crevices could be seen in the earth, magma surging inside like a network of red rivers.
Space distorted on the surface of a large black rock, forming a translucent gate of light. It incessantly generated lightning in the surroundings.
The lightning crashed down more and more frequently as the entire area was filled with a dazzling white light.
*Boom!* The white light exploded, forming an eye-piercing radiance. When all the light vanished, the original gate of light and the lightning had all disappeared, leaving behind only charred traces that recounted the strange events that had just occurred.
“Hah… I’ve finally entered!” Leylin furrowed his brows, sensing the large amount of fire elemental particles surrounding him. “This concentration… Magi would believe it if someone said this was the fire elemental world!”
Intense pain could be felt from various parts of his body, causing him to groan and bend his back.
“A.I. Chip!” Leylin immediately ordered, “Check my current condition!”
[Beep! Host body’s soft tissue damage is at 30.87%. Fractures found at 7 areas, and signs of bruising observed on internal organs. Immediate treatment is recommended!] The A.I. Chip loyally intoned, transmitting a 3D human figure to him. The blue image held many signs of wounds.
Even with Leylin’s current vitality, he was still injured to this degree. Other regular Magi would probably have completely disappeared without a trace.
His astonishing vitality and Warlock bloodline were slowly mending the injuries in his body, allowing his tightly furrowed eyebrows to relax.
“That was really dangerous. I almost died outside the protective sphere…” While recalling what had just happened, Leylin couldn’t help but break out in cold sweat.
The protective sphere! This was the edge of a world, and even included part of the void. It could be said to be a large world’s strongest defence!
In general, every world had this protective sphere, though its strength varied. The most famous protective sphere was probably the World of Gods’ crystal wall.
Its powerful isolation ability was enough for even Magi at ranks 7 and above to be forced to return in defeat. It included a large world and various planes, forming the World of Gods’ unique culture of strength. It even cut off attempts at peeping from other worlds, save for that one time when the ancient Magi had invaded them.
Before reaching the Lava World, Leylin was able to regain consciousness with the protection of Multilimb Strength, preventing him from being in a bad situation.
If one wanted to use a metaphor, a large world’s protective sphere was like customs upon entry to a country. If Leylin had not woken, he would need to force his way in, and would definitely be met with attacks, especially from the malicious intent of the World Will.
The method Leylin had employed this time was akin to slipping through a barrier. He had not been discovered by the World Will, and the focus on him was evidently minimal, which would aid in his later movements.
“And this!” Leylin pulled a silver necklace full of astral light from his neck. After sensing that the connection was undamaged, he could completely relax.
This necklace represented his connection with the astral gate in the Magus world. As long as the connection there was not broken, he could teleport back at any time through the gate.
Right when Leylin had left the Magus world, Collins’ attack had been in order to completely cut off this connection, leaving Leylin stranded in another world and unable to find his way home for eternity.
Gilbert and the other two had been defeated using this method.
Of course, Collins had been made a fool of by Leylin, and would probably not be able to emerge for a long time. The largest danger had been obstructed by Wayde, and Leylin finally had some time to do what he wanted.
Saving the two dukes also fit with Leylin’s plans for benefits.
After all, he was not strong enough to go head to head against Jupiter’s Lightning. He needed a few other people to relieve the pressure, and Gilbert and Emma were very good candidates for this.
Furthermore, Gilbert was Leylin’s mentor, not someone he could abandon so easily.
After considering for some time and finding the best way out for himself, Leylin still chose to come forward and save them.
“But… This world is so huge. Where am I to find them?” Leylin watched the lava lake that stretched as far as he could see, as well as the burning clouds in the sky, and couldn’t help but laugh bitterly.
[Beep! Testing surroundings…] At this moment, the A.I. Chip immediately projected the analysis of the surroundings before Leylin.
“This…”
Leylin’s soul force was sent out to explore, and he immediately sensed the difference from what he was used to. In the Lava World, his spiritual force seemed sluggish, a result of the laws of this world not being harmonious with his own.
“As expected, with a switch in worlds, the dimensions, energy levels and even the the interactions between particles are starkly different. The changes in laws are definitely a huge obstruction to Magi who travel between worlds.”
A thread of understanding flashed in Leylin’s eyes. This was the precious experience that many ancient Magi had gathered through their blood and sweat.
“Thankfully, I’ve already condensed my point mass. Soul force is still useful in most worlds, and only needs some slight alterations. If it was still spiritual force, I’m afraid…” Relief rose in Leylin’s heart.
Soul force was a high-grade power, and could be used in many worlds. Its practicality trumped that of spiritual force.
Leylin estimated that if he still used spiritual force here, he would probably have to deal with the awkwardness of not fitting in. He might even need to cultivate it from the beginning and turn his spiritual force into the spiritual strength unique to this world. Though there would be no bottleneck, it would definitely require a lot of effort.
Now, with the use of soul force, this issue was mostly solved.
“It’s no wonder that ancient Magi placed Morning Star as the minimum rank to attack other worlds. So there’s this factor!” Leylin touched his chin.
[Beep! Data on surroundings completely gathered. Generating elemental map. Analysing world’s laws. Beginning fine-tuning of host body’s soul undulations…]