Out at sea, the island was enveloped in a blanket of white, save for the area amidst the formation of Twilight Steles, where the greenery held onto its vibrancy.
“Who’s there? Lord Solomon, Chief Doug has been waiting for you for some time.”
“Hmm, you have my thanks for your efforts.” Read the latest on empire
Solomon had traveled from afar and casually responded to the sorcerer guarding the island. Stepping onto his flying beast, he ascended into the black portal hanging mid-air and entered the space filled with an unsettling aura.
“Sorcerer Doug, I hope all has been well with you,” Solomon spotted the figure standing on the Small Bronze Square and, without ceremony, landed beside him.
As he stared at the Shadow Tigon still bound by the runes chains, then sensed the stirrings from the depths of Black Water Lake below, a strange chuckle escaped him.
“Tsk, tsk, your luck seems rather poor this time.”
“Who would have thought the information held by the organization could have such a fatal gap?” Doug said dully. Had he known, he would have never come to Moon Pincer Peninsula.
It was a painstaking effort that resulted in him being stuck between a rock and a hard place.
“It’s quite normal; the materials date back to ancient times, missing a page or two is hardly surprising.”
“But it was precisely these one or two pages that have doomed me,” Doug said bitterly. He had never anticipated falling into such a large trap: “If it can’t be solved, I’ll just walk away, cracks or no cracks.”
“Sorcerer Doug, we of the Five Leaves Spear are a just organization; we mustn’t allow the living beings here to suffer.”
“That’s why I called you here. After this is over, I’ll owe you a favor.”
Solomon didn’t immediately accept his promise; instead, he continued to examine the surroundings and the biggest problem they faced. Since it involved a rift between planes, he dared not act rashly.
Doug did not disturb him and let him investigate freely.
“Well?”
“Not well.”
After a long pause, Solomon’s expression turned particularly solemn.
His response gave Doug a bad feeling—the need to involve the Chairman would be too costly.
“You should have asked for Sorcerer Ivan.”
“He did seek out Sorcerer Ivan, who said he was powerless to help. Could it be that he was lying to me?” Doug frowned slightly as he briefly recounted the process of inviting him.
“No, no, no. He might not realize where his most terrifying asset lies—not in the knowledge he currently possesses, but in his capability to learn and comprehend knowledge.
It’s fine that he doesn’t know everything now; as long as we provide him with the right knowledge, he likely has a great chance to come up with a suitable solution.
How about this: I provide the knowledge, he develops the solution, and we tackle the problem together. Afterwards, as you said, you owe each of us a favor,” Solomon explained and suggested.
“Agreed.” Doug pondered for a moment and ultimately agreed.
…
Two days passed and Ivan arrived on the tumultuous island, where he met Tess Bielby in person.
The last time they had met, they were both Level 1 Sorcerers; now one remained a Level 1 Sorcerer, while the other had advanced to Level 2 Sorcerer, creating a noticeable disparity in power.
This made Tess dare not show any negligence and hurriedly led her people forward to greet him.
“There certainly are a lot of stakes around here; you guys don’t know how to clear them up a bit?”
“Sorcerer Ivan is correct in his teachings, and we shall clean up again in a while, but after some time, those petty thieves will deploy various means of monitoring, making it difficult to guard against.”
“Never mind, carry out your plans as you see fit—I’m going to see Sorcerer Doug.”
Ivan casually mentioned this, presuming that Mongna Ant Land Cottage also had its protections in place; then he commanded the swamp ant to fly into mid-air, heading toward this long-famed Wondrous Land.
Not long ago, Sorcerer Doug extended his second invitation to him, on the recommendation of Solomon.
Only then did Ivan agree to come and investigate.
The inside of the cave was similar to the Ant Beings’ secret vault, more than double the size of the latter, filled not only with strange shadow power but also with a significant concentration of space energy, though both were rather wild.
“Well, you’re quick on the uptake, having become a Level 2 Sorcerer in just a few months.”
“Thanks to the Chairman’s grace, I didn’t waste the opportunity.”
Ivan greeted both men, noticing that Solomon indeed appeared to be of Level 2 strength, subtly outclassing his own, exuding an indescribable and peculiar aura.
“Sorcerer Solomon, you should understand me—if I’m not of help, don’t blame me.”
“It’s precisely because I understand you that I suggested Sorcerer Doug extend the invitation.”
After hearing Solomon’s thorough explanation, Ivan understood the other’s intention and stopped refusing, agreeing to give Doug a hand.
Solomon was prepared, handing him a high-quality Crystal Ball, which recorded a vast amount of knowledge on spatial rifts as well as related common knowledge about space.
Ivan, without ceremony, started to go through it in a random spot.
Space was categorized by type, with the most common being space secret realms; next in line were sub-spaces, followed by the rarer world bridge layers and the inter-world layers.
Space secret realms need no mention, as any regular Sorcerers Academy would possess one—such as the Purple Dew Garden Secret Realm in Mongna Ant Land Cottage.
Sub-spaces were also fairly common, with the Ant Beings’ secret vault belonging to this category, as did the Silkworm Queen’s space worm nest—those spaces built with Secret Techniques and Formations that rely on certain items to exist, with their duration depending on the supporting object.
Inter-world layers, as the name implies, are spaces formed out of the gaps between worlds, naturally bizarre places that can easily become transit stations for creatures from beyond this world to invade.
World bridge layers could be understood as slender bridges for invasions, which would gradually transform into inter-world layers as the distance between two worlds shortened.
It was only after reading the common knowledge on space that Ivan realized that the space they were in was actually akin to a ‘world bridge layer’, as evidenced by the spatial rifts.
If they didn’t manage it properly, this place could readily become a beachhead for an invasion of shadow creatures, potentially leading to an uncontrollable situation.
As the one who broke the seal, Doug could be viewed with disdain by the Danaila World, ending up extremely unfortunate.
This world indeed had the concept of destiny, such as the insect fate theory in the Red Cloud Realm; no wonder Doug did not hesitate to owe a favor to resolve the issue.
“Sorcerer Solomon, since it’s a spatial rift, shouldn’t our Danaila World be able to heal it on its own?”
“The world is so vast; there are always areas it can’t look after, or what use would we creatures be?”
While Ivan was comprehending, he didn’t forget about the inscrutable Solomon, asking questions without reserve when in doubt, and Solomon was not stingy with his answers.
Thus, Ivan gradually increased his understanding of space and planes.
At the same time, the information that Ivan had entered the unknown seas made its way to the eyes of many interested parties through the monitoring means around them, including Oz Trollope, who harbored a deep-rooted hatred for him.
Dorando was his only son—avenging the death of one’s child was a hatred that could not coexist under the same sky. Oz had long been waiting for an opportunity for revenge, waiting for Ivan to leave Mongna Ant Land Cottage.
While Ivan was busy in the Wondrous Land, Oz was also busily plotting something.