Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Year 611, San Calendar. Yala continent, Silver Moon Kingdom, Seth City.
Professor Rode of Seth Public University was already 150 years old. For a half-elf, he had passed his prime and walked into the sunset.
However, as Rode was struggling with weakening physical body and mind power, he had a breakthrough and became a level-four class holder with a life span of 1,000 years. As a half-elf, he was not clergy of the Goddess of Harvest, but of the Three Gods of Civilization, and chose a class under the Three Gods of Civilization, a magic crystal warlock. The Three Gods of Civilization had few restrictions on their believers. Loyalty and faith were not crucial to them. Also, their magic crystal warlock system was rather refined.
Professor Rode quibbled over spell knowledge and details, and he loved to argue. He could have a heated debate with his close friends for months and even make it into public newspapers. In a way, you could say that he did not get even a bit of the grace and elegance from his elf blood, and he was more like a human who loved to argue just for the sake of it.
Though he was not well-loved by staff or students at Seth Public University, his integrity and morality were unquestionable. Ever since Rode was a little boy, he had always said he would be a hero and an ace pilot.
“If the brick and mortar in the kingdom have accepted me, I would have become a hero long ago. I would be the first to explore the bitwall and return successfully. And I would be worshipped by every single being,” said Rode.
Rode was adjusting a piece of intricate equipment in front of him in his own laboratory. It was a spinning sphere with multiple rings surrounding it. As the sphere spun, space around it folded and became slightly wrinkled. This giant piece of equipment took up more than half the room.
A black wind raven was perched on a hanging basket in the corner of the chaotic laboratory. It spread its wings and said, “You have no talent in piloting airships. The first time you piloted a simulated airship, you destroyed the ground of the training field, and 12 people were severely hurt. Of course, they didn’t accept you! Also, space turbulence and bitwall mazes are still unresolved to this day. No one ever returns once they go in. You are lucky they did not accept you, or you would be nothing but an idiot with his name in the paper on the casualty list.”
Rode looked to his partner the wind raven somewhat agitatedly. He opened his hands and waved them in the air. Rode said, “A little respect! Not idiots, but pioneers, heroes! They sacrificed to explore civilization. Every one of them deserves our respect.”
Wind raven Black Jack looked at the equipment and said, “And this Space Fluctuation Tracker of yours is useless! What if you could detect stable space bubbles in the bitwall? The space anchoring and portal technologies are still in early stages with no application value. They’re just burning loads of money. If I might say, no idiot would be willing to give you any more money. What’s wrong with money? Why would they want to waste it on your experiments, with no sign of any return?”
Ding-dong!
Before the wind raven Black Jack could finish its taunting and the two of them could start another round of arguments, the doorbell rang.
Rode opened the door and found a beautiful lady wearing a slinky black dress and a black-veiled hat standing outside his home-laboratory. A fancy steam locomotive was below the stairs. A skinny servant stood behind the lady, sending out signals of power and danger.
“Is this the home of the well-known space spell master, Professor Rode? I would like to see him.” The lady spoke fluent Sylr, which pleased Rode.
Rode straightened up, fixed his messy robe and answered, “That’s right. This is the home of the space spell master, Professor Rode. I am the person you are seeking!”
The lady looked up and down at Rode, reached her hand out and said, “Hello, I am Alice. The Red Moon Business Group is under my name, and we are interested in funding your research…”
Rode’s smile grew even bigger. His experiment had bankrupted a number of financial groups. His plan of studying the Ring of Anthony, which was a gift from the Great Wise Anthony, and reverse engineering the space witchcraft within to produce bulk alchemy equipment had fooled quite a few financial groups into funding his experiment.
The large-scale laboratory flopped, bringing debt to a number of well-known financial groups. If Rode was not a level-four class holder with a mysterious level-five magical beast, he would have been murdered long ago.
The reality was, the news of the leaders of those financial groups committing suicide, going bankrupt, and becoming homeless could be seen constantly in the paper. However, Rode lived just fine. No debt collector dared to knock on Rode’s door, and no underground force dared to set foot on land within miles of Rode’s house.
But still, no idiot would ever want to invest in his experiment. Rode’s name spread out in Seth city and scared off every business group and rich investor who heard it.
Another dupe, no, generous sponsor sat on the couch in Rode’s messy living room. She pulled out a stack of strategy plan documents, including detailed plans and funding on three fronts, funding Rode to rebuild his laboratory, the bitwall exploration project, and space alchemy equipment.
What raised Rode’s eyebrows was that they possessed space spell knowledge and technologies. Those were not something that could be easily acquired by an average financial group. Only the top laboratories of various kingdoms, churches, universities, and alchemy institutions could touch on those subjects.
“Method to summon and open the Talos Gate! The relationship between devil summoning and teleportation! Possibility of discussion on portal construction! Mind power anchoring transmission witchcraft!” Rode read.
Rode looked to Alice in shock and said, “These? You could provide all these?”
Now Rode realized he was not dealing with just anyone. He sized up the lady who claimed to be Alice. She was a mysterious woman. As for looks, they did not reveal her age. She was a level-two class holder, a clergy member of an unknown church.
“What’s your plan? That’s not something an average person could touch on! It’s not just about the money, it’s forbidden knowledge!” said Rode.
Alice stood up and asked, “Can you keep this between us, Mr. Rode?”
“Of course! We could sign a contract under the name of the Dragon God of Time!” answered Rode.
Alice said, “I want to find a person in the abyss!”
Rode’s jaw dropped and he said, “Find someone in the abyss? A fallen devil warlock? Or a soul dragged into the abyss by the devil? It’s fine if it is a devil warlock. With his true name which would have become part of the consciousness of the abyss, we could bring him back once we open the entrance to the abyss. As for a soul in abyss…”
“No, we could not find him using his true name or get any response. I just want to know… to know if he is alright there!” said Alice.
The romantic elfin soul inside Rode awakened. Though he did not say a word, all kinds of thoughts floated through his mind. “Oh my god! The taboo love between a clergy member and a devil warlock? I love the story! Surely it will sell if put on stage.”
Alice, on the other hand, did not finish the story. She said, “I will let you know the details later. You only need to help me find a stable way to open the entrance to the abyss which will not require a soul contract with the devil lord Talos.”
Rode said with confidence, “No problem at all. But all this money? Just to perfect the devil spell of summoning the door of the abyss?”
Alice answered, “Of course not. The contract states that once space items are produced, the technology will be owned by the Red Moon Business Group. Of course, we won’t forget the share that belongs to you, Mr. Rode. If you agree, the contract will be notarized by a priest of divine agreement of the Dragon God of Time.”
Rode reviewed all the paperwork and clauses in the contract. After some thinking, he said, “No problem. I will sign it. With the information you provided, I am very confident this time!”
“Then, I wish the best for our partnership! I believe we will be good friends!” said Alice.
“Definitely!” said Rode.
After a hearty handshake, the lady got into the steam locomotive and disappeared on the busy, spacious road of Seth City.
“Ah! What a generous, graceful lady!” Rode said with excitement as he closed his door.
“Ah! Another idiot who wasted her money here!” said Black Jack. It was standing on the basket, mimicking Rode. A wind scythe came for the ropes of the hanging basket but was wiped out by Black Jack.
At that moment, the 5-meter-tall Space Fluctuation Tracker in the laboratory started to spin much more rapidly than it ever had before. The rings around the sphere created a blurring image.
“What’s going on? What did we find? The response is too strong!” shouted Rode.
Rode threw himself at the Space Fluctuation Tracker. It was his precious equipment, and no one else could touch it. And now, it was spinning so madly that it could break at any second.
“No, no! It has detected a huge space bubble! It’s a huge discovery, we discovered another stable space bubble inside the bitwall. Huge, extremely huge. It is probably the biggest space bubble ever found in history,” said Rode.
Rode was thrilled. Just now, someone had offered him funding to restart his experiments, and then he made a huge discovery.
“Coordinates, coordinates!” Rode shouted.
Rode stared at the spinning Space Fluctuation Tracker and locked onto the position of an unknown space in the distant main world. Simulations and information about the space popped up on the projection screen. Rode copied down some figures.
Black Jack flew over to Rode’s shoulder. After Rode finished taking notes of the coordinates, both of them started to think about the position of the coordinates and realized something strange.
“The coordinates seem weird and the response was way too strong. Such intense space fluctuations imply a huge space beyond our imagination. It is too far away, the position seems to be…”
Rode and Black Jack looked at each other and said simultaneously, “Not inside Maria’s World?”
Both instantly looked at the rapidly spinning Space Fluctuation Tracker and exclaimed, “No way! Did we discover another world?”
