The spectral vessel, the Space Travesty Shuttle, descended soundlessly through the veil of silver clouds. Below stretched the Witch Race’s dominion, a realm unlike any other in the Legendary Plains.
If the Dark Kingdom was shrouded in shadow and gloom, then the territory of the Witch Race was dangerously alive!
Vast landscapes shimmered with alchemical radiance. Glades of living crystal pulsed faintly, and every blade of grass, every drifting petal, carried a faint hum of enchantment.
Rivers coursed with luminous essence instead of water, and even the winds carried fragrance rich enough to intoxicate lesser beings.
The Witch Territories were forbidden to outsiders. Not a single soul beyond their race dared step foot here uninvited, not even the great Alchemy Kings who presided over the Alchemy Guild.
Anyone who tried without sanction vanished, their existence erased without a whisper, for here, everything was owned, watched, and alive!
Jacob, in the guise of the Deathless Prince, walked through the misty expanse after his ship dissolved into soul.
The moment his boots touched the floating runic soil, he felt the world around him breathe. Layers of unseen enchantments rippled outward, brushing across his form; it was like they were testing, analyzing, and even rejecting!
However, he ignored them as every array that dared to read his presence dimmed and died under the quiet suppression of his aura!
Around him rose the Witch Gardens, labyrinthine sanctuaries of flora and magic.
When Jacob saw those gardens, even he was a little astounded, for vast cauldrons larger than mansions stood embedded in the earth, their metallic surfaces engraved with glowing runes.
In them, potions of unimaginable potency brewed silently, stirring without visible flame.
’Just what kind of alchemy techniques is the Witch Race hiding?’
Although he knew that the Witch Race considered the top race when it came to alchemy and mystic knowledge, they also had a relation with ritual practices and curses, he wasn’t expecting they to be hiding this much.
As Jacob walked while looking around, he saw luminous vines coiled through the air like serpents of light, and clusters of alchemical fruits glimmered softly on floating platforms.
"Sir, they are the Spirit King Grapes! A very rare Legendary King Rank Spirit Fruit. In the records, these Spirit King Grapes are treasures that could heal shattered souls and regrow the bodies of Legendary Kings!
"However, they were so rare that only a handful of Spirit King Grapes have even been seen in the Legendary Plains. Yet, the Witch Race is growing Spirit King Grape Veins!
"Although they didn’t seem to have reached the Legendary King Rank yet, they are extremely precious nonetheless, especially if someone can nurture them to the Legendary King Rank!" Black Mechanic informed Jacob, making the latter slightly surprised.
However, the Spirit King Grape Veins were just the start, and as Jacob moved deeper, Black Mechanic introduced many of the herbs, and most of them were thought long gone from the Legendary Plains, yet here they thrived under the protection of the Witches!
"Sir, according to the information gathered by the Timeless City, the rarest herbs and materials are stored within the Vault Gardens. Places shaped like sanctuaries, half laboratory, half paradise, and they are sealed by mighty enchantments, probably Quasi-Myth Rank by the Witch Race Ancestor.
"Only the generation Witch Queen could open them. If I’m not wrong, the Vault Gardens should be within the Verdantia Life Galaxy!"
Just as Black Mechanic’s voice trailed off, Jacob looked high above the Witch Continent’s core region, where he spotted a celestial body that glowed with tranquil emerald light.
It resembled an ethereal sphere of pure energy, wrapped in silver vines and floating on a bed of luminescent stone petals.
Golden flame flickered in Deathless Prince’s abyssal eyes as Jacob muttered with a hint of surprise, "That’s the Cosmic Gateway!"
Jacob’s guess was correct, as that was indeed the cosmic gateway of the Verdantia Life Galaxy, the Elemental Galaxy, and the holist sanctuary of the Witch Race!
Furthermore, with the Eyes of Judge Jacob, he saw something shocking as he mused, ’The Cosmic Gateway seemed to be connected with these lands like a core. Could it be that every herb that is growing is the essence tied to the Law of Life emitting from that Cosmic Gateway!’
Jacob was again forced to reevaluate the knowledge controlled by the Witch Race, and now he wanted it as well!
At this moment, Jacob asked the Black Mechanic, "You said only the Witch Queen and the chosen Key Bearer, a single matriarch entrusted with the Life Authority Sigil, could open the Verdantia Gateway?"
"Affirmative!" Black Mechanic replied without hesitation.
"Well then, I guess I should greet her. Since I’ve entered silently, no one seemed to know they had a guest..." Jacob casually stated, but his voice was filled with viciousness.
At this moment, within the floating sanctum of Caelora Citadel, the heart of Lunaris Vale, a woman stood atop a circular dais of hovering runes. She was tall, slender, and adorned in flowing robes of translucent white and jade, embroidered with living glyphs that swirled faintly with light.
Her silver-emerald hair cascaded like liquid moonlight, and her eyes shimmered green like crystallized dew.
This was Matriarch Ephyra, bearer of the Life Sigil, and one of the Witch Queen’s most trusted, and she was also the Key Bearer!
Her presence exuded serenity and purity, but beneath that calm exterior lay peak Legendary King Rank power, with a hint of profound Law of Life in the air around her.
Matriarch Ephyra wasn’t given the Key Bearer’s title and left alone to guard the Verdantia Life Galaxy for nothing.
In fact, every Key Bearer of the Verdantia Life Galaxy has to be proficient in the Law of Life and inherit the Legacy of the Witch of Life that not even the Witch of Queen could touch!
Furthermore, there was something that the outsiders who had no connection with the Witch Race didn’t know. Every Key Bearer of the Verdantia Life Galaxy was more powerful than the Witch Queen herself!
The air bent slightly around Matriarch Ephyra, pulsing in rhythm with her heart, as though the world itself obeyed her will, but suddenly her brows furrowed as she finally sensed something.
It was a ripple that didn’t belong here, but before she could react, the next instant, the space behind her shattered, and Jacob walked out of the rift like a merciless, inevitable fate!