Beneath his feet was a deep-colored, muddy, and sticky beach, and by his side, a cluster of twisted and low-lying trees, with some murky seawater not far away.
Slightly murmuring waves surged murkily, blurring the coastline.
Clearly, this place was a mangrove forest at the edge of a small island.
At this moment, it was dusk, the sky was faintly illuminated, the night sky darkened, but his powerful vision allowed Colin to clearly see everything around him.
He turned his head to look out over the sea, past the sheltering trees, where a rudimentary brown wooden boat caught his eye, currently floating not far away, bobbing with the waves.
'Maybe it's the vessel that the Tree Elf hybrid and Liya'er used to come to this small island...' he conjectured to himself, before once again vigilantly observing his surroundings.
The moist mangrove forest was utterly silent, the only conspicuous living creatures within the range of his sight were the fiddler crabs on the left side of the trees, their dark aqua shells blending in with the environment, hard to spot if they weren't moving.
'This small island, who knows where it is.' Colin retracted his gaze and sighed softly.
After using witchcraft to inspect his surroundings once more, he approached the brown boat, stowing it into his Storage Ring, and then cautiously flew towards the sky.
Although it was getting dark, to be on the safe side, Colin flew at a low altitude, just high enough to scout around a little.
This small island was not safe; no one knew if anyone else besides the Tree Elf hybrid and Liya'er was aware of this island that could lead to the Elf Kingdom.
Moreover, he didn't know if the Tree Elf hybrid and Liya'er had other accomplices who knew they had come here.
So, the first thing to do right now was to leave this place as soon as possible.
As he gradually increased his altitude, the whole view of the island unfolded before Colin.
The island was a teardrop-shaped mini isle, not large in size. From one end to the other, it was no more than two kilometers across.
Therefore, the specific details could be easily discerned at a glance.
Sparse vegetation and bare rocks, this deserted island was the most common type found at sea; the only special feature was the mangrove forest he was standing in just moments ago.
Colin retracted his gaze and continued to look into the distance around him.
It didn't take long before he spotted an island lush with vegetation, which seemed more suitable for a temporary refuge to regroup.
"Nasi, hold on tight," Colin said to Nasi behind him, then reduced his altitude and flew towards the nicely spotted island.
At the point where the sea met the sky, the dark red sunset was continually sinking, spreading golden light igniting the surrounding clouds, with the golden embers shining on the sea below, casting gleaming ripples.
As a First Rank Wizard, he was propelling himself with the Light Flame Soaring Skill in a cruising state, and with his current level of Magic Power, he could fly continuously for about half a day.
If he used the Soaring and Flying Technique, which was of a lower First Rank, he could cruise for a full day, meaning he could fly a greater distance.
Both had their advantages and disadvantages, but here Colin chose the Light Flame Soaring Skill.
For no other reason—it was simply faster.
It wasn't suitable to travel far over the sea at night, and even for him, now a First Rank Wizard, it was an extremely dangerous move.
Dimming the bright light of the Light Flame Soaring Skill, Colin then fortified himself with the Swift Skill.
However, admiring mountains from afar can leave one dead from exhaustion, and islands viewed from sea proved similar.
The island that didn't seem very far away took quite some time for Colin to reach, and by the time he arrived, only a sliver of the sunset remained on the horizon.
After surveying the island and ascertaining there was no apparent fresh water on the surface, no large beasts, and no man-made traces—merely a deserted island with relatively lush vegetation—Colin's tense nerves slightly relaxed.
He and Nasi disappeared into the woods.
As the last streak of orange-yellow sunset slowly sank into the sea, night quickly fell.
Colin ascended to the top of a tree, a metal Cone Bullet hovering in his hand. He looked up at the starry sky and then at the Cone Bullet in his hand, making a rough judgment.
'This place still belongs to the Southern Sea Domain.'
Colin breathed a sigh of relief, hopped down from the treetop, and returned to the temporary perch on a sturdy tree.
Now that he had determined his location, and luckily was still within the Southern Sea Domain, the next plan became simple—
That was to keep heading north!
But... Colin couldn't quiet the nagging worry in his heart.
Through the stars above and a rudimentary compass made of Cone Bullets, Colin could only narrow the search to the Southern Sea Domain.
But the Southern Sea Domain was by no means a small area.
Moreover... this was the very place where the Wizards waged war with the Divine.
He thought again of the two outsiders he and Lillian had slain within the Elf Kingdom.
One was a hybrid Tree Elf Wizard, the other Liya'er.
Liya'er...
To know that the Tree Elves had fallen to the Divine meant that Liya'er, who had cooperated with them to overthrow the High Level Elves, was likely also tied to the Divine.
An invisible gloom settled over Colin's heart, and he anticipated that the journey back to the Siya Continent might not be entirely peaceful.
'If only I had a Concealing Witchcraft like Lillian's Concealing Moon Cloth to hide my form...' Colin unconsciously couldn't help thinking.
And the next second, he suddenly recalled that he might indeed possess such witchcraft!
......
The next day.
The sky was faintly lit, and a thin white mist drifted above the sea.
Standing atop the highest tree on the island, Colin scanned the surrounding sea to confirm there were no suspicious vessels before returning to his temporary dwelling.
Upon realizing the night before that he might be in a dangerous area, he finally decided not to rush off and instead made some preparations before setting out.
As for these preparations, the most important was to practice a Concealing Witchcraft named Invisible Shadow that he had discovered in a hybrid Tree Elf's Storage Ring.
This must have been the Concealing Witchcraft used by the hybrid Tree Elf and Liya'er in their ambush.
Unfortunately... he had thought that this witchcraft must be at least First Rank Lower, but he hadn't expected its quality to be low, being merely Zeroth Rank Upper.
Furthermore, it had a fatal flaw—
That was, it couldn't hide moving objects; a subject's outline would become discernible while in motion.
However, the corresponding strength was that Invisible Shadow's static concealing ability was extremely strong. As long as one chose the right angle and position, it could almost match some First Rank Lower level Concealing Witchcrafts.
'Better than nothing...' Colin continued flipping through the Invisible Shadow Witchcraft, which he had not yet finished reading.
Even though the witchcraft couldn't hide moving objects, on the sea, being somewhat translucent was very different from having no disguise at all.
On the vast and boundless sea, without any disguise, one could be clearly spotted from islands miles away.
But being just a translucent outline, and with some tricks to make it less human-like, the chances of being discovered would be greatly reduced.
In addition, Colin was currently wearing the Crown of Insight, so it was the perfect opportunity to test his improvement in learning witchcraft.
"...So, the essence of Invisible Shadow is to use Magic Power to condense the surrounding air, making the light deflect at a specific angle, causing the light that falls on objects behind to bypass oneself and reach the observer, thereby achieving invisibility on a visual level."
After reading the last sentence, Colin discovered another drawback of Invisible Shadow—
If the subject touched an object, those shadows left by the blocked light would be difficult for Invisible Shadow to conceal.
As is well known, we see objects because they reflect light, and since there's no light shining on those contact surfaces, Invisible Shadow naturally can do nothing.
However... compared to moving, this was just a minor flaw; you just needed to fly or hover without touching the surrounding environment to resolve it.
Having read the last section of the witchcraft book, Colin exhaled deeply, ready to begin practicing.
He first rapidly reviewed the entire knowledge and key points of Invisible Shadow in his mind.
Under the effect of Superbrain, the content he had just read emerged clearly… The only difference now was that as Colin recalled the knowledge of Invisible Shadow Witchcraft in his mind, a sudden inspiration inexplicably sprang up—
"The ability of Invisible Shadow to interfere with light rays might alter the real images played in the Image Capturing Crystals…"
This inspiration was unexpected and seemingly unrelated... It should be noted that Image Capturing Crystal Making, due to lack of energy, had already been set aside by him and he had not continued to advance it for a long time.
"Perhaps the Light Brightness Skill can be used to supplement the weakness of Invisible Shadow in concealing the areas where it comes in contact with objects."
Immediately after, another abrupt idea surfaced in his mind.
And at that moment, Colin finally realized, his lips quivered silently as he murmured speculatively:
"Perhaps... this is the greatest use of the Crown of Insight?"