At least this one night passed without meeting any unwanted mishap.
While glad, Angor also found the strange anxiety haunting his mind again.
“I’m worrying too much...” He shook his head. “All wizards see this spot as a safehouse. They can’t be all wrong.”
The dead oil lamp meant they had spent 12 hours resting, which was enough for them to recover most of their spent mana.
“Let’s try again.”
Angor thought he had to provide his Section Ephemera this time, which was not necessary because Sunders seemed to have more of them prepared. It was Greya who provided several servings of Section Ephemera so that Sunders could escape back to the wizarding world in case something went wrong. She still needed Sunders’ help, after all.
Even though Sunders considered yesterday’s incident as an unlucky coincidence, he wasn’t going to fully repeat the steps. He planned to alter several elements for their teleportation attempt, such as using another underground cave at the other side of the Windsay Valley. Then, instead of heading to Windmill Town, Sunders set their target at the Yaley Principality, as Angor suggested yesterday. From there, they would be able to conveniently enter Parmigi Highlands before reaching Brute Cavern.
This meant both ends of the tunnel were moved far apart from their original respective spots. As Sunders believed, this should be enough to eliminate whatever “unfortunate accident” that might bother them.
“Be careful, let’s go.” Sunders nodded to Angor, and a black, swirling portal once again emerged in front of them.
Angor gazed into the seemingly impenetrable surface of the entrance and felt his heart racing faster.
“What’s wrong?” Sunders asked when he saw his student trembling badly.
“This is not right... I can feel it.”
Sunders noticed Angor’s pale face and didn’t think that look was pretended.
As a veteran wizard, Sunders had come across many occasions where his sudden instinct saved him from trouble. He knew he shouldn’t neglect Angor’s “warning” as it might be conveying an important sign. It was very likely that Angor sensed a similar crisis. In other words, going into the portal right now was unwise.
“Fine. You stay here while I check ahead first. I’ll come back and get you if the tunnel is safe.”
Sunders was sure that he did not sense anything wrong coming from the portal, so he didn’t want to give up yet. Without waiting for Angor to speak different opinions, he leaped into the portal and disappeared.
Angor slowly took several steps back when his nerves urged him to keep away from the portal. However, his action did not help him escape from the dreadful sense crawling all over his skin. It was as if this whole place was frightening him.
Yet he couldn’t leave the Windsay Valley. He had to wait for Sunders. And besides, he wouldn’t be going anywhere alone if he aimlessly wandered about in the Abyss.
His only choice was to stare at the dark portal while bearing with the overwhelming pressure in his mind.
Time seemed to be slowing down as he warily waited for Sunders’ return, which did not happen after a disturbingly long period had expired.
Angor trusted that his professor would be able to make a two-way tour inside the tunnel by now if the gentleman seriously meant it.
“Is he in danger? Maybe the length of the tunnel changed because we used a different starting point. Or maybe time works differently there...”
He muttered all kinds of excuses to comfort himself. But nothing could calm him down when Sunders was absent for over half an hour.
This almost convinced him of the worst yet most probable conclusion, that Sunders was indeed in trouble.
What should I do?
Should I keep waiting, or... get in there and look for him?
He chose the former option after some serious mental struggling. He was pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to survive the dimensional disaster all by himself. Getting himself killed wasn’t helping at all.
Sunders was an exceptionally powerful wizard who could take care of himself in way deadlier situations. Angor would believe his professor for now.
While determined to be a “good kid” and hold his patience, Angor spent half a day alone in the cave.
The portal quietly and harmlessly floated there without showing any signs in particular. Though Angor did not find the distressing sense gone.
When he felt his eyes aching after looking at the portal for too long, he finally saw something different. Just like yesterday, the portal grew brighter and forced him to shield his eyes.
“Is-is that tunnel going to crumble again? But the professor is still in there!”
Before he could decide his next course of action, a sharp light beam escaped from the portal like an arrow, aimed at his heart.
He did not have nearly enough time to react properly.
When the “light arrow” was about to pierce his chest, it sank into a glowing orb that suddenly floated in front of Angor’s neck.
He looked down and saw his pendant rising into his view.
...
Fey Continent, Parmigi Highlands.
“Wizard” was always a rare, sought-after resource who could provide their organization a competitive edge in all kinds of matters. Most organizations needed only two or three wizards to support their affairs.
At this moment, thousands of wizards from different organizations all over the region had gathered at Parmigi Highlands, looking at the “reflection” of another world above their heads.
The upside-down world inside the reflection was a huge desert full of broken stones and debris, among which people could occasionally find traces of human structures with exotic styles.
This was not a simple mirage. It was a real, existing world almost within reach. Everyone knew it. They were looking at the foreign plane being fused into the wizarding world.
Typically, a plane fusion was divided into three stages, all of which provided wizards with immeasurable rewards and resources if they knew how to take them.
The second stage—Path of Infinity—was usually believed to be the most dangerous and rewarding stage because wizards were able to detect the coordinates of many different planes that allowed them to explore these new places for even more resources. However, only legendary wizards or above could actually step onto the “Path of Infinity” and not die.
Since the southern wizarding region had not welcomed a single legendary wizard in a long time, wizards who were going after plane fusions were mainly targeting the first and the third stage of them, which were “Garden Aquarius” and “Time of Plunder”.
During Garden Aquarius, Fragments of Eternity would be ejected from the center of the plane fusion. Those who held enough fragments could use them to build a Sorcerer’s Garden, an important tool that granted them many advantages.
When the tunnel between two worlds was successfully generated, there would be a short period of time during which the tunnel remained visible for everyone to access. This was the Time of Plunder, when all wizards were free to enter the other plane and loot it to their hearts’ content.
The appearance of the “reflection” above meant the Time of Plunder was near.
The first stage of the plane fusion produced a good number of Fragments of Eternity, most of which were claimed by some of the elite wizards, such as “The Silencer” and “God of Seas”.
By coming here, most wizards were mainly waiting for the third stage to begin since the previous two were pointless to them.