Chapter 1035: Section 1036 Sky Island
This was an ocean tinged with grey amidst blue.
Since ancient times, this ocean had been filled with vortices. Ocean currents brought hurricanes, and water tornadoes charged straight into the sky. Mist, gales, and gloom made the sea area resemble the apocalypse.
Not only were there vortices in the ocean, but occasionally a few serpentoid shadows could be seen tumbling on the surface, bringing with them a strong stench of fish.
At this moment, above the ocean.
Rhein sat in a flying vehicle, muttering softly, “Now that the Dark Ocean Maelstrom is under Naga control, it seems the likelihood of this place becoming a battlefield has greatly diminished.”
After Rhein finished speaking, he turned to look at Sanders, but Sanders did not respond.
Sanders was sitting with his eyes closed, his breathing long and rhythmic.
It was not until a long while later that Sanders opened his eyes, emitting wave after wave of wondrous energy.
“Dream magic?” Rhein looked at Sanders with a hint of suspicion, “Have you been closing your eyes and feigning sleep all this time to comprehend the power of dreams?”
Sanders replied indifferently, “I simply do not wish to lay my eyes upon this flying vehicle. Since my eyes are closed, I might as well take the opportunity to grasp the power of dreams.”
Sanders cast a disdainful glance below. The flying vehicle they were riding was called the ‘Rainbow Eye’.
The name might not seem out of the ordinary, but its shape was actually that of a massive crystal ball.
A crystal ball would be tolerable, but it was called the “Rainbow Eye” because at the center of the crystal ball shone a nebulous seven-colored light. As the crystal ball glided across the sky, these lights traced a rainbow-like tail across the horizon, appearing dreamy and illusory.
Truth be told, the Rainbow Eye wasn’t really inappropriate. Moreover, it was quite fast and even came with a rainbow force field. However, the Rainbow Eye clearly seemed more suited for witches; the two of them, both men, looked quite out of place sitting on it.
This made Sanders long for Angel’s gondola. Although the gondola also appeared ethereal, it mirrored the Eternal Starry Night, which compared to the colorful splendor of the Rainbow Eye, was much more elegant.
“I invested in the Rainbow Eye from a Platinum Wizard intending to give it to Samantha, but she did not accept it, and I had to reluctantly let it collect dust in my ring,” Rhein said. “I wouldn’t have brought it out if it weren’t for the difficulty in replenishing magic power in the Abyss.”
“Was it really that painful for you?” Sanders scoffed. He suspected that Rhein was probably elated to stash it away since Samantha did not want it. After all, Rhein was hopelessly obsessed with crystal balls.
Rhein smiled slyly, “That’s not important. We’re only using it here for a bit, and no one’s seen it, right?”
“Someone saw it back at Kodo Port.”
“Don’t worry, we’re flying high enough that no one can make out who we are,” Rhein paused, “Besides, the wizards of Kodo Port have almost all moved to the Aspiring Sky Island. Those who stayed are apprentices, and their vision couldn’t penetrate the rainbow force field.”
Sanders: “…” If it weren’t for the urgent situation, he would not have wanted to board the Rainbow Eye at all.
Speaking of which, they had just left Kodo Port, one of the eight frontline bases of the Abyss. Sanders had wanted to see if Sinafa, Kanter, and others had stayed at Kodo Port. They were supposed to move there after leaving Watchguard Fortress.
However, it turned out that only a portion of apprentices were left at Kodo Port. The other wizards, whether it was Sinafa, Samantha, or Kanter, had all headed to the Aspiring Sky Island.
After all, as Rhein had said earlier, the Dark Ocean Maelstrom was now under the control of the Naga demons, and that offsprang of a Demon God definitely would not pass through here. The Naga demons were servants to another Demon God; even among Demon Gods, there was a concept of dominion.
Since the offsprang of the Demon God that Monty His Excellency intended to hunt wouldn’t take this route, there was no need to remain at Kodo Port, so they all turned towards the Aspiring Sky Island.
Both Sanders and Rhein could only detour to the Aspiring Sky Island from Kodo Port.
“Let’s not talk about these trivial matters. Tell me, do you have a new research topic?” Rhein turned his head, looking at Sanders with curiosity. At his level, he was probably only more curious about the pursuit of knowledge. But now, the research topics of the vast majority of wizards were so straightforward that he could infer seven or eight parts of them at a glance, hardly sparking any inspiration.
Therefore, he took no interest in ordinary wizards’ topics, but he was very curious about the topics chosen by top wizards like Sanders.
“What topic?” Sanders looked at Rhein with some skepticism.
Rhein said with a beaming smile, “Dreams.”
He didn’t believe that Sanders would perceive the power of dreams for no reason. There must be something fishy going on.
From what little Rhein understood, Dreams and Illusions seemed to share some similarities. Perhaps Sanders had discovered something and intended to combine the two to propose a new topic?
Sanders shook his head with a smile, “No, that’s not it. I perceive the power of dreams simply because I want to learn a few dream-based tricks.”
“Is it really that simple?”
Sanders pondered for a moment, “Speaking of topics, I do have one about Dreams and Illusions. However, this topic wasn’t my idea, it was Angel’s.”
Rhein could sense, when Sanders mentioned Angel, there was a clear sense of pride in his voice.
“So it’s Angel… Well, that’s quite alright. Combining dreams and illusions could potentially lead to some great ideas.” Although Rhein said this, his interest had noticeably waned. He was optimistic about Angel’s potential, but Angel had not yet reached a certain level—the research proposed would definitely be limited by perspective.
Since it was Angel’s research topic, it probably wouldn’t be of much help to Rhein. And Sanders’ interest in learning dream-related tricks was likely to provide practical teaching, to mentor Angel, right?
With that thought, Rhein zipped his mouth.
Sanders could see the change in Rhein’s expression and understood why Rhein would react that way. He shook his head inwardly; if Rhein knew that Angel was working on the Wilderness of Dreams, which could change the entire fabric of the Wizards’ Realm, he probably wouldn’t be so lacking in interest, would he?
However, Sanders did not intend to reveal the matters concerning the Wilderness of Dreams just yet, but as Angel was his Apprentice, he couldn’t help but defend him:
“His research topic may one day surprise you all.”
Rhein shrugged his shoulders, remaining noncommittal, “Well then, I shall wait and see.”
After flying for several hours, they had left the territory of the Dark Ocean Maelstrom and were getting closer to Sky Island.
But as time passed, Sanders’s expression slowly became more serious.
Rhein knew that Sanders was worried about Angel’s situation.
“Since Angel left a message saying he was going to Ice Valley, his safety is temporarily assured. Moreover, the Abyssal Dragon of Ice Valley is rarely rumored to kill humans,” Rhein paused for a moment, the only real uncertainty now is who could have taken Angel away?
The fact that they allowed Angel to leave behind a message indicates that they don’t care if Angel reveals his whereabouts, could it be the presence of someone with great confidence in their own strength?
“We’ll be reaching Sky Island soon, once the message is relayed, we’ll divert to Ice Valley.”
Not long after his words fell, they saw a vast expanse of inland water.
The area covered by the water was extremely wide, surrounded by verdant forests and lush vegetation; such rich natural resources were quite rare in the entire Abyss.
It wasn’t long after they flew along the water that they came upon a Spectacle.
A large expanse of waterfall clusters appeared before their eyes.
The waterfall groups were vast and the water rushed fiercely; the cascading falls shattered like snow, looking magnificent and grand. Such scenery was indeed an eye-opener for common folk, but for Wizards, it was quite normal.
However, what made it a Spectacle was that these waterfalls were flowing upside down.
As if defying gravity, the water at one moment reversed its course, flowing directly from the ground up into the sky, above which was a massive floating island.
This was Sky Island!
Everything around seemed calm and Rhein breathed a sigh of relief, “It seems like the Olaf’s Tentacle Crab hasn’t been eaten yet, misfortune has not spread.”
However, just as they were nearing Sky Island, the expressions on both of their faces changed abruptly.
A vast and terrifying aura was slowly rising from within Sky Island.
At the same time, in a corner of Sky Island, a door opened out of nowhere, and a corpulent man suddenly hurried out, sending a message to the people in the central hall of Sky Island as he ran.
In the central hall, Sinafa frowned.
“What’s wrong?” Samantha looked at her with confusion.
Sinafa hesitated for a moment, “Brufen just got in touch with me saying that the ancient Evil God from the Lofte World he’s trying to revive has shown some movement. Its emotional threshold is rapidly decreasing and is about to switch from a stable state to a terrified one.”
As Sinafa spoke, everyone in the central hall had a moment of dazedness in their eyes.
A sense of evil from deep within the heart was slowly spreading from not far away.
…
Angel, at this moment, was running swiftly towards the portal between layers.
Although Odeclass had left a Flame Mark on him, which could to some extent prevent needless slaughter by Demons, it didn’t mean all Demons would spare him.
To avoid drawing the attention of Demons too ostentatiously, he had not taken a Gondola but activated Night Flight, speeding through the low-altitude dense forests where he had cover.
At the same time, Angel had used a Transmutation spell to turn the color of his eyes to pure black.
Both the irises and the whites of his eyes were now utterly dark; a trait characteristic of the Abyss native inhabitants.
Although Demons might not be particularly fond of these Abyss indigenous people, their appearance was at least more palatable than that of humans.
Angel’s feet flickered with faint light as he landed on the edge of a cliff.
Not far ahead was the portal between layers, the very same one that Angel had passed through when he first came to the Abyss with the Frost Moon Squad.
Angel could faintly see the giant threshold in the canyon.
However, Angel did not choose to go through but turned to glance back over his shoulder.
He saw a voluptuous woman with short black hair, casually following him.
“Honored Lord Fafnir, do you also plan to accompany me to Lassudral?”