Chapter 1213: Section 1214 Call from Afar
Aoluxiya’s answer was the same as Popota’s.
According to Aoluxiya, it woke up fighting and did not pay attention to its surroundings. If they wanted to confirm their location, they would have to let it out so it could fly beyond the sky before determining their coordinates.
Not to mention the danger of letting Aoluxiya out, the mere point of flying outside to determine coordinates was, at the moment, utterly impossible. The Abyssal Will was lurking in the high altitude, and there were countless gazes converging on this spot from beyond the sky; flying out was akin to seeking death.
Unable to determine their location, how were they to find a way out?
Everyone was at their wits’ end.
“Why don’t we leave this place first? Maybe we can find a landmark somewhere else to establish our position,” Greerwu suggested timidly after glancing at the shop owner.
Greerwu’s proposition was the only thing they could do at the moment, but wandering around without understanding the situation could be dangerous.
Moreover, Angel had another concern: confirming their location was indeed important, but whether there was a passage to leave this place directly was also key.
However, based on what he knew, the infrastructure of the Abyss built by the Abyssal Eyes was quite impressive. Each continent, each layer of the world, generally had trans-layer or trans-realm gates. Even if there weren’t any gates, there should be other methods to leave this place.
But how to find the exit in the vast and boundless continent was the problem they currently faced.
“Let’s do what Greerwu suggested and leave this place first,” Angel decided with a clap.
Angel took out the gondola and motioned for Greerwu and Popota to come aboard.
Greerwu was full of curiosity about the gondola, his eyes sparkling with admiration as he caressed it and exclaimed, “I have heard from Lord Aoluxiya about humans’ pursuit of art. This boat, it’s what is called art, isn’t it?”
Opposite him, Popota let out a cold laugh, seemingly mocking Greerwu for being a bumpkin.
Greerwu responded angrily with a ball of flame.
The flame flew halfway before Angel reached out to catch it barehanded and snuffed it out.
Blue smoke rose, but Angel’s hand was unscathed.
“Put other matters aside for now, let’s decide on a direction and prepare to leave,” Angel said calmly, as if indifferent to the flame from earlier.
Choosing a direction sparked a debate. Whenever Popota made a suggestion, Greerwu would inevitably disagree.
Angel initially wanted to hear their opinions, but in the end, it turned into a mess.
“Stop!” Angel’s command silenced both Greerwu and Popota.
Angel’s gaze swept the surroundings. Dark clouds churned, heavy rain poured nonstop, and in nearly every direction, the void was boundless. Occasionally, there were glimmers of red light, which turned out to be magma spreading across the ground.
It seemed there was no difference in which direction they went.
Angel frowned slightly, his heart stirring all of a sudden as he looked towards the southeast. Smoke was billowing there, and it looked no different from other places.
Yet for some reason, there seemed to be something calling out to him from that direction.
Moreover, this call gave Angel a sense of familiarity.
Strange.
Angel pondered for a moment and tried to calm his mind to sense this feeling.
After releasing the green pattern and returning True Spirit Force to the earth, he felt a faint connection to this world. Angel was now trying to see if there were any discoveries through this connection.
The result was that, as he immersed himself in connecting with the land, he felt an even stronger call.
Although this call felt familiar, Angel could not be sure this was not a trap.
Some whispers of Evil Gods held similar calls. Seemingly gentle and harmless, they hid great risks.
As Angel hesitated whether to go in the opposite direction, Popota spoke up, “What’s wrong? You look confused?”
Angel considered for a moment and decided not to conceal his feelings, sharing his sensations.
“The shop owner has some sort of intimate connection with this continent? Indeed, with so much True Spirit Force released, the collective consciousness of the continent must be pleased. In that case, perhaps this call is the collective consciousness of the continent reminding you of a way to leave. It seems it wouldn’t harm you,” Greerwu speculated rashly.
“You’re approaching the problem from the perspective of an intelligent being. Consciousness aggregates never develop ideas of harming or saving someone,” Popota stated indifferently.
Angel nodded, that point was not Popota deliberately contradicting Greerwu.
Precisely because the continent’s collective consciousness lacked subjective thinking, Angel felt the “familiar call” was somewhat unreal.
It seemed to be manipulated by someone.
Angel thought it over, it seemed better to keep as far away from the “call center.”
“If you’re still undecided, Angel, how about I use Divination to help you test it?” Popota suddenly offered.
“Divination? Are you talking about ‘Choose between two fortunes’?”
Popota shook his head, “Not ‘Choose between two fortunes,’ it’s ‘Seek Good Fortune and Avoid Disaster.'”
“Choose Between Two Fortunes,” also known as the Fortune-Selecting Spell, is a principle that, through massive information processing and data analysis, allows you to make a choice that most suits you.
“Choose Between Two Fortunes,” ultimately, is a kind of summarization and processing of information data, without touching on the real level of prophecy. But the “Seek Good Fortune and Avoid Disaster” spell is different; it is an actual prophecy magic, which makes the most advantageous choice by predicting through the caster’s personal morality. However, the regrettable part is that it is only useful for the spellcaster and cannot affect others.
“You know divination?” Angel looked at Popota in surprise and doubt. If Popota knew “Choose Between Two Fortunes,” well and good. Angel himself had similar trickery in terms of big data analysis, like the Eye of Alchemy.
But “Seek Good Fortune and Avoid Disaster” is leaning towards prophecy magic! Without talent, it’s extremely difficult to successfully practice it.
“Although I don’t have the talent for prophecy, having been exposed to the prophecy books of my ancestors since childhood, I’ve gained some insights into prophecy magic. After entering the Barbarian Cave, I also studied divination for a while, but the only thing I’ve learned is ‘Seek Good Fortune and Avoid Disaster,'” said Popota.
“It’s surprising that you could learn divination.” Angel heard that once an Elemental Wizard asked Maya to teach him, and even after nearly ten years, he hadn’t been able to learn a single trick of the prophecy kind.
“Being able to learn ‘Seek Good Fortune and Avoid Disaster,’ probably has to do with inheriting one of my father’s talents—Seek Good Fortune and Avoid Disaster.”
“Seek Good Fortune and Avoid Disaster?”
“It’s a weak talent. If it were strong enough to avoid all dangers, my father wouldn’t have been killed by misfortune. I even doubt whether this talent exists, as I never feel lucky myself. However, my sister told me that I have this talent, so I believed her.”
Popota said this with some self-deprecation, “Maybe, on the day when my sister went missing, it was this talent that activated, allowing me to leave my home and escape the men in black by joining the Fluss Royal Knights…”
Looking at the results, “Seek Good Fortune and Avoid Disaster” and the spell “Seek Good Fortune and Avoid Disaster” seem to have a lot in common. So, Popota being able to learn “Seek Good Fortune and Avoid Disaster” might really have to do with this talent.
Angel thought deeply; if Popota really knew how to use “Seek Good Fortune and Avoid Disaster,” it might be worth a try.
Popota nodded, “Okay, I’ll try.”
There was a crack in Popota’s magical core, but it still contained some energy. Now he was just barely able to cast “Seek Good Fortune and Avoid Disaster” one more time.
A while later, Popota was gasping for breath, his face pale.
This prophecy drained almost all the magic power remaining in his magical core, causing Popota great discomfort, but he did receive some good news.
“Using myself as a reference point, and taking the southeast as the result, I performed a good-bad judgment for this journey. In the end, the judgment is positive.”
“However, you should also understand the trick of ‘Seek Good Fortune and Avoid Disaster.’ This outcome is only relative to myself, and can’t affect you guys.”
Angel understood the limitations of “Seek Good Fortune and Avoid Disaster.” Although the result was only relative to Popota, given that Popota was the weakest among them, if he headed southeast and the result was good, the others should be more or less fine too.
After much contemplation, Angel finally decided, “In that case, let’s head southeast.”
No matter what the call was, in this strange world, on this unfamiliar continent, Angel didn’t believe there was any place that was absolutely safe. Since Popota had the talent “Seek Good Fortune and Avoid Disaster,” and the “Seek Good Fortune and Avoid Disaster” spell indicated a positive outcome, he saw no reason to refuse.
…
After flying in the gondola for the better part of an hour, the sky was still covered with dense clouds, and the curtain of rain was unrelenting.
Angel even began to suspect that perhaps every inch of this continent was covered by rainclouds.
Along the way, the scenery hadn’t changed much; the ground continued to be brownish-red, desolate and lifeless.
The only noticeable change was that while there used to be more magma pools on the ground, there were now more volcanoes emitting billows of black smoke.
Greerwu leaned over the edge of the boat to look down, muttering to himself incessantly, “The scenery is the same; without changes how can one know where this is… So many volcanoes, could this be the stronghold of magma giants?”
“If this is the stronghold of magma giants, then where are the giants?” Popota asked.
Popota’s question hit the nail on the head. They hadn’t seen any signs of life on the way. As Angel had said before, this continent was on the verge of overturning, and for this reason, it might be nearly devoid of life.
Greerwu pursed his lips, looking toward the distance where a volcano far larger than any they had seen so far loomed. Pointing toward the crater of that giant volcano, Greerwu said, “Maybe there’s a giant there.”
No sooner had Greerwu finished speaking than a horrific roar came from within the rain, originating from the giant volcano Greerwu had pointed out!
“Jinx!” Popota scowled at Greerwu.
“Quit talking, get ready to detour!” At the first sign of trouble, Angel immediately took control of the gondola.
However, at that moment, a giant white worm leaped out from near the volcano’s mouth and surged directly towards the gondola!
The worm opened its wide mouth, revealing rows of sharp, pointed teeth that could drive those with trypophobia mad!
“That’s an adult Mandi worm! Its defenses are extremely strong; even an intermediate-rank demon might not be able to break through in a short time!” Greerwu immediately recognized the true nature of the worm.
But no sooner had Greerwu spoken,
The ground suddenly shook, and the previously calm volcano erupted with a massive flow of magma that directly struck the Mandi worm.
The Mandi worm was pierced by the force of the magma’s eruption, then tumbled to the ground, dead beyond doubt.
Popota: “That’s the strong defense you mentioned?”
Greerwu: “…”