Chapter 708: An Uncrossable Mountain
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"Oh My God... it is s-so cold here."
The rise in altitude as Benjamin flew higher would normally cause the temperature to drop, but this change in temperature was pretty extreme. He had to summon warm water vapors to withstand the biting cold, but even after doing so, Dick was still shivering to his core with his face completely pale.
It was obvious that the cold here was beyond the laws of nature.
Benjamin could not remember how long they flew for, but eventually, he saw snowflakes falling from the sky and a snow-covered mountainside. He used the water element sensing technique to scan ahead, but all he saw was a mountain without a peak, as though there was no end to it.
At that moment, he finally understood why the mountain was so terrifying.
An endless mountain... like a giant wall which was directly connected to the edge of heaven.
However, Benjamin had a scientific view of the universe. He knew that the earth was round, so as long as he kept flying upwards, they could eventually fly out of the atmosphere – all that talk of "the edge of heaven" was hogwash.
Therefore, he did not give up, instead, he continued upward. His spiritual energy could still last another one day or so, not to mention the regenerative potions that he had with him; he was determined to discover the secret behind this continent.
What will there be at the top of the mountain?
It was still a relatively unexplored world, and Benjamin was very curious.
However...
After flying for a long time, the surrounding snowflakes and the vast clouds disappeared. Benjamin looked up and saw a very sunny sky, however, the temperature was so low that it seemed like their blood would be frozen solid. Still, he still could not see an end to the mountain.
Benjamin started to have doubts.
"Wh-what about leaving through the sea? If this goes on... we will be frozen to death here." Dick said with his lips that had become purple from the cold.
Benjamin could not help but take a deep breath.
Flying through the sea was indeed another viable option, and they had a backup plan. However, he had already flown so high, and so, he was not willing to give up on flying across the mountain.
"Quick, report our current altitude." He asked in his mind.
"According to the statistics, you have flown 547 kilometers upward." The System said casually, "By right, you should have already gone past the ionosphere and should now be in the thin outer layer of the atmosphere. But according to my analysis, you are still technically in the troposphere.
"..."
Benjamin was starting to have a bad feeling.
There would definitely be some differences in this world, but the difference should not have been that big. He had already flown more than 500 kilometers, so they should be well out of the atmosphere and in the atmosphere. However, their surroundings were still obeying the law of the inferior atmospheric layer which was "the higher the altitude, the lower the temperature".
What kind of planet had a troposphere thicker than 500 kilometers?
How huge was the gravitational pull of this planet? To be able to pull in tens of thousands of kilometers of the atmosphere required a gravity that would crush almost all organic beings to death.
However, this was obviously not the case, so Benjamin knew that something must be wrong.
He stopped in mid-air
"Wh-what happened?" Dick asked while shivering.
Benjamin raised his hand and signaled him to keep quiet. He used his spiritual energy to try to scan for what was on the top of the mountain. Rock walls, snow, discrete waster elements in the air... everything looked normal, and he did not detect any signs of magical energy.
At that moment, he tried to condense countless ice fragments and launch it in all directions. At the same time, he drew a destructive elemental instruction before flinging the gathered elemental turbulences at the wall in front of him.
The ice fragments shattered, it did not hit anything, and soon disappeared into his sight. As for the elemental turbulence summoned by the rune, it hit the wall of the mountain and along with the projected magic, it gradually formed a big hole on the hard wall.
Benjamin instantly got excited.
Crossing the mountain was extremely difficult, but... maybe he could create a hole straight through the mountain.
"Wait, I think I found something." While he looked at the group of elemental turbulences with excitement, the System suddenly said, "Don’t waste your energy, the walls are fake. An extremely faint spiritual energy dissipated from it when you started attacking it earlier."
Benjamin was slightly stunned.
...it was fake?
He looked in all directions, the clear sky, the boundless stone wall, everything looked lifelike and real, with nothing suspicious at all.
However, he immediately went on guard.
After being in this world for so long, he had already fallen for all kinds of hallucinations. Some hallucinations could not only fool him, but they can fool the water elements and even the System.
Moreover, the System would not make a mistake on such a serious matter.
"What you mean is... everything here, including the low temperature and the unscalable mountain, it’s all just an illusion?" Benjamin asked in his mind.
"I’m not quite sure about the temperature." The System said, "But no matter how low the temperature is, it is impossible for the both of you to be shivering from the cold after you have summoned that many warm water vapors, right?"
Benjamin heard this, and after a brief moment of shock had a sudden realization.
This was a f*cking illusion...
No wonder such a large amount of warm water vapors still could not help them withstand the cold. It was because the cold did not from the environment, but from something that was affecting their spiritual energy.
So... what exactly was it?
"Did someone deliberately put me into an illusion? What else did you find?" Benjamin asked eagerly.
"I don’t know." The System replied reluctantly, "It’s just that when you are destroying the walls of the mountain, this illusion seems to have revealed some subtle flaws, which I was able to detect. Other than that, I’m just as clueless as you are."
Benjamin heard this, thought for a moment and suddenly said.
"Then... can you try activating the intangible form."
Going into the intangible form was almost as though he was temporarily escaping from this world and entering another overlapping space, allowing him to avoid attacks from this world. Nobody could extend an illusion into another world, therefore, activating the intangible form would help him break free from it.
The System did as he was told and activated the intangible form.
In the few subsequent seconds that Benjamin was in the intangible form, Benjamin found that the surrounding landscape had been turned upside down.