Chapter 148: Old Acquaintances

Three days later, the time they were allowed to remain on the twenty-seventh floor reached its limit.

Ethan had not risen a single rank.

After Heaven Gate evolved, the energy required to consolidate a Platinum realm was far greater than Gold. Most of the Energy Crystals he absorbed in the remaining time went into stabilizing the realm he had just broken through, and through the bond a share was split to Laira, Rou Yan, and Mumu.

By the time the forced-exit notice from the Abyss Tower appeared, Ethan’s Platinum rank 1 was finally fully stable.

White light came down.

The twenty-seventh floor vanished.

When his vision returned, Ethan was back in the tower on the mountain.

The sunlight outside the window still sat near the same place it had before he disappeared. Time inside the Abyss Tower had stretched more than twenty days if one counted the floors they had passed, but the outside world had only just moved through a single day.

Ethan stood still a few seconds to adjust.

Right after that a huge soft mass came down on him from behind.

"Mumu!"

"Don’t—"

Splat.

Ethan was immediately wrapped around half his body.

Laira stepped in, caught the top of Mumu, and pulled it off.

"Rule one."

"Mumu?"

"You do not hug Ethan until he cannot breathe."

"Mumu!"

"You forgot again."

Rou Yan stood to the side, watching the two of them argue with a Slime that could produce only one kind of sound. In the end she decided to leave it alone.

Right then the door opened.

Qinglian stood outside.

Her first look fell on Ethan, then moved slowly to Mumu.

She stopped.

It was rare for Ethan to see Qinglian truly silent only because she did not know what to say.

Mumu looked at her.

Qinglian looked at Mumu.

"Mumu."

Qing Zhu, appearing just behind her senior sister, leaned to look over Qinglian’s shoulder. Her pale red eyes brightened a little.

"Where did this come from?"

"Inside the Abyss Tower."

"A Partner?"

"Yes."

Qing Zhu walked straight over.

Seeing her come close, Mumu shrank back a little.

Qing Zhu poked a finger into its belly.

Boop.

The finger sank in at once.

Her eyes brightened further.

"Interesting."

Mumu retreated toward Ethan.

"Mumu..."

Laira stepped up to block the way at once.

"You are not taking it."

Qing Zhu laughed.

"I am only looking."

Ethan had not expected Laira to be the first to stand between Mumu and Qing Zhu, but thinking of how the two of them had fought for days inside the Abyss Tower, he found it not all that strange.

Only then did Qinglian look back at Ethan.

"Platinum."

"Rank one."

"Slower than I thought."

Ethan: "..."

He had just gone from Gold rank 5 to Platinum in a single return to the Abyss Tower.

She still called it slow.

Qing Zhu heard that and burst out laughing. Qinglian added, still calm:

"But the foundation is fairly solid."

At least the second sentence was easier to hear.

Ethan did not mention the Void Eye at once.

It was not that he did not trust Qinglian. He himself still did not understand what the river he had seen was, and still less whether speaking of it now would mean anything.

In the days that followed he continued to cultivate.

Platinum was truly different from Gold.

The crystals needed for each step of growth were no longer a simple doubling or tripling.

Ethan used nearly all his free time absorbing energy. The Legendary Heaven Gate circulated far faster than it had at Epic rank, and its refining was clearly stronger, but the speed of his realm still climbed slowly enough that for the first time he truly felt the cost of the Partner path.

Part of the energy entered Ethan, then split through the bond to three people.

Laira.

Rou Yan.

Mumu.

Three Partners.

Each of them needed resources to keep growing at pace.

If he had been alone, the energy Ethan had spent in these days might well have carried him much farther.

He did not regret it.

By the day Qinglian announced they should prepare to leave, Ethan had only just stepped into Platinum rank 2.

He closed his hand.

Platinum energy ran through his body, far stronger than Gold rank 9 had been.

"Rank two."

Ethan let the breath out.

He had not reached the goal of Platinum rank 10.

He was not even close.

He was no longer as worried as before, though. Rank had never been the whole of his strength.

Primordial Armor.

Thunder Wings.

Realm Break.

World-Ending Thunder Gate.

Life Flask.

Return Jade.

Laira.

Rou Yan.

Mumu.

Add the Legendary Heaven Gate that had just finished evolving.

If even that was not enough, at least he would have the right to know how much he still lacked.

The airship left in the morning.

Ethan boarded with his three Partners.

Laira had to duck through the door. Mumu was much more trouble.

A creature more than three meters tall stood in front of the entrance for a few seconds, then tried to squeeze its soft body sideways to push through.

Splat.

It stuck.

"Mumu?"

Ethan looked.

Laira looked as well.

Rou Yan simply turned her face away.

In the end two of the ship’s crew had to open the rear cargo hatch.

Mumu bounced in happily.

"Mumu!"

Qing Zhu stood to the side and laughed hard enough that she had to cover her mouth. Qinglian kept her usual calm. The only thing Ethan saw was the corner of her mouth move a little.

He was not sure whether she was holding back a laugh.

When the airship left the mountain range, Qinglian called everyone to the main cabin.

A three-dimensional map appeared on the table.

The destination lay far beyond human territory.

"This Gate has not opened yet."

Ethan looked at her.

"Not opened?"

"More precisely, it has not appeared."

Qinglian pointed to a point of light on the map.

"We expect it to appear here, based on spatial fluctuations over the last three months. The margin of error in time is not large, but no one knows the exact moment."

Rou Yan looked at the point of light.

"If the prediction is wrong?"

"We wait."

Laira rested her chin on her hand.

"How long?"

"A few hours. Or a few days."

Laira turned to Ethan at once.

"I packed enough food."

"I know."

Her food storage bag occupied nearly a whole corner of the cargo hold.

Qing Zhu looked at the two of them, the corner of her mouth curving.

Qinglian went on.

"Another matter. This time do not treat the other participants like the last trial."

Ethan nodded.

"There will be other races."

"Not only that."

Qinglian looked at him.

"There are races whose mature Platinum is already far stronger than human Platinum. Some creatures are born with bodies equal to Gold. There are also systems of power that do not use Heaven Gate the way we do."

Ethan remembered what she had once said.

It is not fair.

Qing Zhu had used exactly that to teach Laira and Rou Yan.

"Understood."

"One more point." Qinglian continued. "This Gate is limited to below Diamond, but it does not limit age."

Ethan narrowed his eyes slightly.

That meant his opponents did not have to be "young geniuses."

A person could remain at Platinum rank 10 for decades, or longer, only to refine their strength and wait for a suitable chance.

Much harder than a tournament among Safe Zones.

That was also what made Ethan more interested.

The harder the Gate, the better the Mystery Boxes.

Two days later the airship began to lose altitude.

Ethan stood at the glass and looked at the land below.

It was nothing like what he had imagined when he heard the words "ancient ruins."

There were no palaces, no stone cities, no wreckage like Owin.

Below them was a spaceport.

Or at least, it had been one.

A runway tens of kilometers long cut through gray land. The surface was cracked. Black grass grew through every seam. Huge airship hangars were scattered on both sides, many of their roofs already collapsed. Control towers leaned. Enormous round radar dishes pointed motionless at the sky. Farther out, three launch towers hundreds of meters high had lost part of themselves.

Ethan looked at the scene below.

"Ancient?"

Qing Zhu, sitting behind him, answered.

"For the present civilization, yes."

"It looks more modern than many cities I have seen."

"That is why they are called ruins."

The airship kept descending.

The closer they came, the more Ethan realized the place was not empty at all.

There were a great many airships.

Not only human ones.

A vessel as long as a giant fish hung in the air, its whole surface covered in silver scales. Farther off was a triangular mass of metal with no windows at all. There was even a craft that looked like a flying boulder, red crystals growing from its underside.

On the ground, temporary camps had been raised everywhere.

And the people waiting there were not only human.

A creature more than four meters tall, with four arms, sat in front of an old hangar. A group with long ears and faintly blue skin stood near the runway, wearing garments that looked as if they had been grown from living metal.

Farther still were beings covered in white fur, people with horns, small figures that only came up to Ethan’s waist, even a human-shaped mass of energy that barely had a physical body.

Mumu immediately pressed its whole face to the glass.

"Mumu!"

Ethan understood the feeling.

This was also the first time he truly sensed how much wider this world was than humanity’s Safe Zones.

The airship set down in sector thirteen.

The door opened.

Qinglian stepped out first.

Her appearance pulled a number of looks from the surrounding camps at once, but most of them only lingered a moment and then withdrew.

Ethan and his three Partners followed.

The instant Mumu bounced down the ramp it drew still more eyes.

"Mumu."

It paid no attention at all.

Ethan was watching the races around them when his steps suddenly slowed.

A familiar face.

On the eastern side of the runway, beside a group of Elves, an elderly Elf was standing there.

Half a face burned.

A scar running from temple to cheek.

This was the one who had stood in the Owin ruins, seen Ethan exhausted, and called for everyone to keep killing him.

The two of them looked at each other.

The Elf’s gaze went cold at once.

Ethan narrowed his eyes slightly as well.

’He came too?’

That was not all.

Not far from the Elves, Ethan saw two Beastmen who had appeared in the fight at the Owin ruins.

One was missing half an ear.

The other had a large burn across his chest.

They recognized Ethan quickly as well. Their expressions changed almost at once.

Too much coincidence.

Ethan had not yet had time to think further when his left arm suddenly grew hot.

Very lightly.

But the feeling was too familiar.

Ethan’s steps stopped completely.

Laira looked over at once.

"Ethan?"

He did not answer.

Ethan’s gaze moved slowly toward the end of the runway.

Among a group in black cloaks, a figure stood with his back to him.

As if he felt Ethan’s eyes, the man turned.

A pale face.

Red-violet eyes.

Void Fire cracks running down the neck.

Ryan.

The two brothers looked at each other across more than a hundred meters.

No one spoke.

Only then did Ethan finally understand why the Void Eye had put those tentacles down into that strange river.

The corner of his mouth curved slowly.

"So that was it."

Ryan looked at that smile.

The hand hidden under the cloak clenched at once.

And behind them, in the middle of a spaceport that had been dead for countless years, space began to tremble.