Chapter 1389: 147. The Thirty-Fourth Floor

"Although it's a nonexistent floor, the thirty-fourth floor does have a physical form, and it's an extremely vast space."

"Not only is it where the Tower Masters of each generation have resided, it's also the foundation of the entire Origin Tower, where some of its most important items are kept."

"The three great cores guard that place in a state of absolute lockdown, almost completely severing its connection with the outside world and making it the single most difficult area in the entire Origin Tower to infiltrate."

"Even the projection of an Evil God would absolutely be unable to extend its tendrils there."

"Do you understand? The place we're about to go is exactly that kind of... Hey, you two, are you even listening to me?"

Vast magical power condensed into profound patterns, and under the control of powerful soul force, an incomparably intricate and exquisite magical array rapidly took shape.

The hazy mist still outlined a graceful figure, but when the magic finished taking shape and that faintly visible perfect profile turned back to look at them, there was only helplessness on her face.

"I... I've been listening the whole time. It's just that a certain perverted lesbian is being a little... too... clingy!"

Muse... no, more precisely, Muen, who at this moment had already transformed into his blonde, voluptuous form, was desperately trying to pry off the flat-chested octopus clinging to his body with hearts in both eyes.

Logically speaking, his physical strength should already have surpassed the person clinging to him, but perhaps the power of lesbianism had allowed this fellow to unleash unprecedented potential. He had already spent a tremendous amount of effort trying to break free without succeeding. Not only did she refuse to let go, she instead wrapped herself around him even tighter!

Damn it, no wonder this girl could become best friends with Liya. Liya's favorite animal was the octopus, and this girl was practically born under the sign of the octopus!

"Q-quick... let go. Is this really necessary?"

"Hehehe... Miss Muse... soft and fragrant Miss Muse... slurp... let me lick you one more time..."

"Cut it out. The potion only changed my appearance. I didn't actually turn into a woman, so where exactly are you getting this 'soft and fragrant' nonsense from?!"

"Hmph, I don't care. Miss Muse is soft and fragrant. She just is!"

"..."

After watching the two of them struggle for a while, Peles finally couldn't stand it anymore and sighed. "You two, if you keep wasting time, then by the time you're done, even if the Goddess herself descended, she wouldn't be able to send you inside."

"Ugh..."

Fortunately, a certain perverted lesbian had not completely lost her reason and still knew what was most important right now. Hearing that, she very quickly and reluctantly let go. "It's exactly because I know what's coming next is important that I wanted to absorb a little energy first. I only hugged her for thirty seconds... no, twenty seconds."

"Twenty seconds is still extremely precious. You can't just waste it casually."

Muen let out a long breath. Fortunately, he had finally recovered from the crisis of almost suffocating.

However, when he glanced sideways and saw Ariel's disappointed expression, he felt a little unable to bear it. So he reached out again and clasped that soft little hand in his own.

"But... holding hands is still fine. It won't affect our movement anyway."

"Muse..."

Ariel's face immediately blossomed like a delicate flower as she shyly said, "You're so good to me."

"You're only realizing now that I'm good to you?"

"You're the best. You always have been."

"That's more like it."

"Hehehe..."

"..."

Off to the side, watching the two of them flirt with each other, Peles subconsciously raised her head and looked toward the sky.

Strange. Had someone cast an illumination spell?

Otherwise, why did it feel like her head... was shining so brightly?

"Teacher, what are you still waiting for?"

Having replenished her energy, Ariel said seriously, "Hurry up and get to business. We can't waste time!"

"..."

Peles's cheek twitched slightly.

Once again, she felt that her once adorable disciple had become not adorable in {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} the slightest.

"Teacher?"

"Coming."

Peles's eyes suddenly shifted, as though she had thought of something, and once again revealed a sweet smile.

Then, before the two of them could react, Peles flashed to their side and directly grabbed both of their hands, one on the left and one on the right.

"Teacher, what are you doing?"

Ariel's expression changed drastically. There was nothing wrong with her own side. What she cared about was the other side, where her teacher was holding her Miss Muse's hand...

She had deliberately transformed Muen into this form, yet Teacher still refused to let him go. Could it be that... Teacher was into this too?

No, no, no...

"What are you thinking about?"

Peles rolled her eyes at her disciple, who was becoming increasingly prone to wild imagination, and said with a charming laugh:

"I just thought that since we're going to hold hands anyway, wouldn't it be better if everyone held hands together? Because what's coming next... is going to be extremely bumpy!"

Before she even finished speaking, the intricate and profound magical array patterns behind them suddenly lit up, swallowing all three of them within.

It happened so suddenly that there was no opportunity to react.

In an instant, Muse felt as though he had been stuffed into a centrifuge, then spun rapidly at a speed so fast that even the afterimages couldn't be seen!

An intense sensation of jolting and dizziness enveloped him. His consciousness went from heaven to earth, then from earth back to heaven. Even the connection between his soul and his physical body seemed as though it would be torn apart by this violent pulling within an extremely short period of time.

This was precisely why spatial teleportation arrays could never become widespread. Aside from their exorbitant construction cost, the farther the teleportation distance, the more terrifying the spatial fluctuations became. That alone doomed them to being unusable by fragile ordinary people. Even some powerful warriors or mages could be torn apart during the process of crossing through space.

At present, the only organization that could probably use spatial power freely and without restraint was the Church. Even within the Church, only a small group of people with special authority could do so... for example, a certain Saintess who liked sneaking around for illicit affairs.

"It's clearly only from the thirty-third floor to the thirty-fourth floor, just a single floor apart, yet these spatial fluctuations make it feel as though we're crossing tens of millions of miles..."

Muen gritted his teeth and forcibly suppressed the discomfort inside his body.

Fortunately, with the current strength of his physical body, it still wouldn't affect him too severely. As for Ariel beside him...

"Teacher, you're lying! You're clearly a soul. Your foundation is inside my ring, so how could you possibly be affected by spatial fluctua-a-a-a-a... tions!"

All right. It looked like there was no problem on this side either.

Muen steadied his mind. After completely adapting to the tearing sensation and dizziness, he struggled to open his eyes and quickly swept his gaze around.

Peles threw him a flirtatious glance before returning to Ariel's bronze ring.

At the same time, the light and shadows of the outside world entered his vision.

—Space was rapidly receding around him.

Normally speaking, "space" was something that was very difficult to conceptualize as having any kind of tangible form. But the instant Muen opened his eyes and saw his surroundings, this thought instinctively appeared in his mind.

Because he really could see it.

Countless brilliant, dim, and intricate lights and shadows converged in an indescribable manner into dazzling, kaleidoscope-like glass.

These lights and shadows gathered and unfolded before his eyes, then rapidly dispersed again, like countless meteors streaking across the sky, yet also like countless worlds being born and then annihilated.

Everything seemed as though he were inside an illusory dream, yet the pain still circling through his mind reminded Muen that this place was real. Finally, after the last burst of light and shadow, resembling the destruction of an entire world, suddenly scattered away, a vast space like a sea of stars replaced Muen's entire field of vision.

But this sea of stars was not clear and pure. Suddenly, dark clouds seemed to press down from above.

"This is..."

However, when he focused his gaze, he discovered that those were not dark clouds at all, but... islands floating within the sea of stars.

Those islands had peculiar shapes. Some resembled ordinary islands, and Muen could even see on them the lush vegetation and white beaches unique to tropical islands.

Others, rather than being called islands, would be more accurately described as conglomerations of metal, ruins, and garbage.

Muen lowered his head and discovered that he and Ariel were also standing atop one of these strange conglomerations. The conglomeration seemed completely unbound by gravity, drifting aimlessly through the sea of stars, with no telling where it would eventually float.

"This place is..."

"Looks like the back door I left behind still works."

Peles's voice, carrying a somewhat complicated emotion, sounded from Ariel's ring:

"As the two of you can see, this is the true highest point of the Origin Tower... the thirty-fourth floor."