Throne of Magical Arcana

Doris knew that she had made a horrible mistake the moment she said it. She slapped her golden fish tail on the surface of the ocean, raising a splash of waves and water.

In the middle of the splash, her body was suddenly blurred. Even though Lucien’s spiritual power and Natasha’s willpower had been fixated on her, they both felt that they had suddenly lost their target. They watched her turn transparent and melt without a sign, like snow that had met the sun of July!

Doris completely melted after only one moment. She joined the ocean, and white foams surged up on the ocean, reflecting the dim and pale sunlight.

Lucien could not sense Doris with his spiritual power anymore, as if she had truly melted into the ocean. Or rather, every tiniest foam was her!

Foams were broken one after another, and the whiteness on the surface of the blue ocean was about to vanish when Lucien used the unpredictable and intricate voice that sounded from a different world.

“Space Staff!”

The environment shook hard, and a brilliant but dark staff was condensed in Lucien’s hand. As he pointed with the staff, the whole ocean spread out ripples of light, like a lake at night!

Those ripples separated the waters within the dozens of square meters from around. If one were to calm down and sense carefully, they would find it impossible to perceive the ocean hundreds of meters below, because it was in a different time and space!

In the space-time cage, the ocean trembled with blueness. Suddenly, the water in a certain area surged and consolidated into a translucent “statue” that looked like a sapphire. Then, the face of the statue became clear. It was Doris. Her gold tail leaped out of the ocean too.

Doris looked at Lucien and Natasha with her blue eyes while biting her lips without saying anything, as if she were weighing the consequences.

“I am a friendly good guy, and I don’t like fighting and unnecessary slaughter. I hope that you won’t let me do the things that I don’t like,” Lucien said with a gentle smile, but his eyes were not gentle at all.

Doris was not a sorcerer, and she did not have other strange methods of escape. She was unwilling to fight Lucien who was apparently much stronger than her either, in which case she would only have a ten percent chance of survival. It was a risk that a mermaid who loved singing and swimming freely like her could not accept. Therefore, she nodded her head. “If you want to know about the Blue Gate, I can tell you.”

She blamed herself for singing too devotedly just now. If she had noticed the two human beings sooner, she would’ve had enough time to escape instead of ending up like this.

“To make sure that you are telling the truth, please sign a magic contract with me, Ms. Doris.” Lucien was still wearing his standard smile of courtesy.

“Contract! Demon, I would rather die before I accept a slavery contract!” A storm of fury raged in Doris’ blue eyes and dimmed the environment around her. The sky was gloomy and depressing, and the water in the ocean stopped moving, as if a horrifying outbreak was underway.

She had heard before that certain quirky human beings had an unusual interest in mermaids, even though most mermaids could not turn into humans and lose their fish tails. Therefore, she would rather die in self-detonation than submitting herself, hoping that her final attack could heavily wound the wicked sorcerer!

Lucien chuckled. “This contract has no clauses of slavery. It only ensures that I will sense it immediately if you lie or if you tell other people my whereabouts and destination afterward.”

Under normal circumstances, nobody would sign such a contract, and it was obviously unfair. Also, the devils and fake gods who served as notary might refuse to provide a better guarantee because of that. However, Doris did not really have a choice right now.

She struggled to open her mouth. “Let me take a look at the contract.”

Lucien took out a contract that was made of the rind of an elven tree. He pressed his right hand on it and touched it. The paper immediately spread out a silver light.

After his right hand moved away, dozens of sophisticated clauses had been added to the contract.

Doris picked up the contract that Lucien tossed over and read carefully. She realized that the contract would have zero effect if she did not lie or reveal that they were going to the Blue Gate, but of course, if she violated that, she would receive the punishment from the Atomic Universe, which would mean her death.

“Atomic Universe…” Doris looked at Lucien. Why was he the notary of the contract?

As one of the seven sea generals under the command of the Master of the Boundless Ocean, and as the Mermaid Princess who was active in the territory of sea elves, she had the basic knowledge about the Congress of Magic.

Lucien said with a smile, “It’s my wife that you’ll be signing the magic contract with. As for me, as a legendary sorcerer who has my own demiplane, I am certainly qualified to be the notary of the contract. I’m even more professional than most devils. My punishment won’t have any delay.”

That was why the word “legendary” was used to describe the experts of such a level. They were capable of what other people couldn’t do!

Looking at the pitiful look on Doris’ frowning face, Natasha sighed in the telepathic bond. “I almost cannot watch this anymore. You are really not a gentleman.”

“If I were a ‘gentleman’, the consequences would be much more severe…” Lucien teased.

In her helplessness, Doris could only sign the contract. After Natasha also signed it, the contract suddenly ignited itself, burning so furiously that even the water around seemed to be on fire.

The pale fire suddenly turned dark, profound, and dim, and stars in different colors seemed to be glittering. It was quite similar to the projection of the Atomic Universe with which Lucien changed the environment around him.

A handsome face was condensed by the starry light in the fire, who then declared solemnly, “In the name of Atom Controller, I hereby announce that the contract is in effect.”

Looking at the identical faces in the fire and in the sky, Doris said with seething wrath, “The contract has already been signed. Just ask whatever you want to know fast.”

It was simply too shameless that the guy was both the player and the judge!

“Why were you so surprised after hearing the Blue Gate?” Natasha asked.

Doris heaved a sigh. “Because I’m here exactly for the Blue Gate.”

Seeing that Lucien and Natasha did not pursue in surprise, she simply went on and said, “By the order of His Majesty Harex, I have come to the intersection of the undercurrents of the Lost Land to navigate the sea creatures who come after me to go to the Blue Gate. Because there are many other intersections, I sang a song to summon my people, asking them to provide navigation in other places in case the sea creatures lost their direction.”

The Lost Land was how the sea clans called the depths of the Boundless Ocean.

“Undercurrents…” Lucien repeated in a low voice.

It was undeniable that the Congress of Magic’s natural research on the ocean was still shallow. After all, every part of the Boundless Ocean had been occupied by the sea clans. The furthest place that human fleets reached was the few islands that the Congress of Magic occupied. As for the sorcerers who could submerge into the ocean without fearing the sea creatures, they were at least in the sixth circle, and they paid more attention to the mines, treasures, and special animals at the bottom of the ocean than to the ocean itself. Therefore, Lucien flew here to record the environmental data. He had completely forgotten about the situation at the bottom of the ocean.

Seeing that Lucien was in his thoughts, Natasha stopped asking and waited for two minutes. Lucien then opened his mouth and asked, “Does the Blue Gate really exist? Why did Harex ask the other sea creatures to go there?”

“I’ve been to the bottom of the Lost Land with His Majesty Harex before. There was indeed a Blue Gate. However, His Majesty Harex forbade me from approaching it. I only stole a glimpse at it from far away. It felt both real and illusory. Although it was right there, I somehow felt that it was far away in the Moonlight Ocean. That was quite amazing.”

Doris replied honestly. However, as a mermaid who loved singing, she couldn’t help but add artistic descriptions, “It is said that we can only touch it when the legendary material growing inside the Blue Gate is about to take shape.”

“Harex summoned the sea creatures because the legendary material inside was about to take shape? No, in that case, he should’ve come in person.” Natasha held her longsword tightly without any relief.

After hearing Doris’ description, Lucien nodded his head. The Blue Key was a space-time object, and the Blue Gate should be exactly like that.

Doris shook her head. “I don’t know, but His Majesty Harex has ordered the few trustworthy sea creatures to deliver the captives in the battle to the Blue Gate.”

“Captives?” Lucien looked at Natasha, but Natasha shook her head, hinting that Doris was not lying.

“Yes, half a month ago, His Majesty Harex gathered his forces and fought the sea elves and the Gipps. Many captives were caught,” Doris replied honestly.

Lucien became solemn. The sea clans had another battle with the elves, and it seemed rather intense. However, he did not receive any message about it since he was in the “Lost Land”.

In the Lost Land deep inside the Boundless Ocean, all the communication methods were disordered. That was why Harex asked the Mermaid Princess to lead the way through the most primitive of roaring.

“Captives…” Natasha repeated and couldn’t help but look at Lucien. Both of them had smelled the air of “blood sacrifice”.

Doris did not know what was on their minds. She explained the details about how to go to the Blue Gate along the undercurrents and their changing patterns. In the end, she said pitifully, “That’s all I know about the Blue Gate.”

Lucien nodded. “What’s the result of the battles with the elves and the Gipps?”

“We assaulted the territory controlled by the sea elves and captured a lot of them, but they were defended by two legends and had a thorough defense. They managed to resist us until the elven queen came to their aid.” Fear suddenly popped up on Doris’ face. “The elven queen was much stronger than before and was almost on par with Belkovsky. She heavily wounded His Majesty Harex who did not see it coming, forcing us to flee with the captives. On the other side, the ambush on the Gipps was also affected. Not too many casualties above the senior rank were caused.”

Under the pale sunlight, both Lucien and Natasha looked somewhat gloomy. Had Aglaea, the elven queen, improved herself so quickly?