Chapter 826: Witch Yekaterina’s New Task

Locke continued to learn more about this world. In his mind, twelve enormous shadows appeared, as though twelve giants.

They had divided among themselves the authority over that world.

The God of Fire, the God of Water, the God of Wind, the God of Light...

Locke frowned. He could sense that the planar force had been separately extracted and appropriated by these beings, with the world-force corresponding to each concept within the circular mountain being claimed by a respective giant. This had given each of those giants a Second Circle level of power.

Locke was simply at a loss for words.

Not because their having Second Circle power left him speechless. That was of no consequence.

The endless void saw all manner of strange things, and having a Second Circle level of magic pressure was, at the end of the day, nothing remarkable.

It was that magic pressure in total was not valuable. After all, whose magic pressure could be greater than the world itself?

What was valuable was the level of civilization and the power system.

The crux of the problem was that world had been made into something very strange by these giants.

This giant race was like beings who had each dug a massive pit into the world itself.

In Locke's eyes, the planar laws of that Three-Hole World looked like a piece of cheese full of large holes.

First, how could such a world still maintain itself?

Second, how had a group of native giants seized the planar force? And seized it so thoroughly?

This thoroughly? This drastically?

The entire world was being used like their own personal property to satisfy themselves.

An idea that could only be called wild occurred to Locke's mind.

'Could that world have originally had the potential to evolve into a mid-to-large scale world, and been kept to only a mid-scale world because of these parasites? It is not impossible.'

'By this world's strength, it was clearly only a single step away from becoming a mid-to-large scale world. In fact, many worlds are capable of evolving and completing that final step on their own.'

"The giant race calls themselves gods and requires the service of ordinary people."

Locke fell into thought. "There seems to be a great secret hidden here. Those giants have each completely seized one strand of that world's planar force."

"But what has been seized is not only twelve strands of planar force."

Locke's mind formed an ideal model of that world's planar laws. If the planar laws of a plane should originally be like a smooth sphere, then the model of that world's planar laws right now was riddled with pits and holes everywhere.

Some force seemed to be like a maggot, endlessly seizing that world's power and drilling countless holes in that world's surface.

The reason that world could still keep functioning was something Locke intended to personally visit to observe.

'Could those giants truly be false gods?'

'Every plane's false gods are all strange and varied. After all, many existences will try to claim themselves as gods.'

Locke thought, "Based on the materials I have access to, the false gods that most often appear in planes below mid-scale are usually some totem worshipped by the local people, animals, and the like."

"Or local primordial spirits."

"Or certain naturally powerful organisms. Genuine false gods are rare."

"What exactly is the situation in that world?"

At this moment, Locke was observing the planar information collected by the Void Magic Cube, but the next instant, a crack of white light on the Void Magic Cube suddenly split open.

The entire Void Magic Cube completely shattered.

"Hmm?"

Locke realized that the force left within the Void Magic Cube had suddenly become active, rapidly burning the light planar laws of the Three-Hole Plane contained within it, converting them into energy, and then splitting the Void Magic Cube directly in half.

Then, a light arrow suddenly shot toward his pupils.

A brilliant arrow of light appeared from the Ghost Gate's Infinite Mountain, like a sun rising.

Many nearby wizards could not help but glance over.

The light planar force of the Three-Hole Plane descended here. This was an arrow fired by the God of Light, one of the twelve gods on the circular mountain of the Three-Hole World.

It was condensed with the great planar laws of the Three-Hole World.

Like the light of the Three-Hole Plane descending directly toward Locke.

Boom.

The arrow struck Locke's left eye pupil. The permanent defensive force field shell on his cornea rippled continuously, wave after wave.

The Second Circle natural force field protected Locke.

Crack.

That light arrow abruptly shattered, becoming streams of light-like photons that passed across Locke's face.

As though the luminescence of an entire world came crashing down, it shattered into light-streams before his cornea.

After all, the Void Magic Cube's magic pressure was only ten thousand, while his own was sixteen thousand.

Additionally, wizards also had the permanent defensive force field shell as part of their composition, which was the true protective barrier of a wizard's body. At the same equivalent magic pressure, wizards were far more defensively powerful because of the permanent defensive force field shell.

Locke frowned. This was the arrow of the God of Light, one of the twelve giants.

One arrow fired, like the torrent of light from an entire world crashing down.

"The strength is passable."

Locke stepped forward. The light arrow that had already dissolved into streams of light gathered again under the remaining light planar laws of the Three-Hole World, becoming a tidal arrow of light particles that surged toward his left eye once more.

Yet this arrow formed from a tide of light particles struck his left eye again without breaking his defenses.

Boom.

Locke swept his right hand and directly chopped apart this strand of light planar laws from the Three-Hole World with a hand-blade.

Locke frowned.

"Not worth fighting."

But this also puzzled him further.

From the opponent's attack pattern, they were essentially using that world's planar laws to attack him, equivalent to bringing the force of an entire plane to bear on an enemy with each strike.

Against enemies of insufficient level or standing, this would be an absolutely devastating technique.

But against a Second Circle wizard, these attacks were simply laughable.

This kind of thing, for him, was nothing more than an unmodified energy strike with no spell model manipulation whatsoever, no technique whatsoever, simply hurling some unprocessed thing at someone.

Even using only one-tenth of that energy with a spell model, he could produce spell damage several times more powerful.

The question was, how had such existences seized the planar force of that plane?

That world was peculiar indeed.

Locke was glad he had used a Void Magic Cube to probe that plane first. Although this level of attack was, to him, like a primitive person brandishing a wooden spear against a mech suit, it also indicated that that world itself held the possibility of some unknown risk.

And he could not confirm the combat capability of that giant who called himself the God of Light within the circular mountain's pantheon.

The combat capability of that king of gods could not be confirmed either.

Furthermore, based on the degree of erosion of that world's planar laws, there could not possibly be only a pantheon of twelve giants on the circular mountain.

But there were indeed only twelve giants on the circular mountain.

Either the information collected by the Void Magic Cube had a problem, though this was unlikely, since he had directly used the Void Magic Cube to intercept the deepest planar force of that plane and obtained information directly from it, which was difficult to artificially alter.

In any case, that world clearly had secrets hidden within it.

If he encountered this world in the wizard world, or if there were a planar door at hand right now, he naturally would have nothing to fear.

But the problem was that he would be entering that world through void navigation, meaning the resources he could bring were limited.

And that world was unfamiliar territory to him. Who knew what was there?

Locke thought, "Those giants who call themselves false gods do not seem to be primordial spirits or simple powerful organisms. They can mobilize one aspect of that world's planar laws and call the act of mobilizing the corresponding planar laws the exercise of divine power."

"However, for me, this amounts to nothing more than directly hurling some planar laws at someone in the most basic and primitive way."

Simply put, this behavior was, for wizards, equivalent to not using a spell model to attack someone but simply ramming an enemy with one's raw magical power.

Was that not absurd?

This was also why Locke felt they were too primitive.

Locke thought, "And strictly speaking, they are not power-holders but power-thieves. The holders of that power are the specific planar laws, the power of the world itself, and not them."

"These beings, if they left that plane, would probably become ordinary people."

"This is truly fascinating. This kind of phenomenon is indeed worth studying."

On the Infinite Mountain, while some wizards showed surprise at Locke having been resisted by natives, most quickly looked away.

As always.

The infinite void was vast, and anything could happen.

Sometimes strange situations were simply encountered in certain planes.

At this moment, Wizard Jorn Quis, who had met Locke once before, walked over.

"Hello, Wizard Locke. Who would have thought that the Void Magic Cube you sent out would have the natives' force left behind in it, and that those natives would even set a trap and resist you."

"Though this is nothing more than the stubbornness of ants."

Wizard Jorn Quis smiled. "Sometimes things like this just happen. I believe this is precisely what makes void exploration so compelling. We enter what appears to be a world with only primitive tribes, and suddenly a mysterious power appears from within that primitive tribe."

"This is also where the danger of void exploration lies."

"Even for a Second Circle wizard, if something like this happens alone and unsupported in the void, the possibility of things going wrong does exist. Having this kind of resistance capability indicates that the world itself runs very deep."

"The greatest danger is actually not those natives capable of resisting, but that world itself."

"Quite a few Second Circle wizards have met their end precisely by underestimating those worlds."

Wizard Jorn Quis said, "Though this also proves, from another angle, that the target plane in your hands has high economic value. Otherwise, this kind of anomaly would not occur."

"What do you say, do you need help? I can work with you to develop that plane. It so happens that my special-grade grant application this year was rejected, and I feel that line of research was not the right one. I am looking for a new topic."

Wizard Jorn Quis said, "If you want someone to help you, you can come to me."

Locke gave a slight nod, inwardly understanding that this was different from having Hussein come to help him.

After all, Hussein was repaying a favor.

Whereas pulling Wizard Jorn Quis in would mean developing this plane together with him and having to concede part of the interests.

That would not be advantageous for him.

After all, while this plane had some anomalies, the overall situation was within his control. He only needed to bring Hussein and the old pirate, along with Witch Mason and the others, to form an exploration team of initial scale.

There was no need to bring in another wizard and give away part of the benefits for nothing.

Locke politely declined Wizard Jorn Quis, saying, "As luck would have it, I have already gathered enough wizards to form an exploration team."

Wizard Jorn Quis was rather disappointed.

"That truly is unfortunate. I had quite wanted to work alongside Wizard Locke Augustine."

"Well then, Locke, good luck to you. Let us both strive for the special-grade grant next year."

Locke nodded.

"Yes. Let us both strive for it."

Wizard Jorn Quis turned and left.

At the same time, Locke took out a mirror from his astral ring, and saw that a peach blossom mark had appeared on his forehead.

At the same time, the original rings from his two wedding rings had automatically disappeared, clearly having followed his half-body to that world.

"Teacher's Peach Heart Curse has taken effect."

"The trigger condition for teacher's Peach Heart Curse is that I make contact with another world. Previously in the Silent Plane, because it did not count as truly making contact with a world, the Peach Heart Curse was never triggered."

"And the Peach Heart Curse allows my half-body to be born in that world."

"I can sense that the giants of that world are growing increasingly afraid due to the excessive numbers of ordinary people, and they have already prepared to launch a calamity that will exterminate most of the population. Who knows what events my half-body being reincarnated into that world at this moment will set in motion."

And by using that half-body, the wedding ring test could be conducted.

However, the main function of the Peach Heart Curse was to quickly cause his half-body to be born in a known fixed plane. The wedding ring test task was only a supplementary function.

At this moment, Locke found that Witch Yekaterina's clone had actually initiated a voice call to him.

Witch Yekaterina's voice came through the spiritual mushroom.

"Locke, I sensed that your Peach Heart Curse has been triggered."

"You need to speed up the progress of the wedding ring test."

Locke replied promptly, "Yes, teacher."

Locke coughed once, not having expected Witch Yekaterina to urge him to complete the test work quickly.

Witch Yekaterina said, "Also, I have a long-term task for you. Help me monitor a wizard named Douglas."

Locke raised an eyebrow.

"The black wizard you captured?"

Witch Yekaterina said, "Yes. He should have an ancient soul within him. I have been far too busy lately. Help me investigate the identity of that soul."

"The Twin Demon Realm has likely formed some kind of cooperation with these ancient souls."

Locke said, "Understood, teacher."

"I have sent you the materials for a universal Second Circle breeding method: the Elemental Breath Cultivation Method."

Witch Yekaterina said, "Additionally, there is also my own unique cultivation method, the Light Element Inverted Mutation Cultivation Method. I do not know whether you will be able to learn it, because the reason it is unique to me is that it requires a special soul talent. You can look it over and see what you think."

"All right, Locke. I am now assigning you a new proper task. Get your Second Circle breeder certificate as quickly as possible. Remember, tasks must be completed promptly, or they will pile up and become very difficult to deal with."

"That will only increase the difficulty."