Chapter 852: Encountering a Void Leviathan and Locke Really Is a Good Person!

In the infinite void, the entrance to the golden navigation route suddenly opened, and the streamlined spindle-shaped Exploration Vanguard flew out of the golden navigation route.

Locke's main body then observed, through the planar gravity lock, the position of a world not far ahead in the void.

The infinite void was boundlessly vast and empty. Without performing a planar gravity lock in advance, relying on close-range search magic to scan would make it very easy to lose one's sense of direction in the infinite void.

Locke's main body recorded the directional position of the planar gravity at the golden navigation route's exit, then piloted the Exploration Vanguard toward the Three-Hole World.

At the same time, an enormous meteorite collided with the Exploration Vanguard's trajectory. In just an instant, the eighteen-layer enchantment wizard formations of the Exploration Vanguard were triggered, smashing the meteorite to pieces directly.

After the Exploration Vanguard destroyed the meteorite, they found that what lay ahead was in fact a meteorite field, with countless meteorites blocking the way in front.

And at the far edge of the meteorite field was an enormous void leviathan.

The void leviathan was a massive octopus. Its tentacles were of unimaginable scale. Each suction cup on each tentacle was like the size of an entire Golden Crown Mountain district.

Locke and the dozen or so wizards on the ship all froze for a moment.

Nobody had expected that the moment they left the golden navigation route, they would run straight into a meteorite field, and then encounter a void leviathan in the void.

"There are many responses from void formless energy vortices ahead."

Locke glanced at the illusion display screen floating above the Exploration Vanguard's control staff. Through one of the layers in the eighteen-layer enchantment formations dedicated to detection, the Exploration Vanguard had detected that ahead lay not only many meteorite craters, but also many void formless energy vortices.

Old Pirate Henry said, "In my experience, void leviathans rarely directly destroy a plane and then consume that plane's planar core. My guess is it happened to come across a plane that was on the verge of self-destruction, and is waiting for the moment that plane finishes dying, when a new planar core will emerge."

"Then it can enjoy its meal. It is said void leviathans will even take planar cores and travel to regions of the void where planes can be cultivated, planting the cores there. Only I have never seen it myself."

"Those void formless energies are likely the aftermath of a plane's collapse. Or perhaps a void formless energy vortex simply crashed into a plane, whose elemental barrier was not strong enough, and was torn apart by the void formless vortex directly, while the vortex itself was shattered by the plane..."

Locke examined the distribution map of the void formless energy vortices ahead through the Exploration Vanguard's systems, then compared it against normal void formless energy vortex distributions. After several comparisons, he said, "Old Henry's second guess is more likely."

"After my comparison, I found that the void formless energy distribution here closely resembles the result of a larger formless energy vortex being shattered by planar force."

Locke operated the Exploration Vanguard's illusion screen and used the built-in Illusion School deduction spell to conduct a virtual simulation. After inputting the parameters, it was indeed very similar to what Old Pirate Henry had described.

Locke carefully navigated around the void formless energy vortices that had already been detected, while the hull occasionally shuddered from the impact of larger meteorites.

Because the Exploration Vanguard was fundamentally a large integrated magical artifact, its logic differed from that of a normal mechanical vessel.

A mechanical vessel beneath its hull plating would have large amounts of wiring, pneumatic channels, or hydraulic channels. But a magical artifact was not constructed this way.

The primary functional system of the Exploration Vanguard was its eighteen layers of enchantments.

These enchantments were not only applied to the outer layer of the void warship but also enchanted into every material layer of the void warship, with large amounts of wizard formation enchantments in every layer.

Beyond that, the Exploration Vanguard itself, being a magical artifact, possessed magical energy from the moment it was forged into shape.

So Locke had already sensed that the logic and feel of piloting and using it was completely different from the logic and feel of driving a car in his previous life.

The Exploration Vanguard was like an enlarged version of a multiple composite magical artifact.

Not nearly as fragile, far more solid, and far more responsive to his will.

Locke said to everyone, "Everyone, be careful. Next we need to pass through this meteorite rain zone, cross through the debris field core of that destroyed plane, and pass alongside that void leviathan."

Hussein said, "Can we not go around? If that void leviathan attacks us, we have no way to dodge."

Old Pirate Henry said, "I have checked the navigation chart. Going around would risk losing the planar gravity lock. And it would require a very long detour."

"The magical energy batteries the captain brought this time should not be enough for that."

"Moreover, we could easily end up wasting two months of time for nothing. It is fine. We have passed alongside void leviathans before. Although these great creatures are very dangerous, as long as we do not actively attack them, it is actually very safe. Remember, whatever you do, do not actively attack a void leviathan. As long as it is not provoked, it will not make a move against us."

"We are too small for it. We would not even count as food in its eyes. The energy it would spend moving to deal with us might very well exceed the energy it would gain from consuming us. Those void leviathans travel through the infinite void, and they are all masters at calculating energy expenditure."

Locke gave a slight nod. He had considered exactly this point when making this decision.

Of course, if he were in the wizard world he might have chosen to go around, since a wise person need not walk into danger. But this was the infinite void, with limited resources, and many things simply had to be managed as best as possible.

Locke said to everyone, "My first Grand Magic took shape through deep meditation while observing a void leviathan. Observing a void leviathan brings great benefits. If any of you are interested, you can observe and learn. But remember not to observe the entire body of the void leviathan. You will suffer cognitive dissonance."

"Observe only a small detail of their body."

"While observing, do not look directly with the naked eye. Enter a meditative state, and use your spiritual perception to observe one small detail of the void leviathan's body within the meditation."

Old Pirate Henry looked at Locke with surprise.

Because for the void pirates, wizards who could directly observe a void leviathan and actually gain something from it were relatively rare.

This required special talent.

Although he had never researched the matter, he had found that not every wizard could directly observe a void leviathan and come away with something.

It seemed to be related to one's constitution as well.

Old Pirate Henry started to say something but held back. Seeing that everyone had listened to Locke and was already observing, he thought it over and said nothing more.

First of all, being a wet blanket would offend people.

Second, what if white wizard society had some method for this?

At that moment, upon hearing Locke's words, Hussein became quite interested. In meditation, he turned his gaze toward the enormous octopus in the void and looked at one of the suction cups on its tentacle.

Old Pirate Henry saw that everyone was observing the void leviathan. He seemed to have long since given up on this kind of behavior, knowing he had no constitution for achieving Spiritual Resonance with a void leviathan. He found an excuse, gripped the Exploration Vanguard's control staff, and took over piloting from Locke.

As for Locke himself, through the semi-transparent window of the cockpit, he entered a state of Non-Thought and observed the void leviathan's... eyes.

For some reason, those eyes of the void leviathan attracted him the most.

Locke entered a state of spiritual blankness.

Hussein beside him looked in surprise at Locke, who had fallen into deep meditation.

Ah?

Could something really be gained from this kind of observation?

Then why had he observed the octopus's suction cup and gained absolutely nothing, as if he were simply looking at an ordinary object?

Hussein grew restless.

He suddenly thought of something, activated the Blood Progenitor True Form, then looked again at the void leviathan. In an instant, he was drawn into the greatness of that void leviathan's partial body.

In the infinite void, the Exploration Vanguard passed alongside the void leviathan. The leviathan's eyeball rotated, fixing its gaze on the Exploration Vanguard. A hint of puzzlement and curiosity crossed its eye, then it turned to focus intently on what lay below.

Two planar cores that remained after it had finished feeding were taken by its tentacles from beneath the ruins of the destroyed plane's fragments. It stood on those planar fragments floating in the infinite void without the protection of any planar barrier, which is to say on the broken planar scaffolding stripped of its soil and rock layers. Then it collected the two planar cores.

This void leviathan appeared to be preparing to leave.

Locke, in deep meditation, looked at the void leviathan at the spiritual level.

'It is taking away two planar cores. Does it want to eat them on the way, or does it intend to find a place where primordial force tidal waves concentrate, like cultivating crops, and plant the two cores there?'

'Long ago. The Creation Mystery I witnessed was indeed only an incomplete version of the knowledge. There was not a single image of this step by the void leviathan in it at all.'

After some time, Locke had already seen, far ahead in the distance, a point of light within the infinite void that represented the Three-Hole World.

Locke said, "Everyone, we did not expect to encounter a void leviathan this time. Although it was dangerous, it also represented an opportunity. It can be said that being this close to a void leviathan, the gains were quite substantial."

The wizards in the cockpit, except for Hussein, all exchanged glances with puzzled expressions.

What had they gained?

Just now, following Locke's instructions, they had done their best to observe the void leviathan in deep meditation. But the majority of them had gained nothing at all, no different from staring at any ordinary object.

Only a small number of wizards had sensed something, though not much.

At that moment, they were making the most of the Exploration Vanguard not yet having moved far from the void leviathan, straining to gaze at it through the cockpit's semi-transparent windows.

...

Golden Crown Mountain, the Witch's Kitchen, Private Room No. 1.

Wizard Salonius's neck was still draped with a stack of golden rings, and there were many golden rings on his arms as well. His skin was a warm wheat-brown, and he wore eyeliner and lipstick.

He looked at Locke with considerable surprise and said, "I had not expected Wizard Augustine to be such a warm host. I had originally planned to treat you, but who would have thought you beat me to it."

"This Emerald Green Frog Eye Soup is my favorite dish at the Witch's Kitchen. Only it is somewhat expensive, ten thousand magic stones per bowl."

Locke gave a slight nod, because the frog eyes used were from a first-grade apprentice-level magical creature...

And it was not just one frog's eyes being used, plus the cost of the cooking and everything else. Locke even felt the price of this dish was not high.

After all, the number of seasoning wizards capable of preparing this dish was quite limited.

Wizard Salonius elegantly dabbed the corner of his mouth with a handkerchief.

"Wizard Locke, you are an exceptionally generous host. That paper you published in our Myriad Phenomena Crossroads was also excellent. The moment it came in, I immediately felt it had to pass, and then found three colleagues to help review it for you, instructing them that this was an excellent young person."

Locke's smile did not change.

Wizard Salonius said, "So I hope you will continue to submit papers to our journal in the future."

Locke said, "Of course. Being able to submit to your esteemed journal is also an honor for me personally."

A satisfied smile appeared on Wizard Salonius's face.

"Truly a well-mannered young person. None of the standoffishness you find on most geniuses."

At that moment, Wizard Salonius even felt a pang of regret inwardly, that he had so carelessly overlooked Locke's submitted paper and almost turned him away.

Wizard Salonius said, "I heard you have a project related to the atavistic golden ear wheat. I wonder if it would be possible to enter that project in our Golden Cup."

Locke felt a spark of understanding. So this was the purpose.

No wonder a moon ring great wizard's clone had traveled all the way from the Twilight Border to the Cloud Marsh Wetlands.

Locke said, "I am afraid that will not work. I have already entered the Small Breath Cup, and the Small Breath Cup is even planning to award me the championship early. The procedures are all nearly finished now."

Wizard Salonius swallowed. His complexion paled slightly. He had not anticipated that the Small Breath Cup would directly award the championship to Locke ahead of time. Was there not still an entire season left before the submission deadline?

Wizard Salonius knew inwardly that this meant his year-end bonus was gone.

Only at this moment he had nothing to blame Locke for.

In his mind, Locke had done nothing wrong. The problem was with himself.

A wry smile appeared on Wizard Salonius's face. "Oh, I see."

"Then congratulations to you."

Locke looked at Wizard Salonius and said, "Wizard Salonius, was this very important to you?"

Wizard Salonius coughed once.

"Not at all."

"It is fine. Going forward, you are welcome to continue submitting to our Myriad Phenomena Crossroads."

Locke suddenly spoke. "I have a project I intend to enter in the Golden Cup's flying magical plant competition. The finished product will also be a type of golden magical plant, and it also involves research related to the golden dragon bloodline. This is a brief report I wrote."

"Please take a look, Wizard Salonius."

"Only right now, I am somewhat short on funds."

Wizard Salonius blinked. He had already given up on the bonus, but now hearing these words, he felt the situation might still have a turn.

"How much funds are you short?"

Locke smiled. Now came the moment of truth.

"I would like someone to support me with five million magic stones. This project will definitely be entered in the Golden Cup. It involves research related to the golden dragon bloodline. If you can find the Golden Cup's staff and get them to agree, that would be wonderful."

Locke had calculated previously that he needed at least ten million more magic stones to complete the atavistic evolution of the Four-Wing Large Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow.

Although with Antoine's contribution and his savings plus regular income, that sum could be scraped together.

But to guard against any unexpected situations, Locke decided to obtain an additional five million in sponsorship as a buffer.

Wizard Salonius blinked. Five million?

That was not a small sum.

He thought it over, and suddenly felt that this originally delicious meal now stuck in his throat, like thorns on his back, like sitting on pins and needles.

But out of his earlier goodwill toward Locke, and his current predicament over his own bonus, he instinctively took the documents Locke had handed over and began to read.