Su Lun followed the group of pirates to the armory where hundreds of slaves had their shackles removed and picked out so handy weapons and armor.
Although not of the finest quality, they were now sowhat equipped.
Then a Pirate Squadron Captain gave them a grand speech, encouraging the slaves to perform well in the curse space, promising freedom after completing the tasks assigned.
Others were skeptical, and Su Lun ignored it as well.
In various prisons throughout the city, several groups of slaves were gathered together, totaling over a thousand individuals. They were all escorted across much of the dilapidated academy to the trendous "Void Vertical Eye."
Approaching it, Su Lun felt an icy void breath, akin to a piercing cold wind.
The ancient planar conduit connected to the "Void Plane" was nearby this curse space, invisible to the naked eye, but occasionally one could see strands of golden runes faintly appearing in the void.
The runes were of a very high grade, much more complex than any Su Lun had seen before. Although he couldn’t understand them, he knew they represented "Seal," "Stabilize," and "Restrict" among other high-level runes.
Upon identification, they appeared as "Damaged Planar Conduit Seal."
Su Lun frowned slightly. Mr. Jing had already ntioned that anything tainted with a foreign plane should be handled with care, as even a small slip could lead to a civilization-ending disaster.
The now rule-deficient Alchemy plane seed truly like a "delicious cake" to other civilizations with divine-tier beings, due to its abundant resources and vulnerable populace.
The passage leading to the abyssal plane originally had so cracks, otherwise, Sir Isaac wouldn’t have built Dawn City on top of it to guard it.
And now this spatial conduit also had "damage"?
...
Su Lun, dressed in leather armor and carrying a set of firearms acquired earlier, stood inconspicuously among the crowd.
He had assud it was just a routine venture led by pirates into the space to sacrifice so lives, but unexpectedly, a squad of well-disciplined Mafa Royal Guards arrived after a long wait.
Each of these individuals, though not clad in full chanical armor, wore high-tech external chanical exoskeletons.
And leading them was a blonde-haired, blue-eyed female major general.
"Isn’t that the major from the submarine?"
Although Su Lun didn’t recognize the person, he knew the fire of his soul did not err.
It was unexpected that it was a woman.
Besides the leader, the rest wearing simple external chanical skeletons were all that survived from the three submarines, likely being punished by the Frost Moon Princess to redeem their faults.
"They really are going all out..."
Su Lun murmured to himself, his mind contemplating.
With such a group of Royal chanical Knights involved, this exploration of the curse space seed to have encountered so unexpected variables.
Upon their arrival, the leading pirate emphasized again that everyone had to follow the commands of "Major General Tajina."
Not long after, everyone entered the "Unstable Planar Conduit," the spatial vortex.
...
The scenery changed around them, and Su Lun found that they all appeared in a confined space.
It seed like a ship’s cabin, surrounded by glass windows, outside of which were blue skies and white clouds, occasionally experiencing mild turbulence.
The slaves did not know where they appeared, but Su Lun already knew; this was an alchemy airship.
It was the airship taken by the investigation team heading to the Tokster Void Academy.
In this space, the outsiders like Su Lun had new identities, so as investigators, others as attendants and followers.
He had previously experienced similar curse spaces like the "Bell Tower Monster legend" in Old Lington, which usually involved the curse space’s "main will" desiring to uncover the truth of a certain event to dissipate millennia-old obsessions.
Originally, the airship was not capable of holding so many people, but the "NPCs" within the curse space wouldn’t find anything amiss, even if it was obviously overloaded and the airship would not crash.
While the other slaves were still nervously observing their surroundings, Su Lun found himself fortunate to have taken on the role of an "investigator."
In his hands, was an investigation report housed within a parchnt box.
Although he already knew the contents, Su Lun still opened the box and took out the single page, reading it carefully again.
The purpose of their investigation team visiting the Void Academy was to investigate and assess a report: soone claid that the conduit connecting to the void plane at the academy had a ruptured seal, with unknown void monsters lurking in the void coveting this plane, necessitating the closure of the conduit to prevent invasion from the void plane.
The content was exactly the sa as what he knew before, but reading it prompted thoughts in Su Lun: "The ssage source is a nad report... aning the provider of this information, ’Herbert Hillbilly’, did not use normal channels to notify the outside world. Yet he’s quite familiar with the internal affairs of the academy, which is interesting indeed."
He had previously stripped away many mories regarding this curse space, but among all the clues held by the North Sea Fleet before then, this man nad "Herbert Hillbilly" had never appeared.
Hence, Su Lun guessed that the key to unlocking this curse space might start with this na.
"A pseudonym? Or has the academy deliberately obscured it?"
Su Lun considered two possibilities.
Then he shifted his gaze toward the front of the airship where a chubby nobleman sat.
This guy was the leader of the investigation team; he had more detailed intelligence in his possession than what the "investigators" held.
If anyone on this airship knew how the "Herbert Hillbilly" matter was handled, this fat man was most likely to have the files in his possession.
Su Lun speculated that when Princess Frostmoon deployed the Royal Guard here, she was probably aiming to target this NPC squadron leader. After all, it was the best point of entry. Moreover, after appearing on the airship, the intents of many Royal Knights were blatantly obvious as their gazes involuntarily fixated on him.
Their specific approach to acquiring intelligence was most likely intended to be a "forceful snatch."
Su Lun had no intention of competing with these people.
People from the North Sea Fleet had tried before and had been annihilated countless tis.
Although the fat man was not strong, he always had a few guards with him. Attempts had shown that it would take several Tier 5 professionals to kill him.
This also explained why a Major General was sent in.
Su Lun was indeed confident in his ability to kill these n,
but doing so was very dangerous.
After all, in this cursed space, being hostile to NPCs was a very unwise act.
They had to stay here for three days, and if they offended the NPCs, not to ntion being killed on the spot, even if they were not killed and were captured and imprisoned, the outbreak of monsters later was almost a certain demise.
"It seems this plan has to be postponed for a while..."
Su Lun murmured to himself.
During these days of confinent, he hadn’t done nothing.
Instead, he had compiled all the intelligence he had obtained and then discussed viable plans with the mbers of the Dawn Group.
One of the plans Su Lun had previously considered was to see if he could extract intelligence from the fat man using so special thods.
But now, having soone else act on his behalf was also good.
Since these people ca prepared, they clearly were confident.
Taking sothing from the guard of the princess was much less risky than snatching it from an NPC’s hands.
Moreover, Su Lun still had other alternative plans.
He felt that the possibility of this fat NPC having intelligence was just a maybe, but the files in the academy’s library were very likely indeed.
As for the academy library, he had a special idea.
If things were as he expected, it would be much simpler, and there might even be unexpected gains!
At this thought, Su Lun took a closer look at the seal on the docunt and discovered so details overlooked by the pirates. His lips slightly moved, "Tsk tsk, indeed it’s from the Tarkoru Empire."
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This coincidence made his eyes sparkle with excitent.
...
Before long, the airship docked at the pier.
All the mbers of the investigation group disembarked from the airship.
Here, everyone saw a complete Void Academy, truly beautiful like a royal palace garden. Between the towering white towers, there were elegantly designed walkways and alchemical airships connecting to and fro. From high above, waterfalls cascaded and beautiful seven-colored rainbows rose everywhere around the academy.
In the core area behind the academy’s mountain, there floated a kiloter-diater, bronze-rimd oval mirror reflecting a mysterious galaxy.
That was the "Planar Passage" leading to the void dinsion.
The passage contained the densest void energy, thus housing countless laboratories of the academy, accessible only by hovercraft. This was also the most important and mysterious part of the academy.
In the intelligence of the North Sea Fleet, that place was marked as a "T-level" area in this cursed space, where no one had survived until today.
And the task assigned to these "slaves," including Su Lun, was to explore the inside of that area.
"Truly magnificent."
Su Lun squinted at the planar passage, imagining the powerful alchemists of the past who had ventured through these to conquer other-dinsional planes, and felt deeply moved.
After disembarking the airship, the academy staff received the investigation group.
They were NPCs with very low intelligence, only responding to specific actions. After unsuccessfully asking a few questions, Su Lun decided not to waste ti on them.
The academy was vast, hosting at least tens of thousands of students; wandering alone would probably take several days to understand the layout of the academy.
Fortunately, people from the North Sea Fleet had already explored the outside layout of the academy multiple tis.
The "Major General Jina" and her group were probably prepared to follow the investigation group to the academy reception and then kill the group’s leader there.
That was also the best place Su Lun had previously envisioned for action.
He had no intention of getting involved with these people and quickly excused himself from the group, appearing alone on the streets of the academy.
The Void Academy had many exquisite buildings. Young students walked in pairs and groups within the campus, unaware of what was about to happen.
In these buildings, including on the students and teachers, alchemical materials, cursed items, and void materials could also be found. Previously, the North Sea Fleet had discovered a vast amount of low-tier materials from these individuals, often accompanied by surprises.
But Su Lun did not intend to waste ti here; he needed to find enough clues before the "Void Invasion."
Otherwise, he could only find a place to hide, survive, and wait to return next ti.
But with his identity as a "slave," he had managed to deceive others on his first entry. The second ti would be too troubleso.
The normal scenario in this cursed space was that about half a day after the investigation team arrived, the "planar passage" would crack, and then countless monsters would surge out, killing anyone they saw.
The academy’s teachers and students fought back fiercely, and after a brutal battle with heavy casualties, a space door opened by a teacher three days later allowed so people to escape. Then the entire spatial domain was sealed off completely, and those who remained were annihilated.
To survive in the cursed space, one had to endure for three days and then escape through the spatial door. The Northern Sea Fleet had also discovered so stable thods to survive, mostly involving hiding in certain large buildings.
Thus, he had a basic survival plan.
But Su Lun had no intention of just hiding to survive.
As Su Lun walked, he pieced together every clue he had gathered and pondered, "The ti points of the outbursts of the void monsters were not fixed, which ans there’s so existence within the cursed space that subjectively controls the timing of the outbreaks?"
This was sothing he had always wondered about.
The few clues available suggested that soone had gone to the "T-level experintal area," which seed to trigger sothing, and then the monster appearance tis were advanced.
But since no one survived, no one knew what had been triggered.
Su Lun felt this was key to breaking the situation.
He didn’t understand yet but decided first to go to the library to check the archives.
Unlike those pirates, Su Lun possessed the "All-knowing Eye" and had discerned so information beyond the obvious. The more he saw, the more feasible his hypothesis seed.
...
Any academy’s library is inevitably one of the best-maintained main buildings.
Su Lun quickly passed a boulevard with a fountain and then saw the beautiful building with stained glass by a small lake.
This was the library of the Void Academy,
The library was bustling with people, and these NPCs could also trigger so opportunities.
The shelves were packed with myriad books, estimating to contain several hundred million volus.
Having the status of an Investigator allowed easy access to the library. The mbers of the Northern Sea Fleet had almost fully explored every corner of the library managent.
The library had three floors filled with many space-related volus of order seven and below, the variety dazzling to behold.
Moreover, many volus had partial or complete textual records. There were also many secret techniques that had been lost in the current era.
The books in the cursed space had text, after all, as they originated from the mory of the main willpower.
This ant that the main willpower of this cursed space was an extrely learned Great Alchemist, who had vast knowledge and an overwhelming amount of reading.
The Northern Sea Fleet had extracted many precious volus from here.
Su Lun was indeed interested in these but, limited by ti, he could hardly read them all.
Besides, he had previously harvested three squadrons of the void fleet, whose spatial knowledge mostly ca from here.
If he considered acquiring these volus, it would be quicker to plan against the Northern Sea Fleet after leaving.
Su Lun entered the library, t by the rich fragrance of books.
The cadets in the library seed oblivious to his presence, each absorbed in their own books.
Su Lun directly went to the third floor, and then there were no more stairs to ascend.
But he knew that the library had a hidden fourth floor, which was a special area only accessible to academy professors and higher-ups.
"Tokster Void Royal Alchemy Academy" had adorned every corner with spatial art. Su Lun had prior information on the activation point. He touched the oil painting on the wall, feeling the subtle spatial fluctuations.
This was not the fluctuation from the perfectly hidden fourth floor but was similar to an "authority recognition" alchemy device.
The pirates had tried countless thods but had never made it up there, and Su Lun knew it would be difficult to find clues to proceed based only on obtaining the trust of a professor-level NPC.
But now, Su Lun had a better option.
He wanted to test a hypothesis.
At that mont, he took out a checkerboard patterned chessboard, which was none other than the long-used magical device "Stanitz’s Chessboard."
"I hope this will work."
Su Lun exhaled, murmuring to himself as he slowly placed the chessboard in front of the oil painting.
Just as he watched with great anticipation, a Nonagram Alchemy Formation suddenly solidified in the air, as if sothing was activated. The wall before him beca illusionary, and then a marvelous sight unfolded!
As if the light and shadows of an abstract painting twisted, it condensed into an ancient staircase leading to the "fourth floor"!
"It worked!"
Su Lun, unable to contain his joy, thought, "This chessboard really is from this era!"
...
"Stanitz’s Chessboard" was a very special artifact that Su Lun had acquired in Old Lington.
This object, apart from being used to trap people on ordinary days, had no other use.
However, every ti he used it, the remnant soul inside the chessboard would erge at night and play chess with him.
Then, the remnant soul would incessantly mutter, "I’m Mishael Toxter, I am the King of Tarkoru Country."
Su Lun had previously regarded it as a relic from a bygone civilization, never taking it seriously. After all, ancient kingdoms buried in the dust of history were as nurous as grains of sand.
But now, coincidentally, the full na of this alchemy sanctuary was called "Tokester Void Royal Alchemy Academy"!
This was a royal academy nad after the royal family’s surna from that civilization.
When Su Lun knew this na before, he had vaguely guessed that there might be a connection between the two, after all, both were related to "Space Law."
But he also thought it was more likely a coincidence of identical nas.
Only when he saw the seal on the investigation file did he confirm that it belonged to the sa era as the magical device.
Moreover, since it was a royal academy, it’s common for the king to be the "honorary chancellor" and the royal family usually had the highest authority in the academy.
This chessboard was an object where a king’s soul resided, naturally containing so items that could prove his identity.
When Su Lun tried it out in this library, it actually succeeded.
....
Su Lun did not think much, looking at the staircase that suddenly appeared in front of him, he walked up without hesitation.
His current identity was an investigator from the royal family, even if he were caught, there would be an explanation.
He was the first outsider ever to walk into the fourth floor of this previously off-limits library.
The place was deserted and very quiet, only housing rooms filled with various collections of books.
Su Lun glanced casually and saw the rooms were packed with alchemy books and scrolls.
He scanned the titles of those books, his pupils dilated, and he involuntarily cursed in shock, "Damn, hit the jackpot!"
The nas of those volus made it impossible to look away!
Ninth-order forbidden curse spatial techniques like "Great Annihilation Art" and "Divine Movent·Planar Leap," eighth-order defense secrets like "Eight Thousand Layers of Void Barrier," and eighth-order long-range techniques like "Hundred Void Strangling Art," seventh-order "Sky God Strike"... top-level space alchemy techniques.
There were also "Arrangent of Large-Scale Spatial Transmission Formations," "Arrangent and Deciphering of Spatial Barriers Below the Ninth Order," "The Observational Theories on Original Void: Seeing it Solidifies its Form"... high-level knowledge.
Su Lun casually flipped through, and the knowledge in those books was very complete.
It also made him more certain that the main consciousness of this space was a suprely knowledgeable top-tier alchemist who had at least seen most of the books on this fourth floor.
Thus, the target group could be narrowed down a lot, almost surely to soone like the "chancellor" or "vice-chancellor," significant big shots.
These were all extrely rare top-tier spatial techniques, and Su Lun was dazzled by them.
He imdiately felt as if a re glance would yield knowledge worth a fortune.
But on closer inspection, his realm wasn’t enough to morize them.
The complexity of those Nonagram Alchemy Formations in those techniques was making Su Lun dizzy from their imnsity.
It was like having a barrage of incomprehensible knowledge, a feeling of being clouded in fog.
"Take them?"
This thought ca to Su Lun’s mind.
These books were not just worth a fortune but were absolutely "civilization-level" treasures!
In the present world, there was no longer a complete lineage of void techniques, and any of these books if revealed, would cause an uproar in the entire world of alchemy.
However, considering this year, Su Lun furrowed his brows.
He had sneaked to the fourth floor, but that didn’t an he could take these items, perhaps he was already under the watch of so powerful NPC.
"Perhaps, wait for the fight to start, then find a way to gather them?"
Su Lun recalled that the library was a major disaster area for battles.
But this fourth floor had a special spatial barrier, making it even safer than any other place in the academy.
When the fight broke out, the big shots would be too busy to care, giving him a chance to take these precious books.
But... I ca here looking for clues to solve the puzzle.
Even if emptying the library would be hugely rewarding, his intuition told him he might miss sothing even more important.
Su Lun was a bit conflicted.
Thinking about it, he still decided to look for archives first to find out more about the mysterious "Herbert Hillbilly."
PS. Begging for so monthly votes; thank you all.
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