Chapter 1498 Sister Tessa <TOC> Chapter 1500 Immersive Experience
Translator: SumTLMan
Black Castle, Underground Testing Ground.
As Angel opens his eyes, he finds himself greeted by the pure white floor of the testing ground. The light source above casts its glow, slightly harsh on his eyes.
Angel flexes his five fingers and clenches his fist.
The firm sensation of the grip assures him that his consciousness has returned from the nebulous cage of void to his physical body.
Turning his head, Angel witnesses the gradual dissolution of the “gateway.”
With the return of his consciousness, the “gateway” that connected the two sides also starts to dissipate.
Angel feels for the Gateway Model in his Spell Position and discovers that the special energy, which once enveloped the model, has now shrunk to a mere point.
As he had previously theorized, to re-enter that mysterious passage, he must wait for the special energy to fully expand again.
Observing for about half an hour, Angel notes the incredibly slow rate of the energy’s expansion. If it continues at this pace, it would take nearly half a year to fully expand. If there are any unexpected events, it might take even longer.
Realizing that he can’t reopen the gateway in the short term, Angel lets out a soft sigh.
Given that it would take at least half a year to open the gateway again, he feels powerless to assist Alex even if he wanted to.
For a wizard, half a year might seem short, but it’s enough time for many things to change.
As for Alex’s situation, it’s already reached a critical, time-sensitive juncture. Waiting for half a year is out of the question — every half month, or even half a day could be a deciding factor.
Since he could no longer return to the past, the outcome of the grand drama within the cage was now entirely in the hands of Alex.
At the very least, before his departure, he had lightened some of Alex’s burdens——
Time rewinds to a few minutes prior, when Alex was surrounded by over twenty ghosts. Angel once again utilized his illusions to trap these ghosts in a miniaturized garden.
This use of illusion magic was different from his past attempts, as he had to beguile so many ghosts at once. Angel unleashed nearly all of the illusory energy he could muster.
As he poured out his illusion energy, the force maintaining his illusory form began to waver.
His form started to become increasingly ethereal.
Without the support of his illusion energy, his consciousness had no vessel. Angel could distinctly feel the pull from the “Gateway” intensifying, as if urging him to return immediately.
Faced with no other choice, Angel had to make an abrupt exit. Finally, under Alex’s shocked gaze, Angel simply said his goodbyes, “I told you, I’m merely a misplaced traveler. Unexpectedly, I encountered such intriguing events at this midway stop… If someday you manage to escape this cage, perhaps fate will allow us to meet again.”
With that, Angel gave in to the pull of the Gateway and bid farewell to this brief yet fantastical journey.
Angel’s return was unforeseen, and so he regretted not witnessing the twilight of that spectral world, as well as the conclusion of this turbulent drama.
However, his departure was also inevitable.
Because after Father Bertrand revealed the secret of the cage, Angel already knew that determining its spatial coordinates would be difficult.
Even Bertrand could only vaguely say, “Beyond this cage lies an even greater cage, from which, aside from the gods above, no one can escape.”
It’s clear that the location information here is probably unknown to anyone.
Given this, most of the reasons for Angel to stay in Ghust Town have essentially dissipated. The only thing still motivating Angel, it seems, is the desire to see how this fascinating drama will ultimately unfold.
At this point, there appears to be no way out.
Even if the gateway could actually be reopened now, Angel is uncertain if he could still find the path to that cage-like place.
Therefore, the future of Ghust Town, Father Bertrand’s lifelong wish, and the fate of everyone else now solely rests on the shoulders of Alex to navigate.
Angel believes that after his departure, Alex, with his psychological resilience, will likely adjust quickly.
The next step is to take advantage of the controlled ghosts and eliminate Tessa in the Space of the Dead.
To enter the Space of the Dead, one must possess an object from within that realm as a medium. Since Alex carries that dagger, finding a way into the Space of the Dead isn’t impossible.
However, whether he can locate Tessa and manage to eliminate her remains an open question.
…
Angel took out his notebook and began documenting his insights regarding the Gateway Model, from the separation of the conscious core to speculations about that mysterious semi-passage, as well as the light point that guided him forward. Angel made a detailed record of all these.
At the same time, he listed numerous questions for each link in the chain.
Some of these questions could be answered by existing information. For example, regarding his illusion magic, Angel could roughly deduce that it came into being due to his own attributes affecting the Gateway Model during its initial construction.
If his innate talent wasn’t focused on nightmare illusions but was elemental, then perhaps he would have manifested as a form of fire, wind, or water instead.
Angel pondered over certain questions for which he could only speculate the answers, while others remained enigmatic for the time being.
For instance, the nature of the special energy and the ultimate destination of the peculiar semi-passage — these were issues that would have to wait for the “Gateway Model” to be reactivated for further investigation and clarification.
After dedicating an entire day, Angel finally organized all the known information and pending questions.
Finally, he focused his gaze on the title of this record.
—Experimental Record of the Gateway Model—
After a moment of reflection, a faint glimmer of light flickered from the tip of his finger, gently passing over the words of the title. The characters in the title began to slowly disassemble and separate, the black strokes reassembled, ultimately revealing new wording——
—Experimental Record of the Gateway of Fantasy—
Previously, Angel didn’t know what effects would manifest once the special energy was activated in the Gateway Model. Hence, he never named the First Spell in his Spell Position, only referring to it as the “Gateway Model.”
Now, after the short journey he had been on, Angel still had many unresolved questions, but he had a general outline of its underlying principles in his mind.
It was a capability of crossing space-time distances through an illusionary form.
As for its specific functions, Angel couldn’t say for certain as he hadn’t yet reached the end point of the mysterious semi-passage. But given the information he had, he felt it was time to give it a preliminary name.
The word “space” implies the crossing of space-time distances, while “illusion” represents the illusionary form.
The Gateway of Fantasy is a name derived from its apparent function. If in the future, Angel discovers the true purpose of this mysterious passage’s endpoint, he could always rename it to reflect its “meaning,” should he not find that too troublesome.
After settling on the name for the Gateway of Fantasy, Angel stood up and stretched lazily.
Doing some mental calculations, he realized it had been eight days since he entered the testing ground. He wondered if Sparrow Blossom had made any progress with the research on the Morphing Softworms.
A moment later, Angel withdrew his psychic energy from the bracelet he was wearing.
The Morphing Softworms had yet to appear, but according to Sparrow Blossom, success was just around the corner. The Worm Mother had already entered the egg-laying stage, and it was highly probable that this batch of eggs would hatch into Morphing Softworms.
By Angel’s rough estimate, even if these eggs did hatch into Morphing Softworms, it would likely take another two days.
And he had no intention of sitting idle during those two days.
Taking advantage of the rare solitude, Angel pulled out various magical materials — Secret Bronze, Ancient Silk Platinum, Illusory Spirit Diamonds… and so on.
The grade of these magical materials wasn’t particularly high, but that didn’t matter. On a whim, he decided to craft a small trinket.
A day later, as the flames flickered to their finale, a curiously-shaped little box materialized in Angel’s hands.
Rather than immediately testing this little box, Angel directed his mental energy back into his bracelet.
Soon after, both Sparrow Blossom and Popoca appeared in the testing ground, accompanied by a table holding the Softworm Nest.
Caught off guard by the sudden environmental shift, they had yet to fully comprehend the situation.
After briefly explaining their current location, Angel turned his gaze towards the Softworm Nest and asked, “Have the eggs hatched yet?”
“Not yet, but based on the rate of incubation, it shouldn’t be much longer — perhaps a day at most,” Popoca replied. His eyes shimmered with excitement, but his face was ashen, and combined with consecutive sleepless nights, he looked so frail that a mere gust of wind could sweep him away.
Angel then glanced at Sparrow Blossom, who nodded back at him.
“Big brother, I have a premonition that the Softworm to hatch this time could very well be a Morphing Softworm!”
Angel responded, “Then I’ll look forward to it.”
“However, since the eggs are still in the incubation process, there’s no need to keep a constant vigil. You’ve both been exhausted for days; how about relaxing a bit? Let me show you something.”
With that, amidst their puzzled looks, Angel took out a small box he had crafted not too long ago.
Chapter 1498 Sister Tessa <TOC> Chapter 1500 Immersive Experience