Chapter 2280 Void Network <TOC> Chapter 2282 Orderly
Translator: SumTLMan
Woof Woof, seemingly for the first time, was approached by a human with a request. Initially bewildered, it took a moment before asking, “What help do you need from me?”
Angel, having broached the subject, saw no reason to withhold any details and fully shared his desire to navigate through the void storm.
Woof Woof, initially anxious that Angel might ask for something difficult, which it couldn’t refuse, leading to an awkward situation, breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing the actual request. Traversing the void storm seemed manageable.
With this in mind, Woof Woof responded, “I can help.”
Angel, delighted, quickly offered, “What would you like in return? I’ll do my best to fulfill your request.”
Woof Woof shook its head, “No need for any return. This isn’t much of a bother.”
Given that Woof Woof was already bound by the constraints of the spotted puppy to cooperate fully with Angel until its departure, it had no choice but to agree to even the most challenging requests from Angel. Moreover, Angel’s request didn’t seem too difficult to it.
“No return? So you plan to help for free?” Angel asked, his expression turning peculiar, wondering if all Void Travelers were so altruistically inclined.
Woof Woof was about to nod but, seeing Angel’s expression, changed its response, “Not for free. Just take good care of ‘it’ for me.”
The “it” Woof Woof referred to was a fellow Void Traveler it intended to leave in Angel’s care as a sort of tool.
“Also, consider it compensation for our previous intrusion into your void space,” Woof Woof added.
Relieved by Woof Woof’s clarification, Angel felt more at ease accepting the offer. After all, for wizards, a favor without expected return could sometimes be the most costly, as such favors often implied an exchange of personal obligations, which could lead to severe consequences or even death, a not uncommon occurrence in the Wizarding World.
“Then I’ll be in your care,” Angel concluded.
With the discussion essentially concluded and Woof Woof eager to assist and depart, they prepared to immediately address Angel’s issue.
Finally, after nearly an hour, the vine-covered door of the room was opened.
As the wooden door creaked open, the gathered Void Travelers outside tensed, perceiving potential threats in every shadow.
Angel and Woof Woof stepped out.
Seeing Woof Woof unharmed, the Void Travelers relaxed somewhat but remained vigilant around Angel.
Angel was indifferent; he roughly understood the habits of Void Travelers, their timidity leading to a strong sense of paranoia. Although somewhat overly sensitive, this was their means of survival, especially in a place like the void, where carelessness could constantly threaten death.
Upon seeing Angel emerge, Toby also breathed a sigh of relief, fluttering his wings to land on Angel’s shoulder. Then, he whispered a few words into Angel’s ear.
Toby was also complaining about the cowardice of these Void Travelers. He had stayed outside intending to “play music,” but every time he touched the Blue Sound Bell, the Void Travelers reacted as if facing an overwhelming army, making Toby too scared to touch the flower again for fear of frightening the Void Travelers to death, which would be hard to explain to Angel.
After listening, Angel chuckled lightly, soothing Toby by stroking his feathers.
“Do you know where this void storm is? Shall we go now?” Woof Woof asked at this moment.
“Just a moment,” Angel replied, his gaze turning towards the garden in the clouds, at the flower of serene drift floating in mid-air.
…
After a while, in the boundless darkness of the void.
Nemeti, emitting a faint green glow, looked towards Angel’s side. From the optical feedback, Nemeti saw no creature, but when concentrating the wood energy into her eyes, she could vaguely see a limp snot monster.
And not just one, within several kilometers nearby, there were many of these transparent snot monsters.
However, the one beside Angel, being the largest, was presumably the only intelligent being among the Void Travelers, as Angel had mentioned.
“Can it really navigate through the void, even ignoring the void storms?” Nemeti asked.
Angel replied, “It shouldn’t be a problem.”
Nemeti nodded, her gaze shifting to Woof Woof, a golden glint flashing in her snake eyes as if she had thought of something.
Feeling Nemeti’s stare, Woof Woof sensed an inexplicable danger, instinctively tensing up.
Seeing Nemeti’s interested look and her flicking snake tongue, Angel seemed to understand what she wanted to do and quickly said, “Highness Nemeti, perhaps it’s best not to do anything unnecessary.”
Nemeti glanced at Angel, “Don’t worry, I just want to test its capabilities.”
As she spoke, Nemeti’s emerald body shone with a glossy brilliance. Under this light, even in the void, a scene of blooming flowers and petals falling like rain emerged behind her.
This beautiful scene made Woof Woof even more vigilant, recalling Nemeti’s words to Angel, it seemed to understand what was coming.
“Let me see your void traversal,” Nemeti’s voice emanated from the radiant scene.
Along with her voice came a slowly drifting pink petal.
The petal, too, glowed, leaving a distinct trail of light as it flew towards Woof Woof.
Woof Woof could sense the immense energy contained within the petals; a mere touch could potentially cause severe damage. Moreover, the petals moved at an astonishing speed, reaching Woof Woof in almost the blink of an eye.
Left with no other choice, Woof Woof instinctively activated void traversal.
Void traversal didn’t have any noticeable external effects, but within the vision of energy, one could clearly see Woof Woof’s originally translucent body beginning to be invaded by darkness, merging completely with it in an instant and disappearing from its original spot.
When Woof Woof reappeared, it was not far behind Nemeti.
This was Woof Woof’s subconscious reaction; encountering a monster in the void, it would always shift behind the monster first, whether to attack or to flee, providing a moment to react from behind the monster.
Just as Woof Woof was about to assess the situation with Nemeti, a pink light suddenly shone in the distance.
Woof Woof’s gaze immediately shifted.
The petal that had flown towards it did not continue towards its previous position but was caught by a pair of hands.
This meant that even if Woof Woof hadn’t shifted, the pink petal would not have touched it.
The hands that caught the petal belonged to Angel.
When Angel touched the petal, a burst of pink light exploded instantly. Woof Woof was momentarily panicked, thinking Angel had been attacked, especially since it seemed Angel was trying to block the petal for it.
However, the pink light did not last long, and the glow faded after a second.
Looking again, Woof Woof saw that Angel had no injuries. In his palm, the pink petal was rapidly expanding, eventually turning into a bright red fruit.
Angel, looking at the fruit that somewhat resembled an apple, didn’t hesitate and took a bite.
Although the fruit wasn’t large, it was still bigger than Angel’s mouth; logically, he shouldn’t have been able to eat it in one bite. Miraculously, with just one bite, the bright red fruit deflated like a balloon, transforming into pure energy that Angel swallowed in one gulp.
“The taste is quite good,” Angel said to Nemeti with a gentle smile. Although the fruit wasn’t a real fruit, its taste was genuinely good, with the flesh being pure nature energy, beneficial and not harmful when swallowed.
Nemeti turned her head to look at Woof Woof, still in a daze, before speaking to Angel: “This fruit wasn’t originally prepared for you.”
“Regardless, I thank you for your gift,” he responded, well aware that despite Nemeti’s words, the fruit was essentially for him. After all, Nemeti was interested in seeing Woof Woof use void traversal, not in watching it catch petals and then eat the fruit.
Moreover, given the extremely cautious nature of a Void Traveler, it’s unlikely to randomly eat something from a stranger.
Nemeti didn’t immediately respond but slowly drifted to one side, her gaze shifting towards Woof Woof in the distance.
“The Traversal through the void is indeed beautiful, but can it really pass through a void storm?”
At this moment, Angel couldn’t provide an answer; such a question could only be resolved through direct experimentation. Thus, he gestured for Woof Woof to come over from a distance.
After listening to the conversation between Nemeti and Angel, and recalling the scene under the glow of the pink light, Woof Woof probably understood that the green snake meant no harm, and the energy-filled petal was not a weapon but a type of edible fruit gifted by Nemeti?
Although Woof Woof didn’t get to eat the fruit, it didn’t mind. Even if it had known beforehand that the petal was a decoy for fruit, it wouldn’t have eaten it.
After its guard against Nemeti was temporarily lowered, Woof Woof still followed Angel’s command and traversed to his side.
Once Woof Woof arrived, Angel directly addressed the main topic, and no one mentioned the previous scene again.
Angel: “That void storm over there is our target for this time. Can you first assess if you’re capable of traversing through it?”
Following Angel’s gaze, Woof Woof, with its years of experience living in the void, noticed something unusual about the void storm at first glance.
Firstly, the void storm exhibited strange periodic changes, expanding and contracting like the tide, which was the first time Woof Woof had seen a void storm with such cyclical changes.
Secondly, it was too clean.
A void storm is a collapse of space. Yet, within that void storm, the collapse was too clean, without a single piece of spatial debris remaining.
Even after the “tide receded,” the reassembled spatial barriers were as clean as a mirror’s surface.
This indicated one thing: the void storm must have existed for a long time because if the void storm had only appeared for a day or two, there would inevitably be remnants of the original void’s debris. Only after a prolonged period, with repeated cleansing of the remnants, could it achieve such cleanliness.
Woof Woof had previously heard from Angel that the void storm they intended to traverse had persisted for over four hundred years, which it had doubted at the time. But now, considering all the signs, it seemed indeed possible.
A void storm that had lasted for more than four hundred years was also a first for Woof Woof, even with its long life in the void.
“Is there any difficulty?” Seeing that Woof Woof hadn’t responded, Angel asked again.
Woof Woof thought for a moment: “If it’s just me traversing this void storm, there’s no problem. But if I have to take you with me, I’m not sure I can get through.”
Angel had already learned from Woof Woof that it could carry someone through the void for a maximum of a hundred kilometers, and this void storm stretched for at least a thousand kilometers. With Woof Woof’s capabilities, it indeed couldn’t take him directly through.
However, Angel hadn’t planned to cross the entire void storm; what he wanted to know most was whether the treasure hidden within the void storm still existed.
“Let’s not worry about taking me through for now.” Angel said, “You go ahead and traverse by yourself first, to see if this void storm has completely spread out, or if there are still sanctuaries within the void storm.”
Woof Woof: “Do you mean that this void storm is circular, with areas inside that haven’t been invaded by the void storm?”
Angel nodded, “If the void storm is also part of Feng’s setup, then the treasure location should not have been destroyed by the void storm.”
Woof Woof, however, furrowed its folds in confusion, saying, “How could a disaster like the void storm leave a sanctuary untouched in its midst? I’ve never heard of such a thing before.”
Angel replied, “Have you ever heard of a void storm that lasts for over four hundred years? The existence of this void storm is very special in itself; perhaps it really is hollow inside?”
Unable to refute Angel’s words, Woof Woof considered the possibility that there might indeed be something special about this particular void storm.
Thinking this, Woof Woof said, “Then I’ll go in and try.”
“Thank you,” Angel responded.
Without saying anything more, Woof Woof nodded to Angel, then his body gradually merged with the darkness until he disappeared completely.
After Woof Woof had vanished, Nemeti leisurely approached Angel’s side, “Has it already gone into the void storm?”
Angel nodded.
Nemeti’s voice, carrying a cool detachment, reached Angel’s ears, “Did you feel it?”
“Feel what?” Angel asked, puzzled.
Nemeti pondered for a moment, “This Void Traveler’s void traversal seems different.”
Nemeti had observed other Void Travelers around, some of whom had used a similar ability to traverse the void when it threw out its petals.
Their void traversal left traces that Nemeti could follow, even allowing her to determine the final traversal points of these Void Travelers through some energy fluctuations.
But Woof Woof was different. The moment it traversed the void, Nemeti couldn’t sense anything, as if it had truly disappeared from the world.
“Perhaps, Woof Woof’s traversal is happening in a higher-dimensional space?” Angel speculated, thinking of the line that probed into the mental space, and replied.
“Higher dimensions?” Nemeti was somewhat confused.
Angel briefly explained some of the wizards’ speculations about higher dimensions, essentially attributing any yet-to-be-understood phenomena to a new aspect that has a definition but has never been discovered.
Even with an explanation, Nemeti was still confused. Although powerful, it was, after all, an elemental creature confined to the Tidal Realm.
“Higher dimensions… What kind of scene is it there?” Nemeti wondered.
“I haven’t come into contact with it either, who knows?” Angel said, though his mind involuntarily recalled the strange world he encountered when learning about the Gateway of Fantasy, and the long “tunnel” he experienced when using the special effects of the Gateway of Fantasy… Could these two places be the existence of higher dimensions?
Angel didn’t know, but he still had the opportunity to explore.