Chapter 429: Gate of the Void Spirit

The Duke of Silver Star's expression changed instantly.

She stared at Lei En, lost in thought for a long time without speaking, but Lei En, using his Soul Eye, saw that her emotions were in violent upheaval, as if struck by a massive shock, faint traces of vast soul energy emanating, causing the air in the whole room to solidify.

Lei En felt pressure from a Holy Soul Wizard; fortunately, with Willpower, he was not intimidated.

It wasn't until a few minutes later that the Duke of Silver Star slowly asked, "Are you sure?"

Lei En nodded vigorously.

"How did you know that Kellstone was at the Silver Star Academy that day?" the Duke of Silver Star remained skeptical, guessing, "Did Master Anxi tell you?"

"Even the teacher didn't know this," Lei En said truthfully, "I discovered Duke Hong Shi myself."

The Duke of Silver Star's eyebrows rose, "Just you? You'd only become a Wizard a few months ago then, able to sense the movements of a Holy Soul Wizard? Not even I noticed."

"I have Willpower," Lei En explained half‑truthfully.

He could see through Duke Hong Shi's transformation technique; Willpower played a part, but the real reliance was on his Soul Eye.

Sure enough, the Duke of Silver Star was astonished, "Willpower! Where did you get it?"

This legendary Element is coveted by all spellcasters, even Holy Soul Wizards; she couldn't help but lose her composure.

Lei En smiled, looking inscrutably profound.

"No wonder the feeling you give me is different from everyone else's."

The Duke of Silver Star was momentarily enlightened, then her expression turned slightly unnatural; Willpower claims to pierce all illusion and glimpse truth, and she feared exposing some of her own secrets. She watched Lei En warily, already believing his words.

Lei En continued, "At that time, Duke Hong Shi disguised himself as his student Winslow; I only saw him once, then he vanished."

The Duke of Silver Star's face grew solemn as she nodded.

Her gaze kept shifting—confusion, shock, heaviness... she remained silent for a long while.

Lei En could understand the Duke of Silver Star's complex feelings; a Holy Soul Wizard infiltrating his own domain, and right under his eyes, must have ulterior motives.

This is a very serious problem.

If not for his reminder, the Duke of Silver Star would still be in the dark, not knowing when she would find out. Yet from her reaction, she seemed unable to guess Duke Hong Shi's purpose, her brows knit, appearing somewhat bewildered.

Lei En didn't want to meddle in the affairs of the two Holy Soul Wizards; after waiting half a day with no response from the Duke of Silver Star, he spoke, "Madam?"

The Duke of Silver Star came to herself and examined Lei En seriously.

"You have so many secrets, always managing to surprise me," she said with great admiration, shaking her head, "Willpower, humph... Kellstone rose thanks to this legendary Element; you are the second, your talent surpasses his. With Kellstone's temperament, the two of you will inevitably become rivals. I look forward to your performance."

Lei En's expression changed slightly, "I'm just a legendary Wizard; I wouldn't dare compare myself with Duke Hong Shi."

"Hm?"

The Duke of Silver Star seemed to discover something, a playful glint in her eyes, "So you've already become his enemy. Interesting; your boldness exceeds my expectations."

"Your perception is far too keen, isn't it?"

Lei En felt helpless inside, could only remain silent, not daring to say more.

ParrasFloatingCity had a zeppelin hijacked and destroyed, with heavy losses; the news spread throughout the Empire, causing a uproar, and the culprit has not been found yet.

Given the Duke of Silver Star's quick mind, if she kept talking, she might link herself to the incident.

"Madam," Lei En quickly changed the subject, "What is the value of this news? Enough to trade for those items, right?"

The Duke of Silver Star could not deny that it was too important for her.

Far beyond five hundred thousand Gold Shields.

She lightly nodded, "All those curios belong to you." Before Lei En could be pleased, she added, "Regarding Kellstone, you must not tell anyone, including Master Anxi."

"Unless the lady spreads it elsewhere, no third person will know." Lei En hadn't intended to speak openly, to avoid attracting Duke Hong Shi's attention.

"Very good!"

The Duke of Silver Star raised her hand and sent a magical message; Crifis quickly teleported in, calling, "Master."

"Hand over those dozen or so unidentified items to Lei En, valued at five hundred thousand Gold Shields," the Duke of Silver Star ordered, "For the rest, let Lei En freely pick his deserved reward from the catalog."

"Very well, Master," Crifis replied respectfully, surprise barely hidden in his eyes.

With the goods in hand, Lei En didn't want to waste another minute, stood up and said, "Madam, allow me to take my leave; Ge La Mo Gen still has many matters awaiting my attention."

"Go ahead, and return whenever you have time; Longshande's gate is always open to you." The Duke of Silver Star stood and personally escorted Lei En into the teleportation array.

Lei En followed Crifis, teleporting to the thirtieth floor of the tower.

This was the alchemy workshop within the tower; the spoils harvested from Matheus had all been brought back. Crifis led Lei En into a massive vault, a sealed chamber guarded by dense defenses and layered rune arrays, where they saw the large water tank.

"Everything is here," Crifis said.

Lei En's gaze swept over the shelves laden with curios, not lingering on the water tank, lest Crifis notice his true objective.

The water tank was covered with a black cloth, its interior invisible; the unsettling pulse emanating suggested that the Mysterious Touch still lay within.

"Please have the Master send all the items to the zeppelin, thank you," Lei En said with a smile, "Also I need that batch of dimensional stones, and some other things..."

He listed the items he coveted: rare material gems, not many in number but the essence of this haul; finally he took away gold worth several hundred thousand Gold Shields, completing the two‑percent share he was owed.

Crifis winced at the request, but could not refuse.

"Got it, I'll have someone send them over right away," Crifis wrote the list, immediately summoned a Wizard to transport, sighing, "The materials you're taking are fine goods; I had planned to craft a batch of precious magical items, what a waste..."

"Master, rest assured, they won't be wasted in my hands," Lei En reassured.

He was on good terms with Crifis; both were battle Wizards, and when he was still a small figure, Crifis had taken some care of him.

"Lei En, your transformation is huge!"

Crifis sighed, "It took me over twenty years to ascend to legend, yet you did it in less than two years, which makes me feel ashamed. Still, having a talent like you among battle Wizards brings me joy, because your success has added several battle Wizards to the academy this year, and I've taken on two students as well."

Lei En smiled and nodded, considering that he had indeed helped spread the reputation of battle Wizards.

"Hope a few geniuses will emerge in the future!"

The two followed the convoy, delivering the goods to the headquarters of the Silver‑Clad Knights, loading them onto the zeppelin; along the way Crifis hesitated several times, but ultimately said nothing.

Lei En knew what he wanted to ask, and of course would not voluntarily reveal the secret of the Mysterious Touch.

"Master, you are always welcome to visit Ge La Mo Gen," Lei En said when parting, "Any alchemy Master is worth befriending, let alone Crifis, who is already an old friend."

"Alright, I'll go."

Keli Feisi agreed and led the Wizard back to the Silver Star Tower.

Lei En turned and entered the airship, immediately ordering, "Take off!"

The airship started its engines in the night, gradually rose into the sky, quickly left Longshande, and flew toward Mo Du through the darkness.

In the cargo hold, Lei En told the Extreme Warriors to return to their rooms to rest, and stood alone beside the water tank.

He uncovered the black cloth, allowing the ship's light to shine in.

The water tank immediately stirred; the blue liquid rippled, and sticky, slick tentacles pressed against the glass, then a terrifying monster fully appeared before his eyes, its twisted mouth emitting a silent, bone‑chilling howl.

Even though Lei En had prepared himself mentally, seeing the creature up close still made his scalp tingle and his eyelids twitch.

Dozens of tentacles flailed wildly, and countless eyes opened within the worm‑like flesh.

He forced himself to endure the visual shock, activated his Soul Eye to examine its interior, and the strange soul state revealed only a solitary Element.

It was the Mysterious Touch, a legendary Element never seen before!

Confirming it was indeed that, Lei En immediately covered it with the black cloth, and the water tank quieted at once.

"Huh… this thing looks too frightening; staring at it for too long will drive you mad."

Lei En shook his head and began inspecting the other items. The most valuable dimensional stones weighed over sixty pounds, were not large, and were all packed in a wooden crate. The stones appeared as silver‑gray rocks, speckled with star‑like tiny glints; their density was slightly lighter than iron, and they were, in fact, a kind of magical metal.

Most dimensional stones are produced from planar fissures and are extremely rare.

The sheer quantity of this batch of dimensional stones would be hard to gather across the entire Empire, enough to forge dozens of space rings.

After Lei En finished checking the other materials, he nodded in satisfaction.

Finally, he looked at the batch of unidentified curios.

Some were dim magical items, some were peculiar gems or unknown monster materials, some were clearly fragments of something, and there were also indecipherable scrolls, among others.

Lei En examined these items one by one.

His appraisal ability was not as good as Keli Feisi's, but with Truth Willpower and the Soul Eye, he could more easily see through illusion; using the mobile library for lookup, he quickly reached a conclusion: most of these dozen‑plus items were worthless junk.

Occasionally there were two or three decent pieces, at most worth a few thousand Gold Shields.

"Blood loss!"

Lei En couldn't help shaking his head; without the Mysterious Touch, spending five hundred thousand Gold Shields would have been a huge loss.

Until the last item, his eyes finally lit up.

"Hmm? This one seems interesting!"

Lei En picked it up; it was a blue crystal about the size of a palm, shaped like a spindle with one end larger than the other, the entire crystal set into a circular metal ring that held it firmly, and three leaf‑shaped structures attached to the outside of the ring, resembling a fine piece of art.

It was obvious at a glance that this was a magical item.

But there was no way to activate it; the metal ring bore no runes or engravings, no energy leaked out, and he didn't know how to use it.

Holding it, Lei En felt its weight—about half a pound.

"This blue crystal resembles a Starrealm Crystal Pillar, yet it's different," he said, studying it closely. The metallic feel of the ring against the crystal revealed a strange magical alloy, and finally he sensed a few extremely fine runes inside.

He didn't understand these runes; they clearly belonged to an entirely different system.

Nevertheless, he still sensed a clue.

This magical item should be related to teleportation; runes from different systems share commonalities. Lei En possessed the Key of Doors, making him extremely sensitive to temporal‑spatial runes, and even without study, he could vaguely sense part of their function upon contact.

"Let's study it; it could be a good thing!"

Lei En took the blue crystal back to his cabin and activated the multicore crystal core to begin analysis.

The airship continued its voyage.

Unnoticed, dawn broke.

Having sat motionless at his desk all night, Lei En suddenly opened his eyes; his expression was a bit weary, but his gaze was bright, a smile spread across his face as he softly said, "I guessed correctly—it's a teleportation artifact."

The multicore crystal core had already deciphered the runes' principle.

At the same time, judging from the runes' characteristics, its maker likely hailed from an alien plane, with a high probability of being the Void‑spirit race famed for planar travel.

This blue crystal was crafted by the Void‑spirit race and is called the Void‑spirit Gate!

If graded by Ai Lun E Si's classification of magical items, the Void‑spirit Gate is an epic‑level item, and its three attached spells are all used for teleportation.

The first is a Six‑Ring Teleport Gate, capable of sending up to one hundred li away, usable five times per day.

Lei En was already intimately familiar with teleport gates; his Arcane Torrent Staff already bore a Five‑Ring Teleport Gate, reaching up to fifty li, usable four times daily.

The second spell is also a teleport gate, but a large Seven‑Ring gate with a range of three hundred li.

Unlike ordinary Seven‑Ring gates, the Void‑spirit Gate opens a channel that is taller and wider, lasts several times longer, though its casting time is longer and it consumes more soul power, allowing three openings per day.

The third is a Fixed‑Point Teleportation.

This Eight‑Ring Spell can designate a spatial location; once cast, regardless of distance, as long as one is on the same plane, one can teleport back—an excellent escape method, usable twice per day.

Overall, the Void‑spirit Gate is an extremely powerful magical item.

It does not directly boost combat ability, but it is highly practical; on the battlefield it has remarkable effects, capable of delivering a legion to the most lethal position in the shortest time!

Lei En grasped the blue crystal and whispered a few syllables.

The Void‑spirit Gate reacted instantly, rippling with strands of Arcane energy, and the space around the crystal undulated like ripples.

He infused his soul power into the crystal; a few seconds later, the Void‑spirit Gate was activated.

The entire blue crystal melted into flowing light, enveloping Lei En's left palm, then slowly permeated inward.

Lei En felt no pain, only a cool sensation; the crystal quickly dissolved entirely into his palm, and a vortex‑shaped sigil on the back of his hand emitted a faint blue glow, flickering a few times before vanishing completely.

Simultaneously, a vortex rune formed within his soul, circling around the World Tree.

The usage of this magical item is wondrous; a mere thought can trigger the Void‑spirit Gate, markedly different from Ai Lun E Si's magical items.

An Extreme Warrior entered to report, "Boss, we've arrived."

Lei En rose, looked out the window, and after a moment the airship landed at Gra Morgan's airship dock.

They entered the cargo hold, raised their hand in the open space in the middle, the rune on the back of their hand glowed, soul power gradually gathered, and fifteen seconds later the spell was completed.

Boom—

Light suddenly burst forth, and a tall transport portal opened before the Extreme Warriors.

(End of chapter)