Chapter 1378: World of Water
However, such a way of improvement was extremely time-consuming. Every part could easily take 100 years. Alchemy puppets, which were similar to undead creatures in terms of longevity, didn't care about that, but Lin Yun didn't have so much time…
The upgrade was much more successful than expected. Pabiete improved to the peak of level 46. After it adapted to the new parts, and injected its power into the parts, it would be able to reach level 47.
He examined Pabiete's memory system. The seal on it still existed, but it was even weaker than before. It seemed that it wouldn't be long before the seal was removed.
But Lin Yun still did not have the courage to break the seal forcefully. The Dark Sage had left a warning, and even specifically sealed some of Pabiete's memory system. He couldn't have done that for fun. Whatever he sealed had to be shocking, and couldn't be divulged easily.
Nothing was found after Pabiete's upgrade, which was within Lin Yun's expectation. He wasn't really disappointed. He opened the Planar Path to the Puppet Plane, and sent Pabiete there with thousands of manufactured puppets, asking Pabiete to complete the final fusing in the Puppet Plane.
There was a special law in the Puppet Plane that could accelerate Pabiete's adaptation to the new parts. Pabiete needed to collect talent runes too.
Last time they went hunting in the Puppet Plane, they picked up a lot of talent runes, but that was still not enough. Unfortunately, they had already caught the attention of the Heaven Rank alchemy puppets who called themselves Cybertans. Those puppets were probably still watching over everything in the Puppet Plane.
Those puppets didn't know what time meant at all. They could spend their entire life monitoring intruders. However, Lin Yun couldn't postpone hunting for talent runes anymore. It was the best choice to send Pabiete to fight in the Puppet Plane with the army of alchemy puppets.
Even if the King of Puppets saw Pabiete hunting with his own eyes, he probably wouldn't say anything. To be killed by another alchemy puppet and to be killed by other races meant completely different things for the Heaven Rank puppets in the Puppet Plane.
The alchemy puppets' way of improvement had always been to loot other alchemy puppets' parts, and the Heaven Rank puppets' main targets were talent runes.
That was just their natural instinct. All competitions inside the Puppet Plane were about things within the Puppet Plane. The top experts in the Puppet Plane would be strengthened through such competitions. The King of Puppets wouldn't care.
Lin Yun had already been spotted when he'd crazily looted talent runes last time. He didn't dare to enter the Puppet Plane easily anymore. Who knew if the King of Puppets was waiting for him? Those jerks who had nothing but metals in their brains could easily wait 1,000 years for their target. They were even more patient than undead creatures.
After sending Pabiete away, Lin Yun began to make other arrangements. He could learn more truth runes, but it was truly time-consuming. He had to learn one or two of them at a time whenever he had time.
The thin mana in the Natural Demiplane became even more abundant than before. The bushes in the northwestern corner had turned into a thick green pillar that connected the sky and the earth when seen from a distance. Dense clouds of mana covered the upper half of the green pillar.
Liquified mana had gathered into a river, and fallen into the Mana Lake down below along the green pillar. There were three branches extending from the Mana Lake: one flowing to the east, one flowing to the pillar to the southwest of the Mana Lake, and one flowing to the south.
The liquid mana was forming an independent water system from the local water system in the Natural Demiplane. It circulated only on the continent, making the Natural Demiplane evolve even faster.
As for the evolution of the laws of earth, fire, water, and wind, it was already much faster than Lin Yun could grasp. All their branches had appeared during the evolution, and were even melting with each other, and unleashing special power. It was a sign that the four laws were about to be perfectly evolved.
To grasp a law perfectly meant that a mage had arrived at the peak of the Heaven Rank!
The law of space was evolving very fast too. Its branches were appearing as well. There were even smaller planes that were attached to the Natural Demiplane. Those small planes were no bigger than 100 square meters, and collapsed soon after they were born. Still, even more small planes were generated.
The Floating Fruit, which had been growing next to the Mana Lake, was about to ripen. Xiusi had stopped running about. He simply waited for the Floating Fruit to ripen next to it every day.
Any creature that approached within three kilometers of the Floating Fruit would be thrown into the void by Xiusi madly. In the past month, two Blood Elf laborers who intended to steal the fruit had been thrown away. There was no telling where they ended up, but the place couldn't be enjoyable.
After the Floating Fruit matured, with any luck, it would be possible to obtain a few new seeds, and plant several new Floating Fruit Trees. As the laws in the Demiplane evolved, more and more pieces of the law of space would gather in the Floating Fruit, which would save a lot of time.
It was much more difficult to grasp the law of space than it was to understand the laws of earth, fire, water, and wind. To fully grasp it was even more challenging.
The Floating Fruit was gathering the pieces of the law of space that were in the Demiplane. It was no different from him grasping it in person, and could save him time. He could make the fruit into a potion, or just swallow it.
More importantly, the law of space was still evolving in the Natural Demiplane, which meant that the pieces of the law of space would be different every time the Floating Fruit matured. It would save him a lot of time.
The absorption of the 72 King's Pillars proved to be rewarding. At the very least, he could tell that the laws were evolving much faster than before. Also, they were no longer evolving independently, but getting in touch with each other, and becoming more complicated. It was a sign that the Demiplane was evolving into a complete world.
There had been too many changes. For a moment, Lin Yun couldn't confirm what happened to his Natural Demiplane exactly, but it was good in general.
The foundation of the law of darkness had been laid, and it was evolving faster than Lin Yun could grasp. The foundation of the law of light had been laid too. He was already able to learn the law of light, but he only had the foundation, and it wouldn't be very helpful even if he grasped it.
Lin Yun didn't learn the law of light, because he was going to the Plane of the Undead. For the powerful undead creatures, even the slightest hint of the law of light would be found no matter how well it was hidden. No creatures in the Plane of the Undead liked light. They instinctively loathed it.
A living man with the scent of flesh and the power of light would be like a spotlight if he ever appeared in the Plane of the Undead. Countless undead creatures would attack him even if he just stood there. With any luck, it was possible that some sort of grand lord would be attracted to him.
Lin Yun walked out of the Natural Demiplane. The base hadn't been fully constructed yet, but the basic buildings had been completed. It wasn't easy for the Cave Gnomes to have a chance to construct. They were all crazy as if they had swallowed berserker potions.
They had never had enough materials in the underground world. Even if they had had them, they wouldn't have dared to build magical buildings easily.
In the Demiplane, they were processing and making parts. Most Cave Gnomes had never built anything complete in their entire life.
It was a test for them to build this base. After he came out, Lin Yun took a quick glance, and was lost for words.
Eight magical shields, four reverberation walls, deflection devices, auto recovery devices…
The base that was 10 kilometers long and wide had been built as a frontline fortress. It even had nine strongholds. It couldn't be better defended. The base could definitely resist level-5 Heaven Rank experts. Even a level-10 earthquake probably couldn't destroy this base.
With the terrifying protection devices, enemies below the Heaven Rank would all be killed. Even the experts in the Heaven Rank might be killed instantly in the range.
Did they have to try so hard on a base that might be abandoned anytime?
Lin Yun shook his head, and ignored the crazy Cave Gnomes. It was not bad that they were doing this as a practice. After all, it had been a long time since they built a massive magical building.
It was remarkable that the Cave Gnomes, who were no better than Archmages, were able to construct a magical building that could kill level-3 Heaven Rank experts. They probably would've occupied Noscent had it not been for their flaws.
As a matter of fact, every race would have a special flaw that corresponded with their talent. The more powerful their talent was, the more flawed they would be.
The elves were powerful, but had a high demand for mana. Dark elves, Blood Elves, and forest elves all had a huge demand for mana, which was their fatal weakness.
The dark elves were nearly annihilated because of mana. Having lost the Void Blood Pool, the Blood Elves would probably be enfeebled for a long time. Some of them might even get killed due to adaptation issues.
The forest elves were fastidious about the environment. They could only live and reproduce in the boundless forest.
Ordinary human beings didn't have any talent. Newborn human beings were like empty paper. They didn't have obvious advantages or disadvantages.
As it turned out, what mattered was the lack of disadvantages. Human beings were the final winners, even though they were not talented. Most of them were extremely weak. Individuals of other races, such as elves and orcs, were much stronger than them on average.
Unfortunately, it was human beings who dominated Noscent in the end.
Lin Yun shook his head, and dropped the irrelevant thoughts. He considered what he should do next.
Undead creatures could live in almost all environments because the said environments would be corrupted and become suitable for them after the Plane of the Undead invaded.
Next, Lin Yun had to prepare antidotes and upgrade the Book of Ten Thousand Mantras.
He took out the Book of Ten Thousand Mantras, and a gate that was dozens of meters tall opened in the sky. Lin Yun flew into the gate. Countless flames were burning with the power that could destroy anything.
Going forward in the world of flames, he appeared in the world of wind, and then the world of earth, where enormous gravity was everything. The more inward he went, the greater the gravity was.
The power of laws covered Lin Yun's skin. He entered the world of water from the center of the world of earth.
Hardly had he entered the world when he detected terrifying pressure. His Fusion Shield was reduced by half. Law runes were established one after another, providing the most solid defense.
The place was as deep and dark as the bottom of the sea. There was nothing but blue and black water that was flowing quietly.
Enormous pressure weighed on the Fusion Shield. A lot of mana was consumed every second, but that was not really the problem. The last thing that Lin Yun was short of was mana. The problem was that the pressure of this place was so great as if the entire world was on his shoulders. He could hardly move.
After a dozen minutes of adaptation, Lin Yun was finally able to move. He made use of the power of the law of water, and finally melted into this world.
He had thought that the world of spells would be one that was full of ice puppets. He didn't expect to see ordinary water.
Around him was nothing but the purest water made of water elements. But at this moment, the pure water almost suppressed and killed him.
Extraordinary power dispersed on Lin Yun's skin, and gradually melted into the water against the horrifying pressure. It formed a pure defense of laws outside the Fusion Shield.
Immediately, the pressure that had stopped him from moving was reduced by half. Slightly pushing the mana, Lin Yun moved in a certain direction while he was under the dual protection. The further he went, the greater the pressure became.
More importantly, unlike gravity, the pressure was coming from every direction. Also, as the pressure increased, the temperature was dropping.
After moving a dozen minutes, the environment had turned completely black, and the temperature was low enough to freeze anyone into ice.
The horrifying pressure and coldness, in such a place that was absolutely dark without a clear destination, weighed heavily on one's heart.
There were no spell puppets, just the extreme environment. After he moved for an hour, the ice elements were already turning abundant. The seawater became so sticky that it was hardly possible to proceed even with the extraordinary power.
No sound, no light, and no sign of the destination. Even Lin Yun felt agitated.
In particular, it was impossible to tell the directions in this place. Every direction was absolutely the same with identical pressure.
The only way to distinguish the direction was to go in the direction where the pressure was getting greater and greater.
After an entire day, Lin Yun stopped. He had lost his way during the boring trip. He forgot what light was. Even his senses became inert due to the plummeting temperature. He felt such pressure on his heart that he had to take a rest.
After swallowing a bottle of potion to restore his energy, Lin Yun gritted his teeth and moved on.
If he couldn't make it out of the world of water, he would be trapped here forever, and the only ending if he was trapped here would be being absorbed.
His mana, his soul, his everything would be absorbed and buried in the world of water.
After moving onward for a long time, the black water gradually turned blue. There was a layer of frost on his Fusion Shield. Terrifying power of ice was seeping in through the shield, causing ice and frost to appear on Lin Yun's eyebrows and hair. His mana and blood were circulating more and more slowly.
What appeared to be water around him was ice that had been squeezed into the tiniest pieces by the pressure. They were then compressed and transformed into what they looked like water.
The power of laws continued seeping. Behind Lin Yun, the illusion of an enormous Demiplane appeared, projecting the complete law of water, which formed a perfect defense that eliminated the leaking power of ice.
Lin Yun's slowed mind was completely restored. He looked at the still blue water around him. Ripples were spreading out, revealing the core of this world, which was a water ball whose color was constantly changing.
It was turning between blue and black continuously. Lin Yun took a breath, and left his mark on the water ball.
Instantly, Lin Yun felt that the whole world seemed to have changed. Light appeared in this world, and water was flowing. This was an enormous water ball, and he wasn't at the center of the ball at all, but very close to its edge.
After leaving the mark, Lin Yun finally understood.
If he moved in the direction that had greater pressure and lower temperature like before, he would never be able to approach the core of the world.
It was because the world was not as stable as it felt. Rather, the world was continuously moving. The water currents were flowing according to complicated rules. The core's location was changing all the time with the water currents.
It was never possible to approach the core without finding the rules in this enormous world.
To be continued