It seemed that no more concrete information could be gleaned from the sirens. Sunan felt a bit disappointed.
The only valuable takeaway was confirming that their so-called deity wasn't a true god.
In fact, the entity's manipulation of the sirens resembled more the work of a wizard.
That being said, Sunan wasn't overly concerned.
With the sirens having surrendered, the deep-sea Nagas would soon fall to the Star Alliance's might.
At that point, most of the Hearts of the Sea would be under the Star Alliance's control.
If the mysterious figure desired a significant quantity of these Hearts, they would inevitably have to engage with the Star Alliance again.
Having extracted what he could from the conversation, Sunan lost interest in continuing. He reassured Aida with a few words before having her sent back to Rainbow Bay.
The Star Alliance could establish a base in the Rainbow Sea, but to truly control the vast waters, they would ultimately need the cooperation of the marine tribes.
In the Star Alliance's future maritime development plans, the sirens' role would be crucial.
Once Aida had departed, Sunan flipped his wrist, and a bright pearl appeared in his palm.
This was the Sun-Melting Pearl, also the key to locating Falling Star City.
According to Farkado, the day for Falling Star City's appearance was about a month away.
Following its usual pattern, the city would exist for three months before disappearing again.
In other words, Sunan had three months to locate Falling Star City.
Based on Farkado's comments about the difficulty of finding it, Sunan had some theories, but he needed to see the situation for himself.
A month passed quickly.
Sunan arrived early in Coral City within the Rainbow Sea, waiting.
The moment the Sun-Melting Pearl reacted, he sensed it immediately.
"Southwest direction."
Sunan immediately soared into the sky, streaking toward the southwest.
He covered the 300-kilometer distance swiftly, finally stopping above a calm sea area.
"Is it here?"
Sunan took out the Sun-Melting Pearl to verify that the key pointed to this spot.
However, gazing at the endless, empty sea, there was no sign of Falling Star City—no birds, nothing.
Frowning, Sunan manipulated energy particles to form a protective layer around himself and dove beneath the surface to search the seabed.
About half an hour later, Sunan broke through the water, hovering back in the sky, a deep frown on his face.
He had searched every corner of the surrounding ten kilometers of ocean but still found no trace of Falling Star City.
"Unless the Sun-Melting Pearl's guidance is flawed, Falling Star City must be hidden here."
Considering he might have missed something searching alone, Sunan returned to Coral City, ordering the First Fleet and the sirens to search the area together.
To his disappointment, after three days of thorough searches, they found nothing.
"Master, that sea area is only 70 to 80 kilometers from Azure Eye. My people often fish and hunt there, and we've never seen a city in hundreds of years."
After questioning Aida, Sunan received this response.
Though they found nothing, this confirmed one thing—that the challenge of locating Falling Star City wasn't due to the vastness of the sea but rather some other reason.
Perhaps a magical illusion concealed its presence.
Realizing this, Sunan encountered a new dilemma.
He had means to break illusions, such as casting the [Secret Eye] spell or using magical items designed to pierce illusions.
However, both methods were too slow for searching such a wide area. Three months might not be enough to inspect every corner thoroughly.
"Is there a better way?"
Pondering for a moment, Sunan suddenly remembered something and slapped his forehead.
"How could I forget about that!"
He returned to Dragon Forest, found Amy resting atop Dragon Skeleton Tower, and brought her to the Rainbow Sea.
The poor little creature had been dreaming of being surrounded by icy mint, blissfully enjoying it, when a sea breeze rudely awakened her. She opened her eyes to find herself in Sunan's grip, above a vast ocean.
"Meow, Sunan, why did you bring me here?"
"Amy, I need your help."
Sunan halted, floating above the sea area marked by the Sun-Melting Pearl.
Pointing to the shimmering surface below, he asked, "Can you sense any distinct energy fluctuations around here?"
An illusion array would inevitably produce energy fluctuations if active.
While Sunan struggled to detect faint energy fluctuations amidst the vast ocean, Amy could.
Her ability to sense energy particles surpassed even formal wizards.
"Energy fluctuations? What are you looking for, meow?"
"Falling Star City."
"One of the three great wizard legacies, Falling Star City? Meow, I've heard of that!"
Hearing they were searching for Falling Star City, Amy perked up, scrambling onto Sunan's shoulder and starting to sense the surrounding energy fluctuations.
"Meow, there aren't any nearby."
Sunan nodded, beginning a slow flight around the area, moving from outer to inner circles, leaving no section unchecked.
Ten minutes later, Amy suddenly called out.
"It's right here, beneath the sea, meow!"
Sunan's spirits lifted. He expanded his energy shield to envelop Amy, then dove into the water.
"I sense energy fluctuations, a bit deeper," Amy said crisply.
Sunan produced a gem, transforming it into a basketball-sized orb of orange-red light that hovered above him.
[Light Spell]
The most basic zero-circle spell, its effect greatly enhanced when cast by a formal wizard, illuminating a hundred-meter radius as if it were daylight.
After descending over 300 meters, Amy finally spoke, pointing ahead.
"It's right here, meow."
Sunan maneuvered the orange-red light orb forward, its glow revealing every detail of the dark ocean floor. Yet, apart from some rocks, there was nothing else.
"How strange, meow. I definitely sensed energy particle fluctuations."
Amy pressed her fluffy paws against her head, puzzled.
"It's probably concealed by an illusion."
Sunan cast [Secret Eye].
This third-circle spell allowed him to perceive magical auras. While it couldn't directly break illusions like [True Sight], it could locate objects with energy particle fluctuations.
As a faint blue light flickered in Sunan's eyes, a vague door appeared in his vision.
"Found it!"
A smile of delight appeared on Sunan's face.
The door stood two meters tall and about a meter wide, just large enough for two people to pass through side by side.
Trying to find such a small door in the vast, dark sea using [Secret Eye] would have taken ages.
Without hesitation, silvery liquid metal surged from Sunan's body, forming a two-meter-long spike, its tip gleaming with cold light, and shot forth like a projectile, striking the door!
In the silent deep sea, a visible shockwave rippled out from the impact point.
The ocean seemed to shudder, the ground around the impact instantly sinking into a crater over five meters deep and a hundred meters in diameter.
Nearby rocks shattered and dissolved, turning the water murky.
In an instant, it was as if a massive explosion had occurred within hundreds of meters of ocean, taking a long time to settle.
But Sunan and Amy had vanished.
As the silver spike breached the door, Sunan had already taken Amy through it into the space beyond.
There, he beheld a city of white jade.
The city sat quietly atop a massive inverted black conical mountain, rotating slowly clockwise. At its center stood a towering spiral structure, piercing the sky like a sharp needle, overseeing the entire city.
In the [Secret Eye]'s view, thousands of radiant enchanted runes flowed like water droplets from the spiral tower's peak, converging into seven long, radiant ribbons, encircling and enveloping the city.
"This is Falling Star City? How magnificent, meow!" Amy's eyes widened, staring at the city.
Sunan was equally astonished.
Judging by appearances, Falling Star City far surpassed the Starry Tower and the Black Forest.
It even resembled a floating city.
However, Sunan knew the resemblance was only superficial; a true floating city would be much larger.
Regardless, he had found Falling Star City!
Suppressing his excitement, Sunan flew into the city.
Every structure was built of white jade, exuding immense beauty.
Sunan casually broke off a piece of stone from a roadside flowerbed, examining it closely to find it was indeed white jade.
"A city entirely built of white jade..."
Sunan couldn't help but take a deep breath.
Besides the word "extravagant," he couldn't think of anything else to describe it.
Even when constructing a wizard tower, only a few places like the spell practice room and laboratory required white jade.
Yet, many buildings in Falling Star City appeared residential, constructed with precious white jade—utterly extravagant!
"So much white jade... enough to build a large wizard tower."
Sunan decided that after exploring Falling Star City, he would dismantle the structures and reclaim all the white jade for upgrading his wizard tower in the future.
Navigating through streets and alleys, Sunan and Amy soon arrived at the base of the central spiral tower.
Amy curiously approached, reaching out to touch the colorful bands of enchanted runes, her paw passing through them.
"Meow, it's so cool!" The little creature played gleefully.
"Enough playing; let's get to business."
Sunan picked up Amy, placing her back on his shoulder, and walked toward the tower's entrance.
As he neared the door, the seven colorful bands reacted. Dozens of dazzling enchanted runes detached, falling like stars toward Sunan.
Sunan raised an eyebrow, calmly directing liquid metal to intercept the runes.
Colliding mid-air, both the enchanted runes and liquid metal vanished in mutual annihilation.
Having blocked all the runes, the liquid metal had shrunk by about a third.
"Annihilation runes, huh."
Sunan's eyes gleamed.
Seeing more runes detaching to fall, he wasted no time, directing the liquid metal to block them as he quickly entered the door with Amy.
The moment he stepped inside, the runes hesitated, then drifted back, rejoining the colorful bands, flowing quietly as if nothing had happened.
With the danger passed, Sunan remained vigilant.
Having encountered no resistance traversing the city, he had assumed Falling Star City lacked energy, its defensive measures inactive. But now it seemed the defenses were limited to the spiral tower.
There might be more attacks ahead.
Beyond the door lay a long, spiraling staircase, winding upward into seeming infinity.
Raising his alertness, Sunan began ascending.
Silence enveloped them, only Sunan's footsteps echoing softly.
The air felt cold, and the silent atmosphere made Amy cling tightly to Sunan's neck in fear.
After an indeterminate time, Sunan stopped, looking upward.
Still, the endless spiral staircase.
"How long is this staircase? We've been walking forever, meow!" Amy's large eyes were filled with confusion.
Sunan squinted, smiling wryly, "The staircase isn't long; someone just doesn't want us to reach the top."
As he spoke, a torrent of liquid metal surged from Sunan, crashing outward like a flood.
Crack!
A sound of something shattering echoed through the void.
Amy blinked, seeing the same spiral staircase, now no longer endless, with the ceiling visible above.
"An illusion, meow?"
Sunan didn't explain, simply smiling as he continued upward.
Reaching the final step, the duo entered an opulent hall of immense proportions.
Its size was at least four to five square kilometers.
The hall was empty, save for two half-person-high stone pillars standing at its farthest end, something resting atop them, obscured by a halo.
"It must be treasure, meow!"
Amy leaped down, ready to dash toward the pillars, but Sunan grabbed her by the scruff and set her back.
"You know you can teleport, but don't run around recklessly in a place like this."
Sunan flicked Amy's forehead, then pointed ahead.
Rubbing her forehead, Amy looked and finally noticed a patch of mud not far from the pillars.
Wait!
Why was there mud in this luxurious hall?
As Amy watched in shock, a round object slowly emerged from the mud, starting the size of a pot lid, then rapidly expanding. By the time it fully revealed itself, it was nearly the size of half a basketball court.
This was a massive creature.
Its skin was an odd pink-blue, adorned with dark green patterns. Four small eyes lined up vertically, and dozens of black tentacles connected to its body, contrasting sharply with its skin, creating a bizarre and comical appearance.
Yet its terrifying size was no laughing matter.
"An octopus?" Amy gaped.
The creature indeed resembled an octopus, but no ordinary octopus had four eyes or dozens of tentacles.
"That's a puppet," Sunan said.
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