Mystical Journey

Garen looked at the duo a little longer, and that middle-aged scholar turned around to smile at him, his expression gentle and extremely amiable.

After waiting for a little longer, there were only ten people left in front of them in the line, but just then, a giant White Snake-Necked Dragon came flying from the distant sky. It had large meaty wings like a bat, and was completely white, its long and graceful snake-like neck occasionally making some clear and slightly hoarse roars.

There were five or six people sitting on the Snake-Necked Dragon, all dressed completely in black, wearing black metallic helmets on their heads, and overall looking very mysterious.

The Snake-Necked Dragon, more than ten meters long, landed on the ground, and automatically began to shrink with a whoosh, turning into a ball of white light that flew into the ring of the leader of the black helmets.

“Space Equipment!” gasped an Energy Machinist from inside the line.

Garen was shocked too.

Among the Mech pilots, only Inherited Level pilots could use Space Equipment. The standard was naturally high for Energy Machinists as well, unless you were a Level Five Energy Machinist, you could forget about using one of these. And even among the Level Five Energy Machinists, only the rich and powerful could afford one of these.

As soon as this group descended, they did not even line up, and walked straight towards the round pillar entrance.

“Are you trying to cut the line?!” roared an Energy Machinist in the line who had been intercepted.

“Scram!” One of the black-helmeted people glared, and an invisible force field immediately exploded, sending someone flying out from the line.

“This force field!” Garen’s eyes dilated slightly, this force field reminded him of the Mind Force Field that Level Two Predators used the most often, the two were extremely similar in quality!

“You guessed right, the formation of the Predators might have something to do with Energy Machinists…” said Sixth, talking to him through Willpower.

“Don’t tell me that the Predator Tide was because of Energy Machinists…” Garen guessed.

“A lot of people have that conjecture, but be it on the Mother Planet or the other galaxies around, Energy Machinists are the most powerful, this is not a world revolving around pilots. The pilots’ territory is near the edge of the war with the Finite people, there are too many elites and peak-level pilots there, or even Regent Level ones. This is the inner region, it has always been Energy Machinist territory. So even if people are guessing that they have been experimenting on radiation people, nobody is willing to provoke the Energy Machinists,” explained Sixth calmly.

“Are we Energy Machinists very powerful?” Garen was not very sure about how peak-level pilots looked at Energy Machinists, so he asked somewhat curiously.

“Very powerful?” Sixth shook his head. “You’re not very powerful, you’re extremely powerful! You guys made the Mother Planet radiation belt, and not just here, but the radiation belts on other planets and in other galaxies, they were all once experimental sites for you Energy Machinists. In recent years, especially, with the Regent Level pilots falling one after the other, the Energy Machinists have been developing with unstoppable momentum, and with no balance or restriction. They’ve been getting terrifyingly strong, and exceedingly brazen.

“Then why haven’t I seen many Energy Machinists before this?” Garen said with a frown.

“That’s simple, because this is the territory of the Academies Union, but it’s still only a small piece of land. Once you leave it, you’ll find that Energy Machinists are king, every merchant fleet has an Energy Machinist in charge. An Energy Machinist of the same level is equivalent to several pilots, and powerful pilots also need Energy Machinists to fix and maintain their Mechs. That’s why the position of Energy Machinists aren’t threatened at all, and instead, most of the pilots will even protect them for sure. This is reality,” replied Sixth calmly. “The strongest ones on the Mother Planet are the Level Ten Perpetual Motioners, and at least half of the Perpetual Motioners are closely related to the Energy Machinists, in fact sometimes they are Energy Machinists themselves.”

“Perpetual Motioners… Level Ten…”

It was Garen’s first time hearing about even higher levels among pilots.

“Be it pilots or Energy Machinists, after a certain level, they will reach the point where their fighting power is unaffected by numbers. And after we break past Level Five, and go through the Resonance stage, that’s Level Six. The so-called Level Seven is what we call the Non-falling level, this is a drastic and fundamental change. Non-falling means that, in a war, when these fighters appear, they practically will never fall. Their power is strong enough for them to just bulldoze through, if an army has just one of these level fighters, unless the opponent has a powerhouse of the same level, they’ll just have to retreat. Non-falling Levels are absolute powerhouses even among the Inherited Levels.

Sixth explained it to Garen patiently.

“Of course, you’re just merely Level Three now, all this is way too far away from you. Level Ten… Perpetual Motioners might even live up to a thousand years. They are one step away from Regent Level, and that’s practically a living legend, living history… You have to understand, Non-falling Levels are already kings of an area, with one hit, they can easily destroy the balance of a planet, or a huge battleship. The rest is too far away from us, so there’s no need to think about it.”

Garen was quiet inside. Undeniably, forget Regent Level, even the Non-falling Level was way past the highest point he had ever reached. The Non-falling Levels could boss their way through space, and had already surpassed the peak-level destructive power he had in the Totem World. It was common to destroy a large battleship or the balance of the planet with just one hit. So it seemed that the Ancient Endor civilization might actually lose to how scary this world is. In any case, they could not match this world in terms of pure destructive power.

“The Non-falling Levels can destroy the balance of nature, so won’t it be easy to destroy all life on a planet?” Garen asked.

“It’s very simple, but with Energy Machinists around, they can fix and maintain the balance. Stronger Energy Machinists can even repair a planet. Non-falling levels usually were not allowed to fight on the surface of the planet, so most people went into space. Alright, let’s talk about something, it doesn’t matter even if you know now, so just treat it as listening to a story.” Sixth smiled, the Non-falling level had always been his life’s dream, and it was once right in front of his eyes, but now there was no more hope left for it. Even if the kid in front of him now had that potential, he still did not know how much he would have to go through to make it possible. If he was lucky, he might be able to see a glimmer of hope after a hundred years. If he was unlucky, even if he lived several centuries, it might be decent for him to have even reached Inherited Level.

As you went higher up in levels, the harder it got, and the larger the gap between stages, it was beyond the imagination of normal people.

As they chatted, they were soon at the front of the line, with only one person left in front of them.

Psst!!

Suddenly, a long crimson arc shot out from behind them.

“Sixth, where are you trying to go? You left on your own without telling your Big Brother, did I do something to offend you?”

An icy cold voice full of killing intent echoed through the sky.

Sixth’s and Garen’s expression changed drastically, and they turned around to see that long crimson arc headed straight for the three of them.

“He actually chased us all the way here!”

“Is that your enemy?” The fatty in front of them turned around and saw the long crimson arc as well, his gaze looking shocked. “Well I’ll be, it’s the Divine Wind General… An Inherited Level powerhouse, you boys sure know how to get in trouble!” His eyes turned, and he made way to the left.

“Hurry, you first! This is a matter of life-and-death, it is!”

“Go!!”

Garen blanked out for a second, but then he immediately picked up Sixth with one hand and Sinno with the other, rushing towards the pillar ahead without another word.

“Thanks, friend!” Garen quickly tossed him those words. “I’ll be waiting for you on the inside!”

“No problem! I’ve made friends with the five biggest troublemakers so far, and they’re all talents! Haha!” Strangely, the fatty patted his round belly, and laughed in a frank way. “You, brother, are the sixth!”

When Garen heard the last bit, he felt slightly exasperated too. He was lucky to have met such a wonderfully weird one, otherwise it would not be so easy, he would surely get into a fight if he tried to cut the line.

The fatty watched Garen and the others rush into the pillar, his eyeballs turning everywhere.

“Hehe, he dares to provoke a Level Six powerhouse even though he’s only Level Three, that guy must surely be a talent as well. If those boys and girls got together, then that would be really fun, they’re all troublemakers, and they’re all dastardly characters. With such a long line of enemies lining up behind them, they’re all people with big and powerful people out for their blood.”

“What do you mean by calling us characters, that sounds awful. We’re prodigies, prodigies, you hear me!?” A small and slender hand appeared at his waist, it was the pretty young girl that had always been on his left who had reached out and pinched his waist hard. She had also disguised herself as a Follower to escape with the fatty.

“Yes yes yes, prodigy, prodigy! You are the most dazzling prodigy in the Mother Planet, no, the whole galaxy! Beautiful, majestic, unrivaled, even your fart can kill off the best of the elites just by how good it smells!! No one else can, I mean, they don’t have the right to be mentioned in the same breath as you…” The fatty hurriedly flattered her against his will.

“You sure got a sweet mouth on you, but I like it.” The girl pulled her hand back. “You said it so well, does that mean you want to smell my fart?”

“Urk…” The fatty was shocked too, he did not think this girl would have no sense of shame at all.

“What? Are you telling me everything you said just now was fake?” The girl laughed coldly.

“I wouldn’t dare… I… I…” The fatty began to sweat, even if the lady was a beauty, that was still a fart! Who the heck would be willing to smell someone else’s fart? But he knew that this lady was never one to go back on her word, if she said she could do it then she would. What if…

“Are you trying to run!!”

All of a sudden, the Fourth Divine Wind General behind them yelled unabashedly, his Mech running straight for the green pillar. Inside the cockpit, his eyes were cold.

“Do you think I can’t get to you just because you went into the Teleportation Pillar?”

“Damn you! Who the heck do you think you are!! You dare interrupt me just when I’m building up the mood here, do you have a death wish!” The fatty turned around decisively and swore, changing the topic.

The Divine Wind General could not be bothered to reply, the Mech pulled out a long sword from mid-air, and directly swung it at the fatty. There was roiling black smoke on the blade, just a touch, and unless you had an Inherited Level defense protecting you, the only fate awaiting you was instant death.

“This is the Energy Machinists’ Moving Castle! It’s not your Black Flood Party’s backyard, Fourth Divine Wind General.” An old, white-haired woman appeared out of nowhere behind the fatty, and she stuck out her tongue, her bright red tongue instantly lengthening and shooting out like a sharp sword. It morphed into a metallic thorn, which crashed into the Divine Wind General’s long sword together with an immense Inherited Level force.

Bam!

The sword and the tongue collided, the blade swerving and losing its mark before it was pulled back into its sheath by Divine Wind General, as fast as lightning. At his level, he did not hesitate at all in attacking or retreating, and his every movement was as smooth as water.

“Inherited Level modification?” said the Fourth Wind General coldly.

The old woman was hunched over, looking so weak it was like she already had one foot in the grave. She stood in front of the fatty protectively, not saying a word, and just took out a small and delicate pale golden insignia, showing it off. It was like a pale golden patterned badge, hexagonal in shape.

When the Fourth Divine Wind General saw this badge, his expression changed slightly as well.

“Sir…” His two trusted aides behind him also saw it, and the smarter one reminded him softly.

“I know!” Fourth nodded slightly. “Sixth is useless now, he won’t be able to recover without more than ten years rest, so it does not really matter to the bigger picture if we kill him now or not. With a powerhouse from that family protecting him… I bet the Boss won’t blame me either.”

“A wise decision, my lord.”

Fourth narrowed his eyes, and was silent for a moment. He locked gazes with the old woman for a while, and even through the cockpit, it was as though he could sense that terrifying bloodlust, like a wild beast or a flood, hidden under her seemingly old and weak exterior.

Although she should be slightly weaker than him, it was still not worth it to offend that faction of power for someone like Sixth, who did not affect the bigger picture.

“Let’s go!!”

He turned around without another word, leading the two of them away quickly, turning into a long arc again and vanishing into the distant sky.

Inside the pillar, Garen and Sixth finally heaved a slight sigh of relief. They knew that this time, they were probably safe for real now.