Ch. 309 - The Gate of Truth (1)

The starship was still far from Titania, but it appeared as if it was right in front of them.

At first glance, it looked like a fallen scepter. Its body was the same color as the void, dotted with countless energy nodes glowing with etheric light.

The front of the ship featured a massive and terrifying ram, followed by a sphere. Attached to it was a smooth body, then a larger cylinder, and behind that, a conical section.

In the middle of the ship were three ring-like structures---two small and one large. This was the energy center. Etheric chains shot out from the exhaust ports, some interlinking. The immense energy within them surged wildly, and Adam felt that even a small burst could destroy him a thousand times over.

The part behind the rings mirrored the front, except the tail wasn't a ram but six gigantic star-shaped tetrahedrons. These rotated along a hexagram path, resonating with the etheric chains from the central ring section. They gathered energy and released it, forming a protective layer around the entire starship.

Adam had never seen anything like this before. Regular starships, made by transforming mage towers, were already astonishing. But this one didn't even look like something a mage should own; it seemed more like a product of unimaginable technology.

"Is that the Seventh Tower?" Adam asked Frank.

"It's one of the auxiliary towers of the Seventh Tower, the personal vessel of His Holiness Maxis, the Gate of Truth!"

"His Holiness Maxis is inside? I can't believe it---I actually have the honor of going to battle with the Great Archmage!"

Frank trembled with excitement. This starship was the dream vehicle of every alchemist.

Normally, Frank could only look up to it, never imagining that one day he'd see it with his own eyes, let alone board it.

"One of the auxiliary towers? So, the Seventh Tower has more than one Great Archmage?" Adam asked curiously.

"Of course! The Tower has four in total, with His Holiness Maxis as the leader." Frank gave Adam a strange look. "You didn't know?"

Before Adam could respond, Frank answered his own question. "Oh, no wonder. You probably spend all your time in the lab."

As one of Adam's earliest followers, Frank knew Adam's habits well. Once he started researching, he wouldn't pay attention to the outside world.

Adam realized he lacked a lot of basic knowledge. He decided that after returning to the Mage World, he would get out more. It would be embarrassing to not even know how many Great Archmages the Mage World had when he advanced to transcendent.

If the Towers were ranked by the order in which mages ascended to Great Archmage status, then the Fifth Tower, which ranked higher than the Seventh Tower, should have even more Great Archmages.

Adam's thoughts were interrupted by a scene in the void.

The Gate of Truth emerged from the rift, but the rift didn't close. Following it were fifty warships. As soon as they entered the void, they accelerated and formed a tight formation around the Gate of Truth, closely following to provide protection.

During this time, Adam learned that the warships directly belonged to the Seventh Tower and were piloted by level-eight transdimensional mages. This meant that at least fifty-six level-eight transdimensional mages were part of the expedition.

But that wasn't all. After the fifty warships, over two hundred various starships followed. These must have been the transdimensional mages from other Towers who had joined the allied legion, as Arnold had mentioned.

"What a spectacular sight!" Garfield, who hadn't shown up in a while, appeared in front of Adam and murmured as he gazed at the sky.

It truly was a magnificent scene. Such a massive fleet moved through the void without causing any spatial disturbances.

Apart from the energy needed for propulsion, all other disruptions were fully contained. The only visible sign of their passage was the streams of ether forming countless ribbons in the dark void.

Adam understood how difficult it was to achieve this. It showed that the Seventh Tower's technology had reached a level where not a single bit of energy was wasted.

At that moment, a message from the Mage Network appeared in the minds of all the mages:

"The Gate of Truth will soon reach the designated docking coordinates. All units prepare for impact. Mages below level three, enter the magic array for protection."

A minute after the message was delivered, the Gate of Truth's ram collided with Titania's Crystal Sphere. The Crystal Sphere shattered like glass.

Numerous chains extended from various parts of the ship, with large spatial anchors at their ends. Some of these anchors embedded themselves in designated points on the plane, splitting the continent into fragments, while others pierced through into the Origin space, anchoring in front of Titania's Origin.

The Gate of Truth used the entire plane as a port, but even then, it could only accommodate one-third of its length.

Pure ether flowed down the chains into Titania's depths, entering the Origin space. The influx of energy caused storms to form, with tornadoes stretching from the sky to the ground. The unleashed energy easily destroyed mountains, but the violent collision of continental plates instantly created new ones.

Titania's Origin also entered the plane. Although it was enormous, in front of the Gate of Truth, it looked like a small ball, its light completely overshadowed.

A beam of energy shot from the ram and connected with the Origin, causing it to tremble slightly, yet it did not resist at all.

Adam had no doubt that if the Gate of Truth exerted just a little more force, Titania would be torn apart.

He once again felt the overwhelming power of the Great Archmage---if his vessel was this powerful, what kind of force would he wield in person?

At that moment, Adam even felt a surge of confidence, wondering if the mages could truly have any worthy enemies.

...

After the impact subsided, a series of dimensional hubs flew out from the Gate of Truth. They connected with the existing ones and docked with the ship, completely isolating Titania.

"Plane Sacrifice Array deployment successful. The sacrifice will be completed in five days, conducted by Maxis the Great Archmage."

"Mages participating in the initial battle should organize their belongings within five days. Those interested in joining the war against the devourer Dilus must register before the deadline."

Naturally, Adam chose to stay. He was very interested in the upcoming real void war. Even though his strength wouldn't allow him to enter the high-level battlefield, as Ayesha had mentioned, it was good to get some early exposure.

He traded all the resources he had collected, including a large quantity of Mother Lode, Dilus captives, and the ninth-generation conversion fungi he had developed.

After keeping a few samples, he exchanged the rest with mages who chose to return, obtaining a massive amount of ether crystals.

Then, before the deadline, he boarded the Gate of Truth to register for the upcoming battle.

This chapter is broken. Please report this on discord.

Notes

I changed the term "crystal barrier" into "Crystal Sphere" because that's the term used in DND.

Ch. 309 - The Gate of Truth (1)

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