Chapter 616: Descent of Thought

Ace’s True God-level projection did not crash directly into the crystal wall. This was because the True Name World, where a large and a small world rotated around each other, had many sub-planes and demi-planes scattered around it, and emitted bizarre fluctuations.

“Very vigilant. Or rather, such a naturally evolved societal structure guarantees that every sub-plane and demi-plane radiates a kind of wavelength. If I barge in rashly, I will very likely be discovered. There are twenty-six Lords of Time here, equivalent to Main Gods. I cannot take the risk of giving myself away for nothing.”

Ace’s True God projection couldn’t stay long in the Astral Plane void either. Maintaining such a large target directly was also too conspicuous. Looking around, Ace gradually formed an idea.

His figure gradually dissipated, transforming into an Astral Plane shed skin located quite far from the two worlds—that is, the so-called remains left after a world dies.

It was precisely by continuously scavenging such remains, and then conquering and annexing other worlds brimming with vitality, that the Wizard World grew into the Wizard Multiverse of today in the lower Astral Plane layer.

This shed skin was about a thousand standard distances away from the binary world system of the True Name World. This distance was just right: not easily discovered, while also allowing Him to spy on the changes in the True Name World.

After about two months, Ace discovered some signs.

“Just like what I did in the Level 2 Astral Plane layer, the True Name World in this layer also ‘scavenges.’ A large number of demi-planes frequently drift out alone, sweeping away the shed skins located further away. If this ‘shed skin’ of mine wasn’t too small, they probably would have come to pick it up too.

“If I attach the thought clone directly to that shed skin, whose diameter is equivalent to one-fifth of a standard unit, I should be able to enter the True Name World without causing any anomalies.”

That piece of shed skin looked very irregular, its surface covered in potholes. Ace’s projection squeezed the dream crystal in His hand hard. It turned into dream mist and seeped into the shed skin just like that. Without lingering, Ace’s projection continued to disguise itself as a small shed skin and accelerated away from the True Name World.

Less than half a month later, the demi-plane of a Pseudonymous One rapidly approached this shed skin. His demi-plane was very peculiar: the crystal wall actually split open directly like mouthparts, swallowed this shed skin whole, and even anthropomorphically swallowed its saliva.

“What a bountiful harvest. As long as I send this piece back inside the world, the Endless Void Sea at the edge of the continent will have one more large island. And as the creator of this island, my believers will directly obtain the colonial rights to this otherworld island. I hope it can be completed as soon as possible.”

Deep within this shed skin, a dream-like crystal flashed slightly.

Three months later, the New Aberdovey Island.

Thirteen two-masted sailboats approached this newly born island. One of the sailboats neared a natural harbor, and a long wooden ladder extended from the sailboat to the land.

Several strong and robust crew members dropped the extremely heavy iron anchor to secure it.

A group of blonde, blue-eyed adventurers walked down from the ship. The leader was a woman with a hot figure. Her wavy blonde hair was tied into a single ponytail. She wore very few clothes, exposing her navel, looking very charming.

“There is no mistake. This is the Place of Divine Revelation. The great Mentor Aberdovey gave me a revelation in my dream, exactly the same as this place.”

The hot-figured woman’s azure eyes suddenly turned bright white, and her entire body trembled slightly. The male adventurers behind her involuntarily gulped.

“Honored First Apostle Sylvia, what did you see?”

A male adventurer behind the woman stepped forward and asked respectfully.

The hot woman lost her previous sexiness and became extremely holy. She whispered, almost murmuring: “Mentor Aberdovey’s holy edict: all believers gather at the coast, walk through the woodland. Upon the high rocks, wearing yellow robes, ignite the Lamp of the Heart.”

Hearing the woman’s words, everyone murmured respectfully with reverent expressions: “We strictly follow the guidance of the great Mentor Aberdovey. You are the Apostle of the Watchman, the Guide of the Heart Lamp.”

The two-masted sailboats docked one after another, and all the people disembarked. A total of two thousand one hundred and thirty-one people from the thirteen ships all followed the hot-figured Sylvia, donned the yellow robes symbolizing the Faith of the Lamp, and walked forward barefoot.

As if a lamp was truly guiding them, the Heart Lamps of the crowd gradually converged into a dazzling giant lamp. They successfully passed through the woodland and arrived at a stretch of high rocks.

This was high rocks, and also a steep cliff. The crowd knelt piously here facing the waves. Sylvia, draped in a yellow robe, raised her hands high.

“Life is a bundle of pure flame; we all possess an invisible sun within our hearts.

“The Lords of Time each have their colors, but colors only exist where there is light.

“…”

As the believers recited the prayers, the Heart Lamps were ignited one by one. The sun gradually set in the west. It was night, and the Heart Lamps converged here, actually making one feel it was exceptionally brilliant.

“We follow the Watchman, guarding the bright lamp in the pitch black. Burning my body, glorifying my soul. May the Mentor bestow upon us true names, sharing the glory of our Lamp.”

The flames burned, and the lamps erupted with extremely bright light one by one, actually enveloping this entire civilized desert, this densely jungled island.

The next day, only Sylvia and a little over a hundred people wearing yellow robes remained, surrounded entirely by ashes.

“They have already followed the great Mentor Aberdovey to Paradise to serve His Majesty the Watchman. Thanks to them, we were able to drive away the mist and ominousness of this island. Erect a monument here.

“Always remember them.”

Another month passed, and forty-two two-masted sailboats arrived with over ten thousand immigrants. They would establish a brand-new colonial stronghold here. The New Aberdovey Island was rich in beautiful gemstones, timber, and animal pelts. The coming and going trade fleets gradually increased, and a brand-new small city also arose at the harbor.

Deep within the island, the dream crystal containing Ace’s thought clone was lying quietly here. This crystal suddenly moved, actually floating up, transforming into dream mist and diffusing, seeping through the geological layers, drifting to a river on the surface, turning into a somewhat cloudy ruby, and quietly lying on the pebble shoal.

“Upstream of this nameless river is a gem mine. From time to time, some finely broken gems from upstream will fall into the river and flow downstream. We’ll try our luck today.”

“The possibility of picking up gems is very small. If there were really gems here often, the locals would have guarded this place long ago. It wouldn’t be our turn.”

“If you ask me, we should still go to the forest in the north to look around. There are indeed many fierce beasts there, but they are all unseen varieties; their pelts are very popular.”

Three young men walked and talked. They were all dressed as adventurers, carrying longbows on their backs and slightly worn short swords at their waists.

Walking in the middle was a young man with freckles on his face, a round bronze shield strapped to his right arm.

He tapped his bronze shield with his short sword and said: “This shield of mine is made of ironwood inlaid with copper skin. It’s much better than ordinary bronze shields. With me guarding the front, you guys can relax. Stop looking for any gems around here; it’s fundamentally impossi…”

Before he could finish, he stepped on the pebble shoal in the water, his foot slipped, and he tumbled directly into the water.

Fortunately, the water wasn’t deep, barely reaching his knees. Sitting in the water, he grabbed something at random and stood up.

Unluckily falling into the water, the bronze shield youth was very angry. Just as he was about to throw the pebble he had casually grabbed, his eyes suddenly lit up: a somewhat cloudy but very intact ruby.

He immediately took advantage of the other two not paying attention to stuff this ruby into his pants pocket. Then he forcefully threw away the other pebbles. His heart pounded rapidly, but he muttered: “What kind of gem river is this? So unlucky.”

“Clyster, are you okay? Since we’re already here, let’s just look around. What if there really are gems here? The three of us splitting it equally, wouldn’t we all make a small fortune?”

Another young adventurer, wearing a tattered leather hat, tried hard to persuade him.

Clyster, who had just picked up a gem, muttered in his heart: My gem is a revelation from Mentor Aberdovey. Such a ruby, a quarter the size of a palm, although cloudy, is intact. It can definitely be sold for a lot of money.

As long as I take it back to my hometown, my family can move into a villa in Hall City.

His heart pounded. On the surface, he said extremely unwillingly: “I don’t think it’s possible there are any gems. But since you want to, who asked us to be good friends? Hunting can wait for another day. Today, let’s see if we can be lucky enough to find gems here.”

Seeing that both of them decided to look for gems, the other youth, although feeling it was unreliable, also had to agree.

“Then I’ll accompany you guys. It’s just that I think the chance of finding gems might be too small, and the danger of hunting is too great. Actually, there’s another pretty good livelihood on New Aberdovey Island, which is gathering medicinal herbs.”

He bent down to observe the clear river while turning his head to say to the two: “You know I once served as an apprentice to a pharmacist in Hall City for a while. I still know which medicinal herbs are relatively expensive.

“If the few of us go gather medicinal herbs, dry them, and take them back to the kingdom, we can absolutely make money.”

“That works too. If we can’t find gems today, we’ll go gather medicinal herbs together tomorrow. We worked hard as sailors to come here; we can’t come for nothing.”

Clyster, wearing the round shield, answered casually.

Although the three of them dressed as adventurers, they weren’t actually proper adventurers. They couldn’t make a living in their hometown and could only go to sea to eke out a bitter livelihood as sailors.

They were all youths who had walked out from a remote small village near Hall City, coming to the famous port of Hall City to work as trackers. They all carried beautiful dreams, wanting to make a mark in Hall City, but reality was too cruel.

Without education and without family backing, possessing nothing but brute strength, they could only rely on selling their strength to survive in the bustling and fish-smelling Hall City.

The young man who had been a pharmacist’s apprentice was named John. He had more ideas than the other two. He didn’t spend the money earned from pulling towropes on drinking and squandering, but enrolled in a literacy class, swallowed the knowledge whole, and learned the basics, becoming literate.

Once a person becomes literate, even if only very superficially, the room for upward mobility opens up. He luckily became an apprentice to a pharmacist, studying under him for half a year.

But John was also very unlucky. The pharmacist made a mistake in preparing medicine and poisoned someone to death. The pharmacist was taken away, and the pharmacy closed down.

The desperate John happened to meet his former fellow trackers, Clyster and Gale. In the end, they decided to go to sea together to make a living. You have to know, a sailor’s salary for going to sea once is thirty silver coins, while pulling towropes for a year is only ten silver coins.

As a sailor, the silver coins given by the captain aren’t the bulk of it. The truly wealthy sailors are all people who can bring contraband.

This behavior was an almost public unwritten rule of the industry. Every captain allowed the sailors to put contraband under their beds, as long as they could fit it in.

After searching all day until sunset, Clyster didn’t find another gem, and the other two also found nothing.

Clyster casually stuffed his hands into his pants pockets and said dejectedly: “It seems there really aren’t any gems. We should still follow John’s plan tomorrow and go gather some medicinal herbs together. At least we can stably make some money.”

Gale also had to admit that his idea was very unreliable. “Tomorrow we will go gather medicinal herbs together. None of us come from hunter backgrounds. Hunting rashly will very likely not get us any precious pelts, and we might instead become a beast’s meal.”

Returning to the ship, casually wolfing down a few mouthfuls of black bread and taking a big gulp of cold boiled water, Clyster used the excuse of being tired and sleepy to return to the lower-class cabin to sleep first.

Here, one cabin could sleep eight people; it was very crowded, and they were bunk beds.

Actually, the contraband every sailor could bring was just half the space under a bed. If they were experienced sailors, the treatment would be much better. They lived in ordinary cabins, four people to a room, and everyone had a separate under-bed space.

Clyster came back very early. Most of the sailors were eating, or drinking in the taverns onshore, hugging women in the alleys. As everyone knows, although a sailor’s income is high, they can never save money. Women and alcohol are the biggest money sinks.

Clyster looked left and right, felt every bed to confirm no one was there, climbed into his upper bunk, slipped under the covers, took out the somewhat cloudy ruby from his pocket, and looked at it carefully for a while. Only then did he roll over, search at the head of the bed for a while, and tightly wrapped the ruby in a piece of rag.

He thought it over again and again, tore off a piece of string, tied the cloth bundle tightly, and then hung it around his neck. With the gem pressed closely against his chest, he finally fell into a beautiful sleep.

The next day, the sky was hazy.

“Clyster! Clyster! Hurry up and get up!”

“What’s wrong?”

Waking up groggily, Clyster looked at Gale and John below, asking somewhat dazedly.

The two made a shushing gesture. John lowered his voice, afraid of waking others.

“Going to gather herbs, the earlier the better. I inquired about everything last night.”

Clyster actually felt he didn’t need to gather herbs anymore. Just this cloudy ruby, the size of an egg, was enough for him to buy a manor in the suburbs of Hall City and live the life of a truly rich man from then on.

If he wanted to be a bit more adventurous, buying two or three ships and setting up his own fleet to trade wasn’t out of the question either.

But on second thought, he couldn’t expose himself now, couldn’t act abnormally. Even how to unload this egg-sized ruby after going back required careful consideration.

Clyster rolled over and climbed up, walked down from the bed with a thump thump thump, rubbed his head, and said: “I slept so much I’m confused. Let’s go right now.”

John crawled under the bed, pulled out three baskets and small hoes, and said in a low voice: “These are the tools I bought yesterday. One set for fifty copper coins. Let’s make it clear first: if we can make money gathering herbs, you guys have to pay me back for the tools.”

(Chapter finished)

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