Defiance of the Fall

Chapter 872: Waystation

Zac ignored the second-string captain’s unlucky wording as he inspected the edge of the Mystic Realm. It looked a bit like the opalescent film they had passed to enter this realm, but it somehow seemed far more solid and gave no hint of what was on the other side. It was the dimensional bubble that, in theory, kept this realm apart from the Main Universe.In a normal Mystic Realm, this kind of barrier was extremely sturdy, and pushing through it was much harder than phasing between dimensions with a Cosmic Vessel. It contained extremely powerful Spatial Energies that would rip most people apart if they tried. It was half of the reason Mystic Realms were so difficult to invade, with the other half being the difficulty of actually locating them in the Void, with distances and directions working differently there.

Here in the Void Star, those rules were far more malleable, but they still couldn't just pass through these inner walls with the help of a talisman. They needed to open a gate, which was why the waystations had been erected. Zac curiously followed the templars into a hidden cave protected by multiple layers of still-working arrays.

They went deeper and deeper into the depths of the Mystic Realm, but thanks to the illumination arrays and generous dimensions, the tunnel didn’t feel oppressive at all. Eventually, they reached a large cave that would be able to house thousands of people if they squeezed together. Now, it was empty, with most of the waystations being unmanned for the past years.

There were dozens of doors to the sides, but Teo led them straight ahead toward a large gate on the opposite side from the entrance. But before stepping through, he stopped at one of the array consoles that lined the walls.

“We mentioned these waystations in the briefings – this is one of five stations in this Mystic Realm. If you for some reason get separated from the squad, your best bet to survive is to find one of these. Your token will grant access through the arrays,” Teo Explained as he activated the console behind him.

Soon, a huge map appeared that looked like just over a hundred circles of varying sizes. A smaller circle at the top was blue whereas the others were green, indicating their current location. Within the blue circle, there was a small red dot, which no doubt indicated the waystation they found themselves in. Connected to the station, there were four lines, three of which led to other circles deeper in the map, while one led to another one at the outermost layer.

“This is the local chart, and it will tell you your options to leave or catch up to the rest of us. The exit arrays are clearly noted,” Teo said as he pointed at Mystic Realm two circles over which had the mark of a teleportation array in the middle. “Of course, your best bet might be to simply stay put until another squad passes through. If the realm is overrun, these waystations might be the safest spots around.”

“How do we find these waystations?” a wandering cultivator asked. “I saw no markers on the way here.”

“Your tokens have a weak array installed that can pick up the signals from these stations. Just infuse some energy occasionally and pray that the signal isn’t blocked out by turbulence. If that’s the case, you can only

This was one of the perks of joining the missions. Some layers were so dangerous that everyone needed to stay together, while others had some safer regions that could be explored by the wandering cultivators. Of course, safety was always relative in the Mystic Realms, and a third of the projected casualties came from these solitary excursions.

It was not from blind generosity the Void Gate hired more people than they needed and then allowed them to look for treasures in their Mystic Realms. With most of the Void Star unsecured at the moment, their normal harvesting methods didn’t work. This way, the Void Gate could harvest some of the strategic resources they needed without losing any of their own warriors.

And if a couple of wandering warriors died to make it happen, it only meant they saved money.

“But remember, this lake has some Beast Kings even in normal conditions, so if you’re not confident, don’t stray too far from the barges,” Havasa added. "And if you sense any powerful spatial fluctuations, immediately return. It is probably a breach opening."

With that, the squads set out, with one Hegemon placed at both the stern and the bow of each barge to make sure no beasts dared swim close. Even then, there was more than one creature that swam close by to see what was going on. At first, Zac wasn’t interested in looking for some materials at the bottom of the oily lake, and it looked like quite a few of the wandering cultivators were of a similar mind after the experiences in the previous layer.

However, after half a day Zac's eyes shot open. It was here.

It was the aura of his visions, there was no doubt about it. It was weaker than the pulses, but it was pervasive. It could only mean one thing; there was something at the bottom of Hako Lake. Something related to either the enormous castle or the hidden courtyard. It beckoned him like a siren's call from the depths.

It looked like he would get his answers sooner than he'd expected.