Chapter 61: Star Core, Ghost King
Looking at the scene in front of him, both familiar and strange, Richard's mind temporarily went into shutdown.
Ulysses flew in from behind him and landed on his left shoulder, his voice somewhat schadenfreudic, "Caw, scared stiff?"
Richard looked at the massive red sphere in the distance, which was beyond the point of simply being called huge, and exhaled deeply.
"This Dimension... is quite remarkable."
Ulysses did not pick up on the hidden emotions in Richard's words, thinking Richard had yet to recover from his shock, he continued, "Caw, of course, it's remarkable. Among the Dimensions I've visited, the Star Cluster Dimension is the most remarkable I've experienced.
Feel the rules around you, see if there's anything unusual."
Richard sensed briefly and his expression changed immediately.
"There's no Four Elements Rules! This world has no Four Elements Rules, its foundational logic is derived from that special rule!"
"Caw, correct." Ulysses said with slight pride, "This world is one of the few in the Dimensions I've seen, which can use a special rule as a foundation, constructing an almost complete and complex system of rules.
It's rumored that this Dimension World should be an illusionary dimension left by some unimaginably vast civilization."
"...It's truly extraordinary."
Richard felt the almost vacuum-like environment around him, in this world, his Four Elements Witchcraft completely failed, but his Energy Witchcraft was significantly enhanced.
With a wave of his hand, a giant hand comparable to a small asteroid appeared in the dark space. With another wave, the giant hand shattered instantly, transforming into a Thunder Spear over ten kilometers long.
"It's truly incredible."
"This is just the tip of the iceberg," Ulysses feigned mystery, "You've just discovered a hint of this world's absurdity. Try flying, see how fast you can go?"
"...Three hundred thousand kilometers per hour?"
"Caw? Have you seen the information on this Dimension?" Ulysses asked in surprise.
Seeing his answer was correct, a slightly enigmatic smile appeared on Richard's face.
"I suppose. In this world, isn't it that time-space is unstable, as your speed increases, your time slows down? If you reach the critical point, any distance equals instantaneous arrival for you."
"Caw, you've indeed seen the information!"
Richard's smile became even more enigmatic. He thought to himself, "So it's here."
Originally, he assumed a world without the Four Elements and without an absolute time-space concept should be very far away from this world. But now it seems the distance between the two worlds is much closer.
"How do we find what we're looking for? This Dimension World is vast beyond measure."
"That's easy, see that big fireball in front of us?"
Richard looked ahead, a massive gaseous star was moving "slowly" at a speed of five hundred kilometers per second due to gravity.
"I see it."
"What we're looking for is inside of it."
"...Are you crazy? The core of that thing is only iron!"
"Caw, you know quite a bit." Ulysses said in surprise, "Then why did you act like you'd never seen it before?"
"Seeing it in books can't be the same as seeing it in person."
"True," Ulysses nodded, "Its core is indeed iron, but that's in the context of this world. You must understand, this world lacks the Four Elements, none of its materials can be judged by conventional standards.
Plus, what we're seeking is the Star Core, that's a definition from Mysticism.
Regardless of whether this star's core material is iron, lava, or some other bizarre substance, as long as it's taken from within the star, it's a Star Core. Conversely, whatever material it is won't be what we're looking for."
"So basically, anything goes," Richard summarized, "As long as it's taken from the Star Core's interior."
"Exactly."
"So why are we flying into this thing?" Richard looked at Ulysses as if he were an idiot, "Look beneath your feet."
Ulysses glanced down to see a solid planet "not far" beneath their feet.
"...Caw, this star is truly large and perfectly round."
Upon reaching the planet beneath their feet, it was a desolate place with no life, the soil contained a large amount of iron oxide, reminiscent of Mars.
With a flap of Ulysses's wings, a gigantic flame spear blasted a huge pit into the ground. Yet, compared to the planet's radius, the pit seemed insufficient.
"Too slow."
Richard glanced at Ulysses' results and shook his head slightly. Then he waved his wand, countless fine streams of magic resonated in the air, transforming into a transparent crystal. The crystal shot a dazzling laser at the ground, melting the earth and stone into lava at an extremely high temperature.
Then Richard summoned a magic field to push the lava aside. After a few hours, a channel leading directly to the Earth's core appeared.
Seeing this scene, Richard shook his head with some dissatisfaction: 'It's a pity, I'm not a wizard who studies gravity magic; tearing the tectonic plates directly would be much faster than this.'
"Ah, you're fast enough. Hurry in."
Deep underground, although the surrounding temperature was extremely high, Richard still did not put up a magic barrier.
His body was protected by the rules, and these rules were not like the malleable clay of illusion rules in the Illusionary Dimension. These rules from the Material World were each equal to the illusion rules in terms of rank.
With these rules protecting him, Richard's body was not altered by the rules of the Star Cluster Dimension. Otherwise, according to the rules of the Star Cluster Dimension, Richard's body would have turned into charcoal long ago.
The core of this planet was a mass of molten iron-nickel alloy iron water, and Richard took thirty kilograms of it, turned to Ulysses beside him, and asked: "Do you think this stuff has other uses?"
"Ah, as materials for certain rituals, perhaps. Where we come from, we use this stuff to make star weapons; I don't know what you wizards would do with it."
Richard glanced at the remaining massive star core and took some more to put into the dimension space.
"Now, the only thing left is the Crown of the Ghost King."
Ulysses opened the gate leading to the Ghost Soul Dimension, through the rift, Richard could see a dead, decayed world.
Ulysses turned his head to remind: "Ah, prepare for battle, the ghosts of the Ghost Soul Dimension have extreme aversion towards beings possessing flesh, and the Crown of the Ghost King can only be taken after killing the Ghost King."
Richard raised an eyebrow, grasping the Balancing Hand in one hand, while drawing out the Seven Killings Sword strapped to his back with the other. This weapon possessing seven complete rules was an excellent weapon even without any modification. Not to mention, Richard had refined it meticulously over the past hundred years, allowing it to amplify the breadth of witchcraft beyond that of the Balancing Hand.
If Richard's expertise in elemental magic were greater, the power of this Seven Killings Sword would even surpass the Balancing Hand.
Entering the dimension, the incoming death energy was like having seven or eight masks on the face, making it hard to breathe.
Richard frowned slightly, and before he could gauge the surroundings, his soul sensed a slight impact.
"Hmm?"
To his left, Richard saw several phantom creatures similar to slimes swiftly flying towards him, accompanied by a spiritual shock strong enough to faint a One Ring Wizard.
"Such enthusiasm."
Richard waved his magic wand, an invisible magic field held several ghosts in place.
Ghosts also exist in the Material World, and according to the encyclopedia of undead creatures, these creatures known as ghosts are immune to any form of pure physical attack. However, elemental magic and shaping magic have normal effects on them. Needless to say, undead witchcraft and soul witchcraft are even more effective.
As introduced in handling these creatures, without mastery of soul or undead witchcraft, force field witchcraft has the best effect on them.
"Actually, we should have come in our soul form, it would save a lot of trouble."
Ulysses landed on Richard's left shoulder, watching the ghosts trapped by Richard's force field, he said somewhat regrettably.
"How about we go back first, and then enter in our soul form?"
"Ah, no need." Ulysses' eyes brightened with Holy Light; in his vision, an invisible "heavenly curtain" was rapidly expanding.
"We've directly arrived beside them."
...
In the gap between dimensions, a figure clad in a black robe wove like a stream of light through the intersections of the dimensions.
This black-robed figure was massive, enough to stand tall in the Material World. But in this gap, any dimension was as vast as an arc that traversed the heavenly vault, and this figure was like a sparrow beneath the arc.
"Crafty thing, playing hide and seek in dimensions is quite fun."
The black-robed figure muttered to himself while checking a dimension rift.
After several fruitless inquiries, the black-robed figure seemed to compromise, pulling out a phantom blood-stained magic wand from the void.
He swiped the wand, a huge magic array unfolded in midair. The mysterious power wandering within the dimension gap answered the call, transforming into a colorful arrow-like object.
The arrow wobbled around in the air, suddenly pointing towards a direction, then transformed into a stream of light flying afar.
"Ran so far, did it?"
The black-robed figure watched the departing arrow, immediately followed its pace. Soon, he arrived at a dimension that appeared slightly grey.
"Ghost Soul Dimension?"
The black-robed figure looked at the somewhat familiar dimension before him, then waved his wand to create a doorway into the dimension. As he entered the dimension, the Ghost Soul Dimension rippled like a lake into which a stone had been thrown.