novelraw Chapter 436: The Wheel of Fate
Chapter 436: The Wheel of Fate
After Starforger Altreus issued those two commands, he paid no further attention to the excited wizards.
He merely raised his hand casually, the gesture as light and indifferent as brushing dust from a sleeve.
In the next instant, Jie Ming felt a deep yet exceptionally steady vibration beneath his feet.
It was not the destructive shaking of an earthquake, but rather the uniform sensation of some colossal creation being roused from slumber, breaking free from the earth’s embrace as it rose evenly upward.
He instinctively lowered his head, then jerked it back up, looking around.
The view was rising!
It was not him ascending alone — the entire wizard encampment was lifting off the ground!
This vast complex, comparable in scale to a modern megacity and filled with towering spires, factories, laboratories, residential zones, and layered defensive fortifications, simply rose into the air with effortless grace.
Its immense shadow fell across the scorched earth below. At the base of the encampment, an extraordinarily intricate array of anti-gravity runes and spatial stabilization formations simultaneously lit up, radiating a vast, ocean-like gentle radiance that lifted the steel city smoothly skyward.
Fierce winds howled along the encampment’s edges, whipping up clouds of dust, yet within the camp itself, powerful energy fields shielded everything so perfectly that not even the slightest tremor could be felt. Altreus stood upon a high platform at the center of the encampment. His gray robe remained utterly still amid the winds stirred by the camp itself. His gaze calmly turned toward the distant horizon.
Then, guided by the will of this eighth-ring wizard, the entire floating wizard encampment began to accelerate slowly.
Like a shuttle held aloft by an invisible giant hand, it flew toward its destination with steady, swift grace.
Mountains, rivers, and plains flashed rapidly beneath them. The stability of its flight and the sheer speed left Jie Ming momentarily dizzy and awestruck.
……
……
At the outskirts of the temple area, a few Sickle-Skulls panicked and fleeing blindly after their leaders turned to stone and the army collapsed instinctively rushed toward this ancient architectural cluster, which seemed to hold some special significance deep within their racial memory.
They stumbled and staggered through the temple’s ruined main gate, compound eyes frantically scanning the interior.
But the scene that met their senses froze them in place. Even their pheromones transmitted intense confusion and terror.
The inside of the temple was completely different from the twisted symbols that filled their memories!
The walls were smooth, embedded with precise and orderly energy conduits.
The air was dry and clean, suffused with an unnatural, constant energy field.
And what drove their central nervous systems into complete disarray was the altar at the center of the temple — the place that should have been empty.
Now, hovering above it was a massive metal sphere several meters in diameter!
Stable flows of gold and silver energy coursed vertically along the conduits on its surface, emitting a deep, rhythmic hum.
An indescribable sense of majesty and “origin” emanated from the sphere — something their souls instinctively trembled before, even if they could not comprehend it.
What… what is this?
How did the temple become like this?!
Just as these Sickle-Skulls stood stunned by the sight, their compound eyes flickering chaotically as they subconsciously edged closer, trying to make sense of this reality-shattering vision…
They suddenly realized they could no longer move.
It was as if flying insects had plunged into invisible, congealing amber — not even the slightest twitch of a feeler was possible.
Their minds still functioned, but all external interaction and bodily control had been forcibly stripped away.
They remained frozen in the exact posture and expression of the moment before, like specimens sealed in amber, suspended in midair.
Moments later, a vast shadow descended.
Under Altreus’s precise control, the enormous wizard encampment transformed and rearranged like clever building blocks.
Structures at the camp’s core parted smoothly, clearing a space large enough to envelop the entire temple.
Energy tendrils and solid foundations extended from the encampment’s underside, deftly avoiding the temple itself while perfectly encasing the whole temple area within the most central zone of the camp.
The temple, once standing alone in the wilderness, became the “heart” of this encampment.
Altreus’s figure, together with Jie Ming and all the core logistics-system wizards who had been eagerly watching, appeared as though by teleportation at the temple entrance now guarded by the encampment.
The Starforger casually glanced at the few Sickle-Skulls frozen in midair like grotesque sculptures, regarding them as nothing more than mildly irritating specks of dust.
With a light flick of his hand, space rippled faintly. The Sickle-Skulls vanished without a sound, evidently stored away in some private space reserved for “specimens.”
Everyone else’s gazes immediately turned toward the enormous mechanical sphere at the center of the temple.
No command was needed. No encouragement required.
In the instant they laid eyes on the sphere, every logistics-system wizard’s breathing quickened. Their eyes blazed as though they had discovered the treasure of the ages!
Every energy pattern flowing across its surface, every fluctuation of law it emitted, was — to them — a deadly alluring riddle of knowledge!
“This is the core control unit of the time paradox generator…”
“Quick! Record the base energy spectrum!”
“Pay attention to its information interface mode — it may be completely different from our rune system!”
“Don’t rush… begin with non-invasive scanning first!”
Like bees drawn to nectar, they surged forward eagerly yet still maintained the final restraint and discipline of true researchers.
They took out the most precise detection instruments, recording runes, and analysis crystals they carried, and began to carefully conduct initial detection and study of the metal sphere from every angle and with every possible method.
In moments, the temple was filled with the low hum of instruments, rapid data reports, and barely suppressed excited murmurs.
Yet amid this suddenly fervent research atmosphere, Jie Ming stood somewhat apart, visibly preoccupied.
He did not immediately join his colleagues in the study. Instead, he walked quietly to Altreus’s side.
The Starforger seemed unsurprised by his approach. His gaze remained calmly fixed on the zealous researchers, but he spoke softly: “What is it? You appear troubled.”
Jie Ming hesitated for a moment, choosing his words carefully: “My lord, before I was forced into that time branch… I briefly accessed the information storage area inside this sphere. I saw some… records of the reason this plane’s civilization created this ‘weapon.’”
He raised his head and looked toward Altreus’s profile, deep as the starry void itself: “According to those remaining records, this plane once detected the existence of other unimaginably powerful civilizations in an extremely distant region. It was that civilization — or rather, a mere ripple from one of its battles — that crossed an immeasurable distance, nearly annihilating the predecessor civilization of the Sickle-Skulls just as they were preparing to step beyond their plane. That event directly drove them down the path of creating this ‘time paradox generator’ in a desperate bid for self-preservation.”
His tone carried both gravity and excitement: “If that information is true, it means that somewhere in the deep void of our Star Ring Federation’s territory, there may exist an unknown civilization of extremely high energy level and terrifying threat…”
He did not finish the sentence, but the implication was clear.
A mere ripple could force a civilization to transform itself into a spacetime fortress — how terrifying must the source itself be?
Such power almost certainly belonged to a ninth-ring existence. To be safe, it would be best to seek reinforcements from the Star Ring Federation.
Altreus listened without showing surprise or concern.
He even blinked — an action that seemed almost too human for an eighth-ring wizard.
The Starforger fell silent for a brief moment, as though performing high-speed mental calculations and memory retrieval.
Then he turned his head, looked at Jie Ming, and revealed a slightly subtle smile.
“So that’s what you’re worried about,” he said gently, causing Jie Ming to freeze. “There’s no need.”
“Hm?” Jie Ming was puzzled.
“Based on the clues you provided — the approximate time of the disaster, the rough direction from which the shockwave arrived, and its energy characteristics — performing reverse calculation and comparison…” Altreus spoke casually, as though recounting an old anecdote, “If I’m not mistaken, that ‘disaster ripple’ which nearly wiped out this pitiful civilization and frightened them into locking themselves away…”
He paused, his smile deepening just a touch:
“…was most likely the residual battle fluctuation from a medium-scale engagement fought approximately one hundred and twenty thousand standard wizard years ago, when an expeditionary legion led by one of our Star Ring Federation’s ninth-ring wizards was sweeping out a malignant proliferative civilization known as the ‘Void Abominations.’”
“That battle’s main battlefield was indeed extremely far from this plane. For even a trace of its power to leak over and produce such an effect… one can only say they were simply unlucky.”
Jie Ming was completely stunned. His mouth opened slightly, and for a moment he had no words.
Countless thoughts flashed through his mind.
The “unknown terrifying enemy” that had filled the Sickle-Skull civilization with utter dread, that they had treated as an apocalyptic disaster, that they had gone so far as to collectively “ascend” in order to defend against…
The “cosmic-level catastrophe” that had given birth to this complex and tragic spacetime weapon before them…
Its source… was actually the wizard civilization itself?
Just a stray spark from one of their own big shots fighting?
This…
He instinctively turned his head toward the center of the temple.
There, a crowd of logistics-system wizards surrounded the metal sphere, expressions focused and fervent.
The instruments in their hands flashed with various lights as they attempted to analyze, comprehend, and ultimately master this “relic” forged by another civilization in the grip of extreme terror.
And the source of that terror… was themselves.
An indescribable feeling, a mixture of absurdity, sudden understanding, and profound, deep melancholy, slowly washed over Jie Ming’s heart.
A civilization, because of the ripple from a wizard’s battle, had imprisoned itself and created a prison of time.
Countless years later, wizards arrived, shattered the prison, harvested this weapon condensed from that civilization’s every fear and struggle, and now enthusiastically began to study it.
In this moment, the gears of fate meshed together into a perfect, speechless circle.
“So,” Altreus’s voice drew Jie Ming’s thoughts back. He patted Jie Ming on the shoulder, his tone returning to its usual calm and profound depth.
“Focus on what lies before us, Wizard Jie Ming. Our journey is through the endless void. Along the way, we will inevitably encounter all kinds of accidents and leave behind all kinds of… traces. What matters is what we can learn from those traces, and what we can take away.”
He gazed at the mechanical sphere, pure thirst for knowledge shining in his eyes:
“For example, how to better understand time, how to create our own ‘paradox generators,’ or… how to find the next civilization that we frighten into unlocking its hidden potential.”
Jie Ming was silent for a long moment. Then he took a deep breath and pressed down the complex emotions.
He looked once more toward the sphere, his gaze now firm and focused.
Whether fate or coincidence,
The path of a wizard is always forward, toward the unknown and toward knowledge.