novelraw Chapter 598: Contact
Chapter 598: Contact
Chapter 598: Contact
Three days ago, within the territory of the parallel world’s wizard civilization.
From three days ago, the upper echelons of the entire wizard civilization had appeared extremely uneasy.
Because a massive spatial rift had appeared on the periphery of the core plane.
The rift was so enormous it seemed capable of completely swallowing the core plane, yet nothing connected on the inside. Instead, it felt as if it had been deliberately sealed.
The rift had appeared without any warning, and no wizard could trace its origin.
The core plane was extremely important to the entire wizard civilization, so after a brief investigation, the wizards decided to either destroy it or open it. The problem was that they had tried every method—elemental bombardment, information pollution, spatial sealing, causal severance…
But no matter what means they used, neither the spatial rift nor the seal upon it budged in the slightest.
“It can’t be opened.” An eighth-ring wizard retreated from in front of the rift with an ashen face. “The power and technology on this spatial rift are completely incomprehensible, far beyond our level.”
On the same day they confirmed that all their own methods were unable to break this seemingly ordinary spatial rift, the high-ranking wizards urgently convened a meeting. Every high-ranking wizard in the entire wizard civilization, whether currently in seclusion researching experiments or stationed at the borders guarding territory, as long as they were above sixth-ring, was forcibly recalled!
In the “ruins” at the center of the core plane’s central continent, high-ranking wizards gathered in a continuous stream.
This central continent looked abnormally dilapidated; the entire land was scorched earth.
This was because, in the distant past, a racial war had occurred here.
It was precisely because of that war that wizard civilization had established humanity’s position as the ruler of this plane, using it as a springboard to expand outward. For this reason, the wizards had deliberately preserved the ecological environment of the entire central continent. Even after tens of millions of years, the continent was still permeated with energy radiation strong enough to kill ordinary creatures on the spot.
At the very center of the central continent, a broken temple left over from that ancient war had been deliberately preserved by the high-ranking wizards of wizard civilization as a dedicated meeting place.
The entire temple was intentionally kept in its ruined state, with no repairs made.
Around the long table pieced together from broken metal at the center of the temple sat eighth-ring wizards with withered faces.
Some were missing two eyes on their heads but had eyes growing all over their bodies. Some had half their bodies replaced by machinery. Others had their entire heads enclosed in transparent containers, with constantly writhing brains soaking inside.
“The enemy’s purpose is unknown, but we have confirmed that their technological level far surpasses ours. We must activate the final combat module,” a wizard covered in runes spoke, his voice hoarse like sandpaper scraping.
“That will consume at least one-third of our slaves,” another objected.
“There are plenty of planes outside where we can capture more slaves…”
“But if we don’t open it, we die!”
The argument lasted a long time, but in the end, a consensus was reached.
Over the past three days, they had poured everything they had into piecing together broken plane fragments into warships, stuffing shriveled corpses and wailing souls into the engines, and arming every wizard capable of fighting to the teeth.
The moment the final combat module activated, countless wizards’ bodies began to mutate—that was the price of forcibly increasing their power.
Some grew extra arms, some had new eyes split open on their faces, and some had their bodies twisted into irregular shapes.
Their faces became even more withered, and the madness in their eyes grew denser, but both their spiritual power and physical strength had indeed increased.
Then, at the exact moment they finished their preparations, the spatial rift outside the main plane moved.
The rift they had been unable to shake for three days was now slowly opening.
All the high-ranking wizards present turned grim at the sight. They absolutely refused to believe this was mere coincidence.
In other words, the enemy on the other side had been monitoring them the entire time, yet they had known nothing about it!
More importantly, the other side had actually allowed them to complete their preparations!
This meant the opponent’s strength far exceeded theirs…
Before long, the thoughts of the high-ranking wizards present were proven correct.
As the rift expanded, they finally got a clear look at the situation on the other side.
On the opposite side, four colossal entities they had never seen before were manifesting.
A sixth-ring wizard in charge of reconnaissance took one look and fell trembling from the air.
“Eighth-ring…” His voice shook. Due to excessive terror, it had become shrill and distorted. “So many eighth-rings!!!”
The moment the news spread, the entire battlefield fell into a deathly silence.
The wizards with withered faces raised their heads, looking at the four terrifying war machines across the rift, at their magnificently dressed counterparts, and at the figures in the sky whose auras were too profound to perceive.
Some began to retreat.
Some dropped the staves in their hands.
Others directly activated escape arrays or turned into streams of light fleeing into the distance.
This was impossible to fight!
A seventh-ring wizard stood at the edge of a warship, looking at the eighth-ring figures on the other side, and suddenly smiled.
That smile contained bitterness, despair, and a trace of relief.
“So that’s how it is…” he murmured. “Is this the end of our wizard civilization…”
His voice was swallowed by the surging energy in the void.
Across the rift, the four war machines had completed their final preparations.
The ring of the Quantum Entanglement Flagship began to spin faster. The Perfect Ecological Mother Nest spewed out even more red mist. The form changes of the Folded Palace reached their extreme. The silvery-white Flood Star Ring began surging forward.
The confrontation did not last long.
The wizard civilization side also noticed the reaction of the parallel world’s wizards and immediately realized they could not push too hard.
Therefore, even though the spatial rift had fully opened, the four major powers’ war machines remained in place and did not advance another step.
Jie Ming stood at the edge of the flagship, looking at the warships pieced together from broken plane fragments on the other side and at the wizards with withered faces and deformed bodies standing upon them.
He could read fear in their eyes and hesitation in their movements.
The low-ranking wizards who had begun to flee were dragged back by their companions. Those who had dropped their staves were forced to pick them up again. The parallel world’s battle lines were repeatedly pulled between chaos and order.
Fortunately, the parallel world’s wizards did not immediately launch an instinctive attack.
High-ranking wizards cherished their lives and were rational.
When the gap in strength was too vast to bridge, combat was no longer an option.
Felix’s figure appeared at the front of the flagship. The other three major artificial intelligences emerged at the same time.
The four beams of light stood side by side, calmly gazing at the twisted warships opposite them.
“We wish to engage in dialogue with you all,” Felix’s voice spread throughout the entire void.
The other side remained silent for a long time.
The eighth-ring wizards gathered together, frantically communicating through spiritual power.
The seventh-ring wizards floated above the warships, their gazes warily sweeping across the four war machines on this side and the eighth-ring wizards floating in the air.
Then, they noticed that the “enemy” seemed to have sent a delegation.
On the wizard civilization side, to facilitate better dialogue, each of the four major powers had dispatched a hundred-person delegation.
Every wizard in these delegations was among the pinnacle of eighth-ring wizards.
They walked out from their respective camps with calm steps and restrained auras, as if attending an ordinary academic conference.
But Jie Ming knew that any one of these four hundred individuals had the power to single-handedly destroy a super-large plane cluster.
Sensing the terrifying threat brought by these four hundred people, the parallel world’s wizards grew even more agitated.
Their total number of eighth-ring wizards added up to just over a hundred.
The delegation sent by the other side was four times that number.
Moreover, the auras and oppressive pressure of those representatives… every single one was powerful beyond what the parallel world’s wizard civilization could imagine.
Felix spoke again.
It used the common language of wizard civilization, speaking at a steady pace with precise wording, clearly explaining concepts such as “parallel world,” “counterpart,” and “exchange” to the parallel world’s wizards one by one.
The other side remained silent for a long time. The eighth-ring wizards gathered together, engaging in intense spiritual discussions.
Jie Ming saw some shaking their heads, some frowning, and others whose expressions shifted from vigilance to shock, then from shock to something complex and indescribable.
They understood.
After all, they were all wizards. Their systems shared the same origin, and their languages were mutually intelligible.
The moment Felix introduced the concept of “parallel world,” a spark of rationality appeared in those previously mad eyes.
Some began to nod. Others started whispering to one another.
From the Void Architecture Academy’s delegation, an eighth-ring wizard stepped forward.
His robe was pure white as snow, embroidered with silver geometric patterns. Every step he took was as precise as if measured with a ruler.
He raised his hand, and several tiny specks of dust slipped from between his fingers.
The dust was so small it was almost invisible.
But when they drifted into the void and reached the front of the twisted warships, the dust exploded.
Those tiny particles expanded wildly in the void, extending in every dimension.
Space twisted and restructured around them. Within a few seconds, a palace materialized out of thin air before the two armies.
Every pillar was a perfect geometric form. Every wall reflected silvery-white light.
The representative from the Void Architecture Academy stood at the palace entrance, bowed slightly, and made a “please” gesture.
The motion was as elegant as inviting guests to a tea party.
The parallel world’s wizards looked at one another.
They communicated frantically through spiritual power. Vigilance, hesitation, and doubt flashed across their twisted faces.
Jie Ming saw some shaking their heads, some gripping their staves tightly, and others subconsciously taking half a step back.
But under the overwhelming pressure of wizard civilization’s power, they ultimately agreed.
An eighth-ring wizard covered entirely in runes stepped out of the formation first, followed closely by an eighth-ring wizard whose body had completely fused with some kind of biological armor.
With these two eighth-ring wizards taking the lead, the others hesitated for a moment before following.
More than a hundred eighth-ring wizards slowly walked toward the palace.
Their steps were cautious, their postures vigilant, like a pack of wild beasts walking into a trap.
At the entrance, the representatives of the four major powers had already lined up and were waiting.
Those from the Star Ring Federation stood on the left, those from the Crimson Court on the right, and the representatives from the Void Architecture Academy and Anti-Entropy Alliance stood at the rear.
As the parallel world’s wizards approached, the representatives proactively extended their hands.
Handshake.
This was one of wizard civilization’s oldest rituals, representing equality, respect, and temporary peace.
The Star Ring Federation’s representative shook hands with an eighth-ring wizard covered in runes. The Void Architecture Academy’s representative shook hands with an eighth-ring wizard whose body was twisted into an irregular shape. The Anti-Entropy Alliance’s representative shook hands with an eighth-ring wizard whose half-body was transparent.
Then it was the Crimson Court’s turn.
The Crimson Court’s representative was a female wizard who appeared to be in her teens. She was tall with a resolute face and dark red hair tied in a neat ponytail.
She wore a deep red combat robe with no extra decorations, only a badge embroidered on her chest.
She extended her hand with a calm posture.
The one shaking hands with her was a lump of flesh.
It was truly an existence that could only be described as a “lump of flesh.”
It had no fixed form. Its body resembled a mass of kneaded mud, its surface covered with countless writhing tentacles and split-open eyes. When it extended its “hand,” that hand was a fleshy protrusion that constantly changed shape.
The moment their hands met, the Crimson Court’s representative raised an eyebrow.
Hundreds of millions of parasitic spores were frantically surging into her through the pores of her hand.
Those spores were extremely small and extremely well-hidden, carrying complete parasitic gene sequences.
They would grow and spread within the host’s body, eventually claiming everything the host possessed.
This was the favorite tactic of this parallel world wizard: parasitize, devour, then replace the original owner.
Facing this malicious probe, the Crimson Court’s representative smiled.
She shook her head, her smile carrying a trace of helplessness, like an adult watching a child perform a clumsy trick.
The spores that had already invaded her body, the instant they touched her bodily fluids, encountered something incomprehensible.
Their gene sequences were reverse-analyzed. Their parasitic programs were reverse-compiled. Their energy structures were completely restructured.
Then, those spores began spreading in reverse, rushing back along the original path from her body into that “hand.”
The lump of flesh struggled madly, trying to shake off her hand.
But that hand seemed welded in place and did not move at all.
Moments later, a crisp sound rang out. The lump of flesh’s arm snapped off at the joint with its body, turning into ash that scattered in the void.
The lump of flesh screamed as it staggered backward, turbid bodily fluids continuously spraying from the severed stump.
The combat systems were the same, and the technology shared the same origin.
The crushing superiority of the forerunners over the latecomers was displayed to the fullest in this probe.
The surrounding parallel world wizards instantly assumed combat stances. Staves lit up, runes flashed, and killing intent surged like a tidal wave.
The Crimson Court’s representative stood in place, not even retracting her hand.
She simply looked at the lump of flesh and said calmly, “Not bad. Quite creative. If you’re willing later, I can be your mentor.”
The other parallel world wizards froze.
They looked at that woman, then at the four hundred eighth-ring wizards behind her, and then at the four war machines in the distance radiating terrifying auras…
The killing intent in their eyes slowly receded, replaced by a deep, bone-piercing sense of powerlessness.
The parallel world’s wizards remained silent for a long time.
Finally, the eighth-ring wizard covered in runes let out a soft sigh. He revealed an ugly smile toward the wizards of the four major powers, then turned first and walked toward the palace entrance.
His steps were still cautious, but his posture was no longer as vigilant as before.
The others hesitated for a moment before following.
One by one, more than a hundred eighth-ring wizards with withered faces and deformed bodies walked into the palace.
The palace doors slowly closed behind them.
Jie Ming stood at the edge of the flagship and let out a long breath.
It was not just him. The other wizards who had been paying close attention also secretly relaxed.
Even the wizards on the parallel world’s side felt a slight sense of relief upon seeing this scene.
“Looks like our luck is good. The opening went smoothly,” Viola said from beside him.
Jie Ming nodded as well.
After all, no fight had broken out.
At least not yet.