"Morning Star
"Yes. Only the powerful Spiritual Power of a Morning Star Wizard can sustain the enormous consumption of cross-planar travel. Moreover, the dangers of many other worlds are beyond what ordinary wizards can handle — Morning Star is the absolute minimum requirement!"
"With your current Spiritual Power, even if you drained it completely dry, with the help of a magical array and the Starry Gate, you could at most transmit a few fragments of incomplete information to planes near the Wizard World — and even that might not be fully received…"
Gilbert shook his head.
"If you really insist on doing something, you can assist me with the experiments on projection coordinates…"
Through Gilbert's explanation, Leilin came to learn some of the fundamental knowledge about utilizing the Starry Gate.
Such cross-world experiments involved enormous consumption on one hand, and the objects being transmitted also followed certain rules. Overall, intangibles like spiritual information consumed the least, but once something physical needed to be sent, the consumption would multiply. As for living beings or even wizards passing through themselves, the energy required was truly terrifying — enough to bankrupt even a Morning Star Wizard!
In truth, throughout the ancient and modern eras, Morning Star Wizards who had expended vast resources and energy only to find a barren world with nothing to show for it were far from few.
The Starry Gate had always been a choice where danger and opportunity coexisted!
The current Central wizards rarely traveled through directly. They generally preferred to scatter spiritual coordinates or transmit magical arrays to the other side.
This was similar to scattering bait, passively waiting for someone on the other side to pick it up.
Although the probability was minuscule — less than one in ten thousand — those spiritual artifacts drifting through spatial rifts still had a certain chance of being recovered by intelligent beings.
After that came the task of gathering intelligence from the other plane and confirming coordinates. Only when the value was confirmed to be significant would Morning Star Wizards open the true Starry Gate, send large numbers through, and seize control of the other plane!
"How does that sound any different from what those devils do? Both require some kind of sinister summoning ritual!" Leilin said with some confusion.
"That's actually exactly the case! Those devils and such come from a nearby other plane and like to use this method to collect souls. The only difference is they hide it well — otherwise, we would have tracked them through their coordinates and gone after them long ago!"
A glint of killing intent surfaced in Gilbert's eyes.
"Then, Master! I'd like to join your Starry Gate experiments!" Leilin immediately made his request.
"Very well. When I conduct my experiments, you can serve as an assistant, learning and observing from the side!"
Gilbert looked at Leilin's determined gaze and nodded.
……
After leaving Gilbert's villa, Leilin was in very high spirits. Not only had he learned numerous ancient secrets today, but he had also gained qualification to participate in space-time experiments.
"In the future, I will definitely build my own Starry Gate!" Leilin resolved silently.
At the very least, he would have to visit that Purgatory World at some point. The issue with the Comorian Snake bloodline still needed to be resolved there.
Of course, this was also the hope of the entire Ouroboros Ring! Leilin's teacher Gilbert and the other two Morning Star-rank warlocks were all desperately searching for the coordinates of the Purgatory World.
But unfortunately, the number of worlds and planes was as countless as the stars in the sky. With their approach of simply trying their luck, who knew how long it would take to stumble upon the Purgatory World.
But Leilin naturally had his own plans, which he didn't need to voice just yet.
"Leilin!"
As he turned a corner, Leilin heard his name called. He stopped and saw a middle-aged wizard with golden hair walking over. But this time, the man's face bore none of its previous composure and authority — instead, he looked flustered and exasperated, and even the energy fluctuations around him seemed unstable. He had clearly sustained some injuries.
"What is it?" Leilin had no pleasant expression for this warlock, who had sheltered Joey and threatened him before.
"Don't think you can run wild just because you found a patron, you pretty boy who lives off women!"
"Lives off women?" Leilin's heart jolted, as if a bad premonition had struck him.
"Wood! Aren't you starting yet!"
A female voice that made Leilin's scalp tingle came from nearby. Then he saw that warlock Frey walking over, apparently leading a pet beside her — it seemed to be a black shepherd dog.
As she drew closer, Leilin was horrified to discover that the shepherd dog's face bore intricate black patterns, and its eyes radiated an intelligence that now appeared desperate and maddened, laced with indescribable terror.
"Morphing Spell! This is… Joey!"
Wizards, of course, didn't recognize people by their faces. The familiar soul fluctuations immediately revealed the shepherd dog's true identity to Leilin.
"This is… insane!" Seeing the dog collar around the shepherd's neck, Leilin was certain that Joey must be wishing for death right about now.
"Whimper! Whimper!" Upon seeing Wood, the shepherd let out mournful whimpers, as if hoping his former master could save him.
But Wood's face alternated between green and white, and he still didn't make a move.
Finally, he gritted his teeth and gave Leilin a slight bow. "Marquis Leilin! Please forgive my earlier offenses! This Joey — he's yours to deal with as you wish!"
With that, Wood immediately turned and walked away, quickly disappearing around the corner of the path.
"Well? Do you like the gift I gave you? To transform him like this consumed a precious Morphing Scroll I got from my teacher!" Frey led the black shepherd dog over to Leilin, her face full of anticipation.
"I…" Leilin managed a bitter smile.
He had learned from
But now? She seemed to have set her sights firmly on him! Looking at Frey's earnest expression, Leilin suddenly felt a headache coming on.
Although Frey was also the Second Elder's student and received his favor, making such enemies of a Comorian warlock noble and treating a fellow organization member this way would definitely bring considerable pressure.
Of course, as a warlock, she had inherited the typical emotional temperament. She probably wouldn't think that far ahead, and even if she did, she wouldn't give it much consideration.
Through the Chip, Leilin could also notice that Frey's aura was somewhat unstable. Evidently, subduing Wood had not been as simple as it appeared — it was likely a mutual injury, but Wood had chosen to concede on his own. After all, his bloodline disease hadn't flared up yet, and he still understood how to weigh his interests.
"I… forget it! You can do whatever you want with Joey!"
Leilin looked at the whimpering shepherd on the ground and felt a pang of sympathy for him.
"Also, take these two things!"
Leilin handed Frey a high-grade healing potion and a bottle of high-grade Tranquility Potion.
He was not someone who easily accepted favors. The healing potion was one thing, but the key was this high-grade Tranquility Potion — not only was it an enhanced version of the previous Tranquility Potion, but Leilin had also added some Ice Jade Scorpion bloodline components to it. Though it slightly reduced the potion's effectiveness, it should still have positive effects for Comorian Giant Snake warlocks.
He genuinely hoped this potion could slightly suppress her frenzied temperament and make her stop this relentless pursuit.
Seeing Leilin vanish down the path as though fleeing, Frey stroked the two bottles in her hands, and a smile spread across her face: "As long as there's goodwill, that's fine! You will definitely be mine!"
……
If Leilin had known what Frey was thinking, he probably would have regretted his earlier actions. And now, he had found Robin.
"Hmm? You want to go check out your territory?" Robin looked at Leilin.
"Yes! Teacher Gilbert's instruction is complete, and next I need to prepare for the Starry Gate experiments. There's nothing I can help with right now, so I'd like to go take a look at my territory first!"
After today, all of Gilbert's teaching was done. He was a Fourth-rank Warlock with numerous daily affairs and his own research to focus on — he couldn't keep instructing Leilin indefinitely.
Before the Starry Gate experiments could begin, there would be a lengthy period of preparing materials and adjusting frequencies.
Leilin wanted to use this time to leave the Ouroboros Ring headquarters first. Visiting the territory was one aspect — the other was that he was genuinely a bit frightened and wanted to get away for a while.
"Oh! It's about Frey, isn't it?"
Robin thought for a moment, then suddenly broke into laughter. It seemed she had some knowledge of what had just transpired.
"Actually, she's quite a catch! She's never had a partner before, and her teacher is another Morning Star warlock. Why don't you just marry her?" Robin suggested with a mischievous grin.
"If it were a genuine marriage, she wouldn't be out of the question! But you know what the situation is!"
A bitter smile tugged at the corners of Leilin's lips. Although Frey was going to such lengths to win his favor, her ultimate goal was still to use him as a breeding machine. Even if they were to form a partnership, she would certainly require him to marry into her family — how could he tolerate that?
Deep down, Leilin considered himself something of a chauvinist. He simply couldn't accept that.
"That's true — you are still young, after all!" Robin considered this and nodded matter-of-factly.
"Young? I'm almost a hundred years old!" Leilin was somewhat speechless.
"Haha! I'm nearly five hundred and have had twenty-four wives! I married into a few of their families!"
Robin wore the expression of someone who'd been through it all.
"When you reach my age, you'll be able to look at these things a bit more lightly…"