Chapter 463 - 447: There Really Are Myriad Opportunities in the Star Caves
「Three days later.」
Shi Ming had long since left the "Chamber of Slaughter," once again adrift in search of a new Star Cave. Meanwhile, the Angler’s lone boat finally reached the coordinates of the Star Cave within the Meteor Belt.
"Hehehe."
"The Star Sea is truly a work of endless creation, so magnificent!"
"Absolutely magnificent!"
Having reached the coordinates, the old man known as the Angler reeled in his fishing rod, placed it on his lone boat, and stood up.
In a single step.
He crossed a thousand meters, "teleporting" to the center of the Star Cave to admire this wondrous creation of the Star Sea up close.
This wasn’t achieved through the use of Spatial Power.
It was the ultimate expression of speed.
"Marvelous, simply marvelous!"
’Even through the thick barrier of this Star Cave, I can feel the aura of a great treasure!’
’The coordinates my treasure hook reeled in were truly extraordinary. This Star Cave must hide a supreme treasure! It’s of a much higher quality than any of the other Star Caves I’ve passed along the way.’
’Little Ron,’
’Though we are both of the Royal Family, I have no desire to languish under your heel forever. I bent the knee and followed your orders in the past only because my foundations were shallow. When it comes to my own strength, I’m not necessarily weaker than you.’
’The Star Sea is full of countless opportunities, and they belong to the capable.’
’This time, no one can stop my rise.’
The old man took a step.
He strode through the Star Cave’s barrier.
A viscous, semi-liquid substance enveloped him. Soon, the old man passed through to the world connected to this Star Cave: a crumbling world of reeds, possessing the beauty of impermanence.
He gazed at his surroundings.
As far as the eye could see—
A broken Blood Moon, a mere sliver of its former self, was slowly disintegrating. Fine grains of sand poured down from it like a sand painting in motion. Yellowed, blood-spotted reeds swayed in the wind, and the lingering scent of slaughter was everywhere, impossible to disperse.
The old man strode through this world, walking as if on a leisurely stroll.
The farther he walked, the more confused he became.
’Why is there such a sense of decay?’
In his thousand years of wandering, he had entered many Star Caves in the outer regions. The ones that held opportunities were always extremely "healthy," like thriving little worlds. Only Star Caves on the verge of extinction had this strange sense of decay. This meant the Star Cave had already begun its countdown to oblivion and would soon become a derelict husk.
A Star Cave with no opportunities left is a derelict cave.
As he walked, a serious look gradually crept into the old man’s eyes.
The leisurely, relaxed feeling from before vanished without a trace, and the faint smile on his face had long since disappeared.
He pulled a star chart from his robes and began making calculations. Before long, the chart stopped spinning, its rhythm shattering!
’This is an empty cave!’
’A derelict cave!’
’How can this be?’
Living beings couldn’t traverse the Dark Cosmos within the Cave of the Stars. Only someone with his great perseverance and power could endure a thousand years of solitude, withstand countless dangers, and venture into its depths. Then, relying on his treasure hook, he had fished up the precious coordinates of a great treasure just five days ago! But in a mere five days, the treasure at these coordinates had vanished, and the small world that had existed for who knows how many years was collapsing along with it?!
Unheard of!
No matter how much he refused to believe it, there was only one explanation.
Someone had taken the treasure within these five short days!
’Bastard!’
The old man’s sturdy silver teeth nearly shattered from how hard he was grinding them. At this moment, he cursed himself for not having mastered a fate-type Nirvana skill like [Destiny] to trace back to the source and see who had stolen his opportunity!
That belief of ’countless opportunities belong to the capable’ was long forgotten!
He felt as if the reeds around him were mocking him!
With a great wave of his sleeve, the entire world of swaying reeds, along with the few remaining alien creatures, was frozen in place as if a pause button had been pressed. Then, they were all ground to dust. Only the bloody sand of the Blood Moon above continued to fall, its descent now much faster.
BOOM—
Invaded by an external force, the small world, already on the brink of death, collapsed completely.
Amidst the torrent of destruction, the Angler transformed into a lone boat. He traveled against the current, returning the way he came, and slipped into the hidden Star Cave passage, leaving the dying cave behind.
"I’ll remember this!"
His expression grim, the Angler landed on his light boat and calmed himself.
’Remember this?’
He didn’t even know who his enemy was.
After a long moment, he cast his hook once more. At the same time, he sent out his Spiritual Power, beginning to search for—and guard against—other beings that might also be wandering this Star Domain.
The Cave of the Stars held countless opportunities.
His treasure hook could fish up information on three extraordinary locations for him.
The next one would be better.
...
...
...
"Not bad, not bad at all. I explored two Star Caves and got two supreme treasures."
"No wonder everyone says the Star Caves are true treasure troves."
"And I don’t even have to pay a treasure tax."
Sitting on the upright Stone Pillar of Profanity and Transgression, Shi Ming toyed with the crimson-rusted crown in his hand and sighed with genuine feeling.
’This Thirty-Seventh Cosmic Country really is my lucky place.’
He had originally just been a "native" from a "remote Star Domain" who had come to the Star Sea to see the world. He’d had no foundation to speak of, yet in a short time within the Thirty-Seventh Cosmic Country, he had accumulated three supreme treasures. It was safe to say he’d struck it rich.
No one would ever complain about having too many treasures.
In Shi Ming’s hands, treasures could also be leveraged by the infinitely upgrading "Infinite Brain" to unleash their greatest value. It was a mutually beneficial relationship.
"A pity."
"The distance between Star Caves is quite vast. You have to drift for a long time before you encounter a new one. Even if I were to travel to another Star Domain, the probability wouldn’t increase or decrease."
"And the Eye of Destiny can’t detect information from such a great distance."
"From here on, I’ll just have to rely on luck."
The Star Sea was lonely and quite dull.
With no new Star Caves in sight, Shi Ming could only stay on his ship, fusing Holy Hall Power and practicing civilizational secret arts. When he got the itch for a fight, there wasn’t even an opponent to spar with.
However, through his explorations these past few days, Shi Ming had gotten a rough idea of how to forcibly use the "space" within the Cave of the Stars.
He could withstand the spatial backlash and pressure for three to seven seconds.
This would not only allow him to traverse the Dark Cosmos.
If he grew tired of exploring the Cave of the Stars, he could also use those few seconds to activate the "Star Lamp" or the "Miniature Wormhole," or even tear a Shuttle Page from the "Wanderer’s Atlas" to leave the Cave of the Stars completely in one go. He wouldn’t have to endure the pain of his body being torn apart over a hundred times; he could do it in a single step.
He also tried to use the Wanderer’s Atlas to set an anchor point.
His first few attempts all failed.
The Spatial Power of this Star Domain Space was extremely difficult to manipulate. Delineating an anchor point on the atlas was even harder than traversing the Dark Cosmos. However, after many tries, Shi Ming gradually figured out a few tricks and finally succeeded in anchoring a point on the atlas.
This couldn’t help his ship navigate automatically.
However, by tearing a "Shuttle Page" from the Wanderer’s Atlas, he could use his physical body and status to bear the backlash, allowing him to return to the depths of the Star Caves from other Star Domains in the outside world.
If Shi Ming wished,
he could also bring people in with him.
This opened up infinite possibilities.
There were seven Shuttle Pages in total. After his battle with the Tower King, Shi Ming had used one, leaving him with six. Each use would consume one page, making the remaining Shuttle Pages an incredibly rare strategic resource.