Chapter 165: Homecoming (2)
The moment the Artificial Abyss was successfully formed, existences across other planes sensed the anomaly.
"To think they actually succeeded."
Deep within the Abyss Wizard Academy, two entities communicated in absolute secrecy from their respective hidden domains.
The mental link between them was extremely obscure—and even if anyone detected it, it wouldn't matter.
"Not that this matters. It makes no difference if anyone finds out, and it will certainly bring us some benefits."
"Exactly. I discovered their secret a long time ago but chose to stay quiet. We belong to the same academy, after all. If they succeed, we might be able to learn from their methods and forge an abyss of our own."
Legendary wizards approached problems from a different angle. While other entities were busy figuring out how to respond to this anomaly, these wizards were already contemplating the deeper implications.
The Abyss Demon Gods merely wanted a piece of the pie, but these wizards were figuring out how to replicate the experiment to construct another Artificial Abyss.
To them, the greatest advantage of a wizard's experiment was its reproducibility.
The fundamental reason the Wizard Civilization had developed so rapidly was its collective wisdom! In this context, wisdom meant that countless wizard experiments could be mass-reproduced and widely studied.
That was a tremendous advantage.
The ability to learn and replicate meant they could be repeated endlessly.
And endless repetition meant rapidly generating combat power.
"Once the dean awakens—assuming he actually breaks through to that realm—he might be able to challenge for that position."
"There are only one or two such positions in every era. Perhaps the dean can try taking one."
The mental transmissions continued to echo through the void.
Overall, the Abyss Wizard Academy was a relatively harmonious place. The lower-ranking wizards saw nothing but fierce competition and factional disputes, but in truth, wasn't this also a form of wisdom?
Complete tranquility was just a pool of stagnant water, bereft of any competitiveness. The golden age of explosive technological development was always wartime; war alone was the ladder of human evolution.
Wizards were no different. Pressure bred motivation.
Peacetime was a stagnant pool. Even when progress occurred, it was generally just slow development built upon the foundations of predecessors.
Because of this, it wasn't just the Abyss Wizard Academy. Between the many factions of the Wizard Civilization, and even within those factions, some degree of competition invariably existed.
This competition was permitted.
It was recognized—viewed as a healthy competition.
As long as the competition didn't spiral out of control, the deaths of a few wizards fell within acceptable margins.
This was the ambition of the masses.
And in the eyes of the true upper echelon—the top-tier wizards—this competitive relationship was entirely necessary.
They offered their tacit approval, neither stopping nor rejecting it. After all, if this competition spread, it held certain benefits for them as well.
Meanwhile, in the City of Mechanics.
To the ears of many wizards who had never visited, this colossal floating continent constructed entirely of machinery was said to be a massive city built by wizards walking the mechanical path. Yet, very few had any real concept of just how large it truly was.
Right now, this impossibly vast City of Mechanics—suspended in the sky and forged completely from metal and machinery—drifted across the heavens.
Countless aircraft flitted through the air, looking like swarms of tiny ants as they darted back and forth through the void.
This enormous mechanical sky-continent stretched relentlessly into the distance, expanding all the way to the limits of the void. Its deepest sections vanished entirely into the vast depths of the sub-planes.
Hovering directly above this colossal city was a super-massive mechanical construct.
An eye forged entirely from machinery stared unblinkingly at the distant sky.
—The Eye of Data.
This was the eye of the City of Mechanics.
Yet despite it hovering right in the sky, very few could actually see this eye.
Many airships and wizards flew right past it, completely oblivious, as if they hadn't noticed its existence at all.
Resembling an eye demon in appearance, this immense eye had countless data chains extending from its edges deep into the void. It rotated slowly, observing the surrounding void.
In reality, it wasn't monitoring the Continent of Vanquished Gods. As one of the core strongholds of the Wizard Civilization, the continent was packed with wizard factions and possessed an extreme abundance of wizardry methods, so there was no need to stand guard over it.
Nor was there any need to worry about enemies quietly slipping in from elsewhere.
As a result, the Eye of Data dedicated the vast majority of its energy to monitoring the more distant surrounding void. It used only a minuscule fraction of its bandwidth to monitor the homeland.
But today, this Eye of Data underwent a change.
Countless data streams suddenly appeared within the previously transparent, pale-blue eye. The torrent of information flowing through these streams every single second reached a truly terrifying number.
A few seconds later, the deluge of data halted, and the transparent, pale-blue Eye of Data abruptly turned red!
Once it had turned completely red, the Eye of Data underwent an evolution!
This was a transformation that only occurred when the Eye of Data operated at high power.
"What happened?" At that exact moment across the colossal floating continent of the City of Mechanics, countless intelligent machines paused in unison for an imperceptible 0.1 microseconds.
In the very next instant, they all returned to normal.
Only an extremely small number of entities knew what this meant.
"A second abyss?" Deep within the minds of countless intelligent machines across the City of Mechanics, a perfectly synchronized voice echoed at almost the exact same moment.
...
Shortly after returning to Demon City at the Abyss Wizard Academy, two uninvited guests quickly arrived. Lynn received them, for the two were none other than Harlin and Selena. Seeing Harlin again, Lynn found that his aura was even more profound than it had been a short while ago; it was clear that Harlin had reaped significant benefits during the birth of the Artificial Abyss.
It made sense when he thought about it. If there were no benefits, these wizards wouldn't have gone to such great lengths to forge the Artificial Abyss.
"Hmm." A hint of emotion flashed through Harlin's eyes, and as he looked at the two juniors before him, a trace of accomplishment showed in his gaze.
Harlin looked at Lynn, a strange light flashing in his eyes. "I originally thought you would follow the path of your predecessors step by step. I didn't expect you to forge your own future so early."
Lynn was not arrogant about it; he bowed slightly to express his respect for Harlin.
"But actually, there's nothing wrong with walking the path of your predecessors; at least the road ahead is clearer." Harlin shook his head. "We wizards aren't like other professions that completely copy someone else's route. Every wizard who goes far enough will eventually develop their own unique characteristics."
"But it is still rare to see someone establish their own characteristics as early as you have. However, you aren't the only one researching the fusion of divine and demonic powers. I remember wizards exploring this direction in the past; I'll help you look around later and see if I can find any relevant materials," Harlin said after a moment of thought.