Chapter 754: The Blue Gate

“… The deeper you go into the Boundless Ocean, the more you will feel that you are mired in a fog, although there’s no fog at all…

“… The sunlight from the sky is so pale and dim that the environment is somewhat dizzy. You feel that you are in a different world and cannot communicate with the outside world at all…

“… If you go backward trying to find the start point of such anomalies, you can’t find it at all. It seems to be a gradual process of tiny quantity changes that eventually lead to a qualitative change. It’s difficult to decide the threshold…

“… No matter how you navigate yourself with the sun, the stars, or the environment, you will eventually reach somewhere that you passed before. That is entirely different from the flight from the earth to the universe…”

Inside the Atomic Universe, Lucien was reading the files in his hands wholeheartedly. That was the experience of the previous generations of sorcerers when they explored the Boundless Ocean, which was as valuable as the legendary sorcerers and archmages’ attempts to fly from the earth to the orbit instead of using a space jump.

According to them, starting from a certain altitude, the sky would give a misty feeling exactly like the depths of the Boundless Ocean. Also, because of the atmosphere, the feeling was even more vivid and could barely be noticed. Therefore, it was more difficult to fly from the earth to the desired orbit than expected. So, even legends would prefer space jump. However, in any case, such a flight would not trap people in the same place. They would fly out sooner or later as long as they navigated according to the stars.

However, because of the restraint of external and internal conditions, the legendary sorcerers such as Douglas were unable to specify the tipping point of the feeling clearly. It was impossible for them to tell from which altitude their observation on the ground was completely caught in the “mist”. Naturally, it was impossible for them to figure out the mysteries behind it.

After the failed attempt to pursue the sun, Douglas had shifted his focus on that. He had been thinking hard, hoping to find a way to decide the threshold. Recently, he seemed to be considering the alchemical items with artificial intelligence, because they did not carry any subjective interferences. Therefore, he had been supporting Heidi’s research.

In her silver armor and with the Sword of Truth in her hand, Natasha walked in excitedly and asked, “When are we leaving?”

The expansion of Rentato had been set on track, and the knight blood in her veins was boiling and calling for battle. If Lucien did not want to go out, she would’ve taken adventures in the abyssal gap in the Stroop Forest. Chaotic demons who were like lunatics were the best targets for battles, because they were not so scared of death after they went mad. The Scarlet Plain had been occupied by the Demon Lord of another floor of the abyss.

Also, Lucien’s exploration of the Boundless Ocean did require a partner so that he could focus his attention on experimenting, data recording, and investigating. Furthermore, the intuitions of a legendary knight sometimes were more useful than those of a legendary sorcerer, particularly when it came to the tiny changes on the body.

Lucien put down his files with a smile. “It seems that you are the one who has been occupied by other things, not me. I can go at any time.”

It was already the end of April in 828. To wait for Natasha to finish the business in her hand, Lucien had read the files about the Boundless Ocean many times.

Natasha chuckled dryly and declared solemnly, “As a queen, I cannot do whatever I want. Also, that was the most troublesome phase of Rentato’s expansion, which was why I was delayed for a month.”

Then, instead of waiting for Lucien’s reply, she waved her hands and said, “Let’s go!”

Lucien shook his head with a smile while looking at her running away quickly with her back straight.

…

The sky was a pure and flawless blue, and the ocean was the gloomy and surging blue. There was absolutely nothing but blue in the spacious environment.

The wind was blowing unpredictably, indicated only by the waves on the surging ocean. Suddenly, in the middle of the invisible wind, two figures slowly appeared. One of them was wearing a black double-breasted suit and a top hat of the same color, with a silver pocket watch in his hand, as if he were checking the time for the dinner. The other figure was a beautiful lady whose purple long hair was flying in the wind. Her silver armor added to her indifference and toughness.

“There’s still some distance to go until the Boundless Ocean. Let’s fly over.” Lucien raised his head to check the sun. His eyes were so deep that they were reflecting the stars that were eclipsed by the sunlight.

Natasha understood Lucien’s plan. Now that they were exploring the secrets of the Boundless Ocean, they certainly could not be teleported directly to the destination.

In such a case, they might be missing the place where the anomalies first showed up. Therefore, the first solution was to approach from a relatively distant place bit by bit.

Before she nodded her head, Lucien reminded her again, “Remember to control your body changes and do not let go of the tiniest anomaly.”

“Of course.” She nodded her head with a mischievous smile on her face that made her look like a cat that had just stolen food. “I’m truly ‘flattered’ that I can contribute to your important experiment…”

Lucien was immediately amused after hearing her reply. It seemed that she wasn’t too happy about being called a “laboratory vandal”.

“Of course, this is not a laboratory.” Lucien certainly wouldn’t let go of any opportunity to make fun of Natasha.

Natasha looked at Lucien with a feigned smile. “Be careful. I might not work with you in your ‘experiment’. After all, I am an experiment saboteur.”

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Lucien coughed and wondered when the “experiment” would succeed.

The two of them flew above the ocean slowly. All the sea creatures swimming by looked at the sky curiously, wondering why somebody could fly even more slowly than they swam.

They flew for two days in a row. Thanks to Lucien’s magic, no sea creatures that were good at jumping or ferocious birds disturbed them.

Suddenly, Natasha stopped. She looked at the silver moon in the sky and the sparse stars. Feeling a little bit weird, she asked with uncertainty, “Is it a bit heavier now?”

The gentle smile on Lucien’s face was immediate. He took out a small and neat metal cabin from his magic pouch.

Magic waves spread out, and the metal cabin grew larger and larger, turning into a laboratory with full facilities in midair. Then, Lucien extended both hands, his fingers moving up and down. As if he were playing the piano, he controlled different magic circles and alchemical devices to determine the important factors in this place, such as gravity, humidity, wind level, temperature, locations of stars, etc.

With the longsword in her hand, Natasha stood in midair and stayed on alert.

Time went by one second after another. Nothing could be heard in the quiet night except for the flowing undercurrents. Natasha looked around, and her eyes fell upon Lucien’s face. From the location where she was standing, she could only see one side of Lucien’s face. The handsome face that she was most familiar with had lost the gentle smile that she was used to. Now that he was not looking at her, his face was nothing but attentiveness and thoughtfulness.

In such a silent atmosphere, Natasha did not feel bored or lonely at all. Instead, she had a sense of tranquility and warmth. She looked at the side of Lucien’s face and put on a smile.

Suddenly, the water down below splashed, and an enormous shadow appeared on the surface of the ocean.

Hualala. A sea monster dozens of meters long emerged, as overwhelming as a mountain. It had the appearance of a freshwater crocodile, but it was so gargantuan and so weird. Its scales were emitting mottled brilliance under the silver moon, spreading out the magnificent and horrifying air.

It was a sea monster that governed the waters around. It had sensed intruders!

Natasha turned around and narrowed her eyes. Inside her silver pupils, swords seemed to be flashing.

The sea monster was suddenly frozen. Then, it dived back as fast as it could, as if it had been scared out of its wits.

They were more like monsters than it was!

“It has keen instincts.” Lucien’s smiling voice entered Natasha’s ears.

Natasha said, somewhat embarrassed, “Were you disturbed?”

Although such formalities were unnecessary between a couple, Natasha felt that she failed to fulfill her responsibility as a knight due to her negligence.

“Not at all. The data have been collected.” Lucien took back his portable laboratory.

Natasha finally asked in joy, “Did you notice anything wrong?”

“It’s barely possible to tell anything from one group of data.” Lucien talked as if he had figured out where he was getting at.

…

In the depths of the Boundless Ocean, Natasha looked at the island that was covered in red weird plants and said solemnly, “We’ve returned to where we passed just now.”

“Yes.” Over the past month, Lucien had collected a lot of data, but he still failed to avoid such a situation.

“What have you found?” Natasha sensed no anomaly at all except for the tiny body changes that she occasionally felt. She could only ask Lucien if he got anything from the data.

Lucien responded without answering her question, “According to the files I read, there’s a mysterious ‘Blue Gate’ deep inside the Boundless Ocean.”

“Yes, the Blue Key is exactly a legendary material born by the Blue Gate. It has been modified by the strongest experts of the sea clans generation after generation before it becomes one of the thirteen level-four legendary items today. However, the Blue Gate is just like the Chaotic Cosmos. Only the strongest experts of the sea clans who control the Blue Key, or those who are lucky, can discover it.” Natasha recalled the files that she had read. “Also, many legendary experts suspect that the Blue Gate does not exist at all and that it’s a myth that the sea clans created based on the legendary item, the Blue Key.”

“In any case, we have to search for it.” It seemed that Lucien was trying to determine something.

Suddenly, an unpredictable song came from far away. Lucien’s head was dizzy for a moment even though he was a level-three legendary expert. His soul seemed to have been shaken and attracted.

“Watch out.” Lucien cast spells and helped Natasha who was struggling to resist it to get rid of the effect.

“The song of a mermaid? A legendary one?” Natasha looked at where the song came from.