Beyond the countless barriers of the Material Plane, there isn't an endless, vast stellar realm whose limits even gods find hard to imagine. Instead, there's the Azure Universe, serving as a transitional link between the stellar realm and numerous Material Planes.
A unique creature with ten tails, nine wings, and five heads traversed the Azure Universe, soaring through the void outside the Ekania World barrier, seemingly aimless, yet perhaps on its way to the stellar realm.
From this creature's perspective, the immeasurably distant Azure Universe held the stellar realm, woven and intertwined by layers of stars. Infinitely below it lay layers of void and abyss, whose true nature was difficult to discern.
And each Material Plane was like a star, encased within its own barrier, journeying alongside it.
Wherever there is matter, there must be life. If you haven't discovered them yet, it merely means your vision isn't capable of perceiving them.
Although the number of living beings in the Azure Universe is scarce, incomparable to the myriad races born from the rich resources of the various Material Planes, there exist some unique lives—some exceptionally powerful, others exceptionally weak—but all are one-of-a-kind.
This creature, with its ten tails, nine wings, and five heads, each head resembling an eagle, was one such being.
The racial habit of traversing the starry sky endowed this creature with an incredibly powerful physique, its feathers shimmering with steel-like reflections under the faint starlight of space.
Some slow-moving, unpredictably floating meteorites and debris in space were directly shattered by this hundred-meter-long, nine-winged eagle-vulture, which then passed through the countless pulverized, floating fragments.
The might of this powerful creature was comparable to a Legendary, freely roaming the void without restraint.
Yet, even such a powerful being failed to notice an invisible material fluctuation, stirring ripples in space, traversing from a seemingly close, but in reality, infinitely distant Material Plane.
Pop!
Like a bubble bursting in a silent glass bottle, an invisible fluctuation traversed through the void.
As if influenced by something, a section of gnarled, True Dragon -snake-like root flashed with subtle light, revealing its trace in this reality.
But in that brief moment, not even enough time for a creature to blink, the gnarled, True Dragon -snake-like root pierced through this powerful being, instantly crushing its body, powerful enough to pulverize meteorites, into a void of flesh and blood.
The root touched space, re-entering the void, and followed an invisible yet real connection to a distant plane enveloped in green luminescence.
A soft piercing sound, like a silent touch, made almost no noise. The barrier of the plane world seemed to offer no resistance or repulsion to this root, allowing it to penetrate.
However, within the Green Wilderness Forest World, a violent, world-shaking change was occurring.
The gnarled World Tree root, like a pillar of heaven, emerged from the void and deeply pierced into the plane core of the Green Wilderness Forest World.
The world's origin, which nourished the entire world, allowed it to grow, and fostered life, was also forcibly penetrated by the World Tree Ovo's root. Leveraging this immense mental power and condensed will, it began to extract the plane's origin from this world, allowing itself to grow and strengthen.
Rumble!
The entire Green Wilderness Forest World was wailing. The ground trembled slightly, forests rustled, and all beasts stampeded. With every inch the World Tree Ovo's root grew, a large section of the world's forests withered.
Withered forests and terrified, wailing wild beasts began to spread throughout the corners of the world, like a pervasive plague.
Far away in the Ekania World, the World Tree Main unit in the Dragon Court garden also grew rapidly, section by section, at this time.
One hour, two hours, three hours, it grew from over forty meters to fifty meters, to a hundred meters, to three hundred meters, to six hundred meters, until it reached a thousand meters before ceasing its growth.
At this point, the World Tree Ovo's main trunk was thick, long, and tall, like another mountain peak standing atop a mountain. If not for the Dragon Goddess of magic's divine power enveloping this area, the shadow cast by the moonlight would be enough to cover the Dragon Court.
But it seemed the World Tree Ovo had not supplied excess origin to other parts, resulting in this giant tree, a thousand meters tall, still having only its original small cluster of canopy.
It looked as comical as a person whose hair around the head had been shaved, leaving only a small patch of hair at the very top of the head.
Even the rest of its branches remained the same size.
However, no one in the Dragon Court garden could see the World Tree Ovo's current appearance anymore.
The Dragon Emperor, leading the Dragons and his spellcaster legion, stood on the World Tree root high in the sky, overlooking this rapidly changing world.
This main root of the World Tree appeared several times thicker than the World Tree Ovo's main trunk. The upward-facing root surface alone was hundreds of meters wide, enough to accommodate the descent of the Dragons and the spellcaster legion.
Kalon and the Dragons did not care about the changes in the entire world. They were True Dragons, predetermined predators, and rulers who grew through plunder.
To nourish the Golden Empire and the Dragons with worlds had long been a common goal of the Dragon clan.
Although the Green Wilderness Forest World was different from other small elemental planes that were exploited, being a world with sustainably exploitable resources, it would still become their sacrifice when the True Dragon had a need.
Unlike other World Trees that are born with and mutually strengthen the world's origin, the World Tree Ovo's forced extraction of the world's origin for growth this time would inevitably destroy the Green Field Forest's potential for future growth and plunge this world into a long period of decline and low tide.
But in Kalon's plan, these were necessary sacrifices to gain more.
The long-term decline of the world was the sacrifice, and the towering, mountain-like structures that rose up were the gains.
In the eyes of the Dragons and the Mage Legion, what they saw were islands floating in the sky. These were once the homes of the Batwing Wyverns, and also natural floating islands formed from meteoric stardust that fell from the stellar realm into the Material Plane.
In the Scholars' research, it was discovered that these islands, condensed from meteoric stardust, possessed an adaptive magnetic field. As long as they were in a world without isolated underlying rules, these islands could float in the sky forever.
This was also the Golden Empire's destined first floating city.
Naturally possessing the ability to float, these islands only needed to be equipped with a power source for propulsion, and they could be driven like a floating city, soaring through the sky, overlooking the land.
And the previous experiments with floating Mage Tower were in preparation for these prospective floating cities.
These floating islands, after being equipped with elemental pools and other power sources, would carry Mage Tower, patrol the Golden Empire's airspace, and establish an impregnable iron dome of defense.
But now, on the largest of those floating islands, instead of a Mage Tower, there stood over a hundred towering structures, each seemingly a hundred meters tall. The surfaces of these structures were also gilded with golden and mithril rune traces, shining with flowing light in the night's firelight.
These were energy-absorbing devices replicated from the Knowledge Fortress, energy-absorbing towers that extracted world energy and elemental power. The flowing light shimmering on each energy-absorbing tower now indicated that their reserves had been completely filled during the long period of absorption over the past two months.
Looking down from high above, one could see that these more than a hundred energy-absorbing towers were all situated at the nodes of a massive magic array, just like the positions of the Master previously.
And in the very center of this floating island, there was a thick cylindrical tall tower, as if it pierced through the several-kilometer-thick center of the floating island. But the entire tower was uniform in size, width, and length, like a hollowed-out tunnel, standing towards the sky.
The array patterns at the base of each energy-absorbing device connected to this strange structure, becoming a part of this incredibly vast magic array, whose full scope could only be glimpsed from high in the sky.
Beside these towering energy-absorbing towers, there were also many Scholars and Master maintaining these incredibly valuable knowledge constructs.
As well as five organized hundred-man teams of Golden Empire legion warriors, fully equipped and guarding these extremely precious devices.
To construct these energy-absorbing devices, most of the resources excavated from the Green Wilderness Forest World, as well as half of the resources extracted from small elemental planes, were invested.
This was also thanks to the diverse races within the Golden Empire, possessing all kinds of talents, which allowed this massive project to be completed within the planned timeframe.
The enormous gems embedded at the top of the energy-absorbing devices were the energy cores of those small elemental planes.
This achievement, which almost exhausted half the power of the gathered empire, made the True Dragon excited, their wings spread, and they landed on it one by one.
The Master Legion directly cast spells; the low-level and mid-level Mages used Levitation to land on the island, lingering there endlessly.
The High-level Mages were even more at ease; magic was like a docile puppet in their hands, and wind gathered beneath their feet, allowing the Mages to descend gracefully.
Only the Ancestral Red Dragon stood high in the sky, soaring and retracting his wings, watching the white-haired Master Lapers slowly ascend and land beside him.
"This is truly unbelievable,"
Lapers's eyes could no longer maintain their former appearance; the shock and surprise in his pupils were clear even to a three-year-old child.
"Such a great miracle reminds me of the Ancient Magic Empire era, that prosperous generation that only exists in memory,"
"Although this is still not comparable to even one ten-thousandth of the Ancient Magic Empire's might, in this era, it is already a miracle that Mages can marvel at and appreciate!"
The white-haired Master Lapers sighed, "Now, only those powerful kingdoms and human empires on the Central Continent have the ability to build such a magnificent wonder, but I never expected it to be replicated in your hands!"
The relationship between the white-haired Old Magician and the Red Dragon was more like a partnership, with a familiarity from the past, so the Old Magician's attitude was not as respectful as others, but remained as it always had been.
Kalon's massive head swayed slightly, and he chuckled, "What kind of miracle is this? What we are about to do next can barely be called a miracle. However, are you sure you want to get on my ship?"
For Kalon, the floating island before him was merely a huge landscape constructed using existing materials and knowledge; although highly practical, it was not a miracle.
Only by pioneering a discernible path in the unknown could something be considered a miracle; such an act truly deserved the evaluation of a miracle.
The Old Magician Lapers smiled, "This kind of thing is enough to make my old blood surge again. How could I refuse? I have been on the path of pursuing Legendary for decades; I should have realized long ago that calm exploration cannot bring the expected opportunity."
The Ancestral Red Dragon nodded slightly and said softly, "Then I wish both of us, you and me, success!"
"Haha, actually, I am not worried about facing the gods born from those planes; instead, I should focus more on the journey we are embarking on,"
Lapers's eyes narrowed again.
Whether from the Master's knowledge system, the True Dragon's heritage, or the information obtained from transactions with alien gods, Kalon had enough understanding of the nature of gods born from planes.
Moreover, he also possessed a rough knowledge of that world of ice and fire; although he would not take the information he originally understood as a fixed standard, it could serve as an important reference.
The Seven Gods, whom Kalon designated as false gods, need not be considered for now. The Lord of light , the God of Light and Heat, who once displayed miracles in the world and had their own powerful minions, and the Cold God, who also had the Others as minions, their actions clearly indicated their situation.
Since they were gods born within the plane, yet they could never truly walk in the world, their titles suggested that these two gods were born from a part of the world's origin in the world of ice and fire, existing like a plane consciousness occupying the origin.
The Lord of light's propagation of faith was probably to use the power of faith to accelerate the condensation of his consciousness and personality, to break free from the world's origin, and to grasp the authority born into the world through the origin corresponding to his title.
The rumored Wyverns that ran rampant in the world was not a naturally existing creature but the power vessel and incarnation of this God of Light. The Light Lord Rhllor was therefore also known as the God of Dragons.
Kalon thus speculated that perhaps if this Light Lord succeeded in the future, his incarnation in the world might be an incomparably powerful Dragon King that spanned the world.
Because the Light Lord's power must be obtained by exchanging blood for fire, the birth of the Magic True Dragon was also the same, and the Magic True Dragon controlled the power of fire.
The Cold God's minions—the Others—also shared the same nature: exchanging human life for the birth of the Others.
Kalon also intentionally narrowed his eyes slightly in front of the Old Magician and said in a deep voice, "These planar gods have not truly been born yet. Although they possess some of the world's great power, in some aspects, they are not as powerful as a true Legendary. With our power, we do not need to worry too much."
"As for our journey, the method is not much different from a Master's journey to another plane, just a bit further!"
"You certainly find it easy," Lapers shook his head, "A journey across an alien universe, even a Legendary Mage needs to consider it. I truly don't know where you got this strange knowledge."
The Ancestral Red Dragon, of course, would not tell the Master about his dealings with the alien god. Although he and the Master had trust, no matter how much trust there was, one could not completely reveal everything about oneself.
Mastering some knowledge of the alien god's conquest of worlds, combined with the World Tree Ovo's talent, was enough to give the Ancestral Red Dragon considerable confidence.
What's more, they had already conducted a'small experiment' before.
"How could the True Dragon's inherited knowledge be scarcer than the Master's inherited knowledge?" Kalon turned his head, looking down at the floating island that had been awake all night, revealing his fangs slightly.
One True Dragon, one person, remained silent until dawn.
As the sun shone, the True Dragon and the person became active again.
"Let's go, it's time,"
The Ancestral Red Dragon spread his wings and swooped down to the floating island, with the Master following closely.
The Dragon Court banner on the floating island fluttered fiercely in the wind. True Dragons of various scale colors stood with their heads held high, legion warriors stood ready, and Mages remained steadfast, awaiting the Dragon Emperor's arrival.
As the Ancestral Red Dragon descended with the wind, the voice of the World Tree Ovo also sounded, "Father, I am ready!"
So the Ancestral Red Dragon spread his wings and proudly looked at the sun in the sky, "Haha, I wonder if the barrier set by the ancient Mages can obscure the light we are about to unleash."
He spread his broad wings, forty-five meters long, and laughed proudly, "Come on, come on, follow me, let us try,"
"Let's try if the power of will and thought can truly, with the vessel of power, cross space and time, cross the past and the present!"
Rumble,
Accompanying the Ancestral Red Dragon's words, the World Tree's roots, deeply embedded in the world's origin, shot out from the ground, reaching high into the sky, directly passing through the circular tower at the center of the floating island.
The tip of the thick root pierced through the circular tower, revealing dozens of meters of its ancient, gnarled body, coiled up, seemingly accumulating astonishing power.
Hum, hum, hum,
The energy-absorbing towers on the floating island activated one by one at this moment, causing the entire floating island to sink slightly. The magic in the surrounding air was heavily drawn by the energy-absorbing towers.
Even the sunlight in the sky seemed to be absorbed by these hundreds of energy-absorbing devices, making the scattered sunlight appear like distorted ripples in the air.
The Mages raised their staffs, their concentrated spirits stirring a storm, and the boiling magic illuminated the magic array covering the entire island.
The enormous phantom of the Three-Headed Sea Serpent reappeared, but the True Dragon s with spread wings were not to be outdone.
The Ancestral Red Dragon's chest lit up. His countless magical power and strength surged wildly. The bodies of the True Dragon s expanded, their similarly boiling bloodlines being effectively released through the nodes of the magic array.
The immense power caused the entire floating island to begin shaking. As the hundreds of energy-absorbing devices' core gemstones lit up, the space around the entire island was twisted by this unparalleled power, like shattered glass.
A scorching beam of light shot up into the sky, striking the highest heavens, like the light of a sun falling to earth and blooming, dazzling and sweeping across thousands of miles of the world.
With a roar that resounded throughout the world, the World Tree's roots, spanning heaven and earth, and the floating island vanished without a trace.
Only the broken and mending wound beneath the sky remained for a long time, not dissipating, making the creatures on the ground dare not approach for a long time.