Chapter 1071: Chapter 824 Eating the Sun
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"This old bastard!"
Hum!
Space Resonance came through, and the escape pod actually teleported directly!
A few seconds later, the Ancient Mage Tower had completely vanished, and at this moment, the whereabouts of the escape pod in the universe was unknown.
"Although he’s an enemy, I have to admire this old bastard, his contingency plans are substantial!"
Long Yi looked at the vast sea of stars outside the pod, his mouth full of emotion.
"So what should we do next?" Ai Lin asked Long Yi.
"What else can we do? We can’t get the key for now, and surely we can’t lose the Teleportation Gate as well? We must immediately head for The Divine Auffa Empire and protect the Plane Teleportation Gate."
"Do you think they would target the Plane Teleportation Gate?" Little Zi asked.
"They’d better not have such plans, but if they really do, I must let them see just how dangerous it is to provoke me."
"I think we should first consider how dangerous our current situation is."
Shadow Silver said, pointing outside the window.
Long Yi went beside the porthole and saw the escape pod accelerating towards a star!
"There is a Space Barrier inside this escape pod, I can’t devour it!" Xiaodie said urgently.
"My magic is not working," Ai Lin and Little Zi said together.
"I could use Time Freeze to halt everything around us, but once Time Freeze is applied, if we can’t find a solution, the moment Time Freeze is lifted will be the moment we all turn to ashes," Long Yi said.
"Obviously, I’m almost useless at this time," Shadow Silver said.
Long Yi, looking at the rapidly enlarging star, suddenly turned to Xiaodie.
"Xiaodie, after you’re full, can you continue to eat?"
Xiaodie immediately nodded: "When I said I’m full, it’s only a relative term; actually, our species doesn’t have the concept of being full."
"So do you think this snack in front of us will be difficult for you?" Long Yi asked, pointing to the continuously enlarging fireball.
Xiaodie licked her lips, her two little fists clenched tightly.
"I will try my best to eat it!"
Meanwhile, inside the Ancient Mage Tower, Zulal was holding up the incredibly weakened Elma. Elma’s wrist had been crushed by Long Yi, and if it were half an hour ago, Elma wouldn’t even bother to cry out in pain. A casual spell would have healed him completely. But now, there was only a slight trace of mana left in his body.
His once overwhelming mana had been completely devoured by Xiaodie, and with the disappearance of the Crystal Poison, his body’s ability to produce mana had become disordered, making him unable to generate enough mana to sustain himself.
"Quick, take me to Laboratory 13," Elma said weakly.
"Laboratory 13? But Master Elma, that experiment was suspended because it failed the biological tests!" Zulal said urgently.
"Look at me now! Do you think I can wait for the experiment to succeed?" Elma shouted with all his strength, Zulal had no choice but to carry Elma and reactivate the Teleportation Array.
In the darkness, the lights came on one by one. This was Laboratory 13, a place known only to Elma, Zulal, and a few scientists for the nature of its research.
On the massive experiment table, within a cluster of shattered crystals, a Crystal Core was flickering with light.
Zulal, now in protective gear, skillfully extracted the Crystal Core from the shattered crystals, then sealed the crystals in a containment box.
Then, using magic, he laid Elma on the experiment table, holding the Crystal Core in his hand.
"Master Elma, once this experiment starts, it cannot be stopped. Are you really set on transforming yourself into a half Crystal Poison being?"
Elma looked at the Crystal Core in Zulal’s hand, his eyes brimming with a hint of frenzy. This particular Crystal Core had been specially made; it didn’t carry the infectivity of Crystal Poison, yet it could transform a being into a half Crystal Poison life form, theoretically possessing the explosive energy of Crystal Poison life while retaining the instincts of a biological entity.
For a long time, this Crystal Core had already been through a series of animal tests, but none had been successful. Some scientists attributed the failure to the animals’ lack of self-control, believing that a human would certainly succeed. However, such a dangerous experiment couldn’t possibly be conducted with humans, so it had been put on hold until now when Elma recalled it.
"Look at me now! Instead of waiting for Solis to mock me, I’d rather die here! So don’t ask me anymore, start it!"
Zulal nodded, removed all of Elma’s sparse white hair, and then carved a strange Array onto the top of his head. In the center of the Array on the forehead, there was a blank space, just large enough to accommodate the Crystal Core.
Hum!
Mana was infused, and the Array activated. In the center of the forehead, the blank part of the Array suddenly showed a huge bloody hole!
Agony surged, but Elma no longer cared about anything. He was frantically watching the Crystal Core slowly make its way into his forehead.
"Ah—"
Elma’s body began to convulse violently, but because he had no strength left, the spasms were not severe. His body was also securely restrained by straps.
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Zulal watched carefully. He knew that at this moment, Elma’s brain was fusing with the Crystal Core. It was a battle of wills, and whoever emerged victorious would ultimately become the owner of this body!
Minutes later, Elma’s body stopped twitching. When his eyes opened, they had become as clear and translucent as crystals!
"Zulal..." Elma began to speak.
"Yes, I’m here! Master Elma!" Zulal replied excitedly.
"Oh, you seem to look a bit different," Elma said, seeming somewhat dull.
"How do you feel?" Zulal asked, his heartbeat accelerating.
"I feel...my body is so feeble!"
As he spoke, Elma’s originally aged and withered body began to swell, but the skin on the surface of his body, like dry tree bark, kept falling off, revealing a younger skin underneath.
Soon, Elma became taller and more robust, even more so than Long Yi! Crystals emerged on the surface of his fists, and energy condensed on them. His crystalline eyes kept shooting out mana, forming electric arcs in the air that crackled with energy.
"Oh! Power! This is the true power that belongs to me! Invincible power! Enough to crush Long Yi!"
Long Yi had no idea what was going on inside the Ancient Mage Tower at the moment, as they were busy dealing with the crisis at hand.
The tiny escape pod had penetrated the outer layer of the sun, and thanks to the Space Barrier, the sun’s might had not yet infiltrated it. However, the energy maintaining the barrier was inevitably limited. When that energy disappeared, the sun’s force would instantly turn the entire escape pod into gas!
"The strength of the barrier is weakening!"
Ai Lin shouted.
"The escape pod is melting!"
Little Zi screamed.
"We are under the influence of the sun’s gravity and accelerating!"
Shadow Silver yelled.
Then, Long Yi looked towards Xiaodie.
"I’m ready!"
The instant the butterfly wings opened, the entire escape pod vanished into the surrounding light.
The endless light was so intense that everyone was unable to open their eyes, and even if they closed their eyes and covered them with their hands, the terrifying light could still penetrate through the skin.
At this moment, Shadow Silver completely transformed into Shadow Silver material, forming a spherical shield that protected everyone inside. Xiaodie then covered the Shadow Silver sphere beneath her butterfly wings.
"Since birth, I’ve never dared to devour to my heart’s content, but now, I can finally try it for the first time. Though, I can only use my ugly true form..."
Xiaodie glanced sheepishly at the Shadow Silver sphere behind her: "You shouldn’t be able to see, right?"
Xiaodie’s true form burst forth suddenly, and her terrifying gravitational pull even made the light bend completely! Surrounding endless energy completely surged towards Xiaodie!
"You surely wouldn’t believe what Xiaodie’s true form looks like! But I absolutely won’t tell you," Shadow Silver said.
Long Yi chuckled, indifferent. Ai Lin, as always, showed no curiosity about anything, while Little Zi’s eyes widened: "I believe she’ll tell me herself sooner or later!"
How long does it take to devour a star?
Xiaodie told us, seventeen minutes.
When the Shadow Silver shattered and Shadow Silver resumed human form, Long Yi saw a completely different Xiaodie.
A flock of fiery red, fiery red hair, and fiery red butterfly wings.
"I think, this time I finally have some means of attack," Xiaodie said.
"You... are you alright?" Long Yi approached just a little closer and immediately felt an incredible heat.
"Right now, I can only limit this heat to a radius of five meters around my body, where the temperature is enough to melt metal, and within one meter of my body, the metal would vaporize. So, I need a very safe place to rest for a bit, to digest this energy."
"A safe place? How about your personal space, Brother Long?" Little Zi asked.
"It could work..." Long Yi hesitated a bit, recalling how he had once lost a Fairy Dragon that called him daddy in his personal space. The loss had been baffling, and now it seemed to be related to a spatial issue, which made him somewhat distrustful of the safety of his personal space.
"If that’s the case, I’ll take you up on that offer!"
Xiaodie immediately disappeared in front of Long Yi, squeezing into his personal space.
"Phew..."
Long Yi let out a long sigh, glanced around, and then retrieved the great explorer ship from his personal space. To his surprise, one side of the great explorer ship was scorchingly hot, probably because Xiaodie had just been near it.
"Let’s go. We’ll head to The Divine Auffa Empire first," Long Yi said. (To be continued. If you like this work, please visit qidian.com to cast your recommendation votes and monthly votes. Your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile users, please go to m.qidian.com to read.)