Chapter 814: Missed Chance for a ‘Journey to the West’.
Arthur wasn’t foolish enough to ignore Mofil’s warning about the southern continent, so he headed exactly the opposite way, north.
Celestia knew her fragment was somewhere on the planet, but not its exact location. However, if she got close enough, she could pinpoint it precisely.
That was the goal: to move around until they neared the fragment.
Thus began Arthur’s long journey across Chazat, travelling from city to city, continent to continent. It wasn’t a quick task as Chazat was an immense Apex planet with a surface area exceeding 100 billion km².
Of course, Arthur wasn’t searching every square kilometre. Whenever he entered a new area, Celestia expanded her cosmic energy to search it. If she detected the fragment, she’d let him know; if not, they moved on.
Arthur wasn’t just searching. He took time to enjoy the sights of the planet, getting involved in local happenings.
When he got tired of searching, he dove into law comprehensions for a while, before returning to participate in events occurring on the planet.
For example, he entered a martial arts tournament for the younger generation in one region and placed second. He lost in the finals to a dragon martial artist, not because of raw power, but unarmed combat skill.
That dragon was simply more skilled, and Arthur accepted the defeat without complaint, not really bothered since he’d entered on a whim.
He even made a new friend in that dragon, who was rather passionate about martial arts and hand-to-hand combat. Together, they toured various dojos across an enemy continent, defeating masters and breaking powerful weapons along the way.
When their actions drew too much attention from local powerhouses, they quickly retreated, with the dragon returning to his home continent for protection, and Arthur continuing his journey around the planet.
Eventually, Arthur reached the North Pole, where, for some reason, he found himself in the middle of a boxing match against the ruling polar bear-like beastmen.
Mid-fight, he suddenly paused, stopping his opponent in time, and muttered to himself, "Hey, Lostvayne, don’t you think I should have gone from the East of the planet to the West instead of from Central to North? That way, I could’ve said I was on a Journey to the West."
It was a completely random thought that popped into his mind at the oddest possible moment, prompting both Lostvayne and Celestia to metaphorically facepalm at his timing.
Of course, after that brief pause, he resumed his opponent’s time, eventually defeating them and promptly moving on to explore the other half of the planet.
Months passed as his journey continued across various continents. There was much to explore, as Arthur learned early in his journey that Chazat had 42 continents on its surface, floating continents included.
He decided to explore one of said floating continents once, but ended up being chased down by a dragon lord who accused him of seducing his daughter, though Arthur hadn’t done anything of the sort...probably.
He spent the next few months traversing an immense desert, battling giant desert scorpions, and was even swallowed by a colossal desert worm whose stomach contained an entire dimension inhabited by people.
After fighting his way through the worm’s interior, causing so much internal damage that the creature had to vomit him out, he crossed the rest of the desert and encountered a nomadic tribe.
Travelling with them, he left the desert behind and continued his journey deeper into that continent.
Eventually, civilisation thinned out until cities and towns vanished entirely, replaced by vast, remote villages scattered across the land.
Entering a mountain cave in one of them, Arthur took a month to focus solely on universal law comprehension.
He only left after reaching a new milestone in his comprehension of the law of destruction, which coincidentally was also the day his existential age increased by 1.
As he had mentioned months earlier, his age was measured by ’time existed,’ advancing by 1 every 8,760 hours, the number of hours in a standard year on the planet where he was born.
He continued heading further into the continent, yet even after a full day of flight, he found nothing, while the surrounding region steadily grew colder.
At one point, the lush green plains transitioned into ice-covered fields with towering mountains in the distance, and not far from Arthur was a vast expanse of pure ice.
The moment he spotted the icy region ahead, Arthur stopped mid-flight, hovering in place as a realisation dawned on him.
[Hm, what’s wrong, Master?] Lostvayne asked.
"There’s ice ahead," Arthur replied.
[Yeah, there’s ice,] Lostvayne agreed.
"That’s an ice cap," Arthur said, even though they were still hundreds of kilometres away, having expanded his spatial perception to see what lay ahead.
Catching on to the implication, Lostvayne muttered, [Oh...]
Arthur continued, "Last time we were on an ice cap, it was the North Pole. And I’m pretty sure I haven’t circled this planet yet. So if I keep heading this way, the next ice cap I find..."
[Is the South Pole,] Lostvayne finished.
Arthur had realised he was already on the southernmost continent, the forbidden land Mofil had warned him to avoid.
"Well, that’s a bit of a problem," Arthur said, scratching his head as he turned around. "That explains why civilisation started thinning out after crossing that little sea. I still saw people occasionally, so I thought it was just some remote region. But it turns out it’s the forbidden territory Mofil mentioned.
What’s so forbidden about this place? If it really is forbidden, why didn’t they put up some kind of barrier to keep people out?"
Turning back, he decided to fly away from the forbidden territory and return to the more populated regions. Though curious, Arthur didn’t want to get into trouble with Mofil.
As he was leaving, something caught his eye: a giant elk with gleaming prismatic antlers. Curious, Arthur flew closer to examine the creature.
But this elk wasn’t ordinary; it was a sub-cosmic superior. The moment it sensed Arthur approaching at high speed, it immediately turned and fled, terrified by the sudden appearance of a cosmic being.
Arthur had just decided to stop it with his Temporal Authority when Celestia’s voice echoed in his mind.
[Master.]
"Hm?" he replied, already activating his Authority to freeze the elk in time.
[I found the location,] Celestia said.
Arthur froze. "You found the what now?"
The sword manifested in front of him, then pointed her blade towards a distant mountain range.
[My fragment is in that direction,] she said.
Arthur went silent, staring toward the mountain range. It lay deeper within the southern continent Mofil had warned him about, and it was also where Celestia’s fragment was located.
"That damn bastard knew I’d end up here, didn’t he?" Arthur muttered.
Lostvayne quietly responded, [Honestly, I think he did.]
Arthur had been suspicious about this planet from the very beginning, and this latest turn of events only intensified his doubts.
Heaving a long sigh, Arthur analysed the mountain range Celestia had pointed out.
The range stretched far and wide, its peaks soaring high into the planet’s middle atmospheric layers. Though not as tall as the mountain Mofil lived atop, these mountains were still staggeringly high, likely home to all manner of dangerous creatures Arthur couldn’t even begin to imagine.
He hovered in place, staring at the range while the elk he had spotted earlier finally disappeared beyond his vision.
Finally, he muttered, "Yeah, I’m fucking going in," then dashed toward the mountains.
As he flew, Arthur extended his spatial perception, attempting to sense any interior cave systems within the mountains, but he couldn’t detect anything inside.
The moment his cosmic energy touched the mountain, it was blocked completely.
"Danger level up by two," Arthur muttered to himself, feeling the potential threat escalate.
Upon landing, he silently activated his Aspect of Destruction, cloaking his body in a thin layer of cosmic destruction energy. Then, he began scanning the mountain’s heights for caves or entrances.
"Do we have to go around it, or is it atop the range, or inside?" he asked.
[I’m detecting it’s inside the mountain,] Celestia replied.
Arthur raised a hand to his chin upon hearing her answer.
"So there must be a way inside, unless your fragment was here before the mountain formed and the mountain grew over it. That would be a problem... Because even if I unleashed enough power to blast this planet to pieces, I’m pretty sure I couldn’t destroy this mountain."
Now that he was close, Arthur realised the mountain’s durability far surpassed that of the entire planet itself.
Did it make sense? No, not in the slightest.
But it was the undeniable reality laid out before him.
"This is definitely home to something no normal person should be encountering," Arthur muttered.
Lostvayne replied dryly, [Well, Master, you’re about as far from normal as it gets, so...]
Arthur quickly cut him off. "Shut up, Lostvayne."
He conversed with the two swords as he moved, eventually reaching the base of the second peak in the mountain range.
Celestia immediately spoke up, [Master, here.]
Her blade pointed toward a specific spot, and Arthur glanced in that direction.
"So you’re saying the signal is coming from somewhere within this area?"
[Yes, somewhere in this region,] Celestia confirmed. [I can’t get any more precise. The cosmic energy around this mountain is interfering with my perception.]
"I’m surprised you managed to detect it at all through that concentration of cosmic energy."
Continuing his exploration through the mountains, Arthur began spotting small caves, all located at least a kilometre up, with none at the base.
He flew to one of the openings, peeking inside carefully, then tossing stones imbued with law energy, magic power, cosmic energy, and aura to test for traps or reactions.
When none were triggered, he ventured further inside.
The cave stretched into a complex network of caves. Using his senses, Arthur detected an even more intricate maze of tunnels within.
"Anyone without a strong Spatial Authority and cosmic superiority would get lost in here," he muttered, passing the third set of decaying bones on the ground, evidence of previous victims, either starved or killed by something trapped inside.
Just as that thought crossed his mind, a sudden realisation dawned on him.
"Wait... I haven’t detected any life forms inside this place."
Though he expected creatures to inhabit the mountain, none appeared on his senses. The cosmic energy concentration was steady, higher than outside, but stable throughout the caves.
He continued moving, descending gradually as the cave sloped downward.
"Fancy natural staircase," he remarked upon reaching the cave bottom, a large dome-like clearing with several tunnels branching from its walls.
At the far end, a corridor stretched a short distance, with bright light shining from its opposite end.
Arthur entered the naturally formed passage, walking about a hundred meters before reaching its mouth, where he stopped, confronted by a sight that left him speechless.
