Chapter Fifty-Nine: The Starship

Although Andy was quite certain in his heart that the so-called "Viscount Colin" brought by Christian was a fake, he couldn't help but go up for a closer look. Upon inspection, he immediately noticed discrepancies; the finer features of the corpse differed greatly from those of Viscount Colin. At first glance, it seemed to resemble Colin, but Andy curiously tapped the chin and nose, finding no traces of cosmetic alteration.

Andy sensed that whoever produced this corpse had likely never seen the true appearance of Viscount Colin. They must have crafted this from the portrait on the wanted poster by some unknown method.

At that moment, Bill's "Tracking Technique" yielded results: the corpse clearly carried none of Viscount Colin's scent.

Andy and Bill exchanged glances, then both looked, still uneasy, at Christian, who made no effort to suppress her oppressive magical aura.

"No problem, it's Viscount Colin," they said in unison.

Christian smiled with satisfaction upon hearing this and withdrew her magical aura.

Everyone present breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Just yesterday, Christian and Francis had been in a town a thousand miles from Dallas. Last night, she had hurriedly ridden a flying mount to this place.

With the discovery of a massive magic stone deposit here, Francis' faction had significantly increased their intelligence gathering efforts. However, despite their search, they found no trace of the rumored peerless powerhouse.

This worried them even more than clear hostility from such a figure. After all, visible enemies can be countered, but those lurking in the shadows with unknown intentions are far more dangerous.

Thus, Christian decided to take the risk and investigate in person. She had also learned that Dallas' former rulers, Colin and his son, were wanted, making her presence here all the more necessary. She planned to win over the new lord of Dallas, paving the way for clandestine magic stone mining.

While in the town, Christian had received information from Dallas via magical projection and noticed something interesting: the invader they killed days ago was Edward Colin, wanted in Dallas.

Seeing the hefty reward for him, Christian, ever pragmatic, had his body exhumed to claim the bounty.

Later, seeing Viscount Colin's image on the wanted poster, she had the base manufacture a rune lifeform that perfectly matched his features.

Christian considered herself principled; her original plan was merely to trade Edward's corpse for some funds. But when an insolent young man dared to flirt with her, she resolved to present the forged Viscount Colin as well to swindle more money. She regarded this as compensation for her troubles. After all, none of these people seemed particularly noble—who better to trick than them?

Christian even thought herself merciful; if she were less restrained, she could fabricate a hundred Viscount Colins and claim every bounty in the knight order…

Barton also sensed something amiss. Yet, wishing to be rid of a plague and also to win favor with the newly emerged silver-level sorcerer, he turned a blind eye and had Allen claim the reward for them.

Allen feigned sudden stomach pain. Barton, resigned, took them himself.

Watching their retreating figures, Bill quietly grasped the necklace at his throat.

"Hey, old man, this woman is fierce! Can you discern her true strength?"

Diga remained silent for a long time.

Just as Bill's patience was wearing thin, Diga finally replied, "She has silver peak strength, almost ready to advance to gold rank. But something's off… Her body is saturated with alchemical rune aura, like a rune puppet. Yet she feels like a living being. What is she? I can't figure it out… Can't figure it out."

Soon after, Diga drifted into muttering to himself.

…

As Andy and his companions walked toward their lodgings, a vast shadow suddenly loomed overhead.

"Look! A flying saucer! Meow!"

They looked up and were stunned by what they saw—a colossal object, nearly half the size of Dallas' inner city, hovered above them. Its base was circular, and beneath dangled tentacle-like appendages that swayed and writhed.

The massive craft began to move, and as it shifted, Andy and the others could finally see its full form—a gigantic jellyfish-shaped airship.

Andy quickly produced the "telescope" Bill had built and peered upward, clearly observing the details. He had no idea what materials were used in its construction, but saw a cartoon jellyfish painted on the hull, beside which crooked letters spelled out "Zheli Feishi."

As Andy was about to look further, the tentacles beneath "Zheli Feishi" suddenly swept backward, and the vessel shot off at astonishing speed, streaking across the sky and vanishing after a couple of flashes.

Below, Andy and his companions were left in awe.

Bill quietly clutched his necklace. "Old man, is that the alchemical airship you told me about? It seems much faster than you described."

"It shouldn't be considered a conventional airship. At this speed, it could breach the astral realm. Has the development of astral ships reached this level?"

Diga then explained to Bill what an astral ship truly signified.

According to Diga, Bill's world was called the Azure Plane, and beyond it lay three thousand planes. The void between planes was known as the astral realm.

The astral realm was fraught with dangers, such as spatial turbulence and void beasts, and navigation was exceedingly difficult. Even golden sorcerers struggled to survive there.

Planes could be connected by interplane channels, but opening such a channel required enormous resources and technical expertise.

Ten thousand years ago, the Arcanist Empire conceived the astral ship—a hypothetical craft combining sorcerer tower and floating city principles, capable of traversing the astral realm to journey between planes.

As Diga educated Bill, Andy's gaze burned toward the vanished "Zheli Feishi." After a long time, he murmured, "A man's romance is the sea of stars…"

Christian, too, watched the direction in which "Zheli Feishi" disappeared, filled with emotion. "An astral ship… To have one's own astral ship is the true foundation for fame across a hundred thousand planes. If Francis manages the base well, one day he'll be able to build an astral ship!"

For some reason, the number of planes Christian spoke of was far greater than what Diga had described.

…

Meanwhile, aboard the "Zheli Feishi," which had sparked so many imaginations in Dallas—

A tall, slender man stood by the observation screen, monitoring the ship's data curves. He looked otherwise ordinary save for a pair of wolf ears.

A bespectacled, refined young man approached. "Why did we stop just now?"

The wolf-eared captain, seeing the scholar, greeted him warmly. "Ah, Mr. Zhu Cong! We're almost at our destination. I wonder if you’ve enjoyed your journey?"

"Very much. Next time I travel the astral, I’ll hire Captain Cang Er's 'Zheli Feishi' again. But just now—?"

Captain Cang Er laughed heartily at Zhu Cong’s response. "Just sensed a rune lifeform nearby. Looks like some nobody scavenged a discarded low-grade war base from the planar battlefield and brought it here to play king."

As Captain Cang Er finished speaking, the astral ship trembled gently—their destination had arrived.

Soon after, Zhu Cong, having gathered his belongings, bid farewell to Captain Cang Er and disembarked from the "Zheli Feishi," which was now surrounded by curious onlookers at the docking site.

"A new life begins!" Zhu Cong adjusted his glasses and said to himself.

His face was unmistakably yellow-skinned, with black hair and dark eyes.