Chapter 73: Hearts Aligned and Farewell

After Lando consumed 50,000 units of Soul Essence and five purple-grade Essence Crystals:

[Heartspace (Purple): A unique space is born within the mind, blurring the boundary between illusion and reality.] (The description is but a rough introduction—what Lando can sense far exceeds what words convey.)

In an instant, Lando felt a sprout bloom within his mind, swiftly absorbing everything around it as it grew. Energy, matter—even Lando’s own thoughts and ideas—were drawn in. He had no idea how much time had passed when he finally opened his eyes; a slight daze lingered, as if he’d just awakened from sleep, vaguely aware he’d had a fascinating dream, though the details eluded him. After a while, even the certainty of having dreamed at all would fade.

“How long was I asleep?”

“Sixty seconds.”

“Only sixty seconds?! I thought at least a day or two had gone by—truly, a dream as long as an age.”

Looking at his nearly depleted Soul Essence and the ten remaining purple Essence Crystals, Lando sighed. “Let’s see if it was worth it!”

With a thought, the surrounding space grew hazy. Something had changed—yet everything seemed the same. Lando extended his hand; a ball of fire appeared out of thin air. Surprise flickered in his eyes, for he hadn’t drawn upon the power of the Arcane Furnace. It was merely a passing thought, and the flame came into being.

He took a sheet of paper, held it above the fire, and—as expected—the paper ignited and burned to ash. After a moment’s thought, he produced another sheet, focused his mind, and brought it to the flames again. This time, the paper remained untouched. The fire was as hot as ever, yet it could not burn a simple sheet of paper!

“Where the heart leads, the mind follows; the heartspace is shapeless, ever-changing! Wonderful! Truly wonderful!”

The results matched Lando’s expectations. He proceeded to experiment further. Hours later, he withdrew his new ability, thoroughly satisfied.

“As expected of a talent worth a hundred thousand units of Soul Essence—it can even accomplish that. Damn, now I’m even more eager to try [Skywalker]!”

But when he glanced at his system balance, his hopes were instantly dashed. He sulked—these last ten purple Essence Crystals must be saved no matter what!

...

“Mentor, shouldn’t I make some other preparations?”

“Don’t worry. This time, the way you enter and explore the world is quite unique—no preparation is needed.”

The day had come for Lando’s journey to the World Laboratory. He recalled that Aldo once said the place was rather dull and not much could be learned, but that it was worth visiting at least once.

Lando had planned to go alone, since Aldo had seemed especially busy lately, sometimes leaving only messages for morning lessons. Lando understood—his mentor, a newly promoted Grand Arcanist, surely had countless responsibilities. Sparing even a few months to teach him was already a rare privilege.

Yet, Aldo showed up in person, deeply moving Lando.

The two departed via the academy’s teleportation array. Lando couldn’t tell if it was just his imagination, but this time the journey felt unusually long.

A flash of light—and they arrived in a vast teleportation plaza. The teeming crowds astonished Lando.

“This is the Crossroad Plane, one of several specially modified transit planes. Where we’re going is quite far, so we need to transfer here first.”

“You must find this plane’s name odd?”

Not at all.

“I bet the arcanist who named this place was thinking of a crossroads—hence the name! Ha!”

“...”

The Crossroad Plane was bustling, but the two had to hurry and couldn’t stay to explore.

They made their way to another teleportation plaza, submitted their destination, paid the required fee, and soon it was their turn.

When Lando recovered from the faint dizziness of teleportation, they had reached their destination: a floating city outside the World Laboratory.

Aldo seemed very familiar with the place and led Lando directly to a large laboratory at the city’s heart.

At the entrance, an arcanist greeted Aldo, “You must be Mr. Aldo, the new Grand Arcanist of the Silver Tower School!”

Aldo sized him up and smiled, “Mr. Wesley Addy, we meet again.”

Wesley Addy had not expected Aldo to remember him—he was a little embarrassed, but smiled and said, “It’s my honor to host a genius like you, Mr. Aldo!”

Back when Aldo was a greenhorn, Wesley Addy was already the supervisor of this lab. Now Aldo was a Grand Arcanist, yet Wesley remained a low-level manager.

“Well, this is my apprentice. I’ll leave him in your care; I’ll return in a month to fetch him.”

“Rest assured, Mr. Aldo, I’ll look after him.” Wesley Addy thumped his chest in assurance.

Aldo watched as the two entered the laboratory. Once they’d disappeared from sight, he opened his star chart, located the crimson giant star he hadn’t visited last time due to Lando’s affairs, and, seeing it was not too far away, fixed its position, then vanished in an instant.

Once out of Aldo’s sight, Wesley Addy visibly relaxed. He said to Lando, “Mr. Aldo probably didn’t explain the nature of this world to you, did he?”

“No.” Lando had asked, but Aldo said the world was special—he should discover it himself.

“Indeed, that’s the rule set when this laboratory was founded. In truth, the project has been declared a failure, and it’s gradually become an exploration ground for promising young arcanists like you.”

“This world has two key peculiarities. First, the manner of exploration: you’ll enter a hibernation pod, and your consciousness will be projected into a body within that world—your true body won’t enter. Second, the flow of time has been adjusted: one month here will be three hundred days in that world, ten times faster than outside.”

“If only consciousness is projected, what will my abilities be?”

“A normal human.”

Lando fell into thought. If only his mind entered, equipment couldn’t be brought along, and the vessel would be a common person—a journey in a new world, starting from zero?

“What if I die there?”

“Don’t worry. If you perish, your consciousness will immediately return to your body, though you’ll be a bit weaker than normal; rest up and you’ll recover.”

“The next room is where your group of explorers will gather—come.”

Wesley opened the door. Dozens of young men and women stood within, some alone, others whispering in small clusters. Hearing the door open, they all turned.

In the crowd, Lando’s eyes found Alice at once. In a heartbeat, a thousand words crowded his lips, but all merged into a single phrase.

“It’s been a long time, Alice!”