Chapter 268 Prelude to Another Expedition

Just as Jieming uploaded the completion report of the exploration mission and the collected spatial data through the magic network terminal, a calm voice sounded beside him:

"Very efficient. I didn't expect you to find what I wanted so quickly. It seems I have good luck indeed."

The sound came without any warning. All the hairs on Benjamin's body stood on end and he retreated without thinking.

Two black giants roared and rushed out from the side to block him. Energy flowed rapidly between the talismans and magical weapons, entering the highest alert state.

However, when he saw who was coming, his tense nerves suddenly relaxed.

He waved his hand to signal the black giant to lower his guard, but a storm was brewing in Benjamin's heart.

The visitor was none other than the seventh-level wizard Dionysius Spencer.

When did he come?

How can I find myself so accurately when I have just completed a task and my location is not fixed?

In shock, Jieming's brain was working rapidly.

Combined with the other party’s words just now, “It seems I’m lucky,” I thought about the vague hints he gave during the previous audience.

Inexplicably, Benjamin recalled the information he had investigated before: Dionysius Spencer was a seventh-level wizard of the Destiny Department who was famous for spying on and manipulating the trajectory of fate!

The scattered clues were instantly connected, and a chilling conclusion came to mind.

Jie Ming's face instantly darkened, and his tone was filled with suppressed anger and disbelief: "You...weaved my destiny?!"

Unauthorized interference in the fate of a wizard is a serious crime in the Star Track Arbitration Tribunal!

This is not only a violation of the individual freedom of wizards, but may also trigger unpredictable chain reactions.

Upon hearing this, Dionysius Spencer immediately waved his hand. His face still had that gentle smile, but his eyes were as deep as the stars. "Relax, young man. I will not do anything that violates the iron law of the arbitration tribunal. Even I am unwilling to bear the price."

He paused, and looked at Benjamin with interest, as if admiring a fine work of art: "I just... borrowed a little strength."

"Your destiny stands out and shines brightly among so many possibilities. I didn't force you to change your course. I simply noticed your ship was heading for the eye of the storm, so I took advantage of the situation and hitched a ride, ensuring you could reach the coordinates I needed faster and more accurately."

Although he didn't know much about the specific mysteries of fate-based witchcraft, Jeming roughly understood what the other party meant: Dionysius Spencer was not forcibly controlling him, but taking advantage of a certain "characteristic" or "trend" in his own destiny to make a precise "speculation."

This is like a fisherman by the river. He did not change the direction of the river, but simply chose to cast his net where the fish must pass by.

A feeling of being exploited surged in my heart. No one would feel happy if they found that behind their seemingly autonomous actions, there might be guidance from a higher level existence.

However, just as Benjamin frowned and was about to argue, Dionysius Spencer snapped his fingers lightly as if he had been prepared.

A stream of information was transmitted directly into Jemin's sea of ​​consciousness through the magic network terminal.

"It's just a small apology. I hope you can feel my apology." Dionysius Spencer smiled.

Benjamin subconsciously "flipped through" the information, and in just a moment, the anger in his heart was replaced by great surprise.

This "apology" turned out to be all the notes Dionysius Spencer had taken during his promotion to a sixth-level wizard, covering basic knowledge of the fate system, comprehension of rules, construction of witchcraft, and even resource acquisition!

Its value is priceless to any wizard aspiring to high rank, far beyond what can be measured by simple military merit or origin!

I wanted to yell at him, but he gave me too much...

"It's my honor to help you..." Benjamin took a deep breath and could only mutter this sentence helplessly.

This generous gift was enough to offset his unhappiness of being "used" and even made him feel... he had made a big profit.

Just take a ride, it won’t have any real adverse effects on you anyway.

After carefully examining the quality of the knowledge passed down by Dionysius Spencer, Jemin even had the urge to find the other party to make another deal.

Isn’t it just taking a ride on fate?

That's no problem, I'm good at it!

After hesitating for a moment, Benjamin suppressed this tempting idea with his willpower.

Of course, the main reason is that Wizard Dionysius Spencer seems to have found what he wants. It is likely that even if Jemin proposes again, the other party will not reach a deal.

Dionysius Spencer didn't care much about Jemin's thoughts. After giving the compensation to Jemin, he said no more and turned his gaze to the area in front of him that seemed ordinary but actually hid the folds of space.

He did not perform any magic, but just stared silently.

Those deep eyes seemed to be able to penetrate all illusions and directly see the essential texture of space. The complex folds of space seemed transparent in his eyes.

Jieming suppressed his excitement about obtaining the notes and cautiously suggested, "Lord Spencer, if there is nothing else here, I will take my leave first?"

"No need." Dionysius Spencer said without turning his head, "Next, there is a place where you little guys can help."

As soon as he finished speaking...

[Ding! Received the highest priority mandatory task! ]

Mission Number: Expedition-001

[Mission Requirements: All expeditionary wizards who receive this mission must gather at the designated coordinate area within three standard unit days. Violators will be treated as deserters.]

[Mission coordinates: ... (current location)]

Jemin's magic network terminal vibrated violently, and a bright red warning sign filled the entire screen.

Looking at the content above, he instantly understood that this was not a task assigned to him alone, but a compulsory conscription of all expeditionary wizards in the entire airspace plane!

At this moment, Dionysius Spencer slowly turned around.

The usual gentle smile on his face disappeared, replaced by a calmness that looked down on all living beings and was indifferent to the extreme.

Beneath this calm, Benjamin sensed something even more terrifying—the wanton and tyrannical aura emanating from the predator at the top of the food chain as it finally bared its fangs at its prey.

The surrounding space seemed to tremble slightly under this invisible breath.

"Get ready, Jermyn." Dionysius Spencer's voice was no longer gentle, but instead carried a metallic coldness and unquestionable majesty. "The appetizer time is over... Your real 'feast' is about to begin."

…

…

Thanks to the fact that the collection coordinates were right next to him, Benjamin didn't need to rush like other wizards.

He remembered Dionysius Spencer's reminder before he left and quickly evacuated from the distorted area that contained a space crack.

When he stepped out of the twisted boundary, dozens of swift-moving wizards had already arrived at the periphery.

They were able to arrive so quickly by either controlling strange machines, relying on witchcraft, or using modified bodies.

At this moment, these people were floating in the air, looking at Benjamin with surprise as he walked out safely from the inside.

Although everyone was curious about Benjamin's situation, no one dared to ask in such a solemn atmosphere.

After all, it is obvious that although the mandatory task issued by the camp this time does not have any penalties or rewards, it is definitely very important, even more important than the first mandatory task.

So no matter what they were doing at the time, the wizards would put down their work after receiving the task and rush here as much as possible.

After taking a closer look at Benjamin, the wizards suppressed their surprise in their hearts, silently adjusted their own state, and joined the waiting line.

Time passes by every second.

Streams of light kept passing across the sky, like a swarm of bees returning to their nest.

There are more and more wizards, riding all kinds of mounts, golems, and even tamed alien creatures.

Following some kind of invisible tacit understanding, they spread out around the unstable space distortion area and set up defenses in layers.

Soon, the outskirts of the originally desolate area were filled with densely packed wizards and their followers with different auras, and a repressive and powerful force was quietly gathering.

Just when this silent waiting was about to reach its climax...

Buzz!!!

From the sky, a low but soul-shaking hum was heard.

The entire sky seemed to have turned into a curtain stirred by an invisible giant hand. The atmosphere showed visible spiral distortions, and the clouds were torn and spun by violent energy.

Under the shocked gazes of countless wizards, the magnificent floating city that served as the core base of the expeditionary force slowly emerged from the center of the spiral energy vortex!

A huge shadow was cast, covering a large area, as if a god had descended to earth.

Feeling the turbulent energy flow around him and the unstable spatial patterns visible to the naked eye, Jieming was also a little surprised.

He didn't expect that the wizard Dionysius Spencer would actually teleport the entire floating city over here!

The most important thing is that the transmission of such a huge thing did not cause any bigger waves.

It seems that this wizard Dionysius Spencer is not only good at knowledge about fate, but also has a good knowledge of knowledge about space.

Just as Jemin was thinking, Dionysius Spencer's figure appeared silently at the top of the tallest tower in the floating city.

He looked down at the ant-like army of wizards below with a calm gaze.

"It seems that many people have already come, so I will make it short..."

His voice was not loud, but it was clearly heard by every wizard, with unquestionable authority, "In the core area of ​​this distorted space, there is a 'crack' that connects to another dimension."

As soon as these words were spoken, all the wizards present became agitated, but under the pressure of the seventh-level wizard, the commotion quickly subsided.

Dionysius Spencer didn't care about the changes in the wizards below: "I believe some of you have guessed it before. That's right! Next, we will attack another world!"

Although many wizards had already deduced clues from Dionysius Spencer's attitude towards this dimension, when this seventh-level wizard personally confirmed and clearly pointed to "another world", an irrepressible fanaticism instantly erupted from the wizard group!

The heavy breathing sounds merged into one, and pairs of eyes flashed with almost tangible greed.

Conquest, plunder, knowledge, power...

A new, unknown world means a vast amount of resources!

The airspace plane has already made the wizards present very rich, but it does not mean that the wizards' greed has been satisfied.

On the contrary, the gains from the airspace plane made their greed even greater!

Above the entire wizard army, an invisible and intangible, yet extremely heavy will seemed to gather - that was the wizard civilization, a huge desire so greedy that it wanted to devour, analyze, and possess the entire world!

This terrifying collective will even made some less intelligent soul slaves and biochemical beasts crawl on the ground, trembling and not daring to look up.

Dionysius Spencer ignored the turbulent scene below and slowly raised his hand.

A giant, dazzlingly complex magic circle lit up at the bottom of the floating city, with runes flowing and combining like living things.

A beam of pure energy with an immeasurable diameter silently bombarded the distorted area of ​​space below.

There was no earth-shattering explosion as expected. Under this precise energy impact, the violent space turbulence was quickly calmed and dissipated in a "gentle" way that went against common sense, like wrinkles being ironed out.

In just a few breaths, the daunting twisted area disappeared, revealing its true core appearance - a huge space crack about hundreds of meters long, stretching across the air, with unstable light flickering at the edge!

The light and shadow inside the crack were blurred, and one could vaguely sense a completely different energy aura coming from the opposite side.

However, this crack is obviously not stable at this time and cannot be used for plane teleportation.

"According to my observations, in approximately three standard days, the energy intensity of this rift will reach its peak, and its structure will be most stable." Dionysius Spencer's voice rang out again, suppressing all the noise. "That will be the optimal time for us to step into the new world."

He paused, glanced around the room, and issued a new order:

"So get ready. From now on, your mission is to break through the opponent's defenses and hold the line!"

"Until the spatial rift is completely stabilized here at the camp, ensure the stability of this passage at all costs. We must not allow the natives on the other side a chance to close it! This is also a mandatory task!"

Now that the order has been given, no further mobilization is needed.

All wizards, regardless of their level, had flames of fighting spirit and desire burning in their eyes.

The alchemy workshop was rapidly deployed, defense towers sprang up like mushrooms after rain, warning barriers were layered, and various war golems and biochemical beasts were deployed in an organized manner around the cracks...

An efficient, ruthless army of wizards born for conquest, built an iron-like legion at the gate of this alien world at an unprecedented speed.

(I'm a bit stuck, so this is the only chapter I have today)

(End of this chapter)