Dox retorted: "If it wasn’t the space rift, then what did you make him perceive?"
Angel was silent for a moment: "Alright, I admit, it indeed was letting him perceive the space rift... But, the space rift he perceived, I really wasn’t aware of it."
This time Angel wasn’t lying.
After all, although he had a brain full of spatial knowledge, his practical experience with space application wasn’t much. Including aspects of spatial perception, Angel was naturally no match for Kaier who had been steeped in the space series for many years.
It was precisely because of insufficient application of space that Angel would let Kaier help instead of taking the field himself.
"Hmph, even if what you say is true, you could completely control the illusion, let me leave first, and then simulate whatever space rift." Dox thought indignantly.
This time, Angel did not refute it because he did have this thought.
"Look, I was right, right? Such a dark thought! You must recognize that his core is black!"
Dox continued to chatter nonstop in the mind ribbon, but Angel no longer responded because he directly blocked the mind ribbon.
"The world is peaceful now," Angel muttered, "should have blocked it earlier."
After muttering, Angel lifted his head and looked at Kaier, whose face was still complex with expression, "Don’t worry about him, let’s continue."
"Continue... with what?" Kaier still didn’t understand what Angel wanted his help with.
Angel: "It’s simple, scouting the path."
Angel briefly explained that scouting meant Kaier manipulating his illusion node to bypass all the space rifts and continue to penetrate deeper into the void ahead.
"...until reaching the limit."
Angel had Kaier sense the space rift earlier to determine Kaier’s level. And Kaier did not disappoint him; in spatial perception, he completely outperformed him.
Kaier’s perception accuracy was precise, but the perception distance was limited; while Angel’s perception distance was long, unfortunately, the perception wasn’t precise.
By cooperating, they could compensate for each other’s weaknesses and sense deeper areas.
Although Kaier was still unclear on the actual operation, he basically understood Angel’s intent.
However, Kaier didn’t understand...
Clearly, there’s no path here, so why does Angel want to continue exploring?
The doubt in Kaier’s heart was also the doubt of others. Kaier didn’t dare to ask, but for the Black Earl and Wise Sovereign, there were no such taboos.
"Why do you want to explore the void in this direction?"
Almost simultaneously, both the Black Earl and Wise Sovereign expressed similar ideas.
Faced with questions from the two big figures, Angel shrugged, "Nothing, just want to make a small attempt."
Make an attempt? What kind of attempt?
The Wise Sovereign instinctively wanted to ask, but remembering the joint questioning with the Black Earl earlier, he guessed that the Black Earl might ask the same question, thus stopping his words.
But to the Wise Sovereign’s surprise, the Black Earl did not continue pursuing the question as if he already knew what Angel wanted to do.
Silence lingered in the air for a few seconds. Just as Wise Sovereign pondered whether to ask, Angel had already begun coordinating with Kaier.
This immediate start was not because Angel didn’t want to reply, but because he sensed that Dox’s "corpse-running" path was nearing its end...
To prevent delays caused by disputes, Angel quickly called Kaier to start the first deep attempt.
What Angel wanted to attempt was, naturally, not simply exploring the void’s end; rather, he could feel that the resonance with the staff before lay deeper in this direction. Thus, he wanted to see what lay deeper within.
Could the Wood Spirit be in the depths?
With this question in mind, Angel began spreading illusion nodes towards the distance. Under Angel’s guidance, Kaier attached his spiritual power to the core illusion node, starting to guide the direction of its advance.
Under Kaier’s guidance, their deep exploration encountered no major difficulties.
Though inevitably, a portion of energy was lost en route, as long as they avoided space rifts, the loss wouldn’t be significant.
As they continued into roughly two hundred meters, Angel faintly sensed they were about to reach the position resonating with the staff before.
But just then, Kaier suddenly halted.
"My lord, something seems wrong," Kaier suddenly said.
Angel: "What’s the matter?"
Kaier: "The surrounding spatial energy is becoming extremely chaotic, it’s very abnormal..."
With Kaier’s explanation, Angel also sensed that the surroundings seemed peaceful, but this was merely a façade. The spatial energy roiling in the void indeed started becoming unstable.
Although the frequency of encountering space rifts hadn’t changed, the speed at which these space rifts appeared and disappeared was much faster than what they had faced before.
For instance, at this moment, Angel saw a space rift appear not far away but was soon covered by a turbulent energy field. This covering did make the space rift disappear, but the danger wasn’t resolved.
Forcibly covering a space rift would increase the frequency of space rifts forming around it, creating a ’danger zone.’ Once inside such a zone, there’s a risk of accidentally stepping into freshly formed rifts.
"My lord, do we continue forward?" Kaier inquired.
Angel pondered for a moment and, after weighing the options, decided to continue forward. Since they were already close to the resonance point, and given the previous resonance, it might indicate that beyond lay a safe zone.
Fueled by this thought, they progressed.
However, they hadn’t gone very far when a crisis unfolded.
A newly formed space rift appeared suddenly near the core node.
This sudden appearance of a rift meant that previously there had been a forcibly covered space rift nearby.
And once such a danger zone forms, it spreads rapidly.
This implied that the area surrounding them might have already become... a danger zone.
Faced with this situation, Angel contemplated whether to withdraw.
Actually, losing some illusion nodes and spirit tentacles wasn’t a big deal for him, at worst he’d feel dizzy for a few seconds, but if Kaier lost his spirit tentacles here, though it wouldn’t be fatal, his spiritual power would be affected, preventing its use for a short time.
For a Transcendent, being unable to use spiritual power is greatly impactful.
And for someone like Kaier, a scholar type, spiritual power is the ticket to exploring the microscopic world. If damaged, he would find it impossible to conduct any research shortly afterward, which would be quite distressing.
Considering this, Angel ultimately decided to withdraw.