As Evernight emerged from the park, she immediately noticed a vehicle speeding past. Unlike the cars in Okhema, these looked sleeker and more stylish, with a distinctly modern design.
This was easily understandable. Okhema, with its five million residents, was just one city. In contrast, this world seemed entirely dominated by Magitech, making automobiles a globally marketed commodity. Naturally, manufacturers would strive to differentiate their products with unique features to stand out from the competition.
As for the actual quality of these vehicles, Evernight couldn't tell. After all, she wasn't well-versed in Magitech, and judging solely by their appearance was impossible.
Heinrich's Divination Magic remained active. He pointed to a pedestrian crossing on the right side of the road and said, "This way."
As they moved further from the park, towering skyscrapers gradually lined both sides of the road. Giant screens, mounted on the twenty- or thirty-story buildings, flashed advertisements: a person holding a cup of coffee smiled and explained something, while another clutched an unfamiliar food item and made exaggerated expressions.
To Evernight, this place felt even more like her previous world than Okhema had.
As Evernight watched the advertisements, she realized she couldn't understand the local language.
Heinrich immediately cast a spell beside her: the First-Level Divination School spell Comprehend Languages. This spell allowed the target to understand all "structured languages" for one hour. Of course, animal sounds like meows and barks wouldn't be included; those would require Animal Communication for translation.
Despite being just a First-Level spell, its utility was astonishing. Heinrich thoughtfully cast it on Evernight.
As they listened to the advertisement jingles, they continued walking and soon arrived at a crossroads. Heinrich suddenly stopped. "The last location my Divination School prophecy pointed to seems to be right here," he said.
Evernight looked around. Apart from the larger crowd, the place seemed no different from anywhere else they'd been.
Heinrich's magic couldn't have simply made them appear in place. Should we just ask a random passerby?
Just as Evernight was pondering this, all the advertisements finished playing and didn't loop. The screens went dark, and all the pedestrians in the crossroads stopped in their tracks, gazing at the screens and murmuring among themselves:
"Hey, is it time yet?"
"Looks like it! It's already 3 PM. I didn't even notice. The live stream's about to start, right?"
"I'm so curious! What's the Outer World really like?"
The very next moment, all the screens that had gone black simultaneously lit up. A refined-looking man in a white lab coat and glasses stood in the center of the screens. He cleared his throat and began, "Greetings, everyone. You're likely already familiar with me, but I'll introduce myself again. I am Chief Magitech Doctor Ding Lang of the Federation. Today marks a momentous occasion for the entire Federation—a day that will be etched in our history!"
"Three centuries ago, we had already explored the entirety of our world. We discovered that this world has an end. Whether you travel east, west, south, or north, you'll eventually encounter an Air Barrier. After extensive research, we realized this barrier is like a thin eggshell, protecting us—the unhatched chicks within."
"At the time, humanity temporarily abandoned the idea of 'breaking' this egg and leaving our world, choosing instead to focus on advancing Magitech Technology. But today, after over three hundred years, our Magitech Technology has undergone a transformation beyond recognition!"
"We're no longer the unhatched chicks we once were. We've grown up! It's time to leave the embrace of our World Mother and explore what lies beyond!"
"What exactly is out there beyond the world? Are there other worlds suitable for us to inhabit? Are there other intelligent life forms? These questions have been tormenting me relentlessly, like a feather gently tickling my mind, making my curiosity itch. But now, I can finally take the first real step toward finding the answers!"
"Alright, let's switch our perspective to the scene. The first Outer World Voyage Operation is about to begin!"
As Magitech Doctor Ding Lang finished speaking, the screen shifted to an open area where a massive aircraft, over a hundred meters long and sixty meters wide, was parked on the ground. Its design closely resembled the planes Evernight remembered from her previous life: a central fuselage flanked by two wings.
The key difference, however, was that this aircraft was a product of Magitech, powered by magic. Its surface was covered in dense arrays of magical runes, especially the wings, which were practically saturated with them, like they had been brushed with a layer of blue paint, leaving no empty space.
Heinrich glanced at the screen and couldn't help but exclaim, "Incredible technology! If this works, we could bypass the world's natural barrier and easily reach the outside, right?"
This world seemed to lack deities, and thus lacked the impenetrable World Barrier of the Main World. However, that didn't mean this world had no Barrier at all. Every world possesses a thin, innate Barrier; otherwise, what would prevent things from falling into the World Bubble as it drifted haphazardly through the Pitch-Black Sea, or keep someone from being flung out?
Ding Lang's analogy was perfect: the world's natural Barrier was like an eggshell.
But eggshells are notoriously fragile. Any larger animal could crush one underfoot. Considering the advanced Magitech of this world, its history likely spanned considerable time. The fact that it had remained unnoticed by the Outer Gods for so long was, in a sense, remarkably fortunate.
Evernight could already anticipate the next development. She watched as the countdown timer slowly lit up on the screen. All the pedestrians at the intersection began shouting in unison:
"Ten!"
"Nine!"
-
"Three!"
"Two!"
"One!"
"Liftoff!"
The massive aircraft didn't need a runway to accelerate; it ascended straight up from its launchpad. After reaching an altitude of roughly 300-400 meters, it paused, adjusted its angle, and pointed its nose straight toward the sky.
With a thunderous roar, azure flames erupted from the aircraft's rear, propelling it forward like an arrow shot from a bow, streaking toward the Outer World.
Witnessing this, Evernight could easily surmise that this very act of exploring the Outer World had likely drawn the attention of the Outer Gods, leading to their discovery by the Mother of Flesh and triggering the cataclysm that would doom their world.
The livestream, broadcast a millennium before the world's destruction, continued uninterrupted. The colossal aircraft soon reached the world's original Barrier and pierced through it effortlessly. This was an utterly absurd feat, akin to a chick suddenly extending its leg through an unbroken eggshell.
The Barrier of the Prime Material Plane was essentially an upgraded and reinforced version of the world's original Barrier, forged by the Twelve True Gods. Heinrich, having studied the Barrier for an extended period, possessed an intimate understanding of its properties.
He quickly explained the difficulty to Evernight, saying, "It's unimaginable that this world's Magitech could have advanced to such an extent."
By then, the live broadcast on the large screen had switched to an interior view of the aircraft after it left the world. Two Magitech Master pilots in thick protective suits were visible, sitting solemnly at the controls. As they gazed out the cockpit window at the pitch-black void, their faces, while maintaining their serious demeanor, began to betray faint hints of fear.
This was humanity's primal reaction to darkness and the unknown. The reality beyond their world defied all their expectations. Before this moment, some had speculated it would be a "larger world," while others envisioned a dazzling, boundless cosmos. Yet no one had imagined it would resemble a deep sea—utterly, unrelentingly pitch-black.
The two Magitech Masters slowly rotated the aircraft, aiming the observation window toward the direction from which they had emerged. They then spotted something resembling a bubble, within which a ghostly reflection of their world shimmered. The sight was utterly magnificent and beautiful.
This revelation instantly dispelled the Magitech Masters' lingering fear, replacing it with the exhilaration of children seeing the true form of their world for the first time after being away from home.
One Magitech Master exclaimed, "So that's it! I understand now! The world outside is like a vast sea, and our world is just one of the countless tiny bubbles within it!"
The other Magitech Master couldn't help but murmur, "It's... beautiful."
The aircraft then began circling the World Bubble, meticulously examining every detail of the outer world. The live broadcast continued uninterrupted, allowing everyone in their world to witness the spectacle. Even the passersby near Evernight wore expressions of excitement and awe.
Just then, the jellyfish she had deployed earlier transmitted the information they had gathered. Evernight narrowed her eyes slightly and began remotely receiving the data.
Their world currently consisted of a single nation, the Kanas People's Federation. In the past, the region had been divided into numerous warring states. However, once exploration of the world's limits revealed the existence of the World Barrier, these nations united.
In this world, nearly everyone was a Magitech Master, much like how physics and chemistry dominated Evernight's previous life. From childhood to adulthood, all their education focused on Magitech Technology.
With the world's leadership composed entirely of Magitech Masters, the pursuit of knowledge, like that of Wizards, was an innate instinct. When faced with a common challenge, they united as if confronting a shared enemy, rendering their internal conflicts insignificant.
Thus, the Kanas People's Federation was born, dedicated to collaborative research.
However, humanity's inherent thirst for knowledge also proved to be the core reason for this world's eventual demise. During a live broadcast, after observing their Main World, a Magitech Master declared, "Alright, let's prepare to launch the Detection Beacons to explore this space and search for traces of other worlds!"
As he pressed several buttons on his console, the aircraft's hull slowly opened, releasing a dense swarm of missile-shaped beacons in all directions. The tip of each beacon pulsed with white light every second—a detection method akin to a bat's echolocation, only far more advanced and with a much greater range.
The beacons, each trailing a long blue tail of flame, soared in all directions. Seeing this, Heinrich couldn't help but remark, "These people still don't realize the implications of what they're doing."
"If they had just stayed holed up in their own world, enjoying their lives, they probably could have avoided this impending catastrophe."
Evernight shook her head. "But that was never an option."
Every inhabitant of this world was a Magitech Master, and their fundamental drive was the pursuit of knowledge—an inevitable step in their evolution.
After a pause, Evernight continued, "There's likely no more useful information to be gleaned from this era. Let's accelerate forward to the subsequent memories."
After all, such a probing device wouldn't yield results quickly. It would undoubtedly need to be deployed for an extended period.
With a mental command, Evernight sped up the surrounding crowd—the motionless spectators watching the live broadcast—until they became a blur. Like a video playing at twenty times its normal speed, the figures moved like shadows, darting past Evernight and Heinrich.
The sky abruptly darkened, then just as quickly brightened again within seconds. Darkness returned, and the cycle accelerated rapidly. Evernight quietly watched the towering skyscraper's massive display screen, silently waiting. If the probes detected anything significant, the live broadcast would likely resume.
Heinrich, observing the scene, couldn't help but marvel. "It feels like this entire world is just a toy in your hand."
Evernight corrected him. "More accurately, it's this world's memories. In my hands, they indeed feel like toys."
Moments later, Evernight suddenly announced, "Got it."
The accelerated time instantly reverted to normal. On the giant screen, Magitech Doctor Ding Lang was still visible, his face flushed with excitement as he exclaimed, "Good news! Among the two thousand-plus detection beacons we've launched, the first batch's A-007 has detected a reaction!"
"According to its readings, it has discovered a massive object in the distance—most likely another world!"