Vortex

Vortices—also known as the Shortcut of Fate, the Stepping Stone, and the Accursed's Final Stroke of Luck—were exceptionally rare natural wonders within the Sea of Knowledge. Natural wonders were entirely unlike anything else in the Void Realm. Knowledge creatures had habitats, while legacy islets and fortuitous encounter islets could remain unchanged for ten thousand years unless a sorcerer set foot on them. Natural wonders, however, appeared at random times and in random locations, vanishing after a certain duration. They felt more like fabricated rumors than anything else in Void Realm lore. If even the unluckiest sorcerer would inevitably encounter knowledge creatures, legacy islets, or fortuitous encounter islets in their lifetime, then even the luckiest sorcerer might go an entire lifetime without encountering a single vortex. It was truly the ultimate litmus test of luck. The reason those who stumbled upon a vortex became the target of such burning envy and jealousy was its tremendous power: Void Realm Relocation! A sorcerer who stepped into a vortex would emerge from another vortex elsewhere in the Sea of Knowledge. While that sounded wondrous enough, how could mere spatial teleportation evoke such desperate yearning from sorcerers? It was because the vortex was no simple relocation. Rather, it guided the sorcerer through a mysterious conduit within, carrying them across countless regions of the Sea of Knowledge in just a few seconds. At the same time, the fundamental law of the Sea of Knowledge—'the farther one voyages, the more sorcery power one absorbs'—remained fully in effect! If two vortices were separated by ten thousand li, then merely passing through this vortex conduit was equivalent to voyaging ten thousand li across the Sea of Knowledge, directly absorbing enough sorcery power to fully condense Silver Wings! How could this not drive sorcerers wild? In theory, an ordinary sorcerer needed only two to three years of voyaging to condense their Silver Wings—assuming they didn't die in the Sea of Knowledge. For beyond the 'death cooldown,' where higher sorcery power meant harsher death penalties, there was another Sword of Damocles hanging over every sorcerer's head: the more sorcery power one possessed, the greater the probability of encountering danger! Every time a sorcerer opened the Gate of Truth to enter the Void Realm, the location where they arrived was completely different from where their previous exploration had ended. The more abundant a sorcerer's sorcery power, the closer their arrival point would be to the core waters of the Sea of Knowledge. The legacy islets and knowledge creatures in the core waters not only yielded far richer spoils, but they were also vastly more perilous! Countless official sorcerers on the verge of condensing their Silver Wings were ambushed by knowledge creatures the instant they stepped into the Void Realm. Turning to flee, they would bump into even fiercer creatures, getting 'treated' by several knowledge creatures in turn until they were forced right out of the Void Realm. Exploring for a few minutes only to face a cooldown of a dozen days was often the harsh reality for these 'half-step peak' sorcerers. Thus, it was not without reason that vortices were jokingly called 'The Accursed's Final Stroke of Luck.' It didn't just imply that a sorcerer who found one burned through all their lifetime luck; it also meant that a sorcerer whose sorcery power skyrocketed would find exploring the high-difficulty areas of the Sea of Knowledge excruciatingly tough—perhaps even getting beaten into depression like a low-tier player queued into high-ranked matchmaking. Even so, not a single sorcerer didn't yearn for a vortex. And where the population of sorcerers was large enough, a lucky few who encountered one would pop up now and then—like Senior Leonie, who had thrashed Sonia that morning. Because she had condensed her Silver Wings remarkably fast, many students suspected she had hit a short-distance vortex, making everyone sour with jealousy! Listening to Sonia's explanation, Yaxiu couldn't help but grow excited as well. He was the one who needed strength most urgently right now. Every bit stronger he became, the greater his hope of breaking out of prison! Besides, having suddenly acquired three sorcery spirits, his sorcery power was clearly stretched thin. Heart Sword and Wind Wall were manageable, but the Earth Sword spirit was a two-winged sorcery spirit. Draining his sorcery power like a gushing faucet, it hadn't even unleashed a fifth of its true power. Earlier, Yaxiu had been able to show off in front of the Sword Princess by erecting a Sword Body Barrier that the Thunder Wielder couldn't pierce no matter how hard he tried. The cost, however, was that Yaxiu currently had less than a fifth of his sorcery power left. Next, he would have to figure out how to trick the Sword Princess into pulling more weight in combat. The small boat cut through layers of white mist, and soon the vortex appeared before them. True to its reputation as a natural wonder, the vortex was indeed exceedingly bizarre. Clearly a swirling, continuously spinning maelstrom, yet the surrounding waters remained as calm as passive onlookers, the current not disturbed in the slightest by the whirlpool. Even when the boat drew within two meters of the vortex, it felt not the slightest pull. A sorcerer with poor eyesight might swim right past it without ever realizing a natural wonder was right beside them. "Quick, go, go! The vortex could disappear at any second!" "Wait." Yaxiu noticed that upon entering the vortex's area, the map's exploration range suddenly stretched into two extraordinarily long paths. In the farthest terminal tiles of the two routes, two distinct prompts appeared: 'Wait a moment' and 'No danger, but you won't necessarily be randomized here.' "I think we'd better wait a bit." "Is that an effect of your perception ability?" "This vortex seems to lead randomly to two other vortices. One side requires waiting, while the other is safe." Last time, it was by waiting that they had gotten the chance to take advantage of the Foxlight Dragon falling asleep, so Sonia naturally trusted the Watcher's judgment. Yet after waiting a dozen seconds, seeing the vortex shrinking, she grew anxious despite herself. "If we can enter a vortex just once, it's worth it even if we die! It's only a few days of being barred from the Void Realm!" Yaxiu glanced at her. "If we can't enter the Void Realm for several days, the odds of me gathering all the spirits for the Severing Self miracle will be even slimmer." Sonia was struck speechless. Compared to life, the increase in sorcery power was indeed negligible, but still... She looked at the shrinking vortex, opening her mouth only to hesitate, hesitating only to open it again. "You want to go in first by yourself and have me wait until it's safe to enter?" Yaxiu saw through her thoughts in an instant. "It sounds viable, but in reality it won't work. Did you forget? In prison, I can't open the Gate of Truth. If you die, I won't be able to enter the Void Realm either. We're bound together—we rise together, and we fall together. "Still, I can't be sure my judgment is right. After all, there's a fifty-fifty chance of reaching the safe vortex, and even if luck is against us and we end up in the dangerous one, we won't necessarily die. But if we miss the vortex, it's truly gone. If you want to go, I don't mind." "You really don't mind?" "I don't." "You won't secretly hold a grudge and take revenge on me?" "I won't." "You won't suddenly dig this up someday to blame me?" "I won't." "Really?" "Really." "Watcher, you really are dishonest, deceiving even a female college student like me." Sonia sighed, staring dejectedly at the vortex. "If we really miss this vortex, every time you mess up in the future, I'm definitely going to bring this old debt back up and chew you out." "I honestly don't mind." "I don't believe you. If it were me, I'd hold a grudge for the rest of my life. Even on my deathbed, I'd remember that I missed the opportunity of a vortex." Yaxiu was exasperated. "That's you, not me. I'm not nearly as... petty as you." "I only believe in myself, so I believe you're the same kind of person." Sonia curled her lip. "I'm not so selfish as to assume everyone else is selfless. Anyway, I'm waiting with you this time, so you'd better remember that I'm making a huge sacrifice here. You'd best write down my merit in a little notebook and remember to share some perks with me when you get benefits in the future." Yaxiu paused slightly, suddenly feeling as though he had yet another reason to escape from prison. Were there really no strangers in this world worth caring about? That didn't seem quite true. "Of course. In the future, whenever I have a bite of meat to eat, I'll definitely call you over to smell the aroma." "You really are quite the loudspeaker..."