"Yilan?"
Saine put away the records before him, then asked, "You intend to have Yilan continue taking on the diverted load?"
"That's right," the Lord of Evil Swamp replied.
His tone was remarkably calm, as though he were merely mentioning something that would be easy to handle.
But Saine remembered perfectly well that the last time he had truly approached Yilan, he had ultimately managed to sever only a portion of Yilan's rule true body.
After all these years, the samples in his possession had been used over and over.
Yet there were still no new, reliable records of the condition of Yilan's main body.
Saine did not refuse this encounter.
He took some of the previously stored information out of the Magic Cube and, bringing the necessary equipment, headed into the depths of Evil Swamp Time-Space once more.
This time, his guide was the Lord of Evil Swamp's own will.
The constantly flowing Evil Swamp origin along the way parted of its own accord as he approached. Some areas that had once been difficult for the Mechanical Probes to cross could now be traversed with relative ease.
Saine did not take this as permission to release large amounts of probing power at will.
He recorded only the areas he actually passed through, and kept the relevant devices within his control at all times.
When he reached the edge of that expanse of starry space, the first thing he saw was a massive outline that had almost merged with the surrounding Evil Swamp.
Dense plague rules coiled around its exterior. The slightest fluctuation sent vast masses of gray-green origin surging outward.
He could still sense the aura of a level-12 life-form within it.
But without the Lord of Evil Swamp guiding him, even if Saine's Mechanical Probes had passed nearby,