"You're coming?"
Sonia looked puzzled, suspicion in her eyes as she glanced at Ash.
In a spellcaster's path of growth, Void Realm Exploration was undoubtedly an important part—perhaps even the most important part.
Most encounters, breakthroughs, and advancements in this world occurred in the Void Realm. Many spellcasters were willing to devote their entire lives to exploring it.
Compared to the Void Realm, reality was merely a stage for spellcasters to show off in their spare time.
Though the Void Realm was so important, no reliable guide to exploring it had ever emerged.
Perhaps such a guide existed, but it was beyond Sonia's current standing.
During class that afternoon, Sonia had specifically asked Professor Tello Zan whether he had any helpful tips about the Void Realm. However, Tello Zan merely spread his hands and said he had none.
"Spellcasters enjoy equal status precisely because we are all equally ignorant in the Void Realm."
Sonia knew Professor Tello Zan valued her highly. She could also tell he was a typical swordsman, too disdainful to lie and fool a weakling like her.
Even a Three-Wing Saint Domain Arcanist had no effective strategy, so Sonia had not held much hope for the Watcher.
"The Void Realm is dangerous," Sonia reminded him. "If I die here, I'll need three days back in reality to recover mentally."
Spellcasters could die in the Void Realm.
The most common way to die was, naturally, drowning.
When spellcasters wanted to explore the deep sea, or remained motionless in the water, they could be swallowed by the Sea of Knowledge.
That was why Sonia had been so surprised by the little boat—it meant they no longer had to worry about drowning.
Death in the Void Realm inflicted tremendous damage on a spellcaster's soul. The stronger the spellcaster, the worse the injury and the longer the recovery.
A novice spellcaster like Sonia only needed three days of rest. A proper Silver Arcanist needed at least fifteen days, a Gold Arcanist recovered by the month, and it was said that Saint Domain Artificers and Legendary Arcanists recovered by the year.
Being unable to explore the Void Realm meant one's growth rate dropped by ninety percent. Thus, spellcasters held many different views on Void Realm Exploration: some favored caution and tried to grow steadily, while others loved taking risks—win, and they got mansions and models; lose, and they became the model at the mansion.
Sonia had once leaned toward risk because she had nothing. But now, she leaned toward caution—after discovering her talent for Sword Art, Professor Tello Zan had judged, "Gold within twenty years won't be a problem. Holy Domain within forty is possible."
In Star Country, a Two-Winged Gold Arcanist counted as someone of some importance. Becoming a minor noble would be no problem, which could be said to fulfill Sonia's life goal.
If she could advance to the Three-Winged Saint Domain, she could even establish her own family and become famous for a time.
Therefore, Sonia's small-town mentality was perfectly normal. It was not that she did not know she had a brighter future ahead, but her straitened reality forced her to cling tightly to what she already possessed.
The world was beautiful and Worth Visiting; she could only agree with the latter half of that sentence.
Yet no matter how cautious she was, Sonia still had to explore the Void Realm. "Staying where you are" was not an option. Countless teachers, even Professor Tello Zan, had specifically warned her: never remain in the same place.
To this day, no one knew what happened if someone stayed in one place too long. But those who entered the Void Realm and refused to move soon stopped breathing in reality. Not even Healing Arcanists could save them, because their souls were no longer in their bodies.
Thus, there was a saying: if you stopped moving in the Void Realm, your body would assume you were dead and die on the spot.
"I heard that when you first enter the Void Realm, heading toward the thinnest White Mist is the safest route," Sonia said.
That barely counted as a strategy. At most, it was a small tip summarized by senior spellcasters at Sword Flower University. Even then, the success rate was under sixty percent, while the remaining forty percent of those surveyed encountered danger.
But on this completely unknown ocean, a sixty percent chance was already worth the gamble.
"No, we're going that way."
Ash pointed toward the thickest White Mist. His gaze could not penetrate it at all, and merely looking at it stirred a trace of fear. Sonia wanted to say something else, but the boat actually began sailing there on its own. Her attention immediately shifted. "You can control this boat? Did you bring it here?"
"Yeah."
"Then you lied to me about jumping into the sea just now!?"
Seeing Sonia tighten her grip on the Wooden Sword again, Ash hurriedly explained, "I only just discovered I could control this boat. When I told you to jump into the sea earlier, I genuinely meant it!"
"You genuinely wanted to see me make a fool of myself?"
"I genuinely wanted to see you all wet... Hey, hey, calm down. We've already entered an unknown area. We could encounter danger at any moment!"
White Mist rushed toward them, and the unknown could emerge at any time. Sonia could only sit down indignantly.
However, as they passed through layer after layer of White Mist, Sonia felt something flowing into her body. Her consciousness grew clearer and clearer, silver light gleamed from her skin, and a vast amount of knowledge about Sword Art suddenly surfaced in her mind.
This was why spellcasters had to explore the Void Realm—as long as they moved within it, they could automatically obtain the knowledge inside the Void Realm and condense their own knowledge into Silver Artificery!
When enough Silver Artificery settled and gathered, it could form the symbol of a Voidwing Artificer's strength: the Silver Wing!
Sonia suddenly understood why spellcasters loved immersing themselves in the Void Realm.
The feeling of gaining knowledge every second and growing stronger every moment was as comfortable as the first stretch of the morning.
While Sonia reveled in the pleasure brought by knowledge, Ash kept staring at the map in the Light Screen like a poor student fooling around during class.
At the center of the map was a small boat, surrounded by eight squares. At that moment, the boat was entering the square in the upper left.
That was right—this was the "Void Realm Exploration" mode provided by the game. When Ash moved the boat in the game, the boat in the Void Realm moved along with it.
Besides moving, Ash could also check the information on these eight squares:
"Waste of effort," "Seek Death," "waste of effort," "waste of effort," "waste of effort," "Worth Visiting," "A Bit Troublesome," "Better Not Go."
Among the eight prompts, "waste of effort" obviously meant there was nothing in the square. "Seek Death" meant danger. Ash could not figure out "Better Not Go," while "Worth Visiting" was clearly a hint given by the game.
Soon, after passing through layers of White Mist, an Island shrouded in dense fog appeared before them.
Seeing this, Sonia suddenly recalled that the place where the Watcher had put her through the Dream Realm Trial looked exactly like the Void Realm, did it not?
No wonder the Watcher had been so confident. He could even use the Void Realm to conduct trials, so exploring the Void Realm was naturally no challenge for him!
The boat slowly came to a stop. The moment the two stepped onto the Island, the dense fog suddenly scattered, revealing a Hunter wearing a wide-brimmed hat and carrying a Long Musket.
"Beyond seven steps, the musket is fast."
The Hunter raised his musket and aimed it at them. "Within seven steps, the musket is fast and true!"
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