Divination

Soon, an Astromancer clad in black robes came before the princess. His long robes concealed all his features, making it impossible to tell his sex or build. An air of darkness and mystery surrounded him.

Before the Astromancer, the princess lost her cold, haughty air.

"Master Stars, Keluosi Nuomannuofu seeks your guidance. A pack of vicious magical beasts blocks our path. Neither attacking nor going around them is a good choice. What should we do to truly draw closer to the goal of our journey and take hold of my destiny?"

Chloe sounded like someone truly lost seeking a prophet's guidance. Her royal arrogance and bearing vanished entirely.

The Astromancer slowly raised her head. Beneath her hood was a withered, ravaged face, its skin as dry and wrinkled as the bark of a dying old tree.

She appeared, just barely, to be a woman. When she opened her eyes, they had no pupils, only broad expanses of white.

A face this horrifying would frighten even adults, let alone children.

But Chloe and Ymir were already accustomed to it. This Astromancer was also one of the most influential people in the party. All the party's mages had joined at her invitation.

The only two battle mages were her disciples as well.

So, whether because they needed her prophecies or wanted to win over someone of her power, Chloe and Ymir both had to show her sufficient respect.

Stars was, of course, not the Astromancer's real name. Everyone who joined the Astrologers' Association abandoned their former name and devoted all their energy to astrology.

Astrology sounded lofty and impressive, offering the ability to predict the future and see fate clearly, but only those who entered the profession knew its cruelty.

First of all, using one's mind to perceive an elusive, mysterious world was inherently fraught with danger. Some lost their way, some died, and some became monsters.

Even those who survived and could reliably make mental contact with the mysterious world were only called apprentices. Only after truly grasping a thread of fate within that world and making one or two accurate prophecies would they be granted a name.

Stars was one such name.

Hearing Princess Chloe's request, Master Stars nodded. First, she took out an exquisite bottle, tipped a strange pill out of it, and swallowed it.

Then she took out another pouch, drew some powder from it, and scattered it into the air before her. This powder was special, glittering silver like stars in the sky, very beautiful. It also floated directly in the air, completely unaffected by gravity.

Master Stars closed her eyes and murmured to herself for a while. A strange energy seemed to brush over the area, and both Chloe and Ymir could feel it clearly.

This was the prelude to a prophecy.

As the atmosphere grew increasingly cold and eerie, Master Stars opened a pair of eyes glowing blue.

A pair of deep-blue pupils emerged amid the whites of her eyes. These pupils did not seem to belong to a human. Once they appeared, they kept moving up, down, left, and right, like marbles dropped into her eye sockets.

They were observing the powder floating before her, searching for the threads of fate.

As the silver powder gradually disappeared, the divination ended, and Master Stars closed her eyes. Chloe and Ymir sat upright and solemn, waiting for the master's prophecy.

Had Zhang Han seen them entrusting their decisions to a prophet, he would have laughed his head off.

With his materialist education from childhood and his contempt for such feudal, anti-intellectual practices, Zhang Han scoffed at mysticism, just like an ordinary person from his country.

In his view, those were all scams invented to swindle money.

But this galaxy was special. Here, prophecies really could predict the future to a certain extent. This was also why Astromancers held such an exalted position here.

"I saw it. I saw a future in which Her Highness the Princess becomes Her Majesty the Queen. There is no doubt about it. This thread of fate shines brighter than the clearest thread I have ever seen. Follow those strange magical beasts. They are the key to the prophecy."

Stars's voice was exceptionally lovely. Without seeing her appearance, anyone would surely have mistaken it for the voice of a peerless beauty.

With that, Master Stars prostrated herself, kneeling in homage to Chloe.

Excitement rose in Chloe's mind. The feeling was like a poison she could not resist. She would possess power, possess everything.

Chloe did not step forward to help Master Stars up as she usually did. She turned her head and spoke to Ymir beside her.

"You heard the master. Gather everyone and follow those magical beasts. Find out where they came from, where they are going, and what is there." After speaking, Chloe thought for a moment. "No, we will go together. If we want the prophecy to come true perfectly, we must pay attention to every detail."

The sleeping Zhang Han had no idea danger was approaching. His incubation had entered a critical stage.

He had originally intended to sleep for only a little while, then look through the memories the Hive Mind had left him to learn and understand more about the swarm's past. But the drowsiness rising from the very depths of his mind kept him from waking at all.

This was his most vulnerable moment.

A squad of scouting knights trailed far behind the four Zerglings. With their scouting mage's Clairvoyance, the knights were not worried about losing them.

Keeping pace with the Zerglings while wearing heavy armor was simply very exhausting. Had the Zerglings not all been carrying prey several times their own weight, the knights would not have been able to keep up.

The panting scouting knights finally spotted their target, the magical beasts' nest, before their strength ran out.

Through the mage's Clairvoyance, they saw the Zerglings put the prey on their backs into a purple hole.

The hole soon secreted digestive fluids that covered the prey. Outside the hole, a tube connected it to an enormous cocoon. The cocoon pulsed and flickered, presumably incubating something dangerous.

The frightened scouting squad quickly brought back what they had seen. In their embellished account, the cocoon seemed to be some terrifying magical beast that had enslaved other magical beasts to nourish itself.

This was why magical beasts with completely different appearances and characteristics were actually working together to hunt.

After the knight delivering the report left, Chloe could no longer restrain her emotions. She laughed without restraint.

She had found her target, found her destiny in the prophecy.

Ymir also looked shocked. He had never expected this adventure to succeed, yet they had actually discovered a strange magical beast.

Moreover, judging from the intelligence, this strange magical beast had not hatched yet, which left them a great deal of room to act.

Clearly, this new magical beast was very powerful. If they could form a contract with it... could the princess truly be humanity's future empress?

Still half doubtful, Ymir was already looking at Chloe differently.