Chapter 437 Is the Speed of the Rainbow Ship Increasing?
An item notification popped up in front of Sterl.
[the Compass of Desire]
[Category: Special Item]
[Description: A unique compass that symbolizes the ability to reveal all things, originally existing in myth as a creation, now inexplicably born into the world.]
[Effect: Depending on the category of the item being searched, pressing the corresponding emblem will immediately initiate the search. The compass will continuously point the way; within a continent, it will show green; within a Crystal Barrier Galaxy, it will show blue. If the location of the searched item is within one kilometer, the compass will turn gold.]
"Indeed, the effect has significantly enhanced; it's almost a transformation!" Sterl murmured with excitement.
He looked at the slowly coming to a stop Rainbow Ship and didn't immediately activate the effect of the Compass of Desire; instead, he frowned slightly.
"That's strange!"
"Logically, it shouldn't take less than four days to reach the Far North, right?"
"Yet we arrived a whole day early??"
With Sterl's cautious nature, any unusual occurrences would prompt him to pause, think carefully, and then proceed.
But this time, after contemplating, he didn't see why arriving a day early would pose any issues.
The Rainbow Ship system of the Hall of Valor always operated at maximum capacity; there was no way anyone could deliberately arrange for Sterl to arrive early to ambush him.
The Rainbow Ship simply didn't have that capability!
But then, why had they arrived a day earlier?
Sterl was puzzled. "I didn't encounter any special spatial nodes or fluctuations on the way."
"The voyage process seemed theoretically normal."
After pondering for a moment, he decided not to dwell on it.
He quickly disembarked and then activated the Compass of Desire.
Sterl pressed the emblem representing the item and silently recited—
"Help me search for the Soul Treasure."
With a series of crackling sounds, the pointer on the Compass of Desire spun rapidly.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
The pointer whirled, producing a vibrating sound, before finally coming to a stop.
The compass emitted a bright blue light, pointing directly west!
"That's completely opposite to the continent I want to go to…" Sterl shook his head, a bit regretfully.
He had originally hoped this trip could achieve three goals at once: obtain the Soul Treasure, level up to legendary status, and acquire the legacy of the Starry Clan.
Unfortunately, Sterl's luck had already run out in [Inquire Within], and recovering it would take time.
Sterl wasn't disheartened, though; he prepared to deal with the other matters at hand first.
At the very least, he had confirmed through the Compass of Desire that there was a Soul Treasure within a Crystal Barrier Galaxy's range from his location.
This meant there was definitely a Soul Treasure somewhere in Alpha 8!
As for whether the Compass of Desire might point to another Crystal Barrier Galaxy adjacent to Alpha 8, causing the straight-line distance between Sterl and the treasure to fall short of one Crystal Barrier Galaxy?
That would significantly increase the difficulty of finding the treasure, as crossing the gap between Crystal Barrier Galaxies required special items.
Even gods could not easily travel to other worlds!
Fortunately, Sterl was well aware—this was impossible.
The distance between each Crystal Barrier Galaxy far exceeded the size of the Crystal Barrier Galaxy system itself.
"Though I can't solve everything at once, being able to obtain the Soul Treasure without going to the upper realms is still quite good."
After acquiring Infinite Space Insight, Sterl's intuition had been greatly enhanced; he had a feeling that the Soul Treasure would bring immense benefits.
Subsequently, Sterl sent out Bionic Tear to scout while he hid in a small world, making his way forward. Find exclusive stories on m_v l|e-NovelBin.net
Beside him, a group of players who had arrived in the Far North approached with enthusiasm.
"Lord Moffat, pardon our intrusion along the way."
"For this journey to the extreme north, we are relying entirely on you!"
"Sir, here's the map; take a look."
...
After boarding the Rainbow Ship, Sterl disguised himself as an ordinary demigod, and there were quite a few legendary and demigod-level players aboard as well.
During the few days of sailing, there were minor frictions among the players.
In his role as Moffat, Sterl easily suppressed any conflicts, and in the eyes of all the players, Moffat was undoubtedly a talented demigod, far surpassing his peers in combat power, and needed to be courted.
Everyone was eager to please, and among them was a girl dressed in gothic attire, pale-faced and seemingly from a special race, gazing longingly at Sterl.
She was a demigod.
At this moment, however, she followed Sterl with a rather humble demeanor.
"Sir, you promised to protect me when the time comes."
The girl let out a coy laugh.
Sterl nodded casually.
This woman had actively taken on the role of Sterl's toy on the Rainbow Ship.
She had a good figure, and her racial talents provided a unique warmth that fluctuated in temperature, which Sterl found quite enjoyable.
However, compared to the beauties at his own home, she lacked competitiveness.
Even now, Sterl didn't even know her name.
She also intended to go to the continent ruled by Ashen, and the price for Sterl's attention was simply to help block a flawed demigod.
To this, Sterl had agreed while on the Rainbow Ship.
He had always concealed his strength, but now the power he displayed was merely the tip of the iceberg; it allowed him to indulge and enjoy himself, which was not a bad thing.
As for intercepting the demigod, that was a simple task.
Sterl was generally easy to talk to when it didn't involve personal interests.
He took the initiative to wrap his arm around the girl, smiling as he caressed her pale skin, which felt remarkably smooth.
"No problem, you can rest assured."
Then he turned back to his companions.
"If a demigod-level boss appears near the teleportation array, you don't need to intervene."
Sterl reassured the friends he had made on the Rainbow Ship, adopting the demeanor of a warm-hearted big brother.
...
Then the group began their journey.
In the Far North, the spatial forces were extremely chaotic, and Sterl's party couldn't use teleportation or similar methods; they could only walk.
Sterl trudged through the snow, his feet sinking and rising unevenly, as the frenzied wind and snow whipped around him, transforming him into a snowman-like figure.
He advanced slowly towards the teleportation array.
The numerous legendary and demigod players behind him looked at him with admiration.
"The frozen soul snow of the Far North has no effect on Lord Moffat at all!"
"How lucky we are to be accompanying this powerhouse!"
...
It took Sterl and the others over four hours to finally catch a distant glimpse of—
A magnificent golden energy driving in a slow elliptical trajectory.
"We've arrived."
Sterl exhaled a breath of warm air.
The teleportation array, capable of spanning multiple continents, was indeed extraordinary; it required not only a terrifying amount of energy but also relied on the earth's gravitational forces.
As an Array Master, Sterl understood that the Far North, being the closest location on the Vastor continent to the Crystal Barrier Galaxy's barrier, had the most chaotic and surging spatial energy, which was necessary to transport individuals over vast distances.
Due to the lack of nearby points connecting to the Crystal Barrier Galaxy, Sterl went there and is unable to teleport back.
Of course, he had prepared a return item that would allow him to instantly return to the Hall of Valor.
"This kind of power…"
"If I could master it and transform it into Law or even divine authority…"
Sterl gazed longingly into the sky, witnessing a sight that could not be seen elsewhere.
The teleportation array relied not only on spatial power but also on the thin membrane and folds of the Crystal Barrier Galaxy to facilitate movement.
Thus, Sterl observed a strange, semi-transparent wall, shimmering like crystal glass, stretching across the sky, accompanied by endless wind and snow!
"Wait, that is…"
In the next moment, Sterl's expression changed slightly.
As he focused his attention, he was astonished to find that the Crystal Barrier Galaxy was layered, twisting in a vortex-like manner, almost like a thousand-layer cake!
The core of the vortex was not in the Far North but in an even more distant area.
However, the Crystal Barrier Galaxy was an incredibly hard creation; if forcibly distorted, it would only lead to one result.
Crack! Crack!
From afar, Sterl could hear the sound of the crystal wall seemingly on the verge of shattering.
No, it was already breaking!
Sterl could see countless glimmering shards falling from the sky, and one even landed in his palm.
At the moment he witnessed the Crystal Barrier Galaxy shattering, a profound sense of terror surged within him.
It was akin to the natural human instinct to feel uneasy in the presence of darkness or snakes.
As a being existing in Alpha 8, he had relied on the protection of the Crystal Barrier Galaxy to live peacefully.
Now, with the Crystal Barrier Galaxy breaking apart, Sterl felt an instinctive unease and panic!
Even though he didn't understand what the shattering of the Crystal Barrier Galaxy meant.
"Damn it! What the hell is going on?"
Sterl couldn't help but curse inwardly.
He realized why the journey to the Far North had been a day shorter.
The shattering of the Crystal Barrier Galaxy was caused by the vortex-like distortion, compressing the entire world's size.
The closer one got to the Far North, the greater the degree of deflection and compression.
The journey on the Rainbow Ship had seemed fairly normal at first; however, as they approached their destination, the world itself was being increasingly compressed.
It wasn't that the speed of the Rainbow Ship had increased; rather, the distance to the destination had shortened.
During the latter part of the journey, Sterl mostly saw an unchanging landscape of ocean icebergs.
Having never been there before, he hadn't noticed the compression.
Now, Sterl finally understood!
Crack! Crack!
The sound of breaking continued to echo.
The degree of distortion and the accelerating rate of distortion were constantly increasing!
Sooner or later, the entire world would be compressed to a fraction of its original size by the vortex!
Sterl felt a chill run down his spine.
He thought—
Wait, the Far North was merely an area close to the membrane of the Crystal Barrier Galaxy, not the center of the distortion, and already visible changes were occurring.
What would the core of Alpha 8 look like now?
Sterl looked back up at the sky.
His high level of spatial mastery allowed his gaze to pierce through the membrane of the Crystal Barrier Galaxy.
To his horror, he discovered that in the vast unknown world outside, everything was also twisting, transforming into a vortex!