Chapter 811: Rope Experiment

Another order of knights accompanying the fleet to Flame Island was the Black Horse Island Order of Knights led by Fox. Their mission was not to explore the forests but to protect Kindling Plains and the deployed mages there.

The Magic Guild planned to establish a branch on Kindling Plains. From then on, the mages would relocate there, joining the knights in exploring the vast Lisztian forests. Liszt had gradually transformed these mages into scholars and experts, dedicating their lives to scientific research.

As for the mages sent to Kindling Plains, those with questionable loyalty were selected.

Given Flame Island's isolation, once these mages arrived at Kindling Plains, they would be cut off from the outside world. Even if they were spies from other nations, they would have no choice but to work obediently for Liszt. By the time the passage between Flame Island and the outside world was established years later, they would already be branded as citizens of the Flame Kingdom, with no way to change that.

June 22.

The weather on Black Horse Island was clear.

The Flame led the way, followed by ten framed vessels, setting sail in grand formation.

Standing at the bow, Liszt looked at Acheronides, who sat properly and no longer buried her head in books. He asked with concern, "How are you holding up, Acheronides? Controlling eleven large ships must be exhausting."

Acheronides nodded. "It's a bit strenuous, but reducing the speed to 300 kph would make it easier."

The sailing distance from Black Horse Island to the Great Whirlpool was 4,200 km. At 300 kph, it would take 14 hours, including rest stops, allowing them to arrive within a day.

"Then slow down. Don't overexert yourself."

Thus, the fleet proceeded toward the Great Whirlpool at 300 kph.

Along the way, they docked at three island camps: the Mangrove Town Camp on the first island of the First Archipelago, the Crescent Town Camp on Crescent Island in the Middle Archipelago, and the Greenlight Town Camp on Midway Island. One purpose was to allow knights and civilians to disembark and rest, alleviating seasickness. The other was to deliver food, jade, and magic potions to the Lightgreen Gem Dragon.

Lightgreen Gem Dragon Ethan lived comfortably on Midway Island, where numerous magic beasts roamed freely for him to hunt. The lacking jade and magic potion resources were periodically replenished by Liszt.

His body had almost fully recovered.

In time, Liszt planned to personally ride him and fly to the Great Whirlpool, passing through the Magic Teleportation Circle to settle on Flame Island. There, a suitable location would be chosen to build a dragon lair, allowing the Lightgreen Gem Dragon to slowly produce light green gems—a market always in high demand, ensuring steady sales.

Various magic-powered equipment and enchanted arms required gems as raw materials. Such massive consumption kept gem values consistently high.

After a friendly exchange with Ethan, Liszt returned to the fleet.

They set off immediately, arriving at the Whirlpool Archipelago an hour and a half later and docking at Whirlpool Town on Whirlpool Island. Whirlpool Town was still in its infancy, and the magic laboratory was makeshift. Liszt held a group meeting here, primarily discussing the next day's supply retrieval operation.

After Acheronides traversed the Great Whirlpool, the ten framed vessels would need to be manually sailed into the whirlpool.

Timing had to be precise so Acheronides could prepare in time, using hydraulic vortices to catch the ships and prevent them from crashing out of the whirlpool's vortex.

Once everything was arranged,

Early the next morning, the fleet set off again, anchoring near the Great Whirlpool. Before crossing, Acheronides conducted another experiment—the rope experiment.

This experiment aimed to determine whether the spatial wormhole connected by the Great Whirlpool was real or unreal, as well as how the wormhole linked regions thousands of kilometers apart.

A rope as thick as a wrist, woven from Hemp Rope Vine, was held by Leo.

One end was tied to a massive stone to accelerate its descent. Liszt and Acheronides rode a dragon together, slowly flying above the Great Whirlpool. Directly over the vortex's abyss, they suddenly released the stone tied to the rope. The stone plummeted rapidly, uncoiling the rope rapidly.

As the stone fell into the swirling depths of the whirlpool's center, a bright light swiftly engulfed it through the Dragon Eye Trajectory. Simultaneously, the rope Leo held jerked violently.

Leo's body was whirled into a violent spin.

The rope's end slipped from his grasp, swiftly pulled into the vortex's abyss. All this happened in the blink of an eye, barely perceptible to the naked eye.

"Hold on, Leo!"

Liszt and Leo were in perfect sync, frantically flapping their wings, barely managing to steady themselves at the edge of the vortex abyss before rising again.

"Brother," Acheronides called out nervously.

"It's fine. The pull on the rope was unimaginable—even Leo couldn't hold onto it," Liszt said with relief.

The wrist-thick rope woven from Hemp Rope Vine was a super-strong cable even Leo couldn’t snap. Thankfully, it wasn't tied directly to Leo's leg, or he’d have been yanked straight into the whirlpool.

"Was it that repulsive force from the wormhole?"

"I don't know."

Liszt shook his head—he truly didn’t know where this force came from.

But Acheronides, deep in thought, pulled out the magic platform. After a brief wait, she connected with the magic platform at the Ember Origin Camp. They got a quick reply: the test boulder had already dropped, followed by over a hundred meters of cable.

Acheronides analyzed, "There are two possibilities. One is that the wormhole space is real, and its internal repulsive force exerted a force too strong to grip on the rope. The other is that the wormhole space is non-real—or rather, space was compressed—causing the rope to move too fast for Leo to hold."

Liszt gazed into the distance and nodded. "Makes sense."

"Brother, let’s cross too. Acheronides was itching to test her theory and observe the details of the Magic Teleportation Circle again."

"Alright!"

With a thought, Leo immediately folded his wings and sank like a stone into the vortex abyss.

Boom!

They were now inside the wormhole space. In the Dragon Eye Trajectory’s vision, a dense web of magic lines outlined the winding spatial passage.

The Magic Web shimmered faintly around the passage.

Traversing it again—this ancient Archmage’s masterpiece—Liszt was still deeply awed. The Magic Web’s endless embrace, ripping through its fabric, all delivered a powerful visual impact. But unlike the first crossing, this time Acheronides was with him.

Her Magic Eye wasn’t as sharp as the Dragon Eye Trajectory, so she had to ask Liszt about many details.

The few-minute journey passed in questions and answers. The next moment, light exploded across their vision as they burst out of the wormhole passage, pushed by a tremendous repulsive force through the vortex exit. Leo flapped his wings repeatedly to stabilize, and as their vision steadied, the scenery of Flame Island came into view.