Chapter 848: Opening the Magic Door

By mid-November,

The potato plantation of the Grand Sprite Cookie had long been completed. Apart from Liszt coaxing Cookie into scattering numerous potato seedlings, the knight order also gathered many wild potatoes from the wilderness, all planted in the plantation. Over the following days, various spirit bug plants took root one after another, and plantations were built side by side.

As the knight order conquered several large tribes, they rescued eight more spirit bugs, which were handed over to Liszt for contracts. Plantation plans were quickly arranged for each of them.

All the plantations were vast in scale, though the plants within them were sparse.

Nevertheless, the Smoke Mission was successfully completed.

"Task completed. Reward: discovery of a new island."

The reward had been issued, but Liszt had yet to receive a report from the exploration fleet. He couldn’t wait for it, however, as a new task had already been announced.

"Task: Acher has perfected all the detailed steps of the Magic Gate experiment. Now is the time to witness the miracle, yet behind the miracle lies countless efforts. Please assist Acher in completing the Magic Gate experiment. Reward: Acher’s new elemental avatar."

"The Magic Gate experiment is finally about to begin..." Liszt wasn't surprised in the least. Acher often discussed the progress of the experiment with him, so he was fully briefed and always ready to work alongside the Invisible Dragon Bard to contribute to the Magic Gate project.

After pondering the reward of the Smoke Mission for a while, he wondered aloud, "Acher’s new elemental avatar—what could it be? She has already mastered water and ice elemental avatars, and the next target was set as earth... It’s likely earth, unless something unexpected happens."

Soon,

He arrived at the wizard's tower and found Acher writing notes. "Acher, when will the Magic Gate experiment begin?"

"Acher is currently writing up the procedure for the Magic Gate experiment. Once done, we’ll need your and Bard’s complete coordination. We’ll likely rehearse for about a week before officially starting the experiment in a week’s time." She looked exhausted, and her eyes were unusually bloodshot.

For the sake of the Magic Gate experiment, she had hardly slept lately.

Liszt was genuinely worried. "Since the theory is complete, there’s no need to rush the practice. After finishing the details, take a good rest. No more high-intensity work—your well-being comes first, more important than any magic or experiment, understand?"

Acher smiled sweetly. "Mm-hmm, I understand."

Tousling her azure-blue hair, Liszt had a fleeting thought, as if she were still that fragile small mermaid rather than the celebrated Archmage receiving homage from wizards.

...

*Magic Gate Experimental Protocol* was eventually completed overnight by Acher.

After handing it to Liszt, she spent more time carefully explaining the details before he forcibly sent her off to rest.

Holding the notebook, Liszt leaned against the Invisible Dragon Bard and read meticulously.

The experiment looked impossible, but the details were thorough. The main idea was to open nodes in two material spaces and then connect them by piercing the magical weave. The process was complex, but Bard’s abilities were sufficient to accomplish it—opening two interconnected magic gates.

Just as he was familiarizing himself with the details, the reward from the Smoke Mission finally arrived.

At last, the exploration fleet reported good news: they had discovered an island about five hundred kilometers west of the Flame Archipelago.

After joint exploration by three fleets, they confirmed it was a new archipelago. Though the islands weren’t large—perhaps even smaller than the Vortex Islands—their location was advantageous, lying along the route from the Flame Archipelago to the mainland, significantly shortening the sailing distance.

"Order Captain Yevich to continue leading the exploration fleet toward the Legendary Continent, blazing a sea route for the Flame Archipelago and investigating the mainland coastline... Determine how far the Flame Archipelago is from the mainland and which kingdom this coastal region belongs to."

After a pause, Liszt added, "Inform Yevich that the moment he reaches the mainland coastline, he will be promoted to Count."

"Yes, Your Highness," replied the twins Lucy and Ruth.

As message runners, they had performed excellently and earned Liszt’s trust. After training under Acher for a short time, they had both learned foundational spells, shedding their status as magic apprentices and graduating to full mages. They were becoming increasingly competent as Acher’s assistants.

A week passed in what felt like moments.

The well-rested Acheronides began presiding over the Magic Door experiment.

Liszt and Bard had already memorized the operation manual, mastering every detail. Similar to the previous node observation experiment, Acheronides set up two large magic arrays, one to the south and the other to the north of Vortex Mountain.

After activating the first magic array, Liszt and Bard merged as one being, swiftly breaking through to the power level of an adult dragon with the array's power, then forcefully opening a node at the boundary of the material plane.

They then rushed to the second magic array and, with the same dominance, opened another node.

Following the experiment's predetermined steps, the man and dragon entered the world beyond the material plane through the nodes. In their crystalline-white vision, the two adjacent nodes stood out with crystalline clarity.

"Bard, time to work! Construct a magic conduit between the nodes, complete the node traction, and rupture the magic net to create a true spatial passage!" Liszt's mind was razor-focused, leaving no room for delay. Astride the invisible dragon Bard, he began releasing spatial magic, using the invisible dragon itself as a bridge to connect the two nodes.

Once the magic power linked them, the mutual attraction between the nodes became tangible.

"Let's begin!"

"Hiyah!"

Bard spread his wings and surged with power, his claws grasping fiercely into the ink-black void, seizing the connected strands of spatial magic. With a titanic pull, he flew outward, stretching and guiding the magic threads, drawing the two nodes closer together. Ripples spread through the extradimensional space, revealing faint traces of the magic net.

"Now!"

"Unleash!"

Liszt keenly sensed the magic net's turbulence. Man and dragon erupted with primal power, heaving with their combined might. In the next instant, something in the void seemed to shatter as the spatial magic threads swiftly formed a tubular passage. This passage punched through the magic net, breaking free from its confines.

Unlike the wormhole conduit of the Great Vortex Magic Teleportation Circle, this passage was unstable. Under the magic net's relentless compression, it soon began destabilizing. The two material nodes also began to waver.

"Go, Bard! Test the passage's stability!" Without wasting a second, the pair flew into the newly formed channel.

To the left was the magic array south of Vortex Mountain; to the right, the one to the north.

Liszt chose left first. The spatial passage was brief—a blink, and they passed through the fluctuating exit, arriving in the real material world at the southern magic array's entrance.

The entrance shimmered with an eerie azure glow, swirling inward from every angle to form a vortex-like portal. Without hesitation, Liszt charged back in, re-entering the spatial passage. The channel was already fracturing under the magic net's pressure.

Not daring to linger, the pair sped through at top velocity, bursting out from the other exit.

They emerged at the northern magic array's entrance.

The moment Liszt exited, the blue magic aura at the entrance guttered briefly before exploding into nothingness. The magic array crumbled, its precious materials drained of magic power, rendered useless.

Yet Liszt bellowed with triumph, leaping off the invisible dragon's back. "Acheronides, the experiment succeeded! We’ve opened the Magic Door!"

Before the magic array, Acheronides' eyes became swirling vortices, as if she had witnessed every detail of the spatial passage through Liszt's two crossings.

A smile curled at her lips. "Mmmhmm!"