Chapter 596: Star Realm Fortress
After searching the entire underground research facility, Donald waved his sleeve and brought all the valuable items into the Kingdom of Truth. Compared to the space created by his divine power, the powerful Kingdom of Truth was undoubtedly safer. Among the relics of the Gnome Technology Empire, what Donald valued most were this elemental furnace and that large interdimensional teleportation matrix! If the elemental furnace could be reforged into a divine artifact using immortal materials, it would become a powerful energy core on par with an arcane core. As for the interdimensional teleportation matrix, it utilized space-traveling technology that even the gods had not mastered to bypass dimensional barriers. Even with just a brief glance, Donald saw its vast potential—with proper use, traversing the cosmic crystal walls might even be possible!
“With space-traveling technology, combined with the cosmic coordinates provided by Loki and the power of two high-tier divine artifacts, it’s quite possible for me to cross the temporal chaos and return to the universe where Earth is located after reaching the rank of an upper god…”
This idea was like a demonic thought—once it arose in his mind, it lingered persistently. This was indeed a chance to return to Earth! It seemed he still harbored a deep obsession with going home. Donald reflected on this before stopping further thought. Although he was just one step away from becoming a mid-tier god, the difference between an upper god and a mid-tier god was enormous, with the difficulty of breaking through comparable to that of an ordinary mortal trying to achieve immortality on their own. Thus, he still had no idea how far he was from the rank of an upper god. For now, he had to focus on the challenges ahead!
After obtaining many of the most valuable core relics from the Gnome Technology Empire, Donald left the ruins without delay. Unlike the difficulty of entering, exiting was much easier than he had expected. After diving into the Annihilation Zone, before he could think much, he was violently pushed out by an unknown force. It took only half a day for him to break free from the Annihilation Zone and reach the outer shallow areas. Though it was a pity he couldn’t acquire more Annihilation Crystals this time, Donald wasn’t disappointed at all. The gains from the Gnome ruins alone made the trip worthwhile. Moreover, he already had several Annihilation Crystals, leaving some surplus even after accounting for the materials needed to recreate a high-tier divine artifact. Donald had already planned how to use those remaining crystals!
As the most powerful equipment in his possession aside from high-tier divine artifacts, the weakness of the Whip of Order lies in its relatively fragile core. Without reaching the ultimate limit of order energy for this mid-tier divine artifact, it is virtually invincible; however, against higher gods or high-tier divine artifacts, its core becomes quite vulnerable without the bolstering effect of order energy! The Annihilation Crystal precisely addresses this major weakness, endowing the Whip of Order with defense capabilities and a sturdy core on par with those of high-tier divine artifacts. If there is still surplus after enhancing the Whip of Order, it can be added to the exclusive divine artifact, Fury of Nature, to strengthen the power of one’s primary authority! After joining forces with the Avatars of Nature from beyond the Annihilation Dimension, Donald’s two avatars returned along the same path. This time, without any need to navigate, they quickly left the secret route and reached the exit, returning outside the Meteor Belt. However, just as he was about to leave the star realm and return to his divine kingdom, he noticed a strangely shaped ship speeding toward him. This peculiar vessel resembled an ancient sailboat but was entirely composed of limestone combined with tentacles. It carried a group of alien-like creatures who, like pirates, shouted loudly as they charged toward him. Seeing this, Donald didn’t need to guess—he had encountered one of the most terrifying native hunters in the star realm: a Gisank hunting ship! This race, which hunted all foreign adventurers, was extremely troublesome even for ordinary true gods, but Donald was no ordinary true god. Upon seeing the appearance of the Gisank hunting ship, his first thought wasn’t to flee but rather to recall what Basedo had experienced earlier. Having strayed into the deeper regions of the star realm, Basedo first discovered an island with the ruins of a divine tomb before encountering the Gisanks. During his pursuit, he accidentally found this secret route and the hidden realm beyond it. “In other words, this entire area is territory of this Gisank clan, and their fortress is built atop a newly discovered divine tomb ruin.” Thinking of this, Donald became immediately interested in that divine tomb ruin. Compared to the rare Gisank families or small tribes, larger Gisank fortresses often preferred to be built on the remains of ancient dead gods. Therefore, seeing the sizable size of this Gisank hunting party, he assumed their entire tribe must also be large, requiring a substantial divine tomb island to accommodate their fortress.
Based on this, it can be guessed that the star island formed by that divine tomb site is likely quite large, at least belonging to the level of a mid-tier divine tomb site. It might even be of an upper-tier divine level!
Moreover, according to Basedo, the fortress on that divine tomb has only just begun to be built, which means the Gisank have not yet completely conquered the site, or they may have reached an agreement with the tomb’s master to coexist peacefully—this gives him a chance to intervene!
The terror of the Gisank lies in their ability to use the power of fate through speech magic; they can send a creature straight to the Book of Death just by speaking. Although not all Gisank’s speech magic attacks necessarily succeed, since they live in groups, dozens or hundreds of them casting curses at the same target—even true gods might not be able to escape!
However, Donald is no ordinary true god; such abilities have no effect on him because the Book of Fate in his possession is one of the most powerful entities under the authority of fate. Against the Gisank’s speech attacks, he not only remains unharmed but can even absorb and counterattack.
This is why Donald isn’t afraid of these Gisank!
Of course, what Donald has now is only a projection of the Book of Fate, capable only of protecting himself. To counterattack, he relies on the strength of his two avatars!
Facing the aggressive Gisank hunting ships, Donald’s natural guardian avatar stepped forward, with a shadowy image of a charred wooden page appearing in front of him, surrounded by an invisible glow.
The Gisank on the opposing ships chanted curses loudly, sending out silent waves of energy, but before they reached that glow, they seemed to be blocked by a transparent barrier, with all their speech magic power absorbed by it. At the same time, the shadowy image of the page appeared even more real.
Seeing their speech magic suddenly fail, the once arrogant Gisank became panicked. Despite their disbelief, they launched several more chaotic attacks, but the target remained unchanged.
Now, even these usually ferocious Gisank hunters began to fear. Whether humans or other creatures, they always feel fear toward the unknown.
Having absorbed the power from these waves of Word Spirit, the projection of the Book of Fate became even more solid, allowing for one more full-power attack. Originally, if this projection erupted once, it would disappear; now, it had such a safeguard. This was naturally a pleasant surprise for Donald!
Seeing the Gisank hunting ship turn around in panic and leave, Donald did not stop it. Instead, his two avatars followed closely behind the ship, secretly tracking it.
Searching for an ancient tomb site in the vast expanse of the interstellar void is extremely difficult even when it’s close by, without precise coordinates—one wrong move could lead to getting lost and encountering unknown dangers. So Donald was glad to have the Gisank hunting ship to guide him to the ancient tomb site where they were stationed.
The Gisank hunting ships moved at great speeds in the interstellar environment, faster than even half-god warriors known for their speed. It was hard for ordinary true god avatars to escape once pursued. But since Donald had been sent to track the Gisanks, he only needed a speed comparable to theirs; going slower wasn’t a problem, as the projection of the Book of Fate already carried the scent of those Gisanks. As long as he stayed within a certain distance, he wouldn’t lose them.
After tracking through the interstellar void for most of the day, they finally reached their destination. Gazing at the massive ancient tomb island from afar, Donald said excitedly, “Sure enough, it’s no ordinary ancient tomb!”
The scale of this ancient tomb site was not as large as those of higher-ranking gods he had seen, but it was still larger than those of ordinary mid-ranking gods. Donald had no intention of hiding his presence and followed right behind the hunting ship onto the island.
The moment this outsider, Donald, stepped into the territory of the ancient tomb site, alarms blared inside and outside the Gisank fortress that was under construction. The Gisanks immediately launched Word Spirit attacks at Donald, the invading outsider.
Naturally, the Guardian Avatars stood at the front, the Punishment Avatars covered the rear, and the projection of the Book of Fate created a barrier to protect them as they advanced toward the core of the ancient tomb, withstandsing these attacks.
The Gisank inhabitants had no idea that Donald could ignore Word Spirit attacks. The members of the hunting party had just returned and hadn’t had time to inform their peers about what had happened. “Come on! The more, the better!”
Donald deliberately slowed down, intending to endure more attacks from psychic forces so that the Book of Fate could absorb more power. Perhaps when he returned and the projection merged back with its original form, the power of this high-grade artifact would increase even further! After all, aside from the Star Realm, it was unlikely to find so much power related to the domain of fate elsewhere in the multiverse! Thus, Donald continued on his way past the fortress being built by this large Gisank tribe, enduring wave after wave of psychic attacks as he approached the core of the Sacred Tomb. When the Gisanks saw that their seemingly unstoppable attacks were ineffective, panic spread among them, and they retreated to their fortress without pursuing him further. Through this process of absorption, the projection of the Book of Fate gradually accumulated more power of fate, and the core of the Sacred Tomb ruins was now clearly in sight.