Chapter 653 – Depart! The Well of the Sky

The moment she accepted the pull of the Well of the Sky, Mo Lan experienced the dizzying sensation of completely losing control of her body for the first time in a long while.

Spatial power surged around her like a raging tide, not enough to injure her, but far from pleasant.

This crude method of teleportation reminded her of her clumsy days when she first entered the academy.

Fortunately, her years of studying Spatial Magic had not been in vain.

Mo Lan quickly regulated her breathing, converting the mana within her body into spatial power to construct a defensive barrier, isolating the chaotic spatial fluctuations from the outside. She found her balance amid the turbulent energy currents, narrowly avoiding the indignity of being tossed about helplessly by spatial power.

But the teleportation energy this time was simply too chaotic. Mo Lan narrowed her eyes—all she could see were distorted light and shadows flickering wildly before her, making it impossible to discern anything beyond the teleportation corridor.

She could feel countless types of energy colliding and tearing at each other around her, as if trying to drag her into the abyss of a spacetime rift.

After roughly three seconds, the suffocating pressure vanished abruptly. Mo Lan’s boot soles finally touched solid ground, and she instinctively bent her knees to absorb the impact, steadying herself.

What greeted her eyes was a cramped gray space.

The space was perfectly square, not even as spacious as the washroom in her mobile dwelling. The floor beneath her feet, the ceiling overhead, and the walls on all sides were uniformly gray.

Mo Lan reached out to touch the wall. The sensation beneath her fingertips reminded her of the gray fog barrier at the edge of the Valen world.

But the gray walls here seemed far more solidified, and dragon-tongue magic could not penetrate them either.

The only variation in color within the entire space came from a white door on the left wall. Even the stone platform in the center of the room was a dull, dusty gray.

On the stone platform sat a small well.

Recalling the name “Well of the Sky,” Mo Lan walked over.

The stone platform was made of some unknown material. The small well at its center was emitting a faint blue starlight, and Mo Lan found herself drawn to it involuntarily.

The instant she leaned over and peered into the well’s opening, her pupils contracted sharply.

Within that basin-sized well eye, a vast and boundless river of stars was reflected.

Countless worlds wrapped in dimensional membranes floated within it like bubbles, and the outline of one world looked remarkably similar to the Valen world.

The sight was breathtakingly beautiful!

Just then, the starlight at the well’s opening coalesced into a line of text in the common tongue.

“Welcome to the Well of the Sky! Please collect your 《Explorer’s Handbook》.”

Within the starlight, a book appeared.

“The Well of the Sky even has a beginner’s guide?”

Mo Lan happened to be completely in the dark about her situation, so she quickly reached into the starlight and pulled out the book.

She looked left and right—there wasn’t even a place to sit anywhere nearby. Fortunately, magic and cards were not restricted here.

She pulled out a {Furniture Card – Sofa}, materialized it, and set it against the wall. Then she sat down with the 《Explorer’s Handbook》 and began to read.

Mo Lan flipped to the title page and habitually checked the editor’s column—but what she saw gave her a tremendous shock: “Valen?”

Valen, the Valen world—could this handbook have been written by the Valen world consciousness?

Her fingertips traced over the word “Valen.” She shifted from sitting cross-legged to sitting up straight and proper, then pulled out another {Furniture Card – Desk}, carefully placed the book on the desk, and only then continued reading.

“Hello, Explorer. I am Valen!

Within the dimensional membrane, I have carved out this Explorer’s Camp and prepared individual tents for every explorer, so that everyone can rest here briefly before setting out to explore other worlds.

The tent you are currently in is Tent No. 333 of the Witch Camp. From now on, this tent belongs to you. The initial tent is quite small—if you plan on staying at the camp long-term, you can visit the Tent Management Office in the Central Camp to expand your tent’s interior space.

Open the door on the wall, and you can head to the camp.

There, you will find combat arenas where explorers can spar, as well as a trading marketplace…

If you still have questions, you can refer to the full Explorer’s Camp map appended at the back of this book, which provides more detailed descriptions.

You should have already noticed the well in the center of your tent, right? That’s correct—that is the Well of the Sky.

The Well of the Sky exists by drawing upon the cosmic consciousness, connecting all worlds across the universe’s various timelines where life exists.

Through this well, you can travel to other worlds to explore.

Focus your mind and gaze into the starry projection within the Well of the Sky. Some worlds in need of help will send you mission invitations. Answer the invitation, and the Well of the Sky will carry you across the river of stars to the corresponding world.

According to the 《Universal Accord》, accepting a mission invitation means that both the world and the explorer have entered into a contract.

The explorer must strive to complete the mission, and the world must provide the explorer with the promised rewards upon completion.

Please note: not every world’s world consciousness is benevolent. Mission invitations may also be traps set by worlds to harvest explorers.

Before accepting a mission, remember to check the world’s past mission completion records and alignment tendency.

Good-aligned worlds will treat explorers like their own children; neutral-aligned worlds will not deliberately issue missions to harm explorers, but will happily claim the legacies of explorers who fail; evil-aligned worlds will harvest explorers’ lives and souls through issuing extremely difficult missions.

Additionally, aside from world mission invitations received through the Well of the Sky, worlds will sometimes issue personal invitation letters to explorers they favor.

Using these invitation letters, you can also travel to other worlds.

However, some invitation letters have not been notarized by the cosmic consciousness and are not protected under the 《Universal Accord》. Be sure to carefully check whether the invitation letter bears the mark of the ‘Cosmic Star Chart’…

If you are ready, then begin your exploration of other worlds!

If you wish to return to Valen, simply stomp your foot firmly inside your tent, and you will return to where you came from.”

Beyond that, there was supplementary content including the 《Universal Accord》, 《Guide to World Alignments》, 《Explorer’s Camp Map》, and more.

Mo Lan read through everything and committed it all to memory.

When she closed the 《Explorer’s Handbook》, she felt a warm glow in her heart.

Now she was certain—the “Valen” in the editor’s column was indeed the Valen world consciousness.

This handbook was its guidance for all of Valen’s explorers.

Every word and sentence was filled with earnest reminders, no different at all from Senior Traci, who had previously helped them analyze their future paths.

Earth’s world consciousness was just as warm.

“They must all be good-aligned worlds, right?” Mo Lan leaned over to the Well of the Sky and peered at the Valen world’s alignment tendency.

Grayish-white tinged with light green… Grayish-white symbolized neutrality, and green symbolized good.

How could it only be neutral-leaning-good?

She recalled the description of world alignments in the 《Explorer’s Handbook》: “Alignment represents a world’s attitude toward explorers from other worlds. Regardless of alignment, every world cherishes the living beings within it. However, the living beings within a world influence that world’s alignment tendency.”

The living beings within the Valen world were, on the whole, neutral-leaning-good?