A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 428 The Elemental Plane

The Chancellor continued his conversation with Bart and learned that Rorschach had created a special district within the Kingdom of Byrne, and Lanster-Kempson was practically a free state.

The empire has troublemakers like the Kingdom of Bain, and within Bain there's a "little Bain." Otto thought of a craft item from the North called "Matryoshka dolls."

Bart further explained that the special zone had no diplomatic or military authority, only the power to make independent decisions in commerce and administration. The Prime Minister simply replied, "Yes, yes, yes," knowing without a doubt that with such a special zone in existence, independent armed forces were only a matter of time.

But without Rorschach's creation, the Kingdom of Bain would continue to be a weakling dominated by guilds, blindly following the Empire's lead. So, just as the Empire is now compromising with Bain, the Ludwig family, whether they like it or not, can only grit their teeth and let the special zone continue to develop.

Judging from King Albert's confident demeanor, perhaps he completely overlooked this issue and regarded the special zone's power as his own.

Ah, thinking of this, the prime minister sneered inwardly.

But where is the person who created all this? How dare they leave the busy Imperial Chancellor to wait patiently?

Rorschach stood before the shattered, large gas tank at the coking plant, where a gas elemental spirit had once escaped. The accident site was littered with fragments of sheet metal, and the smell of scorch and sulfur clearly indicated a previous explosion.

Normally, the exhaust gas and degraded gas produced after the incineration of waste residue would be concentrated and discharged into the gas element plane. But for some reason, an elemental creature suddenly rushed out of the teleportation port, causing an explosion.

Fortunately, a buffer tank was installed before the emissions, and fortunately, no flammable or explosive gases were mixed into the exhaust pipe. Accident analysis speculates that the explosion originated from biological elements.

It is well known that the shallow air pressure in the gas elemental plane is lower than the atmospheric pressure in the prime material world, while the pressure in the buffer tank is even greater when it is in a gas-gathering state. The elemental creature was clearly unable to adapt to the environment. After struggling violently in the buffer tank for a moment, its body was compressed, and it died. The energy within its body was compressed to a certain limit and then released instantly.

"The report is so detailed? It's as if you witnessed it yourself." Rorschach finished reading the accident analysis with suspicion. The accident happened at night, yet the author seemed to have witnessed everything, even having a clear view of the situation inside the tank. This report was rushed out by Hannah overnight; it was only a manuscript, and the handwriting and reportage-like style suggested it was written by Mr. Martin, who wished to remain anonymous.

Sigh, what a simp.

"It's just speculation. Martin and I also listed what kind of creatures might have broken in last night, based on the data on the creatures of the air element plane."

It was probably a small to medium-sized creature. Luo Xia didn't look at it closely. The ancient materials were all very abstract, and the level of description and drawing was no less than the "Classic of Mountains and Seas," a guide to pica before his transmigration. Hmm, maybe that's really the case.

So he decided to see for himself what was happening on the other side of the portal.

"Are you really going?" Caroline was the first to try to dissuade her. Since something had happened, going to the air elemental plane would be extremely dangerous.

"If we don't figure out what exactly happened on the other side, the hidden danger will persist unless we shut down the exhaust vents and change to other emission methods." Luo Xia was very concerned about this matter: "The factory has more than one exhaust vent, and the alchemy department of the Tower of Stars also has one. If a large-scale accident occurs, the consequences would be unimaginable."

"Then let's change it!"

"The pollution is too great. Even if it's fixed, we'll have to wait until Humboldt is gone." If toxic fumes are discharged directly, there's no guarantee the master won't get angry and beat people up.

After the joke, Luo Xia explained seriously, "Right now, we're releasing toxic substances into the gaseous dimension. With current technology, many of the toxins in the directly emitted gases cannot be removed, and they will threaten ordinary people living in and around the factory. If we stop production, what will happen to the workers who depend on the factory for their livelihood? What will happen to the customers waiting for our products?"

The most important point is that Luo Xia has recently grown tired of the trivial matters that have been plaguing him, and he wants to travel to faraway places. The Air Elemental Plane is far enough away from the main plane.

Caroline, hearing Rorschach's "reasonable" excuse, relented: "Alright, but make sure you take precautions. I'll go with you."

"Even if you don't want to go, I still insist that you go." Caroline, who is proficient in spatial magic, is the first choice for plane travel. Rorschach originally wanted to bring Archmage Humboldt along, but natural magic cannot be effective in extreme air elemental environments. After politely declining, Rorschach did not insist.

Humboldt wasn't worried. He warned Rorschach that the powerful and dangerous creatures in the air elemental plane were all at the bottom. As long as they didn't lose their coordinates or sink, most places were "safe zones" for Rorschach and Caroline.

To return, Caroline created two summoning scrolls, targeting herself and Rorschach. If anyone attempts to summon them, it will be detected even in other dimensions, acting like a magically constructed safety rope. The summoned individuals can use the summoning to pinpoint the caster's location, allowing them to return to their original world using teleportation.

Caroline handed the scroll to Hannah and instructed her that if they did not return in two hours, the [Summoning Spell] must be activated, meaning that the exploration time was limited to two hours.

Rorschach didn't care. He had just learned a second-circle spell called "Underwater Breathing." According to the records of his predecessors, the oxygen concentration in the air elemental plane gradually increases from top to bottom. The shallow layer they went to was a region with very little oxygen. Using "Underwater Breathing" was the same as being in water. This spell could enrich the surrounding oxygen to supply the recipient.

Next is the [Elemental Resistance] scroll, which resists abnormal temperatures and possible gales.

With everything in place, Caroline added magical loops to the damaged "vent," constructing a portal that allowed people to pass through based on the leaking teleportation array.

The teleportation was activated, and immediately the wind began to howl around them as air from the prime material plane was drawn into the low-pressure gas element plane.

This time, after passing through the portal, he was plunged into a dazzling white light. When Luo Xia's vision returned, the air elemental plane appeared before him.

Above was a pure white sky, just like the cloudy weather in the main world. However, the clouds here were endless and enormous, with the distant clouds resembling pillars that pierced the heavens and the earth.

"Don't look down," came Caroline's trembling voice from beside her. She saw nothing but rolling clouds beneath her feet. It seemed that the light from the sky was insufficient to illuminate the bottom of the elemental plane. The lowest part was dark and unfathomable, with surging clouds that were predominantly orange, mixed with green and some dark brown.

Even with the [levitation] technique that keeps them stable at a shallow altitude, looking down can still make them dizzy and weak in the legs.

To their even greater surprise, they seemed to have stumbled upon a battlefield!

Some humanoid creatures with grayish-blue skin, draped in animal hides, either rode transparent, soft beasts that seemed to be enveloped in a ball of air, or several sat on rafts supported by animal hide floats. The two sides had already engaged in a chaotic battle, shouting at each other and attacking with slingshots and spears.

Some mounts were pierced, and when the spearhead was pulled out, the riding creatures deflated, and both the riders and "horses" plummeted into the endless depths, leaving only a series of screams that grew louder as they passed.

Before Rorschach could use [Mirror Flower Water Moon] to conceal himself and Caroline, the natives discovered the two of them. They were stunned at first and then stopped fighting.

No one knows who started it, but these gray-blue-skinned little people put down their weapons and began to shout and worship Rorschach and Caroline.

(End of this chapter)