Published at 14th of February 2026 9:01 am

Chapter 2555: Chapter 2556: Crystallized Proliferation

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"Is our expedition related to the Noah Clan? Do you mean that the Black Earl already knew about this, which is why he let Vay join us... but that’s not right, I invited Vay. Could it be that the Black Earl sensed something temporarily?"

Dox mumbled to himself for a while, only to end up confused.

"Whether the Black Earl knows about the connection with the Noah Clan behind the door, or if it’s a spur-of-the-moment decision, I don’t speculate. I’m just reminding you of this; even though Vay is your friend, don’t trust him too much in this expedition."

Dox nodded solemnly: "I understand."

After all, Vay is still a member of the Noah Clan, and he carries the nose of the Black Earl, his actions will inevitably be influenced by the Black Earl. Therefore, Angel’s warning is very necessary.

"Since you know it might be related to the Noah Clan, you still decided to let Vay come along?" Dox was somewhat puzzled. If it were him, he would cancel this operation directly.

Angel: "Why not? After all, there might be a need for Vay at what could potentially be Noah Clan territory."

Angel provided a reason, but Dox still felt the risk was a bit high.

It’s not without cause for Dox to worry, but what he doesn’t know is that Angel has his own trump card. Just Earl Mi alone can suppress the Black Earl’s nose. As long as the Black Earl doesn’t come personally, there won’t be any major issues.

Even if the Black Earl comes personally, Angel still has the Wilderness of Dreams as a backup support, so he doesn’t care about this risk.

Besides, Angel is genuinely more interested in the wall in Nightmare Abyss City than in the ’treasure’ or ’interest’ behind the wall in reality.

Although reality may hold some nice items, Angel believes that the most precious treasure is certainly in the Nightmare Realm.

It’s precisely because of his restraint against desires, only treating research as the theme of this exploration, he won’t care about other things.

"Then... I’ll go back and tell Vay the news, bring him over to meet you." Dox contemplated for a moment and chose to trust Angel.

Angel replied nonchalantly: "We can meet upon departure; or are you ready to leave now?"

Dox: "I’ve done the necessary preparations, and Kaier is almost ready too."

Angel glanced at the clock on the table and calculated his meditation time: "Then let’s set out in three hours."

Dox nodded, turned, and walked towards the door.

As he was about to leave, Dox spoke in a low voice: "I’ll find a chance to test if Vay knows the destination is related to the Noah Clan."

Angel: "Do as you wish, but the Black Earl’s nose is more sensitive than you think, he might scent your intentions."

Dox chuckled lightly: "Don’t underestimate me. While my macro plans may be a step behind you wizards, I handle these little things better, ensuring no traces."

Angel smiled without speaking, watching Dox’s figure slowly disappear in the distance.

After Dox left, Kaier came in slowly, looking tentative.

"We’re departing in three hours. If you’re not ready, it’s best to prepare now," Angel’s voice reached Kaier’s ears.

Kaier quickly answered: "Lord Dox has already informed me, I’m ready."

"Then you came in, is there something you need?" Angel finally raised his head, looking at Kaier.

Kaier hesitated for a moment before saying: "Sir, this ruins exploration came abruptly. I wonder if you can give me... some advice."

Angel looked deeply at Kaier. Kaier has far more experience exploring ruins than he does, yet he’s seeking advice from him, obviously looking for guidance on how to position himself in this process.

After all, in the entire team besides Kaier, everyone is either an Official Wizard, or an apprentice with Wizard-level abilities.

Looking at the anticipation in Kaier’s eyes, Angel paused for a moment and said: "You only need to do one thing: restraint."

"Restr...aint?" Kaier pondered the word.

"Both in physical actions and psychological impulses, restrain."

"And, if you want to gain benefits, it’s best not to touch other stakeholders. Especially Vay, his backing is unusual, and his motive might not be simple."

After all, both the diagrams and refining materials were provided by Kaier, Angel thought for a moment and slightly revealed some information to him.

Kaier thoughtfully nodded: "I understand, my greatest interest in exploring ruins is research. It’s good if I gain something; if not, I won’t force it."

"It’s best if you think that way," Angel affirmed.

Kaier roughly understood what he should do. He bowed to Angel: "Then I’ll take my leave."

Just then, Angel coughed, and Kaier looked over in confusion.

Angel pointed to the short sword on the table.

Kaier suddenly understood: "It’s better in your hands, Sir. If I take it, I’m afraid I’ll lose it."

Having said that, Kaier jokingly winked, showing he understood Angel’s implication, that he would be careful of Vay.

Angel retorted: "Who told you that? I’m saying the refining task is over, shouldn’t you express something? Didn’t your mentor mention the protocol in the letter?"

Kaier was taken aback, remembered his mentor’s instructions in the letter, and nodded quickly: "I understand, I’ll go find the mentor’s handbook now."

Angel initially didn’t understand why Kaier would use ’find’ until he saw Kaier walking to a corner of the Earth Cavern, a pile he thought was trash. He finally understood.

Kaier began rummaging through the clutter as if he were searching for the Skinner box.

Various items were tossed flying everywhere.

Angel quietly watched this scene, adding another label to Kaier: messy.

Meanwhile, Dangross excitedly observed the flying tools, wishing to find a bottle of quenching liquid, which would be fantastic.

Unfortunately, there was no quenching liquid, but Dangross grabbed a fiery red gem.

Angel glanced at it, initially thinking it was a flame gem, a common item in the Region of Fire in the Tidal World, likely held by Dangross for nostalgia.

But upon closer inspection, it turned out that the fiery red gem was actually a crystal of a plane breeding fragment.

A plane breeding fragment is a material from the Space Series. It usually appears in abundance when a subsidiary plane is formed and can occasionally be obtained when a plane corridor is opened. It’s commonly involved in most space-related alchemy and is generally not considered precious, often available for sale in Official Wizard alchemy shops.

However, what’s mentioned here is the plane breeding crystal, which is different.

Usually, it takes five breeding fragments to condense into one crystal. Judging by the size of this crystal, it must have involved at least ten or more fragments.

Although the effects are similar, the value is vastly different because condensing fragments is a special technique only mastered by Space Mages.

This crystal could even be auctioned in the early sessions of common auctions, showing that its value is indeed significant.

Dangross seemed to like this gem very much, constantly rubbing it with its face—its palm, that is—looking just like a human obsessed with petting a cat.

However, no matter how much Dangross liked it, it couldn’t just take it as its own.

This item is not as low in value as quenching liquid and can’t be casually taken.

Angel was about to severely criticize Dangross, making it realize its mistake, when Kaier came over, curiously looking at Dangross: "Do you like this?"

Dangross eagerly nodded its head while holding the gem.

Kaier smiled carelessly and said, "If you like it, then I’ll give it to you."

Angel, ignoring how excited Dangross was, quickly said, "The plane breeding crystal is useless to it; you should put it away."

Kaier quickly waved his hand: "No need, no need."

Seeing Kaier’s insistence, Angel frowned and sighed, "Then let me buy it at market price."

The reason for not wanting to take Kaier’s gift for free is simple: to outsiders, Dangross is Angel’s elemental partner, which means it’s Angel’s property. Giving something to Dangross for free is essentially giving it to Angel, just more tactfully. This amounts to Angel owing a favor.

Angel likes others to owe him favors but doesn’t like owing favors to others. Besides, it’s not like he can’t afford to buy the plane breeding crystal.

Kaier didn’t understand the twists and turns in Angel’s heart and quickly said when Angel offered Magic Crystals, "It’s alright, this is a discarded crystal. When Mentor synthesized it, he got distracted, made a mistake, and it became unusable."

"Because it was discarded, it’s not valuable," Kaier said, embarrassedly scratching his head, "I originally brought it to the shop to deceive some people who don’t know better."

"After all, it’s just a discarded crystal; if it likes it, giving it away is fine," Kaier added, "If it were valuable, I would definitely charge you."

Hearing Kaier explain, Angel turned his attention back to the crystal.

"Let me see it." Amidst Dangross’s reluctant expression, the crystal reached Angel’s hand.

Holding it, Angel felt a burning sensation, quite different from the touch of typical plane breeding crystals.

After a careful investigation, Angel discovered that the crystal contained a large amount of intermingled fire elements. In essence, it’s a mixture of fire and space elements.

"Why is there fire element inside?" Angel asked in confusion.

Kaier responded, "I haven’t learned to synthesize crystals yet, so I don’t know the specifics, but I guess the mentor made a mistake at the step where fire control was required. The fire got in, resulting in this bizarre state."

Angel didn’t know how such a strange thing was created, but he understood why Dangross liked it; the fire element inside was quite abundant. The flames used by Esos during synthesis must have come from a high-grade fire creature, possibly even a special fire source.

Angel fiddled with it for a moment, unable to think of any use for it, and eventually handed it back to Dangross.

Then, Angel took out a small bag of Magic Crystals and handed it to Kaier.

In Kaier’s eyes, filled with refusal and confusion, Angel said, "The balance between space elements and fire elements is quite unusual. I might be inspired by it for some related research topics when I go back. So, it’s better if I buy it."

Kaier hesitated for a moment but eventually accepted it. Although he thought the crystal was useless, since Angel mentioned it might inspire research topics, it had some meaningful value.

Dangross’s excitement over gaining a new favorite crystal was evident from its terrible finger dance.

Feeling embarrassed, Angel picked up Dangross and fixed it on the hooks of the Shadow Sanctuary. Then, he turned his attention to Kaier or, more accurately, to the stack of handbooks in Kaier’s hand.

Upon noticing Angel’s gaze, Kaier quickly handed the handbooks to him.

There were six volumes in total, feeling substantial in Angel’s hands. The first three volumes were made of parchment, thick and with frayed edges, showing years of use.

As for the latter three handbooks, they were made of paper pulp, clean and white, leaving Angel a little surprised.

Kaier explained, "The first three volumes are my mentor’s apprenticeships, and the last three are mine, including annotations and supplements to the mentor’s handbooks."

Upon checking, Angel indeed saw Kaier’s name on the latter three handbooks.

Angel frowned slightly, feeling a bit conflicted as Kaier’s handbook was not part of the task rewards. However, Kaier mentioned there were some annotations, which intrigued Angel.

Perhaps sensing Angel’s hesitation, Kaier explained, "Although the mentor only mentioned using his handbook as a reward in his letter, your unlocking of the drawings and refining the short sword far exceeded the value of his handbook. I know my handbook isn’t worth much, but I hope it can be a small supplement, and I hope you don’t mind."

Angel said nothing, flipping through Esos’s handbook, then Kaier’s.

Although a cursory glance, Kaier’s detailed and straightforward writing greatly satisfied Angel compared to Esos’s frustratingly brief entries due to the limited parchment space.

Ultimately, Angel couldn’t bring himself to decline and nodded, saying, "In that case, I’ll accept it."

Kaier bowed deeply: "It is my honor to be of help to you."

Angel thought for a moment, "I also have some knowledge of spatial concepts, although the fundamentals are a bit weak. During this time, if you have any questions, feel free to ask me."

With the knowledge package from the Dalmatian, Angel felt it was time to put it to use.

Although Kaier knew Angel had knowledge of space, he had no concept of how strong it was, but since Angel offered, he didn’t plan to be polite. He was genuinely obsessed with research, driven by a pure pursuit of knowledge, and his mind was already calculating what questions to ask.

After Kaier left, Angel kept the handbooks and advised Dangross not to overindulge before entering meditation.

It wasn’t until three hours later that Angel opened his eyes.

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