Roadmap to the Boundless Sky

Book 4, Chapter 115: Smoky Food

Chen Chuan checked and found that the heated object was the raccoon stone tablet he had not used for a long time.

In the past, he had used this to kill his targets, but as he got stronger, it ended up as a decoration.

Even if he faced multiple enemies now, he didn’t need to use things like that to lessen his load. He could handle them on his own.

But it was still a fact that he had been neglecting the supernatural being. Based on their promise, if he didn’t provide food to the raccoon, it could start feeding on him, though that also depended on how strong Chen Chuan was. Due to his current strength, the raccoon didn’t dare to show any displeasure or even request for anything.

Chen Chuan brought the stone tablet out, and a desire charged into his mind. It seemed like the raccoon was really interested in the artifact he just got and longed for it.

That caught him by surprise. While low class artifacts were useful, they usually had to find the correct way to use them to learn their true value.

Yang Yuncheng had searched for twenty-five years but couldn’t learn it, and Chen Chuan didn’t think that he could do it in an instant either. That was why he didn’t open it after getting it. Instead, he planned to go back and look into it when he had the time for it.

He noticed something. When he came into the tent, the raccoon hadn’t given him any sort of reaction. It only reacted after he opened the gap.

Did the appearance of the gap cause something to change in the artifact?

Chen Chuan took it out and inspected it before removing the thick layers of cloth. The artifact was an oval-shaped thing resembling a cracked egg shell. The cracks looked like sawteeth, and the walls were rather thick.

It didn’t look impressive. If Yang Yuncheng hadn’t told him that this was an artifact, Chen Chuan would have thought that it was just a fossilized egg.

The light from the gap shone on the egg in his hand, and wisps of faint, black smoke rose from it. The artifact released a nice smell that made him feel full just from smelling it.

It was not a fake feeling of fullness. Instead, it made Chen Chuan feel like he had taken a lot of nutritional paste and highly nutritious food. It wasn’t just his body feeling full either. After taking a whiff of the smoke, even his depleted mind felt refreshed.

He felt an emotion stir in him. Could this artifact be used to replenish energy? Was it harmful, then?

He checked his second self but didn’t find anything strange. After the gap opened, his second self started suffering from unseen damage, but the degree of him turning faint was the same as when he opened the gap. Chen Chuan couldn’t see any differences, which meant that even if the artifact caused a negative effect, it was minuscule.

The raccoon stone tablet turned even hotter and started trembling faintly, as if the raccoon was skipping around inside all worked up. It even occasionally sent him a wave of sadness.

After some thinking, Chen Chuan loosened his control over the raccoon. The next moment, he heard a yip from the stone table. A faint figure of a raccoon jumped out of the stone tablet and rushed to the smoke coming out of the artifact. It immediately began gnawing at the smoke. Chen Chuan could even hear crunching sounds that came from the raccoon gnawing at the artifact.

But it was impossible for the raccoon to destroy the egg. After all, this was an artifact. Even if it was just Class Five, a simple supernatural being couldn’t possibly do anything to it.

The raccoon ate quite a lot of the smoke, but as the gap continued shining on it, more smoke came out. The supernatural being grew more solid, and Chen Chuan could see a snarling raccoon the size of a head slumped over the egg. It looked really fierce and hissed after every bite.

When Chen Chuan stared at it, it immediately slumped back into a ball to nibble at the egg like an honest, harmless raccoon.

A moment passed, and the raccoon seemed to have had its fill. It could no longer take another bite, so it reluctantly went back into the stone tablet.

Chen Chuan checked it and could clearly tell that after this meal, the raccoon had become different from before.

The most obvious change was in the stone tablet itself. It was made by a pretty good craftsman on his request, but it was still carved out of stone, so parts of it looked rough. Now, though, it had become more polished, and when he held it, it no longer felt coarse and cold. Instead, it felt smooth and cooling, like jade.

Chen Chuan also noticed that his overcoat and the items he brought with him looked newer. Of course, these changes were subtle. He wouldn’t have been able to notice it without his mental energy. The changes were also not of any particular importance and were practically useless.

But this indirectly proved that the artifact had some kind of use.

He spread his palm open and pulled his hand, along with the egg, back from the gap. Just as he expected, the smoke grew thinner.

If that were the case, the artifact might only work when it was close to the other world. It was no wonder why Yang Yuncheng hadn’t been able to figure out what it did even after carrying it for twenty-five years.

Though even if he knew, Yang Yuncheng, just like most people, wouldn’t have been able to make use of it. Perhaps only the governments and companies in control of the World Ring could do anything with it.

After some thinking, Chen Chuan called out for Dawncall, and the Bird Reptile descended from above the hole with a flap of its wings.

Chen Chuan brought the egg closer to Dawncall and had it smell the smoke. The bird reptile perked up, and its eyes grew brighter. It chirped at him, and he nodded. This thing was, without a doubt, also useful to Dawncall.

If this thing could be used to deplete his energy, he wouldn’t have to worry about running out of strength while training anymore.

But no matter what, there was unseen damage coming from the other world, so Chen Chuan asked Dawncall to return to the surface while he trained.

Soon, he heard rain outside. Fortunately, he had picked a higher place, so his tent was on a slope. Since he knew that it was going to rain, he had also covered his tent with drainage fabric. The tent was also sealed airtight, so the rain did not get through.

The rain continued at irregular intervals and only stopped at night. The strange rustling sounds came then, but they didn’t last long and soon vanished, as if the strange creatures coming from within the gap caused them to flee.

Chen Chuan sat in front of the gap while using Awakening Clarity. Whenever anything tried to come through, he cut it down with the Frost King Saber. Before, he hadn’t known that he could do this, and the hole he dug had been smaller, which led to him being unable to swing the Frost King Saber with ease. This time, though, he had made the hole bigger, so he could do it freely.

The night passed.

Once Chen Chuan heard movement and chatter outside, he grabbed his saber and closed the gap before him. Then, with a quiet rustle, the saber went back inside, and he stood up.

The light that had been spilling everywhere slowly faded. This time, due to him being more prepared, he had improved more compared to yesterday.

Of course, this thing might have also played a part, Chen Chuan thought as he cast a glance at the artifact.

Setting aside everything else, whenever he fought against the existences from the other world, the Frost King Saber was drained of energy. In the past, its mutated tissue would have started feeling tired soon and require rest, but with the artifact, it could recover faster, and Chen Chuan’s training efficiency increased significantly.

Chen Chuan wrapped the egg back and tied it to himself with some rope before putting it into his breast pocket. Once he was done, he walked out of his tent with the Frost King Saber.

The moment he stepped out, he smelled chemicals. A lot of chemical powder had been scattered in the campsite. The smell blended together with the smell of melted insect carcasses and created a pungent odor. Dawncall, which had followed Chen Chuan out, sneezed at it.

Just then, he heard cracking sounds and turned around to find human-shaped reliefs made of mud. Cracks appeared on them at the moment, and the locals sat up from the mud. With the help of others, they brushed off the mud from their bodies.

A moment later, Chen Chuan learned that they had been sleeping there.

Yang Yuncheng walked over and looked at the locals as well. “If we don’t have tents, this is how we avoid the unseen damage at night. It’s really practical in the wilderness. We just dig a pit and lie down inside.”

“Do you use some special items for this?” Chen Chuan asked.

“It has to be mud from the area, and it has to be mixed with special liquid and medicine. If you’re interested, I can give you the formula. We’ve only used this method here, though. I can’t really say whether it’ll work deeper into the merged space.

“It’s one of the reasons why the locals don’t want to move. They’ve been here for a long time and are used to the environment here. If they leave, some might survive, but many will die.”

Chen Chuan nodded at that. After some thinking, he said, “I know that some people from the former royal family worship an existence from the other world that allows them to move around freely at night in the merged space. It’s said that the locals taught them this method. Is that true?”

“That method exists, true, but the existences from the other world require a large amount of sacrifices. The population in the area isn’t large, so they can’t afford to sacrifice that many people. That’s why this method is the only one for them. Fortunately, it’s been working for them for years.

“But after the people from the Union and Linacrox Union came, everything changed overnight.”

“Please lead the way, Mr. Yang,” Chen Chuan said to change the topic.

“I’ll go and pack up. We’ll leave in half an hour, Lead Investigator Chen,” Yang Yuncheng responded grimly.