Above The Sky
Chapter 1022 - 1022 111 The Deep Waters of the Terra Universe 5400 asking for monthly pass at month's end!_3

1022: Chapter 111: The Deep Waters of the Terra Universe (5400, asking for monthly pass at month’s end!)_3 1022: Chapter 111: The Deep Waters of the Terra Universe (5400, asking for monthly pass at month’s end!)_3 “Huh?”

Hearing this, Ian raised his head in confusion.

He looked at the Viscount, and that genuine bafflement in his expression couldn’t have been faked—Viscount Grant immediately understood: Good heavens, this kid isn’t just hiding his skills, he’s genuinely so ridiculously talented that he doesn’t even think fixing the Ether Furnace Core is a challenge!

“Well, this is awkward.”

Ian inwardly cursed his miscalculation.

He genuinely hadn’t thought that repairing an Ether Furnace Core would take a full day.

While the principles were indeed complex, the technical difficulty of the repair wasn’t that high.

Any Elite Alchemist with some proficiency in Inscriptions could easily learn how to fix it.

It’s like how the industrial capability required to build a car is immense, but fixing one isn’t nearly as complicated.

Fortunately, Viscount Grant didn’t dwell on this.

Instead, he patted Ian’s shoulder with a smile and said, “It seems that the future teacher of my child may not merely be a master…

but a Grand Master.”

As an ally who was practically on the same boat as Ian, he certainly wasn’t going to nitpick over Ian’s level of genius—the more extraordinary Ian was, the better.

Who knows, the future upgrades for the Conquest Ripple might completely rely on him.

“All the leftover Mithril is yours now.

Think of it as the tuition fee for my future child.”

With a generous wave of his hand, the Viscount gifted Ian the remaining Mithril from the repair.

This time, there really was no ulterior motive—it was purely an early investment.

High-purity Mithril was no cheap material; it was applicable to nearly every field, especially as a raw material for high-precision alchemical processes.

Most critically, it was incredibly hard to obtain, even if you had the money.

The Dwarven nation of Gantreignum was able to deploy its fully-armored Armor Troops on a national scale precisely because it controlled the largest Mithril mines in Terra, allowing it to withstand invasions by both the Yanjiang Empire and the Azure Sky Royal Court without losing ground.

“Then I’ll gladly accept it.”

Without hesitation, Ian took the small pouch of Mithril and carefully tucked it into his pocket.

Mithril wasn’t entirely a metal; in Ian’s eyes now, it was a perfect union of Primal Aether and matter, a finished product with Origin Quality superconductivity capabilities, similar to Morien Steel but on another level entirely.

In natural circumstances, it was theoretically impossible to form Mithril, a normal-state Origin Quality superconductive material.

You’d need the extreme cosmic phenomenon of an Origin Quality star going supernova, forming an Aether Supernova, to even have a chance of producing it, akin to the formation process of heavy metals.

But this led to one undeniable conclusion: in this universe, the separation of Primal Aether, Origin Quality, and Spirit Energy had already been completed long before the emergence of second-generation stars.

However, it was possible that a pre-epoch civilization could artificially manufacture Mithril through extreme experiments…

the same goes for fine gold.

“I must master the technology to manufacture artificial Mithril.”

With this thought in mind, Ian bid farewell to Viscount Grant, who was eager to reorganize his Aether Armament and personally test whether the repaired Conquest Ripple had been restored to its perfect state, and thus didn’t try to detain him.

“At this point, I’ve already grasped the blueprint for creating Aether Armaments.”

Back at home, Elan was training in meditation with the Huai Guang Church.

Ian had the rare chance to ponder alone: “I have the materials and equipment.

Once I return to my territory, I can begin crafting a prototype and then optimize it using the advanced technology from the Dead River Armaments.”

“All technology must be fully understood—not just the cutting-edge advancements, but the older methods as well.

Only then can it be considered comprehensive.”

Ian didn’t just envision the design for the Conquest Ripple in his mind; through the process of dismantling and restoring it, he had fully mastered the techniques for crafting Aether Armaments.

“The only difficulty with Aether Armaments lies in the Ether Furnace Core.”

“Its principle I already understand—it involves creating an Origin Quality vacuum using Pure Origin, which draws in Spirit Energy to condense Primal Aether and forms an Ether Bubble, siphoning Natural Spirit Energy from the surrounding environment to generate near-infinite power.”

“The only issue is, within the Ether Bubble, the collapsed ‘channel’ that siphons Origin Quality from the surrounding space-time—this channel’s nature is strikingly similar to that of a ‘wormhole.'”

“For people on Earth, the Ether Furnace Core is essentially a device that creates a wormhole, intercepting the Natural Spirit Energy eager to flow through to the other side of the wormhole, then converting this into power—a ‘Tidal Engine,’ so to speak.

That’s its true essence.”

“But here’s the problem—where exactly does this channel lead to?” Ian murmured to himself, as this was the one thing he couldn’t quite figure out.

At that moment, his mind recalled a scene he had previously glimpsed through the Guiding Star.

The ‘Primordial Ether Sea’ that stretched across infinite parallel space-times and spanned both past and future…

“Could it be…?” Clenching his fists, Ian’s eyes widened.

“The Ether Furnace Core relies on the space-time-penetrating nature of Primal Aether to create a semi-infinite Tidal Engine?”

“It’s connected to other parallel universes, utilizing the difference in ‘Ether Pressure’ between the two universes to extract energy…”

“Yes, that must be it—no wonder it seems like every civilization in this universe builds Ether Furnace Cores and even treats them as standard equipment for ‘Spark Ships’…

it’s really that simple!”

Understanding this, Ian’s mind suddenly cleared up.

He had always been puzzled by why the Ether Bubble produced such a powerful siphoning effect, but now it was all crystal clear—it was because the neighboring universe had less Ether than this one, or more precisely, less than the Ether found in Terra’s starfield and its surroundings.

Naturally, this caused the Ether to flow toward the neighboring universe.

Of course, this wasn’t absolute.

If every Ether Furnace Core connected to a different parallel universe (highly likely), and if the neighboring universe happened to have more Ether than Terra’s, then the principle of the Ether Furnace Core would reverse.

Instead of siphoning, it would collect Ether spewing forth from what would function like a white hole!

This might also explain why pre-epoch civilizations struggled to reliably manufacture Ether Furnace Cores…

they couldn’t determine the conditions of the universe connected to each Core, so they could only produce half-functional prototypes!

But amidst the excitement came a wave of tension.

Ian raised his head and looked out the window at the sun in the sky.

The young man stared quietly at the brilliant sun, exhaling slowly: “According to my theory…

Inscriptions might very well be ‘Origin Quality Commands’ created by some advanced civilization.”

“And the manipulation of Spirit Energy is an intricate program highly compatible with the thought processes of sentient life.”

“If my hunch is correct, then Origin Quality, Spirit Energy, and even Primal Aether may not be natural phenomena at all…”

Ian was silent for a long time before finally sighing.

“If that’s the case, the truth behind the Star Prison Tianyu might be far more complicated than I imagined.”

“The Terra Universe…

is far deeper than it appears.”

But speculation couldn’t change anything.

Even if he uncovered some fragment of this universe’s truth, it would remain conjecture until proven, and even if it turned out to be true, it wouldn’t directly help Ian develop his territory or strengthen his power.

So, after using the Silver Chip to write down a few notes, Ian set aside these speculations and focused his thoughts.

He picked up his communicator and made a call.

He needed to speak with Master Gossay about matters concerning the Atlantian Breeding Grounds, Andor, and the Little Crystal Dragon Avatar.