Chapter 390: Chapter 384: Desolate Universe and Star Realm

The Star Realm is unlike the Material Plane; it is full of dangers, with a non-zero chance of encountering deities.

Love is precious, but freedom is even more valuable. For the sake of life, both can be discarded. To play it safe, Leon didn’t rashly head to the Star Realm. Before leaving, he checked the small space within the Sleeve of the Universe to see if the elixirs were adequately prepared. If not, they needed replenishing. The Plane Talisman acquired from the Elf’s Treasure Vault was crucial.

After everything was ready, Leon jumped off the viewing platform on the Volcano Top into the sea, then spread his wings and flew up, soaring higher towards the sun and quickly approaching the atmosphere.

The atmosphere is filled with air, and using the Long Rainbow Escape within it still consumes a large amount of mana.

Leon forced himself to fly out of the atmosphere using his wings, considering the atmosphere’s thickness of over a thousand kilometers, which indeed took considerable time… In fact, once the air density decreased to a certain point, he could use the Long Rainbow Escape to move; otherwise, it would be quite difficult to fly.

No matter what, Leon now hovered in space, lacking air — perhaps calling it the Desolate Universe is more fitting… Fortunately, he no longer needed air, food, water, or sleep thanks to the Golden Finger’s reward of Bone Shedding and Rebirth, granting him Extraordinary Essence. Otherwise, it would be somewhat troublesome, and he wasn’t in a hurry to leave the Desolate Universe.

“The sun, the moon… I wonder what it’s like to absorb the Sun and Moon Essence in the Desolate Universe.”

Leon immediately began using the Breathing and Exhaling Skill and was instantly stimulated, coughing repeatedly. It was evident that this skill was designed for absorbing Sun and Moon Essence on the ground, and the sunlight unfiltered by the atmosphere couldn’t be utilized, just like a phone needing a transformer to charge. Otherwise, it could go wrong instantly.

If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work; there was no high hope in the first place. There’s no way Leon would find such a loophole, so he wasn’t discouraged. After glancing around for a moment, he flew towards the nearest satellite.

The Moon Dragon, also known as the Satellite Dragon or Moon Phase Dragon, is quite capricious and xenophobic, nesting in boring satellites by digging holes in the rock.

Leon wanted to see the Moon Dragon, but unfortunately, after searching the satellite a hundred kilometers in diameter, he couldn’t find any trace of it.

Where there are Moon Dragons, there are naturally Sun Dragons. Sun Dragons are said to have serpentine bodies, radiant mist-like wings, and glittering multicolored scales. They dwell in the radiation cores of planets or in huge hollow rocks swallowed by the blinding brilliance of a star, and without immunity to Radiant Damage, one should not get too close.

“The methods on Earth can’t be entirely copied in the Desolate Universe.”

“The Desolate Universe is like a space version of the ocean… Space Albatrosses can even appear with space eels.”

Who knew, the Desolate Universe wasn’t as empty as Leon imagined. It was filled with space life, huge organisms resembling fish and aquatic mammals, but truly vast in size. Though not at the level of light years, any slight movement was an astronomical unit, and an astronomical unit is hundreds of millions of kilometers.

Leon believed that even with the Long Rainbow Escape, it would still take several minutes to get close to another planet, and without magic or relying on a Magic Ship, one could fly to death and still not escape the Desolate Universe into the Star Realm.

In the Desolate Universe, he could only use the Long Rainbow Escape and couldn’t rely on wings; otherwise, it would take too much time. After wandering for a while using the Long Rainbow Escape, Leon discovered a gigantic whale-like creature called a Whale Dragoneeh.

The Whale Dragoneeh is one of the largest known beings in the Desolate Universe, similar in appearance to a whale with no obvious mouth. The front of its body is covered with many small eyes that can emit bright beams to blind hunters while escaping or send flashing signals for long-distance communication, drawing nutrition from the sun and stars’ brilliance.

“Why can the Whale Dragoneeh utilize the sun’s rays in the Desolate Universe, but I can’t?”

“It’s truly infuriating.”

Leon wanted to attack the Whale Dragoneeh in frustration, but managed to resist and didn’t harm the gentle-natured creature. However, being closer to it, when compared in size, he found it wasn’t bigger than him. As a super giant red dragon, he could still scare the Whale Dragoneeh into a panic.

After wandering for half an hour without encountering a single Magic Ship, Leon, after a brief hesitation, decided to head directly to the Star Realm. In the Desolate Universe, with no clear sense of direction, he arbitrarily chose one and used the Long Rainbow Escape.

A standard Desolate Universe system includes a star and several planets and satellites orbiting it. It was pretty huge, so even using Long Rainbow Escape, it took Leon a long time to reach the Desolate Universe’s edge, where faint silver mist awaited, into which he hesitated before diving.

A super giant red dragon indeed draws attention, so upon entering the Star Realm, Leon immediately transformed into his human form.

The Star Realm is a world of thoughts and dreams, an endless silver ocean without up or down, where gray and white lights mingle and traverse like distant stars, and ever-changing colorful whirlpools dance like spinning coins in mid-air.

Besides occasional small solid areas, most of it is vast and open terrain.

Navigation here doesn’t require maps; all creatures have an inherent sense of direction, capable of directly understanding the most direct path to their destination by imagining in their mind, thus reaching their intended location.

Meanwhile, creatures can traverse the Astral Sea without any ships, using only their thoughts to move. The smarter a creature, the easier it is to control movement with willpower, increasing moving speed. However, distance here holds little meaning.

Leon considered himself smart enough, though he often acted rashly like his mother and sister, imagining traveling to Tunaras, where the Githyanki live, and the route to Tunaras immediately appeared in his mind. However, this sense of direction does not indicate route safety, and crossing the Astral Sea is quite dangerous.

He hadn’t flown for long before spotting a Slime Toad standing on a floating giant rock, possibly the petrified remains of fallen gods.

Slime Toads lack discipline or common hierarchy, but even weaker Slime Toads would obey stronger individuals under life’s threat.

Reportedly, their reproduction cycle is horrifying, requiring eggs to be laid in humanoid bodies or infecting them with a variant disease called Chaos Virus, with red toads producing blue and green, blue producing red and green, while greens evolve into stronger gray and dead toads through a lifetime evolution cycle.

In human form, Leon didn’t seem formidable and was unsurprisingly attacked by those Slime Toads.

Leon vaguely remembered that in a certain version’s setting, Slime Toads were legendary creatures, so he didn’t dare to be careless. Transforming back into a super giant red dragon, he spread his wings for a massive flap and unleashed Sanmei Divine Wind, following up with a blast of Samadhi True Fire from his mouth. The two didn’t chemically react, but in less than a second, the Slime Toads were burned to ashes.

The Time Dragon was heavily nerfed in the new version, yet still proudly stood above Golden and Red Dragons, with a massive improvement in appearance, still dwarfing other dragons. Alas, the Slime Toads seemed reduced to mere regular monsters, remaining so hideous.

The Starlight Ghost is a transparent projection formed by unfortunate souls who perished in the Desolate Universe and the Astral Sea. Each has a glowing, non-corporeal appearance similar to their previous self, with glowing eyes.

Spirit Worm Demons are evil, worm-like creatures living in the Star Realm, with hoofed leg ends and arms ending in three long fingers, eyeless heads resembling worms with a mouthful of teeth.

They reportedly collaborate with Mind Flayers, working together to collect edible victims, devouring brains while the other consumes the remaining victim parts, all highlighting a disc shape.

Leon didn’t specifically note how long he flew; anyway, he saw many rare creatures from the Material Plane, truly broadening his horizons, eventually reaching Tunaras.