Chapter 530
When Professor Atkinson and Dolores finally emerged from the underground library of Jianmen, they looked like they had pulled several all-nighters like civilian college students before the finals.
“Oh, you’re out.” Rash was in the diner brewing a pot of tea and a pot of coffee with Snowball on his shoulder: “Would you like some tea? Some coffee? Or some wine?”
“How long has it been?” Dolores ruffled and took a gentle brush of her hair using only her right hand: “Ugh - I feel like we spent the whole day and a whole night just reading.”
“It’s actually been several days. I haven’t been counting, it’s more than two so I can say ‘several’.” Rash poured himself a cup of coffee mixed with tea, then took a sip: “Ugh, so 7.5 - 2.5 isn’t a good ratio either. I don’t recommend this, do you still want drinks?”
“It’s been several days?” Professor Atkinson yawned and smelled his clothes: “I think I need a shower. Rash, can we have some food?”
“Sure, I can deliver the food to your rooms. But we only have reheated food though since Mr. Yu is not here.”
“Where is he?” Dolores asked.
“He went away with Ms. Wong, some business with the Division.” Rash shrugged: “I didn’t ask. Your human businesses are just so complicated.”
“Yeah. Understood.” Professor Atkinson stretched and said: “Thank you Rash, can you tell Mr. Yu that we are very grateful for his hospitality? We have to get going soon - we just had a discussion, and we think we’re ready to go back to the elemental realm.”
“Sure, you can use the platform in the parking lot - Mr. Yu asked me to tell you that you are approved to use it.” Rash nodded and said.
After long and comfortable baths, both the professor and Dolores came out of their rooms and headed towards the parking lot. They already saw the tall stone bastion / castle protruding from the center of the parking lot when they came in, but it just felt slightly different now - it was as if the bastion “grew” a little since the last time they saw it.
There was a round platform with symbols carved into the stone panels around it, and a few words and symbols made of metal embedded into the platform itself. There were two baskets with lids made of wood and bamboo placed on the side of the platform, but there was nothing on it indicating what they were for.
“Hey! Wait!” just this moment, Rash rushed out from the lounge: “Before you go, take the two baskets with you!”
“Okay… thanks.” Dolores picked up one wooden basket, opened its lid and saw bamboo and wooden containers stacked together with paper sigils pasted on the tops: “What are these?”
“Food, placed in - uh ...” Rash seemed to be having trouble remembering exact words: “... let me see … something resistant containers, they will keep the food fresh and intact even when you travel through portals.”
“Turbulence resistant?” Professor Atkinson asked.
“Yeah yeah yeah, exactly!” Rash snapped his finger and said: “He also told me to tell you that the food in the elemental realm tends not to be very good, so he would like to pack you something in case you find yourself in a food desert.”
“Thank you, Rash, and please relay our gratitude for Mr. Yu as well.” Dolores closed the lid and nodded at Rash.
Professor Atkinson and Dolores took out the badge given to them by the Elemental Lord Paulo Chang, and started conjuring a portal where they stood. The platform glowed in many colors as they tried, energy that was dispersed in the space around came gathering around them, making the process much smoother and easier. And without much, if any, effort, the portal to edgelands was opened.
A beam of light descended from the space and landed onto a corner of the edgelands, many elementals raised their heads, eyes or sensory tentacles at the direction from which the beam of light came, intending to take a close look at who came.
A half human female, half dear elemental with shining electric and fire energy surrounding her body hopped to the site where the beam of light landed, where she found the two humans she was tasked to guide last time.
“Lin’Er. Nice to see you again.” Professor Atkinson gently bowed.
“Professor Atkinson, Dolores.” Lin’Er responded with a slight bow: “Welcome back, hope your time away was relaxing and productive.”
“Hey, Lin’Er.” Dolores noticed that other elementals started to gather around them, whispering to each other in various elemental languages, most of which she could not understand but for a few bad words: “Uhhh, how's it going here? I see your friends are still upset about the spring, huh?”
“Back off!” Lin’Er turned around and said to other elementals in a stern voice: “They are not to be touched or met with any hostility! Do any of you want to face the wrath of Lord Chang?!”
The elementals backed off, but a lot of them still had their “eyes” on the two humans.
“How could I explain to them that it’s not our fault?” Professor Atkinson asked: “The Spring of Knowledge burst from the depths of the bottom, something else caused it - ”
“They will understand.” Lin’Er shook her head: “But they will need time.”
“Well.” Dolores responded with a wry smile: “Hope they don’t take too long, because we’re going to come here many times in the future - ”
Before Dolores could finish, the edgelands shook as if it was enduring a high scale earthquake. Before the shaking stopped or even displayed any sign of subsiding, the sound of thunder crack exploded from above.
When Dolores and Professor Atkinson looked up, they saw a giant energy vortex spinning in the space above the edgelands. Hundreds of bolts of lightning of different colors shot out from the vortex, and they could sense the immense power within the vortex even from afar.
“What the fuck is that?” Dolores asked.
A pale beam of light shot from the vortex, striking right down at the edgelands.