The Witch Hunter System

Chapter 1197: Star River Realm’s Situation

The rules of stellar travel were strict, whether it was in the past, present, or future. The rules might change, but their strictness wouldn’t. After all, every decision during stellar travel could ultimately determine the life or death of the entire crew.

After Empyrean Oceanheart finished explaining what to watch out for and how to handle certain situations, she finally started up the Azure Wanderer.

The planetary-sized starship lit up as heavy water churned within, activating the hydro-fueled engines. At the same time, a thin, translucent membrane cloaked the ship, obscuring its visibility.

Inside the bridge, Vaan observed as Empyrean Oceanheart assumed sole control of the starship with her thoughts.

She did not need hundreds or thousands of crew members to help her manage the starship. The Azure Wanderer was capability of self-maintenance and required little input to navigate the sea of stars.

This was the difference between a magic artifact-type starship and a traditional starship.

Nevertheless, as the entire starship seemingly roared to life, an illusory ocean surface appeared in the void, a short distance ahead. It swirled like a whirlpool, or rather, it was a summoned Water Rift of unprecedented scale.

It was large enough for the planetary-sized starship to fit through.

On the bridge, Vaan stared at the large Water Rift in the distance with some surprise. It was his first time seeing such a large Water Rift, one that was summoned at that.

Still, it was not new to him.

He was aware that most Water Rifts connecting to other Star Sectors were generally of these cosmic proportions. He just didn’t expect the Azure Wanderer to directly summon it, saving a brief detour.

Swoosh!

In the blink of an eye, the Azure Wanderer thrust into the cosmic Water Rift. The scenery ahead changed in a flash. The grand view of the Myriad Sea God Palace was no more.

Vaan found the starship in the middle of a miraculous drifting ocean in the void. There was no star or planet, yet the ocean body was still bound whole by a mysterious bind force.

On further observation, the ocean body had a water current within it that seemed to flow in a Mobius-strip-like pattern, glittering with silvery light. Countless shards of fallen stars were caught in its current.

Evidently, this large body of space water was quite vast.

While it was nothing compared to the immensely vast Myriad Sea God Palace, it was still dozens of times larger than the average dwarf stars like Pangea’s sun.

’So, this is the Star River Realm,’ Vaan quickly understood.

He was somewhat surprised that they would arrive in another Star Sector so quickly. But recalling his previous experience, it seemed the Azure Wanderer had passed through several Water Rifts, not just one.

’I see, the Water Rifts were superimposed, making it seem like one, when, in reality, they comprised severals,’ Vaan quickly understood.

However, just because he understood, it didn’t mean he could use the same travel method.

Most likely, this was the Azure Wanderer’s ability, powered by Empyrean Oceanheart. She practically folded the Water Rift Network to enable instantaneous travel, crossing vaster distances in less time.

Anyone else would have toiled with the inconvenience of transiting from one Water Rift to another repeatedly before they reached their intended destination. ŘＡɴöʙËs

"Something’s wrong!"

Empyrean Oceanheart immediately frowned upon noticing the absence of life in the Star River Realm.

"I don’t sense any life here. This is not normal!"

"Indeed, it’s not."

Vaan acknowledged Empyrean Oceanheart’s point, his brows knitting in a frown. He had read some information about the Star River Realm of the Umbral Starreach Sector.

Supposedly, the Star River Realm was a commercial hub that traded marine goods from other Star Sectors for local goods. Generally, it was quite prosperous, always teeming with life and activity.

Moreover, the Myriad Sea God Palace also maintained an embassy in this realm to conduct diplomatic relations with the Grand Unity Human Clan.

As such, the Star River Realm should never be absent from life as they were sensing now.

Vaan expanded his detection range to the limit but still failed to locate a single body within the nearby sea region. Although Empyrean Oceanheart could cover the entire realm with her detection magic, she suppressed the natural urge and curiosity.

Since life was absent, there was no telling what unknown dangers they might face. Using detection magic would leave behind traces of her magic and could even risk being counter-detected by whatever caused the Star River Realm to become a ghost town.

"There are no signs of life, and not even a single corpse. It’s as if this place has been abandoned..."

"Or whatever calamity struck this Star River Realm ate all the corpses."

"This..."

Empyrean Oceanheart paused when Vaan added to her comment, thinking it was a reasonable possibility as well.

"Furthermore, the Star River Realm is a renown commercial hub in the local region. Even if calamity struck and ended all life recently, there should still be visitors arriving, unaware of the situation."

"Since this isn’t the case, the event that caused all life to cease in this realm must have happened quite some time ago," Vaan speculated.

Empyrean Oceanheart nodded.

"The Star River Realm is so close to the Grand Unity Human Clan. If some sort of disaster struck this place, wouldn’t it send someone to take care of the problem already?" Seraphina wondered with surprise.

However, Empyrean Oceanheart shook her head.

"Not at all. The Grand Unity Human Clan rarely cares about anything outside of its territory, and when it does, it’s usually because some human heir is bored inside the Holy Land and wants to explore the vaster outside world."

"The Star River Realm might be close to the Grand Unity Human Clan, but it exists outside of Umbral Edge. The only force that would care about it would be the Tier-9 Vermillion Flame Star Empire that it is affiliated with."

"This region of space is under the Tier-9 Vermillion Flame Star Empire’s jurisdiction," Empyrean Oceanheart stated.

’A Tier-9 Star Empire...’ Vaan thought.

Clearly, the Tier-9 Vermillion Flame Star Empire was countless times more powerful than the Tier-1 Skymagia Star Kingdom that Gehenna was affiliated with.

However, no matter how much more powerful the Tier-9 Vermillion Flame Star Empire was, its strongest cultivator was merely a Divine Emperor. It did not have a single True Divinity.

Otherwise, the Tier-9 Vermillion Flame Star Empire would have already become a Vermillion Flame Holy Land instead.

"Can you find out what happened to this realm, Empyrean Oceanheart?" Vaan inquired.

"I think it is better that I don’t," Empyrean Oceanheart seriously believed as she said, "If I use a temporal spell here to find out the past events, it’ll leave traces of my magical power here. Any True Divinity-level being or above would be able to use that trace to track us down."

"It wouldn’t matter if the opponent was weaker or didn’t have any malicious intent, but if they were stronger or did have malicious intent, then we would be courting trouble. Since the Star River Realm’s situation isn’t any of our business, it’s best that we don’t poke our noses into it."

"We should leave. A place like this now is not safe for us to linger around for long," Empyrean Oceanheart advised.

"Perhaps, it was a mistake to come here in the first place, Great-grandmother," Seraphina commented, feeling uneasy with the atmosphere.

She found the Star River Realm’s ghostly atmosphere quite unsettling, as if something terrible were about to happen.

However, she wasn’t sure whether this was her natural sense of danger or just her instinctive fear of the unknown.

"Perhaps."

Empyrean Oceanheart tried not to overthink the matter. In fact, the Star River Realm’s absence of life could be caused by a number of reasons, not necessarily something bad.

However, since they lacked information, there was no point in guessing.

"There’s a 200 lightyear stretch of void from here to the Southern Pass," Empyrean Oceanheart informed before stating, "Since the situation is uncertain, we are entering hyperdrive."

"Understood." Vaan and Seraphina acknowledged.

Indeed, given the uncertainty in the regional space, it was the best choice to cross it by passing through a higher-dimensional space. Otherwise, they could only turn around or make a long detour.

Rumble...click!

The Azure Wanderer briefly vibrated before something metallic clicked in its core, presumably its hyperdrive engine.

As the vibration grew in intensity, the space around the Azure Wanderer seemed to warp and twist. In the next instant, the Azure Wanderer accelerated, and the scenery instantly blurred into streaks of varying darkness.

If it were any other direction, perhaps the viewing screen would be filled with streaks of light.

However, their destination was the Southern Pass, a void opening passage between cosmic bodies of dark clouds, filled with all sorts of exotic matter, life forms, and environment dangers.

Nevertheless, as the Azure Wanderer zipped through hyperspace, a protective bubble seemingly covered it, shielding it from minor stellar debris and gas found in the void of normal space.

Everything seemingly warped and twisted around the Azure Wanderer’s protective bubble.

Of course, large celestial objects like stars and planets were known as gravity wells. These large bodies in space were the only things they could pass through in hyperspace.

Direct collision would only result in catastrophic death.

Thus, all hyperspace travel was typically calculated to avoid these gravity wells along the path.

Vaan hardly got to appreciate the scenery of hyperspace travel when his Omni-Sense picked up a moving shadow following them into hyperspace. Even with the Azure Wanderer’s gradual acceleration, the distance kept shrinking.

"Hm? Empyrean Oceanheart, something is tailing us."

"What!?"