This time, the vine gave a clearer answer than before.
The Stairs of Hanging Prison.
But this answer … was not useful at all! He knew the Tree Spirit was inside the Stairs of Hanging Prison, but where exactly?
The giant vine tilted its head like a confused snake when Angor asked further. Angor analyzed the emotion fluctuation sent by the vine, and it basically meant: Why don't you know?
Angor felt a little amused. Why would I know?
"I'm only asking because I'm dizzy. You've never been inside the Stairs of Hanging Prison, so how do you know where the Tree Spirit is?" Angor sighed in his mind. He bid farewell to the vine and walked deeper into the door.
After walking for about 20 meters, Angor subconsciously looked back. The vine was still "tilting its head" not far away, as if it still did not understand what was going on.
Angor chuckled and thought to himself: As expected of a magic plant. It's completely different from a Tree Spirit. Even if this plant had lived for thousands or tens of thousands of years, it still did not gain much intelligence. Spiritual creatures, on the other hand, were much more intelligent than regular monsters, even if it was just a rock.
Take that Tree Spirit for example. Even though it just gained intelligence, it already learned a stupid skill — Feign Death.
If the magic plant was in the same situation as the Tree Spirit, it would not care about the difference in strength. Whenever it encountered any approaching creatures, it would just bare its fangs and brandish its claws.
This was the difference.
With that in mind, Angor kept walking forward.
The path behind the door was obviously well-maintained and protected by magic plants. There were no signs of damage inside. There were even exquisitely carved candlesticks on both sides of the wall. However, there was no oil in the candlesticks.
After walking for another hundred meters, Angor finally saw the first change in the landscape after entering the door.
A flight of stairs leading upward appeared in front of Angor.
It was not too long, and Angor could see the end of it with one glance. There was another door.
Luckily, there was no guard at the door.
Before stepping on the stairs, Angor took one last look at the vine in the distance. It was still looking at him with the same puzzled expression.
Looking at its "tilted head", Angor thought he heard someone whispering in his ear, "Why don't you know?"
He shook his head and decided not to think about it. Instead, he slowly walked up the stairs.
But for some reason, the more he tried not to think about it, the more his mind wandered to it.
"Why wouldn't I know? Why would I know? "
Angor kept walking forward while pondering.
Suddenly, he realized something and looked up. "Yeah! Why don't I know about it?"
He finally understood why the vine had such doubts.
Angor had been thinking about himself as a human from the beginning. He forgot that he was a "wood spirit" from the vine's point of view. And wasn't it very easy for the wood spirits to sense their own kind? So, why don't you know?
"So I'm the clown in the end?" Angor mocked himself.
Previously, he was still standing on the high ground of superiority, looking down at the difference in intelligence between the vines and the wood spirits. Only now did he realize that while he was looking down on others, others were also doubting his ignorance.
After realizing this, he felt both self-deprecating and embarrassed.
Luckily, everyone else was in the exile space, and he was the only one outside. Otherwise, he would feel even more ashamed.
Angor was too embarrassed to look back at the vine right now. He quickly walked to the door at the end of the stairs.
The door was open and unlocked.
After making sure there were no traps on the door, Angor quickly opened it.
The first thing he saw when he opened the door was a layer of darkness. It literally meant that there was a layer of dark curtain around them.
There were faint spatial ripples floating on the darkness.
Angor hesitated for a moment before he summoned a Hand of Spell and slowly reached it forward.
The Hand of Spell went through the darkness without a hitch. At the same time, Angor could tell from the feedback that there were two different spaces inside and outside the door.
In other words, the inside of the door was a different space.
The fact that the Hand of Spell could be retrieved meant that the space was not one-way. Angor sighed in relief. If it was a space of no return, he would have to think twice before entering it.
With the Hand of Spell's help, Angor boldly stepped into the darkness.
Angor's figure disappeared into the darkness as if he was passing through a water membrane. When he reappeared, he was already standing on a platform illuminated by fluorescent stones.
The platform was not big, and the light from the fluorite was enough to cover the entire area. Outside the platform, however, was a vast expanse of darkness. Without a wall to block his view, he would step into a chaotic space similar to the void.
The only path on the platform was a flight of stairs that led to an unknown place.
The stairs in front of him and the strange space gave Angor the illusion that he was back at the Stairs of Hanging Prison in the Nightmare Realm.
This place was too similar to the Stairs of Hanging Prison.
Angor even suspected that this was the Stairs of Hanging Prison. Was this another entrance to the Stairs of Hanging Prison?
Angor could not figure it out right now, but he did not think too much about it. Whether this was the Stairs of Hanging Prison or not, he would find out later. The most important thing now was to release everyone from the exile space.
Angor was worried that the vines could sense the situation here, so he did not let them out. But now that they were in the strange space, they should be fine. No matter how sensitive the vines were, they would not be able to sense the situation in the strange space without a medium connecting them to two different spaces at the same time.
As the ancient gate of the exile space reopened, everyone walked out in a single file.
The two apprentices let out long sighs of relief when they came out. Dorcas and Dark Earl did not react differently. Of course, this did not include Dark Earl's suffocating nose.
Dark Earl finally took a deep breath after confirming that the stench was gone.
"It was only a minute or two. Why did it feel like the outside world changed so much?" Dorcas also noticed the change and asked Angor in confusion, "We're not in the gutter anymore?"
"Sort of. We're in a different space."
With that, Angor briefly explained the situation. Of course, he did not mention anything embarrassing.
"There's a door behind the vines, and a different space at the end … I see." After Dorcas understood the current situation and confirmed that there was nothing to worry about, he began his daily chatter. "I thought you found a place to kill us."
"If that's what you want, I can try to kill you next time," Angor replied in a flat tone. He then ignored Dorcas's chatter and focused on his discussion with Dark Earl.
"This place is similar to the Stairs of Hanging Prison I read about. But according to the information I received, the entrance to the Stairs of Hanging Prison is under the statue, not here." Angor looked at Dark Earl. "Mister, can you sense anything?"
Without the stench, Dark Earl's nose could now work to a certain extent.
Dark Earl sniffed around and shook the stone slab. "I don't sense any danger."
Angor did not know how Dark Earl could tell danger from danger. If there was a magic array trap, would he be able to smell it out?
Despite his doubts, Angor still trusted Dark Earl's judgment. After all, the man was a powerful figure.
"Since there's no danger, why don't we go up the stairs? Whether it's the Stairs of Hanging Prison or not, we'll know once we see if there are cells on both sides of the stairs. "
No one refused. After all, they could not stay on the platform forever.
For safety reasons, Angor rearranged the moving illusion. However, he did not use several purification force fields to prevent Dark Earl from using his sense of smell.
The Stairs of Hanging Prison looked dangerous, but once they stepped on it, they did not feel anything.
Not only was it more spacious than they expected, but they also did not feel soft under their feet. It was as if they were walking on solid ground.
At first, the stairs were going up. However, it did not take long before the stairs began to "go crazy like an art".
Sometimes it went up, sometimes it went down, sometimes it curled up, sometimes it went around … There was even a flight of stairs that could be walked upside down.
Angor could already feel the difference between the stairs and the Stairs of Hanging Prison.
The void staircase of the Stairs of Hanging Prison was basically an upward trend. However, the void staircase of this alternate dimension was like an artist showing off his skills.
Apart from the dizziness, they did not encounter any real danger.
After going through all kinds of stairs, they finally reached a new platform.
It was about the same size as the previous one, and it was also illuminated by fluorescent stones. The only difference was that there was an old-looking human-shaped alchemy puppet here.
The alchemy puppet stood still beside the stairs while holding a box in its hand. The box looked delicate and colorful, like a surprise box from a circus clown.
The sudden appearance of the alchemy puppet made everyone stop and look at Angor.
After all, Angor, as a member of the R&D department, was the most knowledgeable about alchemy among them.
Angor did not make any alchemy puppets himself, but he had talked with many alchemists during his time at Ashillia Comprehensive Academy, so he knew a lot about alchemy puppets. And the one who helped him the most was the "God" of the R&D department, Antonio.
Antonio did not know alchemy, but as a deity of the R&D department, he knew a lot about alchemy. His knowledge covered almost all alchemy projects.
Among them, Antonio knew about alchemy puppets the most.
This was because Antonio had a very unreliable boss — "Mediocre" Muse.
Muse was the kind of genius who would go into seclusion whenever he had the slightest inspiration. Even if the outside world was in chaos, he would not care about it.
Fortunately, Floating Mech City had another very responsible city lord, "Beast Emperor" Lawson.
However, no matter how responsible Lawson was, he might not be able to handle everything. Among them, Ashillia Academy and the R&D department were the most difficult.
In this case, Lawson could only ask for help from the R&D department members who were on duty. However, they all hated trouble. Even if they were on duty, they would find all kinds of excuses to refuse.
Therefore, they had to send Antonio.
Antonio was only a deity after all. He had to manage the R&D department and the City of Floating Mech, so he could not do anything else. Without any other choice, Antonio prepared many alchemy puppets to act as his stand-in.
This was why alchemy puppets often appeared in the meetings of the city lords in Floating Mech City. Without a doubt, it had to be Antonio.
For this reason, Antonio knew a lot about alchemy puppets.
Antonio was committed to the development of the R&D department, so he would do his best to help the members. Of course, Antonio would not refuse Angor's request to learn more about alchemy puppets.
Angor was not a stranger to alchemy puppets.
Although a lot of puppet knowledge was just like the spatial knowledge in his head, it was only theory and had yet to be put into practice. But it wasn't hard to make a comprehensive evaluation of an ancient puppet.
After all, alchemy puppets were usually related to mechanical alchemy, and mechanical alchemy was a field that did not rely on its previous knowledge. With the passage of time, mechanical alchemy would only be updated iteratively. The ancient knowledge in the ruins would only make alchemists scoff at it rather than scramble for it.
"Excellent craftsmanship. The one who made this puppet must be a master. But now, it's not good enough, "Angor said. "Old design, simple effect, no materials from Cazider World, so I can't attach a spirit to it. No logic core panel, so I can't provide timely feedback. "
"The materials used are good. Too bad, they all have traces of corrosion. You can disassemble them, but there are other cheap substitutes. So … they're worthless."
After hearing Angor's comment, everyone stopped focusing on the ancient alchemy puppet and returned to their normal state of mind.
"So you're saying this puppet is useless?" Dorcas asked.
Angor took a closer look and shook his head. "It's not completely useless. At least, this puppet is still useful. Without this puppet, our path forward will come to an end. "
"What do you mean?" Dorcas frowned.
"Literally. This puppet is the key to unlocking the next step." Angor looked at the others and saw that they were still puzzled by his words.
He thought for a moment and said, "Then let me put it in simpler terms. In other words, this puppet is a … ticket seller?"
"Ticket seller?"
Angor nodded and pointed at the box in the puppet's hand. "See? That's the ticket box."
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