Chapter 93: Wormhole
The student union president appeared to be very worried for Xiao Lin. It was quite an unprecedented move for a freshman to travel to a foreign academy’s colony.
Song Junlang casually and unceremoniously interrupted the president’s nagging, “Don’t make it sound so serious. War? It’s not like things haven’t changed from a hundred years ago. Who would dare to start a war for no reason?”
“Diplomatic disputes. I’m sure you acknowledge this.” The president was increasingly helpless and he nearly forgot that the department head beside him was not so easy to fool.
“Xiao Lin is a freshman, but I’m not. It’s like you’re worried about me too!”
...
After finally leaving the student union, Xiao Lin followed Department Head Song all the way to the deepest part of the academy. It was a huge open-air platform that was about the size of two football fields. In the center of the platform was a cone-shaped crystal stone almost 100 meters high. Colorful bright lights were placed in the center and a soft halo circled the entire platform.
It was a sight to behold for Xiao Lin. He had not been to that area and would never have been able to either, as there was a huge iron gate in front of the platform and at least a dozen people guarding it closely. When Song Junlang came over, he had to endure more than 10 minutes of inspection and inquiries. In the end, he was finally released after it was confirmed that there were no issues.
Song Junlang warned in a low voice, “This is the Teleportation Square. It’s the most important place in the entire academy. Stay with me at all times. Don’t run around and touch stuff. There’s a ton of defense measures and countermeasure magic formations around here. Any one of them can blow you up so terribly that not even dust would be left of you!”
There were very few people on the Teleportation Square. Several train-like carriages were arranged on the white marble. Xiao Lin rubbed his eyes to make sure that he was not hallucinating. He pointed to the carriages and asked in a weird tone, “We’ll ride these back to Earth?”
“Well, duh. You want to go back all by yourself?” Song Junlang rolled his eyes and walked to a small light-blue carriage. After showing the relevant doc.u.ments to the guard next to him, the latter nodded, opened the door, and motioned the two of them to get in.
The inside of the carriage was narrower than the outside and could only accommodate about three or four people. Xiao Lin casually touched it and felt the carriage’s cold and firm walls. It was by no means made out of ordinary metal. There were no windows in the carriage, and when the doors were closed from the outside, everything became a pitch black inside.
The dark and airtight environment made Xiao Lin a little uneasy, but Song Junlang was used to it. A lazy voice came from the darkness, “Don’t worry, the teleportation pa.s.sage to Earth is very short. It’ll be ten minutes at most.”
“It’s not what I imagined,” Xiao Lin said pensively. In fact, it was entirely different from what he had in mind.
Department Head Song smiled softly. “What kind of teleportation did you think it would be? Did you suppose that a few spells would be recited and you’ll just vanish with a swoosh?”
“Uh, almost.”
“You read too many novels!”
Unconvinced, Xiao Lin continued, “Professor Dai in his history cla.s.s mentioned that similar novels or scripts on Earth were actually written by people from Dawn Academy who had their memories erased before being sent back to Earth. They ought to be right somehow.”
Song Junlang fell silent and said, “If you put it that way, then yes. but the teleportation that you mentioned can only be used by people who are at least on Gold rank. For insignificant side characters like us, we can only sit properly in this transdimensional carriage, or the chaotic energy in the teleportation channel would shred us to pieces.”
“Did we also travel here through this when we first came to the academy?”
“Yes. The admissions notice was used to gather you at the teleportation point first. You were then thrown into this transdimensional carriage and brought to the academy. The process is slightly more complicated, but if you’re interested, you can ask the Admissions Department’s head.”
“I don’t know him that well.”
...
Xiao Lin gradually relaxed after some brief exchanges. At that point, a harsh tearing sound rang in his ear, as if something had been torn in the blink of an eye. He felt a violent vibration in the carriage and it soon slid forward for a certain distance before going motionless once again.
Xiao Lin was about to open his mouth to ask when beams of kaleidoscopic light projected in from all directions. The carriage’s interior suddenly became as bright as daylight. Xiao Lin closed his eyes and reopened them slowly after adjusting to it. He was soon left speechless when he found that Song Junlang—who had experienced it before—was closing his eyes tightly.
Xiao Lin could not blame the guy for deliberately failing to warn him about it. Xiao Lin was even more surprised than before when he experienced that dreamlike light, as there was a huge amount of sand-like dust amidst the beams. When he stretched out his hand to touch them, the fine sand pa.s.sed directly through his palm, like a formless mirage.
“Timesand. Only appears in the wormhole.” Department Head Song looked at it with some interest before retracting his gaze. After all, it was not the first time he had seen such a thing.
Xiao Lin was filled with enthusiasm. Shuttling through s.p.a.ce and time was a very novel experience for him. They were probably within the wormhole at that moment, but he did not feel any from the carriage. Furthermore, the surroundings were completely sealed, but the golden Timesand could flow unimpeded throughout.
“Will it be the same when we go to the New World?” Xiao Lin asked.
Department Head Song nodded. “You can actually consider colonist academies as transit stations in the s.p.a.ce-time pa.s.sageway, connecting Earth to Planet Norma.”
“Then why can’t we go directly to Planet Norma from Earth?” Xiao Lin asked with interest.
“It was possible at first, but... How should I put this?” Song Junlang scratched his head and thought for a long time before slowly explaining, “Two points and a line. The two points are Earth and Planet Norma, and the line that connects them both is the wormhole. The earliest pioneers used this tunnel to reach Planet Norma directly from Earth, but everyone soon discovered that it was very risky because the wormhole would fluctuate from time to time. It could change from a straight line to a winding one, and if people happen to be in it when it changed, they would be completely lost in the chaos of endless s.p.a.ce and would be unable to come back forever.”
After thinking more about it, he said again, “Travelling between two different s.p.a.ces was very risky in the early days. The pioneers later worked very hard on Planet Norma for countless years, and their strength increased, but the limits of human power precluded from changing the fluctuations of time and s.p.a.ce. Even so, they managed to find a compromise: to create an additional point to form a triangle with Earth and the Norma World. Do you understand this principle?”
Xiao Lin said, “I do. A triangle is the most stable.”
Department Head Song gestured to the void with his hand. “Correct. This principle is also applicable in s.p.a.ce. The extra point is the colonial academies. By forming a stable triangle through this point, a pa.s.sageway can be established without any twists and turns occurring.”