Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 332 - 325

Chapter 332: 325

"Why would a summoner come to a place like this, can he really open the Otherworld Gate?" Cheng Ziang muttered under his breath, puzzled by the admiration Fu’en was receiving.

"What are you saying?" the mage, who hadn’t heard his muttering, asked.

"Oh, nothing. So, Master Fu’en is leading this event, right?" Cheng Ziang regained his composure before continuing to engage in conversation.

"Of course, only Master Fu’en can open the Otherworld Gate," the mage responded proudly.

"So, when can we complete the mission?" Cheng Ziang continued to inquire.

"What’s the rush? With Master Fu’en here, opening the Otherworld Gate is a piece of cake. Are you in such a hurry to leave, you don’t want to stay with Master Fu’en a bit longer?" said the mage discontentedly.

He then turned his head and realized Fu’en and his party had wandered off. He turned back to grumble, "It’s all your fault for distracting me. Now Master Fu’en has gone so far. I need to catch up!"

"It seems like you were the one keeping me here," Cheng Ziang shrugged as he watched the mage leave, murmuring quietly to himself.

He did not approach Fu’en and his party recklessly but returned to Yalunte after gathering some intelligence.

"What did you find out?" Yalunte asked idly, while he examined the scrolls in his hands.

"That guy is a summoner," Cheng Ziang answered truthfully.

"A summoner?" Yalunte stopped for a moment, then looked over at the distant Fu’en and a baffled smile appeared on his face, "It’s rare to see summoners under the Church Court’s rule."

"What’s the deal with summoners?" Cheng Ziang asked.

"Summoners used to be one of the most magnificent mages on the continent. They can summon beings and objects from other worlds through magic arrays," Yalunte explained.

"Does that mean that whatever a summoner summons is exclusive to him? If a person gets summoned, does that mean they become the summoner’s slave?" Cheng Ziang posed the question, thinking about the settings in novels and games.

"How could that be possible," Yalunte laughed, shaking his head before saying, "what a summoner summons, whether it’s an object or a creature, does not belong exclusively to him. If he summons a terrifying creature that he can’t control, he could easily get injured. Therefore, when summoners conduct summoning rituals, they always have many people prepared around the magic array for emergencies."

"Sounds like a deathly profession," Cheng Ziang couldn’t help but comment.

"You can’t say that, summoners can summon many things from other worlds, not limited to creatures and objects. Some of those things can often turn the tide of a war at a critical moment," Yalunte explained.

"You can do such things?" Cheng Ziang asked him.

"Yes," Yalunte nodded and continued, "I remember my teacher once told me about some feats of summoners. At the height of a war, they summoned an iron bird. The iron bird roared and swooped towards the enemy lines, dropping a large number of bird’s eggs that created violent explosions, turning the entire enemy line into a sea of fire."

"Why does it sound so familiar?" Cheng Ziang frowned at the description.

"Hmm, I’ve read some books about Earth and I suspect the iron bird my teacher referred to is actually an earth’s bomber, with bird’s eggs being the bombs in the fuselage," Yalunte said in a nonchalantly. His understanding of Earth from his twenty years of cooperation with the headquarters was no less than the Blaiqi merchants who frequently traveled between the two worlds.

"Are you saying those summoners once summoned Earth’s bombers!" Cheng Ziang was astounded.

"Quite normal. However, according to my teacher, that bomber crashed after completing its bombing run and was completely destroyed. Some people recognized these things from other worlds as treasures and melted down the wreckage to make weapons," Yalunte shrugged.

"It’s a good thing they didn’t summon any radioactive materials. That would have been fun..." Cheng Ziang replied wryly.

"So, why did they fall out of favor later? I’ve heard it was due to the sanctions from the Church Court." Cheng Ziang asked after a pause.

"Afterward, the number of summoners kept increasing, and so did the problems they caused," Yalunte sighed before continuing, "As I told you, they couldn’t control the people or things they’d summoned. That’s why summoning was usually done in enclosed spaces with multiple people assisting. But, as summoners increased, many began illegally summoning, drawing summoning arrays in any open space they could find, which caused severe problems."

Yalunte couldn’t help shaking his head as he talked about it and then continued, "They summoned a lot of dangerous creatures from other worlds. Plus, the larger the summoning array, the higher the chance of bringing in large creatures. The success in summoning the bombers from Earth had given them tremendous confidence, prompting them to create even larger magic arrays for summoning, eventually resulting in disaster."

"They summoned many gargantuan and terrifying creatures. Regardless of reasons, these creatures attacked anything they saw. Because the summoning was illegal, after these monsters killed their summoners, they would continue to attack innocent people... during the hundred most glorious years of summoners, for fifty years, the whole world lived in fear of these monsters. The army was constantly suppressing these menacing creatures, and the summoners irresponsibly continued their summonings."

"Eventually, the Pope was infuriated, excommunicating these summoners and dispatched both the Church Court and the armies of various kingdoms to arrest and try them. The Church Court labeled summoning books as forbidden and began to destroy them worldwide. It took them a whole century to finally allow the world to recover from the fear of the summoners," Yalunte explained.

"So that’s how it was..." After hearing Yalunte’s story, Cheng Ziang finally understood and nodded knowingly.

"These guys have some nerve, daring to hire summoners. If the Church Courts find out, they’d probably send Temple Knights to annihilate them outright," Yalunte said, shaking his head as he glanced at the distance at Fu’en.

"If the summoners managed to summon bombers from Earth, could it be possible they also summoned people from Earth?" A question suddenly popped into Cheng Ziang’s mind, prompting him to blurt it out.

"Possibly, but I haven’t seen any books on the topic. After all, I’m a mercenary, not a scholar," Yalunte shrugged in response.

Disappointed by Yalunte’s answer, Cheng Ziang nodded and then turned his attention back to Fu’en who was getting farther and farther away. He then asked, "Just now, I overheard those people discussing that this summoner named Fu’en is a key figure in activating the Otherworld Gate."

"Is that so?" Yalunte was surprised, pausing a moment before glancing back at Fu’en.

"Can summoners activate the Otherworld Gate?" Cheng Ziang asked him.

"Hmm..." Yalunte hesitated for a moment, then said with difficulty, "I’m not too clear on that. We’ll have to ask that old man Shariya when we get back."

"Anyway, let’s get some blueprints first and take them back with us. That should lessen some of the pressure on Moumou and the others," suggested Cheng Ziang.

"You go. I’ll wait for you here," said Yalunte.

"But you..." Cheng Ziang looked at him, clearly worried.

"Rest assured," Yalunte smiled, giving Cheng Ziang a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "I know this place better than you, I know how to protect myself. You, on the other hand, need to be careful when stealing stuff and sneaking out."

"Take care then!" Cheng Ziang nodded in agreement with Yalunte’s words.

Although he said he’d get some blueprints, Cheng Ziang found that it wasn’t as easy as he thought when he tried to implement it. The magicians here were working around the clock in shifts, and he couldn’t find any opportunity to make his move.

Both of them sneaked into the city and waited until late at night. They couldn’t find a place to sleep, so they had to hang around in the tents where the blueprints were being studied. But staying there would easily draw attention, so Yalunte took Cheng Ziang to a tavern in the city.

This was one of the few buildings that hadn’t been requisitioned for official use, and met the leisure needs of the officers and magicians. Of course, running tabs were common, and the tavern owner had no choice but to tolerate it.

Cheng Ziang had some money for expenses, so seeing Yalunte looking starved, he reluctantly paid for some drinks and casually asked the owner about places to stay.

Being one of the few customers who could pay the full price or even a higher price for drinks, the owner treated Cheng Ziang with great enthusiasm. He even offered up his room, choosing to sleep in the kitchen.

Licking the last drop of liquor from the bottom of his mug, Yalunte looked unsatisfied. As he looked at Cheng Ziang’s annoyed expression, he suddenly thought of a crafty plan: to buy some drinks, take them back to the tents, and get those studying magicians drunk.

Cheng Ziang knew Yalunte was looking for an excuse to drink more, but thinking over his plan, it seemed like a viable option. So, he reluctantly agreed.

As a result, Yalunte, carrying a barrel of wine, staggered back to the tents and encouraged everyone to drink to relieve their fatigue. The magicians, who had been engrossed in their research, were unable to resist the temptation and left their workstations to join Yalunte.

Over the years of mingling with the Headquarters, Yalunte had picked up the knack for encouraging others to drink. Under his insistence, the group drank until they were completely drunk. Taking this opportunity, Cheng Ziang sneaked in pretending to be a dedicated scholar, started to photograph the blueprints and even pocketed some less important ones straight away.