Chapter 208: 208

Matriculation Camp, the camp commandant office.

There were many people gathered in the office, aside from the dignified camp commandant, there were also more than a dozen staff that rarely revealed themselves.

“Wormhole 13 is about to open again!”

The camp commandant glanced at everyone and said. “Although there were only minor casualties previously, but in order to prevent any accidents, I still need you lot to monitor this at very moment!”

“Yes, sir!”

More than a dozen staff responded in unison.

“To your stations!”

…

At this moment, there were more than a hundred trainees in the gorge. In other words, more than ninety percent of all trainees were there.

Some were alone, some were in teams of twos, or threes and fives. All of the trainees were excited for Wormhole 13.

When Wormhole 13 opened last time, it was the passage to a planet of life with plenty of energy crystals and treasure of heaven and earth, with many making a fortune.

So, who was not excited for the opening this time?

The moment Wormhole 13 opened, all of the trainees jumped from the gorge into the wormhole like a group of chickens on crack.

“Let’s head over too!”

Niu Ben was eager.

“Okay!”

Ling Jiu, Bai Ya and Niu Miao all nodded and leapt into the gorge.

Flight was a skill that all matriculation camp trainees had mastered. To be precise, all matriculation camp trainees were at least Level 7 so all of them could fly.

When they came to the bottom of the gorge, they saw a sphere emitting colorful light as it suspended quietly at the bottom of the canyon like a bright colorful ball.

All of the trainees went in.

Ling Jiu and the other three looked at one another before heading in. After more than ten seconds of shuttling through the wormhole, they had arrived at the world on the other side of Wormhole 13.

Total darkness!

A darkness where you cannot see your own fingers.

This… this was a world of darkness!

“A dark planet?”

“Or just the hemisphere we are on at night now?”

There were bursts of exclamations as lights were turned on one by one, illuminating the world around them. Clearly, everyone had brought lights with them.

As the lights came on and illuminating the surroundings, everyone saw spherical rocks beneath their feet. Some were large, some were small. The larger ones were as big as a cow’s head, while the small ones were like pits of a date. They were piled up densely all over the place and seemed to be everywhere.

Yes!

They were indeed everywhere as at a glance the entire ground was full of rocks.

“Are these rocks?”

Someone picked up one of the rocks.

“They are. I have Earth-element Arcana, and I can totally perceive them. Everything on the ground are rocks, no doubt about that.” Someone said slowly.

“The ground is all rocks? What kind of planet is this?”

The voices of discussions rose and fell.

“Miaomiao, check the atmospheric composition.”

Niu Ben said to his sister, Niu Miao.

“Already on it!”

Niu Miao took out a computer-like object as she replied without even looking back. A moment later, a touch of astonishment suddenly appeared on her face.

“What’s wrong, Miaomiao?”

Niu Ben quickly asked.

“Brother, you would never have thought of what the atmospheric composition of this planet is like!” Niu Miao gasped.

“Out with it.”

Niu Ben urged her as Ling Jiu and Bai Ya also looked at Niu Miao.

“50 percent nitrogen, 4 percent carbon dioxide, and the remaining 44 percent is almost all calcium carbonate, magnesium carbonate, calcium silicate, magnesium silicate, silicon dioxide and more!”

Niu Miao’s tone was calm, but each of her words was a bombshell.

Niu Ben, Ling Jiu and Bai Ya looked at each other.

“Aren’t things like calcium carbonate, magnesium carbonate and silicon dioxide chemical substances that make up rocks? They are generally solids so how would they appear in the atmosphere?”

Atmosphere.

Which was also air.

There were 44 percent rocks in the air?

This joke was not funny at the slightest!

“Brother, the atmospheric detector is never wrong!”

Niu Miao smiled bitterly. “The atmosphere of this planet is indeed like this. The atmosphere does contain 44 percent of gaseous rocks!”

“How high is the temperature this planet that it could turn rocks into gas?” Bai Ya gasped as an incredulous look appeared on her face.

“The temperature of the location we are at now is 110 degrees Celsius!” Niu Miao immediately replied.

“110 degrees Celsius? Although that’s high, it’s not enough to melt rocks, right?”

The three of them were shocked one again. “Also, isn’t our current location nighttime? And the temperature is still that high?”

VOOOSH VOOSHH!!

Just as the three were shocked, a shrill rip of the air suddenly thundered above them. As everyone looked up with their lights, they saw countless rocks were falling like raindrops as they crashed violently onto the ground.

BOOM–BOOM–

And they appeared almost instantly above everyone’s heads.

“Shinra Tensei!”

Ling Jiu glanced around and deployed a repulsive shield around the four of them as all of the falling rocks were blocked on the outside.

The others were not so lucky, while those with Earth Manipulation Arcana were fine, those who did not were down on their luck.

With rocks smashing against their skulls like hail, all those who were hit screamed. Fortunately, everyone here was a powerful top-level Arcanist, and all were equipped with Venom Suits, so their lives were not in danger.

“That’s a bloody rain of rocks!”

“It’s raining rocks on this planet. What the hell?”

“I suddenly understand where the rocks on the ground came from…”

The sounds of cursing rang out as everyone knew how the rocks on the ground came about, and they came down like rain.

“What sort of planet have we come to?” Niu Ben smiled bitterly.

“Brother, what should we do now?” Niu Miao looked at her brother.

“Brother Ling, what do you mean…” Niu Ben looked at Ling Jiu.

Ling Jiu pondered for a moment before saying slowly. “Since we are already here, there’s no rush to go back. Plus, I have an idea!”

“What idea?”

The three others asked.

“The atmosphere of this planet is 44% rich in gaseous rocks. Think about it, how high is the temperature needed to vaporize rocks?”

Ling Jiu said slowly. “A mere 110 degrees Celsius definitely won’t cut it, so I guess this planet’s temperature is certainly much higher, at least over 2,000 degrees Celsius!”

“But it’s only 110 degrees Celsius here!” Niu Miao raised an objecting opinion.

“I think there’s three possibilities as to why the temperature here is so low.”

“First, this is the back of the planet, and that means it’s night over here. Second, is that we are at the planet’s polar points.”

Ling Jiu said slowly. “It’s still not that bad if we are at the polar points of the planet. But if this is night, and when day comes, the temperature on the planet’s surface will definitely skyrocket to at least 2,000 degrees Celsius! By then, we will not be able to bear the heat!”

“This…”

Nio Ben and the other two shuddered.

2000 degrees Celsius!

Even rocks would vaporize!

How could their mere mortal bodies of flesh and blood withstand this terrifying heat?

“Ling Jiu, what should we do?”

Niu Ben trembled.

“Generally speaking, the most sensible choice is to stay in front of the wormhole and wait for a while to see if day comes. This is the safest way.”

Ling Jiu smiled and said. “But we don’t have to wait, because I have Dimension Arcana and can take everyone into the Dimension Sea. This way, we’ll be fine even if the temperature soars.”

“So, what do we do?”

The three heaved a sigh of relief.

“Since we are already on this planet, of course we must go and have a look!”

Ling Jiu licked his lips. “Whether this planet have any treasures or not, I don’t know, but I have a hunch that this is a blessed place for me.”

“A blessed place?”

The three were taken aback.

“Come, let’s go and have a look.”

Ling Jiu smiled as he wrapped the three using his Dimension Domain and darted away.

For Ling Jiu, who had superior night vision, he did not need any illumination as his eyes could clearly see everything within a few miles.

“What is that?”

Ling Jiu suddenly stopped, and then landed on the ground as he pulled a few rocks away and pulled a crystal the size of a bull’s head out.

Let’s call it a crystal for now, as it was transparent, and gleamed with crystal clear light, looking very beautiful.

“Brother Ling, what is this?”

Niu Ben asked puzzledly.

“Pretty decent luck, I found a diamond!” Ling Jiu smiled and gave Bai Ya the diamond. “Darling, a 10-catty diamond for you!”

“This… alright.”

Bai Ya glanced at Niu Ben and Niu Miao before taking the diamond.

“Brother Ling you are so lucky, to pick up such a large diamond just like that. If you put this up for auction, this would be worth at least a few billion bucks yeah?”

Niu Ben said with smiling aghast.

Several billions were of course a small number. To people like them, money was the most useless, but such a large diamond was indeed rare, at least such a giant stone will never be found back on Earth.

“Hahaha! This is not a matter of luck. This planet has a unique environment, and according to my guess, there should be no shortage of large diamonds!”

Ling Jiu led everyone forward, and after a while Ling Jiu suddenly noticed light ahead and flew over with everyone.

As they approached, the light grew brighter and brighter as the temperature soared rapidly, breaking through 400 degrees Celsius in a blink of an eye.

Even though they were wearing Venom Suits, Bai Ya and the other two could not withstand the heat. Without any other recourse, Ling Jiu could only take them into the Dimensional Sea.

And then, they forged on.

Finally, when the four of them came to the light zone, they were stunned by the scene that greeted them.

The ground before them were full of roiling lava.

Flaming red and roiling lava spread all across the land as everything until the end of their sight was a boiling lava lake.

A lava lake?

It was more like a sea of lava!

Because the lava lake before them was just too big!

Looking above them, a giant star floating in the sky, almost totally obscuring everything. It was totally conceivable that it was too close to this planet.

Looking at the sun above, and then the lava sea beneath their feet. Ling Jiu finally understood. “Everyone, I finally understand how the earlier rain of rocks had formed!”

“As it is too close to the star, so the temperature of the hemisphere facing the star is very high, estimated to be as high as several thousand degrees, enough to vaporize the rocks on the ground.”

“So that’s why the planet’s atmosphere is full of gaseous rocks, while the other side of the planet is much lower in temperature at 110 degrees Celsius.”

“The massive difference in temperature caused a strong convection effect on the planet’s atmosphere as the vaporized rocks moved to the back and condensed back into rocks, which in turn transforming into scorching rocks falling from high altitude, thus the rain of rocks!”

“That is to say, we have come to a planet full of lava and rain of rocks?” Niu Ben was disappointed. “What can such a planet have?”

“Energy crystals generally only exists in planets with vibrant life, what can a hellish planet like this have?”

Niu Ben smiled bitterly: “Let’s go, we can withdraw now.”

“Look, what is that?”

At this moment, Bai Ya suddenly called out in a whisper as everyone looked over.

They saw inside the boiling lava sea, a crimson being that resembling a dragon with two horns appeared from time to time…