DOTM: Chapter 512/513

Chapter 512: Savings Drained Again

Ethan didn't have any intention of mocking the Imperial Military Academy for researching this kind of tactic.

Often, without experiencing real war, no one can be sure what effect a theoretical tactic will have.

It was like these three planets that looked quite good from a distance. Once they were actually surveyed, problems were discovered.

After circling the three planets, all they gained was disappointment.

The first planet had very suitable gravity, even closer to the standard gravity of the training ground than Xandar. However, this planet had no water resources, no signs of life, and the air not only lacked oxygen but also contained a large amount of toxic substances.

Everyone just took a rough look around the planet and then left. In this situation, there wasn't even any value in landing.

The second planet seemed decent. The gravity was slightly lower than standard gravity, and the planet was considerably smaller than Xandar.

Other than that, everything else about this planet was a problem.

There were water resources, but they were in solid form, all ice.

The entire planet was like a giant ice chunk. Ethan and the others lived in this vast world of ice and snow for seven days, and the highest temperature did not reach above zero, only rising to minus eighteen degrees Celsius.

Most of the time it stayed between minus fifty and minus seventy degrees Celsius, occasionally dropping to minus eighty or minus ninety.

Based on the data measured by Yondu in space, simulations were conducted, leading to a not-so-optimistic conclusion. This planet would be completely obscured by another planet for a considerable period, unable to be illuminated by a star. This meant the planet would be in a state of polar night for a significant duration, and the temperature would likely drop below minus one hundred degrees Celsius at that time.

"Even without this polar night state, this temperature is not suitable for ordinary people to live in."

Although there was water, there was no other life on this planet. Furthermore, after testing, the components contained in the ice were not suitable for direct consumption.

This landing survey lasted less than five days. Before the fifth day was over, everyone had already moved towards the third target planet.

The situation on the last target planet was even worse. Everyone couldn't even get close.

After arriving in the area where this planet was located, both fighter jets were affected by magnetic interference, so they had to maintain a safe distance and use various equipment to detect the planet's conditions.

Finally, the four detectors sent out one after another were all destroyed on this planet, but they also sent back some data. Based on this data, everyone clearly realized that this planet was not suitable for any life to inhabit.

This was a gas giant planet. The gas composition was very complex, with many unknown components. The known components were all harmful to the human body, and not a single trace of the oxygen needed for human survival was detected.

At the same time, the environment of the entire planet was extremely harsh. With the detection equipment, it was found that the surface temperature of this planet was at least several thousand degrees Celsius. How could anyone live in such an environment?

So everyone directly chose to leave and return to Xandar. By this time, the things to be done next had basically been decided.

The training ground would be moved onto the ocean of Xandar, and then Ethan would leave enough information to encourage the adventurers to explore harder outside the training ground, slowly breaking free from the training ground world and possessing a real planet.

As for who to give the information in his hands to? There was basically no suspense. It certainly wouldn't be the Guild. Ethan would only give these things to people he knew and found agreeable.

Brent was undoubtedly a suitable choice, and he believed that with Brent's personality, he would definitely be willing to take on this responsibility.

"What you need to consider next is how to place such a large training ground onto the ocean of that planet." Star-Lord also took the opportunity to ask Ethan what he planned to do. "If I remember correctly, you said before that you don't have control over that training ground?"

"Yes, that's why I'm thinking about how to do it."

Now he had two options. The first was pure brute force, using powerful magic energy to confine the entire training ground and drag it into Xandar.

His current strength wasn't incapable of doing it, but doing so would be quite exhausting and would drain all his reserves. Although Ethan hadn't made new Arcane Springs, he would make some magic items in his free time during these past few months, specifically to store various types of magic energy for convenient use when needed.

By draining all these stored energies, Ethan could ensure the entire training ground was safely delivered into Xandar without any damage.

But if there was another option, he was naturally willing to save some effort, energy.

The second method was to find Tony. Perhaps this cheat-like guy could crack the training ground's control system, allowing him to directly pilot the entire training ground to land like a spaceship... He suddenly thought of a question. Does this training ground have thrusters?

"No... I don't think so..."

Betty was also confused. She didn't know if the training ground could navigate and land like a spaceship. In her impression, the training ground was a main structure built directly in space. After the main framework was completed, it was equivalent to a small artificial celestial body, and subsequent construction work was all done on it.

From beginning to end, the training ground was built in space, and its position was fixed directly during construction, so it basically wouldn't be moved.

Considering that when the Empire had problems back then, the military also chose to evacuate their own people and leave the training ground there, perhaps the training ground itself didn't have the capability to navigate.

"Alright, the second method can be set aside."

It seemed his newly saved reserves were going to be gone again.

But thinking about it, it didn't matter. After this busy trip, there shouldn't be anything that would significantly deplete his energy for a while, and he could slowly save it back up.

After a period of navigation, the Milano returned to the asteroid belt outside Xandar, where the training ground was located.

"Before doing this, shouldn't I solve the spaceship problem first?"

To be honest, the space in these two Ravager fighter jets was really small. With such a large group of people squeezed into this small space, it was far from comfortable. Many times, men like Ethan and Logan would just find a random spot to rest. Fortunately, their need for sleep was very low now, so there were no conflicts due to sleep issues.

Previously on Xandar, there were houses they built themselves that could be used for living. Although they were a bit rough and simple, living in them was quite atmospheric, and the space was large enough.

"I think you don't need to rush with the spaceship matter. You can deal with the training ground first."

Ethan felt that Logan's suggestion made a lot of sense. Even if he brought the spaceship back, he couldn't use it directly. He would still need to send it to Tony for some modifications.

Besides that, they also needed some relevant training. Although everyone had been consciously learning about space navigation during this time, it was impossible to study in detail in such a short period. The level of mastery varied among everyone, and this situation was not suitable for direct space travel.

In other words, in addition to the spaceship needing modification, everyone also needed to undergo systematic learning before they could begin their adventurous life in this vast universe.

This work could also be done separately. For example, Ethan could learn and practice with Nebula first, and at the same time install specialized learning equipment on the new spaceship for everyone to use.

At this point, he had to rely on Nebula to be the pilot of the new ship, which was originally why he brought Nebula along.

"Let's solve things one by one first."

After asking everyone's opinion, including Star-Lord, everyone said they would just stay here and watch Ethan perform.

Nobody wanted to run to Xandar first and wait for Ethan to set up the training ground, and then have Ethan pick everyone up to leave.

There were no fools here. Although the training ground was significantly smaller than Xandar, it was still a very large celestial body. For something this big to enter Xandar's atmosphere and land on its ocean, even if Ethan's control was extremely powerful and his magic was very miraculous, minimizing the impact on the planet's climate, there was no way to avoid the resulting tsunami.

Waiting on Xandar would be like wanting to personally experience what the end of the world felt like. It was better to just stay honestly on the spaceship.

So everyone watched with anticipation as Ethan, looking as if he had become ethereal, passed directly through the front of the Milano and walked outside the Milano.

Standing in the void, Ethan showed no discomfort. Although he was wearing a standard protective suit, everyone present knew that Ethan had not activated its protective functions. He was just standing directly in the cosmic void, and then flew rapidly towards the training ground ahead.

Ethan only stopped when he flew to a position about five hundred meters above the training ground.

Considering the size of the training ground, plus the light radiating from within it, and looking at the clouds that seemed almost within reach, if he hadn't looked up and seen the cosmic void, he would have even felt like he was still inside the training ground.

"This is not the time to think about that."

Collecting his thoughts, Ethan took out several containers from his storage space. These contained magic energy he had extracted from multiple planes, including Holy Light, Arcane, Elemental energy, and various other types. These energies had undergone his initial adjustments and could be easily mobilized by him.

Normally, these energies would be very effective for casting spells of the corresponding attributes. Using them so simply and crudely as raw energy was actually a bit wasteful.

But now he couldn't afford to think about that much. If he didn't use these external forces and only used his own magic power, it would be too damaging to his vitality. Relatively speaking, losing some external things was nothing.

As bottles of energy with different properties were released, they all merged and spread under Ethan's control, transforming into a giant energy net that spread downwards, slowly enveloping the entire training ground.

(To be continued.)

Chapter 513: Freedom

Once the energy he released had completely enveloped the training ground, Ethan slightly adjusted the energy and gently moved the training ground.

"The consumption is a bit higher than expected."

Ethan quickly understood why there was an error. He had only roughly estimated the mass of the training ground before, but had overlooked environmental factors.

This small asteroid belt had various chaotic gravitational forces and magnetic fields. These all had some influence on moving the training ground. Although the various influences were not significant individually, and any single influence on Ethan could be ignored, the combined effect of all factors resulted in a noticeable loss.

"Fortunately, this consumption can continuously decrease."

As long as the training ground was in motion, the consumption would decrease. However, once it entered the atmosphere of the Purple Star, the consumption might rise to a new level again.

Leaving aside other things, he would need to use magic to counteract the Purple Star's gravity. Otherwise, if such a large training ground were to free-fall, the outcome would be hard to predict.

Even if the training ground had a sufficiently strong energy shield and didn't need to worry about that level of impact, if the Purple Star were hit by such a massive artificial celestial body, its originally perfect living environment might undergo drastic changes, possibly even becoming completely uninhabitable.

While calculating the magic consumption in his mind, he also pondered which spells could help him solve various problems.

This process of thinking did not hinder Ethan from moving the training ground.

After the energy enveloped the training ground, the entire training ground became an object Ethan was holding in his hand. He just needed to move normally in the direction of the Purple Star, and then, like carrying something, take this thing along. The training ground would obediently follow Ethan, slowly approaching the Purple Star.

The people sitting in the Milano were originally expecting to see some rather spectacular scenes. For example, Ethan flying while pushing the training ground with both hands, or moving the training ground by supporting it from below, or perhaps casting some magic in front and dragging it along.

In short, they were all expecting displays of power, and none of them had imagined a scene like this.

It just looked like Ethan was floating normally, and then the training ground, wrapped in a layer of faint light, simply walked along with Ethan by itself.

This wasn't spectacular at all.

More importantly, there was no earth-shattering effect at all. It even looked a bit boring.

"In a vacuum environment, although there are disturbances from nearby gravity and magnetic fields, the impact is relatively small. Perhaps there's no need to make a big fuss."

Everyone knew Ethan was a mage. Although Betty initially found it hard to believe, she gradually accepted it in the face of various facts.

Furthermore, she knew more about the universe's conditions, so she felt that Ethan didn't make a big show of it simply because it wasn't necessary.

"Maybe, anyway, we'll know if we follow along and see."

The Milano began moving again, and Yondu also made the same move. The two ships followed near Ethan like escort fighters, forming a stable formation as they approached the Purple Star.

Because the interior of the training ground was essentially an independent environment, external movement would not affect the inside at all. Even if there were noticeable vibrations upon entering the atmosphere, the interior of the training ground remained completely unaffected.

These external influences were perfectly absorbed by the outermost energy layer. Ethan had already known from the control room that while many pieces of equipment in this training ground were aging and at risk of breaking down at any time, this did not include the outermost energy layer generator.

It could be said that even if all other equipment in the training ground broke down, the energy layer could continue to operate for a long time. This thing was the most durable part of the entire training ground. This Empire had mastered this technology perfectly and was very confident in it, which is why they would create such artificial celestial bodies that relied solely on energy protection and had no physical shell protection.

By this time, Ethan could make slightly larger movements without worrying about startling the ordinary people inside the training ground.

As they approached the Purple Star, the training ground had already begun to accelerate due to the Purple Star's gravitational pull. Ethan initially did not interfere, only starting to control the outermost energy to slow the training ground down as it began to approach the atmosphere.

At this point, the speed could not be too fast. If the speed was too high, it would not only easily cause disaster during landing, but the excessive speed would also generate high temperatures from intense friction with the atmosphere. Both high temperatures and intense friction would consume the magic Ethan had attached to the outer layer of the training ground.

To avoid this consumption, Ethan had to control the training ground's speed, so he couldn't just watch from the sidelines as he had before.

His outstretched left hand was primarily used to concentrate his attention. The magic attached to the outermost layer of the training ground began to emit a more noticeable glow. Although these lights varied and the nature of the energy was completely different, under Ethan's control, they obediently served him, beginning to support and pull the entire training ground, preventing it from accelerating further and crashing towards the planet's surface.

With his free right hand, he continuously cast spells like Feather Fall.

At this moment, the grand scene that Quill and the others had been expecting seemed to appear. Although compared to before, Ethan only made a few more gestures, and the energy layer wrapping the training ground's exterior was still not very conspicuous. After all, the training ground's outer layer was an energy layer itself, making it difficult to truly distinguish between the two. At most, the magic Ethan released had a slight color.

But it was precisely these few gestures that completely changed the perception.

Along with Ethan's movements, the training ground's descent speed significantly slowed down. The heat generated by the intense friction also gradually dissipated as the deceleration continued and the training ground truly entered the Purple Star's atmosphere.

Especially after passing through the uppermost layers of the Purple Star, which contained various unknown substances, and entering this world filled with purple, the training ground became no different from how it was in space.

Even the magic Ethan used to wrap the training ground became less conspicuous due to the ambient color.

Now it looked like, with a wave of Ethan's hand, the immense training ground was slowly descending towards the purple sea below like a feather. After watching for a while, Quill and the others started to feel bored again.

The Milano flew back into space and stopped there to wait for Ethan. They originally thought Ethan would return soon, but unexpectedly, they waited for a good half-day before Ethan returned to the ship using a teleportation spell.

This time, Ethan did not appear abruptly. Instead, a blue ball of light flashed on the ship first as a warning before his figure appeared.

"Is everything arranged?"

"Yes!"

Actually, Ethan could have put the training ground down faster, but he specifically chose a sea area, hoping that a similar sea level height would be beneficial for the fusion of the two worlds.

Ethan couldn't guarantee his judgment was accurate. If there were any errors, that would just be bad luck for them.

At the same time, Ethan also needed to set up a permanent teleportation area inside the training ground. Otherwise, the training ground would remain completely sealed, and adventurers wouldn't be able to get out even if they knew the information.

So, in the sea area where the Guild had previously tried its best to prevent adventurers from entering, Ethan left behind a special teleportation circle.

Adventurers sailing into the area near this teleportation circle and activating the corresponding key could travel to the purple sea outside.

This teleportation circle was located inside the control room. Destroying this teleportation circle would mean destroying this place, and once the control room was destroyed, the outer energy shield would also disappear.

There was also a teleportation circle in the purple sea. The two circles were linked and allowed mutual passage.

Having done all this, Ethan specifically went to find Brent again.

Brent was commanding his new ship, sailing the Death Route, and launching an assault towards the Sea of Miracles.

Ethan just appeared abruptly on his ship, almost startling everyone around him. Even Brent was quite shocked. If he hadn't clearly seen that the person was Ethan, the long sword he was holding would have already swung out, although it wouldn't have done any good.

Seeing Ethan appear so suddenly, Brent sensitively realized that something big was about to happen. After talking with Ethan for a few moments, he found that his premonition was indeed accurate.

Ethan didn't hide anything and directly told Brent about the various conditions of the training ground and their current situation on a purple planet.

Afterwards, he roughly explained the teleportation sea area he had set up and the situation outside. He also infused the information he had gathered about the Purple Star into a recording magic stone for Brent to easily access.

This also included instructions on how to create the key to leave this world. It could be said that Ethan handed over all the information to Brent. As for whether Brent wanted to be the leader himself and lead adventurers outwards for expansion, or share the information completely, Ethan would not interfere.

"You're leaving for good, aren't you?"

Ethan told him so much information in one go, and Brent keenly felt that he might never see this miraculous young man again.

"Yes."

Brent didn't ask where Ethan was going. He realized the huge gap between himself and Ethan. If he could continue to improve his strength, perhaps he could step into Ethan's world, and they would naturally meet then.

If he stopped here for his entire life, what would be the point of asking?

Neither of them delved deeper into this topic. After explaining everything, Ethan simply waved goodbye to Brent.

Leaving Brent, Ethan returned to the Milano.

At this moment, he suddenly felt a sense of freedom and exhilaration, as if breaking free from all constraints, and couldn't help but shout out,

"Freedom!"

(To be continued.)