The Cross-plane Teleportation Star Gate in Hub City was as busy as ever.

[Calibrating plane coordinates... Calibration successful. Entry permit verified.]

[Target: Great Library Plane.]

Allen stepped out from behind the multicolored curtain of light, and his vision instantly widened.

An endless expanse of blue.

A sapphire-blue sea, deep and gem-like, stretched from beneath his feet to the distant horizon. The sunlight shattered on the gentle ripples, turning into billions of dancing gold foils.

There was no land in sight, not a single coastline to be seen—only an infinite expanse of water.

Allen found himself standing on a circular, floating platform about three hundred meters in diameter.

A peculiar scent permeated the air. It wasn’t the salty, damp smell of the ocean, but rather the refreshing aroma of old books that cleared the mind.

He took a deep breath.

[Report from the Cybertron Magic Theory Laboratory Environmental Analyzer...]

[Background Magic Power Concentration: 3.2 times that of the Panorama Corridor Plane.]

[Air Composition Analysis: Trace amounts of Spiritual Power amplification factors detected. With long-term exposure, thought processing speed is estimated to increase by approximately 2.7% to 5.6%.]

[Analysis and Speculation on Special Scent Source: The "aroma of old books" is identified as pheromones from an ultra-massive quantity of knowledge archives (magic paper, dragon’s blood ink, soulwood pages, etc.). Over a long period, these have dissipated and deeply fused with high-concentration water-attribute Magic Power, forming this plane’s unique magical environment.]

’The headquarters of the Gate of Truth really lives up to its reputation.’

’This entire plane is a giant Meditation Room, subtly enhancing a Wizard’s mental faculties.’

Allen looked up and gazed into the distance.

Floating islands of all sizes were suspended at various altitudes, like game pieces scattered across a celestial chessboard by a god.

The lowest islands were only a few dozen meters above the sea, with thick green vegetation draping down from them like emerald curtains.

Occasionally, a translucent flying fish with a wingspan of over three meters would leap out from behind a curtain, glinting with prismatic light in the sun before diving back into the water.

The highest islands were completely hidden within the thin clouds, with only the faint outlines of spires and the periodic flash of warning Runes visible.

Countless small airships traveled back and forth between the islands, tracing graceful arcs in the sky to form a three-dimensional transportation network.

And at the very center of the plane, encircled by all the other islands, was the main island.

It appeared to be approximately 12,300 square kilometers in area.

Nearly the size of a Mortal Kingdom.

The main island was covered in a dense, layered complex of buildings.

It wasn’t a normal city. It was more like a holy temple of knowledge, built from countless libraries, museums, research institutes, observatories, and open-air theaters.

White marble domes, dark gray Gothic spires, obsidian monoliths gleaming with the light of Runes, and many more architectural styles from different civilizations that Allen couldn’t name were all pressed and stacked together like geological strata.

Each distinct architectural layer seemed to represent the accumulated knowledge of an entire era.

The entire main island exuded an intangible, majestic aura that stemmed from the sheer weight of knowledge itself.

Even an Advanced Wizard would feel insignificant standing here.

A sleek, white, light-duty airship silently docked at the edge of the Teleportation Platform. A young clerk in the gray uniform of the Gate of Truth disembarked and bowed respectfully to Allen.

"Welcome to the Great Library Plane. Please board. I will escort you to the main island."

The airship slowly ascended, skimming over the sea as it flew toward the main island.

Allen’s gaze was captured by the scene deep within the ocean.

The water was incredibly clear. He could distinctly see huge, translucent jellyfish drifting slowly hundreds of meters below. Their tentacles emitted a faint blue bioluminescence, like countless lanterns hanging in the depths.

Deeper still, shadows flitted past.

[14 high-energy biological reactions detected!]

[Estimated Target Body Length: Over 1,500 meters. Energy Level: Second-level Wizard or higher.]

[Warning: Creature’s surface is covered in armor. Suspected to be a colossal war beast modified by ancient Wizards.]

DSeek’s alert flashed through his mind.

Those ancient sea beasts, more than ten times the size of his Hive Mother Ship, merely drifted by, yet the undercurrents they stirred created several massive whirlpools on the surface.

Allen’s expression remained unchanged, but in his mind, he had already raised the danger level of this place.

’I probably couldn’t defeat a single one of the things in this ocean.’

’Besides being a natural training ground, the inherent defensive capabilities of this location were likely another reason the Gate of Truth chose it for their headquarters.’

’Then again, who would dare cause trouble here? Did they really think a scholarly organization of Wizards lacked military might?’

Along the way, the airship passed several smaller floating islands.

The clerk offered a timely explanation, "The one on the left is the ’Astral Observatory.’ They’re responsible for plane coordinates and monitoring interplanar fluctuations. The crystal building on the right is the ’Institute of Cross-plane Linguistics.’ It’s said they’ve deciphered the languages and scripts of over 170,000 intelligent species."

Allen noticed that the ecology and architectural style of each island were completely different.

Some were covered in tropical rainforests, home to all sorts of rare and exotic creatures. Others were simply floating, active volcanoes, with lava and Magic Power flowing year-round to supply a special Alchemy Laboratory.

The Gate of Truth’s erudition and inclusiveness were vividly displayed in these details.

Half an hour later, the airship landed at a massive dock in the main island’s eastern district.

The dock was bustling with figures. But "people" was just a general term.

Allen saw human Wizards in various styles of Wizard Robes, dwarven engineers less than a meter tall carrying huge wrenches, and even a few humanoid lifeforms made of pure crystal, hurrying past while clutching stacks of heavy books taller than themselves.

On an information screen by the side of the dock, various announcements were scrolling by rapidly:

[Lecture: "7th Observational Report on the Cross-plane Migration of Runic Sea Beasts." To be held in three days at the Third Academic Hall. Speaker: His Excellency, Moonlight Mage Augustus.]

[Urgent Recruitment: Exploration of newly discovered plane, designation ’Abyss-77.’ Requires a Wizard of a Level 2 Witchcraft school or higher. Generous rewards.]

[Central Library Announces New Lending Policy: Borrowing privileges for all tomes related to the ’Essence of the Soul’ are now restricted to Second-level Wizards and above.]

The sheer density of information made Allen feel as if he had returned to a university in the Earth Era.

Following the directions provided by the Hub City office, he walked alone toward the headquarters of the Plane Exploration and Development Association.

The Association’s headquarters wasn’t located in the main island’s core academic district, but in a separate complex on the southeastern corner of the island.

The architectural style here was starkly different from the classical elegance of the rest of the main island. It featured sharp-angled metal structures and massive information screens floating on the exterior walls. These screens scrolled with real-time data, showing resource indices for various planes, mission completion rates, and price fluctuation curves for different minerals.

This place didn’t resemble an academic institution so much as the headquarters of an efficient, cross-planar megacorporation.

Allen walked into the Association’s main building.

A ray of Magic Power scanned his entire body, completing an identity verification. A female clerk at the front desk tapped a few times on a light screen, then looked up.

"Your Excellency, Allen Wesren, your file has been confirmed. Your investment manager is still Ms. Eleanor Gray."

"Ms. Gray is currently the team leader for the ’Personnel Management Department, Potential Assessment and Investment Management Group.’ Her office is in the administrative building, seventeenth floor, room 1701."

The clerk’s tone was gentle. "You may go directly there. Your access has been granted, and Ms. Gray is waiting for you."

Team leader. Allen mentally updated his file on Eleanor.

In the Seven Towers Alliance, she had been a "Senior Observer." Now, she was the head of a team in a core department, which meant she had likely entered the Association’s management hierarchy.

He stepped onto the levitation Array. Faint blue Runes lit up, smoothly carrying him upward.

In the brief moment of darkness, Allen closed his eyes and collected his thoughts.

Twenty years ago, he was an Advanced Apprentice lacking critical start-up capital, sitting across from Eleanor, completely at the mercy of the agreement she held over him.

He still remembered how she had dismantled his last psychological defenses by saying, "You can’t even afford your tuition."

He had signed.

Not because he was forced into it, but because it was the optimal solution at the time. In the words of his past life, the first million is always the hardest to make.

Twenty years had passed. He was now a Second-level Wizard with his own Half-plane Workshop and a Golem Legion.

But the person he was about to face was still the same.

The chessboard had changed, but the players had not.

He needed to get what he wanted from this new negotiation: maximum autonomy and better terms.

The levitation Array slowly came to a stop.

[Seventeenth floor. Arrived.]

Allen opened his eyes, his deep blue irises perfectly calm. He stepped out of the Array, his feet sinking silently into the soft carpet.

The corridor was empty, lit only by the soft glow of Magic Crystals embedded in the walls.

He quickly found the office at the end of the corridor with "1701" on its nameplate.

A dark, solid wood door with a brass handle. Everything about it was understated and refined.

Allen stopped in front of the door and straightened his immaculate black Wizard Robe.

Then, he raised his hand.

KNOCK, KNOCK.

The crisp sound of knocking echoed with particular clarity in the quiet corridor.