Chapter 68
A secret realm for vying for a divine artifact opened, attracting over a thousand participants, but only a hundred or so returned.
At first, the deans of the Royal Capital Academy were wondering why this year's freshmen had come out so quickly, but after reading on, they were all speechless.
If it were them, how many more days could they have lasted compared to those freshmen?
Aside from showing them Lortheran's perspective on the first day, Veris didn't open Lortheran's perspective again in the following days, so the deans could only observe the new students.
Later, only Arnold and a few others remained among the freshmen, and everyone's attention was focused on these young people.
There wasn't much to see during those days; a group of people diligently carried bricks and slept in sheds.
So only a group of people were left to keep watch, while the rest went off to do other things.
For example, these projections need to be preserved. Many of the forces that sent people over were completely wiped out, and there were also graduates from prominent families who wanted to get a share of the pie, but they lost their lives in the end.
Hundreds of copies of the projector were made and sent out one by one.
The appearance of this magical artifact caused quite a stir, with many people rushing to acquire it, but most remained on the sidelines, and seeing the disastrous outcome, they couldn't help but feel a sense of lingering fear.
Lortheran's perspective was not leaked; only the deans knew it.
When the ruins of Ambrose were discovered, the observation room was filled with people again.
If the ruins of the Sea God were merely a place of infighting, then the ruins of the Earth God were a living hell.
They were forcibly taken into the ruins, and in less than half a day, many of the onlookers had turned pale. Some got up and left, and the sound of retching could be faintly heard.
The ruins of Ambrose also allowed the last batch of new students, excluding Arnold and others, to be teleported away.
Everyone was staring at Arnold's perspective.
The team was lucky; they landed right in Stone City. After carefully avoiding the local adventurers, they found an altar in a corner of Stone City.
The altar was surrounded by stone platforms, from which several chains extended and bound a suspended scepter.
The scepter shone with a seven-colored light, reminding many of the artifact in the hands of the papal envoy when the secret realm was opened; it also shone with a similar brilliance.
“The artifact—the Staff of Earth Stabilizer—is the magical weapon of Ambrose, the god of the earth,” Garcia, sitting in the first row, said.
Copperfield turned to look at him: "How did you know?"
Garcia waved the note in his hand: "I have a cheat sheet."
The scene continued, and after Murphy used his strongest magic circle attack to no avail, Arnold entered the scene.
He lowered his brows and held something in his hand. In the blink of an eye, a semi-transparent trident, gleaming with seven-colored light, appeared in his hand.
Exclamations erupted in the observation room. Hadn't Arnold rejected Poseidon's trident back in the Poseidon ruins? How come the trident is in his hands again now?
Someone who watched those middle days explained to others: "He recognized a father inside, and the Trident of Poseidon was given to him by his new father."
“I can accept that too,” Fikris said quietly.
Garcia turned to look at Fikris, who was sitting behind him: "You're a loser."
Then, after a moment of contemplation, he asked, "Can I acknowledge my grandfather?"
Copperfield just wanted to beg the two archbishops to stop embarrassing themselves.
"Oh my!" Barbara, who had just glanced at the projection from yesterday, suddenly exclaimed, "Isn't that the great alchemist god Hill Rodney?!"
"I must keep this stone in front of my alchemy cauldron day and night, so that it can absorb the brilliance of the god of alchemy and prevent it from exploding again." Barbara held the recording stone with utmost reverence.
The dean of the alchemy academy next to them was also surprised. He immediately turned around and asked someone else for a portion. Still feeling it wasn't enough, he immediately got up to go find his beloved alchemy cauldron.
For alchemists, the alchemical cauldron is like a second companion in their lives.
First, you need to coax it nicely. Every day before you start alchemy, you need to say nice things to the alchemy cauldron for an hour to make it happy.
Secondly, it must be carefully maintained. Every day at the beginning and end of alchemy, it must be thoroughly washed and then wiped with fragrant water infused with flower petals, so that the alchemy cauldron always exudes the fragrance of a young girl.
Clark almost threw up when he heard the second one.
Third, after the pot explodes, you need to clean it immediately, then hug the pot and gently comfort it, and then kneel in front of the pot to repent.
Fourth, if possible, you can take your beloved alchemical cauldron to church, receive weekly baptisms with holy water, and listen to the Pope's teachings together with the cauldron.
Veris said that alchemists eventually become a group of gods.
It means that one cannot reach the position of a god, and has already left the realm of humanity.
He couldn't understand why alchemists had developed into what they are today.
The elf Hill, revered as a deity by countless alchemists, soon appeared in the projection.
His brows were resolute, his steps were firm, and the muscles beneath his clothes were clearly defined. He was nearly two meters tall at first glance. His face was not as delicate and fair as that of the current elves, but rather bore the marks of hardship.
"Whoa!" Garcia exclaimed in surprise.
"I thought the porcupines from the Demon King's Forest had escaped," Clark said, startled.
Garcia was extremely excited: "Look, that must be our great ancestor!"
As Arnold's perspective shifted, the projection immediately focused on the blond man surrounded in the center, dressed in silver-gray shorts and tall boots.
"So handsome, so wise and brave, so charismatic, so—"
"Shut up, Garcia!"
A rag used for wiping chairs flew out of nowhere and landed on Garcia's jiggling, fat face.
"Waaaaah, my ancestor, the whole world is bullying your boy while you're away..."
This time the sound was a little softer, but the destructive power increased exponentially.
The sounds of retching filled the air.
Clark: "Old man, I feel like you could sit on King Lortheran and kill him."
When the scene shifted to Hill throwing out more than a dozen puppet figures, the people from the Alchemy Academy were practically kneeling in front of the projection and worshipping it.
"We must show this to my precious child via projector," the vice deans said in unison.
Soldas sat in the center of the first row, his view slightly obstructed by a few madmen from the Alchemy Academy, but it wasn't a big problem. He leaned back in his chair and let out a soft sigh.
Royal Capital Academy, may you be destroyed.
It was called a battle, but it was basically Hill throwing out more than a dozen top-tier sparring partners, which made the people from the Warrior Academy quite envious.
Felix took a deep breath: "If only I had these puppet sparring partners back then..."
The mutation began at this time.
The once noisy observation room fell silent instantly. Everyone stared wide-eyed, realizing that Arnold's condition was not right.
It was at this moment that the unassuming boy who had always stood among the first generation of heroes also appeared in the scene.
Why would Arnold assassinate his adoptive father?!
Garcia's eyes widened. Wait, how come this person looks exactly like his ancestor?!
Those who had met Lortheran also had strange expressions.
With Xingqi's loud shout, everyone held their breath.
The god Janis controlled Arnold's body.
But they never saw this god from beginning to end. What's going on?
Not to mention them, everyone else in the scene, except for Lortheran, looked completely bewildered.
However, the boy with black dragon horns on his head had already frowned, making people hold their breath in fear. This last dragon in history was not to be trifled with from the moment he appeared.
Hill also coldly withdrew the puppet.
Only the king, standing before the divine artifact, remained calm and composed.
"Call him over."
"who is he?
Everyone seemed to sense something.
Arnold fell into a coma, and the scene shifted to a semi-God's-eye view. Everyone only saw the screen flicker, and then a figure stood in front of the artifact.
The king made a joke, but received no response.
The young man in the cloak only showed half of his face in the picture, and many people gasped. They may not have seen the Pope's true face, but they knew about the Pope's early life.
His flawless profile and red eyes alone were enough to identify him.
The early popes!
With a cold expression, he simply flicked his finger, and the chains that even the king could not break shattered into pieces.
He obtained the artifact and then handed it over to the king.
The king was taken aback for a moment, but still grasped the artifact.
This concludes our visit to the site.
The expressions of the people in the picture are different. Lortheran, who is standing in the corner with a large wound on his hand, looks rather unwell.
Soon it will be the ruins of the Twin Gods again.
The time for the secret realm to open is getting closer and closer.
Fortunately, no one died this time. Arnold and the others confronted the Twin Gods, mainly through debate. The Twin Gods could not do anything to him, nor did they dare to. They had already lost their artifacts, and Yannis did not care about their lives. When he tried to attack the other trial participants, he was killed by Arnold in a fit of rage.
At this time, the Twin Gods' strength was less than one millionth of what it was back then.
However, Arnold's feat of killing a god in one fell swoop still left the people in the observation room with different expressions.
This is a god-slaying youth! Putting everything else aside, this alone is enough for the deans of the academy to think carefully.
It certainly won't be bad in the future.
Because the secret realm needed to be opened, the papal envoy also came to the observation room, stood at the door for a while, and then left.
Sylvain, the Holy Son, remained by his side.
Today marks the reopening of the secret realm and is also the open day for the Royal Capital Academy.
In the square, the pharmacists and priests were already prepared to receive the wounded.
The papal envoy, whose face was covered by a white mask, walked onto the stage, accompanied by the serene Holy Son. Instantly, everyone looked towards the stage.
Judging that it was almost time, the deans also came out of the observation room to the square.
However, they were still discussing something in hushed tones.
Veris, who was standing to one side, also turned his head to talk to Sylvain. He had always had his memories, and with the emergence of new memories in the past few days, he had mixed feelings.
Even the question that Lortheran uttered was perhaps one that even he himself couldn't answer at the time.
But now, he has a sudden realization.
After exchanging a few words, the time was up, and everyone tensed up. Veris simply raised his hand, and a light golden magic circle appeared, forming a crack in the center. The crack multiplied and grew into a large crack that could accommodate seven or eight people.
The magic circle landed in the center of the plaza, which had already been separated.
The trial participants scrambled out, and upon seeing familiar faces, they gasped for breath. Some even burst into tears, but after only a few sobs, they fainted again.
For a time, the square was in chaos.
There weren't many trial participants left, and soon, the crack stopped letting anyone out.
Soldas frowned.
What about Arnold and the others?
Veris, standing in front of them, put his hands behind his back, looked up at the sun overhead, and gently shook his head.
A solitary, red magic circle appeared beside him, and the others who noticed it instinctively made way for him, even though the place was originally an open space.
Another crack appeared, and the next second, a blond boy fell down covered in dust.
"How come I came back in such a sorry state! You have to give me an explanation!" Lortheran lay motionless on the ground, turned his head and shouted at Veris, his words full of condemnation.
The young man, whose face was covered by a white mask, turned his head to the side, obscuring his features, but Lortheran sensed that this person was mocking him.
Even Sylvain, who was standing next to Veris, smiled.
"Is it that funny?!"
"Wow! I missed you so much, Lortheran!" With a joyful shout, Lortheran felt a shadow fall over him, and a vague sense of danger instantly approached. He turned his head and his eyes widened.
"No! Wait a minute—Awooo!!!"
Along with the excruciating pain came Veris's healing magic circle, repairing his fragile organs.
Lortheran was now truly paralyzed. His eyes were vacant, perhaps from the glare of the sunlight, or perhaps for some other reason.
The dragon that rose from his body was still a boy, but it looked to be seventeen or eighteen years old, the same age as Lortheran's current appearance.
It crouched down next to Lortheran, poked him, and turned to look at Veris: "He's not really dead, is he?"
Veris shrugged: "You should take him back first."
Transporting teammates is something dragons haven't done for centuries, but it's not unfamiliar to them.
It leaped out happily, and above the chaotic square, a huge dragon shadow appeared, blotting out the sun and completely blocking out the sunlight. Its black scales reflected warm light, its dragon horns on its head were extremely sharp, and its red vertical pupils reflected the terrified faces of the humans.
The dragon shook its head happily, hooked its claws, carried Lortheran along, flapped its huge wings, and headed towards the Grand Papacy, dozens of miles away.
Arnold and his companions still haven't shown up.
Veris turned to Sylvain and said, "I'll go watch them. You stay here."
Then, in front of everyone, he casually tossed out a teleportation array, stepped on it, and left.
Although His Holiness the Pope is highly respected, he is generally easy to talk to.
The Holy Son looks so intimidating that no one dares to offend him.
Having already decided that one of his students would be in the hero's team, Fekris mustered his courage and asked, "Holy Son, why haven't the remaining freshmen shown up yet?"
Sylvain's eyes flickered a few times before he slowly said, "They have decided to join the army in attacking Putaya and continue their training."
"They will return once the teleportation array is triggered, or in twenty days."
Upon hearing this, all the abbots and bishops present were astonished. The dangers of that era were evident to the naked eye. Even without the persecution of the ruins, the environment alone was already extremely harsh. As for war, it was something that was incredibly distant for them, something that only appeared in history books.
Moreover, will these people who accompanied the army leave a trace in today's history books?
Everyone had different thoughts.
Meanwhile, inside the Papacy.
Before Veris even reached the house, he heard Lortheran howling as he hugged the dragon. He had already removed his mask, revealing the face his companions recognized. Compared to the cold indifference he displayed in the secret realm, his features were clearly much more expressive.
The dragon, moved to tears by Lor'theran's howl, said that ever since Lor'theran died, it could no longer freely go to the continent to mine, which had driven it to despair.
Lortheran's howling stopped abruptly.
He stood up and looked at the dragon: "What happens after I die?"
The dragon nodded, saying that it had also attended Lortheran's funeral. Lortheran was the second member of their squad to die; Hill had lived longer than Lortheran.
Lortheran blinked and looked at Veris, who had walked in.
Veris, holding a book, tossed it at Lortheran and gestured with his chin: "Let's fill in some history gaps first."
This was something Lortheran had been concerned about for a long time. He immediately opened the history book, and the dragon beside him was sobbing uncontrollably, crying for the elf Hill who would never return.
The historical records show that nothing has changed.
It is said that after the death of the first king, the dragon flew back to the Dragon Canyon and never came out again.
The elf Hill taught a group of students in the early days of the Royal Academy, but later disappeared without a trace.
"He thought these people were too stupid to go and murder elves again."
Veris stood to the side, picked up the teapot, poured a cup of tea, and said...
History did not change much; Hill's death changed from dying in the siege to dying of old age.
The dragons are still alive; their kind has always lived for a very, very long time.
"Then, what about the Staff of Firmament?"
Lortheran looked up.
Veris tilted his head: "Behind you."
This is a room that Veris has renovated in the Papacy. Amidst the magnificent decorations, the Staff of Earth hangs on the wall, yet it is completely inconspicuous.
Lortheran stood up and walked to the Staff of Earth, which still radiated a seven-colored light, staring at it blankly.
"So, what do you want to do?" He stared for a while, until even the dragon stopped crying, before suddenly waking up and turning to look at the white-haired youth holding a teacup, one arm crossed, leaning against the long table.
Veris looked up, thought for a moment, and then said, "I think we'll have to wait until the Demon King's campaign is over to know."
Demon King?
Lortheran frowned. He loathed that place, mostly because Hill had died there, and he had also made the demons pay a heavy price.
“Sylvain’s divine status is unstable. I’ve been looking for the reason these past few days, but there are many historical influences, and I still don’t have any clues,” Veris continued.
Is it related to Sylvain? Lortheran's expression turned serious: "Aren't those gods all dead?"
Veris nodded: "But Yannis is not dead yet."
“I marked Him, but there’s no information yet.” Lortheran looked down at his palm.
“He won’t show himself again until Sylvain’s divine power is revealed.” Veris took a sip of tea and said calmly, “I think Sylvain’s unstable divine status is related to Him, but that’s just speculation. He’s currently bound by a contract that prevents me from prying into his secrets. I need to let Him possess Arnold a second time to find out the truth.”
A soul-binding contract is such a hassle; even he is helpless against it.
Yannis doesn’t seem to have any plans that have succeeded so far, but Veris hasn’t harmed Him either; only Lortheran has left the mark of the star on Him.
Lortheran: "What's going on with this unstable divine status?" I hope these two don't cause any more trouble.
“Perhaps… he might have forgotten his past life’s memories and just thinks he’s had amnesia for a while, and even considers himself a reincarnation.” Veris said, sounding somewhat helpless.
An unstable divine status can lead to memory confusion. At first, he thought it was because he had forcibly awakened Sylvain's memories, but based on his observations over the past few days, there are probably other reasons.
He shook his head: "It shouldn't be a big problem." Meaning that Lortheran shouldn't worry.
After listening to their long explanation, the dragon was somewhat bewildered: "What are you talking about..."
Lortheran gave Veris a look.
Veris: "The dragon has been asleep for two hundred years."
Lortheran: "?"
Long smiled sheepishly and said hesitantly, "I didn't know it would take so long. I woke up a few times during that time, but it was still dark outside, so I thought it wasn't daytime yet and went back to sleep."
What's this? Is it just bad luck for the dragon, waking up in the dark every time?
Lortheran was indignant, but he also understood why dragons, with their unruly and lawless nature, had left no trace in history.
All emotions have gone to sleep.
Veris coughed: "I didn't think of dragons back then..."
The only alarm clock is malfunctioning.
Knowing what was to come, Veris's experience was slightly easier than before, and he successfully rescued his companions, but the work remained just as demanding.
However, Hill sometimes returns to the capital to help with some matters, or helps resolve troubles in some regions during his travels.
In short, it's assassination.
What's the use of making a big fuss? It all stops when someone dies.
Hill, hailed as the god of alchemy, wields countless creations capable of killing.
The dragon felt a little wronged, but also somewhat guilty, since it really hadn't expected to sleep for so long. Not long ago, after waking up, it excitedly went to find a mineral vein to dig, only to find that all the mineral veins it saw were already taken.
Then he turned to look for Veris.
Deep within a magnificent architectural complex, they found Veris, and Sylvain, who had come back from the dead!
The dragon was overjoyed.
Moreover, Veris looked almost exactly the same as it remembered at the beginning, and no longer looked at it coldly. This gave the dragon a sense of relief, like seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
In the years following the establishment of the kingdom, the dragon lived in the royal palace in the capital, purely as a mascot.
Hill went on a long journey, Veris was busy with church affairs, and Lortheran, tired from handling government affairs, would go to chat with the dragons.
Dragons never get bored as long as they have jewels and gold.
Moreover, Lor'theran needs it to guard the capital right now; with it there, no one dares to cause trouble!
Historically, the story of a dragon leading troops to quell a rebellion has become one of the glorious achievements of the founding king.
Lortheran lowered his head and stroked the line of text, which described how brave and fearless he was, leading his soldiers into battle and beheading the rebels in one fell swoop.
He closed his eyes and then laughed.
"Great, really great."
It was a one-sided, crushing war, and also the most controversial war.
This was solely because King Lortheran used extremely cruel punishments when dealing with war criminals.
Later historians couldn't help but write two more lines, which tainted his originally wise, mighty, and flawless image with a touch of bloodshed.
Lortheran looked at the words and liked them more and more. He thought about copying them down and hanging them by his bedside. He figured that reading them several times a day and night would surely make him feel incredibly happy.
No one is a god who is born with compassion.
He hated those rebels who slaughtered dragons.
I only regret that my past self wasn't ruthless enough.
Dragon turned to look at Lortheran, who was holding a book and laughing hysterically, and shrank his neck to lean closer to Veris.
“Lotheran looks like he’s gone mad,” it gestured as it spoke.
But it didn't hit the head when it jumped and landed.
"Won't we get infected?" Long was very worried.
Veris smiled but said nothing. He simply looked out the glass window, where the bright sunlight fell and refracted through the glass, creating a rainbow of colors that seemed to emanate from the glass, just like the light surrounding a magical artifact.
After Lortheran had finished celebrating, he slowly said, "I have some bad news for you."
Lortheran looked over and said, "Speak, I can take anything."
"Because the third prince died, the queen went mad and poisoned most of the royal family."
"Although your descendants are countless, you almost died out as a royal lineage."
Veris's voice was tinged with regret.
Lortheran: "...?"
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Author's Note: I've added Lortheran, Dragon, and Cupid character cards.
After counting the manuscripts, I found that Sylvain had very few readable ones.
Sorry Sylvain, I'll let you roam freely.
We clearly agreed on a picture for Jia 1, but the setting changed to Xiao Wei [hug]. Also, can Jinjiang please release dozens of character cards for me?
I've posted the character cards from previous commissioned works on Weibo. There are some funny pictures, just for record-keeping.
See you tomorrow! [fanfan]
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