Chapter 544: Investigation of Karovorm Mythology
“To actually be able to convert negative energy into vitality energy, it’s simply unbelievable.”
Even as a Demigod, Ace still couldn’t convert negative energy into vitality energy. Yet these giant trees could convert negative energy and even form self-contained Emerald Secret Realms. There was indeed a lot to learn from this.
The more Ace looked, the more amazed he became, and he couldn’t help praising:
“The conversion of life and death, the fruits can even gestate intelligent life, and the entire giant tree is a small self-sufficient closed-loop ecosystem. The Giant Tree World indeed has its unique features; these can be called the Trees of Life.
“These Trees of Life can also gestate intelligent life, simply exactly like the elves in the fantasy stories of my previous life.”
Ace directly intruded into an Emerald Secret Realm, scanning with white light in his eyes, and observed carefully.
The more he looked, the more he liked it. But Ace indeed didn’t have much time to study it carefully. He simply dug up one to three Trees of Life and the nearby negative energy soil, wrapped them in boundary membrane bubbles, and collected them into the Dream Realm through his mental imagery world.
However, because crossing the astral stratification, they all ultimately died prematurely; not a single Tree of Life was successfully sent over.
Ace didn’t give up in this setback and dug up several more. It wasn’t until the thirteenth tree that he finally managed to drop a somewhat broken Tree of Life into the Dream Realm.
“Thirteen really is my lucky number. I have exactly thirteen Star Noble Phantasms.”
Muttering softly, Ace stopped destroying those Emerald Secret Realms that looked like green isolated islands. Instead, he fully opened his perception, searching for the traces of the Skeleton Knight Ancestar.
He searched like this for almost ten days. Ace almost turned the entire Reflection World upside down and finally found the dream bubble reaction on Ancestar. That was a signal device Ace gave him, which would also alert Ace within a certain range that the holder was there.
This was a rather peculiar scene. The Skeleton Knight Ancestar was completely shrouded in the milky white Holy Light of Virtue. Dozens of Skeleton Knights followed him, and the lights of virtue symbolizing various colors gradually rose from their bodies as well.
Clap, clap, clap. In this peaceful valley, the training ground of holy knights, an outsider actually intruded!
All the Skeleton Knights turned their heads in unison, put on their canister-shaped helmets, and looked towards the direction of the sound.
A person stood on the distant hill, clapping slowly, but the sound was exceptionally clear, as if right by their ears.
Looking again, that figure had already disappeared and actually appeared before their eyes like a ghost. The knights couldn’t help being shocked, and various halos of virtue were about to strike. Just then, Ancestar stopped everyone and said somewhat surprisedly:
“Lord Ace, why are you here?”
Ace smiled and said: “I came to find you entrusted by everyone. I was originally worried you had fallen behind, but I didn’t expect you to have already advanced to Legend.”
Ace had already discovered that Ancestar’s power was highly restrained. The trace of power revealed still surpassed the limit of Level 2.
Ancestar laughed heartily and exchanged experiences with Ace about what happened after he left. As a Skeleton Knight, he couldn’t wear full plate armor all the time; it was too suspicious. So he simply walked within the Reflection World, bypassing any checkpoints through the Reflection World.
Because he often punished evil and praised good, came and went like a ghost, and was often shrouded in milky white brilliance, people gradually called him the “Inevitable Light of Justice.” Many city-states also wanted to arrest him, but he escaped through the Reflection World every time.
In this process, Ancestar gradually got to know some undead with intelligence. Ancestar found that some undead were indeed tyrannical at heart or even naturally evil, but some were just ignorant.
He then conceived the idea of purifying evil and inspiring goodness.
“I thought at the time, since I, as a Skeleton Knight, can also become a Knight of Virtue, there’s no reason these ignorant undead cannot. I used some methods and force to gradually make them convert to the Path of Virtue.”
Ace was dumbfounded listening to this. He didn’t expect Ancestar to actually train a total of fifty-two Skeleton Knights of Virtue in the Reflection World where undead bred. The weakest of these knights was also Level 1, and the strongest was on par with a Golden Wizard.
“You are truly remarkable, to actually be able to inspire a group of undead to become Knights of Virtue and lead them to uphold justice. This was something only legendary heroes could do in the past, yet you did it, and did it very well. No wonder you naturally advanced to Legend.”
Ancestar was also somewhat embarrassed by the praise. He whispered: “I just wanted to do something. The teachers who passed on the Path of Knights to me once said: ‘With great power comes great responsibility.’ Since I possess power, of course I must punish evil and praise good, so that goodness is rewarded and evil is punished.
“It’s just that I didn’t expect this to actually be sung as an epic. I muddleheadedly advanced to Legend.”
Ace looked at Ancestar. Such an inner heart was probably the root of his success. Even if he hadn’t met Ace, perhaps he could also carve out a Path of Knights of Virtue on his own.
“I came to find you for some secrets.”
Ace looked left and right, snapped his fingers. Divine Power filled the air, layers of Level 4 runes appeared, completely sealing this place. The other knights were isolated outside, watching the two abruptly disappear before their eyes.
Ancestar felt that powerful force. He couldn’t help saying: “Lord Ace, could it be that you have advanced to a Demigod?”
Ace smiled and said: “I am both a Mythical Wizard and a Demi-god. This is also the secret I want to tell you. Contract with me.”
Ace’s palm flickered with light. Ancestar held it without hesitation. This was an unbreakable vow.
“To make a long story short, our world is not the limit. Sometime ago, the shattered Giant Tree World descended. You saw it too, right?”
Ancestar nodded. He had seen more than that. The emerald green sun in the Reflection World, the Emerald Secret Realms dotted like isolated islands—all showed that the Kaya World was not alone.
Ace continued: “The place outside the world is called the Astral Plane. To use an inappropriate analogy, the Astral Plane is like a sea, and worlds are like islands.
“But the difference is, the entire Astral Plane is stratified. Our Kaya World is a Level 4 World. In the astral layer where a Level 4 World is located, it can accommodate individuals of the highest level up to world level plus two.
“If the world as a whole ascends to a higher layer, the individuals within the world will have more space. If it sinks to a lower layer, the upper limit of individuals within the world will be restricted. For example, if a Level 5 World falls to a Level 4 layer, there is a high probability that the Level 7 existences within it cannot survive for long.
“And this is what I want to say. The Astral Plane is stratified. The time flow rate in the lower layers is much faster than in the upper layers. And I discovered a method to go to the lower layers, and led most of the supernaturals of my entire territory to invade that world and reshaped the world.”
Listening to Ace’s grand undertaking, Ancestar’s expression was even more shocked than when he heard Ace advanced to Level 4. To actually lead all the wizard of the territory to invade a lower layer world was simply unimaginable.
“My Lord, did you advance to Level 4 from that world?”
Ace nodded and said: “Exactly. We discovered the coordinates of a Level 2 World, helped the world expel foreign enemies, and have already transformed the world into the ideal world for us High Tower Wizards. We turned an alien world into our world, building the wizards’ ‘Fantasia’ in the distant lower layer of the Astral Plane!
“I want to invite you to go together to our ‘Fantasia’ to take a look and help out.”
Ancestar didn’t hesitate. He half-knelt and said: “When summoned, I shall immediately go, no matter where.”
Afterward, Ancestar settled the Skeleton Knights of Virtue and left together with Ace. Ace’s space magic was so powerful that he broke through the spatial barrier in just a blink of an eye. The two arrived near the Reflection World of the Thoth City-State.
Because all these actions were hidden from the God of Arithmetic Thoth, Ace simply moved the altar into the Reflection World, making this place the new base.
The true bodies of the two passed through the tunnel, carefully navigated the boundary membrane layer, and finally arrived safely at the Wizard World Cluster, Celestial Realm.
Ten years had passed in the Wizard World. When the two arrived, it was exactly when a grand archaeological achievement exhibition was being held in the Academic City of the Celestial Realm.
Ace didn’t alarm everyone. He and Ancestar cast disguise and transformation magic, turning into an ordinary Level 1 Wizard and a Level 1 Knight, and entered the exhibition site.
The two walked into the temporarily built exhibition hall. Holographic pictures flickered on the winding magical corridor. A witch with exquisite facial features, wearing a white wizard robe, said sweetly:
“Welcome everyone to visit this exhibition. What we are displaying is the history hidden in the shattered world ruins discovered by His Excellency Legendary Wizard Warren and his team over the past ten years.
“According to multiple verifications, the intelligent species of the shattered world called themselves Karovorm, meaning Born Leaders, so we call it the Karovorm World and Karovorm Civilization.
“This world is said to have been born forty million years ago. The Creator Holy Beast looked like this; people called Him Nokanod.
“Legend has it that Nokanod walked out from the original darkness. He was the first living being of this world, but also an unintelligent vulgar creature. No one knows His exact appearance and form. About a hundred thousand years after His birth, the Mother Goddess of Wisdom was born.
“This was a Level 4 Demigod existence. Legend has it that She was the product born from the intercourse between Nokanod and the world. As soon as She was born, She killed Her father Nokanod, which also established the betrayal tradition of this world and cast a shadow over the newborn world.”
Ace, Ancestar, and everyone else who came together were very interested. The birth, development, prosperity, and decline of such a world were exactly worth drawing lessons from.
Ancestar murmured: “To bear unvirtuous and unethical deeds right from the start, this is indeed a sad thing.”
Holographic scenes appeared one after another. A large number of excavated murals recorded this scene, and there were also memory bodies from Demigod divine patterns, revealing the source of this world.
The white-robed witch continued: “The Mother Goddess of Wisdom divided Nokanod’s corpse, evolving it into the world. The structure of this world was similar to the predecessor of the Wizard World, divided into Heaven, Human, and Ghost Realms. Nokanod’s resentment gave birth to the Original God of Death, who resided in the Ghost Realm and would periodically crusade against the Mother Goddess of Wisdom.
“The Mother Goddess of Wisdom united with heaven and earth, giving birth to the first generation of gods, who were respectively…
“The first generation of gods and the Mother Goddess of Wisdom resided in the Heaven Realm. The gods created various intelligent species imitating their own images, thus producing more than a dozen different types of intelligent creatures in this world.
“Let’s go this way.”
The crowd followed her footsteps, strolling in the magical corridor. Scenes of the Karovorm World unfolded before everyone’s eyes.
Tempted by the God of Death, the first generation of gods collectively betrayed the Mother Goddess of Wisdom, blinding Her, cutting off Her hands and feet, and nailing Her to the top of the sky.
The Mother Goddess of Wisdom painfully cursed them, saying they would inevitably be replaced by their own descendants.
The first generation of gods who betrayed the Mother Goddess also gained tremendous power and authority, ruling the world for four hundred thousand years as they wished. To prevent the second generation of gods from replacing the first generation, the gods would eat every Son of God born.
But there were always accidents. A fairy got pregnant with the child of the First-Generation God King. Out of maternal instinct, she fled and eventually died on the shore of the Yellow Springs. Her corpse floated down the Yellow Springs to the Ghost Realm.
Because the first generation of gods had an agreement with the God of Death, and seeing the woman was already dead, they didn’t look into it deeply. Who knew that although the woman was dead, her son was alive, and exceptionally intelligent. He not only survived in the Ghost Realm but also gained the qualification to leave from the God of Death. He alone fought his way up to the Heaven Realm, slaughtered the gods, and took down the Mother Goddess of Wisdom nailed to the top of the sky.
He was the first god recorded with a name, called Thuriumagos, the God of Vengeance, the Second-Generation God King.
The Second-Generation God King had intercourse with the Mother Goddess of Wisdom, giving birth to a large group of third-generation gods. They were called gods, but in fact, none were Level 4 existences; they were just Level 3 existences. After a million years passed, the third-generation gods began to die one after another.
And during this million years, gods reproduced in large numbers in the Heaven Realm. At the peak, they claimed to have ten million gods, their authority extremely weakened. According to our standards, they were merely Godborn, unable to be called gods.
The Second-Generation God King also became increasingly tyrannical as time evolved. He would execute a god at the drop of a hat, making the gods in the Heaven Realm dare not speak. And the blind Mother Goddess of Wisdom was also frequently abused by the God King, Her origin plundered, gradually giving rise to hatred.
As an existence who had once killed the Creator Holy Beast, the Mother Goddess of Wisdom actually degraded into a spring for absorbing Source Power, imprisoned for a million years. She finally chose mutual destruction, gifting Her Source Power to eight offspring, and turning Herself into ashes, disappearing.
The eight offspring were the Eight Pillar Gods of the Karovorm World. They joined forces. Among them, the Goddess of the Moon seduced the God of Vengeance. The other seven dismembered the God of Vengeance into eight pieces while the two gods were having intercourse, swallowing and eating Him.
From then on, the Karovorm World entered the era co-ruled by the Eight Pillar Gods and the God of Death. This era lasted for tens of millions of years. The Pillar Gods were Level 4 existences, truly immortal, but they also had the possibility of being killed. Thus, countless schemes, intrigues, and sorrowful epics were derived.
There was even one Pillar God who fell from the divine altar five times and resurrected five times. He was the God of Foresight, Cortes.
Cortes believed that this world had been mired in betrayal, conspiracies, and internal strife for tens of millions of years. The Eight Pillar Gods and the God of Death frequently intervened personally, and civilizations within the world had been forcibly interrupted many times. A world like this had no future.
He discovered primitive methods to break away from the world and roam. He tried several times to discover new worlds but all returned without success, even almost dying in the endless silent Astral Void. Finally, during one of His travels, He found a magical relic. Relying on this relic, He established contact with a great existence in a certain world in the upper layer of the Astral Plane.
Cortes believed He had found a method to resolve the endless chaos of this world over tens of millions of years, which was to introduce a powerful Outer God, use absolute power to suppress all disobedience, and reconstruct order.
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