Chapter 606: Crisis
“Hello everyone, I am the Lich Witte.”
A skeleton wearing a magic robe and a black magic top hat suddenly approached Alexander’s family of three to greet them, startling the family.
“Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid. This is just a dream phantom. We are just experiencing a dive right now.”
Alexander’s father hurriedly comforted his somewhat frightened wife.
After his brief fright, Alexander himself actually emboldened himself to approach the skeleton and even tried to touch it.
Regrettably, like a ghost, his hand passed directly through the skeleton’s body.
“You can’t just touch it randomly! This is a Legendary Immortal Wizard, the great Lord of Death. You must show respect.”
The mother pulled Alexander back and said sternly yet fearfully.
At this time, Witte also continued speaking in his hollow voice: “This is exactly what the so-called True Gods are. In the final analysis, including us Legendary Immortal Wizards ourselves, we are just a group of three-dimensional lifeforms with some signs of four-dimensionalization. Only at Level 6 is it possible to become a true four-dimensional existence.
“Rather than calling them True Gods, it’s better to call it a process of dimensional ascension.
“An Artificial True God is actually perfectly simulating this process, creating a depersonalized, instrumental deity, or rather, a purely instrumental god.
“Only wizards—only we wizards who possess the power of thought—are the measure of all things. Everything else can become our tools. And continuously imitating and innovating tools is also one of the reasons for the continuous spiral development of our magical civilization.”
“Alexander, stop fooling around in the back. See, we didn’t even hear all of His Excellency Witte’s words.”
Alexander’s father said with a straight face, his voice slightly stern.
“Look, he knows he’s wrong. Don’t be so angry, darling.”
The mother couldn’t help but console him.
The family continued to follow the host to visit that Artificial True God, “Alpha One.”
It was a cluster of ultimate multi-colored clouds without any physical form, just diffusing within a transparent container like that.
The family of three entered together with the host. Witte was already gone. A wizard wearing a white lab coat was waiting here.
“This is His Excellency Daru, the Legendary Wizard responsible for maintaining ‘Alpha One.’ He is a recipient of the Ace Silver Medal and the youngest winner of the Bayen Prize. His main research direction is the domain of deities.”
The host introduced Daru like a rapid-fire cannon. Daru bowed slightly to the several holographic cameras and said with a smile: “Welcome everyone. I am Daru. This is the core of our artificial sub-plane, Alpha One.
“He is a purely instrumental deity. Rather than calling Him a deity, it’s actually more appropriate to call Him a god-like tool.
“We initially tried to use living True Gods, but regrettably could not succeed. Later, pure mimicry was also unrealistic, and the research once fell into stagnation. It wasn’t until His Excellency Logan made a major breakthrough in the research of the Fruit of Immortality that we resolved the obstacles to manufacturing this kind of god-like tool.
“If one wants to create a god-like tool, one must completely simulate the process of advancing from Level 4 to Level 5. And the most important part of this process is the Fruit of Immortality.
“Only with a Fruit of Immortality is one a true Level 5 existence. Even a purely instrumental existence must abide by this fundamental principle.
“The specific process involves supreme patents, so I won’t go into detail. In short, the wizard team led by our Excellency Witte created the first artificial god-like tool in history.
“He is like a completely flawless, blank sheet of paper; His mental imagery world is shaped entirely by us. By constructing the foundational landscape of His mind, we projected such a great artificial sub-plane.
“Finally, I want to say one thing: the research of fundamental Magical Mechanics theory is of paramount importance. If Lord Ace hadn’t discovered General Relativity, it would be impossible for us to gain insight into the mysteries of the Divine Secret Realm, and thus impossible to have such massive magical development.
“Although the vast majority of wizards are currently engaged in so-called magical engineering research, all of this is based on the fundamental theories of Magical Mechanics. Fundamental theory is the cornerstone of magical engineering and applied magic.
“Our current fundamental theories might be enough for us to spend hundreds or thousands of years developing applications, but we must always keep in mind the importance of fundamental theory.”
Hearing these words, the eyes of Alexander, this handsome little boy, shone brightly, seemingly having understood something.
The visual feed continued. With some reservations, the vast majority of people under the rule of magic watched this live broadcast. The Kaya Gods, Elven Outer Gods, and devils on the Old Continent were also watching through various channels, most with solemn expressions.
As for demons, those guys were fine at fighting, but thinking about these things was completely beyond their syllabus.
In a dim pub, a group of people stared blankly at the magic television hanging from the ceiling, looking at the report about the sub-plane inside it, their expressions exceptionally unsightly.
Among them was a woman, very alluring and graceful, yet her expression was exceptionally despondent. A burly man, built like an iron tower, sat beside her and gently pulled her into his embrace.
“Lady Witch, the times have changed.”
Sauron said gently.
The Witch tilted her head up, looked at him with alluring eyes, and said: “I truly didn’t expect things to change so quickly. Us stirring up the upheaval in Salia seems like just yesterday. But in the blink of an eye, Alex has long since disappeared without a trace, and Ambrio, who played with people’s hearts, has completely lost his will to fight and turned into trash running a tavern.
“Just what was it all for?
“I used to think we were walking the correct path, but now it seems we are all obsolete.”
Sauron hugged the Witch tightly and said softly: “Jeanne, we can adapt to this era. We can also embrace magic. You are my hope; please don’t give up.”
The chubby bartender walked over. Wearing a bronze smiling mask, he chuckled heh heh and said: “The era of devils has long passed. Legendary Immortal Wizards and Mythical Wizards are more powerful than devils. Look at the several Devil Monarchs who descended—how miserably they died! Even if they are alive, it’s not much better than being dead.
“The so-called terrifying devils who can deceive the world are merely experimental subjects in front of wizards. And we devil believers don’t even count as experimental subjects.
“Sauron, you don’t need to comfort her. See reality clearly; there is no hope.”
“Ambrio, you ignorant fool. Jeanne has a great ideal in her heart, a million times better than you, a guy who just plays with people’s hearts seeking pleasure.”
Sauron said with a face full of anger.
“Oh? Then do as you please.”
Ambrio didn’t argue. Ever since he was almost killed by Ace, Ambrio had been anxious and uneasy.
He first hid for three years. Later, he discovered that Ace actually forced the five northern states of Salia to sign a thirty-year armistice agreement, and he even tried every means to stir up conflict again.
However, the subsequent changes completely exceeded his expectations. Ace and the High Tower Wizards rose with the momentum of a sudden thunderbolt. In just twenty years, Ace had already grown into a wizard comparable to a Demi-god, and even became a True God acknowledged by the Kaya Gods in one fell swoop on the eve of the Godfall Storm.
This made Ambrio feel disheartened. And later, after Ace achieved Sovereign of Dreams in one fell swoop and pit-killed over a thousand Outer Gods, Ambrio gave up weaving conspiracies and settled for making a living in a tavern in this border town on the Old Continent.
The influence of magic radiated just as much in the Old Continent. Although this was the domain of the gods, existences below Legendary Wizard were still permitted to operate here. There were many technologies here that had already been phased out by the magical world; that television was one of them.
The Witch, or rather Jeanne’s state, was extremely strange. Her face was flushed, her shadow surged, and a pitch-black girl actually drilled out of it.
The pitch-black shadow slowly dissipated. The skinny little girl walked up to the table, hugged Sauron ‘s arm, and said softly: “Uncle, I’m so scared.”
Sauron hugged the little girl tightly and whispered: “Don’t be scared, don’t be scared, Jeanne.”
The Witch drank a large mug of ale, smiled charmingly, and said: “The money is here, Ambrio. I’m going home with my Uncle.”
Sauron held the Witch’s hand with his left hand and carried Jeanne with his right hand, and together they returned to their residence, a villa in the suburbs.
The sound of frogs croaking outside the window was incessant. Little Jeanne in Sauron ‘s arms was already sound asleep. He gently placed Jeanne on the bed, tucked her in nicely, and quietly closed the doors and windows.
Walking into the living room, the Witch was wearing a loose red robe, her scenery faintly discernible. Drinking red wine, she hooked her arms around Sauron ‘s neck and said charmingly: “I am your hope, right? Then keep me company properly.”
Sauron said calmly: “Lady Witch, you are drunk.”
The Witch forcefully pushed Sauron down onto the sofa, lay on top of him, and said: “Yes, I am the Witch right now, not Jeanne! So I command you, serve me!”
A night of madness. The sound of frogs outside the window gradually disappeared, the pattering sound of rain grew louder, and thunder rumbled. Jeanne, sleeping soundly in the bedroom, tossed and turned. The faces of the two acting crazily in the living room were an abnormally flushed red. Mana lingered; there seemed to be an eerie rhythm.
“Am I your hope, Sauron!”
Intense panting.
“Yes, you are my hope, my Witch, my Jeanne. You are my Goddess of Hope!”
Boom!
Thunder roared, as if some switch had been flipped. The two forgot themselves in their madness. In the bedroom, Jeanne was surrounded by bizarre rule fragments all over her body, and past memories seemed to be uncovered.
On the distant Dream Star, Ace, who was presiding over the finishing touches of the artificial sub-plane, suddenly felt a stir in His heart. He handed the acceptance work of the Mobile Fortress over to His projection, and He Himself immediately entered the rule layer of the Kaya World’s Great Source.
That stele inscription recording the names of past individuals who achieved the destiny of the Lord of the Inner World emerged again. Emperor Augustin’s name was flashing, countless rule domain fragments were quivering. The ahoge on Ace’s head twitched: Comprehend!
“The Law of Hope?”
Just as He was about to continue investigating, an extremely strong power suddenly pushed Ace out of the rule layer. When He wanted to enter again, He found that the rule layer had already been sealed by an emerald green power and could not be entered.
“This is the power of the World Tree? What exactly is going on? Regardless, I should first warn Athena about this anomaly.”
Bearing doubts, Ace returned to His sub-plane and accelerated His actions. His destiny intuition told Him that something bad seemed about to happen, and this might be something even He could not resist.
“I must accelerate my actions, concentrate the wizards in the artificial sub-plane, and perform a jump immediately to facilitate the ascension of the Wizard World Cluster!”
A clone walked out from His body, heading straight to the northern polar region to notify the new Goddess of Hope, Athena. The true body appeared inside the artificial sub-plane, the Mobile Fortress, and issued a Supreme Council Conscription Order.
This was the first time in over two hundred years that Ace had proactively convened the members of the Supreme Council.
The interior of the Mobile Fortress was a purely mechanized structure, with almost no trace of nature. Besides the core area composed of four major zones—the scientific research zone, the industrial zone, the agricultural zone, and the entertainment zone—the outer periphery only had the controllable nuclear fusion energy zone and the combat zone.
This was a true Astral Plane fortress. And Ace was at the very center of the fortress, above “Alpha One,” in the Golden Starlight Round Table Hall.
The Legendary Immortal Wizards received Ace’s conscription order one after another and appeared one by one in the Golden Starlight Hall. They were very nervous, almost no one delaying time. In just three short minutes, all the Legendary Immortal Wizards had arrived.
Waiting until the last Legendary Immortal Wizard arrived, Ace immediately said: “Everyone, the reason I convened you here is because I suddenly have a premonition: danger might be approaching. We must act immediately and can no longer make preparations.
“Contact with the Wizard World Cluster through four-dimensional space-time has already been properly established; the world is about to ascend. I will join you. All members of the Supreme Council, except for eleven Legendary Immortal Wizards who must stay behind to hold the fort, the rest of you will immediately submerge to the Level 3 Astral Plane layer with me via the Mobile Fortress!
“The selected Mythical and Legendary Wizards must also take their positions immediately.”
Meanwhile, the madness of Sauron and the Witch intensified. The little girl Jeanne was long awake. She was surrounded by rule fragments one by one, and emerald green Divine Power shrouded her.
“So that’s how it is. You took this opportunity to awaken me, wanting me to help you reclaim hope?”
That emerald green Divine Power gently soothed her. She looked at the two lost in passion, actually looking somewhat spellbound.
“Augustin…”
Slowly speaking this name, a line of clear tears had already flowed from Jeanne’s eyes. She choked with sobs and said: “Then let us form a contract. I will help you retrieve your hope. You promise not to harm me, and help me find Augustin. As for those two…”
Jeanne extended her right hand, and the two fell into a coma instantly. Two soul fragments drifted out of their bodies, sinking into Jeanne’s embrace and disappearing.
“Forget everything in the past and just live happily like this.”
Mana surged, sweeping over the Witch and Sauron. The violent storm grew more intense, lightning flashed, and thunder rolled. The dark night became like broad daylight, and Jeanne had already disappeared without a trace.
…
The northern polar region of the earth core. This was a joyous and peaceful land. The population wasn’t large, but everyone was full of energy, looking full of hope.
No matter who it was, they could act freely within the framework of the law on this land. There were also scattered Wizard Towers here; several Legendary Wizards resided here permanently to research extreme cold magic.
Ace’s clone walked straight above the polar axis. An aurora always hung in mid-air there; it was the external manifestation of Athena’s Divine Kingdom.
The clone saw through this disguise, touched the crystal wall of the Divine Kingdom, and emitted a rhythmic vibration. Before long, the crystal wall opened with a rumble, and a long path paved with a red carpet appeared out of thin air.
Ace’s clone stepped onto the long red carpet path. The long path rapidly shortened, and in the blink of an eye, He entered Athena’s temple.
Athena still looked as She used to, heroic and beautiful. Ruby-like eyes, tender white skin. Her hair color was no longer sky blue, having turned emerald green, bearing a trace of similarity to elves. If one looked closely at Her ears, they would find them slightly pointed.
“Ace, in all these years, this is the first time You’ve come to my Divine Kingdom, even if it is just a clone.”
Athena seemed somewhat emotional, speaking very gently.
Ace’s clone said very anxiously: “I came this time to tell you of an emergency anomaly. I am the current Lord of Authority of the Prime Material Plane. Not long ago, I sensed an anomaly in the Prime Material Plane. After entering the world’s rule layer, I saw that Augustin’s name actually flashed and disappeared. An alien emerald green Source Power of the elves actually suddenly surged out, pushing me out of the world’s rule layer. Before leaving, I used Comprehension to observe, and what surfaced seemed to be rule fragments related to hope.
“That emerald green prevents me from entering again. This matter is extremely bizarre. It’s very likely related to the old Goddess of Hope, Medira, and the Elven Gods might also be involved. You must be careful.”
Athena didn’t seem surprised. She looked somewhat happy: “You… are caring about me? Worrying about me?”
Ace’s clone was startled, then said: “Yes, we are good friends, aren’t we?”
Athena smiled, as brilliantly as when Ace first saw Her, making one feel the sunlight was just right and very bright.
For a moment, there was a sense of space-time dislocation, as if returning to the past, to the first meeting in the royal palace of Medimus.
“Thank you, Ace. Can I hug you?”
Before Ace’s clone could speak, Athena had already hugged Him, trembling slightly.
“Thank you very much. We will always be good friends.”
After speaking, she gave Ace’s clone a push.
Ace’s clone felt the world spin, discovering He had already appeared beside the aurora.
“This power is at least at the level of the Sovereign of Hope. I’ve already notified you; the rest is up to you.”
The clone slowly disappeared without a trace.
The Wizard Continent, especially the various floating cities, began to take action. High-level wizards began frequent shift changes. After about a day, forty Legendary Immortal Wizards, a thousand Mythical Wizards, nearly ten thousand Legendary Wizards, and countless Golden Wizards boarded the artificial sub-plane, the Mobile Fortress, together.
After everyone was in position, Ace activated the dimensional ascension spell model. Under the rhythm of mana, He rapidly entered four-dimensional space-time.
Over the course of a century, Ace’s summarization and mapping of four-dimensional space-time curvature data was only one-third complete. Accurately speaking, it was one-third of the space-time curvature mapping of the Level 4 Astral Plane layer. But even so, it allowed Him to condense over ten thousand Level 6 runes.
It’s just that these were not enough to support Ace’s advancement. His Level 6 was different from ordinary Level 6s. Ace had a vague feeling: compared to the Supreme Domain, this method of advancing to Level 6 by cognizing space-time curvature was inevitably more difficult.
But correspondingly, it would also be more powerful.
Actually, if possible, Ace also wanted to use the Dream Domain or the Magic Net Domain to advance to Level 6 first and become a new Titan Main God.
But regrettably, whether it was the Dream Domain or the Magic Net Domain, what was required was not something Ace could achieve overnight at this current stage.
He didn’t have enough time and could only temporarily leave Kaya to seek opportunities in the Astral Plane, rather than continuing to play on the crests of the waves in this vortex.
Stabilizing the four-dimensional particle state of the Mobile Fortress, Ace began to construct His spell model, preparing to jump from the four-dimensional level to avoid the influence of the Godfall Storm.
Right at this time, on the three-dimensional level, Jeanne had already walked out. She accelerated, floating upwards, and emerald green condensed into a World Tree crown.
The wind cheered. Countless fragments of the Law of Hope rapidly returned. The World Tree extended countless branches and leaves from the rule layer, actually growing from the earth core, transforming into an indescribable, bizarre field.
The wizards keenly observed this phenomenon. The Inner World Curvature Mapping Team subordinate to the Supreme Council captured a bizarre glimpse through observation tools.
“It’s all emerald green! This is like some kind of bizarre force field. It’s not just diffusing in three dimensions, but also diffusing in four dimensions, blending with the Godfall Storm!”
(Chapter finished)
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