"That useless Jefano! Not only did he perish himself, but he even lost our Lord's token..."
The old man's voice was incredibly hoarse, carrying an almost unbearable, bizarre quality — yet what it revealed was nothing short of earth-shattering.
"What? Something like that actually happened in the outer seas off Dambres?"
The dark-robed priests exchanged glances, each seeing the shock reflected in the others' eyes.
Furthermore, none of them wished to dwell on what had become of Jefano.
Deep underground, once the drow angered the Spider Queen Lolth, their only fate was to be transformed into horrifying driders — and Jefano, whose very soul was already in the goddess's grasp, would suffer an even more terrible end.
Such a fate brought a twinge of sorrow even to these dark-robed priests.
The feeling didn't last long. The old man slowly swept his gaze over them, a faint glimmer of light now flickering in his almost entirely white pupils. "Jefano was already a high-ranking priest. To uncover what truly happened in the outer seas, we must send someone of legendary power! Who among them is currently available?"
"Lord Shadow Mask's whereabouts remain unknown, the
One of the dark-robed priests hesitated for a moment before speaking up.
"On my end, the situation in the northern lands remains quite unstable. Several of our lords have been tracking Queen
Another dark-robed priest reported.
Such was the tragedy of a great power — though their influence spanned the entire Material Plane, mustering high-level combat strength was not so easily done.
"What about the 'Corpse Collector'?" Since the old man was making this suggestion, he clearly already had someone in mind.
"That lord's experiments are not yet complete..."
The last dark-robed wizard hesitated, then steeled himself and spoke.
"Tell him that once he emerges, he is to head to the outer seas immediately! I want him to flay the scalp off the criminal who dared to murder our Lord's priest!"
The old man spoke slowly, then knelt before the statue of the deity once more, beginning his unwavering prayers — as immovable as a statue carved from the hardest stone.
The dark-robed priests exchanged glances and filed out one by one.
By now, he had already calmly returned to Morning Star Port and secluded himself within the
"This quiet situation should hold for a while. Even if the Church of the God of Murder wants to exact revenge, the time between investigation and dispatching forces should be more than enough for me to advance…"
Leylin sat at the core of the Wizard Tower, terrifying isolation runes carved into the surrounding walls. The Tower Spirit strictly monitored everything.
With the Wizard Tower's assistance, all of Morning Star Port had instantly become the best-governed port around. Crime rates plummeted to extraordinarily low levels, which in turn drew ever more merchants to come and trade.
Moreover, Leylin knew full well that an even greater wave of trade was on the horizon — this was the ripple effect of having wiped out the Barbarian Pirates.
"Cousin and the others should be able to seize Pirate Harbor by now, and use it as a permanent base…"
Leylin set down the steaming cup in his hand, a wry, contemplative expression crossing his face.
"Who would've thought that I'd end up becoming both the root cause and the driving force behind the turmoil in the outer seas…"
At the thought of this, Leylin's gaze fell upon another object on the table.
It was a pendant of unusual design. Within it surged a torrential, overwhelming power, yet it seemed to have lost its very spirituality — transformed into a vast resource that anyone could access.
"After destroying the remnant divine will within, and with the subsequent seal layered on top, even the God of Murder shouldn't be able to sense it anymore, right?"
Leylin did not utter
"According to the Wizard Association's records, a Greater Deity can obtain fifteen to eighteen characters of information from anywhere in the world when their true name is spoken?"
Leylin stroked his chin.
This ability even exhibited some of the characteristics of a ninth-level Grand Wizard — omnipotence and omniscience. Unfortunately, it was only partial, and moreover it existed solely due to the unique rules of this world of gods, with far too many methods available to circumvent it.
"And what's more… such an enormous reserves of divine power. That truly is quite the generous gift."
Leylin extended a finger, rubbing it slowly across the surface of the pendant. Strands of chaotic, dark-golden power were transformed by the Devouring Power into the purest gold, which Leylin continuously absorbed.
The current Leylin had abandoned the crude method of devouring everything in a single gulp, instead shifting to constant, subtle refinement.
Though the God of Murder's divine power was formidable, it was permeated with a sense of impurity — and even the power of the Shadow of
What Leylin needed to do now was extract the purest divine power from it and put it to use for himself.
As the divine power continued to pour into him, Leylin's entire body was enveloped in a golden glow, as though he had been forged into a god of gold.
The Chip's notifications kept coming: [Ding! Main body absorbing large quantities of energy essence! Identified as divine power of a Greater Deity! Effect comparable to permanent Divine Grace!]
[Main body receiving Divine Grace infusion! Strength +1! Agility +1! Constitution +1!]
Alongside the Chip's mechanical voice, Leylin felt his body undergo another round of reinforcement. Terrifying power erupted from every cell.
"As expected of Greater Divine Power…" A look of satisfaction crossed Leylin's face, accompanied by a soft sigh.
"Chip! Estimate the total effects of all the divine power!" Leylin commanded.
[Ding! Task established. Constructing main body model and running virtual simulation…] The Chip faithfully carried out Leylin's command, arriving at concrete results within seconds.
[Ding! According to preliminary estimates from the virtual simulation, the divine power stored in the pendant will be fully depleted in 146 hours and 12 minutes. At that point, the main body's average stats are projected to break through 15!
"Is that so? That's not bad at all… And besides…"
Leylin then noticed another notification from the Chip: [Ding! Rank 5 Magic Network analysis at 100%! Main body has obtained all Rank 5 spell templates, granted immunity to Spell Decay, and exempted from material components for all Rank 5 spells!]
On the Chip's interface, the Magic Network analysis task had undergone yet another change: [Magic Network Analysis Progress: Rank 0 — 100%! Rank 1 — 100%! Rank 2 — 100%! Rank 3 — 100%! Rank 4 — 100%! Rank 5 — 100%! Rank 6 — 53.33%! Rank 7 — 34.97%!]
"So divine power can also help with breaking down the Magic Network…"
Leylin nodded. "It seems my class change into an Arcanist plays a role here as well. Having partially detached from the Magic Network has significantly sped up the analysis progress…"
Obtaining the Arcanist class had been a tremendous boost for Leylin.
It meant not only a shift in combat power, but also a complete breakthrough past the bottleneck that bound mages to the Magic Network.
Under the constraints of the Magic Network, advancing beyond Level 15 as a High-Ranking Mage was already remarkably difficult, and breaking through into the Legendary realm was an even more grueling endeavor.
Legendary Warriors and the like were somewhat easier to manage, but becoming a Legendary Mage before the age of three hundred was the hallmark of only the most exceptionally talented!
Leylin had a premonition that after the Twilight of the
However, none of this was effective against an Arcane Master! As long as the theoretical foundation was sound and there was sufficient energy, the Arcane Master's advancement encountered no bottlenecks!
Yet, for those Arcane Masters, constructing the theoretical framework required to become a High-Ranking Arcane Master—or even reach the Legendary level—was perhaps a more arduous task than a mage's breakthrough.
In ancient times, the difficulty of an Arcane Master's advancement far exceeded that of a mage!
But Leylin was different! His true body was a half-seventh-level Rule Wizard! He faced no bottleneck whatsoever on the Arcane Master path; his theoretical foundation was already incomparably solid. He only needed ample energy to progress ceaselessly.
The continuous improvement of his true body, the restoration of the Devouring Rule, and especially this 'selfless contribution' from Bishop Zryk, had directly pushed him onto the express lane to advancement.
"Only the [Legendary] level constitutes true, high-tier combat power in the Material World! I must advance to [Legendary] as soon as possible. Only then will I have the confidence and capital to carve out my domain in the
Leylin had a rather comprehensive plan for his future development and strategy.
"And before that, the faith of the aboriginals, along with the miscellaneous devils, demons, and heretical god worshippers, are all targets that must be severely suppressed..."
Leylin slowly rose to his feet. The colossal energy within him created terrifying air currents even within the chamber.
"However, I do need to adjust this appearance. Being mistaken for a favored child of the God of Murder would be no laughing matter!"
With a thought, all the divine power within him converted into the purest energy, and the faint golden glow on his skin vanished completely.
"Master! The guests have arrived outside the tower!"
At that moment, the Tower Spirit's little girl visage materialized, speaking respectfully.
"I shall greet them personally!"
Leylin nodded.
He walked out of the Mage Tower and immediately saw the figure of High Priest Zona, flanked by several other priests from different churches, all around level ten.
"Bishop Zona, and esteemed guests, welcome to my Mage Tower!"
Leylin wore a sincere smile on his face. In that instant, the surroundings seemed to spring to life, as if it had suddenly become spring, with all manner of beautiful flowers blooming around.
"This level of charisma... terrifying! What height has his Spiritual Power reached?"
Surprise flickered in Zona's eyes, but she returned the smile: "Baron, you are too kind! It is we, the visitors, who are remiss in not having prepared many gifts. It's truly a bit of an oversight..."