Cthulhu Gonfalon

Through exercise and adventures, mortals could improve their power to the level of advanced legendary peak. What did advanced legendary peak mean? Sui Xiong had done a quantification analysis and found that it was similar to a total level of 19 in Crick’s system.

At this level, it would be hard to make further improvements.

If one had enough resources, he or she could consider taking shortcuts to become a strong second-rate master. For example, after reaching a level of 19 in combat, one could go to a big library and study hard there for a few years to get two to three levels higher in academic rank; or become a Hill Lord, to get a few levels up in their Hill Lord rank. Thus, one could easily break through the limits of mortals and enter the legendary realm to become a Legendary Master.

Of course, this kind of Legendary Master was not as powerful as others. Some of them couldn’t even beat an advanced legendary genius like the late Spencer. When Leon, under the pseudonym of Ray, had been going on adventures throughout the wilderness in the west, he had fought with a second-rate master. Although Ray hadn’t been able to win, he hadn’t lost, either. The late Joseph Riley, the former Lord of Garth City, had been such a second-rate master. With his top equipment, he could bully those who were poorly equipped. He had even killed other legendary masters with magic arrays, helpers, and schemes. However, if it was a fair fight, he would almost always be the weakest among the legendary masters.

If one didn’t want to be a second-rate master, he or she had to find a way to enter the legendary realm. If this direction fit them well, they could advance to level 20, stepping into the ‘legendary-to-be’ world. If they could get through this direction and make major improvements, they could advance to level 21, becoming a real Legendary Master.

In this regard, clergymen such as priests, high priests, and paladins had the greatest advantage. As the direct subordinates of God, as long as they were strong enough, they could usually receive God’s guidance through prayer, so they could find their own path more easily. At least 60 to 70 percent of the legendary masters of the past and the present were clergymen, while the others added up to only half of the clergymen.

Besides these clergymen, those who had majored in both physics and magic arts were also at an advantage. They were more flexible, so they had more choices than others. Those who only majored in physics fell behind them a little, and those who had only majored in magic arts were the most disadvantaged.

It was amazing that among all kinds of advanced legendary professions, advanced mages had the highest social status and the strongest comprehensive ability, but it was also the most difficult for them to become legendary masters.

The key to that was that mages were so knowledgeable that they had too many choices… But few choices really fit them.

A mage, an orthodox mage, knew at least one hundred possible ways to enter the legendary realm, but when they actually tried, they would find that these ways were not suitable for them, so they would go from one failure to another. After several times, their life would neary have come to an end.

That was why legendary mages were so rare that only a few long-lived ones, or those with good mentors or good luck, could find a way before their lives were over.

However, there was no gain without loss. Once a mage found their way, they would naturally step into the legendary realm like they were pushing a boat downstream. Usually with just a large ceremony, they would be able to adjust their body and soul in their direction and then directly enter the legendary realm with the help of powerful magic. It was simple and clear.

In contrast, it wasn’t so easy for other professions. Even if they found their way, they still needed to work hard and gather experience gradually. They also had to adjust themselves and accumulate strength. Many people failed in the process and died with their wishes unfulfilled.

Satan was undoubtedly one of the lucky mages. Although he had been a bit unlucky in his youth, when he had been nearly 30 years old, he had finally waited for his chance and smoothly got Sui Xiong on his side. With Sui Xiong’s support, his magic research had made rapid progress, and his strength had rapidly improved. It had taken him over 20 years to reach advanced legendary peak. As the most reliable advanced spell-casters of the Void Mask Church, the two gods of the Church took good care of him. The God of Knowledge, Wall, even spared no effort to devote his time to searching for the right path for him. Finally, several good choices were put forward.

Among these paths, Satan’s first choice was purification.

He was an ambitious man. Although other paths might have been relatively less difficult, the corresponding divine positions already had been taken by very powerful Gods. The divine position of purification had been the only one left.

If he followed this path, the resistance would be much less before he received the title of God in the future.

Although at present, he was only a mortal who hadn’t even entered the legendary realm, Satan’s vision was far, and his ideal was great. As long as there was hope, he would strive towards earning the title of God!

Thus, he had a good idea and finally chose purifying the Ash Forest as his path to be labeled a God. As long as he worked hard on this path, bit by bit, as the entire Ash Forest was purified, his accumulated strength and belief would surely be enough to get him the title!

It might have taken years, hundreds, even thousands of years… But he believed that he would be able to stick on this road to the end and eventually become one of the immortals of the Pantheon temple.

This experiment was of great significance to him. It was related to whether he could prove his understanding of the concept of purification. If it failed, it meant that his accumulation of strength in the past two years had gone in the wrong direction. He would have to readjust his path and the structure of his magic and even adjust the stereotypes in his thinking.

In that case, it would take at least ten years, or even longer. There were many mages across the world who grew old during such failures, but were unwilling to die. There were also many mages who had to gamble their lives to try more difficult means of prolonging their lives in order to have enough time to make progress. Most of them had failed in prolonging their lives or found that their path to legendary had been cut off after they had successfully prolonged their lives. There were few of them who could finally enter the legendary realm.

Satan would be over fifty years old this year. With the help of life-prolonging potions, his physical and spiritual peak would last for about thirty years at most. After that, the aging of his soul would be reflected in his spirit. Even if his body would still be young, his way forward as a mage would definitely become narrower.

Thirty years would be just enough to fail three times.

Considering that, it was easy to understand why he had been so nervous and cautious and why he had done such a big experiment at all costs, nearly spending all of his fortune and asking for help from two great Gods.

Fortunately, he had been lucky enough to succeed on his first try. Next, he just needed to hold a ceremony to adjust himself, and then with the help of powerful magic, he could surely step into the legendary realm.

According to his current situation and the fortune of the Void Mask Church, it was estimated that it would be ready in about half a year. In no more than a year, he could become a legendary mage and set foot on the new peak of life!

The success of the magic array was not only good for Satan, but also for Felix and Jose. Through the completion of this huge magic array, Felix’s understanding and mastery of magic went up to a higher level, saving at least ten years of gathering experience; Jose improved his control of the dragon blood magic in his body and also saved a lot of time to practice magic.

As for those who benefited the most, they were actually the residents of the Pyroxene Town.

For a long time, the pioneers of Ash Forest had lived in a weak negative energy environment. Though the cities and villages had been protected by holy temples, people still had to go outside sometimes. Once they went outside, they would inevitably be influenced by the negative energy.

In this situation, the life expectancy of residents in Ash Forest grew relatively short, and they often began to grow old and get sick at the age of 40 or so. Within a few years, they would die painfully from various diseases they had suffered. Of course, they didn’t want to live this kind of life, but they had no choice. They could only endure it silently.

There were magic props to resist negative energy, as well as magic potions to eliminate the bad influence of negative energy, but how could normal residents afford them?

But now it had become different!

With the completion of the large-scale purification array, most of the residents in Pyroxene Town didn’t need to live in an environment full of negative energy. Even the negative energy accumulated in their bodies would be gradually purified over time. This allowed them to live longer lives and have healthier bodies. The former couldn’t be seen just yet, but the latter showed instant results.

A short while after the completion of the purification array, people outside the town felt that the surrounding environment had changed. It wasn’t that there was a new smell in the air, but that the gloomy and oppressive feeling had disappeared, and they felt much more relaxed in their whole body.

They looked at each other doubtfully, not knowing what was going on.

But there was no doubt that it was something good!

That evening, Felix gathered all the residents of the Pyroxene Town and announced that the large-scale purification array had been completed, so as long as they didn’t travel outside of the green area in the woods, they wouldn’t be influenced by negative energy anymore. At first, the residents were at a loss—they had no idea what negative energy was, but later, after further explanation from Felix, they were overjoyed and happy, as if they were celebrating a festival.

After all, who didn’t want to live a long and healthy life?

Seeing that, Felix had an idea in her mind. She announced that the date would be Purification Day every year, and that celebrations would be held to celebrate this happy day.

People always said that good things should be done as soon as possible. Since this festival had been set, they wanted to celebrate it today.

When Jose returned to the Pyroxene Town, he saw a huge bonfire in the square in the middle of the town. Several tables were filled with white bread and rye wine, and two chefs were preparing meat and vegetables. The residents laughed and sang with joy.

They laughed as freely as if they were releasing the depression and pressure they had accumulated for so long at the celebration.

They sang so happily, like they were going to drive away all the bad luck, usher in endless good luck, and hold it firmly in their hands, never letting it go.