Mystical Journey

“The White Dragon Mountain is by no means a single entity, there are many factions within it as well. Yes, I do hate those two emissaries to the core, but that has nothing to do with these two powerhouses before me. Besides, they’ve come here especially to help me solve my problems,” Garen retorted. “I have no interest in pushing away my own helpers.”

He looked at Kratos.

“However, you, Kratos, made an enemy of me in the past. You knew that these two masters are here especially to meet me, and yet you came along with them. Add that to your words from earlier, and are you sure you’re not here just to raise suspicions between us?!”

As soon as he said that, the two geezers’ gazes on Kratos changed slightly as well.

Kratos was completely flushed red as he stared at Garen with eyes full of hatred, but he did not know what to say just then either. His antagonizing attitude aimed at creating a rift between them was too evident earlier, which made it hard for him to deny right now.

“Alright, both of you, take a step back. After all, Kratos is here on behalf of Wanku Fortress. He’s here on business matters this time.” The friendly elder hurriedly tried to smooth things over.

“Hmph.” The other elder harrumphed coldly, and his gaze on Kratos had become slightly unfriendly as well.

Kratos knew that he could not stay here any longer, so he decided to just leave. Before he left, he gave Garen one fierce glare.

Garen hesitated but still did not make a move.

Kratos was here on behalf of the Wanku Fortress, which meant that if Garen attacked him now, he would be attacking the Wanku Fortress. That would definitely greatly anger the Wanku Fortress Master, and then it just would not be worth it.

Besides, since Kratos dared to come here alone, that must mean he had done all the necessary preparations. If Garen attacked and still could not keep him here, things would get very troublesome.

Garen persuaded the two elders properly and then sent someone to follow Kratos. As expected, the guy still had another bodyguard, another mysterious character with an obscure aura who followed closely behind him.

After he settled those two old geezers, giving them all sorts of tasty food, delicious drinks, and fun distractions, Garen turned around and left the mansion. Bringing two members of the White Feather Guard with him, he headed straight for an underground cave outside the city.

*******************

Upon entering the underground cave, taking many twists and turns in the dark tunnel, he walked on for goodness knew how long, and finally saw the wall at the end of the cave appear before him.

Garen gestured at the two White Feathers behind him to stop, and he walked forward alone.

He knocked the wall lightly. The stone wall immediately began to fade on its own, like an illusion, and Garen instantly walked into another dark black ancient temple.

There was a faint illusion-like fog permeating through the temple. If you were not paying attention, you would feel as though this fog was everywhere, but when you looked at the fog carefully, you would notice that they did not seem to exist at all, and it was the distortion and refraction of light.

By now, a few figures had already gathered in the temple.

When they saw Garen enter, the figures all turned around.

“Commander, why did you summon us here so urgently?” said one voice drily.

“An important event is approaching, and this is the crucial moment right now. We should avoid meeting as much as possible, just in case anything goes wrong,” someone else said softly.

“I have an extremely troublesome problem that I need your help with,” said Garen seriously.

The group before him was a small group called Proof of Deception. They were an underground organization, and even the weakest of these members were at Level Twelve. One of them even vaguely had the aura of a Demigod.

A Demigod! That was a being as powerful as Lady Vengeance’s true body, that was more than enough to become the Fortress Master of a fortress in the Ten Thousand Abyss Plains.

Such a being had actually appeared in this small group, and that was also the main reason Garen treated this group so solemnly.

If it were not for the fact that he was backed up by the almighty Ann, he probably would not even have the right to sit here and talk to these beings on equal terms.

Although Proof of Deception treated him relatively respectfully, they were not his subordinates. When they heard that he needed help, they instantly fell silent.

“This matter could even provide you more souls in preparation for the important event around the corner.” Garen smiled faintly. “I believe all of you are still fretting over a source of Advanced Souls, no?”

“Oh? You have a way?” said the leader of the Proof of Deception, the one that almost seemed to be a Demigod.

Garen smiled.

“I wouldn’t say I have a way, but I happen to have two ready-made souls…”

“If we can have two more pinnacle souls among the offerings to the Deception Demon Master, perhaps we might be able to speed up milord’s rate of regeneration?”

“But what about the chaos that may cause?” said Proof of Deception’s leader, frowning. “Every Level Fifteen peak powerhouse has deep roots and foundations. When they’ve reached that level, even if they die, their souls will be retrieved by the God they revere. If we steal such a soul, our troubles will be endless.”

“I’m not afraid of trouble.” Garen’s expression darkened. “Besides, didn’t we come to this world in order to create trouble?”

He was stuck at a bottleneck, and there were only two ways someone with enough power could break through to Level Twelve. One was in divinity research, but that required a Wizard Tower to block out the Gods’ detection.

The second was the method he had newly discovered, utilizing the Enneahedron and the evolution of his Void Original Opus.

Throughout just the past year, he had seen some Void Creatures use the Enneahedron with his own eyes. They slaughtered indiscriminately within a few short months, and went from lower than Level Eight all the way up to Level Thirteen, advancing so quickly that even Garen could barely believe it.

These Void Creatures only stopped when they reached Level Thirteen, having apparently reached a bottleneck. But such a speed of progression had already surpassed how Garen’s pace from back then.

According to his secret observations, those Void Creatures also seemed to be the souls of middle-level Demon Lords. Just like him, they had all sorts of special abilities, with a great variety of methods and incredible survival power.

If it were not for his relationship with Ann, Garen would have been in danger of losing his position as Deputy Commander a long time ago.

He exchanged communication methods with the people from the Proof of Deception.

Only then did Garen leave the Deception Hall, bringing the two guards who knew nothing and were only in charge of his safety back to the fortress.

The Blood Wars were going to start very soon. This also happened to prove an opportunity…

Garen’s Wizard Tower was still missing the last Tower Soul, but this problem was easy to solve. He would not trust any other creature’s soul to become his Tower Soul, so Garen simply decided that he would not have one. Instead, he would connect the Wizard Tower to his Willpower Neuroprocessor, using his own Energy Machinist computing core to control the Wizard Tower directly.

After all, the computing power of a Willpower Neuroprocessor was immensely terrifying, and controlling a mere Wizard Tower was nothing to it.

Finally, now that the matter of the Tower Soul had been settled, the construction of the Wizard Tower was finally approaching completion.

*****************

The tall, white and slender Wizard Tower began to spin slowly.

Several floating construction platforms circled around it, carrying the many Wizards and Demons in charge of inspection.

The team of Wizards in charge of construction was also there, carefully overseeing all the data and changes.

A giant crystal displaying complicated colorful lines was floating beside the Wizard Tower, constantly displaying the balance and changes of the many elements within it.

Several hundred Wizards and familiars circled around it. Surrounded by people, Garen stood not two hundred meters away from the Wizard Tower, raising his head and looking up at the tall tower that pierced through the clouds.

Most of the staff in the area around it had already been dispersed temporarily, to prevent any accidents and subsequent casualties.

But even so, there were still many onlookers here for a piece of the action. Some of them were Demons, others were travelers from other planes, and there were even Void Creatures, all watching the happenings over there from a great distance away.

The whole Wizard Tower was situated in the lower left corner of the Fortress, close to where the city wall used to be. However, Garen had expanded the area of the Fortress, turning this place into a large oval. As a result, the Wizard Tower was now the center of this oval.”

“The last Divinity Barrier Enchantment.” The Advanced Wizard in charge of construction clapped his hands.

An old and frail Level Nine Peak Wizard walked up to the tower slowly and began to levitate.

The Divinity Barrier was just a classic spell that had been standardized as a formality. It was a Level Nine spell, so any Level Nine Wizard could do it. The only problem was that to enchant something with this spell required the caster to pay a heavy cost.

Usually, to enchant something with a spell of the same level, the spellcaster’s spellcasting level would immediately drop from the peak to the same level as the spell. That was an entire level’s worth of cost. And since it was a Level Nine spell, the enchantment of such a high-level spell would also take up some of the enchanter’s lifespan.

The old Wizard was using this enchantment as a cost in exchange for Garen’s protection over his son, a Level Five Wizard.

And for such a giant Wizard Tower, the lifespan and Spirit Power required would also be astonishing indeed.

After this enchantment, the dozen or so years left in his lifespan would also be completely exhausted, and he would die for real. Although there were a great many powerhouses in the Abyss, there were still many things a Level Nine Wizard could do. They were still considered above average in power.

To have one die for merely an Enchantment would be a huge loss to any faction.

Looking at the old Wizard’s back as he walked up to the Tower, Garen lowered his head slightly in a show of respect.

When he lowered his head, all the other powerhouses also lowered their heads respectfully.

The old Wizard’s robes were slightly worn. Reaching out his thin and scraggly arm, he slowly pointed at the giant Wizard Tower.

A pure white ring of light blossomed from his arm.

The rings came one after the other, growing in number, gathering densely and forming a pure white board around the old man’s arm.

There were countless circular marks all over the board, almost material in their essence.

The old man looked at the round board in his hand attentively, and his face was rapidly deteriorating away. His already thin muscles also shriveled up rapidly, what little blood that was left in his face gradually turning pale. It was as though all the life in his body had gathered into white board of light around his hand.

He began to recite a chant in a soft voice, and many tiny tadpole-like runes also began to appear on the board of light.

As the runes he sang increased in speed and number, the runes on the board increased as well.

All of a sudden, he swung his arm.

The board of light shot out explosively, crashing straight toward the Wizard Tower ahead.

Vroom!!!

Like a stone crashing into the water, countless transparent space ripples appeared on the surface of the Wizard Tower.

The sky instantly turned dark, and a pillar of pure white light descended from the sky, landing over the Wizard Tower. Even the blood-red sun of the Abyss could not hide it.

This was an instant of brilliance, obtained in exchange for ten years of life and all of his life force.

The old Wizard’s body slowly transformed into specks of light, fading away.

Garen could vaguely hear the sobs of a young man, and he sighed slightly.

“As of today, the Cold Winter Tower is officially completed!”

His voice was magically magnified, trembling and spreading into the ears of all the creatures around him.

Far away, the two Ancient Dragons from the White Dragon Mountain also heard his voice, turning their gaze toward his direction in the distance.