2024-04-15 15:16:57Seven years ago, as Elias Hawthorne was preparing to close his herb shop on a peaceful night in Riverbend Hamlet, a small village located on the outskirts of Verdantia, he had to shut early.
Rumors of missing newborns were rampant, and it had been a busy day with many customers.
As he closed the shop, the sound of moving carriages at high speed and horses screaming pierced the night.
A banner flew into his face, bearing the emblem of the notorious Cursed Artificers Guild, which was allied with the missing babies.
Chills ran down his spine as he wondered what they were doing so far east.
After the silence that followed, a blast of light struck, momentarily turning night into day. The magical energy emitted shook the entire Aetheria realm.
Despite his shock, Elias's body moved towards the Silverwater River.
There, he found a white glossy carriage painted in blood, surrounded by a lot of dead bodies and horses.
The river ran red with blood. Among the dead were members of the Cursed Artificers Guild.
Inside the carriage, a woman lay dead, protecting something beneath her stomach.
Nearby were dead mages, seemingly protecting the carriage.
As he ventured further, pondering the source of the light and what had killed the members of the dark guild, Elias heard a baby's cry coming from the carriage he had just passed.
Realizing he hadn't heard it earlier due to shock, he hurried back.
The woman had been protecting a baby boy with brown skin.
It was evident that the dead were his parents, likely of noble blood, judging by the elite mages guarding the carriage.
Alongside the baby, there was something like a magic storage box that looked locked by magic.
Such boxes were rare and not easy to get, and it was small enough to fit in a pocket.
Additionally, the baby was wearing what looked like an enchanted pendant that was radiating weak magic. Elias wrapped the baby along with the box.
His instincts urged him to leave the scene quickly. As a retired mercenary who understood the corruption in the kingdom, he took the baby and left.
The sister from the orphanage located in Mossy Hollow listened skeptically as Elias Hawthorne explained how he found the baby.
However, she had no choice but to take the baby in, especially after feeling the powerful magic a week ago.
Elias couldn't care for the baby, so he left him in her care.
Before leaving, she asked him to give the baby a name, and he named him Oasis, after the desert kingdom of Avaloria, from where his brown skin likely originated.
Two weeks after the incident, news spread of the Divine King holy magic wielder,
Sir Roland Lightbringer from the Holy Cathedral, who single-handedly destroyed the three most powerful dark guilds: the Cursed Artificers, Obsidian Shadows, and Nightshade Assassins.
Since then, Sir Roland was titled "The Divine Avenger," and no dark guilds have been seen, thanks to his example.
When questioned about his presence in the east, far from the Holy Cathedral headquarters in the kingdom of Celestia in the western side of the realm,
Sir Roland explained that he had been tracking the incidents for some time.
The newborns of Celestia were also going missing, leading him to the dark guild from the south of the realm, the Cursed Artificers, rumored to have been seen in the east.
Despite the two kingdoms not being on talking terms, he had no choice but to go there and ended up destroying all the involved guilds, including the other two.
He emphasized , "I am acting in the best interest of mine kingdom and the realm's future."
And he did conclude, declaring, "If aught resembling doth occur again to mine kingdom, the Holy Cathedral shall not tarry in its actions."
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Chapter 587: The Lesson of the Still Courtyard.
In another Guest courtyard of the Woods Estate.Lukan Maser sat outside beneath a wide shade canopy woven from mana-silk threads that shimmered faintly whenever natural mana currents brushed against them.Before him rested a polished jade table set with refreshments — chilled spirit-fruit slices arranged on silver trays, crystal cups filled with condensed dew nectar,And a porcelain kettle releasing thin trails of fragrant herbal steam that curled lazily into the morning air.The courtyard itself was quiet, refined, and protected by subtle wind formations that kept the temperature perfectly balanced.White stone tiles beneath their feet were etched with faint runic lines — not active formations, but legacy engravings meant to harmonize ambient mana flow for cultivators.Standing before Lukan were two disciples from the Oblivion Orchid Sect.“Young master… why are we still waiting for him? We have already been here for a few hours, and yet he is nowhere to be seen,” one of the two disc
Chapter 586: The Crucible of the Serpent.
17 Years AgoLunaris — Starport CityDu Estate — Main Family HallWithin the main family hall, silence ruled with absolute authority.The hall itself was vast, carved from polished obsidian stone veined with faint silver mana lines that glowed softly under suspended spirit lanterns.Massive pillars shaped like coiled serpents rose toward the ceiling, their eyes embedded with poison-jade crystals that shimmered with faint green light.The air carried a sharp herbal scent—antidotes and toxins blending into the unmistakable atmosphere of the Du family.At the far end, elevated upon three shallow steps, sat the patriarch of the Du Family.Du Shuren.He sat perfectly still upon the main chair, carved from black spiritwood and inlaid with poison jade veins.His presence alone seemed to weigh down the hall, like an invisible pressure pressing upon the lungs of anyone who stood before him.Before him stood a young man—Du Elai.His fists were clenched so tightly his knuckles had gone pale.And
Chapter 585: The Echoes of the Cyan Shadow.
Just After Oasis helped NovaThe sun had begun its slow ascend and now vastly over the jagged horizon of Florentis City, but the heat within the Gilded Flagon Inn had nothing to do with the weather.The air was a thick, heady soup of cheap ale, roasting meat, and the electric tension of a thousand unresolved arguments.Every table was a battlefield of opinion.Men and women, clad in the dust-stained robes of traveling cultivators or the sturdy leathers of local mercenaries,leaned over chipped wooden tables, their faces flushed with drink and the lingering adrenaline of the Grand Sanctuary.“I’m telling you, it wasn’t just a refinement!” a burly man with a scarred chin slammed his mug down, sloshing foam onto the table.“I’ve seen Master Smiths in the Southern Capital sweat blood for a week just to temper a Spirit-grade blade.Oasis of Lunaris didn’t just ‘refine’ that saint-grade sword.He re-ordered it. I saw the lightning.It didn’t strike the sword; it was being sucked into it, li
Chapter 584: The Union of Discord and Divinity.
Nova Sparrow’s body began to rise on its own.At first it was subtle—barely a finger’s breadth above the floor—then steadily higher, until she hovered fully in the air, her form suspended at the center of the formation.Cyan light poured into her from every direction, threading through the runes Oasis had inscribed, each sigil acting like a living conduit.Her mana no longer moved chaotically; it circulated in perfect loops, guided, redirected, and stabilized by Oasis’s will as if he were manually steering the flow of her life force on her behalf.The runes glowed brighter.The circulation intensified.Gradually, the flow began to converge—no longer evenly distributed, but increasingly focused toward the rune etched upon her forehead.!!!Oasis’s eyes widened.“I’ve got you,” he muttered sharply.“Bind.”He clasped both hands together.The effect was immediate.Nova’s body convulsed violently in midair.Her back arched, her fingers clawed, and a piercing scream tore from her throat, e
Chapter 583: The Sanctum of Elemental Partitioning.
Just a few hours later—The Grand Sanctuary of Greatness had long since emptied.Its towering halls, once filled with thunder, lightning, and the weight of countless wills, now stood silent, bearing only the scars left behind by heaven-defying displays.Yet Florentis City itself was anything but quiet.The streets overflowed.Inns that were usually modestly busy now spilled laughter and voices into the roads.Merchant districts were crowded beyond measure, stalls surrounded by people reenacting battles with animated gestures,Retelling moments again and again as if repetition might finally allow them to comprehend what they had witnessed.Cultivators argued heatedly over whose perception was correct.Common folk listened wide-eyed, hanging onto every word.Bets were settled loudly—some winners already spending their newfound coin with reckless joy, others sitting silently with hollow stares, still unable to accept what they had lost.From dawn’s first light, Florentis City buzzed like
Chapter 582: The Compass of the Greatest Dao.
“Selfless Authority,” Oasis began, his voice calm yet carrying effortlessly across the Grand Sanctuary as his gaze swept over the vast sea of faces where cultivators sat shoulder to shoulder.“Most of you spend your lives chasing power so that you may never have to bow again.You seek authority to protect your interests, your families, and your pride.There is no shame in that.It is the law of the world.”He paused.The silence deepened—not the uneasy kind, but the kind that presses against the chest, forcing one to listen.“But true authority is not a shield for the self.It is a burden accepted for the sake of the path.At least at first.For most people, we are selfish by nature. That is simply how we begin.But once one starts to understand the concept of selflessness, that burden no longer feels foreign—it becomes an extension of our very being.”His voice remained steady, neither loud nor soft, yet every word landed clearly.“When I stood beneath the lightning earlier, I did no
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