Chapter 1058 The Time Has Come <TOC> Chapter 1060 The Source Fire
Translator: SumTLMan
The elderly figure ambled along, his weather-beaten walking stick touching the gravestones of fresh earth. As his cane probed, faint apparitions began to emerge from the soil.
Such actions were not foreign to Sanders, observing the elderly man.
——Soul Searching, awakening the dormant souls with the aid of a walking stick.
Does this imply that this elderly man is a soul wizard?
Rhine approached this stooped elder, their interaction mirroring that of old friends reunited, standing before a newly erected tombstone and engaging in hushed discourse. After a while, Rhine, with the stooped elder, advanced towards Sanders.
“Bruce was an old friend of mine,” Rhine’s face exhibited a trace of reminiscence as he sighed, “A millennium has passed without any word from him. I didn’t anticipate encountering him here, on the frontlines of the Abyss.”
The stooped elder, Bruce, nodded lightly at Sanders, “Lord Phantom Master.”
A confidant of Rhine from a millennium ago, yet now his prowess seemed rather meager in comparison to the up-and-coming Sanders. It appeared that he was merely a second level wizard, having not embarked on the path of true knowledge. Although he might be significantly older than Sanders, he still addressed Sanders with the respectful title, “Lord.”
Sanders nodded in response to Bruce, his gaze shifting to Rhine with a trace of perplexity. He wondered why Rhine had suddenly brought him to this soul wizard.
Rhine’s mouth moved, and Sanders felt a transmission enveloped in energy rings pass into his ear. These energy rings only dissolved entirely after Sanders had accepted the message.
This was Rhine’s method of message delivery, and thus far, no wizard could intercept or decode it.
In the blink of an eye, Sanders had comprehensively perused all the intel transmitted by Rhine Mute. It was Rhine’s mental communication of Bruce’s particulars that illuminated Sanders, helping him grasp Rhine’s intent.
Bruce might appear to be a mere soul wizard, but in reality, he’s a wizard possessing a mysterious dual talent. Not only is he endowed with soul-based abilities, but he is also a bearer of the rarer prophecy-based talents.
As per the intel shared by Rhine, Bruce’s dual talents were both his greatest strength and most glaring weakness. These dual gifts fast-tracked his progression and through prophecy, provided him with a step ahead to accrue substantial resources, propelling him to become an extraordinary wizard in a relatively short span.
Yet, these same dual talents became his bane, constraining his trajectory. With his heart brimming with ambition, Bruce aspired to attain the apex of truth through both talents concurrently, which predictably led to his downfall. His indecisiveness precipitated a wastage of precious years.
Back in the day, Rhine had counselled Bruce to focus on one talent and gradually integrate the other over time. Bruce, however, turned a deaf ear to this advice, and his dilly-dallying saw his initial prodigious abilities being surpassed by successive generations.
Only in the last two centuries, after comprehending the intricacies of dual-track progress, did Bruce assume the moniker “Soul Walker” and join the Frost Moon Alliance. He abandoned his erstwhile epithet of “Soul Prophet”, channeling all his energy into soul-based abilities in a quest to tread the path of truth.
Having assimilated Bruce’s intel, Sanders was filled with a sense of profound poignancy, and his mind couldn’t help but wander to Angel.
In retrospect, Angel also possesses dual talents, bearing uncanny parallels with Bruce. According to Tree Spirit, Angel also harbors dual mysterious branch talents. His ostensible talent pertains to illusionary abilities, while his concealed one remains a mystery. Tree Spirit couldn’t delve into Angel’s sea of consciousness when determining his talents, hence it remained shrouded in ambiguity.
Being cognizant of the difficulties of dual talent cultivation, Sanders chose to withhold this information from Angel.
In the beginning, Sanders had intended to share the truth with Angel once he became a formal wizard. However, observing Bruce’s predicament, he quietly considered whether he should wait until Angel reached the pinnacle of true knowledge.
Of course, these were merely musings of Sanders. The moment Angel became a formal wizard, the significance of his sea of consciousness would immediately reveal itself. Perhaps by then, Angel might discover his dual talent without the need for Sanders to enlighten him.
Sighing deeply, Sanders hoped against hope that Angel would avoid treading the same path that led Bruce to his current situation.
As Sanders was digesting the news about Bruce, a man approached him, “Lord Rhine has already shared your request with me. We may require your cooperation moving forward.”
Sanders knew that Bruce was probably intending to use prophecy as a means of locating Angel. With a bitter smile, he said, “My apprentice, he possesses an item that shields him from prophecies. I’m afraid it’s impossible for Lord Bruce to trace him using prophecy magic.”
Initially, Sanders had insisted that Angel never remove the Blood Night Sanctuary. However, now because of it, they could not locate his whereabouts using prophecy magic.
Sanders’ words took both Bruce and Rhine by surprise.
Seeing a mix of doubt and disbelief on Bruce’s face, Sanders continued, “Earlier, even the ‘Illusory Contemplator’ Gauss couldn’t penetrate Angel’s prophetic shielding, and suffered for it.”
Gauss was one of the eighteen Observers in the Crown Star Church, one of the top prophecy wizards in the Southern Region. If even he couldn’t break through Angel’s prophecy-shielding item, then Bruce stood no chance.
Bruce looked at Rhine, perplexed. Rhine appeared outwardly calm, but internally, he was taken aback.
Rhine could tell Sanders was not lying. An item capable of shielding from Gauss’s prophecy magic must undoubtedly be of a high caliber. He was completely unaware of this! Moreover, Rhine was curious as to why Gauss, who spent most of his time in the Crown Star Church, would use prophecy magic to spy on Angel.
Rhine cast a profound gaze towards Sanders, sensing that there lurked hidden affairs that Sanders hadn’t confided to him.
Choosing not to probe the matter in front of Bruce, Rhine deftly sidestepped Sanders and asked Bruce, “Despite the prophecy being obscured, might there exist an alternative method?”
His words made Bruce’s understanding crystal clear.
After a moment’s silence, Bruce offered, “Using Angel as a prophetic focal point isn’t the only way. What about leveraging Lord Phantom Master as the foundation for the prophecy? Your decision could serve as the guiding force behind this foresight.”
Bruce was evidently poised to enact the “Choice of Destiny.”
Sanders queried with a hint of confusion, “My decision? Are you referring to the ‘good fortune two-for-one’ associated with the ‘Bell of Inquiry’?”
The ‘good fortune two-for-one’ was a blessing granted by the divination belief system of the ‘Bell of Inquiry’. It proposed that amidst two conflicting choices, the ‘Bell of Inquiry’ would provide a favored option.
At first glance, it seemed like a savior for those torn between choices, but in reality, this did not touch the realm of prophecy. It merely provided a recommendation, based on extensive data processing, that aligned with the individual’s information.
Sanders was well aware of this principle, and he understood that using the ‘good fortune’ spell did not necessarily guarantee actual ‘good fortune’.
Bruce, however, shook his head, “The belief system I subscribe to is one of the three mainstreams, the River of Destiny. The choice I speak of does not pertain to the good fortune spell, but rather the Guidance of Destiny.”
Guidance of Destiny?! Surprise flashed through Sanders’ eyes. Although his understanding of divination was scarce, he had heard of the famous spell — Guidance of Destiny.
This was a spell that allowed direct interference with the future in the River of Destiny, a very high-level spell within the divination system.
In the lore of prophetic spells, there is a widely accepted principle: Envisioning the future is a simple task, articulating it is challenging, and intervening is even more complex than articulating it.
Those capable of harnessing the Guidance of Destiny are essentially individuals of an Observers’ caliber in the Crown Star Church.
It wasn’t until this moment that Sanders looked at Bruce with a more solemn gaze. From Bruce’s ability to cast the Guidance of Destiny, one could discern the extraordinary aptitude he possessed in prophecy spells.
“Your assistance is much appreciated, Lord,” Sanders said with gravity.
Nodding in affirmation, Bruce closed his eyes, constructing the spell model pertaining to the Guidance of Destiny in his mind. His aura was obscured, ancient, and primitive, and his hunched figure was accompanied by phantasmal echoes of his younger self, as if time was perpetually alternating around him.
After an indeterminate amount of time, Bruce made his move. He swung the walking stick he held in his hand fiercely, whispering praises for the River of Destiny, ultimately positioning the stick in front of Sanders.
In an instant, Sanders felt as if he was standing on the bank of the River of Destiny. The roar of the tumultuous flow resonated in his ears, each syllable resonating with infinite rhythmic implications.
“Now, Lord Phantom Master, you can voice your perplexities in your mind. Destiny will guide you towards the relatively correct direction.”
The image before Sanders’ eyes morphed once again, from the River of Destiny to a fork in the road.
There was a signpost on the left, another on the right, and Bruce’s walking stick was standing in the middle.
Sanders voiced his confusions in his heart. As thoughts formed, an inscription appeared on the left signpost: “Layer One of the Abyss”, and the blurry signpost on the right also added a line of text: “Layer Three of the Abyss.”
As the inscriptions appeared on the signposts, the walking stick in the middle started to tremble incessantly, as if waves from the River of Destiny were lashing against it.
After an eternity of anticipation, the staff began to veer off its course. Like a pendulum in its final throes, the staff bobbed erratically for a moment before settling down and pointing decisively towards the right path.
In a spectacle similar to dissipating mist, the signpost on the right side vanished, its remnants flowing into Sanders as a faint stream of ethereal air. An onslaught of information followed, seeping into the recesses of his mind.
It was only after Sanders had fully assimilated this information, that he finally looked up to express his gratitude towards Bruce. But when he did, Bruce had vanished, as if swallowed by the Abyss.
Rhine, who was standing beside him, spoke nonchalantly, “He has already moved on to the next graveyard. Don’t fret, I have thanked him on your behalf.”
Having said that, Rhine continued, “So, do you know what needs to be done next?”
Sanders simply nodded. His destiny was to remain in the third layer of the Abyss, letting things take their natural course. As to what that entailed, Sanders knew he needed to be patient, awaiting any unforeseen changes that might arise.
Upon receiving Sanders’ affirmative response, Rhine nodded. He refrained from probing about the guidance Sanders had received from Destiny and instead, asked about something else, “By the way, you mentioned earlier that Gauss had tried to spy on Angel. Is that true?”
……
Meanwhile, the tranquillity of La Sutherland was undisturbed. Yet unbeknownst to anyone, a concealed storm was brewing, ready to unleash its fury.
In a street near the southern part of La Sutherland, Greaves, the Young Fire Demon, and his Servant of Fire, Tantin, stood before the Hunting Museum. There, they braced themselves for the next chapter of their journey, all the while oblivious to the tempest about to hit their shores.
In obedience to Olucia’s edict, they ventured into La Sutherland in pursuit of the Source Fire. However, much to their bewilderment, they combed through the entirety of La Sutherland, only for Greaves to find no trace of the Source Fire’s aura.
Just when they were at their wits’ end, Tantin recalled a subtle hint of the Source Fire that he sensed not long ago in the Hunting Museum.
Despite Greaves having asserted outright that such a thing was improbable then, they found themselves meandering back to the Hunting Museum — a place that, in their eyes, was not particularly large — driven by a lack of alternatives.
Chapter 1058 The Time Has Come <TOC> Chapter 1060 The Source Fire