Chapter 680 - 482: A World War of Faith
"It’s nothing."
Raylo took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the shock in his heart. He pointed at the parchment.
"I was just startled by the contents of this letter."
He didn’t voice his suspicions.
The matter was too significant, and far too inconceivable.
He didn’t want to cause unnecessary panic without conclusive evidence.
"Hmph. ’Startled’ is an understatement."
Master Wendel snorted heavily. His gaze fell upon the parchment once more, his eyes burning with fury.
"Some fellow calling himself the ’Light Deity’ was denied the right to spread his faith, so he brazenly launched a war of world destruction! Such a despicable and shameless act is more evil than any Demon Deity from the Abyss!"
He had lived for several hundred years and had seen his fair share of Divine Spirits.
But most of those Divine Spirits abided by their duties and Domains, rarely would they so blatantly and cruelly plunder a Prime Material Plane.
"I just wonder if this so-called Light Deity is the same as that hypocritical deity from our world," Mage Wendel scoffed.
Beside them, Mage Delin said nothing.
He just silently reread the letter, then walked over to the books scattered on the floor, bent down, and carefully picked one up.
It was a thick tome. Its cover was made of some unknown black leather, with the title embossed in gilt letters: World General Knowledge: Centennial Council Minutes.
Mage Delin gently brushed the dust from it and slowly opened the book.
He read at an incredible speed, his star-like eyes sweeping across the pages.
Raylo calmed himself and walked over as well.
He knew that these surviving tomes were the only hope for understanding this world.
He had the little ones gather any remaining valuable items in the Magic Tower while he began to rummage through the piles of books himself.
Most of the books here were works on subjects like magical theory, history, geography, and Alchemy.
Raylo soon found several tomes that seemed to be histories of this world.
The Glorious Age: The Rise of the Mage Alliance, A Chronicle of Eras: A Study of the Giant Dragon War, Records of Strange Mountains and Rivers...
He gathered these books together, leaned against a relatively intact bookshelf, and sat on the floor, beginning to flip through them quickly.
For a time, the only sound in the study was the RUSTLE of turning pages.
Seeing this, Master Wendel also calmed down and joined the "treasure hunt."
Time slipped away quietly as they read with intense focus.
From these fragmented texts, Raylo gradually pieced together a rough outline of this world.
This world was named "Heart of Arcane."
Unlike Raylo’s world, which was a patchwork of numerous nations and complex factions, the world of Heart of Arcane was ruled by a single, supreme organization.
The Mage Alliance.
This alliance, founded by the first few Legendary Mages, had grown over several millennia to become the sole and absolute ruler of this world.
All nations and all races had to obey the commands of the Alliance Council.
The Alliance Council was composed of the twelve most powerful Legendary Mages, and they were the masters of this world.
And the author of that letter was clearly one of the twelve council members.
This world was a civilization purely dedicated to developing Magic to its apex.
They revered knowledge and believed in truth.
They believed that Power stemmed from exploring the world’s fundamental principles, not from empty prayers.
This also explained why they had unhesitatingly rejected the Light Deity’s demand to proselytize.
In their eyes, a "god" that needed to rely on the faith of believers to sustain its own existence was, by its very nature, an "imperfect," even "inferior," being.
But this pride, rooted in the very essence of their civilization, ultimately brought about their annihilation.
"Found it."
A calm voice interrupted Raylo’s reading.
It was Mage Delin.
He had stood up at some point, holding the copy of World General Knowledge: Centennial Council Minutes, his expression grave and complex.
Raylo and Master Wendel looked up at him in unison.
"I’ve found... a record concerning this world’s ’ultimate Power’."
Mage Delin’s voice was a little hoarse.
He turned the book to a specific page and held it out to the two of them.
Raylo leaned in to look.
It was a record about the "World Guardian," and next to it was a lifelike illustration drawn with Magic Ink.
The illustration depicted a Giant Dragon.
A Giant Dragon whose entire body seemed carved from ice crystals, radiating an endless chill.
Its body was coiled atop a majestic, snow-covered mountain. Its massive Dragon Wings were folded at its sides, and its eyes were shut tight as if it were in an eternal slumber.
Just looking at the picture, a terrifying chill that felt as if it could freeze one’s very soul washed over them.
Below it was a textual description of this Giant Dragon.
"World Guardian, ’Frost Embrace’ Israel."
"A Frost Giant Dragon that has slumbered since ancient times atop the Continent’s highest peak, the ’World’s Spine’."
"Alliance Council Top Secret Archive, Serial Number 001."
"According to the notes left by the first council chairman, ’Frost Embrace’ Israel is this world’s only... World Destruction Level existence."
"The prophecy states that when the world faces an irresistible crisis, one sufficient to cause its demise, the slumbering Israel will awaken."
"It will use eternal Frost to freeze the entire world, sealing all disasters and enemies, along with the world itself."
World Destruction Level.
The final Guardian.
Raylo’s gaze was fixed on the lifelike Frost Giant Dragon on the page.
It was coiled on the mountain peak, its eyes shut, as if indifferent to everything in the outside world.
Israel.
’This world actually concealed such a terrifying being!’
’A Tier Seven World Destruction Level entity!’
"Did it... wake up?"
"In other words, did the prophecy come true?"
Master Barnaby asked from the side.
He was just as stunned.
If this Frost Giant Dragon had awakened during that war of annihilation, then perhaps... the world’s fate would have been completely different.
Mage Delin gazed out the window. In the distant void, a shard of a frozen ocean drifted up and down.
That frozen ocean had already given them the answer.
Raylo took a deep breath, his throat a little dry.
"All this knowledge, the wisdom a civilization spent millennia accumulating, just scattered here like trash."
Mage Delin gave him a deep look.
"Knowledge itself has no life, but passing it on can give it life," Mage Delin said slowly.
"Since we have come here, we have a responsibility to prevent it from being lost to the void."
He looked at Raylo with a questioning gaze.
Raylo understood his meaning instantly.
He turned, faced Coal Ball who had been curiously looking around on his shoulder, and gently patted its fluffy head.
"Coal Ball, hurry up."
"Awoo?"
Nearby, Coal Ball, who had been curiously staring at the "Eternal Array," tilted its head.
"Collect everything here."
Raylo finished, then emphasized,
"Especially the scattered books. Don’t miss a single sheet of paper."
Hearing Raylo’s command, Coal Ball let out a soft growl.
Then, the books, scrolls, and parchments scattered on the floor seemed to be grabbed by invisible hands. They all floated up, transforming into streams of light that scrambled toward Coal Ball before vanishing in front of its small chest.
In less than ten minutes, everything in the entire Magic Tower that could be taken, except for the still-flickering "Eternal Guardian" Array, had been swept clean by Coal Ball.
"Let’s go. We’re heading out."
After clearing out the Magic Tower, the group walked out of the heavy stone door and returned to the silent, ruined plaza outside.
The faded, gray stone ground looked all the more desolate under the illumination of the dim curtain of light above.
In the distance, the floating continental fragments resembled silent tombstones.