Lord of Prayer

"Keep going straight, then turn left. Be careful, there’s definitely a Tower Guard on this floor too... Dammit!"

The man with the crystalline pupils suddenly cursed. A blast of Sword Qi had flown in from behind and exploded beside him, embedding sharp wooden splinters into his body.

Down the long, narrow corridor, an Armored Knight was in hot pursuit, determined to kill the intruders.

The commotion from the fight attracted the attention of this floor’s Tower Guard. With a SNAP, the air cracked in the small Garden outside the corridor. A Red Thorn Whip, trailing a white sonic boom, lashed out toward Zhou Chen, instantly shattering the building’s glass and walls.

Zhou Chen abruptly accelerated, dodging the Thorny Whip’s attack. Suppressed by the Royal Tower’s Rules, he couldn’t fight these Tower Guards. Fleeing was his best option right now.

"Why did a Corrupter get in here?" A woman with a stunning figure and hair made of green thorns leaped into the corridor. She questioned the Armored Knight and joined the pursuit.

"It probably followed members of the Royal Family who were fleeing. Kill it quickly! Don’t let it defile the Imperial Palace!"

...

Zhou Chen felt like he was in a speedrun, frantically dashing through the map while aggroing a huge mob of enemies.

Relying on his incredible speed, he made it to the door to the 188th floor, shaken but unharmed. Passing through this door would lead to Enoch’s chambers, the very core of the Royal Tower. Behind him, six Tower Guards were hot on his trail.

Pursuers were behind him and his destination was right in front, yet Zhou Chen stopped. He let go of the "Minister of Agriculture," tossing aside the unconscious, balding middle-aged man, and stared warily at the man sitting cross-legged before the chamber doors.

The man’s hands were bound in shackles, with two chains stretching out and pinned to the ground on either side of him. He sat with his eyes closed, not breathing, like a statue of a gatekeeper eternally imprisoned here. Yet, the terrifying aura he faintly exuded made Zhou Chen’s scalp tingle.

’The pressure is almost half as strong as Li Xiye’s.’

’A powerful enemy.’

"To think a filthy creature like you made it this far. Those useless fools deserve to be executed." The man suddenly spoke, his voice cold. His breathing resumed in that same instant. His eyes, shut for who knows how long, snapped open. A sharp glint flashed within them, and a bone-chilling killing intent surged toward Zhou Chen like a monstrous tsunami.

With just a single glance, Zhou Chen’s body began to break down. In an instant, blood spattered everywhere. His body seemed to turn into a collapsing set of building blocks as countless square chunks of flesh fell away from him!

In a flash, Zhou Chen caught sight of his surroundings. The balding middle-aged man had also been hit, his body instantly disintegrating into countless square chunks of flesh. But the "Minister of Agriculture" was completely unchanged!

’He wasn’t attacked? Impossible. This guy’s attacks are indiscriminate... Did he use some method to resist the assault?’

Zhou Chen’s mind raced. He made a wish: "I wish to be immune to this attack!"

[Wish Value -500]

The next second, his body’s collapse abruptly stopped. A Corrupter’s powerful self-healing ability kicked in, regenerating flesh and rapidly closing his wounds.

The man bound in chains seemed surprised, then immediately used his Ability on the two of them again.

Then, something happened that Zhou Chen could hardly believe.

THUD!

The powerful man bound in chains was instantly crushed into a meat patty by an invisible force!

’What’s going on? Aren’t Tower Guards like peacekeepers who are independent of the Rules? And this guy is the gatekeeper to Enoch’s chambers. There’s no way he’d die for breaking a Rule...’ Zhou Chen was utterly stunned. Then, he saw the "Minister of Agriculture" standing calmly nearby, and a flash of insight struck him.

’He used some kind of Ability to steal and replace the Tower Guard’s ’identity,’ making himself the Tower Guard. After the man lost his Tower Guard identity, he attacked and killed someone, which violated the Royal Tower’s Rules, so the Royal Tower erased him... Isn’t that how I contained the Magic Wand? Damn it. I was so focused on running that I didn’t even think of that.’

"Mr. Siegfried, are you all right?" Seeing that he hadn’t died, the Minister of Agriculture immediately feigned concern.

"I’m fine. But what was that? What did you do?"

"Now is not the time to talk about this. We need to get inside, quickly."

The Minister of Agriculture had no intention of explaining. He walked quickly to the chamber door and pushed with all his might. A halo of Essence flared around him as if he had used some kind of Artifact, and the great door slowly swung inward.

Just then, the six Tower Guards caught up to them.

"Mr. Siegfried, please buy me some time! Please, trust me!" the man with crystalline pupils roared as he pushed the door, maximizing his own affinity.

SQUELCH!

However, a hand plunged straight through his chest, showering the ground with blood.

"—But I refuse."

The demon-like whisper sounded in his ear, filled with utter mockery and derision.

"How could you..."

The man with crystalline pupils was in complete disbelief. He didn’t understand how "Siegfried" could kill someone in defiance of the Rules!

Zhou Chen, of course, had no intention of explaining. He forcefully threw the man toward the six pursuing Tower Guards.

The six of them attacked in unison, instantly blasting the crystalline-pupiled man to pieces. But the moment one of the Tower Guards struck, he was crushed into a meat patty by an invisible force, leaving the other five staring wide-eyed in shock and disbelief.

—Just moments before, Zhou Chen had made a wish to take that Tower Guard’s identity. Now, *he* was the Tower Guard, and the original one had lost that status.

Zhou Chen pulled out his Magic Wand, tapped it on the ground, and performed the "Great Transformation of Living People," slipping through the crack in the open doorway and into the chamber.

He turned back and tried to close the great door, but no matter how hard he pushed, it wouldn’t budge an inch. This door probably couldn’t be opened or closed easily. He wondered what kind of Artifact the man with crystalline pupils had used.

[I wish to close the door!]

[Wish Value -1000]

BOOM!

The heavy door slammed shut in an instant.

’The Tower Guards shouldn’t be able to get in for a while...’ Zhou Chen thought, observing his surroundings.

It was supposed to be Enoch’s chambers, but it looked nothing like it. The decor suggested it was more of a cutting-edge, high-tech laboratory. The area he was in seemed to be the lab’s entrance, complete with security scanners and a decontamination room, all very official.

Zhou Chen tapped his Magic Wand, bypassing these procedures entirely. He ran down a straight corridor. To avoid triggering the defense systems, he canceled his controllable corruption and reverted to his "Siegfried" form.

Soon, an alloy door that required special clearance blocked his path. After a moment’s thought, Zhou Chen chose to make a wish: "Open this door."

[Wish Value -1500]

BEEP. Authentication automatically approved. The alloy door slid open slowly, revealing another corridor beyond it.

Zhou Chen continued forward.

Along the way, he saw many laboratories conducting all sorts of secret research that could only be described as taboo. If what was happening here was made public, Enoch would surely face condemnation from the entire World... Of course, Enoch’s reputation wasn’t exactly stellar at the moment anyway.

He didn’t know how long he’d been running, but finally, after opening another encrypted alloy door, the view before him opened up dramatically.

It was a magnificent hall.

A massive Essence Melting Furnace stood in the center, surrounded by countless intricate, overlapping Matrices that shimmered with light. All around, various pieces of equipment were arranged, and dozens of scholars bustled about, maintaining the operation of the Essence Melting Furnace and the Alchemy Matrix Core.

And inside it, a "Sun" radiating a blinding light was held in place by gravity, Floating silently and providing Energy for the entire Royal Tower.

—The Super-Level Energy Source: Eternal Burning Star Core!

And it was the supreme deluxe edition!

Before Zhou Chen could even process his shock, a chill crept up his back without any warning. He spun around abruptly and was startled by what he saw.

The man with the crystalline pupils had appeared silently in the corridor, covered in blood. He had shed his disguise, and his crystalline eyes now radiated a Holy Light.

He wasn’t dead!