Chapter 345: Existence Time 10 Years? An Infant? A Surprise Attack!

Tang Zheng’s gaze, radiating a brilliant majesty, rested upon the angel, his face showing solemnity and surprise under the scrutiny of outsiders.

The "Four Elements" stood to one side, their pale, indifferent eyes quietly watching the two Pontiffs converse with this adventurer named Tang.

The sunlight from outside the massive glass windows projected into this area, enveloping the three people sitting at the round table.

The Dominion Authority radiated thick energy fluctuations, permeating the entire conical architectural hall, its shallow, fluorescent white light shimmering in harmony with the golden sunlight.

It filled the entire hall with a sense of holiness!

"Perhaps I am witnessing a historical moment, who knows."

This thought suddenly flashed through the mind of the "Four Elements," and he subconsciously took a few extra looks at Tang Zheng.

So young.

About the same age as the Captain, and both have black hair.

Being this close to a highest-tier angel possessing power comparable to a Demon God.

The "Four Elements" also felt a sense of pressure; even as a member of the [Black Scripture], he still possessed self-awareness.

This was not a power he could contend with!

This level of "Demon God" that could easily destroy a city—within the entire [Black Scripture], excluding the God-kin who transcend the realm of "mortals," there are no more than two people who could stand against it.

Yet this adventurer before them had actually developed such a miraculous potion that could allow an angel to exist for a longer time!

It was no wonder the two Pontiffs were engaging with an adventurer in such a formal capacity!

"It seems Team Leader Tang does not quite understand the true effects of the 'Fusion Potion' he created."

The Earth Pontiff, Lei Meng, noticed the change in Tang Zheng’s expression and spoke in a deep, earnest voice:

"Team Leader Tang has personally experienced the power of the Dominion Authority and, with the help of this angel's power, crushed the conspiracy of [Zuranon] in one fell swoop, even killing the leader of that evil secret society."

"Therefore, you should be able to better understand the significance of this highest-tier angel's power if it could exist for a long time!"

Tang Zheng lowered his gaze to look at the two Pontiffs before him—one maintaining a constant smile, the other with a solemn face: "The time limit for this highest-tier Dominion Authority to exist is not half a month, is it?"

"How long can it actually exist?"

He now understood somewhat why the Theocracy was being so solemn, going so far as to dispatch two of their highest-ranking Pontiffs at once.

No, they should be even more attentive!

The reason other Pontiffs did not appear was likely just a strategy to try and maintain the initiative.

"As expected of a genius alchemist capable of creating such a potion; you grasped the essence of the matter immediately."

The Water Pontiff, Xilaineiding, spoke with a chuckle, seemingly having no intention of hiding it, as he raised a withered arm and slowly extended one finger.

One month?

The "Four Elements" felt his heart skip a beat, an expression of disbelief appearing in his pupils.

The greatest drawback of summoned creatures is the limit on their existence time, especially the highest-tier "Dominion Authority" before them; every summoning requires the consumption of immense manpower and resources.

For this, they even have to spend a greater price to store them using the super-grade item, the "Magic Sealing Crystal."

If it could now exist for a month.

It could completely serve as a trump card on the battlefield; the power of the Dominion Authority alone could easily dominate a war!

A month, huh.

Tang Zheng’s eyes narrowed; he was both surprised and puzzled as to how the Theocracy achieved this, yet he understood that a summoned creature capable of existing for a month qualified as a conventional weapon of war.

For the Theocracy, which possesses the means of "Grand Magic Rituals" and can cast higher-tier summoning magic, this could fully unleash the power of high-tier angels to the extreme.

"Is it some kind of special 'innate talent' combination?" Tang Zheng pondered silently.

The Theocracy has a population of tens of millions; it is normal for some humans with special "innate talents" to appear.

"I do not know what number you are thinking of in your heart."

"But it is likely not the number I am about to say."

The Water Pontiff, Xilaineiding, remained smiling, but a startling depth suddenly flashed in his eyes:

"Tang, it is not one month, nor 10 months, and certainly not a year—it is 10 years!"

—Silence!

The gloomy, tense cheeks of the "Four Elements" slackened, an unnatural flush appeared on his face, and he even subconsciously took a step forward.

Slap!

His sole stepped onto the smooth marble slab, emitting a soft sound that nonetheless broke the sudden stillness in the air.

"This is definitely not the effect of my potion."

At this moment, Tang Zheng could not care about being surprised, his gaze fixed on the two Pontiffs opposite him:

"How did you do it!"

The difference between existing for one month and existing for 10 years is not merely a matter of time!

This represents the possibility of mass-storing high-tier angels, a concept similar to how the Sorcerer King uses corpses from another world to create permanently existing undead!

The significance of this is immense!

The Slane Theocracy’s means are limited; the angels they can summon should only be of the 7th tier, perhaps they can summon 8th-tier angels as well.

But Tang Zheng can summon 10th-tier angels!

When he first discovered that the "Fusion Potion" could allow summoned angels to exist for longer, he tried to research it in depth, but the results were not ideal.

Tang Zheng had personally fused with an angel he summoned; although the angel would not disappear when its normal duration ended, as time passed,

a feeling of increasingly strong rejection would occur!

Tang Zheng only lasted for three hours before being forcibly ejected, and the summoned angel subsequently disappeared.

He tried a few more times after that, but the effects were all about the same.

"That is not the case, Team Leader Tang."

The Earth Pontiff, Lei Meng, held his spine straight, his gaze burning as he looked at Tang Zheng:

"This is precisely the effect of your potion; it is just that you are unaware of the true power that the 'Fusion Potion' can exert."

By the time this sharp, resilient man finished speaking, his voice revealed a sense of frustration at the lack of progress.

To have researched such a great, incredible potion, yet the creator himself does not even know the potion's true effect.

He even handed it over to those people in the Holy Kingdom without a second thought—it is simply a waste of a heavenly treasure!

If not for this disaster in the Abelion Hills.

They probably would never have discovered the existence of this potion; this is simply a huge loss for humanity!

Compared to the slightly agitated Earth Pontiff, Lei Meng.

The Water Pontiff, Xilaineiding, watched Tang Zheng with wise eyes, appearing thoughtful, and suddenly said: "Tang, since you are a faith-based magic caster."

"Do you have a 'God' you primarily worship?"

Normal faith-based magic casters all worship a certain deity or several simultaneously, wearing the divine symbols corresponding to the relevant gods.

From just a moment ago.

The Water Pontiff, Xilaineiding, had long noticed that Tang Zheng was not wearing any conventional divine symbols.

Although this is not mandatory, for conventional faith-based magic casters, the stronger their strength, the firmer their "faith" will be.

"Faith, you say?"

Tang Zheng spread his palms:

"My lord Pontiff should know that the Re-Estize Kingdom is a country that advocates warrior culture; as for matters of faith..."

The two before him are the highest-ranking and most devout Pontiffs in the entire Theocracy; pretending to be a believer in front of these two would be exposed in a minute.

The cultural systems of various countries differ, and the corresponding professionals also have certain distinctions; for instance, in political-religious systems like the Holy Kingdom and the Slane Theocracy, there is a higher number of faith-based magic casters.

The Baharuth Empire has a higher number of mana-based magic casters such as occultists, sorcerers, and mages.

And the magic casters of the Re-Estize Kingdom have always been the fewest among all nations.

"Then that is no wonder."

The Water Pontiff, Xilaineiding, sighed softly and raised his hands in a prayer gesture:

"What a pity; with your talent, if you could have been born under the radiance of God, you would surely have achieved even greater accomplishments."

Tang Zheng chuckled, neither responding nor making any indication.

"This is the research data regarding the 'Fusion Potion'." The Water Pontiff, Xilaineiding, sighed again, took out the data he had prepared long ago, placed it on the round table, and pushed it over. This old guy, after rambling for so long, finally brought out something substantial.

Tang Zheng picked up the data and read it without changing his expression; the information in the data was not very extensive, the Theocracy must have hidden a portion.

Being able to produce this data.

Indicates that the Theocracy does not have the ability to produce the "Fusion Potion" he concocted and can only cooperate with him.

Looking at the dense information in the data.

The corner of Tang Zheng’s eye twitched imperceptibly, and he whispered expressionlessly: "Read Magic."

Pale blue mana light enveloped the data in his hand!

The understandable information was easily injected into his mind through his gaze.

"The data is a bit dense; this way I can understand the information faster."

Tang Zheng said as if nothing were the matter.

Second-tier mana-based magic?

The "Four Elements" sensed the mana fluctuations and looked at Tang Zheng in surprise, not expecting the other party to also be able to use mana-based magic.

The Earth Pontiff, Lei Meng, and the Water Pontiff, Xilaineiding, were not surprised.

[Alchemist] is inherently a mana-based profession, and previous intelligence had also revealed that Tang Zheng could use low-tier mana-based magic.

The Water Pontiff, Xilaineiding, explained patiently: "According to our experiments, it is easier for the summoner to fuse with the angel they have summoned."

"Because the 'Fusion Potion' is limited, the experimental data collected is not very extensive."

"But it can be basically confirmed that once the angel's summoning time is exceeded, the 'integrator' will be affected by rejection."

"However!"

Water Chief Priest Xiditing paused, letting Tang Zheng digest this information while looking at the data, then continued:

"If the integrator is a devout believer, the rejection reaction becomes weaker; especially the more devout the believer, the weaker the sense of rejection will be."

Tang Zheng saw this part of the experimental results at this moment, and a flash of realization crossed his eyes.

So that was it!

He had suspected before whether the reason for the rejection between himself and the angel was related to his "justice value," after all, his justice value was only 20 points, which really couldn't be counted in the range of "good."

At most, it could be considered chaotic neutral.

Silianjiaoguosuo did not lack believers, nor did it lack devout believers; according to game terminology, there was certainly no shortage of those with high justice values.

"This is... 'complete integration'?" Tang Zheng noticed a document below.

"Correct!"

"Everything has a price, unless it is a great deity." Water Chief Priest Xiditing nodded, his tone becoming lower.

Earth Chief Priest Lei Meng took over the conversation, his voice indifferent: "According to our experimental findings, if an integrator fuses with an angel for a long time, as long as it exceeds two days."

"They will gradually fuse completely with the angel. Even if the angel is forcibly destroyed, the integrator will disappear along with the angel, even if the summoner cancels the magic, it is the same."

"—Which is the 'complete integration' mentioned in the data."

"In addition, this kind of integrated angel will have greatly increased resistance to dispelling magic."

Tang Zheng frowned. The information on this part was not much, but just from Earth Chief Priest Lei Meng's words, he could tell that people had already died for this.

He was not dissatisfied because of this!

Rather, he had only given the Holy Kingdom three "integration potions," but the level of detail in the data in his hand did not look like something that could be researched with just three potions.

"There should be more than just this, right!"

Tang Zheng put down the data in his hand and pressed one hand lightly on the table:

"The most critical information, the 'duration of the angel's existence,' is not mentioned above. With different strengths and different people integrating, the length of time produced cannot all be the same."

Earth Chief Priest Lei Meng was just about to speak.

"Let me say it." Water Chief Priest Xiditing sighed faintly:

"This is the second price."

"The reason the summoned angel can exist for a longer time naturally has some kind of consumption, and the power consumed is the integrator's life."

In the spacious spiral-shaped hall, the bright light outside the glass dimmed inexplicably.

"According to the information detected by magic, taking the highest-tier angel 'Dominion Authority' as an example, it takes about 7 years of human life to allow it to exist for one year."

Water Chief Priest Xiditing lowered his eyelids and spoke slowly: "Of course, this data is not entirely accurate."

"7 years of life?"

Tang Zheng looked at the two chief priests sitting opposite him, his expression changing.

To so bluntly reveal the darkness within to him!

These two old fellows...

Wait!

"Wrong!"

Tang Zheng's expression turned cold, and he raised his arm to point at the Dominion Authority in front:

"You just said this angel can exist for 10 years. Calculated by lifespan, it would require 70 years of life, perhaps even more!"

"A normal devout believer, a faith-based magic caster with a certain level of strength, would certainly not be very young. No matter how you calculate it, it's impossible for a Dominion Authority to exist for 10 years!"

"And—I only gave the Holy Kingdom three bottles of integration potion. With so much data, it is absolutely impossible to have researched it with just those three bottles."

The voice of questioning echoed continuously in the empty hall.

Earth Chief Priest Lei Meng suddenly frowned as well. He also discovered the anomaly at this moment and looked at Water Chief Priest Xiditing beside him in surprise.

With his keen intuition, he also sensed the anomaly in this.

"Because the one integrated into the body of this Dominion Authority is an infant."

"And an infant only needs about 1/3 the amount of potion."

The wrinkles on Water Chief Priest Xiditing's face twitched and bunched together, and he spoke slowly in a tone devoid of emotion:

"The purest life has a higher resonance with angels than the most devout believer."

Bang!

Tang Zheng slammed the table and stood up, his face ugly, looking coldly at the two people opposite: "You actually used infants for experiments!"

Almost at the same time!

Boom!

The huge glass of the hall wall suddenly shattered, making a roaring sound.

"Who!" The "Four Elements" immediately assumed a defensive posture, looking sharply toward the direction where the huge glass window was destroyed.

But the next moment.

The gloomy expressions of the "Four Elements" instantly froze on their faces.

"The last angel is here!"

A young girl carrying a black scythe, with black and white hair tied in a ponytail, stood on the broken window frame, tilting her head and muttering to herself.

(End of chapter)