Chapter 497: Godforsaken Land

After the "Future" had sailed for nearly an hour on the ocean that evolved from the Divine War ruins, faint, ethereal singing began to appear around it, as if drifting from far away with the waves.

Mermaid? Finally found it. A thought flashed through Klein's mind; although he hadn't had time to do divination, his intuition told him this was the mermaids' song.

He quickly returned to his room, took out the Azhek copper whistle and the paper crane folded by Wil·Onsaetin according to the set procedure, then entered the washroom, walked backward four steps into Above the Grey Mist, and made the final confirmation.

On the deck of the "Future", the magical markings and symbolic symbols engraved on the hull lit up clearly in layers, emitting a faint starlight, forming a sea of stars that weakened the influence of the mermaids' singing to the greatest extent.

Anderson leaned in the shadow beside the cabin, on one hand wary of any accident that might occur at any moment due to his own misfortune, on the other hand torn about whether he should pray to an unknown existence.

Whether praying for help or a hint, once the honorable name is chanted, it signifies that a connection has been established between the two parties, and those exalted beings can exert influence on me at any time.

If it's the relatively friendly God of Knowledge and Wisdom, that would be fine; but if it's as irritable as the Lord of Storms, I might explode on the spot or lose control. However, if I don't quickly resolve the misfortune on me, I might not even survive until reaching shore.

With a sigh in his heart, Anderson held his head with both hands, looking as if he didn't want to think any further.

Stomp stomp stare!

Klein hurried past from the side, straight to the right side of the ship's rail, where a small boat was fixed to the hull with ropes.

Anderson curiously glanced at the swiftly moving, seemingly eager Klein, and his scattered thoughts couldn't help but spread further:

This appearance, he doesn't seem to be preparing to hunt mermaids; then why is he seeking mermaids? Some necessary ritual? What on the mermaids could be used as ritual components, their singing?

This doesn't quite match a demigod; at most it's the ceremony for advancing to Sequence Five. In other words, this crazy adventurer has been only a Sequence Six extraordinary being before, and still is now.

"No wonder he's the crazy Geerman·Sparro; as a Sequence Six he dared to assassinate the flagship of a pirate general, and almost succeeded."

Anderson tugged at the corner of his mouth, half complaining, half sighing, and said.

As Klein piloted the small boat away from the "Future", enduring the numbness all over his body brought by the mermaid singers, he used a charm.

Suddenly a strong wind blew, pushing the small boat toward the direction where the mermaids were singing.

As the song in his ears grew louder, it felt as if the mermaids were now murmuring softly right beside his ear, each melody making one feel intoxicated and longing.

Relying on a charm that makes marine creatures favor the user, Klein successfully approached several mermaids singing softly while leaning on the reef.

He quickly took out from his pocket that bottle which was completely black, inside which countless tiny creatures too small to see clearly with the naked eye seemed to be swimming rapidly—the "Marionette Master" potion.

In the mermaids' pleasant, melodious singing, he drank that bottle which was slightly bitter and carried a stale feeling—the "Marionette Master" potion.

His thoughts began to slow, and his body gradually became stiff and numb.

After an unknown amount of time, Klein reopened his eyes; his body had fully returned to normal.

"Finally... Sequence Five!"

Godforsaken Land.

Rekton walked along the abandoned road east of the Giant King's Court for an unknown time, when his field of vision finally showed some extensive building ruins.

"Little Sun and the others are preparing to explore Afternoon Town; if I keep going, I should be able to meet them—want to meet up?"

Rekton gazed at the silvery-white lightning that occasionally streaked across the sky, murmuring to himself thoughtfully a few times, then continued forward.

After walking a distance, he suddenly stopped, his deep eyes gazing ahead, his eyes obviously losing focus, appearing blank.

After confirming through prophecy where to go next and how to avoid possible dangers, his body instantly turned transparent and shattered, turning into specks of flowing brilliant starlight that surged forward.

Until the frequency of lightning in the sky gradually increased, did he then slow his advance.

With the help of lightning illuminating the darkness, he finally saw clearly the town ahead, built against the mountain, not small in scale, fully comparable to a small city on the Northern Continent.

The houses here are built from piled gray stones from the nearby mountains; some are hollowed out whole blocks, some are nearly ten meters high, others are about the same as normal houses.

These buildings are tightly arranged, appearing orderly; some have collapsed, some still stand firm, but all bear traces of decay and decline.

Rekton walked at an unhurried pace on the street, the surroundings littered with rotting chunks of flesh and traces of dried pus; it was deathly quiet, except for the sound of his footsteps, there was no other sound.

The thought that someone had already cleaned up here just surfaced, and his inspiration was triggered.

His body instantly turned transparent; a gale composed of countless dawn-like rays suddenly erupted from behind his side, the dense rays like countless sharp arrows.

The dawn rays shattered the already-transparent Rekton into a heap of foam reflecting silvery-white, which quickly burst and dissipated.

The next moment, his figure appeared on the other side of the street; his gaze fell on the surface of a ten-meter-high stone house not far away, where a transparent face had grown.

This face was covered with cracks, and it spiraled regularly toward the center, forming a mouth resembling a vortex; the earlier dawn storm had erupted from here.

Rekton raised his hand and condensed an ancient-looking spear, its tip to shaft blazing with clusters of points of dark blood-red.

The spear, the moment it took shape, slipped from his hand, dragging a dark-red streak of light in the air, and in an instant sank into that kind of face on the stone house's surface.

The transparent face didn't even let out a full scream before shattering into countless tiny stone fragments, which rapidly evaporated and vanished.

Having dealt with the suddenly appearing monster, Rekton stepped toward the stone house where that transparent face had just appeared.

The house's door should have been closed, but due to long-term disrepair, the cast stone door panel was loose and about to fall, with a crack in the middle wide enough for two average-sized people to pass through.

Rekton used the faint blue starlight emitted from the crystal ball in his hand to fully project the interior furnishings into his view.

Here the furnishings are few, or rather, few remain; most are stone-made chairs, beds, and altars. They are all extremely tall, making Rekton feel for the first time like a kitten or puppy looking up at humans and the house.

After a brief look around, he walked to the right side, to the wall where the transparent face had just appeared; tiny brilliant points, like dawn light, were slowly gathering there.

Rekton's idle right hand condensed from midair a translucent white-jade-like chess piece, which he gently pressed down before him.

The points of light ahead that were slowly gathering suddenly seemed to be accelerated, rapidly converging inward; in just a few seconds they coalesced into a fist-sized vertical eye that continually flickered with dawn light.

"Dawn Knight."

He whispered softly, then picked up the characteristic that had already coalesced into form on the ground.

Over the next period, Rekton wandered the entire Afternoon Town; through the analysis of the Eye of Secrets, he could almost reconstruct in his mind the former glorious appearance of this place.

Walking slowly on the already rotten gray stone ground, the crystal ball in Rekton's left hand burst forth with bright but not glaring light, projecting a starry sky that continuously spread outward until it engulfed the whole Afternoon Town, then stopped.

In the light's illumination, the surrounding sense of decay and ruin quickly faded; collapsed houses returned to wholeness, and vague tall human figures walked the surrounding streets, the shortest among them nearly two meters tall, the tallest entirely like small giants four or five meters tall.

The darkness enveloping everything was swiftly replaced by the dim yellow of the setting sun; the sky became a frozen evening twilight leaning toward dusk, golden light spilling over the town's buildings, making everything appear especially harmonious.

Rekton slowly walked through the half-real, half-false illusion he had constructed, revising some details he had overlooked.

"The constructed illusion is still not realistic enough due to lacking information about food, clothing, language, and customs."

With a low sigh, Rekton halted at the central square of the town; at the center of the square stood a huge grey stone statue bearing a cross.

Rekton raised his hand forward, slightly rotating his wrist toward the huge grey stone statue.

The surrounding light seemed to be twisted, colors draining and flickering for a few breaths; when everything returned to calm, the huge gray stone statue that originally bore a cross was replaced by the image of a figure wearing a hooded robe that concealed the face, holding a lantern in the left hand and a staff in the right.

Inside the lantern held high in its left hand, a flame seemed to be flickering, emitting a dim yellow halo; from a distance it perfectly overlapped with the frozen twilight in the sky, like the setting sun about to fall.

Leikdun stepped back to the edge of the square, carefully examining the huge gray stone statue he had altered for a moment, then tugged at the corner of his mouth and chuckled aloud:

"It seems I still have quite a talent for art."

His figure flickered, and in the next instant he appeared atop the lantern held high in the left hand of the huge gray stone statue, gazing down upon this half‑real, half‑illusory phantasm.

After observing the "Afternoon Town" within the phantasm for a moment, he withdrew his gaze and could not help but sigh:

"Even upon close inspection it's still too fake."

"By constructing a complete real world from abstract, illusory knowledge, the 'Hermit's' apotheosis ritual is also quite outrageous."

"To truly achieve realism, one must interact with the real world, just like Klein's 'Utopia'; but building a complete world requires far more effort than 'Utopia'."

"This is not only the 'Hermit's' apotheosis ritual, but also the 'Hermit's' divine kingdom—a step I cannot skip relying on my own special nature."

In the midst of his sigh, his gaze noticed the easternmost part of Afternoon Town, where someone had intruded into the phantasm he had woven.

The chief of Silver City, Colin Ilya, bearing dual swords, suddenly halted his steps, his eyes full of vigilance as he scanned the surroundings; one hand rested on his waist belt divided into many compartments, the other felt the straight sword slung behind his back.

The members of the exploration team following behind Colin Ilya were somewhat bewildered; in their eyes there was nothing unusual around, yet the chief suddenly became alert—without asking why, they immediately heightened their guard and readied themselves for battle.

While maintaining vigilance, Colin Ilya caught a glimpse with the corner of his eye toward his rear, but saw no members of the exploration team.

Had I strayed from the team? The situation ahead was something the exploration team had never encountered—could this be a phantasm produced by a newly arrived monster?

While pondering this, Colin took a slight step back, wanting to test some of the phantasm's mechanisms.

Having just stepped back one pace, the prosperous town formerly bathed in twilight light instantly turned into a dark expanse of decayed, ruined buildings.

". Huh?" Colin narrowed his eyes, a complex emerald symbol appearing in each eye; relying on the frequent lightning strikes, he reassessed the town ahead.

"Chief, Your Excellency?" Derek ventured a questioning tone.

Hearing the voice, Colin turned his head, his gaze sweeping over each member of the exploration team, then he drew a deep breath and spoke in a low voice:

"Suspend repairs; Afternoon Town has encountered some changes."

(End of chapter)