Chapter 381: The World

Wu Chang's True Self halted his steps due to the divine power on the Ritual Master's body; Lyman, attached to the Ritual Master, also froze his movements due to the aura emanating from True Self.

Why does this guy have my authority power inside him?

After a brief silence, Lyman realized—he twisted his expression, his left eye flickering with phantom pain.

"It's you!"

He recalled how, not long ago, due to his subordinate's stupid mistake, his newly born left eye had been stolen.

Not only that, the opponent had used unknown means to steal a portion of his Chaos Authority through his eye.

He could no longer remember how many years it had been since he last felt that piercing, soul-rending pain—even now, recalling it sent shivers through him.

The creature who had crossed through the warped space before him was none other than the thief who had stolen his authority.

Compared to Lyman's fury, Wu Chang's True Self remained calm, a smile of reunion lighting his face as he said:

"That's right. It's me."

Since entering the Abyss Game, he had dealt with Lyman repeatedly; though not intimate, they were bitter enemies—he believed he need not explain himself, for Lyman would know who he was.

Lyman went on guard—he had suffered many defeats at the hands of this mortal, and now that this mortal possessed his authority, he was no longer merely mortal; Lyman must be even more cautious.

Moreover, this plane was occupied by that madwoman Christine—he couldn't afford to linger.

The Ritual Master had ruined his plan this time; the last plane where he lost his authority had also been coordinated by a player who happened to be a Ritual Master.

Two failures were grave errors; as punishment, Lyman burned the Ritual Master's internal energy, sacrificing his life to grant this body greater power.

"Did you sabotage my plan?" he asked True Self, his body subtly leaning toward Wu Chang's true form.

True Self seemed not to notice Lyman's subtle movement, smiling as he replied:

"We're old friends—why speak so formally? Your plan failed simply because your subordinates were lazy and incompetent. I hadn't even gotten around to targeting them when their plan collapsed."

Lyman's body trembled—not Lyman himself, but the Ritual Master, the original owner of the body.

Wu Chang continued:

"Lord Lyman, every time we meet, you bring me a little local specialty—this time, you didn't come empty-handed, did you?"

Lyman looked confused. "What local specialty?"

Wu Chang pulled out the Mortal Poison, pointing to Lyman's eye embedded in it, and said to Lyman:

"The eye. Always the left one. I'm getting tired of the aesthetics—this time, could you bring a right eye instead?"

Crack.

Cracks appeared in the space around Lyman; he clenched his fist, then quickly relaxed it, forcing a stiff smile as he began slow, deliberate applause.

"Good, good, good. It's been a long time since a shallow Abyss creature angered me like you."

True Self fastened the Mortal Poison around his neck and bowed to Lyman with a gentleman's courtesy.

"Then it is truly my honor."

He could tell—Lyman was seething.

"There's one thing you should know: this necklace, embedded with your eye, was crafted by a mortal from this plane."

"Perhaps you don't remember him—but I feel it necessary to tell you: his name is Anderson, the first Grand Master of the Arcane Knights."

"The artifact he created drained your authority and truly wounded you."

From the opponent's perspective, Wu Chang had no reason to reveal the existence of the Mortal Poison, let alone let Lyman see it with his own eyes.

In another plane, he wouldn't have told Lyman so much—but here, in the Steam Phantom plane, he felt the moment had arrived.

From Xavier's resentment, it was clear the Church of Serenity had invested far more effort into the Steam Phantom plane than it appeared.

He had barely retrieved Xavier's divine seed when Lyman immediately possessed the Ritual Master and descended directly—his guess had been correct.

The invention and spread of the Supernatural Steam Engine, and even Steylan's current status—behind it all, the Church of Serenity had pushed hard.

Wu Chang remembered seeing the Arcane Knights' records of Lyman in the Moonlight Sanatorium.

Cruel, cunning, powerful, vengeful, and delightfully sadistic.

To avenge the Arcane Knights, Lyman ignored simple methods and chose instead to awaken within the bloodline of the Arcane Knights' Grand Master—proof of his petty nature.

Lyman valued this plane so highly—clearly, his vengeful nature was at work again.

Perhaps to get back at Christine, perhaps because he resented failing to seize Randy's body—everything began at the Moonlight Sanatorium.

This gave Wu Chang, facing Lyman, a sudden sense of fate.

Not because he and Lyman shared fate—but because the Arcane Knights and Lyman did.

To Lyman, the Steam Phantom plane might be his battle against Christine.

But from the Arcane Knights' perspective, this was a centuries-long war between the Arcane Knights and Lyman.

When he defeated Lyman in the Moonlight Sanatorium, even as a novice, he had relied on Old Anderson and the Arcane Knights' preparations from that era.

In the Steam Phantom dungeon, he had taken over Old Anderson's Arcane Knights.

Now, facing Lyman again, he recalled the annotation on the Mortal Poison:

"To gods, mortals are ants—but even an ant's sting can make a god bleed."

As Grand Master of the Arcane Knights, he felt it his duty to tell Lyman: the true protagonist of this battle was not him, nor Christine—but the Arcane Knights.

He would also tell Lyman that the first Grand Master, Old Anderson, whom he had once dismissed as an ant, had not only defeated him but made him bleed.

The current Grand Master of the Arcane Knights will defeat him—and make him bleed again.

Lyman said: "Anderson—he did well, for a mortal."

"But mortals are still mortals. Remember that."

As he spoke, Lyman suddenly abandoned his standoff with True Self and sprinted toward Wu Chang's true body.

As Lyman moved, the Famine Seed in Wu Chang's personal space involuntarily emerged, spewing vast amounts of steam; within the Famine Seed, an aura identical to Lyman's began to gestate.

The Famine Seed drew closer to Lyman; the two resonated, as if destined to merge as one.

This was Lyman's hidden move: once near the Famine Seed, he could awaken its divinity and seize control of it.

Since being defeated by Eileen, whose divine power crushed him in the Silent Route, Lyman learned his lesson: overwhelming with divine power was the most reliable way to win.

But as high-ranking entities of the Abyss, their avatars and projections descending into the Wasteland Realm are all suppressed by the Wasteland's rules.

The Steam Phantom dungeon is Christine's domain; if Christine wished, he could build a celestial realm of the highest caliber on the surface—he could even allow his followers to secretly construct rituals of equal scale, yet never surpass Christine's.

What method could overwhelm Christine?

Lyman's answer was to cultivate a seed of divinity within the Wasteland Realm itself; when he descended, he would fuse with this seed, untouched by the Wasteland's rejection, and his divine power would exceed the Wasteland's upper limit, crushing Christine.

Now, Wu Chang, this power thief, will experience Christine's over-limit divine form first!

Just as Lyman was about to fuse with the Seed of Famine, a thunderous voice rang out behind him.

"Man!"

The next instant, a powerful elbow strike slammed into his face, sending his life-drained projection flying.

This elbow carried not only immense force but also a power specifically targeting divinity—nearly ejecting Lyman's will from the Initiate's body.

After a series of rolls, Lyman lay motionless on the ground, his mind blank, the sound of "Man" echoing in his ears as memories of past elbow strikes surged like a tide.

He remembered—it was that power thief's signature move, a bizarre ability that always landed, always affecting him deeply.

How could he have forgotten such a distinctive skill?

Watching Lyman, who now doubted his own existence, Wu Chang's true self smirked.

The Manba Iron Elbow's upgrade to B-rank didn't primarily enhance damage reduction through the Manba Mark on those struck.

It was that before his first elbow strike in any battle, the enemy would never anticipate it.

With no anticipation for the first elbow, combined with guaranteed hit after use, he was utterly unbeatable in initiating attacks.

As he elbowed Lyman away, his other hand gripped the Seed of Famine, preventing it from chasing Lyman.

The Seed of Famine contained only a fragment of Lyman's consciousness—how could it break free from Wu Chang's near-400-point strength?

Since Xavier's death, the steam rules enveloping Grimlan had thinned enough for Wu Chang to use the Five Thunder Method.

As divine lightning flickered in his hand, Lyman's consciousness within the Seed of Famine was erased, causing Lyman, still lying on the ground and trapped in the negative state of the Manba Iron Elbow, to convulse violently.

Wu Chang retrieved the Seed of Famine into his personal space, then walked to Lyman's side and said cheerfully:

"Lord Lyman, let me ask you one last time—did you bring any local specialties this time?"

Lyman stared at the Commoner's Poison swaying on Wu Chang's chest, a rare urge to curse rising in him.

He rose from the ground, maximizing the Initiate's rate of life burn; his life force mixed with energy, coalescing into a massive magical array around him.

The array contained pure destructive power and formed an energy barrier, isolating the space within from the outside, preventing Wu Chang from escaping via spatial magic.

For a ranked player like Leng Shan, being hit by this array—even with a B-rank consumable survival item—would leave him either dead or half-dead.

Wu Chang watched Lyman's full-power attack, his eyes filled with awe.

No wonder records about Lyman called him the possessor of infinite knowledge and wealth; no wonder even a single drop of "Divine Gifted Wisdom" he leaked into the Wasteland could produce an extraordinary steam engine.

The esoteric magical array Lyman now summoned offered Wu Chang immense inspiration—its complexity rivaled that of Xavier's esoteric power core on the right chest.

And this was not Lyman's limit—it was the Wasteland's limit for esoteric arts.

This was invaluable to Wu Chang, allowing him to see more clearly the path toward the source of esoteric power.

He rapidly memorized the array's intricate details; at his current level, he could not yet dismantle it with esoteric means.

So he pulled out the Omniscient Crystal and said: "Find the array's nodes."

Just before the array exploded, Wu Chang swiftly moved to the node and dismantled the array according to the Omniscient Crystal's solution.

Lyman tried to repair the array and continue his attack, but the Initiate's body could no longer sustain it—his life force spent, his flesh began turning to ash.

Before his body dissipated, Leiman stared fixedly at Wu Chang and said, "I've remembered you. I'll be waiting for you in the Realm of Principles."

Before his body vanished, Lyman fixed his gaze on Wu Chang and said: "I remember you. I'll wait for you in the Reason Realm."

After delivering his threat, the Initiate's body dissolved completely.

Wu Chang shook his head slightly, thinking: He really is popular—even before the world dungeon begins, so many are already waiting for me in the Reason Realm.

As the Initiate's body burned to ash, an object fell from the ashes and clattered to the ground.

Wu Chang raised an eyebrow—what's this? Did he drop a stupa relic?

He stepped closer and saw the object was a seal bearing Lyman's emblem, similar to the Traveler's Talisman he'd obtained earlier at the Moonlight Sanatorium.

"Item Name: Lyman's Power"

"Item Description: A crystallization of divine power from Leiman, containing Leiman's divine power within it."

"Item Description: A crystallized fragment of Lyman's divine power, containing Lyman's divine energy."

"Skill Description: A believer of the Church of Serenity recognized by Leiman, holding the Power of Leiman, may temporarily borrow the divine power within to enhance skill might and reduce the energy consumed by skills. Consuming the item allows one to unleash a strike imbued with divine power."

"Skill Description: A believer of the Church of Serenity, recognized by Lyman, who holds Lyman's Power, may temporarily borrow its divine energy to enhance skill potency and reduce energy cost. Consuming the item allows a single attack infused with divine power."

"Note: Only with supporting divine power can the true strength of the power be unleashed."

Wu Chang picked up Lyman's Power and found that, though the skill description restricted its use to Lyman-recognized Church of Serenity believers, he himself could activate the divine energy within the seal the moment he touched it.

It seemed that possessing Lyman's power had branded him as Lyman himself—bypassing all verification.

From the note, he realized that if he activated Lyman's Power while using his own power, a special effect might occur.

He knew Lyman was a meticulous god—he wouldn't show up empty-handed.

He tucked Lyman's Power away and looked up at the sky above Grimlan.

The Steam Council and the Church of Serenity had both withdrawn; he didn't know if the Steam Phantom dungeon would end here—but now, the wind generated by Xavier's divine condensation had ceased entirely.

Time rewound to the moment Xavier first condensed divinity, blasting wildly along Bai She Street, the Divine Tongue lifting Randy's abnormal state, Wu Chang about to take flight.

Aside from Wu Chang's side, another battle was unfolding simultaneously in Grimlan tonight.

Beneath St. George's Cathedral, the Phantom slowly approached Olivia and asked:

"I have one final question: you foresaw so many scenarios—did you foresee this one?"

Hearing the Phantom's question, Olivia sensed something amiss; her face turned icy, her voice weary:

【121】 "Phantom—are you betraying me?"

The Phantom shook his head and smiled.

"Betrayal? Of course not."

"My side has never changed. I have always followed the times, standing on the side of the Plane."

"Your Majesty, you are not the Child of the Plane, destined never to reach the end—why would I stand with you?"

The Phantom advanced toward Olivia, who, like a frightened white rabbit, was forced to retreat step by step.

Listening to the howling wind from the vent, the Phantom said:

"Your Majesty, listen—the wind has risen. This is your world's response to the Child of the Plane."

Olivia bit her lower lip lightly and asked softly, "When did you betray me?"

The Phantom thought for a moment and said, "The first night I entered Grimlan."

Olivia said, "I thought it was after the Supernatural Gathering."

"The Supernatural Gathering? Hah." The Phantom sneered dismissively.

"A being as brilliant as I am—even in darkness—draws eyes naturally. Why would I need such crude tricks to grab attention?"

"When I first entered Grimlan, those black-robed men calling themselves the Steam Council approached me and proposed an alliance."

Olivia's expression gradually calmed. She said, "They found you first, so you joined them?"

The Phantom shook his head. "Of course not. Not just anyone is qualified to ally with me."

"I didn't trust them at first—but their leader showed me his power as the Child of the Plane. That power—I could not refuse."

Pressed by the Phantom, Olivia had retreated to the deepest part of the underground chamber. Her back pressed against the wall—nowhere left to flee.

She straightened her body and asked:

"What is the power of the Child of the Plane?"

The Phantom said, "It is the power that steers the course of the world, embodying the tide of the age—unstoppable."

"Once awakened, such power allows one individual to influence the entire world, making the world revolve around him. Fighting against the Child of the Plane is an extremely unwise choice."

The Phantom paused, then continued:

"Of course, not every Child of the Plane can unleash their full power."

"Some Children of the Plane can influence the Plane's rules and alter the world's tide; others merely ride the wave of the world's current, unknowingly bearing the mission of the Child of the Plane."

As he spoke, the Phantom thought of Glad.

As the leader of the Liberal Party, advocating industrialization and free trade, Glad had seized the mission of the Child of the Plane by riding the tide of the world's current.

Unfortunately, his life was too comfortable, and he was too tightly suppressed by Prime Minister Ron—he never had the chance to discover his own mission as the Child of the Plane.

The Phantom drew his saber and said with regret:

"Your Majesty, to be honest, you are my ideal type. Had I met you first, perhaps I would have chosen you."

"As your admirer, I will give you a swift end."

Olivia: "Wait!"

The Phantom halted his motion and asked, "Do you have any last words?"

Olivia pointed upward and said, "Listen—the wind has stopped."

Panic flashed across the Phantom's face. At first, he thought it was some metaphorical plea for mercy—but when he listened closely, he realized the wind outside had truly ceased.

A foreboding thought struck him: Could Peace truly be as powerful as legend claimed—even under conditions where the Plane's rules were fully altered, still defeat the Child of the Plane?

Olivia continued:

"You said the wind rising was the world's response to the Child of the Plane—then why couldn't the wind stopping be the world's response to me?"

The Phantom froze for a moment, instinctively wanting to correct Olivia—logic didn't work that way.

But before he could speak, steam surged through the underground chamber, thick as solid cotton wool, completely obscuring his vision.

All his abilities—including his prized Source Power—were suppressed by the Steam Rule, unusable.

From within the steam came Olivia's faint, elusive voice:

"If you know there is more than one Child of the Plane, why can't I be one?"

(End of Chapter)