Chapter 147: 87 Pieces of Great Providence

Chapter 147: 87 Pieces of Great Providence



"Kill!"

"Kill them all!"

Shouts filled the air, echoing in his ears.

Conn, holding a rapier, paced on the battlefield, gazing at the ruins before him, his eyes filled with emotion.

Tortuga Island!

The Pirate Sanctuary!

He used to know every inch of this place.

Which tavern served the best drinks, which shipwright had the finest skills, and which pirates frequently visited the island...

He knew it all like the back of his hand.

"Swish!"

A blue-eyed mermaid with a longsword charged forward, her fierce and ruthless blade piercing straight into Conn's heart.

The sword penetrated his body.

Conn's expression remained unchanged, and he shook off the attack, countering with a swift strike to his opponent's forehead.

"Pffft!"

The blue-eyed mermaid's body stiffened, and she fell backward, pulling out the longsword that had pierced Conn's body.

The sword was free of blood.

"Cough, cough!"

Conn covered his mouth and coughed lightly, looking down at his chest. The hideous gash was healing at a visible rate.

"Damn..."

"It should be a blessing!"

His clothes were tattered, torn in many places, fluttering in the wind.

Or rather,

The wounds had already healed.

The legendary creature had been dealt with by Karl, the red-eyed mermaids were slain by Ana, and the Sarala Tree was devouring the mermaids one by one...

The knights of Rapid City advanced with little resistance.

"Hmm?"

Conn's gaze shifted, landing on a spot in the ruins not far away.

In the overgrown grass, a cracked blood-red longsword stood silently.

"Eldris!"

Conn's eyes were filled with emotion as he looked at the sword and then at the nearby skeleton, sighing softly, "The Pirate King!"

He shook his head slightly and walked over to grasp the hilt, slowly pulling the sword from the ground.

"Clang..."

The blood-red longsword emitted a faint hum, like a weak groan or a joyous reunion with an old friend.

"That guy treated you like a touches, not letting anyone touch you, and now you're in my hands."

Conn smiled, bending down to wrap the skeleton in the ground:

"Old friend, I've come to see you."

"Elder Conn!"

"We found a hidden underground warehouse over there with some usable items."

"Oh!" Conn raised an eyebrow:

"Look for Great Providence first, and if you find any, send them to Mr. Karl."

"Yes!"

The other person nodded.

In the overgrown ruins, a dilapidated wooden hall stood silently.

The wood that made up the hall had lost its original luster, covered in moss and cracks. Sunlight filtered through the sparse leaves, casting a dappled light on the broken roof, creating a play of light and shadow. The doorframe was in poor condition, the door long shattered, the wood riddled with wormholes, and the simple door handle was covered in rust.

Karl sat alone in the center of the hall on a cleaned-up large chair, gazing at the Great Providences placed before him.

Eighty-seven of them!

His eyes widened, his breathing quickened, and his heart raced. It took a long time to calm his excitement.

"A great harvest!"

"This trip was worth it!"

In Free Harbor, thousands of people searched the island, and all the Great Providences hidden on the island were collected.

In total,

Eighty-seven pieces!

This was an unprecedented harvest for Karl.

Even at a ratio of four to one, these eighty-seven Great Providences could provide a base value of two-point-something.

Added to his mental strength, it would save over twenty years of arduous cultivation.

Added to his constitution, it would directly break through the ten-point limit, reaching the mid-stage of the First Rank.

"It's a shame..."

"Apart from Tortuga Island, no other place has provided so many Great Providences in one go."

"Hmm?"

Karl raised an eyebrow, his eyes flickering:

"The castle in Free Harbor should have even more Great Providences than Tortuga Island."

The castle...

Thinking of that place, Karl shook his head.

The knights of the City of Death had already tested it, and the dangers there far exceeded those of Tortuga Island.

To enter the castle, one would likely need the strength of the mid-to-late First Rank and couldn't go alone.

"Uncle!"

Aya approached the hall.

Karl waved his sleeve, putting away the Great Providences:

"What's the matter?"

"Conn found the Pirate King's hidden treasure." Aya's expression was strange, as if she wanted to say something but stopped:

"There's something strange about it."

"Oh!" Karl looked up:

"Let's go and see."

The Pirate King's residence was not in the center of the island but in a more secluded area, nestled against the mountainside.

It was like an animal's den.

Conn, holding Eldris, stood before the wall, his chin resting on his hand, lost in thought as he stared at the mural.

"Tap..."

Footsteps approached.

Conn snapped out of his thoughts, and Eldris trembled in his hand. Two shadows silently rushed towards the entrance.

"Stop!"

Conn hurriedly calmed the longsword:

"It's one of us."

Eldris relaxed, and the two shadows returned quietly, shrinking back into his body without a sound.

"I don't remember you mentioning that the Pirate King had two invisible monsters by his side." Karl entered:

"Are these them?"

"Yes."

Conn nodded:

"I didn't expect them to still be alive."

"This invisibility is remarkable. Even if they don't move, legendary creatures wouldn't be able to detect them." Karl's expression turned solemn:

"Can they reveal their true forms so I can see them?"

If it weren't for the shadows' movement, he wouldn't have noticed them, which was unbelievable.

He had a Third Rank Abyssal Bloodline, and his sensing ability was the most sensitive.

In fact,

Karl suspected that these two creatures could even remain undetected by a Second Rank life form.

“I’ll give it a try.”

Conn thought for a moment, closed his eyes, and gripped the hilt of Eldris’ sword, as if communicating with it through his mind.

Soon after.

The light in the corner of the room flickered, as if that area had been pixelated. As the pixelation dissipated, two strange creatures quietly emerged.

“What are these?”

“Crocodiles? Lizards?”

“What color is their skin? And it looks so smooth, like a mirror.”

“…”

Aya, Ana, and the others were taken aback, staring at the large, lizard-like creatures.

Karl’s expression, however, became extremely peculiar.

“Mr. Karl.”

Conn noticed his unusual expression and couldn’t help but ask, “Do you recognize them?”

“No,” Karl shook his head. “I’m seeing them for the first time, but… their form resembles something I’ve heard about.”

“Right, do they need to eat?”

“No,” Conn shook his head. “It seems you know a bit about them, Mr. Karl. I only recently discovered that there are beings that can survive without food. No wonder they managed to live even after the Pirate King’s death.”

Beings?

Karl gently shook his head.

These two large lizards in front of him were probably not the kind of living beings he and the others had in mind, but…

Mechanical constructs!

Lizards made from an unknown liquid metal, with sharp claws and teeth, and skin that could turn invisible.

Their life auras were so faint that even Life Sense could barely detect them.

Cold, lifeless…

These were not traits of living creatures!

“Who created them?”

Karl asked, “A deity?”

“No,” Conn shook his head. “A human.”

He lit the kerosene lamp in the room, walked to the wall, and pointed to the engraved images, saying, “Come over and look. These drawings should depict the process of forging Eldris.”

The wall was covered with many images, most of which were hard to make out.

One of them showed a ‘person’ pulling a longsword from what looked like a large furnace.

The blood-red blade was Eldris.

Near Eldris, the image also showed two figures marked with dotted lines.

They must be the two strange creatures in the room.

Karl lightly touched his brow.

If a deity had created these ‘invisible machines,’ he could accept that. But humans creating them?

The technology required for such things would need a long accumulation of time and could not have appeared suddenly.

But then again,

if humans in this world once had advanced technology, why didn’t it persist?

“This story depicted on the wall…

Aya frowned. “It seems to be a form of blasphemy?”

Everyone looked at the image.

Though most of it was blurry, from what was clear, it seemed to depict a rebellion of humans against deities.

The creation of Eldris was also aimed at the ‘deities.’

“Yes,” Conn nodded. “It seems that a long time ago, some humans did not believe in deities and could even kill them.”

As he pointed to the last image.

The image showed a long spear piercing a deity through the heart.

“This is blasphemy!”

Ana whispered, “Humans could never kill a deity!”

“Whoosh!”

Her sword’s energy surged the wall, erasing the images in the process.

a second.

Three figures clashed in mid-air, and when they landed, the two invisible creatures vanished from sight.

But the attack had not ceased.

“Stop!”

“Everyone, stop!”

“Stop.”

“A mere mural, possibly fake, isn’t worth raising weapons against each other.”

“Conn.”

He shifted the topic, “Aya said you found the Pirate King’s treasure?”

“Yes.”

Conn calmed the two invisible creatures, approached a corner of the room, and pressed a stone pillar.

“Hum…”

The room trembled.

Numerous beams of light intersected in the center of the room, ultimately forming a large, three-dimensional hologram.

The hologram was a miniature version of Tortuga Island.

Uh…

Karl’s expression was peculiar.

Holographic imaging technology!

Leaving the others, Karl suppressed his chaotic thoughts and looked at Ana, whose face was cold.

“Why were you so impulsive?”

“…” Ana’s expression was blank. “I wasn’t.”

“Not?” Karl shook his head. “To suppress the bloodline within you, your emotions have always been restrained. You surpassed the the threshold just now.”

“Ana, why?”

“Just as I said, a long time ago, just like.”

“I’ve seen the long spear in the mural.”

It’s just a spear that the image of spear, the long spear through the through.”

“I’ve seen the long time, it’s in the spear’s hand of the Moon goddess, the long spear pierced the will will of the gods and the highest position, the will.”

“… I’ve seen that long spear in the hands of the gods, the highest position, the will.”

“… I’ve seen that long spear pierced the will will of the gods, the highest position, the will”

“… I’ve seen that long spear pierced the gods, the highest position the will.”

will and the gods, the highest position the will.”

the gods, the highest position the will?”

“No!” Ana shook her head. “At least the gods enslaved the mort,, the will of the gods, the highest position, the throne of the gods, the highest position the will will spear pierced the will will’s will.”

Regarding the invasion of the evil god..."

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

"It's because Death God Kronos assassinated the Goddess, destroying the seal of the Pantheon and releasing the evil god."

"Interesting." Karl narrowed his eyes, "According to what you said, the Goddess killed the Supreme Will, and Death betrayed the Goddess, which led to this world becoming what it is now?"

"At the root of it all."

"The weapon the Goddess used to kill the Supreme Will was crafted by humans?"

"Guardian." Ana frowned, "That's just a story, the spear the Goddess used couldn't possibly be a human creation."

"Hehe..." Karl chuckled, "Maybe!"

The Magic Forest.

Karl and Enid met at the agreed-upon location and rode a carriage towards the residential area outside the market.

"I advised Berne the Wizard not to be impulsive, but he insisted on leaving the market to adventure outside."

On the carriage.

Enid sighed, "And this is the result."

"Yes!" Karl sighed, "I heard his condition is not good."

"Mhm." Enid's face showed sadness, "Half of his head was crushed by a First Rank creature, and he's only holding on with potions. He doesn't have many days left."

Enid and Berne the Wizard had known each other for several decades; their relationship was more than just good, it could be called a deep friendship.

But now...

A friend was about to pass away, and she was powerless to help.

"Two seniors."

Berne the Wizard's residence was a not-so-small manor, and the entrance was already filled with various carriages.

His grandson, Dupont, saw the two and hurried over to greet them.

"Enid Senior, these past few days, Grandpa has been mentioning your name and Karl Senior's in his sleep."

"Berne..." Enid took a deep breath, suppressing the sadness in her heart, and her expression remained calm, "Take us to see him."

"Yes."

Dupont, who had been standing like a wooden man, came to his senses and quickly helped Berne to prop up the upper half of his body.

Berne waved his hand and said, "It seems that only when one is near death can the mind truly find peace."

"..." Enid opened her mouth, "Is there really nothing that can be done?"

"Only a Third Rank Wizard could help me recreate my flesh, but even then, I'd only live for a little longer." Berne chuckled, seemingly resigned, "I'm glad you came to see me again."

"Karl."

"You're always so busy. Fortunately, you came before I depart. I hope you won't miss my funeral."

"Berne..." Karl sighed, "It's fine."

"At this point, what else could there be?" Berne the Wizard smiled and turned his head towards the window, "Today's weather is good, and the scenery... is not bad either."

"Grandpa." Dupont hurriedly spoke up, "Shall I push you outside for some fresh air?"

"Forget it." Berne waved his hand, "My body is weak, and I might not make it back if I go out. There are still some matters at home that need attention."

"Enid, my old friend..."

"Are you interested in taking over this courtyard?"

"You plan to sell the courtyard too?" Enid frowned, "Why not keep it?"

"The foundation of this courtyard is made from materials used to build Wizard Towers. For Dupont and the others, it's a disaster." Berne shook his head, "Only a Wizard can control it."

"The courtyard..." Enid hesitated for a moment before saying, "You know my situation; I don't have many magic stones."

"It's fine." Berne spoke up, "We can discuss the price. After I'm gone, Dupont and the others will need someone to take care of them. I'll trouble you for that."

"..." Looking at the barely-breathing Berne, Enid struggled internally but ultimately sighed in resignation, "Alright!"

"Thank you." Berne's face showed relief as he thanked her, then turned to Karl, "Karl, you're a disciple of the Sixth Circle Tower, and you'll eventually have to return to the Calim Continent. My things probably won't be of use to you. Are you still interested in my technique of engraving seals?"

(End of Chapter)

"Hmm..."

"I once had the chance to refine a First-Rank, High-Grade Engraved Charm. It was comparable to a First Circle Sorcery, but I ended up using it myself. Otherwise, I could have considered selling it to you."

Karl's heart stirred.

"Burn," he began, but before he could finish, Inida suddenly asked, "Who made it?"

"I know you well. You've always been careful and cautious. How did you end up in this situation?"

"At this point, what's the use of asking these questions?" Burn shook his head. "I don't expect my children to avenge me..."

"Alright!"

Seeing Inida's solemn expression, he sighed and said, "It was Mike Donner! Mike Donner!"

"You probably don't know him, but Karl should. He's the physician the pharmacy next door hired."

"He's actually a wizard, and among the more powerful ones at the initial stage of wizardry."

After some thought, Burn continued, "This man must have some kind of background. It was his drugs that attracted the corrupt dragon, indirectly leading to the downfall of the Cape family."

...

On the way back, both of them remained silent.

"Burn used to study sorcery with a member of our family, and that's how we met."

Inida suddenly said, "When we were young, we almost got married."

"Oh!"

Karl raised his eyebrows.

"Your friendship has truly withstood the test of time."

"Yes!" Inida sighed. "With our decades-long friendship, I did consider asking the family for help with his revenge, but..."

"Forget it!"

Even Burn had let go of his desire for vengeance, and she wasn't skilled in magic duels. There was no point in taking such a risk.

In the end, they had grown old.

The youthful passion and impulsiveness were gone.

"Hmm?"

Karl frowned and lifted the curtain to look outside.

"It seems something is approaching."

"What is it?" Inida looked up, her eyes glowing faintly. She peered through the carriage towards the horizon.

Her face changed instantly.

"Be careful!"

Before she finished, both of them had already jumped out of the carriage.

"Boom!"

A burst of light hit the carriage, instantly melting it. Even the horse's hindquarters had disappeared.

Such power...

Karl's eyes narrowed. It was a First-Rank, Late-Stage attack! He quickly turned to look behind him.

Countless colorful bubbles appeared on the street, flying in all directions.

Anyone hit by these bubbles would instantly become rigid and frozen in place.

"It's Illusion Bubbles!"

Inida struck down several bubbles with her staff and shouted, "Get away!"

Illusion Bubbles?

Swirl Spirit Butterflies!

Karl's heart stirred.

Swirl Spirit Butterflies were Second-Rank creatures with the ability to bewitch others, but their true forms were not very powerful.

One could even say they were weak.

If one wasn't affected by the illusions, even an ordinary person might have a chance to capture them.

The liquid secreted by these butterflies was an essential ingredient for creating Knowledge Potions and even True Knowledge Potions.

Illusion Bubbles were the Swirl Spirit Butterflies' most commonly used technique.

Recently, there had been rumors of their appearance on the outskirts of the market, attracting many seekers. He never expected them to show up here.

"Swish!"

"Swish! Swish!"

Several figures appeared in the air, their terrifying auras rippling and even causing the sky to change color.

First-Rank, Mid-Stage! First-Rank, Late-Stage!...

"How did so many powerful wizards end up here?"

Inida was dumbfounded. The gap in power between formal wizards was even greater than that between wizard apprentices and wizards.

A casual strike from a First-Rank, Late-Stage wizard could easily kill her!

"It's a hundred-year supply of Swirl Spirit Butterflies," Karl quickly realized. "Only the True Knowledge Potion, which can help wizards become Second Circle Wizards, would interest them."

"The Swirl Spirit Butterfly wants to control the people here to fight against the wizard..."

Damn it!

Would these wizards care about harming the innocent?

The answer was...

No.

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

Streams of flames rained down, their familiar temperature and shape unmistakable to Karl.

Chain Fireballs!

Eight chain fireballs blasted buildings, turning them into flying debris, and roasting people into charred remains.

Meteor Shower!

Meteorites, several meters in size, fell from the sky, creating massive craters on the ground.

Negative Energy Wave!

A torrent of black energy surged forward, crashing into the Illusion Bubbles.

"Bang!"

A fierce gust of wind hit Karl, sending him flying. He struggled to his feet, took in the chaotic scene, clenched his teeth, and fled into the distance.

Escape! These First-Rank, Late-Stage wizards would stop at nothing to achieve their goal of becoming Second Circle Wizards.

Even if it meant destroying everything, it was worth it to them.

Karl clenched his teeth. He had already become a formal wizard, yet he still felt powerless in this situation. It was like a needle piercing his heart.

Become stronger!

The Magical Forest was different from the Eastern Kingdom Continent. Powerful wizards here acted without much restraint.

It was a world of survival of the fittest, where strength was revered and without it, one was nothing.

His consciousness stirred in the Sea of Consciousness, and a fragment of the Divine Realm deep within the Psychical Inner Sea glowed faintly. Essence transformed into a torrent of energy that surged into his body.

Constitution: 10.1

First-Rank, Mid-Stage!

End of Chapter.

Chapter end