Chapter 310: Chapter 307: Since Refusal Is Not an Option, Might as Well Negotiate a Price

It seemed this Wise Man had been screwed over by the Lord of Order. After diligently guarding this place for hundreds of years, he’d been reduced to a ghost-like existence who still had to clock in. With Rorschach’s arrival, he finally saw a glimmer of hope for escape.

Rorschach figured the Wise Man shouldn’t have had to go through so much trouble just to bring him here. ’So, am I to understand that you no longer wish to coexist with the Shadow Land? Can’t you just self-destruct?’

"Can you pull yourself up by your own hair?" the Wise Man explained. Before his death, he had erased the will of the Elf Elders from the Holy Statue and used an Elven device to become part of the Holy Land itself.

Thanks to the Lord of Order’s modifications and the authority granted to the Wise Man, his current state—as Rorschach understood it—was nothing more than a program running inside the colossus, a highly intelligent Tower Spirit ultra.

"If I were to try to end things myself and free myself from here, I would be violating my deal with the Lord of Order, and He would ensure my soul never finds rest..."

"I’ve spent the last few hundred years studying our agreement and have reached a conclusion: I must rely on an external force to annihilate my own will and the Shadow Land together. That is the most reliable method. After the destruction, Mother Earth will no longer be able to meddle here."

The most critical question was... why him? Rorschach was aware of his own special nature, but he still clung to a sliver of hope that the other hadn’t seen through to his essence. To this moment, Rorschach had been trying to use frantic internal snark to rein in his wild thoughts, lest he expose more to the Wise Man.

Rorschach tentatively began, "Senior, I have a [Great Splitting Technique] that could obliterate your Divine Soul. If that doesn’t work, I’ve got a ’Divine Power Exorcism Technique’ at the ready. We can surely find a way to make your soul fly away and scatter, ending it once and for all..."

The Wise Man feigned a touch of anger. "You young people have no respect for the spirit of a contract! Since I promised the Lord of Order, I will never hand the Shadow Land over to an Evil God! So..." He extended a withered, claw-like hand and clenched it into a fist. "It must be destroyed!"

With that, the claw-like hand clapped onto Rorschach’s shoulder. "The moment I realized you were special, I knew my chance had come! To excise this festering sore from the real world, you need a ’Sharp Blade’ that it cannot restrain or contaminate. And that, Rorschach Mage, is you."

"Then what do I have to do?"

"First, you must agree to help me voluntarily. I’m a stickler for procedural justice. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have become a man even the Lord of Order was willing to trust."

"And... what if I don’t agree?" Rorschach couldn’t shake the feeling that the man was avoiding a crucial question—what, specifically, he would have to do. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Even in his past life as a foolishly innocent college student, Rorschach knew that any software that rushes a user to check "I agree" and prevents custom installation is always malware.

"Oh, that’s fine..." the Wise Man said with a beaming smile, tapping his thick Magic Staff against his hand with a steady CLACK. "It’s really no problem at all. Well, I’ll just let the three of you stay here and keep this old man company for another few decades or a century... In any case, one Elf and two Middle Level Mages are not exactly short-lived..."

Since there was no refusing the old rogue, he could only negotiate the reward. "If I help, what’s in it for me?"

"What’s in it for you?" The Wise Man’s Illusion nodded. "A good question. I, too, made a deal with the Lord of Order back in the day. Now, I make you a promise: if you complete this old man’s commission, I will pass on my legacy to you and give you the chance to become a true Great Mage."

’A true one?’ If there’s a title like a *true* Great Mage, does that mean there are fake ones, too?

The Wise Man waved his Magic Staff, and the gray stone environment of the chamber changed. They were suddenly standing amidst endless yellow sand.

Everything was so real. A scorching wind whipped up grains of sand that struck Rorschach’s face like knives and needles.

At this moment, the figure before him was no longer the irreverent Wise Man, but a Sage with profound eyes. His expression was solemn, and he transformed from a milky-white, fluorescent illusion into a living, breathing person.

His voice was like a great bell, echoing between heaven and earth. His chant was almost a roar, and then the wind joined him, reciting a song-like Spell in the ancient Jabber Language.

The sky suddenly filled with dark clouds, and thunder rumbled. The sand in the air turned to raindrops. Springs gushed from the ground, converging into a network of waterways. The moistened sand transformed into soil, from which meadows and trees burst forth.

Rorschach witnessed the world being remade, the sand-filled expanse transforming into a subtropical Dense Forest.

Perhaps other Mages could achieve such an effect, but the Wise Man by his side had disappeared. Rorschach was lifted into the air by an invisible force. He felt tiny, but in his vision, the area affected by the Magic was infinitely vast!

He would have preferred to believe the Wise Man had used the Teleportation Technique, simply moving them from a desert to a rainforest. But he had clearly witnessed how everything was changed. As far as the eye could see, not a single speck of yellow sand remained.

Not only that, but all Magic Power was drained during the chanting. Even Rorschach had to struggle to prevent his own Magic Power from being violently ripped from his body by the Caster.

The entire scene vanished, and they were back in the original stone chamber.

’Is this the true power of a Great Mage?’ Even a Divine Spirit could do little more, right?

The Wise Man reverted to his illusory form, that profound and inscrutable master’s aura completely gone. A sly grin emerged from beneath his beard. "Before the rise of the Old Empire was the Age of Myths. This means that back then, the world had only myths, not history."

"What you just saw was the original site of the ’Promised City,’ now the most fertile place in the Kingdom of Sand. Despite nearly a thousand years of deforestation and wind-blown sand, it remains the largest oasis in the endless sea of sand."

The name [Legendary Spell: World Weaving Technique] appeared on Rorschach’s panel. He was still a bit incredulous because the whole process had been too short; the entire Casting took only about a minute.

"By becoming a true Great Mage, it is possible to master Legendary Spells that transcend the current Ninth Ring System. Some people also call this Superposition Magic..."

"Each Great Mage focuses on a different Spell System, and their personalities differ as well, so the Legendary Spells they manifest are also different."

’Here comes the catch,’ Rorschach guessed.

Sure enough, the Wise Man sighed dejectedly. "However, to maintain the peace and stability of the world, the Lord of Order used means beyond mortal comprehension to seal all Legendary Spells, as well as other abilities of a similar power level among the Divine Benefactors."

"The upside is that it is now easier to advance to Great Mage than it was before the Age of Myths. But these so-called Great Mages can no longer freely wield Magic Skills comparable to the gods. They are merely mediocre mortals with more Magic Power and longer lifespans."

There was no information about this in the Magic History Rorschach had encountered, but it was clear that Kano and Feuerbach were keenly aware of it. This was especially true for the head of the Tower of Secret Techniques, who had access to countless ancient tomes. No wonder his animosity toward the Lord of Order was so great.

’In his past life, the saying went, "Blocking someone’s path to wealth is like murdering their parents." Here, the God of Order dominated the world, blocking the Great Mages’ path to godhood!’

"But you, unbound by the Lord of Order’s power, have shown me hope—the hope of reshaping the glory of the Great Mages! I am willing to impart my wisdom to you. If you can achieve that breakthrough, then won’t destroying a mere Shadow Land be an easy task?"

Rorschach couldn’t help but feel a surge of excitement.

Suddenly, Benedict woke up again. He only heard the words "destroy... Shadow Land," and shouted, "No!"