Everyone's Class: One Effort, 10,000x Bonus Reward!

The air inside the great hall seemed to freeze completely in that instant.

Aiden took a deep breath and forced down the storm of emotions rising in his heart.

He slowly raised his hand. In his palm, the space around it rippled like water.

Buzz-

An ancient key appeared out of thin air, floating in the void. Strange laws of cause and effect flowed across its surface, and a faint purple-gold divine light shone from it.

The Key of Destiny!

This mysterious key had been with him since the beginning of his rise. Now, it seemed to have sensed something and began to let out a clear ringing sound.

"Kelsey, close your eyes. Do not resist my power."

Aiden’s voice was gentle, but it carried the unquestionable authority of a god.

Kelsey obediently closed her eyes. Her long eyelashes trembled slightly in the candlelight.

Aiden brought two fingers together like a blade. Divine power gathered around them as he guided the Key of Destiny and slowly pointed it toward Kelsey’s forehead.

The moment the tip of the Key of Destiny touched her brow-

Boom!

The laws within the entire hall suddenly went wild.

A brilliant golden light, beyond description, burst out from the point where the two connected.

Click.

A sharp and clear sound rang out deep within both Aiden’s and Kelsey’s souls, like an ancient mechanism that had been sealed away for countless ages finally locking into place.

A perfect match!

The law patterns on the Key of Destiny and the patterns of the ancient seal deep within Kelsey’s soul fit together perfectly, like two lost pieces of a puzzle finally reunited after thousands of years.

Rumble-

Deep within Kelsey’s sea of soul, endless golden light suddenly rose from the ground.

A huge golden gate, majestic and filled with boundless divine power, rose from the depths of the sea of light and stood before Aiden’s divine sense.

"Oh my God... it really is that gate!"

Zoey cried out in shock. The streams of data in her eyes turned into solid golden symbols, flashing wildly.

"Master, there are three absolute conditions to open the gate!"

"First, you must have the key."

"Second, the one who opens it must go beyond the limits of a mortal and reach the realm of a Lesser God!"

Aiden lowered his eyes slightly.

No wonder no one had been able to open this gate for a thousand years.

If he had not luckily survived the Divine Ascension Tribulation yesterday and formed his Inner Spirit, he might not even have had the right to stand before this gate today.

"What is the third condition?" Aiden asked calmly.

"The third condition is that on the other side of the gate, there must be a perception vessel that resonates with it and actively opens the beacon."

Zoey turned her head and stared at Kelsey, whose eyes were still closed. Her voice trembled.

"Lord Yves... a thousand years ago, he planted the gate’s sensor deep inside Kelsey’s soul!"

"She is the human-shaped keyhole!"

Aiden’s pupils narrowed slightly.

A plan made a thousand years ago had been accurate down to every detail. Even the time of his rise to godhood and Kelsey’s birth seemed to have been part of that man’s calculations.

"Kelsey, give me your hand."

Aiden reached out his long hand, which was surrounded by the laws of a god.

Kelsey opened her eyes and obediently placed her small, fair hand on his.

One large hand and one small hand held the handle of the Key of Destiny together.

"Open."

Aiden gave a low command. The power of a Lesser God surged out of his body like a flood and poured wildly into the Key of Destiny.

Boom-

The Key of Destiny burst with a blinding light and drove deep into the keyhole of the golden gate.

The golden gate, sealed for a thousand years, slowly opened a narrow crack with a heavy grinding sound.

Whoosh!

In an instant, it was like a dam had broken.

Endless golden light rushed out from the crack and swallowed the entire hall in a heartbeat.

Within this pure golden world, an ancient and vast presence began to seep out from behind the gate. It felt old, distant, and terrifying, as if it had witnessed the rise and fall of countless eras.

That presence was cold and boundless, like the very source of time itself.

It did not become a voice.

Instead, it turned into an extremely high-frequency wave of law, forcefully and precisely rushing into Aiden’s divine senses.

Boom!

Aiden’s mind went completely blank.

It felt as if a mountain of memories made from laws had been compressed into a single grain of sand, then smashed deep into his Inner Spirit.

The violent stream of information almost tore his Inner Spirit apart.

"Ugh!"

Aiden let out a muffled groan, and a thin line of divine blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.

But divine light blazed in his eyes. The fire of his Inner Spirit burned wildly as he fought to keep his mind clear, forcing himself to endure the impact of this final message from ten thousand years ago.

Amid the chaotic flood of information, Aiden finally understood the truth behind why Kelsey had been chosen.

Because her soul had the rarest Ethereal Physique in the world.

It was untouched by the dust of the mortal world. Only a soul like hers could remain pure and unharmed after a thousand years, and safely preserve the "positioning sensor" left behind by Yves.

And just as Aiden was about to fully absorb all this information-

A scene suddenly exploded deep within his Inner Spirit, without any warning.

It was the edge of a silent, empty starry sky.

Beyond the stars was endless darkness-the Abyss-as if it wanted to swallow the entire universe.

A tall, silent man stood quietly before the Abyss, showing only his back.

He wore broken battle armor, but his spine was straight like a sword. It felt as if he alone was holding up the whole starry sky.

It was Yves!

In the vision, the man slowly raised his right hand. Without the slightest hesitation, he stabbed it straight into his own chest.

Pshh.

His face showed no emotion.

Then he pulled hard with his right hand.

A ball of golden light was torn from his chest. It was so brilliant that words could not describe it. It carried supreme power of cause and effect, the power to defy fate and change destiny itself.

The man turned around and gently placed the golden light into a blank vessel floating in the void.

Aiden stared fixedly at that golden light.

At that moment, his breathing stopped completely, and his Inner Spirit trembled violently.

Because on the surface of that golden light, there were mysterious law patterns flowing.

Those patterns could ignore all the rules of the world.

And they were exactly the same as the patterns of the 10,000x Critical Hit System that had been bound to him until now-the system that had helped him rise all the way to godhood!

Crack!

At that moment, the vision shattered like a mirror.

...

Inside the hall, the overwhelming golden light slowly faded.

Aiden stood there in silence, like an ancient statue that had never changed.

His eyes had lost focus.

But deep within the sea of consciousness he had just formed as a Lesser God, a vast storm of will was raging with unstoppable force.

It was an endless golden sea of stars.

Countless broken law symbols streaked across it like meteors, stirring up sharp, piercing tides of law.

Aiden’s Inner Spirit stood quietly at the center of the star sea. He was dressed in white like snow, his expression cold and calm.

Even in the form of his Inner Spirit, the power of a Lesser God still flowed from him, forcing the surrounding Void Storms to retreat on their own.

"You have come, successor."

A sigh that seemed to have crossed countless ages echoed through the entire golden star sea.

Aiden raised his eyes and looked ahead.

Deep within the star sea, a tall and straight phantom slowly took shape.

He wore broken battle armor. On it remained the unwillingness and blood of fallen Divine Emperor Rank warriors.

But his eyes were so deep that they seemed able to swallow all worlds.

He was the former legend of the Great Shaw Empire-

The Bane of All Races, Yves!

"This trace of consciousness I left behind has no time for small talk. It exists only to reveal the mystery buried for ten thousand years."

Yves’s phantom stood with his hands behind his back. His voice was calm, almost cold.

"First, the truth about the Great Destruction."

Aiden raised an eyebrow slightly, but he did not interrupt. He simply let the fire of his Inner Spirit burn in silence.

"The people of Earth all believe the Great Destruction is a natural cycle of the world, an unavoidable disaster that comes at the end of each era."

A mocking smile appeared at the corner of Yves’s mouth.

"Foolish."

"There is no such thing as destruction without a cause."

"It is only the being deep within Earth’s core, the one called the Lord of the Primordial, turning over again and again in its sleep, letting out unwilling calls each time."

Lord of the Primordial!

When Aiden heard that name, his Inner Spirit trembled slightly.

"It does not want to destroy this world out of evil. On the contrary, it is the loneliest being in this world."

"It is simply too lonely. So lonely that it wants to find a living being who can truly hear its voice and understand its existence."

"But it is too powerful. So powerful that even a faint call in its sleep can release enough force to shatter Earth’s fragile space and turn it into the Great Destruction."

Yves looked at Aiden, and a strange light flashed in his eyes.

"That is why I set up the seal and joined forces with the myriad races rank to separate the Abyss from Earth."

"The world believes the seal was made to fight it, to destroy it."

"But I tell you, that seal was never meant for battle."

"It was meant to wait for the conversation."

"To wait for a human who is strong enough and wise enough to truly listen to its voice, and make the final choice."

Aiden took a deep breath. The shock within his Inner Spirit was beyond words.

So the truth behind the Great Destruction was only a call from a great being suffering from loneliness?

And the seal was only meant to protect Earth before its next call, while waiting for a worthy successor?

"The second matter is about me, and also about you."

Yves’s phantom took one step forward.

In an instant, space seemed to shrink beneath his feet, and he appeared right in front of Aiden.

"I was the hunter of the myriad races rank, a madman in the eyes of gods."

"But more than that, I was a planner who had no time left."

"I saw the terror of the next Great Destruction. It would be true and total ruin. But my own life had already reached its end."

"To forcefully delay the Great Destruction, and to keep the human race alive, I burned away the last of my Divine Emperor power and laid down this plan across a thousand years."

Yves pointed into the void.

"The Critical Hit System you rely on is a heaven-defying object I tore out from my own laws of cause and effect."

"The Transmutation Altar you control, the Key of Destiny, even Zoey, who guided you, and that girl Kelsey, who has the Ethereal Physique..."

"All of them were stepping stones I prepared for you a thousand years ago."

"All clues, all causes and effects, lead to the same final point-"

"You, Aiden."

"Go and inherit my will."

"Go and finish the conversation... that I never had the chance to complete."