Chapter 419 - 198: Mr. Blake

VOOM!

The tremendous sound, laced with Magic Power, resonated through the air. The moment the voice fell, the entirety of Blake City seemed to tremble.

"What’s happening?"

Many Wizards were startled from their dreams. They threw off their covers, scrambled out of bed, and ran to their windows to look outside.

A colossal face filled the entire night sky. The river of stars formed its eyes, the swirling clouds its lips. Although the features were indistinct, an uncanny sense of familiarity struck everyone who saw it, as if they had seen this face somewhere before.

Crowds of people also poured into the streets.

All stared up at the sky, a mixture of shock and uncertainty on their faces.

Nothing like this had ever happened in Blake City before. This was a first.

"What in the world is going on?"

"No idea!"

"Is a Grand Mage undergoing a tribulation?"

"?"

"Tribulation my ass!"

"Been reading too many novels, have you?"

Since when did Wizards have tribulations?

"Wait... I remember where I’ve seen that face!"

A Wizard had a sudden realization and whipped his head toward the church. "The statue!"

"That face is identical to the statue of Mr. Blake!"

The crowd of Wizards: "???"

"Holy shit!"

"So the one in the sky... is Mr. Blake??"

As soon as those words were out, the Wizards exchanged glances and then sprinted toward the church in unison.

The statue’s face was enchanted with a perception-altering Magic, so most people had no precise memory of its appearance. They would see it and forget, or even if they remembered, they couldn’t recall the details. Thus, to verify the Wizard’s guess, they all flocked to the church.

And then they discovered...

Oh my god!

It was a perfect match!

And so, the night that had been peaceful and quiet just a minute before erupted into a full-blown frenzy.

For the people of this world, nothing was more thrilling than to witness their faith come to life and perform a miracle, thereby proving the Master they worshipped truly existed.

This was true for the believers of the Church Court.

And it was true for the Wizards of the Holy Sanctuary.

In just a few short minutes, countless residents had run into the streets. Some were wearing nothing but a bath towel. When they came out and saw the face in the sky, their lips began to tremble. Tears blurred their vision as they gazed at Mr. Blake, feeling as if they were looking across the mountains and rivers of time to see the Era of Polymath once more.

"Mr. Blake, you’ve finally returned..."

"We missed you so, so much! *Sob sob sob*!"

Many Wizards instinctively tried to kneel and kowtow to the sky, but golden characters materialized out of thin air on the ground beneath them, peeling away to support their knees and preventing them from kneeling.

"What is...?"

"He’s telling you not to kneel."

A Wizard said, "Have you all forgotten? We don’t do that sort of thing in the Holy Sanctuary."

The Hall of Truth has no rituals of kneeling and no so-called "faith." Mr. Blake himself once said this; he hoped the Wizards of the Holy Sanctuary would become Gods themselves, rather than follow them.

This made the Wizards cry even harder.

"*Sob sob*... Hundreds of years have passed, and Mr. Blake is still so gentle..."

"Hey, don’t just stand there crying!"

"What did Mr. Blake just say? Who did he ask to see him?"

"I think it was Lauden!"

"Who’s Lauden?"

"That’s me!"

An excited voice called out from behind.

The crowd instinctively turned toward the sound. They saw an old man in a tattered suit of battle armor from some unknown era, holding a silver spear and riding a warhorse. He looked like a seasoned veteran, charging forth with determination.

It was Lauden!

At this moment, Lauden finally understood why Sean had said that after tonight, the entire city of Blake City would remember his name.

’That guy... he actually managed to summon Mr. Blake!’

「A few minutes earlier.」

He had been getting ready to wash up and go to sleep.

Sean had told him not to sleep tonight, and at first, he’d planned to stay up to see what trick Sean had up his sleeve. But age was catching up to him. As an "old man" approaching thirty, Lauden started feeling drowsy after just a short while. Plus, he’d taken the afternoon off, which meant not only did he have to work tomorrow, but he also had to work overtime. If he didn’t get a good night’s rest, this month’s salary would be toast. So, in the end, Lauden had yawned and headed to the bathroom.

But who would have known? He had just taken off his clothes, turned on the shower, and been rinsing for less than a minute when he suddenly heard someone call his name from outside—

"Lauden, come and see me!"

The voice was tremendous, and it seemed to be aimed directly at him, almost as if it had boomed inside his own mind. Lauden was so startled he dropped the bar of soap. He didn’t bother picking it up—his eyelid was twitching furiously. His intuition screamed at him: something big was happening!

Covering his lower body, Lauden bolted barefoot from the bathroom, threw open the window, and looked out.

"!!!"

"Mr. Blake?!"

In that instant, Lauden lost his composure.

Not long ago, he had recovered a statue for the Holy Sanctuary. During his escape from the Kovri Restricted Area to Vernadu, the statue had never left his sight for a second. Therefore, compared to most Wizards in the city, he had a much clearer impression of its appearance. Especially since he had just talked about it with Sean this afternoon, he recognized the indistinct yet majestic face in the night sky at a single glance—it was Mr. Blake!

In that second, a thousand thoughts raced through Lauden’s mind.

He thought about everything from his deceased parents to his yet-to-be-born children.

’Seriously... I never dreamed that Mr. Blake himself would one day personally summon me!’

’In front of every Wizard in the city, calling for me by name.’

’What the hell...’

’What an incredible honor this is!’

As his chaotic thoughts swirled, Lauden’s emotions shifted from shock to pleasant surprise, then to excitement and elation, until tears welled up in his eyes and he could barely contain himself.

He decisively rushed into his bedroom and pulled out the old suit of battle armor his father used to wear from under the bed.