Chapter 473: The Eternally Attested Dao Fruit...

Carl's headless body crashed to the ground. Only then did the three Holy Sanctuary Mages snap out of their daze, as if waking from a dream, and realize what had just happened.

Qi Suian had killed Carl with a single punch.

The entire process was just that simple. Even though Carl was a protagonist, he offered no resistance. He was as dead as dead could be.

Carl was a protagonist, and so was Qi Suian. Neither had a home-field advantage. Moreover, Qi Suian's strength and protagonist halo were both superior to Carl's.

With multiple advantages on his side, a one-hit kill was only natural. There was no way a scene where Qi Suian was evenly matched with him, only to eke out a narrow victory in the end, would ever occur.

"I need an explanation from you." The Great Arcanist's tone turned grim in an instant.

The Prophet's face was filled with disbelief. He had confirmed that Carl was a person around whom fate revolved the moment they met.

People like that were blessed with immense luck. How could he have died so unceremoniously?

"An explanation? Why should I give you one?" Qi Suian said calmly.

The candidates designated by the Profound Mechanism Wind King were supposed to be at the Holy Sanctuary level. Carl was merely tenth-rank, so naturally, he didn't meet the Wind King's requirements.

Qi Suian had killed him, and that was that. What could they do about it?

Besides, if he'd been left alive, he would have definitely become a major hidden threat.

"If you won't, then today I will ask the Wind King to judge who is right and who is wrong." The Great Arcanist was like a volcano on the verge of erupting.

He was certainly furious, but the most important thing now was to remedy the situation.

Without the help of the person around whom fate revolved, their mission to the Thunder God's birth would be a one-way trip.

No matter how great the benefits, survival had to be the priority. Otherwise, what good would they be if you were dead?

Leave them for their descendants? They weren't nearly that noble.

Having reached the Holy Sanctuary, they had long since become immortal. As long as they didn't die from disease, accidents, or the like, their Magic Power could keep them alive indefinitely.

And their immense Magic Power allowed them to avoid factors like disease and accidents to the greatest extent possible.

So they had long since stopped caring about descendants, focusing instead on themselves.

"Oh? Then go ahead and ask. I have other things to do, so I won't be staying."

"Remember to go intercept the Thunder God's birth later. Don't be late or leave early. Or else… Heh." Qi Suian gave a scornful sneer, then turned and left without another word.

He had gotten his benefits. There was no need for him to stick around and bicker.

In any case, all he had to do was act as cannon fodder.

The Elemental Master wanted to stop Qi Suian, but the Great Arcanist shot him a look, signaling him not to move. Letting him leave was the smart thing to do.

Seeing this, Qi Suian understood that these three were indeed clever. They knew that without the protagonist's help, their chances of survival were next to none, so they intended to further magnify Qi Suian's unreasonable behavior.

This would give them a sufficient excuse to weasel out of the mission.

Therefore, their plan was to endure as much humiliation as possible, so long as their lives weren't at risk.

As for dying before they'd submit? Not a chance. Having lived for so long, none of them had such fragile egos.

Besides, they weren't part of some idealistic Extraordinary system that required them to be reckless and unyielding. There were no concepts like Heart Demons or "one retreat means eternal retreat."

Even though they were Holy Sanctuary Mages now, they had once been Mage Apprentices. What kind of humiliation hadn't they endured?

So, after watching Qi Suian leave, the three exchanged a look. They immediately understood what they had to do next.

Without a moment's hesitation, they contacted the Profound Mechanism Wind King to demand justice.

Of course, justice was not what they would get. They knew that if you want to open a window, you have to ask to tear down the roof, then compromise by taking a step back.

As for how to resolve the situation after that, they could only play it by ear. In any case, they were determined to get out of this mission.

Meanwhile, Qi Suian had already left and was inspecting his newly fortified protagonist halo.

[Fortification +14: Dao Fruit]

'Once proven, forever proven?' Through his analysis, Qi Suian quickly deduced the effect of this Fortification +14.

The effect was quite good, similar to a proficiency system. Once the bar was full, an upgrade was guaranteed.

But to Qi Suian, it was of little use.

It wasn't like this thing had no upper limit and could be upgraded indefinitely.

If Qi Suian had obtained such an ability back before the apocalypse game descended, there's no way he would have majored in the history of the Dian Kingdom.

But now, for Qi Suian, it wasn't a question of it being barely useful; it was completely useless.

His Extraordinary systems were all max-level. After all, he had created them himself, patching together strengths and weaknesses. At most, there was just an accumulation process.

And that process could be completed in an extremely short time through the high-speed growth of Fortification +6 and his feast energy.

It was nothing like this Dao Fruit fortification effect, which required performing corresponding actions.

More importantly, the number of actions required was fixed.

There was no way to achieve a leap in progress. It was probably something like each action granting a fixed 1 point of proficiency, with different mastery levels requiring different amounts of total proficiency.

"Whatever. Maybe it'll come in handy someday."

"Even if it doesn't, it's just a derivative effect. The main thing is that the protagonist halo itself was fortified."

Qi Suian didn't feel too regretful about it. It wasn't as if he was hurting for one more fortification effect.

A gust of wind caught up with Qi Suian after he left. "I'm very confused. Why did you kill Carl? I don't believe he had any conflict with you," the Profound Mechanism Wind King asked, holding back its anger.

Because of what Qi Suian had done, the three Holy Sanctuary Mages were now showing hostility and had no intention of participating in the upcoming mission.

They had also expressed a strong desire to withdraw and were demanding an explanation from the Profound Mechanism Wind King.

Of course, the Profound Mechanism Wind King's anger didn't just stem from this; it was also because Carl had been a candidate It was carefully grooming.

Although the resources invested weren't substantial, his growth had been remarkable. There were plans for further investment to have Carl continue working for It.

And yet, all of that had been shattered.

It couldn't even comprehend why Qi Suian had acted.

It was all completely illogical and had caused all of Its plans to collapse with Carl's death.

Especially since after the kill, Qi Suian had found a windless place to hide where It couldn't find him, which only stoked Its suppressed fury.

If Qi Suian didn't give It a reasonable explanation this time, their negotiations would absolutely fall apart.

"Conflict? Of course not."

"If there had really been any conflict, he wouldn't have lived until now," Qi Suian said, speaking frankly.

He wasn't one to beat around the bush. If someone was in conflict with him and was also weaker, he would typically just kill them directly.

As for considering their background? Not a chance.

He didn't care what status, background, or connections someone had. If they couldn't immediately offer something valuable enough to save their own life, Qi Suian would show no mercy and send them on their way.

Carl actually got off easy. Qi Suian hadn't even stuffed him into the Melting Furnace as fuel.

Otherwise, it wouldn't have just been a headless corpse left behind; he would have made sure not even a body remained.

"Then why did you kill him? You must give me a reasonable explanation today." The Profound Mechanism Wind King didn't state the consequences, but It had clearly reached its limit.

Qi Suian was indeed of great help and had future value to It, but that was all predicated on him not crossing Its bottom line.

"Explanation? I just didn't like the look of him. I figured he'd become a big problem later, so I made a preemptive strike."

"Three Holy Sanctuary Mages among the survivors is enough. There's no need for a fourth," Qi Suian casually fabricated a reason.

"Even if Carl had become the fourth Holy Sanctuary, he wouldn't have been a Mage. He was a Wind Chasing Envoy."

"He would not have become a threat, nor would he have affected your status." The Profound Mechanism Wind King suddenly realized that the reason Qi Suian might have acted was precisely because Carl was a Wind Chasing Envoy.

More importantly, one who was about to reach the Holy Sanctuary.

Not only was he a survivor of the apocalypse game, but he was also someone It was personally promoting. It was inevitable that he would pose a threat to Qi Suian's status.

With this bit of mental gymnastics, the Profound Mechanism Wind King found the situation much more reasonable.

Some of Its anger subsided.

"Tsk. I don't believe you."

"Those not of our kind are sure to have different allegiances, to say nothing of a group of survivors from another world." Qi Suian sensed the Profound Mechanism Wind King's line of thought and decided to play along.

"You have a point, but the Thunder God's birth needs to be intercepted."

"I don't care what methods you use, you must persuade the three Holy Sanctuary Mages among the survivors."

"Bring me results, and I'll drop the matter." The Profound Mechanism Wind King could accept Carl's death. After all, he hadn't been fully cultivated yet, and the resources spent weren't significant.

The real trouble was that the Holy Sanctuary Mages were unwilling. Its plan to instigate a conflict between the apocalypse game and the Thunder God was now the problem.

"Fine. Don't worry. I'll head over in a bit and hit each of them with a Memory Disappearance Technique," Qi Suian replied.

It wasn't a big deal.

As for the Profound Mechanism Wind King's plan of instigation? In reality, Qi Suian didn't think it could possibly succeed.

The apocalypse game was basically synonymous with a turtle hiding in its shell; there was no way it would personally get involved in such matters.

So failure was inevitable.

The only reason Qi Suian was pushing this forward was so he could obtain more data on the Thunder God for himself.

Otherwise, he couldn't be bothered to deal with It.

"I don't want to see our plans affected by your personal affairs again."

"I hope there won't be a next time. My patience with you is limited." After saying this, the Profound Mechanism Wind King departed immediately.

But Its gaze remained. It would wait until Qi Suian had finished handling the matter before truly leaving.

Qi Suian paid no mind to Its words.

'Limited patience? Then I'll just have to raise that limit until it's high enough to tolerate me.'

Otherwise, if It really had a falling out with him, the one who would lose out wouldn't be Qi Suian, but the Profound Mechanism Wind King itself.

"A good whack to the back of each of their heads… as long as I control my strength, cracking their skulls open shouldn't be too hard. Then I'll just pull out their brains and do a little editing."

"And here they thought it was some big deal."

"Goes on and on about how the power of wind is omnipotent, but can't even alter memories. What a waste of a title."

Qi Suian didn't know how to magically alter memories, but he was more than capable of physically altering them.

He didn't let the Profound Mechanism Wind King off the hook either, continuing to curse It under his breath with biting sarcasm.