Why Did You Summon Me?

Meanwhile, the person at the center of all the hubbub, Baiyi, had no idea that a stampede was headed his way.

His attention was on the scenery in front of him.

When Baiyi found out that his teacher had a secret dimension, he expected the realm to be sufficiently large — probably about the size of a football field. Even if it was larger than that, then it would be as vast as a royal manor, at most. However, after Baiyi passed through the enormous gates and into the light, he realized that he had underestimated the extent of his teacher’s power.

In front of him was a seemingly endless wasteland. Beneath his feet was a blackened ground devoid of grass, stones, mud, and even sand. Turning his gaze forward and around, he could see that the earth was at least rising and falling at certain parts. He could see the silhouettes of hills peeking out from the horizon, seemingly beckoning to him.

Baiyi took to the air with a levitation spell. The three barbarians put on their metal backpacks and did the same, and the four of them hovered in the sky, observing the vast, abandoned land.

The ground was cracked and littered with craters of varying sizes and depths. Deep long cracks that stretched across the land could be seen from high above.

Baiyi had expected the secret dimension to be big, but he had not expected it to be this big. Baiyi had thought that this teacher used a forbidden space spell to create a special space just for his use. because if he had his teacher’s abilities, this was something he would have done.

However, the Archmage had aimed higher; his space was no longer qualified to be called a dimension, it was as large a realm. The Archmage’s space was just as big as the small realm Baiyi visited with the girls and found the divine leather suit!

After pondering for a while, Baiyi was able to understand the reason why the space within the dimension was so vast: with the Book of Servitude, every spell the Archmage would want to experiment on would cause destruction on a large scale; hence, he needed so a large space to call a lab. The craters and cracks that riddled the earth must have been the result of the Archmage’s many experimentations.

“Sir First Walker… Not only did he create his own secret dimension, but he also merged a realm into his secret dimension, and subsequently merged his secret small realm into the realm of Isythre, forcefully making his own realm the child realm of another — Isythre…” The Scholar Walker exclaimed in awe. “I-in-inconceivable… Never in my mind would I categorize this feat as something achievable by a mortal!”

“While I was still the principal of Celestial Fortress Academy, I came across a discourse addressing this very topic. The suggestion was brought up in a thesis. I still remember how the idea was lambasted and ridiculed as the dream of an idiot — a dream impossible to realize… Who would have known that the First Walker already brought this ‘idiotic dream’ to life… a thousand years before we even had that debate!” The Apprentice Walker exclaimed, reverently. “Just how much manpower and resources had gone into completing this feat? How much willpower was needed to see everything through? I’m afraid only the Rohlserlian Empire, in their heyday, could have pulled this off.”

“I’ve told myself many times: ‘Don’t underestimate this man, never underestimate this man, never ever underestimate this man’… And yet, even my wildest imagination have done him a disservice,” the Lich Walker said, looking visibly dejected. “Now I know just how insolent I was to fight him. He never even felt the slightest bit of pressure from my attacks, did he?”

This was just a glance at the real depts of the First Walker’s powers. Although he was a noob at the games played in the Void, his intellect and the virtue he places in his study of power easily earned him the veneration of the other Voidwalkers.

“As expected, only the Sage-Emperor of the Magi could pull this off. Back when he was an emperor, Rohlserlian Empire was the very source and foundation of his power,” Baiyi explained. “However, he is only an archmage now. He is no longer an emperor, so he no longer has access to the collective fidelity of a massive amount of followers. This miracle he created… is irreplicable.”

“Oh, shall I say thank you for your kind words, hmm, your newly-elected majesty?” The Lich Walker snapped, then he went completely silent.

With the discussion in the Void abruptly terminated, Baiyi turned his attention back to reality. He sent out his psychic energy to scan the land, and he found no sign of life, no rivers, and broken mountains. The desolation may have been caused by the passing of a millennium or the passing of the owner of the secret dimension and his great empire.

“I don’t like it here; it’s making me queasy,” Huskar said to Baiyi. However, when his gaze landed on Baiyi, he froze and soon exclaimed, “Brother Hope, you’re you again!”

When Baiyi activated his Territory earlier, Huskar and the other barbarians were unable to speak due to the overwhelming veneration they felt for Baiyi; even he, the leader of this group of Divine Warriors, had to fight the urge to kneel. Hence, he was surprised to discover that the suffocating aura that was emanating from Baiyi had vanished, and the soul armature had returned to normal.

“I like this version of Brother Hope better! So ugly, so friendly!” Zar’Zar chimed in.

‘Do you even know how to talk to people?’ Baiyi thought to himself. The effects of his territory had subsided so silently that even he himself had not noticed it.

This was not a surprise, however. Baiyi had just used his Territory for the first time. A power as marvelous and insight-dependent as a Territory required one to practice constantly before they are able to use a Territory skillfully. This was especially true when one remembered that a Territory was a special power that should not be simply employed at one’s whim. As for Baiyi’s territory, questions like “What conditions need to be fulfilled before the Territory can be used?”, “How long can the territory be used?”, and “what are the effects of the territory?” were questions that the soul armature had no answer to.

He did not even know if his own Territory could rival the Archmage’s Territory, which was able to make too many beings submit to his will. He did not even know the side-effects of his own Territory, but this was something he had to think about some other time.

“Brother Hope, we came to this ominous place to find that thing you wanted, right?” Char’Char asked.

“Yep! That thing is here somewhere,” Baiyi answered.

“But this place is so huge!” Zar’Zar exclaimed. “And… Why do the goats and Cuckoo look unhappy?”

Baiyi turned at his behest. The animals, who had been cheerful from the moment they came to the village, now looked forlorn, and their heads were lowered. It was as though they had been infected by the somber solitude of the realm, which made them lament its glory days.

Animals had sharper senses than humans, after all, especially when they were also quite human-like. Perhaps they had been infected by the somber solitude of this realm, and was lamenting for its glory days?

“Let’s just grab what we came for and leave, quickly.” Baiyi pointed at a direction. From up high, they could make out something in the distance that seemed to be ruins of some sort. Baiyi deduced that the lab was over there.

They streaked in that direction, and that very moment, the fastest outsiders had reached the gate of light in the middle of the creek. To a side was an army composed of city guards, soldiers, and the very best working for the Walthart royal family. The royal army stood in a triangular formation. On another side was a group of Northern warriors. On yet another side was a group of Templars. The three main factions stared coldly at each other, and a growing hostility could be discerned among them. A spark would be all it took to ignite chaos.

Some smaller factions watched the standoff from a safe distance; they had not dared to get any closer to the gate of light.

For a while, no one walked over to the gate.

“Fie! Look at that slobbering face yer Southern Emperor mak’s like th’ glutton he truly is! It’s pathetic… especially whin ye remember dat he hud promised tae nae lay his hands oan da treasure!” The muscular Northern warriors taunted sarcastically.

“Of course we are keeping our word. If we had no plans to, do you think we would have brought so few men with us?” A heavily-armored man, who was leading the royal force, retorted. He looked at the bald abbot, who was standing amongst the Northern warriors, and continued, “Let us look at these ‘honorable’ northerners for a second; they even brought the chief monk of Martial Lodestar Monastery with them! Hahaha. And you dare to call us greedy for desiring this treasure?”

Those who knew about the Northerners would know who the monk was. He was the abbot of Martial Lodestar Monastery — a Demigod-level fighter!

There were only a few Demigod-level fighters left in the world. Their powers were beyond mortal men, but they rarely fought because of the natural laws which they feared. They rarely used their own Territories because the more they used it, the more dangerous it would become. Their power granted them eminence across the realms, and they rarely faced situations that required them to personally intervene.

Only the direst of situations would require the presence of a demigod-level fighter. Many powers often used their demigod-level fighters to scare their foes, similar to the existence of nuclear weapons. Although the attacks of demigod-level fighters were not as wide-ranged as a nuke, they could still make quick work of enemy Immortal-level and Legendary level fighters; this was something that could not be taken lightly.

Every force that had a demigod-level powerhouse knew the courtesy that was keeping them out of the battlefield. However, it seemed that not everyone could read the atmosphere; the Northerners, for example, wasted no time to deploy their trump card for the treasure hunt.

The imperial force and the Church, who had long since gotten information about the Demigod Abbot’s presence, also brought their own powerhouses with them to the gate of light. When the demigod-level powerhouses of the church and the imperial army noticed the demigod-level abbot leading the Northern force, they quickly hurried to the frontline of their own force.

If the three demigod-level powerhouses engage themselves in battle, it would only take a minute to turn the surrounding to a wasteland.

The Northern Demigod Abbot had sensed the presence of the other two demigod-level beings earlier, so he had to resist making any sudden movements.

Hence, he stood up and announced, “All o’ ye, listen. I dae nae wish tae break th’ rules laid doon by th’ ruler o’ this continent…. But I can sense someone else, beyond that gate, who awready activated their Territory… ”

The faces of everyone in the surrounding turned gloomy. Someone had activated a Territory? Did a battle occur earlier? Could it have been a fight between demigods? They even dared to use their Territories as if the Laws didn’t matter… If the battle took place inside the gate, then how many more demigods could already be in there? Two or three? Which association could have acted this lowly?

Or could the treasure have been claimed already?

As soon as these questions flooded the minds of the people present, they felt that their prospects in the treasure hunt had become grim.