Chapter 439 - 326: Great Temptation

Chapter 439: Chapter 326: Great Temptation

As everyone knows, most rituals initiated by a world’s consciousness or rules grant some kind of reward to those who participate.

This world’s ascension trial ritual was no exception.

From the Silver-robed Mage’s description, and considering the nature of the ritual, it wasn’t hard for everyone to guess its purpose. The world simply lacked the energy, ascension materials, or related [Concepts] it needed. Therefore, the world’s will had unleashed the Underground Palace Demons and Sect Apostles, letting them wreak havoc and fight amongst themselves. It would then use the scattered energy, Authority Fragments, and resulting Concepts from their deaths to make up for what was missing for its ascension.

And in a ritual like this, generally speaking, the more you killed, the greater your rewards.

This was also why the Deities behind the Underground Palace and the Sect were fully cooperating in creating Demons and Apostles. They, too, stood to gain from this ritual. The question now was what benefits they could get, and whether they should lend the Silver-robed Mage a hand.

Yes, helping him!

In truth, this was the real reason the Silver-robed Mage had summoned them all.

Sharing and discussing Knowledge was certainly part of it, but to be frank—though it was a bitter pill to swallow—the other Wizards, Isaac included, couldn’t contribute much to this particular topic. If it were truly for the sake of research, he would only need to summon the most brilliant few. The rest of them would have been unnecessary.

After all, at the Tier Four stage, most Wizards had vastly different research directions. This was especially true for a topic like the path to becoming a Great Wizard, which wasn’t favored by any special rules. Sheer numbers were meaningless; quality was what mattered.

Besides, although the Law-Breaking Swordsman had not become a Great Creation, it had, in any case, partially completed this world’s rules. There would undoubtedly be some feedback from that, but the greatest rewards could only be reaped after the world’s ascension was complete.

With the Silver-robed Mage’s power, completing this ritual under normal circumstances wouldn’t be a big problem. The crucial point, however, was that the ten-year deadline was approaching. The Endless Tower was about to close, and before it did, the Silver-robed Mage might not be able to finish the ritual.

Whether he could still reap the rewards after leaving was not a certainty.

So, whether to help him, and to what extent, all depended on what benefits this ritual truly offered.

It was pragmatic, but that’s what it meant to be a Wizard!

Knowledge can be shared freely, but if you want me to take action, then sorry, I’ll need something in return~

The Silver-robed Mage was aware of this, so his expression remained unchanged. He simply nodded. After all, it wasn’t coming out of his own pocket. The feedback from the ritual wouldn’t affect the final results he was set to obtain.

"After the ritual is complete, you will mainly receive two types of feedback. The first is Magic, Authority, or Magic Treasures related to this world, the Wilderness Dungeon." As he mentioned Magic Treasures, the Silver-robed Mage glanced at Isaac.

The reason this was even part of the reward was that this guy had created a lot of interesting Magic Items. They looked a bit like Great Creations, but...

’How did I not know Isaac was also skilled in Alchemy?’

Pushing aside his doubts, the Silver-robed Mage knew that while this was a nice perk, it wasn’t enough to truly entice them. So he continued, "The second, and the main event of this ritual! It can extend your time in the Endless Tower, and what’s more, you can choose a new world to enter!"

After speaking, the Silver-robed Mage crossed his arms confidently, resting them under his chin. This was his trump card!

He refused to believe that after hearing this information, the others wouldn’t be tempted!

Sure enough, just as the Silver-robed Mage had predicted, as soon as he said this, everyone’s eyes, Isaac’s included, lit up instantly!

They didn’t really care about the first reward. At their level, an extra bit of Magic, Authority, or a treasure would only add a minor variation to their combat methods. It could hardly be called icing on the cake.

But if they could extend their time here, that was a completely different story!

Although the Silver-robed Mage didn’t say it outright, everyone could read between the lines. The various flaws in the Endless Tower’s Little Worlds were clearly meant for them to practice on!

Succeed, and there would be one more Great Wizard—a cause for celebration.

Fail, and you would still accumulate precious experience, not to mention gain benefits from the trial ritual to pave the way for your next attempt at ascension. The advantages of staying here were simply too many!

After all, most naturally evolved Little Worlds had very complete sets of rules. While most Little Worlds couldn’t compare to the Real World in terms of sheer scale, their rules were often no less complete.

Once they left the Endless Tower, they would never find such a good opportunity to practice again.

This point alone was worth fighting for!

And for Isaac, there was another benefit—a chance to complete his trial mission from the Endless Tower!

The difficulty of Isaac’s trial mission was that as soon as he or the Virtual Deities he created entered the Underground Palace, the Demon God behind it would flip the table, pouring all its power into creating a Tier Five Demon. There was no way to win!

But if he were given another ten years...

...things would be different.

Even if the lowest level of the Underground Palace had a limit on the number of entrants, he could craft a team of Virtual Deities capable of fighting above their tier. If he then equipped the strongest one with an exclusive Divine Artifact, success wouldn’t be impossible!

Most importantly, for Isaac, these two objectives could be pursued at the same time!

Seeing that everyone was showing interest, the Silver-robed Mage waved a finger, and a Magic Light Curtain unfurled in the center of the round table, revealing a map of the Wilderness Dungeon!

At the sight, everyone showed a hint of surprise. ’This guy seems to have come prepared~’

Judging by the map’s level of detail, it was clearly not prepared on the spot, nor was it a simple copy from the Real World. It seemed this wasn’t his first time...

Isaac glanced thoughtfully at the Silver-robed Mage before turning his attention back to the map. On the detailed map, countless red, black, and blue dots of light were scattered about, with red and blue being the most numerous.

Without the Silver-robed Mage needing to explain, everyone understood. Red represented the Underground Palace Demons, black the Sect Apostles, and blue the Wilderness Humans. This matched the situation in the Wilderness. After all, even with the ritual’s feedback, the cost for the Evil Gods to create Sect Apostles was far higher than that for the Demon Gods. Naturally, not all Evil Gods dared to gamble on this.

Unlike the Demon Gods, who operated at near-zero cost, their Divine Power didn’t just grow on trees!

"The ritual is simple: just kill. Whether it’s Demons, the Sect, or humans, after they die, everything they possessed will become nutrients for the Wilderness Dungeon’s ascension under the ritual’s influence. Therefore, we just need to kill as many Demons and Apostles as we can before time runs out. The ritual isn’t complicated, but there is one thing to be aware of!"

The Silver-robed Mage’s expression grew solemn as he said, "Because the Law-Breaking Swordsman is a key factor in the ascension, they must survive until the very end. The more that live, the better. Otherwise, the final feedback from the ritual will be greatly diminished, and the ascension ritual might even fail because of it!"

At these words, everyone except Isaac frowned. It was common knowledge that protection missions were far more difficult than extermination missions, even for resourceful Wizards like them. After all, someone was always bound to do something stupid~