A Chance Wish

But Iz hadn't told Lu Cang that he had to create a spell or a cultivation method of his own.

He had only asked Lu Cang to think.

Lu Cang murmured, "A mage's guiding principle is the exploration of the Source."

"Void Realm (LV: 152)"

His Tier 2 Magic Enhancement Technique had already reached level 152.

Void Realm couldn't benefit from Multiple Casting's triple proficiency bonus, nor could it be improved by killing monsters or anything like that.

But he could practice it whenever he wanted.

It was just that the proficiency needed to level up Void Realm seemed much higher than that of ordinary spells.

That was why it was still only level 152.

Lu Cang estimated that he had around 2.3 million mana inside him...

Actually, once he passed two million, Lu Cang had felt that he'd reached his limit. Yet Void Realm kept pushing his mana higher and higher.

There was no use for that much mana.

Even if he poured mana into increasing the power of the spells he'd learned, releasing every spell he knew all at once wouldn't use up even ten thousand points.

And he could recover that much mana in a single breath.

Mana should have been a mage's biggest concern, but Lu Cang didn't need to worry about it at all.

His stretches finished, Lu Cang took out the general knowledge book he'd borrowed from the library before going to sleep.

He slowly studied the information he might need the next day.

As he read, sleepiness gradually crept over him.

He slept soundly through the night.

Early the next morning, Lu Cang did as he always did and bought a copy of World Shock from a street vendor who sold news.

But the moment he saw the headlines today, his pupils contracted.

"World-Shaking News: Tier 7 Dungeon Expedition Ends in Total Annihilation! Is the Ruin Continent's Doomsday Upon Us?!"

Total annihilation?

What was this supposed to mean?

Iz and the others were so strong. How could that be possible?!

Lu Cang hurriedly read on.

But after quickly finishing the entire report, he couldn't help clenching his teeth.

Damn it.

What a clickbait headline. You deserve to die.

[The Jielong, Huishen, Shaxue, Xinzhou, and other adventurer parties have been confirmed to be completely wiped out.

However, several of the strongest adventurer parties are still pushing deeper into the dungeon...]

The adventurer parties mentioned as completely wiped out didn't include Iz and the others.

Iz's adventurer party was called... Legend.

A plain, unadorned name, but one that suited them perfectly.

Iz had said that the name had already been registered by someone else for a long time, and that plenty of people had wanted to claim it...

But on the very day he went to register his own adventurer party, another lone adventurer happened to be beside him, there to cancel their party's registration.

And their name had been [Legend].

Iz hadn't planned on registering that name, but when he happened to hear them cancel it, he discussed it with Chicheng.

In the end, they settled on the name their party had now.

"At least... they're safe for now."

The dangers of a Tier 7 Dungeon were beyond anything Lu Cang had imagined.

He hadn't expected so many parties to be wiped out on the very first day of exploration...

He'd heard that every party taking part in this operation was one of the best on the continent.

Yet they'd died so easily, on the very first day.

Lu Cang couldn't help clenching his fist.

"Iz, you'd better really be stronger than them."

Lu Cang let out a long breath. There was no point in worrying here.

Learn about the world and grow stronger.

Those were the only things he could do.

With that thought, Lu Cang was about to enter the Adventurer's Guild and begin his activities for the day.

But when he turned, he saw a blank idol.

"Rhein Town doesn't have a church or a dedicated shrine.

"If anyone wants to worship, they can only do so at the blank altar."

That was what Kumiloni had told him.

Clip-clop—

Clip-clop-clop-clop—

Suddenly, a speeding, reckless cargo carriage dashed past behind Lu Cang.

Crash!

A heavy, muffled thud rang out along its path.

A heavy load had fallen to the ground.

A fully formed idol landed squarely in the middle of the road.

Some gods had forms.

Others had none.

Yakartikto was a god with a form...

The god had a specific appearance and distinctive adornments, all recorded in books as though people had seen the god with their own eyes.

The idol before him—

The four-leaf clover earring dangling from its ear, the strange coin held in its hand, and every detail of its clothing all matched the descriptions of Yakartikto in the books.

At the sight of the idol, the people on the street fell silent. Then they rushed toward the altar like mad, tossing their silver and Copper Coins onto it as if they were fools giving money away for free...

Lu Cang glanced at the carriage speeding off into the distance. It seemed to have lost its cargo...

Hey... Hadn't they noticed that such a huge piece of cargo had fallen off?

Although public areas didn't have dedicated shrines, that didn't stop residents from ordering idols to keep in their homes.

Seeing the townspeople jostling to worship Yakartikto, Lu Cang couldn't help but marvel.

Were these people really so crazy about worshipping gods?

Like an old man watching people scramble for free eggs, Lu Cang stood by and watched them quietly for a while...

Then,

he slowly joined the crowd...

He tossed down a gold coin.

He folded his hands in front of his chest and made a wish.

"Yakartikto, if you can really hear my wish, please protect Izpalut and the others and bring them home safe."

After tossing down the gold coin, Lu Cang couldn't be bothered to find out whether someone had picked it up or some unknown force had truly reclaimed it. He turned and headed for the guild.

Would worshipping a god do any good?

Lu Cang didn't know.

He simply wanted to pray for Iz and the others' safety.

"Ah~"

"Little Lu Cang, come here, come here!"

As soon as he walked in, Xili called out to him.

Lu Cang went over, a little curious.

"Oh dear, a whole lot of new requests came in yesterday. We're almost short on adventurers here."

Lu Cang looked at the request board beside her.

It really was overflowing with work.

It was already covered.

Xili clasped her hands together and pleaded with Lu Cang. "Little Lu Cang, we don't have many high-level adventurers in Rhein Town. Now that Iz and the others have left, we probably won't be able to deal with all these monsters for a while."

"If we leave them alone..."

Lu Cang nodded. "Mm, I understand."

Oh, she wanted him to help clear out the monsters.

Before, Iz and the others had been here. Now he was here...

But what would they do after he left, too?

Lu Cang was curious.

It wasn't as if powerful adventurers just happened to pass through and take care of their requests all the time.

"Okay, I'll take a look."

"But, Sister Xili, if there aren't any powerful adventurers around, how do people usually handle something like this?"

There really were a lot of requests.

The number of missions to hunt monsters in the wilderness had suddenly increased. There were quite a few Tier 2 lords, and Tier 3 ones were piling up, too.

Rhein Town had only a limited number of Level 3 adventurers.

Level 3 professionals didn't have to brave the wilderness to explore dungeons and kill monster lords.

They could find decent jobs even in the kingdom's capital, earn a good income, and live happy lives.

Of course... that also meant they could make even more money as adventurers.

Xili sighed. "If we don't have enough adventurers to help, we can only ask the kingdom for assistance. They'll send an expeditionary force to help us clear out the threats nearby."

That answer made perfect sense.

Rhein Town belonged to the Kingdom of Loren, which seemed to be one of the more powerful kingdoms on the continent.

To be precise, Rhein Town was part of the territory ruled by Lord Reande. He had more than a dozen other towns like this one, as well as two midsized city-states.

Even if they didn't ask the kingdom for help, the lord of the territory would surely deal with this threat for Rhein Town.

Xili continued, "But plenty of adventurers have been making their way here since last night..."

Lu Cang tilted his head in confusion. "Making their way here?"

"Mm... I saw in the kingdom's forecast that a Demonic Tide is moving this way."

"So the adventurers are following its path to earn the generous rewards."

"They'll probably choose to make a stop in Rhein Town."

Some character names share names with characters from Elona. I simply thought those names sounded nice, so I used them directly. The worldbuilding and character settings are entirely unrelated; everything except the names is my own original creation.