A Strange Invitation

Beyond the Trial of the Sun, there lies a vast region of the Sun Domain.

Although the Trial in the Spirit Realm occupy space within the realm each time, at least half of the area is always left unused for Trial.

Otherwise, as the lord of the Spirit Realm, each Spirit Realm Trial would occupy a period of time in the realm, so how could anyone develop the realm?

At this moment, Zali, the lord of the Sun Domain, is observing the progress of the Trial through a transparent light screen.

As he watched intently, he sensed that his realm was being invaded by some kind of force.

He remained unmoved, his gaze fixed on the Trial's light screen, ignoring the actions within his own realm.

In this Sun Domain, the original appearance is no longer visible. The once reddish-brown land is now covered with giant plants.

The red soil was no longer a smooth road, but a fragmented mess.

On the red soil, there are not only weeds that grow taller than a person and are so dense that they block out all sight, but also giant trees hundreds of meters high, with vines growing wildly on the red soil.

The Sun Domain is now more than just a place covered in plants.

However, the place where Zali was now was overgrown with weeds and plants. If it weren't for the constant burning of these plants by the Sunflame, he would probably have been wrapped up long ago.

Just by looking at these plants, Zali could imagine that in other parts of the current Sun Domain, the land was crushed into fragments and covered in frost—all of which was preordained.

Those Deity might even spread pollutants into this realm to corrupt the matter within it.

Zali had neither the means nor the motivation to deal with the Deity ' retaliation.

Because he knew he was powerless against the all-encompassing attacks of these Deity. If it were a Deity who had just established himself in the Spirit Realm, he might be able to put up a fight with him.

However, there's a reason why no new Sunflame Knight have been born in the realm that Zali guards for hundreds of years.

He was utterly incapable of dealing with those Deity; his power was far too insignificant.

Otherwise, he would have gone out to fight those Deity to the death long ago when the Gods incorporated the Trial of the Sun into the Trial of the Spirit Realm. There would be no situation where he has been guarding here for hundreds of years without a single Sunflame Knight being born.

But that didn't matter Fran. Zali watched as Trial easily defeated the powerful Magic Creature in the second Trial using Sunflame.

He felt pleased to see Fran's superb Sunflame Arts easily melt the Iron-Hide Horned Ox's Steel Skin and insert the club into its body.

"Her Sunflame Arts is truly impressive, probably on par with my level ten years after becoming Sunflame Knight."

He deeply admired Fran's use of the Sunflame Arts; he would never have been able to unleash such a powerful effect if he hadn't acquired the Sunflame Knight Profession.

He saw Fran lean forward, battling the enormous Magic Creature in a contest of strength; he saw Sunflame clashing with the monster's giant claws.

Then, a few seconds later, the Sunflame melted off the Magic Creature's claws and slammed straight into the Magic Creature's body.

"It's terrifying. I must have fought that Magic Creature for ages before slowly wearing it down with my Sunflame, but she was strong enough to rival Magic Creature."

As he watched Fran's image intently, a voice pierced through the barrier of the Sunflame and reached his ears.

"Zali, the Sunflame Knight, we can talk."

He remained unmoved by the first sentence that finally reached him, but after that, more words followed.

"We can give you a new realm, allowing you to reach the Fourth Order, instead of being stuck here your whole life."

"As long as you let go of everything related to the sun, we can still accept you into the circle of the Spirit Realm lords."

"Abandon your status as a lord, blast the entire Sun Domain apart, and we can grant you your small request."

"You really think that even if a new Sunflame Knight is born, it will..."

"You must be prepared for the Gods to be eyeing the entire Sun Domain..."

Countless tempting or threatening words assaulted Zali's ears, their sounds exploding around him and making him extremely uncomfortable. But if you looked through the helmet, you could see a smiling face.

Finally, Zali spoke the first words to these Deity.

"I have always represented the sun. If you want me to change my mind, let the sun speak to me."

The words fell silent for a moment, then suddenly rang out again, constantly exploding in Zali's ears.

Zali covered his ears in pain, but he soon found it was no use, because the words of the Deity were being transmitted directly into his ears.

He could only helplessly lower his hand, letting the sounds continue to bother him.

The sounds of the Sunflame burning the plants still echoed, and the Gods had no other means to influence him besides these sounds.

He watched as Fran killed the three-headed Magic Creature in the video, then walked directly out of the meadow and looked up at the sky.

The four yellow spheres in the sky are the reason why the Gods went mad and came to harass him.

If he were Gods, seeing his Proxy killed and expelled from the Trial, he too would be anxious.

At this moment, in Zali's perception, there were only four Proxy, and these four Proxy were the last hope of these Deity.

Once these four Proxy are eliminated, Sunflame Knight, a breed unseen for centuries, will finally emerge.

Moreover, judging from the current situation, Fran can deal with those four Proxy without any problems as long as she is careful.

However, at this moment, there was something else that puzzled Zali.

"Is it three, or four?"

Zali carefully sensed the annoying traces of the Deity in the current Trial again; sometimes he could sense three, sometimes four.

This puzzled him greatly; he didn't quite understand what was going on.

Fran hasn't reached the position of one of the four Proxy yet, so this feeling is unrelated to Fran's actions.

Furthermore, Zali noticed this elusive feeling at the very beginning of the Trial; the signal from one of the Proxy was extremely unstable, sometimes detectable and sometimes undetectable.

"If no Proxy can hide from my perception, then is the Proxy I can sense from time to time a true Proxy?"

Despite these doubts, Zali remained relaxed, knowing that having such an Proxy was good, but not having one would have been even better.

Fran was able to enter the Trial with second-tier strength because he opened a back door for her. As for the other Trial participants, it was impossible for any of them to be higher than First Order.

And it would be even better if the faint Proxy signal that Zali sensed was not an Proxy.

Among those at the First Order, it's rare to find someone stronger than Proxy, making it much easier for Fran to deal with such a person.

"But what's the point of them using some kind of disguise as Proxy?"

With a sense of unease, Zali then looked at the image above.

"It's you!!"

Heather suddenly screamed, startling everyone in the group, who then turned to look at Heather.

Heather was turning her head to the side, and when the others in the group looked in the direction Heather was pointing, they all had different reactions.

Rachel now understood why Heather was making such a fuss; a person had appeared in the direction she was looking, and that person also possessed the aura of Proxy.

Tristan lowered his head, glancing at Fran out of the corner of his eye before looking away.

When Ophelia saw Fran arrive, a smile appeared on her lips, and her gaze lingered on Fran for a long time.

Fran gave an awkward smile. She approached the group from the side and rear, walking very carefully and without making a sound.

However, Heather still noticed and shouted, startling even Fran herself.

Her original plan was that if she approached silently and the distance was right, she would use [Heart of Quicksand] to see if she could tie the two of them up and then start fighting.

With everyone noticing her, she could only force a smile and wave.

Hello everyone...

Fran's words somehow provoked Heather, causing her to take a step forward and prepare to attack Fran.

"What's so good about it?! Give me back the Short Sword I bought last time..."

Although it seemed like Heather was about to fight Fran, they didn't end up fighting.

"It's not a good time for us to fight now. Should we wait until we've killed all the Trial participants? It wouldn't be good if they got the advantage of Trial if we fought now."

Fran's words calmed Heather down. Although Heather was furious, she knew that the most important thing now was to complete the task given to her by the Deity.

Heather originally wanted Fran to leave directly; she didn't welcome Fran following her.

"Then you should leave now, to..."

"Excuse me for a moment? I have something to discuss with you." Ophelia extended her hand to Fran.

Fran raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised that someone in this group was looking for her. She neither accepted nor refused Ophelia's hand.

"Let's go somewhere quiet to talk."

Fran was very interested in the invitation. If she killed one of them elsewhere first, the remaining three would be at her mercy.

So she readily agreed and followed them a little further away from the group. However, the distance she moved away from them left Fran somewhat disappointed, as the three people could still see them, making it difficult for Fran to take action.

Ophelia stopped in her tracks, then slowly said:

"Let me introduce myself first. I am a mage from the Alliance, not an Proxy."

These words caused Fran's pupils to shrink slightly, and her hand, which had been resting on her weapon, loosened.