The open, grey-blue gate, the descending stone steps, the sea shimmering with golden light, and the omnipresent light once again came into view of the residents of City of Silver, including Liaval and Candice.
As members of the previous exploration team, this wasn't the first time they'd seen this scene, but they were still deeply shaken and instinctively held their breath.
Derrick, carrying the " Roar of the Thunder God " hammer, stood at the forefront. He was two meters tall with broad shoulders and remained silent.
After nearly a minute, Liaval tentatively spoke:
"Elder Berg, when shall we go out?"
He is a Sequence 5 " Guardian ", nearly 2.5 meters tall, with slightly abnormal hand-foot proportions.
Derrick stared at the sea, which was shimmering with golden spots, for several seconds before saying:
"Wait a little longer."
Several days had passed since he opened that door. He had led the exploration team back to City of Silver with the ashes, characteristics, and Sealed Artifact of the Chief and Elder Lovia. He had also used that Concealment to gain the trust of the current Chief of the " Council of Six," Waite Chirmont.
This time, Derrick will lead twenty Beyonder from City of Silver as pathfinders to find a safe passage and ascertain the situation outside.
In this matter, he rejected Mr. World's suggestion to use the " Staff of the Stars " to directly move the entire City of Silver out of the Forsaken Land of the Gods. Instead, he wanted to measure the path of hope step by step with his own two feet and remember what the "dawn" that City of Silver finally found after more than two thousand years of perseverance and sacrifice looked like.
Upon hearing Elder Derrick's reply, Liaval, Candice, and the other members of the scouting team didn't say anything more, each taking a step back to continue admiring the beautiful scenery.
They still harbored some distrust towards Derrick Berg, given his close ties with the outsider. The Chief and Elder Lovia had both perished in the previous expedition, leaving only the " Unshadowed " and the outsider alive. Had the Council of Six not chosen to trust Derrick, they would certainly have been more hostile and resistant than wary.
After an unknown period of time, the sea, which had been shimmering with golden light, was suddenly shrouded in darkness.
In the depths of darkness, a faint mist can be seen, within which stands a black church with a pointed roof and various other buildings, creating a scene that feels both real and dreamlike.
Derrick and the others were no strangers to darkness; some instinctively emitted light, while others lit grease candles, working busily but without chaos.
Once the group of twenty-one people were all protected by the light, they looked at the town shrouded in mist and the shadowy figures of pedestrians with confusion, unable to understand what was going on.
This was not the darkness they were familiar with.
Just then, Derrick body naturally radiated pure light, raised his left hand and said in a low voice:
"Set off."
Without waiting for his teammates' response, he took the lead, passing through the gate and walking step by step down the stone steps into the darkness.
Liaval, Candice, and the others exchanged glances, gritted their teeth, and followed closely behind the newly appointed elder of the " Council of Six," Derrick Berg, out of the Giant King's residence.
In the deep darkness, they climbed the stairs, when suddenly their eyes were brightened by an orange glow and a cluster of black, monastery-like buildings.
"Is this the outside world?" Candice looked around warily and curiously, realizing that she and her companions had unknowingly walked to the opposite side of the " Giant King's Court," separated from their original location by a sea of clouds tinged with orange-red.
"No." Derrick compared the current environment with the descriptions given by Mr. "World" and Ms. " The Hermit," and nodded slightly. "We'll have to wait here for a while. You can each find a place to rest."
This " Unshadowed," who no longer showed any signs of naivety, calmly arranged everything.
Liaval glanced at the Black Monastery with its gates tightly shut and asked with a hint of doubt:
"Shouldn't we explore this place and find an exit?"
"No need." Derrick shook his head.
The Pathfinder team members didn't ask any more questions or take a break; they remained standing in place, patiently waiting.
As time ticked by, blinding rays of sunlight suddenly shone into the world, turning everything bright white before fading and disappearing.
Derrick, Candice, and the others instinctively looked around and saw that golden ocean once again, feeling a terrifying aura that made them afraid to look directly at it.
However, unlike before, they were now on an island, with huge, golden, strange plants with smiling faces behind them. Their state, devoid of any sense of Depravity or distortion, allowed every member of the City of Silver Pathfinder Team to genuinely experience the joy that life brings.
They're really out... It's truly a different world... Liaval, Candice, and the others couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
They immediately confirmed a fact:
Elder Derrick did not betray City of Silver; his cooperation with the outsiders was genuinely intended to lead everyone away from that cursed land.
"Elder Berg..." Candice stammered for a moment before saying, "Thank you."
Derrick nodded slightly, his back ramrod straight.
Unlike Candice, Liaval didn't express her apology. Instead, she glanced around and asked:
"Elder Berg, how do we get out of here? Build a ship?"
"Shipbuilding" was a word that only existed in their history books, and it sounded particularly unfamiliar to them at this moment.
"There don't seem to be any shipbuilding materials here..." Candice and the others immediately examined the small island but found no trees or other plants.
Derrick shook his head again:
"No need, let's wait a little longer..."
Before he could finish speaking, he saw a dark shadow appear where the sea met the sky.
The dark shadow grew larger and larger, rapidly approaching this area along the safe passage between the golden spots of light.
Before long, the dark shape revealed its outline: a hybrid ship billowing smoke and with sails billowing, flying a blue serpent flag.
"Boat?"
"Is this a boat?"
Liaval, Candice, and the others remained on guard while raising questions.
Derrick, an experienced individual who had received common sense education at Tarot Club and seen various pictures of ships, nodded slightly upon hearing this:
"Right."
As they spoke, the ship drew closer, gradually making the figure standing at the bow clearer.
It was a man with scorched yellow eyebrows, deep blue eyes, and a black cloak. He leaped onto the dragon's head and slightly opened his arms to the people of City of Silver.
Seeing this, Derrick, who had maintained a serious demeanor, secretly breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that everything had gone as expected and there had been no unexpected incidents.
Danitz had intended to jump off the ship and walk up to the followers of " The Fool " to announce their salvation, but after glancing at the height of the people in City of Silver, he silently steadied himself.
He stood at the dragon's head, arms fully outstretched, and addressed Derrick and the others with a reserved smile:
Welcome to the world of light promised by God!
Above the Gray Fog, inside the ancient palace.
Klein sat in the high-backed chair belonging to " The Fool," observing the City of Silver scout team's journey through the deep red star symbolizing " the Sun," always ready to intervene in case of any unexpected events.
Only when the "history" that had been sealed away for thousands of years met the current "era," and they boarded a ship from the new government of the Rorsted Archipelago, leaving the most dangerous core sea area of Ruins of the Gods' Battle, did Klein breathe a sigh of relief, put down the " Staff of the Stars " in his hand, and beckoned to summon two items.
These are the Beyonder Characteristic of the " Miracle Invoker " extracted from that " Curtain " and the " Worm of Star " from the " Saint of Secrets " Botis.
After thinking for a moment, Klein reached out with his left hand and grabbed a large clump of dark black and reddish liquid from the Historical Void.
This is the blood of " Dark Demonic Wolf " Kotar, a full three hundred milliliters, a key auxiliary ingredient in the " Miracle Invoker " Potion.
Of course, as an auxiliary material, it has only one use: to reduce the negative effects of Beyonder Characteristic and buffer the corresponding mystical influences. So it doesn't matter whether it is Historical Projection or not. As long as it can play its role in the two stages of Potion preparation and Potion consumption, that's enough. When the duration of the Historical Void image reaches its limit, Klein will either fail to advance and collapse into Monster, or he will have become a " Miracle Invoker " and have initially mastered Beyonder Characteristic. In either case, he will no longer need assistance.
Immediately afterwards, Klein pulled something else out of the Fog of History.
It was a " Worm of Time " with multiple segments.
Because of his deep psychological trauma regarding Amon, Klein chose to summon the " Worm of Time " that Pallez Zoroast had once given him, just to avoid any unforeseen circumstances.
Having prepared the ingredients, he conjured an iron pot, tossed in 300 milliliters of the Dark Demonic Wolf's blood, and then added the " Worm of Time " and the shimmering " Worm of Star " in turn.
The dark, reddish liquid inside the iron pot turned gloomy, its surface clear and transparent, while deep inside, swirling currents surged.
Without hesitation, Klein picked up the Beyonder Characteristic of the " Miracle Invoker ".
Its shape resembles a heart, and it is as transparent as crystal, yet tiny bubbles emerge from it from time to time, each bubble seemingly containing a dreamlike realm.
When this Beyonder Characteristic came into contact with the liquid inside the iron pot, it immediately absorbed into it, causing the darkness to condense and become profound, as if countless eyes were simultaneously opening within it.
After staring at it for a few seconds, Klein poured the prepared " Miracle Invoker " Potion into a glass bottle and, through a bestowal ritual, brought it into the real world.
On a deserted island in the Sonia Sea, Klein, who had been " Teleportation " there, looked at the Potion in his hand and suddenly hesitated. Once he became Angel, he would inevitably be affected by his Beyonder Characteristic, becoming more and more ruthless, cruel, and indifferent to life. He would need enough anchors to maintain his humanity.
This is not something that could have been avoided by fully digesting the Potion and mastering the " Acting Method " in the previous stages. Even when Emperor Roselle progressed so smoothly in the early stages, he almost underwent a mutation and nearly lost control when he reached the Sequence 2 Angel.
As for the Angel that Klein knew, they all seemed normal on the surface, but he had no way of knowing what they were really like or what state they were in when they were hiding behind the scenes.
If one could gain a long life, even living for thousands of years, at Sequence 4 or Sequence 3 stages, then that Saint would indeed have little motivation to advance to the Angel.
By combining the higher the Sequence, the closer it is to the Primordial words, Klein suddenly understood why the " White Witch " Katarina had only advanced from Sequence 4 to Sequence 3 over a thousand years.
But I have no way out... After a brief silence, Klein sighed silently.
The imminent Apocalypse of Amon and Zaratul, the impending apocalypse, and the reality of being powerless to intervene in the war and only able to contribute his strength through donations, are all pushing him toward the Angel rank.
His eyes flickered for a few seconds before quickly returning to calm. Klein picked up the Potion bottle and poured the liquid inside into his mouth.
P. S.: The author of "Entering the World of Cultivation" has started a new book, "The Legend of Cyber Heroes," a hardcore martial arts story set in a cyberpunk world, a tale of resisting Tyrant and changing the world.