After setting the candles, Colin Iliad found a piece of pure silver, picked up a carving knife, and quickly carved out a palm-sized talisman carrier.
Then, following Derrick Berg's description, he engraved the Concealment symbol representing " the Fool " on both sides of the silver plate.
Throughout the process, he moved at lightning speed. If there were an observer, they certainly wouldn't be able to see his movements clearly, yet the final product was flawless, like a work of art that had been slowly sculpted over several days.
Next, Colin Iliad found a bottle of mercury and used his powerful Spirituality to guide the liquid inside into the talisman, filling all the patterns and preventing the mercury facing down from falling due to gravity.
Repeating the process, after making the second talisman, Colin Iliad placed them in front of the candle and put a small worm with transparent segments on each one.
Compared to when he first rose from his silence, Colin now moved with composure, calmness, and determination, without the slightest hesitation, just as he had when facing those powerful Monster in the darkness.
Having prepared for the ceremony, he stepped back two paces, took down the straight swords that were hanging crossed on the wall, and stuck them into the gaps in the floor tiles by the door.
As Colin closed his eyes and whispered, a pure and dense light emerged from the surrounding void, covering the two straight swords with a sense of holiness and glory.
The light gathered and increased, slowly transforming into flowing water that formed a "cage" separating the inside from the outside by running along the gaps in the floor tiles and walls of the room.
As a seasoned " Demon Hunter," Colin Iliad didn't actually want to take such precautions during the ritual, as it could easily anger the object of the prayer and bring about more dangerous changes. However, he had to do it. He had to ensure that even if the ritual failed, even if the " The Fool " was a malevolent being, even if he died in front of the altar, the entire City of Silver would not suffer too much harm.
Colin, the chief of City of Silver, was quite confident in the defensive capabilities of this "cage," because it stemmed directly from a divine-level Sealed Artifact: the crown once worn by the Giant King Ormir.
" Proof of Glory!"
This is one of the main factors that enabled City of Silver to withstand wave after wave of Monster attacks from the darkness during the Dark Ages!
Seeing that all preparations were complete, Colin Iliad used the desk as an altar, relying purely on his Spirituality to create a sacred, clean, and undisturbed environment, and lit the three candles.
The dim, yellowish light flickered gently, catching his eye Derrick Berg. He lowered his head and sprinkled the plant powder and Monster fur that Derrick Berg had mentioned into the candle flame, or lit them and threw them into the cauldron, to please the Hidden Existence he was about to pray to.
Similar activities are not uncommon in City of Silver. On the surface, there are sacrifices to the Creator, but secretly, some residents are often lured by unknown entities during patrols or explorations and perform various rituals.
The latter were mostly passive, but a few were active attempts. On the one hand, the despair accumulated over thousands of years of serving the Creator without response caused some to break down mentally and desperately hope to grasp at other support. On the other hand, the " Council of Six " in City of Silver many generations ago had already reached a consensus that the Creator who abandoned this land was unlikely to return, and finding other ways out had to be put on the agenda. Unfortunately, such attempts never had a third outcome except for ineffectiveness and death.
It is precisely because of this that, no matter what difficulties they encountered, no matter how many city-states they discovered that had been destroyed by the "evil god," City of Silver persisted in its exploration of the surrounding areas and even more distant places.
For Colin Iliad himself, the discovery of the outsider Jack brought indescribable joy and hope. His encounters while exploring Afternoon Town, the kings' conspiracy, and the clergy's prophecy gave him a stronger sense of urgency, and he no longer held any expectation that the Creator would return.
The combination of these two factors, along with the abnormalities of Lovia and Derrick, and the prophecy of the Apocalypse, Colin Iliad, the chief of the Council of Six, a seasoned Demigod, and a powerful " Demon Hunter," to try dancing on the edge of a knife and to consider making a deal with Concealment entity.
Colin let out a silent breath, took a step back, and recited in a voice tinged with the weariness of time:
" The Fool That Doesn't Belong to This Era ";
" The Mysterious Ruler Above the Gray Fog "
" The King of Yellow and Black who holds the key to good fortune;"
"I pray to you, I pray for mysterious power, I pray for the blessing of good fortune, I pray that you will make the items on the altar form a spell..."
As Colin's rhythmic and mysterious voice faded, the altar before him suddenly darkened and deepened, as if an indescribable and ineffable divinity was emanating from the central candle flame.
The candle flame suddenly shot up and grew larger, but it failed to illuminate the surroundings. Instead, it made everything even more illusory, revealing countless transparent shadows of various shapes that seemed to exist nowhere, filling every place, some sparse and some dense.
Above this illusory world and countless figures, seven beams of pure light of different colors shone, seemingly containing endless knowledge.
Above these Seven Lights was an endless expanse of gray-white mist, and above it stood an ancient palace overlooking all things.
For a brief moment, " Demon Hunter " Colin forgot everything else, staring intently at the image on the altar, as if something that existed only in books and ancient texts had crossed the barrier between illusion and reality and truly come before him.
If he remembers correctly, this should be a projection of the Spirit World.
Before that catastrophe, before the Creator abandoned this land, the Spirit World was easily observable and even accessible!
The Spirit World now exists only in textbooks and various materials in City of Silver, and no one can touch it anymore!
Just then, a creaking, illusory sound suddenly rang out, and it seemed that a door had opened inside the ancient palace overlooking the Gray Fog and the Spirit World.
Immediately afterwards, Colin saw the unformed runes in front of the candlelight emit a hazy glow. Their patterns were "lit up" one after another, intertwined, and suddenly burst out with a dazzling and intense radiance, enveloping the pure silver sheet and the small circular insect.
The dark world on the altar was instantly Distortion.
Everything quickly returned to normal, but two strange runes made of black crystal appeared on the altar, like the eyes of some being silently watching the world.
" Demon Hunter " Colin paused for a moment, then lowered his gaze, hunched his head, and said in a deep voice:
Thank you for your kindness;
"I praise your presence."
Without delay, he immediately ended the ceremony and lifted the blockade.
Having done all this, the chief of the City of Silver's " Council of Six " returned to his desk and picked up the two talismans made from the relics of Amon's clone.
Even now, the image he had just seen still lingered in his mind:
According to his knowledge of mysticism, the Seven Lights mentioned in some ancient texts should be located high in the Spirit World. These are believed to have a status close to that of gods. However, none of the information records what is above the Seven Lights, what the Gray Fog symbolizes, or who the ancient palace surrounded by the Gray Fog and overlooking the entire Spirit World represents.
Throughout the entire ceremony, Colin Iliad felt that the " The Fool " he was praying to was profound, mysterious, and aloof, unlike some evil beings that always liked to flaunt their power and couldn't wait to show something.
Such a performance is described similarly in the records of City of Silver, belonging to that Creator!
After glancing at the talisman in his hand and checking his own condition, the gray-haired " Demon Hunter " Colin suddenly closed his eyes, as a series of figures inexplicably flashed through his mind:
Those were the lives of his father, mother, brother, sister, eldest son, youngest son, daughter, and eldest grandson, all of whom he had personally ended.
The somewhat aged chief remained silent for a long time, then suddenly let out a soft sigh:
"Two thousand five hundred and eighty-three years have passed..."
Two thousand five hundred and eighty-three years later, City of Silver finally received a normal response once again.
Inside the library at the spire.
Derrick found a notebook he hadn't seen before in the section on ancient mythology that he frequently browsed.
The notebook's cover is made of the leather of some kind of Monster, with a distinct pattern visible. The paper inside is old and yellowed, Record the original owner's experiences when encountering different Monster.
Most of these Monster could be found in the City of Silver's textbooks, even their characteristics. However, the notes contained a lot of combat reflections and experiences, which Derrick found quite interesting and studied very carefully.
As he flipped through the pages, he suddenly noticed a Monster called a " Shapeshifter ".
This Monster lacks the Wisdom to communicate, but it excels at setting traps and targeting its prey. It can also impersonate others, using seemingly unbelievable methods to hunt and kill...
The owner of the notebook described it as eerie and dangerous.
This is very similar to Mr. World's guess about the characteristics of Trickmaster... Could it be that " Shapeshifter " are Trickmaster? Derrick was overjoyed and quickly browsed through the pages, discovering that these Monster lived in the ruins of a city-state further north and in a more remote area. Because the Monster in the darkness of that area were powerful and terrifying, even the " Council of Six " could not deal with some of them. Therefore, after the Original two attempts, City of Silver temporarily suspended its exploration of the vicinity, and it has not resumed since. For similar reasons, City of Silver's textbooks did not describe the distinctive Monster of that area.
After reading these records, Derrick subconsciously flipped to the last page of his notebook, wanting to know who had personally experienced those two perilous expeditions.
Amidst the rustling sound, he scanned a name:
" Colin Iliad."
Desi County, Port Escoson.
Klein returned to the real world, rubbed his temples, went straight to his bed, and collapsed onto it.
In order to make the chief of City of Silver have a better impression of " The Fool " and generate more trust, he had deliberately added special effects when responding just now, forcibly displaying the mysterious spatial dimension above the Gray Fog that only appears in the " Mysticism Ritual " and " Sacrifice and Bestowal Ritual ". This consumed a lot of his Spirituality, making him even more tired and sleepy.
"I'll find food for ' Creeping Hunger ' when it wakes up. For now, let it rest on the Gray Fog... "Klein thought drowsily, and soon fell asleep, sleeping from morning until afternoon, until he was woken up by the rumbling of his stomach.
P. S.: Starting today, there will only be one update on weekends.