Divine Revelation

The paladin rose from the cold floor. The first light of dawn shone unmistakably upon her, bringing a hint of warmth to the girl who had spent the whole night in devout prayer.

"Katie?"

An armored male paladin strode into the temple and looked at the girl before him with a hint of concern.

"Did you receive..."

"I received a divine revelation from the Goddess of Dawn."

Katie discreetly moved her somewhat numb legs and spoke with considerable excitement and joy. Hearing the news, her companion showed a wordless excitement of his own.

"Really? The Goddess of Dawn really..."

"That's right."

Katie nodded gently, confirming her companion's conclusion. The older paladin cheered with delight, raising both hands to the heavens and murmuring devoutly and excitedly to himself, even shedding tears. Others might not have understood, but as followers of the Goddess of Dawn, they alone knew what the arrival of this day meant. The goddess had fallen during the dark and turbulent era, and some had even spread rumors that she had long since died. Her followers, naturally, had not had an easy time of it. Though they had worked hard to spread her teachings, ordinary people considered it too risky to worship a god whose fate was unknown.

But just yesterday evening, Katie, a knight favored by the Goddess of Dawn, had clearly sensed the goddess's will. Both she and the male paladin traveling with her had been astonished. It was precisely because the Goddess of Dawn had not shown her divine power to mortals for many years that her followers had gradually dwindled. If Katie had not been born bearing the power bestowed by the Goddess of Dawn, and the paladin beside her had not clung devoutly to his faith for so many years, it was hard to imagine whether they too might have abandoned their faith like the others.

"Then the goddess's revelation was..."

At her companion's question, Katie's expression grew a little strange.

"The goddess wants us to find someone."

She answered her companion softly, unable to conceal the confusion in her voice.

"Only he can lead us out of our current predicament."

While the two followers of the Goddess of Dawn puzzled over this baffling revelation, the same scene played out across the Morning Wind Continent: in forests, by clear springs, in caves and temples, in the wilderness and in graveyards. Whether elves, dwarves, humans or other races, they reacted no differently from the two followers of the Goddess of Dawn, going from wild joy at first to bewilderment in the end. Yet they all did the same thing: they immediately packed their belongings and set off for the place indicated by the revelation.

After handing the bartender a few gold coins and telling them not to disturb him, Li Lin returned to his room. There, Angela was idly playing with a wineglass on the table. Beside her, a rather pretty young prostitute lay in a heavy sleep, her face flushed. Li Lin glanced at the two tiny puncture wounds oozing traces of blood on the frail child's neck, whose skin could just about be called fair, and casually asked, "How was it?"

"Very ordinary."

Angela held out a finger and ran it around the rim of the crystal glass.

"As I thought, only the blood of a virgin is a delicacy of the highest quality. Blood like this is barely better than nothing. Still, no matter how you look at it, it's better than a male's. That fluid from a wild dog is filled with savage desire and a base stench. As food, it couldn't be any worse."

"Just don't kill anyone."

Li Lin pushed open the window and watched the stream of people outside. Not far away, the emblem of the God of Justice's temple was exceptionally eye-catching.

"This world isn't like Earth. If you go too far, priests and paladins will hunt you down."

"Don't worry, Master."

Angela giggled and casually stroked the girl's cheek. As her fingers moved, the girl slowly opened her eyes. The eyes that should have held a lively spark were now vacant and empty. Angela gazed into them with a smug smile, and a faint, eerie red light began to shine deep within them.

"Thou hast done well. It is over now. Leave this place and live the life thou wishest to live."

"Yes... I... did well... it's over... I'll live... the life I want to live..."

"Good girl."

As the girl repeated her words as though speaking in a dream, Angela smiled happily. Then she clapped her little hands, and the girl slowly rose like a puppet, walked out of the room, and shut the door behind her. She would wake up half an hour later and completely forget everything that had just happened. Perhaps, for her, that was fortunate too.

"Humans really are easy animals to control. In the end, that's all they amount to."

"But human power can be frightening too, even that of ordinary humans."

Angela's words made Li Lin think once again, involuntarily, of the fall of the Magic Empire. The five heroes he had faced in that battle had all been ordinary humans. They were neither powerful mages like him nor envoys of other races. What, then, had enabled them to wield such tremendous power? Li Lin could neither imagine nor understand it. That was what was called desire. For the sake of their desires, humans could wield any kind of power.

"What are you thinking about, Master?"

Soft little hands wrapped around Li Lin's neck, bringing him back to his senses, and he looked at the girl's beautiful, delicate, adorable face before him. Angela's soft body was curled up in his arms. Having just finished drinking blood, her little body radiated a pleasant warmth that made him feel very comfortable.

"Nothing. My mind just wandered a little."

At that, he paused.

"I was thinking about what we should do next."

While paying, Li Lin had posed as a visitor from out of town and asked the server about recent events on the continent. What he learned was not very encouraging. Just as he had thought, the five countries that had occupied the Magic Empire had all become major powers on the continent. But alliances were fleeting, after all, and even friendship could not last a thousand years. Relations between Kuris and Sera had grown increasingly hostile, and a border dispute had even broken out recently. The other three of the five great powers likewise showed no intention of coexisting peacefully.

From Li Lin's perspective, the situation was a huge joke. Those five small countries had invaded the Magic Empire's territory, destroyed the country, and occupied its lands. Back then, they had been so "united in purpose." And now, the five divided countries had begun trying to swallow one another up, yet this was still the Magic Empire's territory... though the empire no longer existed.

Moreover, those were not the only consequences of the Magic Empire's fall.

After losing the Magic Empire, the dwarves of the Far Northern Mountains had fought several major battles against human armies, only to be defeated in the end. The elves of the Moonlight Forest in the south had also lost many of their people in the fighting, and now they could not even maintain their own country. They had fared slightly better than the dwarves, but not by much. As for the elemental spirits, they had completely sealed the passage between the Elemental Plane and the continent, announcing that they would have no further dealings with humans. Nearly all of the Magic Empire's former allies had been destroyed, with none remaining.

They had truly pulled up the grass by its roots.

Of course, when recounting this history, the bartender had been animated, endlessly boasting about how evil the Magic Empire had been, how it had oppressed other countries, and how it had finally been destroyed by those who rose up against it. Its evil supporters, naturally, had been unable to withstand the forces of justice and had crumbled one after another, and so on.

Although most of this information consisted of lies legitimized to conceal their own ambitions, Li Lin had still extracted some information that was more useful to a degree.

First, the Magic Empire Council, headed by thirteen arcane mages, himself among them, had been completely wiped out, with no survivors. In fact, Li Lin had already realized this after reincarnating. He had been responsible for the final defense, and since the enemy had reached the area he was defending, it naturally meant that the other twelve arcane mages could not have met good ends.

Second, the Magic Empire had been in turmoil for a full hundred years after its fall, and most of its mages had been killed off. In the period that followed, mages as a group had gradually declined—which was only natural.

By now, mages could hardly be seen anywhere except among those kept by the royal families of various countries. Perhaps for fear that the Magic Kingdom would rise again, the five countries were exceptionally cautious when it came to mages. Whenever they discovered children with the potential to become mages, they sent them to the mage towers in their capitals under various pretexts to receive a magical education. Of course, the children were allowed to leave only after they had been deemed harmless. Until then, these children with magical power could only spend their days in the mage towers. Each tower was guarded by thousands of knights, and anyone found learning those "improper" forms of magic was immediately killed on the spot. Even those who safely became mages could ultimately only be recruited by the state and become its exclusive mages.

To put it more vividly, mages had now been reduced to dogs with collars locked around their necks.

For Li Lin, who sought to revive the Magic Kingdom, all of this presented obstacle after obstacle.

"In other words, things don't look promising right now."

After explaining the current situation to Angela, who was in his arms, Li Lin spoke in a somewhat subdued tone. Clearly, it was not merely a matter of time; the severity of the situation had also exceeded his expectations. Their allies could barely protect themselves, and it was hard to say whether any citizens of the Magic Empire remained. But clearly, these problems were not always problems.

"Don't worry, Master. You'll definitely succeed."

Angela's smile was like a devil's and an angel's, cruel, pure, and innocent.

"To put it plainly, humans are just a pack of animals that bow to strength. You need only take back what they stole from you through despicable means back then. You possess power, and this world should be ruled by you to begin with. The trash standing in your way now are only minor obstacles. Once you show them strength they cannot surpass, these little mice naturally won't dare resist you anymore. Power-only power is the greatest guarantee. Not numbers, not laws, not rules, and not ideals."

"It's still hard to say whether the power I possess can reach that level."

Li Lin patted Angela on the head.

"Master, you must have that kind of power."

Angela rose from Li Lin's arms and gazed intently into his eyes.

"Master, you are the only master I acknowledge, so naturally you possess that strength. Please believe in your own power. I will always stand by your side and lend you my strength. If there is resistance, kill it. If there is an obstacle, overcome it. If something stands in your way, destroy it. That is the way to rule, is it not? Before you, what does a single failure amount to?"

"Courage isn't the same as recklessness, and caution isn't the same as cowardice."

Li Lin picked Angela up, set her to one side, and stood.

"But you're right. At the very least, we need a beginning... I think now is the time."

With that, Li Lin turned his gaze toward the temple outside.

This was the last and most important piece of news he had gotten from the bartender.

The temple would soon be sending an expedition to explore the ruins of the Magic Empire.