Chapter 942

Chapter 936, Chapter 145: Flowers may bloom again, but youth never returns.

Orion donned his animal-skin coat, accompanied by a group of ranger guards. These rangers were now vastly different from the crude power system of a century ago.

They possessed a vast array of spells to choose from, as Locke himself was skilled in Peach Bow and Thorn Arrow magic, and needed them to deduce the corresponding spell models for the Great Azure Leaf Dragon Sparrow. Therefore, these rangers were adept at archery and agility.

Orion donned military attire, slung his bow and arrows over his shoulder, and armed himself.

Looking at the city-state lords under his command, he said, “You don’t need to see me off. This is enough. Ahead lies the Golden Tree. Once you enter the dimensional portal behind the Golden Tree, you can enter the Emerald Dream.”

“That’s a natural secret realm where spring is eternal.”

These city-state lords, all elite rangers, looked at him with complex expressions.

They admired and loved him, but also felt that Orion was hindering the progress of the times and preventing their own era from arriving. They were eager to try, but they all knew they were no match for Orion.

At this moment, Orion’s resolute act of entering the Emerald Dream alone made them feel they should be happy, but their hearts were heavy.

They felt as if they were witnessing a legend’s demise.

Orion suddenly spoke: “I’ve heard a saying, ‘Flowers bloom again, but youth never returns.’ I built this city-state here in my youth, and it became the holy land of our civilization. I know what you’re thinking; you want to make this the capital of a kingdom.”

Orion raised his head, as if sensing Locke’s location, but it seemed like an illusion.

“You want to see a vast kingdom emerge; you want this era to end and usher in the next. But I tell you, don’t even think about it.” “

Don’t even think about creating something that will oppress and exploit the common people while I’m still alive.”

Orion gripped his battle axe tightly.

“I know what you’re thinking.”

His sharp gaze swept over the crowd, and the rangers all retreated.

Orion sneered.

“As long as I live, that day will never come.”

“And now I’m heading to the Emerald Dream. I’ll fight my final battle there. I’ll try to obtain a second-ring level Power Leaf for my treant master. If I succeed, our Ranger system will reach the second ring. But if I fail, I’ll die there.”

Upon hearing this, a city-state lord’s eyes lit up. He looked up at Orion and asked, “But Master Orion, since you became the first Ranger in this world, you’ve been the backbone of all of us Rangers. You even control this Golden Tree and have the power to contact our master at any time. After you die, who will take charge?”

Orion sneered again.

“I will not die.”

“But I will not let my descendants inherit my position. There is no such thing as a hereditary position among Rangers. My position will be given to the best Ranger. Unfortunately, to your disappointment, although I am old, I don’t know why, but I feel power flowing continuously from beneath my feet into my world.”

“Although flowers may bloom again, youth never returns.”

Orion, holding his bow and arrows, strode forward and entered the Emerald Dream.

“Teacher, I can feel your profound power surging towards me. Although I don’t know why, this is what gives me the determination to enter the Emerald Dream again.”

After he entered the Emerald Dream, the most outstanding city-state lords of the three worlds looked at each other.

They collectively reached a conclusion—

Orion left his last words, allowing the strongest to inherit his position.

Locke’s figure disappeared from the city-state that Orion had built. This city-state was built by Orion for himself, and since Orion had left, there was no reason for him to remain in it.

Locke looked at the city-state lords and could sense the brewing prosperity of summer. Orion, who had helped him create the Eternal Spring era in the Three Caverns World, should also be transitioning from spring to summer with his departure.

But at this moment, Locke’s long-dormant super-intuition suddenly sent him a sense of life-or-death crisis.

Locke frowned in surprise.

“A complete dragon bloodline possesses the third ring level, and now the dragon bloodline is issuing me a warning, a warning so urgent, as if I will die if I don’t break through.”

Locke used advanced meditation to introspect on the half-dragon remnant within his bloodline, essentially a kind of spiritual projection.

That half-dragon spiritual projection seemed to have lost control; seeing him, its attitude became extremely hostile, and it even opened its mouth, attempting to bite him.

The dragon’s eyes were filled with disgust and hatred.

Locke looked at the top of the dragon’s forehead in surprise and found that the heart-shaped curse on the dragon’s forehead was still present. This dragon remnant should not be controlled by the Black Sun Tower but should be serving him.

But why was this afterimage of the demonic dragon so hostile towards him, even seemingly wanting to kill him?

Why was this?

Locke quickly realized a possibility: a wizard from the Black Sun Tower was particularly close to him.

The demonic dragon bloodline was deeply intertwined with the Black Sun Tower.

If a wizard from the Black Sun Tower were particularly close, the demonic dragon bloodline would surge, and the related [Superintuition] ability would warn him of danger—this was perfectly normal.

He had to break through to the Star Ring Wizard level as soon as possible, or there would be no way out.

This was the reaction his superintuition was giving him.

Locke looked at the city-state trees, and immediately stretched out his palm towards the golden tree. Instantly, countless leaves from the golden tree scattered into golden leaf shadows, drifting in the wind and scattering towards the city-state lords.

These city-state lords immediately reached out for the golden leaves.

“This is… the Ancestral Master has manifested! This is wonderful! This is the Ancestral Master who passed down the Way of the Rangers! The Ancestral Master has given us so much knowledge.”

“Then the question arises: does the Ancestral Master support our establishment of a kingdom or not?”

“Not necessarily. After Teacher Orion, can’t we just maintain the status quo?”

“How can maintaining the status quo lead to another surge in the number of Rangers? How can we bring the Leaf of Power to a new level? Before, only Orion propelled the Leaf of Power forward, but now we can only rely on ourselves.”

“Maintaining the status quo can also allow the number of Rangers to surge again, and it can also allow the Leaf of Power to reach a new level. The Three Cave Worlds are vast, and currently only a third of the region is Ranger territory. There are many more regions that are just city-states established by ordinary mortals. If we spread the Ranger Way to those regions, wouldn’t we be able to accumulate enough talent?”

“To develop, we must establish kingdoms!”

“Establishing kingdoms is not necessarily a good thing!”

…

In the Golden Crown Mountain region, the Demon Dragon Wizard raised his hand, holding a gray bell. He shook the bell and chuckled.

“Unexpected, isn’t it? Your bloodline may not be on your side.”

He shook the bell three times.

Then, he looked up at Golden Crown Mountain, which had a sun hanging behind it. Golden Crown Mountain was large and had three smaller ones.

“Really, I was forced to become a Black Wizard to come here. Is that Golden Crown Mountain? It’s indeed extraordinary.”

A sense of caution appeared on the Demon Dragon Wizard’s face, because he felt that his luck increased as he approached Golden Crown Mountain. The so-called Dragon Nest Luck Enhancement Technique of Golden Crown Mountain had actually worked on him.

His fate was protected by sacrificial magic.

Sacrificial magic had clearly reached its limits, exhausted the paths of traditional magic, yet why was there still magic that could enhance his luck under its protection?

“Of all eras, this one is the most unpredictable for the Tower of the Black Sun.”

“Could it be that there are areas where sacrificial magic cannot reach?”

A three-dimensional seven-pointed star appeared behind the dragon wizard, floating in the air, with various runes and patterns appearing within it.

“Where sacrificial magic cannot reach, there is no such thing.”

“The prophecy of the Tower of the Black Sun is the truth.”

He spoke to himself, prophesying, “My fate will not increase unless I die immediately.”

The next moment, a dark shadow fell behind him, and his luck, which had increased due to the Golden Crown Mountain, was directly severed.

The dragon wizard wore a half-smile. He grabbed the clump of luck he had severed, and it instantly transformed into a semi-transparent black figure in his hand. Then, as if molding a puppet, he sculpted an exact replica of himself.

Then, he placed his puppet on the ground, and instantly a magical pressure identical to his own appeared on the ground.

However, this puppet lacked sentience.

“I used this energy to create a clone, so I can use this clone to kill that dragon wizard without revealing my identity. Moreover, this clone shares the same origin as the barrier of Golden Crown Mountain, so it can freely enter Golden Crown Mountain. But it’s incomplete? What’s so difficult about that?”

“Does it require a powerful spell of this era?”

The dragon wizard waved his hand, putting the clone away.

He didn’t go to Golden Crown Mountain; there were too many barriers and hidden magic arrays around it. If he were to break through head-on, he would have difficulty succeeding unless he used all his methods.

But the war between wizards was essentially a war of information.

“I can sense attention on me. At least a first-level expert, there are quite a few powerful ones.”

The dragon wizard of the Black Sun Tower chuckled softly.

“My style is simply upright and honorable. Your attempts to stop me are futile.”

“The prophecy of the Tower of the Black Sun is the truth. This truth has remained unchanged for millennia, except in the hands of that person…”

He glanced at a medium-sized wizarding academy in the distance.

He planned to capture several second-ring wizards there, interrogate them for resources related to the Great Magic Spell Model, then seize a World Stone, and use it to create a Great Magic Spell on the spot. Since he was already doing what only dark wizards do, he might as well go all the way.

Damn this broken era, how could a high-ring wizard be rendered helpless without money?

He could only resort to robbery!

That way, he could send this clone into Mount Golden Crown to kill the little dragon.

The Dragon Wizard glanced back at Mount Golden Crown one last time.

‘This force might form an alliance in the future, but it could also be a formidable enemy; they are too fond of protecting dragon-blood wizards.’

‘In the past, I would never have allowed them to grow stronger.’ “

…

In the Three Caverns World, Locke chanted a spell and followed Orion into the Emerald Dream.

In the Emerald Dream, a withered tree nightmare appeared before Orion. This nightmare seemed to have been a single-ringed beech tree in its previous life. It raised its withered branch arm, transforming it into a spear, and thrust it at Orion.

“Hahaha… Damn old man, you’re old, you’re dead!”

The withered tree nightmare lunged at Orion, but the next moment, Orion raised his battle axe and cleaved it in two from top to bottom.

Another withered tree nightmare attacked Orion from behind, but he clenched his left fist and slammed it backward, instantly shattering the crystal heart in the nightmare’s chest.

Orion had killed two withered tree nightmares in succession.

His eyes emitted the magical power he had received from Locke.”

As the two withered tree nightmares died, the Leaf of Power – Path of Nemesis hanging around Orion’s neck flashed twice with emerald light. The bodies of the two withered tree nightmares shattered, followed by the spirits of a water sapwood beech and a red holly, which swirled around his body before dissipating.

Orion roared into the depths of the Emerald Dream.

“Don’t joke around here. Great fodder corn nightmare, I know you’re nearby. No need to test me. Come on. I may be old, but I am still the god of war.”

In the Emerald Dream, many withered tree nightmares—these were various kinds of magical tree plants in life, and after death they became withered tree nightmares—each had a beating crystal heart in its chest, indicating that they likely died from the magical plant crystallization technology.

They were covered in thick, billowing smoke of heavy particles of the elemental ring.

Their bodies were either black or blue.

The beautiful, eternally spring-like emerald dream surrounding them was instantly turned upside down, filled with withered tree nightmares.

From within this dark, dense forest of withered trees, a giant fodder corn nightmare emerged. It resembled a corn stalk a hundred meters tall, with its roots forming its legs and its silks forming a crown on its head. It was the nightmare transformed from the extremely rare second-ring magical plant, the giant fodder corn, in its previous life.

Locke was somewhat shocked by the Rose Council’s extravagance.

The giant fodder corn was an extremely rare second-ring magical plant of the Star Ring level, something that would be extremely precious to a normal wizard.

Even a Sun Ring wizard wouldn’t consider it a bargain.

And yet…

they were using such a precious thing for research related to magical plant crystallization?

Locke, hiding behind Orion, revealed a strange look in his eyes.

His intuition told him something was amiss, because the Giant Grass Corn was an extremely rare magical plant that wizards couldn’t mass-produce for the time being.

Normally, it wouldn’t be used as a test subject for magical plant crystallization technology unless there was a specific need.

But what was that need?

The Giant Grass Corn Nightmare let out a mocking laugh.

“Old friend, you’ve gotten so old?”

The next moment, Orion drew his bow and fired a flaming date arrow at the Giant Grass Corn. The Giant Grass Corn blocked it with its corn leaf tentacles, but its leaves instantly burst into flames.

A leaf of power on Orion’s neck evolved.

It was a first-circle spell model—Fire Date Arrow.

Orion felt Locke’s magic power flowing into his body, his thoughts colliding with Locke’s, and then they jointly sensed nature.

“My teacher is sharing his knowledge of sensing nature with me.”

Orion’s spirits lifted.

“Teacher, thank you.”

“At this moment, I am not fighting alone. Behind me is… the forest.”

The Giant Grass Corn cried out in pain.

Because his corn leaves were ablaze by the flames, and because the jujube arrow Orion used was a jujube vine taken from a single-ringed jujube-type magical plant, the Fire Jujube Arrow was essentially a minor spell within the Peach Arch Thorn Arrow spell model, a variant of it.

The next moment, Orion leaped forward, firing an arrow that multiplied in mid-air, becoming two, then four, then eight—a rain of arrows in an instant.

A leaf of power around his neck transformed into the Jujube Arrow Rain spell model.

Dozens of withered trees screamed and fell.

The Great Grass Corn Nightmare roared.

“A mere trick!”

The Great Grass Corn Nightmare brandished its corn leaves, each leaf like a whip, dozens of whips lashing out swiftly and fiercely at Orion, a star ring mark appearing on its back.

Countless wounds appeared on Orion’s body.

The Great Grass Corn Nightmare grinned maliciously.

The next moment, Orion brandished his arrow, and the jujube branch formed an arc, instantly transforming into a shield that temporarily blocked the Great Grass Corn Nightmare’s attack.

The Great Grass Corn Nightmare grinned maliciously.

“I will take revenge on you humans!”

“Humans, you are no match for me. Sensing the rage behind our crystallized magical plants!”

“Humans, you won’t allow us to exist? Then try and destroy me! I will destroy you and the world behind you. Then, I will return to the wizarding world through that world and demand justice from the culprit!”

A star ring appeared beneath the Great Grass Corn Nightmare, a warning from the endless void, urging Orion to

get away quickly.

But Orion fired an arrow at the Great Grass Corn Nightmare, an arrow wreathed in frost power.

A first-ring spell model—Frosty Jujube Arrow.

Orion said, “I don’t know what happened to you. But I sense that in this era established by our teacher, no power is suppressed, and no one’s existence is eliminated. I will purify you, Nightmare. I want you to return to nature, to return to our side.”

The Frost Arrow landed on the Great Grass Corn Nightmare, freezing its leaves.

Orion fired a fourth arrow at the Great Grass Corn Nightmare, a leaping bolt of lightning that flew towards it.

“Ah…”

A large amount of heavy particle smoke of the Ring Element flew out of the Great Grass Corn Nightmare. For a moment, this Star Ring-level magical plant was about to return to its original state.

Its branches and leaves began to return to their original appearance, and the blue-black color on its body began to disappear.

But the next moment, the heavy particle smoke of the Ring Element shrank back into its body.

A trace of its spirit floated beside Orion’s ear. Orion gritted his teeth; he seemed to hear the magical plant crying, pleading for its life.

Orion gasped for breath, feeling his strength gradually increasing, but for some reason, his body was becoming increasingly heavy.

His spirit seemed to be merging with his teacher’s magical power, transforming into an arrow and falling forward, but his body couldn’t keep up.

Orion felt his legs growing heavier.

He used the first-circle spell model [Light as a Feather], taking several light steps to leave his spot. The next moment, the spot was cleaved in two by the corn leaves of the Great Grass Corn Nightmare, shattering rocks.

The Great Grass Corn Nightmare roared, “You’re not so foolish as to think you can do anything, are you?”

“Don’t even think about it. You bastard who appeared out of nowhere.”

“I’m looking for a wizard, not you.”

“Heh heh… Got you.”

Using its basic attack stats, the Great Grass Corn Nightmare finally grabbed Orion’s left leg with its corn leaf tendrils. At the same time, Orion fired an arrow forward.

The Great Grass Corn Nightmare quickly jumped, dodging the arrow.

“Where are you aiming?”

“You missed.”

The Big Grass Corn Nightmare winked at him.

“You’re getting old.”

“Everyone gets old, and when you get old, you can’t do anything anymore, Orion.”

Orion’s chest was suddenly pierced by the corn silk of the Great Grass Corn Nightmare.

Orion looked down at his chest.

“Yes, I’m old. My strength is failing.”

“But my arrow… won’t miss again.”

“Teacher, can a person ever be young again? What is the relationship between man and nature?”

The arrow that had landed behind the Great Grass Corn Nightmare suddenly turned back and struck the Great Grass Corn Nightmare, instantly creating a hole in its entire body.

The Great Grass Corn Nightmare screamed in agony, and its entire body began to disintegrate from the hole in it, all thanks to Orion’s arrow.

Orion collapsed to the ground, his life slowly slipping away.

Standing not far away, Locke frowned at this sight, for this was Orion’s own choice, and he hadn’t originally intended to interfere.

This was his principle of least interference.

Locke stood with his hands behind his back, lost in thought. As things progressed, with Orion’s death, the era of the Three Caverns would continue. Using the principles of the Book of Gods, he could combine his magical power with the divine power of the Persepolis gods to condense the Fruit of Summer Prosperity. Whether it was the Fruit of Spring or the Fruit of Summer, both were essentially products of combining divine power with his own various magical powers.

Following this line of thought should be correct.

But for some reason, he felt uneasy.

Locke frowned.

He looked at Orion, who was struggling to his feet and looking up at the sky. With a wave of his hand, the last Leaf of Power that Orion had evolved into fell into his hand.

It was the Leaf of Power of the Path of Nemesis, almost reaching the second ring.

Locke looked at Orion, seeing his old age and weakness, his near-failure, and his unwillingness to accept defeat.

‘So, as long as Orion is still young and possesses power, can he deduce the second-ring level Leaf of Power? Without following my original plan—to deduce the Summer Prosperity—he can deduce the second-ring level of the Leaf of Power.’ Locke

frowned.

“No, this thin line is the absolute difference between the first and second rings. This small difference is an infinitely large difference.”

“This is just my assumption. Everything should still proceed according to my original plan… but since it’s already come to this point, it saves me a lot of trouble.”

Locke appeared before Orion, extending his hand. Instantly, the Great Glazed Winter Green Plum appeared. He enveloped Orion in ice, freezing his body and putting him into a deep sleep, thus halting his life process as much as possible.

“Honestly. I only wanted to see your final battle. I didn’t expect to give it to you directly. The arrow-type spell models I synthesized using the Synthesis Cube, combined with your final power, actually evolved into some pretty good spell models.”

“Orion, you still helped me push the Path of Nemesis to near the second level. Orion, watching you die without interfering with the natural process was originally my choice. But you are my student, my friend, and I can’t just watch you die like this. Fine, I’ll use the Great Glazed Winter Green Plum to prolong your life. But will this action be in vain?”

Locke frowned. Humans aren’t plants or trees; how can they be without feelings?

Seeing Orion die in front of him like this, he would also be moved, so he still violated his principles and intervened.

Locke suddenly laughed self-deprecatingly.

“That’s right, I’m human, I’m not plants or trees, I can’t be without feelings.”

Locke turned to look at the Great Grass Corn Nightmare that Orion had killed with the final Nemesis’s effect of locking onto enemies.

“Hmm? I see. The Giant Grass Corn is indeed a rare second-ring magical plant with the ability to regenerate. Wait, since the Rose Council’s magical plant crystallization technology has already achieved the ability to keep crystallized magical plants alive, why use the Giant Grass Corn, known for its regenerative abilities, for crystallization experiments?” “

But Yunze has already issued a report… they couldn’t possibly be faking it, could they?”

(End of Chapter)