A young man who had just ascended from the Void Realm… could he really be this powerful?
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However, when Luke thought of something, he felt a little more at ease.
He then asked:
“You… are you from a faction like the Element Temple? Or perhaps the Dragonscale Bank?”
Hearing those two names, Daniel was now convinced that this man had indeed spent time in the Mortal Realm.
“Neither. I come from Crossbridge Academy in Riverside City.”
“Crossbridge Academy?”
Luke was stunned.
Because… he had never heard of it!
What was Riverside City? Crossbridge Academy?
Was it a recently risen faction? Or perhaps…
Was it something those people had created again?
“It’s normal that you haven’t heard of it. Ten years ago, Riverside City was just a small place, and Crossbridge Academy was a completely insignificant faction.”
Ten years ago…
Luke caught onto that point quickly.
So, something significant must have happened in the past ten years in the Mortal Realm to shift the entire balance of power?
“And now? Or rather, what happened in those ten years?”
“To put it simply, under my leadership, Crossbridge Academy unified the entire Mortal Realm. That’s all,”
Daniel said calmly.
Luke: ???
He almost thought he’d misheard.
Because how could such a thing even be possible?
In ten years, an insignificant faction from a small border city had unified the entire Mortal Realm?
Not to mention, the Mortal Realm still had powerful factions like the Element Temple…
Their lord possessed strength far surpassing the tier-sage level. How could he allow a small faction to rise and unify everything?
This was simply absurd!
“And what about… the Element Temple?”
“The Element Temple? They’ve all submitted to Crossbridge Academy. The Crossbridge Sanctuary now commands universal respect.”
Hearing Daniel’s words, Luke was utterly shocked.
“This… this is impossible! The lord of the Element Temple possesses strength far beyond tier-sage. And on top of that, he did that kind of thing… It just can’t be true…”
Luke still refused to believe it.
“Him? I captured him, stripped him of his mana, and handed him over to the Element Temple. He’s probably already been executed by his own people by now,”
Daniel said, recalling the former lord’s fate. It was more or less the case.
“It seems you know a few things that others don’t,”
Daniel said as he looked at Luke.
Because from Luke’s earlier words of shock, he had said things far beyond what an ordinary mage would know.
He had mentioned that the lord of the Element Temple was secretly doing something.
That likely referred to using the Five Elements Magic Array to absorb the world’s original essence.
This sort of thing was definitely not common knowledge.
“Because… I ascended to the God Realm ten thousand years ago. Back then, the Element Temple and Dragonscale Bank had already been established,”
Luke explained.
Then, after a brief hesitation, as if coming to terms with it, he added:
“In fact, I can be considered one of the founders of the Element Temple.”
Daniel was stunned to hear this.
One of the founders of the Element Temple?
And he was here?
Originally, Daniel thought that people like this would either be in the Mortal Realm, assisting that lord in absorbing the original essence, or they would have been killed long ago…
He hadn’t expected that someone had directly ascended to the God Realm and survived all this time.
Luke then began to recount his story.
Ten thousand years ago.
At that time, the Void Realm was a peaceful place.
There was no Five Elements Treasury.
Even if there were remnants of divine or demonic items, they were manageable and not widespread.
One day, the Five Elements Treasury descended from the God Realm.
Countless mages joined the fight for it.
Luke was no exception.
Together with his best friend, he joined the war.
In the end, they obtained a Five Elements Divine Artifact.
It was a broken sword that possessed an incredibly strong Rule of Metal.
They began to study it.
From that treasure, they even learned numerous magical rules and spells.
Beyond that, the broken sword also contained deliberately left images and information…
Those were scenes from the God Realm.
The God Realm, where countless powerful beings slaughtered one another, and the weak were trampled like ants underfoot.
It was at this point that the two friends—both at the tier-sage level—began to disagree.
Luke believed that they should seize the opportunity to enter the God Realm immediately.
Although they would start weak, the powerful rules and magic within the broken sword would allow them to rise again.
However, his friend believed they should remain in the Mortal Realm to build up their strength. Once they were strong enough, they could ascend to the God Realm without having to start from the bottom.
After all, the broken sword also contained detailed methods for accumulating strength in the Mortal Realm.
To not use it would be a waste.
At first, Luke was persuaded by his friend.
The two began researching the methods provided by the Five Elements Treasury to accumulate strength.
But as their research deepened, they made a shocking discovery.
The so-called method to accumulate strength was to directly absorb the world’s original essence.
Luke instinctively felt that this was wrong.
To grow stronger by harming the very world they lived in…
It was heartless.
But his friend didn’t see it that way.
He became increasingly obsessed.
Eventually, he even secretly contacted the other four individuals who possessed similar treasures.
That’s right—the Five Elements Magic Array was used to extract the world’s original essence.
As this went on, the conflict between the two friends grew deeper.
At one point, they even fought each other.
Of course, the result was that Luke lost.
He couldn’t stop his friend.
But he also refused to use such a method.
So, he chose to ascend to the God Realm.
He left behind the Element Temple, which they had founded together.
After arriving in the God Realm, Luke discovered that things were not as the Five Elements Treasury had described.
In fact, the God Realm…
had special designated areas to accommodate ascended individuals from the Mortal Realm.
Having finished his story, Luke seemed more at peace.
“Don’t worry. I have no intention of avenging him. What he did was despicable, and his fate was well-deserved. That outcome doesn’t surprise me. After all, the origins of the Five Elements Treasury… are far too suspicious.”
Thinking back, Luke still felt puzzled.
Why had the Five Elements Treasury descended from the God Realm?
Why did every treasury encourage people to absorb the original essence of their world?
“I even suspect… that the Five Elements Treasury is backed by…”
Luke pointed upward, then downward, saying no more.
Some things simply could not be said outright.
The Ascension City represented both the sky and the earth—there was only one person it could refer to.
The ruler of this divine domain: the Five Elements God King.
“So, I really don’t understand how you managed to grow to this level under his watch…”
“It’s fine. That person has already been punished, and our world has begun to recover. In fact… it will soon ascend to become an Earth God World.”
“Huh?”
Those two simple sentences struck Luke like a thunderclap.
He was at a loss for words.
He could only react with the instinctive response of someone utterly bewildered:
“Huh?”
Because either of those statements was far beyond Luke’s comprehension.
The Void Realm… not only recovered from near destruction…
It was about to ascend to an Earth God World?
Did that mean that in the future, people who ascended to the God Realm would start as Earth-Tier Gods?
What kind of unimaginable fortune was this?
Luke couldn’t even begin to imagine it!
If they became Earth-Tier Gods…
Then the status of Void Town would be elevated tremendously!
No, it would rise to an entirely new level of prestige!
