Night Ranger - Chapter 443-449
Nonsense!”
“What could I be looking forward to?”
Hathaway’s face turned red from anger.
But under Marvin’s intense gaze, her voice became quieter and quieter.
It turned into a whisper.
Perhaps she couldn’t figure out why she had this kind of feeling.
The Witch Queen should be cold and ruthless. Her mother, a successor of one of the twelve Witches, had kept reminding her that everyone should acknowledge the Witch Queen’s might. Those who disrespected her had to be killed.
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But when she was about to do it, she shed a tear.
Witches had no tears.
This left her feeling very shocked.
She stopped there to ponder, and some seals in the blank part of her mind apparently started loosening.
Marvin calmly looked at her in silence.
But suddenly, an explosion echoed in the sky, drawing everyone’s attention!
…
In the middle of the clouds, a large hole opened up that seemed to magnify what was on the other side, and through that hole, people could see the fight happening outside the Universe Magic Pool.
The Astral Beast’s roar shook Feinan.
But by now, he was already running on fumes.
After breaking away from the Universe Magic Pool’s protection, Eric had faced twenty-eight Gods alone. That alone was a huge achievement.
But under the joint attack of the three Great Gods, he was finally pinned to the walls of the Universe Magic Pool.
The golden Judgement Spears were stabbed one after the other into Eric’s tough body. A crack even started to form on the 2nd layer of the Universe Magic Pool.
“Roar!”
Eric struggled, his body gradually turning transparent as the youth’s soul glared savagely at those Gods.
The glare was so ruthless that the Gods couldn’t help but shiver.
Especially those Gods who had died a few times to Eric in the earlier chaotic battle… they didn’t feel safe at all. At least it didn’t seem that he was able to eat their Divine Source.
Fortunately, the three Great Gods managed to use the Judgement Spears to pin him against the Universe Magic Pool.
It shouldn’t last much longer.
That was what all the Gods thought.
As for Feinan’s inhabitants, they felt a huge sorrow when seeing this scene.
The hero guarding them would eventually be killed by the Gods.
Real life wasn’t like those stories with happy endings; real life was far crueler.
“Rumble!”
A total of 99 Judgement Spears were stabbed into Eric, and his body looked like it was about to collapse.
But at this time, a stifling, mournful howl burst out from the depths of Eric’s soul!
The New Gods looked on in surprise as the Astral Beast’s body broke apart on its own.
The Judgement Spears were still pinned to the Universe Magic Pool’s 2nd layer, but they were unable to hold down Eric as he disintegrated!
These lumps of flesh split into countless smaller Astral Beasts. They looked like fierce tigers with three large pairs of wings on their backs, but they were far more frightening!
They were flying toward the Gods like a meteor shower!
“Dodge, quick!” the three Great Gods shouted as they escaped first.
This was Eric’s final counterattack. With his life as the cost, he would deal the strongest blow he could!
Although most Gods managed to dodge it thanks to the warning of the three Great Gods, there were still many of them who were surrounded by these ferocious beasts. Their protective layers of Divine Power were torn apart as if they were paper!
“Aaah!”
Screams kept echoing out!
The people below watched their suffering with cold gazes.
After everything they had experienced today, they didn’t have a hint of respect for the Gods.
Dark Phoenix had been killed by Lord Marvin, and now these so-called Gods were issuing such mournful howls!
Since Gods could be killed like this, why would people believe in them?
…
In a Secondary Plane in the Universe, the [Lake God]’s Divine Fire suddenly stopped burning.
The High Priest who had been feeling uneasy for the past few days suddenly knelt down.
He looked at the brazier in the main hall in disbelief, but no matter how much he prayed, he didn’t get a response.
The Divine Fire was extinguished, and a crack also appeared in the God’s Idol.
“Rumble!” The huge stone statue toppled over.
The High Priest’s hair whitened. It seemed as if he suddenly aged twenty years!
The whole plane shook.
…
Similar scenes appeared in many Secondary Planes.
The fall of a God had great impact. They were true Gods after all. They not only had their own Secondary Planes, but each also had a God Realm!
And Eric’s final strike took out three Low Gods!
The impact caused in the Astral Sea was unimaginable.
Three God Realms collapsed simultaneously. If not for the few Ancient Gods forcibly stabilizing this part of the Astral Sea, it might have formed a black hole that would bring great harm to the Astral Sea.
Of course, the people in Feinan couldn’t see this.
They only saw the struggles of those three Gods before their deaths, which made them seem quite vulnerable like normal people.
As for Eric, after releasing this final attack, his soul was disappearing.
At the last moment, his soul turned and gazed at Feinan, that beautiful land.
“Is it finally over?”
His mumble echoed in all their hearts: “I still miss her…”
In a flash, that girl wearing a shabby dress, that sun rising over the small village, that carriage changing the hero’s fate, they appeared in front of everyone.
An unending sorrow emerged in their hearts. They seemed to understand something.
Eric’s soul was slowly disintegrating.
He had a peaceful expression on his face.
He had already done all he could for Feinan.
He had already saved this world twice. What else could you ask him to do?
He was only a youth from a mountain village, nothing more.
…
“Who is he? How could he have such formidable strength?”
Hathaway asked in a daze, “The girl he misses looked very weak. Why would he miss her?”
“Power isn’t everything.” Marvin said with a sad expression, “Sometimes, even if you attain the peak of strength, there are many things that you can’t change.”
“For example… Regaining your loved one.”
Hathaway remained silent.
She seriously looked Marvin up and down, before suddenly asking, “Loved one… That… Do you love me?”
Marvin choked. After a while, he tilted his head and said, “I… I don’t know.”
“But if one day I fall asleep like him and wake up after a millennium…”
“I’ll also be like him… I’ll miss you like he missed her…”
Hathaway nodded thoughtfully.
At this time, a tall figure stepped out of the Universe Magic Pool!
he Great Elven King!
Everyone reacted at the same time.
What was he doing?
Was the formidable Elven King planning to come out and fight the Gods after Eric’s death?
No one questioned the strength of the Great Elven King. For close to a hundred years, Thousand Leaves Forest turned into an area restricted to mankind, and this was entirely due to the support of this Great Elven King.
He was able to deal with the South Wizard Alliance and the North’s forces on his own.
This kind of strength was enough for others to look up to him.
But his opponents were Gods. And not just one of them, but 25!
Eric had extinguished three Gods’ Divine Fires quite gloriously, but there were still 25 Gods facing the Universe Magic Pool!
And there were still the three Great Gods among them.
The Great Elven King was just one person, so how could he be their opponent?
The onlookers’ eyes turned moist.
They could see it… The Great Elven King was going to die.
Like Eric, there would still be someone else standing out at such a critical time.
This land wouldn’t be abandoned. There would always be people who cared for it and who would bravely step forward to fight for it.
The war would never end until peace and freedom were guaranteed!
…
In the Universe Magic Pool, the other two Plane Guardians remained silent.
Although the old man’s lifespan was reaching its end, he still had some time and could rely on the Universe Magic Pool to fight a war of attrition. In fact, it was the best option.
But it was different for the Great Elven King.
He was severely injured by Divine Fire. His situation was similar to Eric’s. He didn’t have long left.
The huge figure had left the Universe Magic Pool.
In an instant, the Low Gods felt an overwhelming pressure!
Most of the Gods’ faces were full of shock.
According to their information, the Great Elven King’s strength was around that of a Mid God.
Otherwise, the sneak attack of those few High Gods wouldn’t have succeeded.
But in that split second, they felt a terrifying pressure!
It was like… the pressure of a High God!
The three leading Gods had thoughtful expressions.
The other Gods already started complaining inwardly:
‘Who said Feinan was easy to bully?’
‘They have so many lunatics that are unafraid of death.’
‘This Nicholas was actually hiding his power! Is this a High Elf secret technique?’
‘I need to be careful, three already died…’
But of course, none of them shared their misgivings with others.
Nicholas was determined. Before his huge figure stepped out of the Universe Magic Pool, he gave one last glance back.
On the vast plane of Feinan, in a dense Forest, a man was standing by the lakeside.
He only took a glance and didn’t say anything. And then he stepped out!
It was the silent start of a battle.
…
Thousand Leaves Forest, beside a tranquil lake.
Ivan was standing there calmly.
Next to him, Ollie couldn’t stop sobbing.
Ivan watched as the Great Elven King’s silhouette disappeared.
That hole in the sky closed, and they could no longer see what was happening.
It was unknown what caused the fight outside the Universe Magic Pool to be completely hidden, but whatever the case, the sky had already recovered.
“Your Highness Ivan… His Majesty… Truly loved you…” Ollie choked out between her sobs.
“I know. Ollie. I know,” Ivan repeated twice in a low voice, still looking unperturbed.
Only his hand tightly gripping his sword was betraying his emotions.
At such a time, a Wood Elf rushed over from the distance and anxiously reported, “Your Highness Ivan, the Council of Elders already convened for the 3rd time. They still don’t acknowledge your identity as the ruler of Thousand Leaves Forest.”
“I heard they summoned their men and are preparing to rebel.”
“Rebelling at such a time… Denying your identity as an heir after His Majesty departed, such lowlifes!” Ollie wiped her tears and immediately said, “I’ll go gather the Elven Iron Guard.”
“No need,” Ivan calmly said, “I’ll settle this matter myself.”
With this declaration, he walked into the forest without looking back.
…
“He is walking to his own doom,” Hathaway whispered.
“Yeah.” Marvin also watched the back of the Great Elven King disappear and sighed to himself.
If not for him, this wouldn’t have happened.
His appearance really had changed too many things. However, from the current circumstances, this era was already a lot better than it was in the game.
The number of forces that managed to ignite a Source of Fire’s Order was in the double digits. Mankind and other races would have more survivors.
By the time the Gods entered the land, they wouldn’t be able to act as they wished.
The Great Elven King walking toward death was also a wake-up call to them.
Feinan wasn’t as simple as they had thought.
At the same time, he fought for time for Marvin and the others.
In Marvin’s memory, they still had one month after the start of the attack on the Universe Magic Pool, and then there would be the Astral Beast attacking. The Gods would use various treasures left behind by Lance to fend off the Astral Beast. After its death, Feinan’s Laws would be greatly affected and for at least half a year the main bodies of Mid Gods and High Gods would be unable to enter Feinan.
Their bodies were too powerful and after the battle, Feinan seemed too fragile and wouldn’t be able to accommodate their strength. If those Gods forcibly entered, not only would they be expelled by the Plane Laws, but they would also be greatly injured and all of Feinan might be destroyed.
Feinan was the root of the Universe. The Archdevils, Demon Lords, Evil Spirit Overlords, Wilderness Rulers, and others wouldn’t dare to do so either.
Therefore, this was the perfect time for Marvin to increase his strength.
And the people fighting up there were doing so to give them more time.
How much would they gain? He didn’t know, but he did know that he had to use this time properly and make ample preparations.
…
“I’m leaving,” Hathaway said. “Maybe I’ll recover my memories one day… But the current you is too weak.”
Marvin laughed. “I am? My growth rate is fast, far faster than you can imagine.”
“Perhaps one day you’ll even need my help.”
Hathaway thought seriously for a moment and then took out a flame card and handed it to Marvin.
“You snatched my prey. And I didn’t settle the matter with you. If one day I truly need your help, you cannot go back on your words.”
“Even though such a day would never arrive with my great strength!”
She suddenly disappeared.
Marvin held that flame card with a smirk.
He turned and whispered, “If you really don’t need my help, then why would you give me this card?”
“Her personality after her rebirth is adorably proud…”
Not too far off, a silhouette was stamping her foot ferociously.
But she watched Marvin strenuously moving back step by step and didn’t do anything.
…
It was already late in the evening when Madeline arrived in a hurry on her flying carpet.
Marvin had been waiting in the Elven cabin for a long time. Yet, there was no trace of Butterfly or the Golden Griffin.
Marvin was actually quite curious about this unreliable messenger, but in the current situation, he didn’t have time to concern himself with her.
Marvin’s ribs were connected thanks to Madeline’s treatment and then the two rode on the flying carpet to return to White River Valley.
The moment he opened the entrance to the Sanctuary, Marvin heard a burst of cheers.
Everyone was gathered up to welcome their returning Overlord.
God Slayer!
This was Marvin’s latest title!
All of Feinan witnessed Marvin’s attacks and Dark Phoenix’s inability to fight back.
And that final blow that completely extinguished Dark Phoenix’s Divine Fire made the long-forgotten God Slayer title resurface on Feinan.
White River Valley had become the focus of Feinan, and its Overlord, Marvin, became even more of a heroic character.
Some sighed at the fickle world. A week earlier, most had believed that White River Valley would be wiped out under the joint attack from the Alliance.
Who could have thought that a week later, the Great Calamity would descend, the South Wizard Alliance would be destroyed, Dark Phoenix would try to ascend, and Marvin would kill a God?!
Everything happened too quickly and most people didn’t know how to describe such a theatrical series of events.
In short, Marvin was famous in not only the South, but in all of Feinan.
He didn’t even need to look at his interface to know that his Fame already reached an extreme level.
This represented the acknowledgement of Feinan’s inhabitants and also meant that he had already attracted the attention of many Gods.
…
After returning to White River Valley, Marvin underwent the most basic treatments and then began to work.
Slaying Dark Phoenix was only the beginning. He had too many things to do.
Some changes were needed to perfectly run a Sanctuary because of the turbulent times.
This was a Chaos Era, so Marvin needed to establish some rules.
In his interface, the Forces tab had changed:
[Holy Sanctuary]
[Core: Source of Fire’s Order]
[Subsidiaries: White River Valley, River Shore City, Sword Harbor, Adventurer Camp, Sha Village,…]
[Population: 6341]
[Major Locations: River Shore City, Sword Harbor, Castle]
[Defense: Wish Walls, Holy Light]
…
The series of information showed the Sanctuary’s current situation.
Because Marvin was the Sanctuary Lord, the Sanctuary Core automatically connected to his interface and the system transformed the information into something easy to read.
The Sanctuary Lord had power over the lives of the people in his territory.
What Marvin was more concerned about was that there had only been a bit over 5000 people in his territory before he left. Now, this number reached 6341.
This meant that more than one thousand refugees had rushed over.
The Sanctuary wouldn’t block out common people as long as their minds weren’t invaded by Chaos Magic.
But this was still a big issue for Marvin.
Soon, Anna came looking for him. “Lord, how do you plan to arrange the refugees?”
arvin had been expecting some refugees. But he hadn’t thought that White River Valley would attract so many people at the beginning of the Calamity.
A sudden increase of a thousand people was a lot of pressure on White River Valley.
Although there was a lot of food in the Golden Bulls, with the increase of people, the consumption also increased.
Moreover, this was only the beginning of the disaster. Marvin was certain that more and more people would rush to White River Valley.
It was time to set up new rules for this new era.
Marvin thought for a while and then started writing. A decree was immediately issued.
Soon, everyone in White River Valley received a personal decree.
Because of the circumstances, new rules began getting implemented in White River Valley.
Everyone had to finish registering within two days.
The registration was a very important choice: [Agriculture or Battle].
That’s right, besides these two choices, Marvin didn’t give any other options.
Because White River Valley had already recruited enough people of other occupations. Regardless of whether it was Blacksmith, Wine Brewer, Appraiser, or any others that were needed, these craftsmen had already been recruited.
Moreover, most of these occupations weren’t the most important in such times.
For a Sanctuary to run in the long term, it needed a steady flow of food as well as the power to protect it.
The former was obvious, as taking care of the rations of so many refugees was already a headache for Marvin. As for the latter, the power of the Holy and Wish spells would expend energy to defend the Sanctuary and would run out of energy one day, so there needed to be people to defend it.
White River Valley looked great, but it was actually very close to the wilderness.
During the disaster, everyone heard the howl of the Wilderness Ruler.
That was a rallying cry to gather subordinates.
If the Beast Ruler decided to advance toward the South, it was very likely that those wilderness monsters would rush out. And White River Valley would bear the brunt of the attacks.
The current White River Valley had top-tier strength, but the core power was still lacking.
Marvin needed soldiers, a great amount of soldiers.
They might not be too powerful, but the quantity and coordination would make up for it. With upgraded equipment, they might be able to withstand the Major Planes’ low-level army.
This was also the reason he exhorted Anna and the others to hire many retired veterans or officers at the prime of their lives from the North in Bass Harbor.
This would be a very long battle, one he couldn’t win on his own.
…
He observed secretly and the result was within his expectations. Of the thousand refugees, most were Humans, with some Half-Elves. But they all had one characteristic: they were in the prime of their lives.
This actually showed a very cruel fact. The elderly and the young had already been annihilated when trying to escape the disaster.
Only the strongest people could survive and reach White River Valley.
But this was good news for Marvin.
Unless something was wrong, not many people would choose agriculture.
Regardless of their previous occupations, in the new Sanctuary system set up by Marvin, the fighters were clearly more important than the farmers. They would receive a larger amount of food, with more meat, and even ale. Their training would have priority, and they would have more freedom with their work. They only needed to participate in hunting once a week.
However, Marvin promised that those who chose to fight wouldn’t be thrown out of the Sanctuary into battle before their training was completed. This gave people a lot of reassurance.
Moreover, these hot-blooded youths had too many friends or relatives who had died under the Wizard Monsters’ hands.
They thirsted for revenge.
They would fight.
…
Just as expected, in only one day, a chart appeared in front of Marvin.
“Your expectations weren’t off, most of them chose to fight.”
Anna didn’t seem happy about it. “To be honest, their courage is admirable, but we might not be able to raise so many fighters.”
“Moreover, we don’t have so much equipment…”
Marvin blinked. “Don’t worry, food and equipment will soon arrive. Since they made their choice, let them do the preliminary militia training.”
“Here are the – Sanctuary’s New Regulations –. The upper management of White River Valley will gather tonight to perfect it, and if there are no problems, they’ll be released tomorrow.”
The Sanctuary’s New Regulations were written down by Marvin before the Great Calamity.
Extraordinary situations needed extraordinary measures, there was no doubt about it.
The Sanctuary would protect everyone, but Marvin would never support these people for free. That would only make them lose their will to fight and would cause White River Valley to perish sooner or later.
In the New Regulations, he detailed the new currency system, the reward and penalty system, the Sanctuary’s rules, the division of hierarchy, and so on.
Marvin only wanted to protect this land and these people, but that didn’t mean that he would give everyone the same treatment and status.
Blind freedom and equality was not fair.
People who didn’t invest themselves didn’t deserve the same benefits. It was a simple reason.
The roles everyone had in the territory were different, so each person’s status would inevitably be different.
Hierarchy would make it easier to manage, it would also encourage lower people to work their way up. After all, in the completely new background and system, those who made great effort were very likely to be promoted.
Those regulations were written down by Marvin after careful consideration.
They would dictate the future of White River Valley Sanctuary.
They would be the future laws of White River Valley!
And the guarantee behind those laws was Marvin’s absolute might. It was his complete control over the Sanctuary and the people’s acknowledgement.
…
By evening, everyone was gathered. Anna explained the new regulations once to everyone.
White River Valley’s higher ups voiced their own opinions, but Marvin’s regulations were truly thoughtful on multiple points of view. After they added some details, the New Regulations were more or less decided.
The New Regulations were released the next day and they created a stir in the entire White River Valley.
Many dissatisfied voices were heard after people read through them.
Especially about the hierarchy system.
This made many people feel discontented. A lot of these people were refugees who had escaped from all over the surroundings.
“Why do White River Valley’s original inhabitants have a higher social class than those of us who bravely fought our way over here? And why is it that the people who arrived later and chose to farm are at the very bottom?”
“Right? Why can those people supervise us?”
“Didn’t Lord Marvin advertise freedom and fairness? With him doing this, what’s the difference between him and those Gods?”
acing these rebellious voices, Marvin chose to be indifferent.
In the current situation, he had too many matters to deal with. There would invariably be those that disagreed, and everyone always wanted more, especially in such difficult circumstances. Some would show good will, and some would appear greedy.
These refugees were unrelated to Marvin, so he had no real obligations to them. They escaped to the Sanctuary that Marvin painstakingly established and he provided them food and shelter, but now they were still arguing against his conditions.
Some of them were even worse and gathered in a group, criticizing his morals.
Marvin didn’t feel like dealing with them and only told Anna to pacify the people.
And then the night was peaceful.
The next morning, the leading troublemakers were hanging on a cross outside the refugee camp, which made many people remember. This territory’s Overlord was no saint. He did a lot of things for Feinan, and for White River Valley. He got rid of Diggles, Dark Phoenix, Black Dragons and other menacing lifeforms.
And though he did this, he definitely wasn’t like a hero from those novels.
That morning, there were no more complaints.
In fact, many had only been testing Marvin’s reaction, to see whether they could argue for more benefits.
But they hadn’t expected Marvin to be so decisive.
All voices of resistance were suppressed.
White River Valley’s original inhabitants were calm in the face of these events. They understood their Lord.
As long as they calmly lived their lives, Lord Marvin wouldn’t make things difficult for them. On the contrary, he would protect them. He had always been doing so.
Ever since the start of the Great Calamity, only White River Valley and a few other locations were left unscathed. This was clear proof.
But if someone dared to question Marvin’s commands or try to destabilize White River Valley’s government, even if they only showed signs of it, Marvin would immediately eradicate them, leaving no room for negotiations.
And the Sha clansmen were very clever about this matter.
They stayed low-key and silent during the ruckus. After it was over, in light of Marvin’s request, they organized fifteen hunting teams on the same day.
The hunting teams were a way to distribute the military strength.
Regardless of whether they were adventurers, militiamen, army troops, Shas, or refugees, as long as they chose to battle, they would immediately be formed into 60-man teams.
Each hunting team would be tasked with wiping out monsters around the Sanctuary once a week.
The mission would have a quota and as long as it was completed, they would be credited with a certain amount of contribution points.
Their points could be used to exchange for food and other items, and if they exceeded their quota, they would receive extra rewards.
This series of rewards had already been quantified by Marvin and everyone could see them.
Marvin didn’t do all this for no reason.
The current White River Valley wouldn’t face a large-scale battle in the near future. However, there were countless monsters in the Sanctuary’s surroundings.
This territory was rather close to the wilderness, so there were many strange beasts.
It had to be known that most beasts had willpower far inferior to that of Humans. They would be easily influenced by the Chaos Magic Power, which would turn them into Monsters.
Although these Monsters would be repelled by the power of Order and wouldn’t dare attack the Sanctuary in a short time, they would always be an underlying danger.
Moreover, after becoming Monsters, their rate of reproduction would substantially increase.
Marvin remembered that Post-Calamity, each Sanctuary would have these kinds of hunting teams.
They would clear up the surroundings at regular intervals.
But White River Valley’s area was too large. There were the northern Shrieking Mountain Range, the southern wilderness, the eastern Sword Harbor’s sea, and the western Deathly Silent Hills!
Based on the information gathered by his scouts, there was a frightening amount of Monsters close by.
Although most of the Monsters were just 2nd rank trash, he couldn’t let them build up.
He had to eradicate them.
He couldn’t take care of everything himself, as he had other things to do.
This time, the people in the Sanctuary had to stand up for themselves.
This was everyone’s Sanctuary. It wasn’t only up to Marvin to protect it. They also needed to fight for their own survival and not wait for Marvin to distribute food every day while idling away.
…
In short, at Marvin’s urgent orders, most of the Sanctuary’s inhabitants made new preparations.
Everything was led by Anna. As a Legion Commander, she was well-suited to dealing with this kind of matter.
Soon, she made enough preparations for the first month.
Lola and her little attendant were in charge of releasing the missions, monitoring the execution, and providing contribution points.
Lola was a lot loftier now. As one of the people trusted by Marvin, her power in White River Valley was quite considerable.
Marvin actually didn’t care much about the production of the northern mine currently, so he directly transferred her to this new task.
Contribution points and food exchange were very important matters and could easily create a lot of troubles.
He believed that with Lola’s shrewdness, she would be able to handle this work.
As expected, after Marvin’s explanation, Lola quickly adapted to the position.
Besides the little attendant, she also picked two accountants as helpers from the refugees.
On the edge of the White River’s pier, she set up an exchange location specialized in settling the matters of the daily hunting teams.
From Marvin’s assessment of the situation, Lola would have to do everything by herself at the start. Things were difficult at the beginning, after all, and it was vital to get the Sanctuary running. For now, she would have to oversee everything herself. Only when everything ran smoothly would she be able to delegate jobs to others. Naturally, she would still be in charge of supervising them.
…
After the new system was established, Marvin could feel that White River Valley had been re-energized.
Before, people only talked about the battle between the Gods and Legends as if that matter was unrelated to them.
But now they were beginning to research how to handle the Monsters outside the Sanctuary.
Some experienced adventurers even began to sell some basic Monster information.
Some of them were scouts sent out by Marvin.
However, the Sanctuary had only just been created and the currency system was still not fully established. Food was the current hard currency and everyone had 100 base contribution points. Everyone needed to exchange those for food to fill their stomachs, so only a few people clenched their teeth and bought the information.
Even among the refugees, some were attracted to the fine wines and fine food, giving them the motivation to train hard.
Although they couldn’t immediately perform those tasks, they would be able to after completing their training.
As for the military instructors, Marvin actually prepared a lot and they enjoyed a relatively good treatment. The goal was to train all the able men, and even women, into soldiers.
…
With all this settled, Marvin went to the peak on his own.
After the Sanctuary was set up, this peak became the symbol of White River Valley, but only Marvin himself could approach.
The Source of Fire’s Order was slowly burning at his side.
He walked in front of the Wish Pillar and activated its power, using part of its magic energy to make an [Eye of Justice]!
In a flash, the Eye of Justice slowly rose up like a ball of fire and began to sweep across every corner of White River Valley.
The effect of the Eye of Justice was to find those who violated Marvin’s laws in White River Valley.
After the Great Calamity, it was like the end of the world in Feinan. Even if White River Valley was a Sanctuary, when it was the end of the world, people would always act crazily.
Marvin had to erase those crazy elements.
With the Eye of Justice keeping watch, all crimes would be exposed
And his trusted nineteen Dark Knights were in charge of enforcing his laws.
The Eye of Justice would last a month, and during this month, the Dark Knights would gain the Adjudicator halo. When the Eye of Justice detected a crime, the Adjudicators would immediately find out and rush to the scene to handle it as they saw fit.
Enough time had passed that the Dark Knights had already regained most of their rationality.
Their loyalty remained unchanged and they became even stronger.
The stronger ones among them were Zero and One, who seemed to be close to advancing to Legend. Marvin was looking forward to this.
The Dark Knights’ slaughtering abilities were unequalled within their own levels. Who knew what strength they would display after recovering to their peak?
…
With the Adjudicators defending the order of his Sanctuary, Marvin fixed the last loophole.
It was now time to resolve a few thorny issues.
First, food. It was still food. Even if White River Valley had stocked a lot of it, with the increase in people, there would definitely be a shortage in the future.
There weren’t that many people farming in the territory, and White River Valley wasn’t fertile enough, so the crop yield wasn’t high.
But Marvin had a solution to this problem.
That was to deal with Arborea!
Arborea was a fertile world with an abundance of food there and as long as they knew the location of the entrance to that plane freed from the Shadow Prince, Marvin would be able to trade with them.
After all, Prince Aragon was still in White River Valley.
Entering the Ashes Plain wasn’t as easy after Hathaway became the Witch Queen, but there was an entrance to the Ashes Plain in the Ashes Tower, so Marvin could return to Arborea through there.
…
The food problem could be solved through the interplanar transactions.
The second issue was really problematic.
It was the matter of weapons.
There were so many fighters in the territory now… How could he solve that weapon issue?
fter careful consideration, Marvin decided that although they did lack weapons, it wasn’t an emergency.
First, the Shas completely produced their weapons themselves, and the guards of River Shore City and White River Valley already had their weapons and armors. They also seized a lot of weapons in the previous war against the South Wizard Alliance, and although the workmanship of those weapons was average, they had been good enough for the military and would be effective in battles.
Moreover, most people needed to train for some time before they would actually fight. They didn’t need the best weapons for training.
Of course, the issue had to be settled eventually.
If they only had ordinary weapons, they would suffer many losses when facing Monsters.
Marvin thought for a bit before coming up with a solution.
The Great Calamity had caused many cities to fall to ruin.
But these cities still had many supplies.
Marvin thought of the first location of the battle against Dark Phoenix, Steel City!
Steel City was an inner city of the South Wizard Alliance and had four fine iron mines. It was the place where the Alliance produced the best iron.
In addition, the city had a substantial weapon production industry and it had all kinds of weapons stored in warehouses. The city had always been tightly guarded by the Alliance.
But the Alliance had already collapsed and the warehouses were now ownerless.
If they could get these weapons, the issue would be settled.
The problem was that Steel City was rather far from White River Valley. It was also in chaos due to being occupied by Evil Spirits, Wizard Monsters, and all kinds of other Monsters.
Marvin would have to go personally to get enough weapons.
And this would be a major venture that would be troublesome for him alone.
But if a Legend Wizard helped, it might be fine.
Just when Marvin was planning to take Madeline to Steel City, he received two shocking pieces of news.
…
The first one was that… Wayne was leaving White River Valley.
An adventurer from the Adventurer Camp had relayed him the news.
He apparently met Wayne on the south side of White River Valley, and the latter was mumbling something while looking further south.
But the adventurer only saw endless wilderness in that direction, so what could he be looking at?
Wayne didn’t explain. It seemed that the matter happened very suddenly and he just hurriedly wrote a letter to Marvin before leaving.
That adventurer passed him the letter.
Marvin took it and didn’t see much written on it. In short, Wayne suddenly sensed something unique in the wilderness.
He saw a shrine in his mind. It was tall and imposing, with six pillars supporting a dome. An ancient voice was constantly mumbling to him.
He had to go.
The handwriting was very messy. It was clear that Wayne’s mind was already focused on the shrine when he wrote it.
…
After Marvin read the letter, he wasn’t too worried. In fact, he had a baffled expression.
He thanked the adventurer and gave him a small reward before pondering about it in his room.
Few people knew about Wayne being a Seer.
In the game, he had never heard the name Wayne, so he had probably been killed during the start of the disaster.
In this world, Wayne was alive. And as a Seer, he had something unique. Being able to see a bit into the future was quite amazing.
But what he saw might not necessarily be the real future.
If Wayne had left on his own to go somewhere else, Marvin would feel a bit worried.
The Gods would descend soon after all, so it might even be a God’s trick.
But perhaps even the Gods wouldn’t dare profane that southern area.
Feinan’s deep south was an endless wilderness, which had countless Monsters. The reason they didn’t come out and cause a disaster was a shrine.
Marvin naturally knew about that shrine, and it did fit Wayne’s description.
“That’s the only shrine of the Wizard God Lance in this world…” Marvin softly muttered.
As a Seer, Wayne saw the shrine and received its summons… What would happen?
Marvin’s heart had a hint of expectation.
Wayne was very gifted. Even without Marvin, if White River Valley was in his hands, there wouldn’t be much difference.
He would shine, but his brilliance had been eclipsed by Marvin’s.
Marvin had a faint feeling about this trip to the shrine.
Wayne also needed to adventure and gain some experience. As for those Monsters in the wilderness, they wouldn’t pose much of a threat to him.
Unless he met a powerful Beast King… but the probability of that was minimal.
After all, Wayne was a Seer and a Half-Legend Wizard.
…
Marvin was just putting Wayne’s matter aside for the time being, when Anna suddenly rushed in and worriedly told him about one of the biggest matters which followed that previous fight.
After the battle in Steel City, the Legends left.
The old Alliance of the Seven Orders had their own matters and left first. Inheim also followed them.
O’Brien and Constantine originally wanted to return to White River Valley with Endless Ocean, but at that time, people of the Migratory Bird Council came.
It turned out that the Demon Army in the Supreme Jungle was fake.
It was a distraction created by Dark Phoenix to fool the Migratory Bird Council. There were actually very few Demons.
When they found out, the Great Druids immediately turned their attention to the South.
After Marvin killed Dark Phoenix, they didn’t comment on that, and instead started blaming Endless Ocean!
Endless Ocean was a Great Druid nurtured by the Migratory Bird Council, yet she unexpectedly stole the four totemic pillars. This was the reason the Migratory Bird Council used to condemn her.
Facing the blame from her former friends, Endless Ocean remained silent and chose to return the four totemic pillars and return to the Supreme Jungle to accept the Council’s trial.
Naturally, Constantine didn’t agree, and he followed her.
O’Brien and Owl were afraid that the two would come to harm, so after making sure Marvin managed to kill Dark Phoenix and was safe, they followed them to the Supreme Jungle.
These past few days, the Migratory Bird Council had put Endless Ocean on trial.
Now, the outcome of the trial was out.
‘Lifelong imprisonment? Guarding the World Tree?’
Marvin looked at the letter sent by Owl and had a dissatisfied expression.
Anyone would be angry at this outcome.
What a great Migratory Bird Council. When their help was needed, they didn’t appear. Then they arrived after the event and actually blamed Endless Ocean, the only Great Druid who made a move.
Even without mentioning Constantine and Endless Ocean’s close relationship, Marvin wouldn’t allow this to happen.
But what made Marvin feel doubtful was that the Chairman of the Migratory Bird Council stated that if Marvin agreed to personally make a trip to the Supreme Jungle, the matter might take a turn for the better.
“That old fox wants to meet me?”
Marvin crumpled the paper and began thinking.
p>If not for that request at the end of the letter, Marvin would almost be convinced that the Migratory Bird Council was really trying to judge and punish Endless Ocean.
Now it looked like there was a hidden meaning behind it.
From what Marvin knew, although the Migratory Bird Council was a group of inflexible people, it was still an organization made up of fair Great Druids.
Especially their leader, Chairman Old Ent, who was said to be the closest lifeform to the Nature God.
It seemed like this farce was more of an excuse for Old Ent to meet Marvin.
But what did the Supreme Jungle want Marvin for?
Marvin wasn’t sure, but he had to properly handle Endless Ocean’s matter.
If Endless Ocean hadn’t stolen the totemic pillars and parted with the Migratory Bird Council, Marvin simply wouldn’t have been able to kill Dark Phoenix so many times, and that final kill wouldn’t have been possible either.
This trip to the Supreme Jungle was inevitable.
But he still had some things to take care of before leaving.
…
The biggest danger for White River Valley at the moment was the lack of high-end military forces.
O’Brien and the others were in the Supreme Jungle. If Marvin left, the only Legend in the area would be Madeline. Marvin felt that she wouldn’t be sufficient on her own.
But there was some good news.
After the Great Calamity, Prince Aragon, who had always been staying in Sword Harbor, seemed to have entered a special state. It seemed like he could advance to Legend anytime.
And the Mechanical Titan was staying on the shore of the White River with the Gnome Brothers always ready. This Mechanical Titan was stronger than ordinary Legends and should be able to deal with any circumstances that came up.
Marvin looked for Anna to deal with some other matters, before leaving the Sanctuary on his own.
He left very quietly this time. The higher-ups of White River Valley were already used to it, but the people living in the Sanctuary considered Marvin their mental support.
If they found out that Marvin wasn’t in the territory, the people could become unstable.
He opened the entrance of the Sanctuary and followed the main road from River Shore City heading north.
He didn’t get far before he found out a group of rodent Monsters. They were tearing apart the corpse of a lion that died a while ago.
After these beasts became Monsters, they grew more powerful. Marvin was in a hurry, so of course he didn’t want to have to deal with them.
The farther he went, the weaker the influence of the Source of Fire’s Order became, and Marvin eventually started feeling the Chaos Magic Power’s attacks on his willpower.
No wonder so many people became Monsters. For people with weaker wills, the Order power in their body couldn’t keep resisting the corrosion of the Chaos Magic Power.
Willpower was a hidden attribute. Even with his system, Marvin couldn’t see how high his own was.
But the Witch Tear he took before did increase it by 3, and that undoubtedly made him more resistant to the Chaos Magic Power.
He remembered that players would have a willpower check every 30 minutes if they weren’t in a Sanctuary.
If they failed the check, they would become confused for three minutes.
This was the most frightening part of the Great Calamity.
And the default willpower of a player was 1.
The willpower of most commoners was somewhere between one-tenth and four-tenths of a point.
If they reached half a point, they could probably remain sane despite the Chaos Magic Power, and not transform into Monsters.
Marvin didn’t know how many points he had at the moment, but he had never failed a check so far. With his current willpower, he simply couldn’t be harmed by the Chaos Magic Power.
But on his way, he still felt a slight pressure.
When he rested, he used Earth Perception and found out that the level of Chaos Magic Power was 30% higher than when the disaster started.
After getting this information, Marvin felt slightly dazed.
The shattering of the first layer of the Universe Magic Pool definitely wouldn’t cause so much Chaos Magic Power to pour into Feinan.
There was only one explanation for this: The Universe Magic Pool’s 2nd Layer might have already ruptured.
The Great Elven King… might have already fallen!
His situation wasn’t like that of Eric, who died in front of everyone. The sky had already returned to normal so those in Feinan couldn’t see what was happening up there anymore. The Sanctuaries could only struggle and rely on Teleportation magic to exchange information. He died in silence.
No one knew how many Gods he had dragged down with him.
Marvin sighed.
…
While he was pressing forward, Marvin took some time to check the interface.
Since he advanced, the experience didn’t seem as important.
It was because Legends didn’t rely on experience to level up, instead using another type of data: Comprehension Points.
Now there was another line below his Legend class:
[Ruler of the Night Lv1]
[Comprehension Points: 2/10]
To level up his Legend class, he needed to reach 10 Comprehension. The two points he had already came from the Essence Absorption System absorbing Dark Phoenix’s Divine Source.
In the game, Comprehension was gained by killing Gods!
Or like the natives, they could gain Comprehension through meditation and enlightenment, but these methods could only increase their strength very slowly.
Therefore, most Legend players liked to slaughter beings that had Divine Source, such as Divine Servants, Gods’ Avatars, as well as some Totemic Gods from the Dead Area’s instances.
True Gods weren’t that easy to kill after all.
Moreover, the Comprehension gained would be the same.
For example, Marvin killed Dark Phoenix and gained a huge amount of experience, but he only gained 2 Comprehension.
This wasn’t much more than he’d get from killing a 1-Comprehension ordinary Totemic God while being a hundred times more troublesome.
In short, if Marvin wanted to progress right now, he would have to take an alternate path.
But that didn’t mean he had no use for experience.
It could still be used for classes below Legend rank, such as his Subclasses.
Marvin spent all his experience gained from the war on Shapeshift Sorcerer and Battle Gunner.
Thus, his Shapeshift Sorcerer class reached level 10 and his Battle Gunner class reached level 5.
Apart from slightly raising his HP, Shapeshift Sorcerer didn’t give many bonuses. Battle Gunner actually added a lot of skill Points, which Marvin threw into Market Scuffle. This melee technique of the Shas was quite useful.
He was only hesitating on whether he should use that potion given by his grandfather to break his bottleneck.
By taking it, his Shapeshift Sorcerer bloodline would most likely have a qualitative upgrade!
Shadow-shape, Beast-shape, and Diamond-shape… What would be the next one?
Marvin was a bit curious.
e did have some misgivings about his grandfather in Hell, but this potion had been checked by the Great Duke of Lavis Dukedom.
There was no issue with the medicine in itself. Marvin believed in the Great Duke’s appraisal.
Marvin hesitated. The Archdevil Head’s Divine Source was very precious and could only be used once. Generally, it would only be used when a Shapeshift Sorcerer could advance to Legend with it.
Although Marvin hadn’t grasped any dual classing method and it was safe to say that getting a subclass to Legend rank was unlikely, it was still good to be prepared for an eventuality.
Thus, he decided to set aside the Divine Source Drop for when his Shapeshift Sorcerer class reached level 20.
But if he wanted to break through to the 3rd rank as a Shapeshift Sorcerer, he would need to use this potion.
Having made up his mind, he stopped to rest and found a safe place to take the potion.
The Sorcerer bloodline breakthrough would usually happen in a split second. What was really difficult was the accumulation before the breakthrough.
With the help of the potion, Marvin successfully awakened his bloodline once again and reached level 11 in his Shapeshift Sorcerer class.
Like the previous times, the awakening gave him another shape.
But this shape was outside Marvin’s expectations by a lot.
[Boundless Shapeshifting – Magic Addict Shape]
[Description: when using the Magic Addict Shape, your body will turn into a Hell Magic Egg and start absorbing Chaos Magic Power. The more Magic Power absorbed, the more the body will recover. The Magic Addict transformation lasts thirty seconds and will automatically be cancelled after thirty seconds, after which the user recovers their human shape.]
[Warning: While absorbing Chaos Magic Power, a kind of extraordinary pleasure will be produced, making it hard to forget and easy to trigger it again.]
[Negative Property: Each use of the Magic Addict Shape reduces Willpower by 0.5 points.]
[Users with insufficient willpower will suffer from Magic Addiction, and ultimately die.]
…
Marvin found the description quite alarming.
This Magic Addict Shape was a lot different from his previous shapes!
Although each shape had its own side effects, the previous three only had a short period of weakness.
Marvin had used the Beast Shape a lot. After all, the Asuran Bear was very overbearing at low levels.
In the later stages, Diamond Shape became more advantageous.
For a short period of time, it could allow him to attack without any worries about the consequences.
As for Shadow Shape, it was more of a shape for casting. Marvin very rarely used it except to avoid some attacks.
The side effect of this 4th shape was a bit frightening!
It actually removed half a point of Willpower!
Moreover, he could suffer from [Magic Addiction]!
Marvin knew about this condition. After the Great Calamity, many people with special constitutions gained the ability to voluntarily absorb Chaos Magic Power. If their Willpower wasn’t high enough, they wouldn’t become Monsters, but they would form Magic Addiction.
They would constantly absorb Magic Power, satisfying their own pleasure. However, this would only speed up their deaths.
In the end, they would explode due to excessive Magic Power!
These people frequently roamed the wilderness. They were the kinds of lifeforms adventurers hated the most because one could never know when they might explode.
They might just be walking nearby and then suddenly pounce over before exploding. It led to [Equipment 99% damaged] and [Level -1] for the players.
…
‘Something like this Magic Addict Shape actually exists? Isn’t this side effect way too big?’
Marvin looked doubtfully at the empty bottle.
His previous three shapes didn’t have such extreme circumstances as the 4th shape he gained from his grandfather’s medicine.
He knew what Magic Addiction was… This thing was like taking drugs. If he caught it, he wouldn’t be able to cure it.
Then what was the value of this shape?
Marvin carefully studied it concluded that this shape was a last resort for preserving his life.
When he was near death, he could use thirty seconds to recover. After all, Chaos Magic Power was covering everything right now, so there would be no worry about whether he could absorb enough Chaos Magic Power.
But the price of this recovery was quite huge.
Marvin wouldn’t use it unless he was desperate.
He just managed to gain +3 Willpower after taking the Witch’s Tear. Wouldn’t he lose them once he used that shape six times?
Marvin was very stingy about his attributes.
He didn’t believe he wouldn’t be able to take care of most enemies after eight seconds of Diamond Shape.
But if that failed, wouldn’t he have no energy to flee?
This shape might be his final card.
…
After thinking of all this, Marvin was somewhat disappointed.
But Shapeshift Sorcerer a very random class, so he hadn’t hoped for an especially powerful Shape.
After all, Beast Shape and Diamond Shape were already fierce enough.
His bloodline was only average at best. It was far inferior to Daniela and Turalyon’s Ancient Angels’ bloodlines, so he was fine with the shapes he had.
He cleared up his thoughts and went back on the road.
Soon, he reached the Moonlight Forest.
There was a group of Elven Guards protecting this place.
Through the Elven Teleportation Array, Marvin reached Thousand Leaves Forest.
But when he got there, instead of Ivan, he was met by someone else.
Sea Elven Queen.
She looked angrily at Marvin. “I helped in the fight at Steel City.”
Marvin nodded calmly.
“He still isn’t willing to meet me.”
The Sea Elven Queen was in a bad mood.
Naturally, she had helped Marvin because of Ivan.
But after the fight, she didn’t find Marvin and instead went directly to Thousand Leaves Forest.
As she was also an Elf, the Wood Elves didn’t make any trouble for the Sea Elven Queen and provided her with delicious food.
But Ivan declined to see her because he was handling all kinds of matters in Thousand Leaves Forest.
Marvin confidently told the Sea Elven Queen to calm down and to let him try to see Ivan first.
After Marvin notified the Elven Iron Guard, Ollie soon came to look for him.
The two went through the dense forest and arrived at the lakeside.
Ivan was standing alone, looking at that originally pure lake in a daze.
Marvin’s eyes squinted.
He had seen that lake once, back when the Great Elven King was trying to treat his wound, but the effects didn’t seem satisfactory.
But now, that lake’s water was slightly crimson!
After Ollie led Marvin over, she tactfully left.
Ivan slowly turned and looked at Marvin.
“He died.”