Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Soran continued to advance in the cold wind.
Although there must have been some secrets about the Phantom Circus, Soran did not have much interest in finding out because it only meant more trouble. He had to learn to restrain his excessive curiosity.
Everyone else in the Phantom Circus was simple. The only people who Soran could not wrap his head around were the Elven lady and the woman in the carriage. The thin ice left behind by the carriage had left a clear impression on Soran, and there seemed to be an uncontrollable force inside the carriage.
Among the spellcasters, the Wizards had the most control over their powers.
Then, there were the Priests and the Druids, whose power came from their deity and their belief, and their powers were also well controlled. The most uncontrollable force was the Sorcerer’s innate powers, which was why Gloria feared Vivian would cause great damage. At the Kingdom of Arendelle, where the circus group was going to visit, the soon-to-be-crowned Princess was also a dangerous Sorcerer. The more powerful and gifted the Sorcerer was, the more dangerous they were. It also meant that they would need a long time to learn to control their powers.
The woman inside definitely was not a Wizard.
She was more than 50% likely to be a Sorcerer, and probably a powerful Sorcerer who could not completely control her power.
In comparison, Vivian was much better at controlling her powers since she never had a period of Energy Rampage like the other Sorcerers.
Sorcerers tended to be loners because of their early Energy Rampage. Sometimes they even hurt people close to them because of their uncontrollable powers.
White snow fell from the sky.
The snow was not very heavy, but Soran’s body was covered with a layer of snow. He shook his cloak and brushed the snow on the ground. Towards afternoon, he crossed a dense snow-covered Taiga forest, and the road ahead became much wider. This meant that he was close to civilization. There were not many Goblins or Kobolds in the Frost Kingdom since it was really cold. However, there were Bugbears which were more dangerous than the Gnolls.
Even though they were related to the Goblins, their size difference was huge.
Subclass creatures were easily mutated anyways!
Soran walked about ten kilometers and heard some vague music. It seemed to be a sad tune. He frowned, listened, and then headed in the direction of the music.
Camping in the Frost Kingdom was very uncomfortable because the climate was too cold. Sometimes while people slept, their bodies would become frozen since the temperature here was below zero all year round. Soran wanted to find a human town to recuperate and rest while also reconstructing some of the spells he had remembered.
Up ahead were a group of people.
They were all wearing fur coats, which were the most important property of Human families in the Frost Kingdom. They had more body hair and their faces were somewhat Nordic. They weren’t as diverse as people in the south. Black-haired people with black pupils were very common in the world (Even among the Elves), and some of the deities were also incarnated in this way. However, the people north of the continental shelf tended to have European characteristics. If he were close to the desert, the people he would see would have even more obvious characteristics. Experienced people could judge where they came from.
Soran had distinct southern characteristics. His hair was linen black, and his pupils were nearly black-brown. Part of him was of human origin and the other part was of Elven origin. So when the group saw Soran, they knew at first sight that he was not a native of the Frost Kingdom, but he was an adventurer from outside.
An elderly northerner came out. He looked at Soran and said slowly, “Outsider. Where are you going? Outsiders are not very welcomed nowadays.”
Soran bowed slightly and looked at the corpses surrounded by the crowd. They were holding a funeral. “I am a traveling adventurer. I want to stay in a nearby town for a while.
He looked at the center area, and there were three corpses on the ground, all of them were adult men. This made him wrinkle his brows and slowly say, “May their souls rest in peace. May I know what happened here? Why don’t you welcome foreigners?”
Something must have happened here.
Since three men wouldn’t die for no reason. Also, from the size of the funeral, Soran figured that these people had some importance.
The old man hesitated for a moment, then looked at the others, and slowly said, “Recently, a group of evil degenerates came into the Frost Kingdom. Among them, were terrible Witches. They charmed many people with magic and many were killed. Since our town was also threatened. The sheriff had closed the town and did not allow outsiders to come near us.”
“Maybe you can try somewhere else!”
Soran frowned and took a step forward. Immediately, a strong man stood up and laid his hand on his weapon. The old man waved to stop them. His rich experience told him that adventurers that traveled alone were not easy to deal with, and there was no need to anger the other party. That was why he refused politely. Otherwise, he could have chased him away directly. Since there were successive deaths in the town, outsiders weren’t allowed in their territory.
Soran seemed to have seen something, he turned around and asked, “May I examine the bodies? Maybe I can help.”
The elder hesitated for a while and then proceeded to lightly nod his head.
Some people obviously wanted to say something. They did not agree with the blasphemous act because the funeral had begun. However, they were stopped by the elder.
“Excuse me.”
Soran pushed aside the crowd and saw a woman with red eyes. She stood on the side with two children in her arms as she had just lost her husband. She would have a hard time in the future. If they did not have a lot of property, then she could only remarry, otherwise, it was very difficult for a single mother to support two children. Soran noticed a scar on the neck of the body. He opened the dead man’s eyes and looked at it. Then, he stretched out his finger and pressed the body’s forehead.
Three of the bodies had similar characteristics, and they were all strong adult men.
Their expressions were somewhat bizarre and distorted as if they were in pain before they died. But there was also a weird smile in their expression, with a Gold Derahl on their lips. It was a tradition of the north. Legend has it that one of the gods of death loved wealth very much. Thus the money on their lips was an offering to the god. It was a payment to pass into the underworld.
The rich would put a Gold Derahl, the middle class would put a Silver Derahl, and the poor would only put a Copper Derahl.
The northern tradition believed that souls of the deceased were first taken away by the god of death. It was up to them to decide whether they belonged to the realm of the deities or should enter the Styx River for reincarnation.
The first recipient of souls were still the deities of death whose innate powers were very strong. The deities of death were among the few that had [Greater Divine Powers]. The ancient deities of death: the [Lord of the Dead], [Lord of the End of Everything], and [Scribe of the Doomed] still exists somewhere in the Styx River.
He once dominated the underworld.
This mighty ancient deity of death was the only ancient god with Greater Divine Powers in the past that hadn’t yet fallen.
He had existed for countless years, and it was said that he was waiting for the end of all things!
He was waiting for the end of the universe to record it and complete his final mission.
He was also the only clear standard to measure the power of Greater Divine Powers. This ancient deity of death, regarded as one of the most powerful ones, used his separated divine powers and created three deities of death with Great Divine Powers. He was even able to strip the Divine Titles of other deities of death from the multiverse.
How powerful was this ancient deity of death?
Soran didn’t have a good recollection of this information. The only thing he was sure of was that there was a Time of Troubles in the past, but it only affected the heavens, not the Abyss or hell. The effects of the turbulence were also very small. It only concentrated in the physical plane and did not affect the elemental deities, nor the ancient deities. It was a small-scale Time of Troubles, during which three deities of death joined forces to single out almost half of the deities in the upper realm. Although they failed in the end, the consequences of the war had been long-lasting.
Legend has it that the Sons of Slaughter had the bloodline of one of the three deities of death, the God of Slaughter.
They weren’t even from the direct bloodline!
A lot of information had been lost, especially after the rise of the Arcane Empire. There was a very long, missing part in history and more than three thousand years of missing records in literature.
Soran remembered a popular conspiracy.
Because the destruction of the Arcane Empire occurred at the same time as the disappearance of the Greater Divine Powers and after the destruction of the Arcane Empire, there were no more deities with Greater Divine Powers. Some people speculated that a battle resulted in a deity with the death of a Greater Divine Powers and the destruction of the Arcane Empire. Only the deities of the upper realm survived this ordeal.
Otherwise, there was no way to explain why the Arcane Empire studied matters that obliterated elements, and the existence of terrifying Neutron Star Golem!
Moreover, the last minor upheaval was due to the forcible removal of the Divine Titles of other deities by the deity with Greater Divine Powers. Conspiracy theorists believed this was enough for the other deities to resist or even have the intention to kill the deity with Greater Divine Powers. Theorists even showed some proof that the Arcane Empire had the power to help kill the deity with Greater Divine Powers. All these information were gathered because someone had been to the Clockwork Nirvana of Mechanus (Challenge Rating 25).
Conspiracy theorists had even tried to figure out the truth behind the recent Time of Troubles.
Unfortunately, there was no useful information since this time, not only the heavenly deities but also the Abyss, Hell, as well as the ancient deities of the Elemental Plane, had all lost their divine powers.
This was not something that Greater Divine Powers could do because all the deities fell!
Even the ancient deity of death which had given up most of his divine powers also fell.
Soran undid the clothes on the corpse. This made the others glare and even wanted to fight him.
“Shing!”
Soran pulled out his curved sword and pointed it at the people who wanted to make a move on him, and they involuntarily stepped back. He frowned and looked at the body, which was covered with grim and frightening wounds.
Soran’s face was gloomy. He separated the torn flesh with his fingers and murmured, “viper whip?”
