Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
On the top floor of Babel in the Atomic Universe…
The whole hall was filled with silver, green and transparent lines. They extended from the wall, the floor, the ceiling and the void, constituting a dense, complicated magic circle.
The center where the lines were gathered presented fluids that were brimming with intense vitality. Like the source of a fountain, it flowed out and filled all the round altars.
Looking at the exuberant greenness in the altars, Lucien smiled at Natasha. “The ritual of ‘Nature’s Gift’ is ready.”
“Why is this different from what I heard from Granny Hathaway?” Natasha observed the constituents of the legendary ritual around with great interest.
She had learnt the basic look of ‘Nature’s Gift’ from Hathaway a long time ago, because it was Fernando and Hathaway who hosted the ritual for Douglas at the beginning. This life-extending legendary ritual used the fruit of the elvish tree as the core. Through the transformation of magic circles and complicated procedures, the power inside the fruit would be extracted and integrated into the body and soul of the receiver, thereby extending their life.
It was the state-of-the-art life ritual. According to the quality of the fruit and the ritual materials, the smoothness of the ritual, and the strength of the receiver, their longevity could be extended by three to six thousand years.
The view in the hall, however, was so different. Natasha saw neither the fruit of the elvish tree nor the constituents of the corresponding magic circle. Although she did not know much about magic circles, the ritual of Nature’s Gift had a distinctive appearance that couldn’t be mistaken at all.
Most importantly of all, there wouldn’t be a pool that looked like a fountain at the center of the ritual of ‘Nature’s Gift’!
Lucien kept smiling. “You forgot that we still have ‘Fountain of Youth’. I have modified the ritual of ‘Nature’s Gift’ with its features. Although the Fountain of Youth is not as good as the fruit of the elvish tree in terms of quality and cannot improve the upper bound, it can significantly improve the lower bound. Therefore, the ritual of ‘Nature’s Gift’ can extend the longevity by five to six thousand years for two people.”
“‘Fountain of Youth’?”Natasha finally recalled Lucien’s trophies in the World of Souls. She looked at the fountain-like pool at the center of the ritual and immediately realized that it was what the Fountain of Youth should look like. “Do we not need Hathaway or the Lord of Storm to host the ritual?”
Most of the legendary rituals had to be supervised by legendary experts.
Looking at the ‘pool’ at the center that had melted the power of the fruit of the elvish tree and the Fountain of Youth, Lucien smiled. “We don’t. The ritual that I have modified does not need more legends. As long as one of the receivers is a legendary sorcerer, it will be enough to navigate the ritual. Nothing will go wrong. It will be an easy, convenient, efficient and comfortable life-extending ritual.”
Natasha couldn’t help but laugh aloud hearing Lucien’s description. “Haha. I’m now convinced that the strange advertisements in ‘Arcana Voice’ and ‘News of the World’ were invented by you…”
“Did I ever deny it?” Lucien opened his hands.
Natasha stopped laughing and became serious. “What are we going to do next?”
“Well, we only need to submerge ourselves in the pool like taking a bath in a hot spring. The ritual will drive the integrated power of the fruit of the elvish tree and the Fountain of Youth into our body.” Said Lucien solemnly. “To ensure the effect, we must not wear any magical items.”
“What?” Natasha was stunned and then said in a half smile. “A ritual that requires a naked bath? You designed it on purpose, didn’t you?”
“Am I that kind of person? It’s all because of the features of the Fountain of Youth.” Said Lucien hypocritically.
“Is that so?” Natasha chuckled. “As a matter of fact, I like such a creation.”
As she spoke, the bright purple court dress that she wore dropped like a dancing butterfly, and the remaining clothes flew off one piece after another, slowly and charmingly, revealing her enthralling body.
Like every time she took a bath, Natasha pointed at the water with the tip of her toe, before she walked towards the center of the green pool one step after another, her body gradually was submerged under the fluids. Suddenly, she turned back and said to Lucien who was still floating outside of the altar, “Come on. Don’t be shy.”
……
Time went by fast, and the green ‘water’ was less and less. Both Lucien and Natasha felt that the fluids were melted into their body and their souls, bringing a clean and comfortable feeling. They were entirely relaxed.
“The ritual has been finished. It will be a complete success as long as it is not interrupted. I can already feel that my longevity has improved a lot. Four thousand years, probably.” Lucien suddenly opened his mouth, breaking the silence. He sounded lazy when his soul had been deeply relaxed.
Leaning on Lucien’s body, Natasha said equally lazily, “I feel that my pressure, anxieties and worries about many things have been cleansed by the water. Well, I’m thinking of holding a music festival in Rentato.”
Under such circumstances, she spoke whatever came to her mind.
“A music festival?” Lucien asked back, his voice far away.
“Yes, I’ve been planning to hold a ‘Rentato Music Festival’ so that I’ll miss Aalto less. However, there were few distinguished musicians in Rentato until this year, when a batch of remarkable musicians emerged. So, I decided to get it done. Hehe. Thanks to you, light music and unconventional symphonies are popular in Rentato. I hope that it will mark the difference between Aalto music and Rentato music.”
Although she loved Aalto, Natasha did not intend to turn Rentato into another Aalto. She respected the culture and customs of this place. “By then, I hope that I can use your ‘Valkyrie’ as the opening for the music festival.”
Lucien underestimated the difficulties to create an opera. Also, he had a high demand for himself in the original work. Therefore, it was not until the double-slit experiment with electrons that he finally finished the work that took almost four years. He was looking for opera singers and orchestras to rehearse it.
“It’s a gift for you. You can watch it whenever you want to.” Lucien had no objection. “However, I fear that we’ll have to take the Time Plate from the Chaotic Cosmos first.”
He had made all the preparations and was ready to go to the 555th level of Abyssal Maw, the ‘Chaotic Cosmos’.
“Of course, all my attention is devoted to Abyssal Maw and the Chaotic Cosmos right now…” Natasha took a long breath in satisfaction.
Ten minutes later, the green ‘water’ was completely gone, and Lucien and Natasha were enshrouded in bright green, translucent halos.
All the parts of the magic ritual glittered, and the energy was gathered into an enormous and special pressure.
The transparent light constricted violently and crawled into Lucien and Natasha. Vague fragrance of nature spread out of their bodies.
“Our longevity has been extended by about 5,600 years.” Said Lucien according to the feedback of the ritual and his own status.
Natasha chuckled, “Therefore, it will be a long race for me to catch up with you. I will not be frustrated and give up just because I’m behind for now! I will certainly catch up to you!”
She clenched her fists, her competitiveness surging out.
……
In San Ivansburg, the capital of the Schachran Empire in the north…
“Your Holiness, Lucien Evans has published only one paper, no, one book, recently. It’s ‘Basics of Mathematics’, which addresses the development of mathematics and proposes certain conundrums.” ‘Saint’ Clement reported to Belkovsky, the pontiff.
Belkovsky, who had the typical big nose of the Schachran Empire, nodded. “That’s alright. Thank you, Clement.”
In the North Church, the pontiff was only half a level higher than the Grand Cardinals and was not as powerful and authoritative as the pope. Therefore, he was rather courteous in the way he talked.
“Your Holiness, why did you ask us to pay attention to Lucien? How does Lucien’s research concern us?” Asked Clement in confusion.
Belkovsky said solemnly. “Lucien Evans went to the Pathway of Immortality and opened the Chamber of Immortality, which may be reflected in his research. For example, his ideas about quantum superposition gave me inspiration.”
“That explains a lot.” Clement rose and left the Saint Ivan Church for his own Saint Geno Church.
The moment he entered the room of prayers, the peace on his face was replaced by gloom and hatred. He murmured to himself, “Lucien Evans…”
In the meantime, he drew crosses on his chest, shorter vertically and longer horizontally!
The Horizontal Cross Sect within the North Church was made by him and the Lord of Hell together. Otherwise, even the Lord of Hell couldn’t have infiltrated the North Church so astonishingly.
Although Lucien’s operation to sabotage their plan was rather secretive, Clement still knew the person guilty for the death of Ivanovszki thanks to the Lord of Hell. Therefore, he sent subordinates to teach the guy a lesson and let him repent what he did in hell.
However, Lucien’s speed of advancement was beyond his imagination. Every time he sent a subordinate over, he would discover that Lucien had grown too strong for his subordinate, and he was forced to send another one. Since such a secret group could not deploy assassins as easily as the South Church did, the process simply repeated itself. After Clement was less busy and intended to find an opportunity himself, he learnt the news that Lucien had become a legend.
There couldn’t have been a more infuriating message. Before he put his plan of revenge into action, the enemy’s strength had been improving by leaps until he could barely be dealt with in regular ways, and it had only been a few years!
Therefore, Clement judiciously aborted his plan. Nobody would retaliate against a legend for such trivial things, unless he was as crazy as the Will of Abyss!
“It’s true that strength is the foundation of everything…” Clement prayed before the cross.
In the middle of his prayer, he suddenly sensed that sacred, uncanny air was gathering before the cross, and the ivory holy light spread out bit by bit.
Then, the projection of an angel who was as beautiful as a girl appeared before him, with thirty-six wings unfolding slowly on the back.
“The Angel King?”
Clement blurted out in shock. He did not understand how the Angel King’s projection could’ve arrived in spite of the heavy defense of the church, and nor did he know why the Angel King, who had been cooperating with the South Church, would visit him!
