【You have lost 300,000 Gold Coins】
【Airi (Ranger) has joined the party!】
So much for the dignity of not bowing for a pittance, or the fragility of friendships maintained by profit… Sorry, that must mean you simply weren’t paying enough.
Airi finally became the kind of person she hated most (a bootlicker). A cause for celebration.
It was precisely because the target was a delicate, helpless girl who stirred her protective instincts that Airi felt it didn’t matter if she fawned over her.
But for Weilin, it was a difficult situation…
“Licking prioritized” had just been a casual remark. If Weilin continued to rely on money to solve everything, one day, she would grow utterly disillusioned with this world full of sycophants and forever… lose the pure friendship of a noble, disinterested acquaintance.
Damn it, this accursed capitalist poppy is just so sweet…
“What are you agonizing over? Is there anything I can do to help, Lega Weilin-chan?”
Having exchanged names, Airi now knew the girl’s. Seeing her clutching her chest in apparent distress, she immediately asked with concern.
Lifting her eyelids to glance at her, Weilin nodded with sudden seriousness and said, as if having been granted her wish, “Yes: you can also stay away from me.”
“…I’m being rejected.”
?
The morning sun blazed as it rose, the mists gradually thinning. Looking up, one could see millions of drifting snowflakes, mesmerizing and obscuring the view.
No one would believe this was mid-spring somewhere.
“Silence—!”
An aged yet deep and powerful voice, amplified by voice-projection magic, subdued the clamor across the square with an iron fist, causing everyone’s heart to tremble as they all turned to look.
“Ah! It’s Frostwinter Magic Academy’s Grand Elder Doma Chitose!”
A surprised cry rang out, and immediately, all sorts of gossip about Doma Chitose was dug up.
“What! Could it be that Grand Elder Doma Chitose, who cultivates both ice and earth magic, known for being unable to kill any opponent of the same tier but also unkillable by anyone, who simply decides to play safe until your mentality explodes, and by sheer longevity, has outlived his archrival, along with four generations of their descendants?!!”
“Hiss, terrifying indeed.”
“Right, he just finished the funeral for his great-great-grandson the day before yesterday. I heard his latest goal is to outlive the Vice-Principal and take her place.”
“The Vice-Principal is only 28! She’d never imagine someone already wishing for her to die of old age at her age. Grand Elder Doma is an absolute demon…”
Known as the ‘Witness to the Snow Kingdom’s Millennium of Founding’ and one of the few people respected by Huan Xuezhi, Doma Chitose had an exceptionally long, thick beard and turbid eyes that still gleamed with intense spirit. Suspended in the void, he looked down at the clamoring crowd and sneered:
“You little brats, do you still want to compete or not?! Silence!”
The oppressive might of a Saint Mage descended like a sky-covering boulder, suppressing all sound.
“I imagine many newbies participated in last year’s competition as well, but to prevent any newly arrived big shots from throwing their lives away due to ignorance of the rules, this old man shall explain them once more… Pay attention, I’m only saying this once!”
“You are about to be teleported to one of the Genesis Islands—the Island of Illusory Snow and Flowing Ice!”
“Your mission is to hunt the various Snow Demons born on Illusory Snow Island and seize their ‘Snow Essence’!”
“Moving from the outer perimeter of the island towards the central area, the enemies’ tiers will progressively increase. While profit and risk coexist, I advise everyone to act within their limits. After all, if you die in there, no one will collect your corpse!”
“Though it’s called a ‘Magic Competition’, I don’t care if you use magic, Battle Aura, or something else! As long as it kills Snow Demons, it counts as magic! The competition lasts 24 hours, no forced early exit is allowed, and rankings are based solely on the final number of Snow Essences submitted…!!”
“The top ten will be granted land and titles, and have the right to choose any piece of equipment below 7th-Tier from the national treasury… Unlike previous years, this year’s champion will also receive an audience with the Illusory Snow Queen. The Queen will break precedent and use the Divine Crystal’s power to help them break through their mana bottleneck! —And serve My King!”
!
The Divine Crystal was a 10th-Tier Genesis Stone, its power unimaginably heaven-defying.
One could say, even a person with utterly withered talent, once exposed to the Divine Crystal’s aura, would inevitably become a powerhouse in the future. If it were a mage long trapped at the peak of Archmage, a mere trace of the Divine Crystal’s mana could allow them to ascend to the legendary rank of Legendary Mage overnight!
But…
There was only one champion.
Although the hope was slim, it wasn’t impossible. Nearly ten thousand people were rubbing their hands together, eager to try.
“As for those ranked eleventh and below, the state will purchase each ‘Snow Essence’ at a price of one hundred Gold Coins. You’ll still return with plentiful gains!”
“One final reminder: venturing deep into the island’s center may yield great fortune, but the chance of sudden death is extremely high! Know your limits!”
“Now then, time is getting on…”
Muffled, thunderous echoes boomed in everyone’s ears. Everyone saw Doma Chitose glance at the sky, his voice pausing. All faces grew tense.
“Everyone may now prepare…” Chitose withdrew his gaze, his majestic, aged eyes sweeping over the crowd below. Suddenly, his voice rang out like a thunderclap, “My King’s decree has arrived! The portal to the Island of Illusory Snow and Flowing Ice————Open!”
The snowstorm suddenly intensified.
Countless streams of icy light descended from the heavens. As they fell, they naturally converged, plummeting, intertwining, until thousands of streams coiled together into a colossal pillar of light pointing straight at the earth’s core, shooting down like a meteor!
The moment the light pillar struck the ground, it extended to both sides, transforming into a gigantic gate-like shape.
A dense, fierce chill continuously gushed from the other side of the gate. In the blink of an eye, the entire square’s floor was coated in a thick layer of frost…
The magic (?) competition had begun!
?
A human tide, like a flood, poured into that radiant portal. Some even started fighting prematurely to seize the advantage of entering first…
The two of them were in no hurry to enter, instead retreating to the edge of the sea of people. Airi kept her eyes peeled in all directions, ready to spring into action if some blind fool stumbled into Miss Weilin.
“Island of Illusory Snow and Flowing Ice… never heard of it. What kind of place is it?”
How could Weilin not have heard of it? She was asking a question she already knew the answer to, just to confirm if this otherworldly denizen’s explanation differed from the game’s settings.
“…Eh? It’s common knowledge in this World, yet Weilin doesn’t know?”
The Ranger Miss was already proficiently addressing her by name. Weilin’s ignorance was merely another chance for her to show off. Airi eagerly launched into an explanation:
“Don’t know about Genesis Islands? Then surely you must know about the continent’s most powerful divine object—the Divine Crystal?”
“Don’t know.”
“Uh… Then let me recite a poem for you first.”
………………The Girl, Lost in Recitation………………
【
‘Wind’ gathers tornadoes
‘Water’ births ice and snow
‘Earth’ gives rise to rock
‘Fire’ is both light and darkness
Lightning shuttles through the ‘Sky’, sun and moon shine in the ‘Sky’
Fire scorches earth, thus lava flows in the depths
Wind moves water, transforming into tsunamis and tides
Wind, Water, Earth, Fire, Sky—the interweaving of elements is the essence of the world’s composition
Microscopic as molecules, macroscopic as the cosmos
The most profound ‘Space’, ‘Time’, and ‘Eternity’ are also formed by the Five Great Elements…】
According to Airi, this was a Genesis Ballad recorded in historical texts, detailing the rule that the Five Great Elements are the essence of the World.
The ballad also mentioned that phenomena derived from the Five Great Elements, like “sun and moon”, “rain and snow”, “lightning and Heavenly Fire”, which affect the world, are materialized rules, manifesting as the ‘Genesis Artifacts’ and ‘Genesis Islands’.
‘Genesis Islands’ float at the end of the firmament, unreachable by flight.
‘Genesis Artifacts’ are sealed on the ‘Genesis Islands’.
The Genesis Ballad prophesied that if a ‘Genesis Artifact’ were brought from an island into the mortal world, the Genesis Island would fall from the sky’s end, and its Divine Crystal would shatter…
Then, the corresponding rule’s power would be erased from the mortal world.
Take the Island of Illusory Snow and Flowing Ice as an analogy: if Huan Xuezhi were to bring the Genesis Artifact ‘Sigh of Ice and Snow’, sealed on the island, into the mortal world, ‘ice’ and ‘snow’ would never naturally form anywhere in the world again. Even at absolute zero temperature, water would never freeze into ice!
But wherever the arrow of ‘Sigh of Ice and Snow’—the very symbol of this world’s rule—passed, all living beings… would be eternally sealed within an abyss of infinite, frigid cold!
‘Divine Crystals’ are also the ‘manifestation of power’ of the Five Great Elements, ‘rule-made’ objects.
But the true meaning and purpose of a Divine Crystal is to serve as the key to open the portal to these otherwise unreachable Genesis Islands!
Of course, even without being used to unlock a Genesis Island, the Divine Crystal’s inherent power as a 10th-Tier crystal stone is already absurdly strong.
Summary: Divine Crystal = Genesis Island = Genesis Artifact
Mourning Snow Divine Crystal = Island of Illusory Snow and Flowing Ice = Sigh of Ice and Snow
Though a trinity, only the Divine Crystal can be used normally in the mortal world. Bringing a Genesis Artifact into the mortal world would not only cause the collapse of the World’s rules… but also incur the endless, united pursuit of every living being on the entire continent!
“Phew… Does Weilin understand now?”
Airi had put great effort into her explanation, her face somewhat flushed as a result.
Weilin nodded, then asked another question, “Then how many Genesis Divine Crystals are there on the continent?”
“The Genesis Ballad doesn’t state it explicitly, but it’s definitely very, very few! As far as I know, The Empire and The Federation only have two each. Adding the Cloudstride Merchant Guild’s foundational ‘Space Divine Crystal’ and the Snow Kingdom’s ‘Mourning Snow Divine Crystal’… that’s only six. As for the ‘Time Wheel Divine Crystal’ and the ‘Eternal Divine Crystal’ hinted at in the Genesis Ballad, The Empire and The Federation have searched bitterly for a century, yet haven’t found a single clue to this day…”
Ha… How could there possibly be any clues?
Because ‘Time Wheel’ and ‘Eternity’ were both Lega Weilin’s secret, unannounced foundations.
And there was one point Airi had wrong. Not all Divine Crystals correspond to a Genesis Island at the end of the sky. Only the Eternity Divine Crystal, which contained ‘Life’ and ‘Mineral Spirit’, was the portal key to unlock the ‘Eternal Mineshaft’ deep within the continent’s core!
Including those game-breaking authorities like ‘Home Has a Mine’, they were all gifts from the Eternity Divine Crystal.
When she came back to her senses, ninety percent of the crowd before the portal had already entered, leaving a large empty area in the square before the two.
“They’ve all gone in. Let’s go too.”
Weilin nodded calmly, following Airi until they reached the portal, which was as pale as ice and as deep as a cold pool. They stepped inside.
