Ancient Wizards: A Little Progress Every Day

"Did you do this, Arahan?"

As they sped rapidly toward the Empire of Destiny, Dago subtly slowed down.

He deliberately lagged far behind Jason, and only after confirming that the surroundings were safe did he cautiously ask the question in his mind.

"What?"

Arazan's reply was clearly one of surprise and doubt.

Clearly, this ancient shaman had no idea what kind of terrifying soul-shaking experience Dago had just gone through when he crossed the boundary line.

After all, Arahan's remnant soul had already declined to an extreme point.

Except in life-or-death situations, he spends most of the day forced into deep sleep to maintain his existence.

If it wasn't Arajan who did it, then who was it?

Dago slightly raised his head, his icy blue eyes piercing through the mist as he glanced at Jason ahead.

His face, sculpted from marble, showed not the slightest emotion; it was terrifyingly cold and hard.

But he was more certain than anyone that the ancient bell that had just struck like a heavy brass bell was definitely not some ridiculous hallucination caused by fatigue from traveling.

Because, at this very moment, the wondrous feeling that his soul had been cleansed by an unparalleled power still lingered clearly in his body!

The feeling was like immersing your soul in the purest, most sacred spring.

Even the subtle and troublesome aftereffects left by his last forced use of "Reincarnation Dream" were reduced by more than half in this short moment!

He could even vaguely sense that his soul strength had recovered to its peak state, allowing him to enter the dream a second time at any time.

"The pendulum of fate..."

Dargo silently chewed on this mysterious name between his lips and teeth.

He took a deep breath of the cold air, burying the shock in his eyes and the myriad questions in his heart deep within.

----------

After officially crossing the blue bacteria border and entering the territory of the Fate Empire.

To avoid being noticed, Dago and Jason spent another half a day discreetly traveling.

Finally, at dusk, when the sky was dyed blood red by the afterglow of the setting sun, they arrived at a small town built at the foot of a mountain.

And just as they were about to enter the town.

"clang--!"

"clang--!"

"clang--!"

The ancient bell, like a midnight dream, resounded once again without warning throughout the world!

This is a heavy, desolate sound, similar to that produced when a huge bronze artifact is struck by a heavy hammer.

The voice even carried a hint of heaviness and sorrow that made one's chest tighten.

However, this time the bell tolled without the kind of divine power that strikes the soul.

Dago's soul did not experience the cleansing sensation it had felt before.

And this time, Jason, who was walking in front, heard it clearly as well.

"What's going on?"

The two exchanged a glance and, with a hint of surprise and doubt, slowly walked into the wizard town.

The sight that came into view made both of them stop in their tracks.

This town, which should have been full of life, was now filled with the sounds of various sizes of funeral bells tolling from the rooftops of every house.

The ancient black clock tower, towering into the clouds, located in the town's central square, seemed to be mourning some great existence, repeatedly emitting deafening cries.

Countless wizards and commoners, clad in gray and black robes, gathered as if on a pilgrimage in the small square beneath the clock tower.

The crowd was densely packed, yet eerily quiet.

No one spoke, not even a cough could be heard.

The entire town seemed to fall into a silent mourning, immersed in an eerie atmosphere that was extremely solemn and dignified.

As the most mysterious and awe-inspiring of the three great wizarding empires in the Central Region, the Fate Empire has many customs and etiquette that are indeed vastly different from those of ordinary wizarding communities.

"I'll go find out. This is no joke."

Jason frowned. He told Dago to stop and wait at a relatively secluded street corner, while he pulled up his hood and stealthily made his way towards the clock tower in the center of town.

About half an hourglass's time had passed.

As the chimes gradually subsided, the crowd gathered in the town's central square dispersed like a tide.

Jason then turned back with a complicated expression.

"We've found out that their 'prophet' is dead."

Jason's scar on his face contorted slightly with shock. He exhaled a breath of stale air. "It's also a new prophet, with a ceremony to ascend to the throne at the same time."

"The bells they are ringing now are both bidding farewell to the departed old prophet and welcoming the ascension of the new prophet. This is an old tradition that the Empire of Destiny has passed down since ancient times."

At this point, Jason's gaze suddenly turned strange, and he stared intently at Dargo:

"However, to be honest, this is too much of a coincidence. I inquired carefully and found out exactly when their highly respected old prophet actually passed away..."

"That was exactly the moment we crossed that blue bacteria border."

Upon hearing this, Dago's pupils contracted sharply.

The image of that soul-stirring bell he had heard at the border flashed through his mind!

Jason stroked his bald head and continued, "So, I think there's a reasonable explanation for the so-called 'auditory hallucinations' you heard at the border."

"You must have been caught in that sacred moment of the old prophet's fall and the transition between the old and the new. By sheer coincidence, your soul resonated with the bells of the Pendulum Empire's national treasure, creating a strange resonance that even you and I cannot comprehend."

"...Perhaps."

Dago nodded noncommittally, his expression remaining stern.

Looking at the hurried, solemn, and sorrowful native wizards of the Fate Empire around him, he finally couldn't help but ask:

"Do you know what level of monster wizard this supreme 'prophet' they're talking about is? A fourth-ring miracle? Or... a fifth-ring or even a seventh-ring Twilight?"

"Twilight? You're overthinking it. The entire vast Upper Ring Continent has been sealed off for countless epochs. There might not even be any true Twilight-level wizards still alive today."

Jason shook his head with absolute certainty.

A deep sense of awe flashed in his eyes: "The terror and greatness of the prophet have never lay in how powerful his magic is."

"It lies not in his ability, but in his terrifyingly accurate premonition of every major event that is about to occur in the world!"

"You should know that the prophecies ever proclaimed by the Pendulum of Fate Empire have never been wrong, not even once. And this old prophet, before his death, used the last of his life force to leave behind three final, top-secret prophecies under the starry sky..."

"Oh? What prophecy?"

Dago's heart stirred slightly, his curiosity piqued.

Jason gave a disgruntled smirk and rolled his eyes.

"Please, if outsiders of my caliber could find out so easily, would I still be here chatting with you unharmed? I'd be silenced long ago!"

"All I know is that no one knows the true contents of those three prophecies except for the newly enthroned prophet."

Dargo wisely kept quiet and didn't dwell on the matter any further.

He then mentally activated Arazan, who had just been disturbed and was still a bit grumpy, and began a deeper conversation with him.

"Kid, prophetic wizards have always been the most mysterious, most incomprehensible, and rarest abnormal group in the entire history of wizarding civilization."

Arajan's voice conveyed a sense of vicissitude, as if he had experienced many storms.

"Their path to seeking truth and power is very different from that of ordinary wizards like you who rely on asceticism and killing; in fact, it is the complete opposite."

"When I was traveling in the central region, I met a Twilight-level archmage belonging to the 'Altar of Cause and Effect.' His bizarre cultivation methods still baffle me to this day."

"He actually forcibly drew upon the cosmic power to ascend from the causal feedback generated from the moment the 'prophecy came true'!"