From Secret Clan to the Divine Dynasty

The center of the Ouden Continent.

The Capital of the Lorne Empire.

It was the city of a thousand cities, the metropolis of metropolises, the city ablaze with the brilliance of countless stars, the most central city in the world.

Mercado.

At the highest level of a towering white spire, stood an old man clothed in a white robe, surrounded by objects floating about him, like miniature constellations, with an enormous crystal ball in front of him.

He was one of the few Guardians of the Lorne Empire, holding a highly revered status within the nation.

The position of Guardian was limited, always having only four or five of them, constantly reporting directly to the council of the Lorne Empire, and even the Emperor of the Empire could not command them.

This generation of Guardians totaled five, and the old man in the white robe was one of them, his code name being "Dust of Aether".

"It has been observed once again."

"One of the six elements that bring about the end of the world, and the most terrifying of them all…"

"This matter is of utmost importance, we must summon the high ranks of the empire, even the threat of the Seven Stars is incomparable to it, those who are still fighting for power and profit are fools."

The old man shook his head, and said with great resolve to the apprentices around him:

"The paramount matter we have to address now is to find a way to save this world that is on the verge of collapse."

"The council must accept the fact, that the gods have left, the world has been abandoned…"

——

Once, when Karl received the self-sacrifice of devout individuals, he could only transform their lives and other such things into "pure weapons".

However, now he found that he could make more varied choices.

After Karl broke through the 5th Seal, he realized he could respond to the sacrifices of the devout with "miracles".

The specific form of the miracles was not for Karl to decide, but rather, the deepest "wish" within the heart of the devout at the moment.

He could expend Spiritual Power to turn this "wish" into reality.

Karl soon discovered that as long as he expended enough Spiritual Power and the devout sacrificed enough, he could theoretically fulfill any wish.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Indeed, any wish could be fulfilled, which is why they were called "miracles"!

He felt a tinge of excitement.

"To go from purely 'Descending Divine Punishment' to 'Descending a variety of miracles' is undoubtedly a tremendous enhancement."

But there was one problem, Karl couldn't directly try out the new power.

After all, this form of sacrificial offering traditionally required a large "consumption of people", and he felt it really wasn't necessary to attempt it unless it was crucial.

"To fulfill outlandish wishes like bringing the dead back to life would require an enormous cost, even reviving the most ordinary person would essentially consume everything from another person, and reviving someone powerful would require many times more energy."

"In some sense, it could indeed be considered 'equivalent exchange'."

For example, if Chris were to die, even by sacrificing all the currently devout followers, he still couldn't be revived.
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And once the soul had reincarnated, the difficulty of revival would increase even further.

Karl felt that the greater the "distortion of reality", the greater the consumption of Spiritual Power and the sacrifice of the devout.

Just when Karl thought he temporarily didn't need the power of "miracles", a few days later, he received a prayer from a devout follower.

It was the High Priest of the Sea God Cult.

Ian.

——

The White Sea.

On an island inhabited by thousands of natives, an air of death surrounded the people, and despite the scorching weather, a chill still lingered in the hearts of the islanders.

"Oh great Sea God, please protect us, do not let my child die!"

Inside a certain straw hut, a native woman of the White Sea cradled her child who lay unconscious with a high fever, her whole being was extremely weak.

She pleaded desperately.

However, there was no response whatsoever.

A strange plague had suddenly descended upon the entire island; over fifty people had already died, and even Ian could only watch those who were isolated from a distance.

"Sea God, why won't you save us?"

The White Sea natives afflicted with the bizarre disease felt the desperation and fear within them nearly boiling over, yet no one could save them.

From a distance, Ian and others gazed at the place where the diseased resided, with hundreds of Sea God followers always by his side.

"What should we do?" he muttered to himself.

If he were to ask Madam Lilian for help, would she truly come to heal these people?

An elderly member of the Sea God Cult lowered his head reverently and said,

"Many have already died, and the remaining might also perish. We simply cannot tell if they are infected!"

"High Priest, why don't we just do it the old way?"

Ian fell into deep thought, naturally aware of what the old method entailed.

For thousands of years, any island that experienced a plague would be completely slaughtered by the Sea God Cult, wholly cutting off the possibility of the disease spreading.

"..."

He knew this method was correct, after all, the consequences could be unimaginable if someone ill secretly fled and sought help on another island.

But Ian hoped to change the fate of this island!

Because his mother was born on this very island.

In fact, though Ian had never told anyone, deep down he knew that many people on the island were his distant relatives.

"Begin, High Priest!"

The people on the boat urged Ian on, but he suddenly knelt down.

"Great God of the Ocean, please show us a miracle!"

Outwardly, Ian was praying to the Sea God, but deep in his heart, he was praying to the mighty Lord of the Lost.

He was willing to sacrifice his own life to save theirs, hoping to rescue them and eradicate the plague!

"Please completely erase the plague and save those who believe in You!"

"For this, I am willing to make a sacrifice!"

Karl listened to his plea.

So that was it.

The plague.

If it were the Karl of the past, he would have had no way to respond, but now, possessing the ability to perform "miracles", things were entirely different.

He answered Ian's plea!

As usual, Karl saw a cyan blue light shine from the chest area of Ian, with a pale cyan sphere symbolizing the soul appearing.

And around the soul, light emerged—pure white, pink, cyan blue, deep red, orange yellow—representing completely different things.

He extracted a portion... memories, just as he had in the past.

Karl could feel that these memories were trivial to Ian, merely comprised of boredom, pain, and other overwhelmingly negative and insignificant memories from his life.

If it were the original Karl, he probably would not have been able to distinguish them so clearly, but now he possessed more control and could clearly identify which specific memories he was extracting.

The next moment, those cyan blue lights representing memories appeared in the sky.

Only Ian and a few Daybreaker guards nearby could clearly perceive this scene, their faces alight with fervent devotion and excitement as they began to exclaim loudly.

The surrounding Sea God followers saw the High Priest's sudden extreme excitement and also became exhilarated, all chanting the name of the deity!

Though the god in Ian and his people's hearts was entirely different from the one in the followers' hearts.

An invisible hand of thought tossed the cyan blue light towards those afflicted by the disease.

In an instant, all the malice within the plague was entirely erased, and even those who had been on the brink of death began to recover gradually.

The members of the Sea God Cult witnessed this incredibly miraculous event! Everyone rejoiced wildly, sending out endless gratitude to the Sea God, while deep inside, Ian kept thanking the mighty Lord of the Lost.

He couldn't hold back his tears as he silently expressed his gratitude.

Thank you, mighty Lord of the Lost, for it is with Your protection...

"that we have the chance to break free from the same tragic cycle."