Chapter 119: The Outrageous Dark Mage! The Golden-Body Envoy Appears! [Please Subscribe]

The area covered by the Pillar of Revelation is neither particularly small nor particularly large. Especially after learning that such actions might trigger the next stage of information registration for the secret realm, many people have been rushing toward this location.

Everyone was already discussing the current registration data, surprised that it included classifications for extraterrestrial civilizations, some of which were even impossible to parse by name. However, when the name "Black Mage" appeared on the leaderboard and surged to the top with such overwhelming dominance, everyone was stunned once again. Almost every gaze turned to search the area, eventually locking onto Zhan Yu and Yi Shen!

It was unclear how the scores of other civilizations were being recorded, but for the human civilization, it was almost entirely dependent on the Pillar of Revelation. If the Black Mage’s name appeared, it meant he must be nearby. Since many people already recognized Zhan Yu, their eyes immediately scanned the Black Mage, Yi Shen, who stood beside her, as well as the young woman in the black hoodie, Xiao Ge.

"Is there something wrong with this leaderboard?"
"How does the Black Mage have so many points? It’s only been a few minutes!"
"The Black Mage has taken the top spot, suppressing all those other civilizations. But where are those civilizations anyway, and why would this secret realm track information about them?"
"I think it must be related to those specters. I killed two on my way here, and it gave me four points."
"What can the points even be used for? Can they be exchanged for items? Does this mean we’ve officially entered a special secret realm?"

Some were confused, not understanding how to obtain points. Others were shocked; they had originally followed their guilds to explore the secret realm, only to find the Plane Gate transformed into a massive tower surrounded by all sorts of bizarre architecture. Still others had already begun to act—even without knowing the purpose of the points, they figured there was no harm in collecting more. By seizing the initiative before others could react, they might hold an advantage later.

At the base of the Tower of Revelation, Xiao Ge checked the points on her system panel and then glanced at Yi Shen.

"Haven't you been with us the whole time? How did you suddenly get so many?" Xiao Ge asked, curious. She had been observing Yi Shen for the past two days, trying to gather information about him, but this suddenly famous Black Mage seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. Even while spending time with him, she rarely saw him reveal his true self.

According to Zhan Yu, the Black Mage didn't like to expose his identity. However, in their short time together, Xiao Ge had noticed that Zhan Yu’s attitude toward him was strange. Logically, the Black Mage’s strength wasn't necessarily weaker than Zhan Yu’s, yet he was very respectful toward her. When Zhan Yu looked at Yi Shen, she often showed a sense of concern, much like an elder toward a junior. Xiao Ge guessed that Yi Shen might be a younger member of Zhan Yu's circle. But even for a junior, the point gap was too extreme. Yi Shen had only killed a dozen more specters than them along the way; having over ten thousand more points was simply absurd.

"It must be related to him killing the Moonlight Mirror Image earlier," Zhan Yu said, looking at Yi Shen. "My score is over a hundred, yet I haven't killed any specters." She analyzed the situation: "He cleared out quite a few monsters on the battlefield previously, and this secret realm is clearly linked to the Moonlight Land, so his score is actually reasonable."

Yi Shen nodded in agreement. While he felt Zhan Yu’s assessment was correct, he understood on a deeper level that it wasn't just because of the monsters he had killed, but also due to his "Moonlight Body." When the system provided the description, it mentioned that points would be converted based on the Scepter energy contained within one's body—and his points came directly from that energy. Furthermore, the system noted that because of his high energy affinity, the acquisition of energy points was somewhat suppressed, which was likely also related to his Moonlight Body or Mage’s Heart.

"What now?" Yi Shen asked. "Should we split up?"

Beyond the leaderboard, the extra secret realm interface included a countdown for the Scepter points, totaling about 24 hours. The light curtain covered a much larger area than anticipated; it seemed likely that there would be a final tally of the points earned during this 24-hour window. As top-tier explorers, it would be inconvenient for Yi Shen, Zhan Yu, and Xiao Ge to move together; splitting up would be more efficient.

"Yes, let's act separately. We'll keep in touch if there's any news," Zhan Yu agreed. "I'm going to check the city. Lei sent a message saying many parts of the city are under attack. These specters aren't hard for us to deal with, but they pose a significant threat to civilians."

"Then I’ll head to the perimeter to see if I can reach the edge of the light curtain," Xiao Ge said, stretching her body. She hadn't been active for a long time and hadn't expected to be covered by this secret realm. "By the way, everyone should keep an eye on those other two civilizations. The Coordination Bureau has been investigating this for years. You can assume that any other civilization is an absolute enemy; never trust a word they say."

Xiao Ge explained further: "The Moonlight Civilization is likely a remnant from the Moonlight Land. I don't have much info on them, but the Blood Clan civilization has been appearing in China and across the world for over a decade. That giant beast Qi Lei intercepted earlier was likely their handiwork. Be careful."

Xiao Ge provided some intelligence, and although Zhan Yu asked a few more questions, Xiao Ge indicated that she couldn't say more. If Zhan Yu and the Black Mage were willing to join the Coordination Bureau, they would naturally learn many things. She hadn't just come to recruit the Black Mage; she had also set her sights on Zhan Yu.

"Then I'll head to the other side," Yi Shen said. "I've dealt with the Moonlight Civilization quite a bit; their architecture is quite strange." He pointed toward the buildings from the Moonlight Land that had appeared due to the Pillar of Revelation, sensing the flow of energy within them. "My father mentioned that Peach Blossom Dock seems to have stabilized, but if you have time, try to go check on it."

His parents were high-level, so they could handle the specters, meaning Yi Shen didn't need to rush back to support them. The three Zhu sisters had already relocated to the Peach Blossom Dock settlement; their status as his shop clerks meant they were already in contact with his mother, so he didn't need to worry about their safety. Communicating with Zhan Yu and the others wasn't difficult, and since the communicators worked within the light curtain, the three could stay in touch after splitting up.

"There are quite a few specters here, too."

Yi Shen flew through the air, heading north toward the Land of Black Mist and the strange buildings. From the sky, he realized the architectural area was much larger than he had imagined, even covering the plains where he had previously altered the terrain. The only difference was that there were few human explorers here, save for a few guilds just arriving, so the number of specters seemed much higher than in the Jingmen Safe Zone.

"Flash!"

A Flame Gate ignited instantly. Yi Shen felt no guilt about destroying these alien structures. With a flick of his hand, he razed them to the ground. Countless flames surged from the Flame Gate, causing devastating destruction to the surrounding buildings and specters. A Void Wind Array appeared out of thin air, and within seconds, a large area was leveled.

As Yi Shen expected, after killing these specters, energy flowed into his body, and his points increased. However, so far, only specters had appeared. If this were the only type of energy creature in the secret realm, it would be far too monotonous.

Just as Yi Shen felt that monotony, in the North District of the Pillar of Revelation, Zhu Kaiyang, a Warlock, was flying rapidly over the purple buildings, his three imps and wings summoned. Upon spotting some specters, his imps lunged at them.

"-163"
"-383"
"-1221"

The specters took damage, but it took a full ten seconds of combat for one to dissipate entirely. "Damn it, this immunity is ridiculous!" Zhu Kaiyang grumbled. As a Warlock nearing level 70, the fact that he was hitting for only a hundred-plus points was absurd. The monsters weren't high-level, but their damage reduction was outrageous.

Soon, however, he saw the Flame Gate Yi Shen had released in the distance, flattening buildings and monsters in one fell swoop. He watched as the Black Mage’s points on the leaderboard surged by over four hundred—a total that exceeded his own efforts over the last dozen minutes!

"What kind of monster is he? Can he really use that skill infinitely?"

Zhu Kaiyang had studied the Black Mage over the past few days but couldn't understand how Yi Shen could unleash such terrifying skills, seemingly without limitations. This kind of massive area-of-effect attack with such high damage had to be an S-rank skill or higher. Even then, the cooldown should be extremely long. Yet, the Black Mage had not only set a record for casting nearly twenty Flame Gates simultaneously but also summoned massive Earth-type monsters. Zhu Kaiyang had always believed the world was fair, and he had reached his current strength through hard work. But after seeing the Black Mage’s power, he felt his worldview crumbling. He had heard of overpowered experts before, but he had never seen anyone as ridiculous as the Black Mage.

In the Northern Black Mist region, after the entire world was covered by the Scepter's range, several Dimensional Gates temporarily went dormant. Buildings that were previously connected to them no longer had energy flowing through them, though the core structures Yi Shen had destroyed earlier had been completely repaired.

Inside one of these core buildings, a faint, transparent spirit figure drifted through the space, while all other spirits and exotic beasts in the vicinity bowed in worship. Although this was merely an avatar of the "Lord," its significance far surpassed that of these spirit lifeforms. In their tradition, the Lord created the Moonlight Civilization, and every life here belonged to the Lord.

However, this avatar was not in a normal state; it was wrapped in a special golden film. Inside the building, specters were constantly being brought in and killed by several blue semi-spirits in a strange, assembly-line fashion, though the avatar itself did not participate.

"Lord, that human mage has appeared again," one of the blue semi-spirits said, arriving in the building and relaying the message through strange runes.

"Hmm," the transparent spirit nodded. "The Scepter has arrived in this world and has been fully digitized. I need to establish a connection with this world to deceive the World Will."

"Continue collecting Scepter spirits. Bring some Moonlight Envoys here."

The transparent spirit spoke in strange energy notes, allowing it to convey information rapidly. The blue semi-spirit soon brought a batch of Moonlight Mirror Images. They had surrendered part of their main bodies to prevent Yi Shen from purging the area, but most of their main bodies and the previously constructed Moonlight Mirror Images were still functioning normally.

"Flash!"

The transparent spirit released a burst of power, and three Moonlight Mirror Images exploded instantly. After a moment of thought, the spirit commanded three blue semi-spirits to approach, using a bizarre method to inject them into the Moonlight Mirror Images. After a few seconds, the transparent spirit injected more power. This time, while seven or eight of the ten-plus Moonlight Mirror Images shattered, four survived.

On the Pillar of Revelation’s leaderboard, the scores of the Moonlight Civilization fluctuated slightly. But because their names were just garbled code, no one realized these names had been replaced.

"The Scepter’s power has only just begun to emerge. You two, infiltrate their world and increase the Scepter’s points as much as possible. You two, go stall that human mage. If you cannot defeat him, just do your best to delay him," the transparent spirit ordered. It coated the Moonlight Envoys on the right in a layer of golden film. This film had a link to the spirit, and it wanted to see exactly what kind of entity could earn such a high score from the Scepter.

Time passed bit by bit. Although the Jingmen Safe Zone had suffered significant losses, the situation had temporarily stabilized. The matter of the leaderboard became known to more and more people. High-level explorers began to gather near the Pillar of Revelation, while low-level ones huddled in fear, struggling to survive.