Extraordinary Voyage-Chapter 632 - 552 Ephelide’s Sacrifice

"Have you heard of... the Lamp God?"

"Lamp God?! Mr. Aliyi, are you joking with me?"

Aiven, accompanied by the seemingly very sincere Prince Heimar, returned to the reception room. However, the first sentence uttered by his guest caused him to laugh angrily. He shook his head, not wanting to waste any more time.

"No, no, no, Mr. Galliot, let me explain. Unlike those fraudulent fairy tales, the Lamp God truly exists.

Don’t get the wrong idea; I am not trying to summon the Lamp God to fulfill your wishes, nor do I possess such capability. Instead, I want to demonstrate the magical traits of the demon spirit race, and introduce to you a demon spirit friend. Ephelide, come out!"

Returning to his glittering Desert Kingdom attire, Aliyi unhurriedly clapped his hands gently.

Bang —

Beside him, a bright orange-red flame exploded, and a humanoid creature with towering horns stepped out.

Aiven’s gaze sharpened; the silhouette was of a tall female figure, but her entire body was like flowing lava, with flame-composed hair draping down to her ankles, and clothing seemingly woven from fire.

Most importantly, the powerful aura of a Tier 3 Extraordinary was utterly undisguised.

Yet.

The creature’s extraordinary spiritual light, though as splendid as a blazing sun, did not pressure Aiven, who was already a seasoned Tier 3.

Snap —

He calmly snapped his fingers, temporarily coating the reception room and all its furniture with a layer of [Flame Resistance Enchantment].

Seeing the manifestation of his strongest servant demon without achieving the anticipated commanding effect, Aliyi quietly abandoned his bargaining mindset and gently began explaining to Aiven:

"The strongest demon spirit of Heimar is the legendary Lamp God (Demigod), capable of hearing all sounds of the world, including the deep desires of humans, and flawlessly fulfilling mortal wishes.

Ephelide is a flame demon spirit of the same race as the Lamp God. One could say that the Lamp God’s race is named Ephelide, and when true names cannot be disclosed, this becomes the codename for all flame demon spirits."

It’s even recorded in the Starry Night Order’s texts:

"The stars in the sky are the chastising light given to the elves for eavesdropping on the heavens by the ’Brilliant Starry Night’."

One can imagine how extraordinary their abilities are.

As a flame demon spirit of the same race as the Lamp God, Ephelide also possesses the ability to listen to others’ intense desires. Although unable to easily directly fulfill wishes like the Lamp God, it can provide guidance on indirectly solving problems.

Aiven, of course, had many desires, but the most urgent one was to help his territory withstand the Spirit Tide. This desire was precisely captured by Ephelide, leading to today’s visit and transaction.

At Aliyi’s gesture, the untamed Ephelide first looked at Aiven provocatively, before spreading her fiery palm and presenting a red gemstone to him.

"Although we don’t know where you will use it, we do know it has a very high chance of helping you solve your troubles."

No pretentiousness.

In front of Aliyi and this flame demon servant, Aiven directly cast a detection witchcraft. He confirmed that it was an artifact similar to a memory crystal, typically a carrier of some knowledge or information.

After eliminating danger, he reached out to take it. His spiritual light lightly touched the contained information, and his eyebrows immediately raised:

"Ephelide’s Sacrifice?"

Inside everyone’s mind is a "sleeping warrior". If a mortal can awaken this "sleeping warrior", they can overcome their fear of death and resurrect the [Ephelide’s Sacrifice] capable of destroying the Wall of Limits.

Legend has it that ancient warriors on gladiator arenas, in the midst of combat, unafraid of death and teetering on the edge of a near-death experience, would hear a magical war drum.

Any warrior who hears this drum won’t fight for hatred, victory, or even themselves; what remains is a powerful will to fight tirelessly, even in death.

At this time, they will receive supreme power that surpasses all worldly cognition and logic!

However, this isn’t a elusive legend but rather a truly existing powerful witchcraft ceremony — [Ephelide’s Sacrifice].

The ceremony isn’t directed towards a demon spirit or a True God, but towards the Primordial God, Tirentius, a non-personal deity.

All that’s needed are specific extraordinary arena buildings or symbols, along with corresponding talismans to achieve.

Though called "ultimate strength" might be an exaggeration, not needing active cultivation, and passively gaining enhancement every time one survives a battle is true.

In other words, it’s somewhat like leveling up from killing monsters, just that without the required determination to die fearlessly, the enhancement won’t be significant.

Since first encountering the maze rules on an island in Mist Sea, where victors gain spiritual bonuses, Aiven had been contemplating this matter all along.

Especially for his increasingly growing group of "Skin-Wearing People", this might be the only possibility for their progress (the moment they assume the job their limit gets locked, with hardly any space for improvement and no methods).

But that power comes from God, lacking replicability.

And now, the ’Ephelide’s Sacrifice’ can break the shackles that the ’Skin-Wearing People’ can no longer actively enhance!

Of course, the drawbacks are also evident.

Firstly, it can only be used for positional defense; secondly, the boost is weak, as those with the will described in the ceremony are already sufficient to stimulate Combat Qi to advance to Tier 3; thirdly, it is not meant for large-scale warfare, but rather resembles a game to please the Gods, requiring corresponding talismans and lacking universality.

However, Aiven understands the importance of accumulation, as even 1.01 raised to the 365th power can reach 37.78. Faced with this continent, known as ’all things have Spirit,’ there will certainly be no shortage of enemies in the foreseeable future.

Especially in a predictable long-lasting war, this magical ritual can turn time into a friend on our side, the more battles encountered, the stronger the power becomes.

"Alright, I agree to this deal. Happy cooperation, Aliyi."

As exchange, apart from the current fourteen commonly used gemstones, Aiven promises to initiate a corresponding project, specializing in researching and cultivating peach-colored pillar stones for Aliyi. However, the finished products are not provided for free and would require him to purchase them.

"Thank you, Mr. Galliot. I will remain in the New Continent during this period, waiting for your good news."

With the transaction completed, Aliyi showed a relieved smile.

As Prince Heimar who owns a large number of Royal Family industries, he never fears spending money, but due to the rarity of this gemstone, gemstones over 100 carats cannot be obtained even with money.

After fulfilling his aspirations, in addition to the ritual, Aliyi even offered some targeted knowledge from the Starry Night Order. Although not incredibly strong, expertise is specialized, particularly useful in dealing with Spirit Bodies.

...

After the cloud meeting ended, the colonies quickly took action.

In just three days, the defense line, headed by Crowmen, the Church, the Garrison, Militia, and Noble Private Army, had been reconstructed using those breached pioneering towns as the foundation.

Since the current expansion progress of the colonies lies east of the Abayachi Mountains that span the east of the continent north to south, the defense line they erected is naturally called the ’Abayachi Defense Line.’

Reaching the 350-kilometer stretch of the Georgia Territory north to south, it’s naturally called the ’Cumberland Line.’ Further south extends to the Aimoer Peninsula, causing little defense pressure for Far Sails Territory due to its superior terrain.

Naturally, the Cumberland Line was guarded by the mixed forces of the two families, which made Aiven grateful for his prowess; if it was before engagement, even with good relations, the Marquis would never send reinforcements, being as stingy as iron.

Unless... more money was offered.

The advantage is there’s no need to build walls like the Great Wall; as long as the outposts are within the sensory range of the ’Ghosts,’ it will have a defensive effect. The crave for flesh and soul will prompt these mindless creatures to automatically gather at the defense outposts.

Of course, guarding these places against the ’Ghosts’ also requires extraordinary courage.

Thus, the first batch of materials Aiven delivered to the entire Phaletis Colony was the ’Arena Altar’ and ’Gladiator Talisman’ that formed ’Ephelide’s Sacrifice.’

The temptation to enhance strength in combat is undoubtedly huge, under the mobilization campaign, many Free Transcendent and mercenaries actively joined the defense line.

Aiven never thought about using such items solely for his own; defending the city and combating an epidemic follow the same principle, minding one’s own business equals futile efforts. If a large number of ’Ghosts’ entered the colony, trying to snatch them out one by one would be challenging.

Currently, the Vitalist School under him has over twenty Wizard Apprentices from the Alchemy School, along with one defector Official Wizard Samuel, making the production capacity quite impressive.

Dividing two experimental effects per colony within a short period is still feasible.

Furthermore, the war budget of the colonies was promptly credited, as for whether the source of this money included ’returning every penny from the successful people, with a 30 to 70 split for the common people,’ Aiven had no idea, serious face.jpg.

Additionally, the Spirit Bodies faced by the defense line have different levels.

Ordinary Ghosts, besides being scary, cannot harm even the weakest ordinary person, and to a formal Knight with a life energy field akin to a furnace, a strong blow of breath might extinguish a Ghost.

Reaching the tier of Resentful Spirits, they can already affect the Spirit of those with weak will, causing various accidental killings like falling off a cliff, drowning in a pond...

And Evil Spirits already exist in a realm helpless against humans, possessing many unreasonable abilities, such as killing with intent, curse, possession, immunity to physical injuries... some even have all sorts of special abilities.

Among them, the most powerful Evil Spirits already possess an undying nature.

However, these creatures are similar to natural phenomena. For the sake of their core existence (obsession), there is no room for negotiation.

The most dangerous enemies are not these, but entities capable of possessing humans like the Totem God Great Sea Shark Oveg; every such existence possesses at least Tier 3 strength and surpasses human intelligence!

So Aiven also spent heavily on the Cumberland Line.

With Bradley missing from sight, the Golden Sea has already been shared evenly between the two Pirate Kings; simply hijacking merchant ships no longer needs such a vast Transcendent team.

The ’Skin-Wearing People’ army has now grown to 70 people, Aiven directly extracted most of them into his Lord’s Guard, then arranged them all to the frontline.

He knew well the hierarchy of human needs: physiological needs, safety needs, belonging, respect, self-realization, all raised sequentially, now unless they’re starving, safety is above all.

Whoever can provide stronger safety for the public can garner the most population!

For him, this continent-wide ’Spirit Tide’ not only symbolizes danger but also opportunity. How much he can ultimately absorb depends on how great his capacity is.