Chapter 249: Chapter 133: Star Trace: River of Despair!

The Vast Star Dust Plateau.

The edge of the Star Trace: River of Despair.

Towering Star Trace Towers, each one piercing the veil between heaven and earth, shot up from the ground into the Starry Sky.

Inside a Star Trace Tower, on a lower floor.

The Steam Magical Cottage.

After drinking a bottle of Dragon Blood Potion, Zorn digested it while cultivating his Ancient God’s Hand, which had already advanced to Level 4.

With his own Magical Castle, Zorn had his own private space even when he was out in the world.

He could train in peace, without being easily discovered by outsiders.

Previously, while out at sea, Zorn had battled Demons in an attempt to break through with his Ancient God’s Hand, but he hadn’t succeeded.

But during his subsequent secluded training, Zorn continuously absorbed Sacred Marks to slowly polish his Ancient God’s Hand.

Half a month ago, his Ancient God’s Hand successfully advanced to Level 4.

Advancing to Level 4 brought a qualitative change to the Ancient God’s Hand.

The power of its three forms had all increased dramatically.

Combined with Zorn’s own advancement to Level 10, even his Elemental Hand in its regular state was not something an ordinary Level 10 Transcendent could resist.

’If I’d been Level 10 back on the ocean and my Ancient God Curse had reached Level 4, I wouldn’t have been chased around by those three Crowned Demons.’

For other Sequences, an increase in Level wasn’t a huge deal.

But for a special BOSS Sequence, every single level-up was astonishing.

While silently digesting and cultivating, Zorn’s gaze passed through the walls of his Steam Castle to look at the Star Trace: River of Despair outside.

The entire battlefield area was enveloped by flowing Star Trace Fissures.

These Star Trace Fissures possessed powerful entangling and tearing properties.

Touching them too many times would cause the terrifying power of the Star Trace Fissures to entangle and shred any intruder.

Even extremely powerful Upper Rank Powerhouses would perish if they were caught by a Star Trace Fissure.

For a Middle Rank Transcendent like Zorn, it went without saying.

Therefore, the entire ancient battlefield, permeated with this region of Star Trace Fissures, was also known as the "River of Despair."

Every 90 Star Hours, the Star Trace Fissures would enter a period of calm.

This was the time to cross the river, and also the time for the so-called "assessment."

The few pioneers who came before Zorn had all fallen in this River of Despair.

Even Zorn himself couldn’t escape death if he were to be entangled by a Star Trace Fissure.

Just as Zorn was engrossed in his secluded cultivation,

the power of a Messenger knocked on the door of the room where Zorn was training.

A pale blue, soul-type owl flapped its wings, tossed Zorn a Magic Letter, and then vanished.

Zorn went back inside, opened the Magic Letter, and read it carefully.

After examining it for a while, Zorn chuckled softly as he stroked the parchment of the Magic Letter.

’So this old trick is finally being used on me, huh?’

The Magic Letter was a joint missive from several Human Transcendents.

Its main point was that the River of Despair was extremely difficult to cross. Traveling alone, one might be targeted by terrifying Fissure creatures or murdered by other lawless individuals. It would be very easy to die within the Desperate Star River.

However, if they formed a small team, their safety would undoubtedly be elevated to a new level.

Therefore, this small team had jointly written a letter to Zorn, a fellow human.

They hoped he would join their Transcendent team to cross the Desperate Star River together.

It looked like a joint effort to overcome a Calamity.

But the schemes involved ran quite deep.

It was possible the team leader was some terrible Conspiracy Theorist or a Soul Shepherd.

They might lead a group of people to their deaths in the Desperate Star River just to fulfill their own conspiracy and obtain Conspiracy Essence.

Or perhaps a Soul Shepherd wanted to harvest the Wandering Souls of the dead.

Or it could be a plot related to some other Sequence.

In short, the amount of "help" involved was probably not high, while the level of danger was likely a step higher.

That said, it was true that some groups genuinely stuck together.

But even in a team, when disaster struck, those who needed to flee would still flee.

There were even endless cases of people knocking others into the Fissure zones and escaping by stepping on their corpses.

Since it was a team effort, there was clearly an underlying intention of letting teammates tank the damage.

’If I were from the Fighting Sequence, I might not have such thoughts or intentions.’

’Unfortunately for them, I’m an Evil Spirit Wizard now. I can profit just by harvesting the Wandering Souls of the dead.’

’I absolutely have to join this little team.’

With that thought, Zorn stood up and walked outside.

...

Atop a towering Star Trace Tower.

Level 18 Aster, wearing the Shadowy Obscurity of the Assassin’s Holy Crown, looked at the various documents in his hand.

Recently, the Divine Kingdom had been searching for and selecting a Divine Kingdom Angel Saint.

Once chosen as a Divine Kingdom Angel Saint, they would receive the top-tier equipment nurtured by the Divine Kingdom: Book of the Magic Ring—the Divine Kingdom - Angel Armament.

One had to understand, that was a piece of developmental Divine Kingdom equipment forged from the Holy Crown Angel Sequence.

It could greatly enhance one’s own strength.

Although Aster had now advanced to the Holy Crown Tier,

he had been defeated in the struggle for the Angel Armament three hundred years ago.

Anyone who could become a Divine Kingdom Angel Saint would be intensively cultivated by the Divine Kingdom.

And the battlefield was, without a doubt, the place to select geniuses.

Especially the intense Middle Rank Spirit Realm battlefield.

The Legendary Grand Priest, Lord Ossirion, had already given him a mission.

In the assessments over the next year or two, he was to screen out a batch of promising Middle Rank geniuses.

He was to send up the geniuses from his own faction to receive the Divine Kingdom’s full support in their cultivation.

This was an extremely important mission.

Because of this, Aster was paying it special attention.

He had carefully reviewed tens of thousands of files.

He hoped to find some good potential candidates among them.

So far, from the people who had come through in recent years, he had already selected about 100 potential candidates.

Whether these candidates could obtain enough Eternal Night Star Marks and how much battlefield Merit they could earn...

These were the keys to his recommendation.

If some Transcendents not on the list showed outstanding performance, he could still add them.

If these geniuses wanted further cultivation and to gain the Divine Kingdom’s attention, it would all depend on their performance in this brutal war.

...

Time flew by, and before they knew it, the calm period for the Star Trace: River of Despair had arrived.

In the depths of the vast Spirit Realm void,

the faint traces of a network of Fissures were visible. Deep within the dense web of Star Trace Fissures, a majestic kingdom supported by ancient stone pillars could be vaguely seen.

At this moment, on one side of the Star Trace: River of Despair,

tens of thousands of Transcendents were gathered at the crossing point.

Although the number of Star Trace Fissures here was lower and they were calmer,

the fact that Transcendents frequently crossed at this spot meant that many powerful Fissure creatures patrolled the area.

They were like crocodiles ambushing in the depths of a river, waiting for antelope and wildebeest to cross so they could begin their hunt.

If one was unlucky enough to be targeted by these Fissure creatures,

death was a high probability.

Although it was fraught with danger,

entering the battlefield and harvesting an Eternal Night Star Mark, whether one absorbed it themselves or handed it over to the Divine Kingdom, would bring a handsome reward.

And this was why so many Transcendents wanted to enter the battlefield.

The more advanced the kingdom one was in,

the more intense the competition between Transcendents became.

Many Level 10 Transcendents who were unable to break through and advance to the Upper Rank would come to this battlefield to seek an opportunity.

To put it simply, obtaining a single Eternal Night Star Mark offered some hope of breaking through to the Middle Rank Level.

In a corner of the crowd,

Zorn and the members of the small team he had partnered with stood quietly.

There were six people in the team.

They were: a Star Trace Fighter, a Starlight Walker, two Star Mages, a Divine Mage, and a Star Splitter from the Assassination Sequence.

Everyone was Level 10.

The Starlight Walker was a powerful Traveler who had mastered the Starlight Domain.

It was said that he had entered this ancient battlefield twice before.

His return to the battlefield this time was clearly to obtain more Eternal Night Star Marks.

The Star Splitter in the corner had a cold expression and was taciturn.

The two Star Mages were a special pair from the Twin People race, one male and one female.

Generally, pairs from the Twin People race were either two males or two females.

A "dragon and phoenix" twin pair (male and female) was very rare.

Members of the Twin People race would both obtain the same Sequence, and they each possessed their own independent will.

But their twin-body trait allowed them to share their cultivation and insights with each other.

Even in death, as long as one survived, they could perform a Resurrection on the other.

Therefore, within the Human Race, the Twin People were one of the most powerful groups.

Many major factions had a place for the Twin People.

The Divine Mage had a rather old aura.

He was clearly an old-timer going for one last gamble.

And old-timers like him were the ones you didn’t want to mess with.

The others were all practically at Level 10 with maxed-out Experience.

Only the level strength Zorn displayed was slightly lower.

Zorn was currently at Level 10 with only 6% Sequence Experience.

At this stage, Zorn had no intention of advancing to the Upper Rank, so the amount of his Level 10 experience wasn’t very important.

Soon, the crossing of the Star Trace: River of Despair began.

The vanguard at the front was incredibly fast, their strength astonishing.

They advanced continuously at an extreme speed.

Soon, they disappeared into the depths of the Star Trace Fissures.

Seeing this, the other Transcendents were greatly encouraged, and people began to enter one after another.

However, the ones who entered later lacked the methods and strength of the vanguard.

While there were certainly powerful individuals who plunged deeper and deeper, there were also some unlucky ones who were entangled or caught in a Surprise Attack by Fissure creatures and perished on the spot.

By the time the majority of the Transcendents had entered and were pressing forward, and the entire river-crossing region had descended into chaos,

"It’s time for us to move."

Kapson, the team’s experienced captain and a Starlight Walker, spoke slowly, a strange light flickering in his pupils.

At once, everyone in the team braced themselves, preparing to enter the dangerous Star Trace: River of Despair.

With Kapson in the lead, the six-person team plunged into the dangerous Star Trace: River of Despair.

The team of six did not advance quickly.

As they moved, Zorn’s Spirit Realm Hand supported him at the rear of the group.

A Fighting Master, who excelled at combat, was the most suitable for guarding the rear.

As they advanced, a cluster of remains drifted over from their front right.

Zorn’s Elemental Spirit Realm Hand immediately appeared.

Zorn directly extracted about a third of a Level 10 Wandering Soul.

On a battlefield like this, it was the perfect place for Sequences like Evil Spirit Wizard, Necromancer, and Undead Wizard to harvest Wandering Souls.

At this moment, it was obviously not appropriate for Zorn to directly devour the Wandering Soul.

But Zorn had come prepared. He took out a black Soul Bottle and poured the Wandering Soul into it.

This Soul Bottle had been custom-made for him by Miss Craftsman.

After a Wandering Soul entered it, it would slowly dissipate, but its pure Spiritual Essence would precipitate inside. If enough collected, it could even form a Spiritual Crystal.

"I didn’t expect a Fighting Master to possess such an ability."

The voice of Kapson, the Starlight Messenger leading the way, drifted back.

"It’s just a little trick," Zorn said, his expression calm.

"Heh... directly capturing a Wandering Soul is no ordinary little trick."

As he spoke, Kapson, who was in the lead, had his expression darken, and his voice grew heavy.

"Be careful. We’re about to enter a dangerous zone."