“Are you studying martial arts or spells?”
“Spells.”
Looking at Bai Xiaodu's face, which was as calm as a still lake, the director fell into deep thought.
Having watched him grow up, she naturally knew his character all too well.
This white-furred fox...
He had been privately called a “mad dog” by the other children in the orphanage when he was little.
Once, some older kids saw how thin and weak he was and tried to bully him after she left. He was surrounded by five or six of them.
Gritting his teeth through the punches raining down on him, Bai Xiaodu had silently beaten their leader until his head was covered in blood.
Thus, she gave up on any pointless dissuasion.
“I don't have much to help you with, child, but I learned a few simple spells back when I was in the military.”
“If you need them, I can teach you.”
Bai Xiaodu dazed for a moment.
...
【Basic Prayer Technique】
Consumes mental power to pray by drawing a hexagram or triangular pattern in blood. A random blessing may be obtained depending on the level of faith.
“This was a ritual we performed before large-scale battles. It can temporarily boost your strength.”
“Thinking back, the sight of hundreds of thousands of mortal soldiers praying at the same time was truly magnificent.”
Grandma smiled and shook her head.
“The hexagram shape is for praying to the Emperor. It was mostly used by ordinary soldiers and officers who fell under the martial arts category of transcendents.”
“The triangular shape is for praying to the Mage Emperor. It suits you perfectly right now.”
“Oh, and remember to recite a prayer when you use it. There are usually no set words—mostly just praise and supplication.”
Bai Xiaodu accepted this gift in disbelief.
After a brief study, his face remained calm, but a tempest of shock raged in his heart.
What did it mean to pray to the Emperor and the Mage Emperor?
No matter how strong they had been, they were figures from several thousand, if not over ten thousand, years ago.
The predecessor of the United Federation had even held grand state funerals for both of them. At the very least, they were officially declared dead.
Having been dead for so long, could they still affect reality?
As far as he knew, transcendents did indeed enjoy extended lifespans.
Excluding unique races like the Elves, if the average lifespan of an ordinary person of a certain race was a hundred years, even the strongest among them would not live past a thousand.
Wait.
A sudden bolt of realization flashed through his mind, and Bai Xiaodu suddenly recalled President Liu's words.
There are gods in this world.
They exist in a higher dimension, invisible to us.
A terrifying conjecture slowly formed in his mind, but Bai Xiaodu didn't voice it. Instead, he sought confirmation.
“Grandma, is it really praying to those two legendary figures?”
“Haven't they passed away long ago?”
“I respect them deeply, of course. I'm just wondering... does praying to deceased predecessors really do anything?”
Grandma dazed for a moment, and her expression turned uncertain.
“...Well, one of my comrades-in-arms brought this up before. The officer's explanation was that the spirits of these two leaders of the Empire have transformed into a sort of totem.”
“In reality, it's just an ancient spell providing us with assistance.”
His lips twitching, Bai Xiaodu could only nod.
As a former member of the mortal auxiliary army, she clearly didn't know much.
The system's appraisal would never lie.
This prayer technique was literally fucking praying to the Emperor or the Mage Emperor.
What kind of living being could survive for so long?
He didn't know what species the Mage Emperor belonged to, so he set that aside for now.
But he had studied the Emperor. Every piece of literature explicitly emphasized that he was a pure-blood human, the first monarch of the Empire.
What pure-blood human could live for over ten thousand years?
What kind of existence could suppress a peerless powerhouse who had lived for over ten thousand years to the point where there wasn't a single peep about him today?
Suddenly recalling a certain figure sitting on a golden throne from his past life, Bai Xiaodu couldn't help but feel a shiver run down his spine.
Don't do this to me.
I just touched the transcendent level.
I can't have this happen just when I'm about to start a happy life.
I can't suddenly open my spiritual vision only to find that I'm standing in a colossal, maggot-infested, evil cesspool.
Suppressing his emotions, Bai Xiaodu bid Grandma farewell.
Before leaving, he suddenly stepped forward on his tiptoes and gave the director a long, tight hug.
Then, he turned and ran off so fast he might as well have been fleeing.
His race made him a natural Ranger, as agile as the wind, but today he felt as though he was running too slowly.
Only when that tattered sign completely vanished from his sight did Bai Xiaodu let out a sigh of relief and slow his pace.
He hailed a cab and returned to his small apartment.
After quickly stuffing himself with whatever food he could find, Bai Xiaodu immediately set to work researching.
An hour passed. Completely clueless, he frustratingly grabbed the two Bugle-like ears on his head, pulling them back and forth.
The internet was filled with nothing but songs of praise and power-scaling leaderboards.
Over in the Eastern Continent, there were even claims calling him the Ancestral Dragon, which startled Bai Xiaodu so much that he actually searched to see if the Emperor had any connection to the Starry Void Dragons.
As it turned out, it was purely a title.
Damn it!
Refusing to give up, Bai Xiaodu searched for “gods” next.
The results made him laugh.
It was nothing but mindless web novels and revenge-themed short dramas—stories of losers awakening gods, counterattacking, slapping wealthy heirs in the face, and playing with beautiful rich girls.
Mind you, one of the short dramas featured a beastkin protagonist, and Bai Xiaodu had actually gotten sucked into it by accident. He didn't snap out of it until he was prompted to pay, realizing with a start that he had wasted over ten minutes.
Bai Xiaodu facepalmed.
The things he found through these searches didn't even amount to what he already knew.
At least he knew about that “Wings” thing Director-General Shen had mentioned.
The Federal Government indeed locked down the Pathways for ordinary people to learn the transcendent arts extremely tight.
I wonder if my status as a member of the Explorers Association grants me any special permissions?
Buzz, buzz.
Bai Xiaodu instinctively answered his phone. Instantly, a cool, low-pitched, mature female voice came from the other end.
It was Lingxin.
“Are you free lately, Xiaobai?”
“Of course,” Bai Xiaodu replied quickly, readily agreeing.
That was right! Director-General Shen was acting all mysterious and refused to say much, but Lingxin might actually know.
She loved history, and though her strength was unknown, she was definitely stronger than him.
The sheer efficiency and ease with which she cast spells meant she was one hundred percent an official transcendent.
Since they had no real-world conflicts or reservations between them, perhaps he could use this gaming companion gig as an opportunity to ask her.
Although he didn't know what Director-General Shen was plotting, he absolutely could not sit idly by and wait for death.
Suppressing the excitement in his heart, Bai Xiaodu answered his client just as he normally would, without letting a single hint of abnormality slip.
Having agreed to meet at seven in the evening, the call ended.
Rubbing his temples, Bai Xiaodu rapidly pieced the clues together in his mind.
Gods exist, holding positive and negative authorities, which are the Pathways that transcendents must enter to promote.
The Mage Emperor and the Emperor are almost certainly god-like existences.
Xin Hai'an personally said that Director-General Shen's Pathway is 【Autocracy】. This name is highly associated with the element of the Emperor.
She is very likely a transcendent belonging to the Emperor's Pathway!
Mumbling the words “Mage Emperor” repeatedly under his breath, Bai Xiaodu felt more and more that all the clues were pointing toward him.
As for the so-called Dragon God, the moment the thought arose, he dismissed it.
Why would a god in charge of Knowledge and Trickery entrust its ritual to someone like him, a high school graduate who didn't know a single fucking thing about transcendent knowledge?
Bai Xiaodu had always had a clear understanding of himself.
History books mentioned that the Emperor and the Mage Emperor had a very close relationship; they were comrades-in-arms who had risen together from humble beginnings.
Not only that, but the Mage Emperor was also the inheritor of the Emperor's dying wishes, testament, and relics. The slogan during the early stages of the 【Great Counteroffensive】 war was even to avenge the Emperor.
He recalled what that Elf in the night lounge had said, yet he couldn't find any information on it afterward.
When he was playing games with Lingxin, she had joked that the Mage Emperor might belong to the same race as him.
Thinking about it carefully now, there was definitely a massive secret regarding his race. It was only because his social standing was too low that he couldn't look up any information on it.
A very strong possibility emerged.
A follower of the Emperor is urging someone else to become a follower of the Mage Emperor.
It is precisely my race that has piqued Director-General Shen's interest.
An interest so great that she is even willing to lower herself to urge me, a Rank 0.3 magic apprentice, to snatch someone else's ritual.
But what is the Mage Emperor's authority? What Pathway does he control? And how exactly does one promote through the ritual?
Keeping the endless stream of questions firmly in his heart, Bai Xiaodu decided to ask about them thoroughly during his gaming session.
Closing his laptop, he clasped his hands behind his head, his breathing gradually growing heavy.
His wine-red eyes slowly closed.
Bai Xiaodu knew that relying on himself to gather the materials and meet the conditions required for the ritual would take at least several years. If his luck was bad, he might even have to waste half his life on it.
Besides, if someone else's promotion ritual could be plotted against by him, wouldn't his own promotion ritual be plotted against by others as well?
If decades of hard work ended up as a stepping stone for someone else, Bai Xiaodu would absolutely go mad!
The opportunity was a one-time thing, right before his eyes.
Even if he knew perfectly well it was bait, Bai Xiaodu was going to step forward and take a savage bite out of it!
Rate on N.U.
