novelGlobal Chapter 646: Grant Me Thirty Years as King!
Chapter 646: Grant Me Thirty Years as King!
Locke summoned forth the Porcelain Moon, and in an instant, eight lunar phases, two states of light and darkness, the blood moon, and the trajectory of the sun and moon's dual motion from seventy thousand years ago were all contained within that single moon.This moon was already so extraordinarily lifelike.
The moment it appeared, it beguiled the Golden Flower Small Laurel, causing the entire domain to ripple like the surface of disturbed water.
A trace of joy crossed Locke's face. He then chanted an incantation, and his Porcelain Moon rose into the sky, bathing the entire domain in its light.
Moonlight came streaming down in rays, flooding the entire domain. When the skeletal undead, each as massive as a mountain, raised their heads, they could see the moonlight descending, flowing like water, like ribbons of silk.
Within the hollow eye sockets of the undead, soul fire flickered, and then that soul fire, under the influence of the moon's gravitational pull, suddenly detonated.
The remnants of plants and animals within the kingdom's domain underwent a transformation under the effect of Porcelain Moon Growth. Plants surged with vitality, and animals began to reproduce in response.
Life and death within the kingdom's domain were turned upside down.
At the same time, countless fragments of consciousness and dream energy from within the domain transformed into pinpricks of light and streamed up toward the Porcelain Moon in the sky.
A cycle formed between them.
In the courtyard of the real world in the past, the lich king was laughing wildly at having swept away all his enemies. But at that moment, he suddenly stopped laughing and stood frozen in place, the soul fire in his eye sockets flickering with confusion.
The kingdom's domain had begun to waver. The entire magical kingdom was trembling.
The balance between life and death had been broken.
The lich king frowned. "What force is this? In this era, how could any wizard possibly be interfering inside my kingdom's domain?"
Inside the domain, Locke looked up at the moonlight before him. "I see. The spiritual energy of the kingdom's ley lines, the magical tides within the kingdom, and the power of the people's faith in Wizard King, all three united and entrusted to the moon, form the magic domain, which is the kingdom's domain."
"The Wizard King then merges his own magical power with it, and the kingdom's domain is complete. A Wizard King who possesses a kingdom's domain can draw upon the ley line energy and magical tides throughout the entire magical kingdom, and naturally commands boundless power. Moreover, a sufficiently powerful kingdom's domain appears capable of even greater transformations."
Locke realized that he had perceived the primitive version of the kingdom's domain merely by observing the composition of moonlight for an instant. Even just from this domain before him, there seemed to be an even higher level of power at work, one he could not yet fully understand.
Of course, his ability to grasp even this much owed a great deal to the six months of intermittent conversation he had shared with the founding ancestor, as well as the six months he had spent observing the trajectories of this world's sun and moon in dual motion.
The special magic domain of this era, the kingdom's domain, was itself built upon the trajectories of the sun and moon's dual motion in this particular era.
As for the moon of the later wizard world, Locke calculated based on his own impressions, and his conclusion was that the moon of later eras could not produce a magic domain.
Because the prerequisite for generating a magic domain was the dual motion of the sun and moon, a dark sun hanging in the sky and a bright moon reigning over the heavens. But the sun of later eras was not the dark sun of this era.
And to produce a special magic domain, the dual motion of the sun and moon, with the dark sun overhead, was an absolute necessity.
Locke looked at this special magic domain and channeled the energy formed from the faith and thoughts of countless citizens into his Porcelain Moon.
"The lunar energy recovery mechanism I constructed has actually produced a chain reaction within this magic domain."
"Vast quantities of energy are being swept into my Porcelain Moon. Not only is my Porcelain Moon not consuming my magical power, it is actually increasing it..."
Locke's expression grew strange.
He had not expected that the lunar energy mechanism he had designed, combined with the primitive, rudimentary version of the kingdom's domain, would operate so smoothly, as though it were precisely what this had always been meant for.
The Porcelain Moon seemed to have already ascended to the level of Grand Magic, rising into the sky and becoming a true moon, its peak soaring above the entire domain.
Just as Locke was becoming absorbed in the experience, a massive tremor interrupted his focus. The lich king's magical power had intervened, and having detected the existence of the Porcelain Moon, he was now attempting to drive this force out of the kingdom's domain.
He tried several times in succession.
Whether cutting away the space, expelling part of the force outward, or using the domain's power to crush the Porcelain Moon, the Porcelain Moon endured every assault and survived.
Given even the briefest moment to recover, the Porcelain Moon could draw energy from the light it shed across the domain.
The lich king looked at Locke in bewilderment. "It seems there is no such power in my era."
"What is this exactly? Why does it counter my kingdom's domain so completely?"
Sweat ran down Locke's forehead. Contending with the lich king within this domain was still placing considerable pressure on him.
Yet as the two of them clashed on and on, Locke found himself growing increasingly at ease, while the other party grew increasingly cautious.
The domain churned and magical power surged, but no matter what the lich king attempted, he could not eliminate the Porcelain Moon. Instead, Locke, through the Porcelain Moon, had nearly seized half the power within the domain, holding his own against the lich king.
The lich king was on the verge of dying of rage. "How is this possible? This is my magical kingdom's domain. I am its king. I control everything here. My will is the nature of this magic domain..."
"Then how can there possibly be a magical force opposing me here?"
"What is this thing? Something like this can only threaten the kingdom's domain, threaten the very foundation of this era. Destroy it, destroy it now!"
Waves of destructive force came crashing toward the Porcelain Moon floating in the sky. Locke snapped his fingers, and the moon rolled and trembled three times in the air, then threaded itself through the ribcage of a bone dragon that had come flying upward.
The bone dragon's body gradually came apart.
Osmanthus blossoms drifted down.
The lich king grew even more furious. "Impossible! What force is this? In this era, the kingdom's domain is the very foundation of a magical kingdom. Then why does a force that completely counters it exist? This makes no sense. How can you exist without my permission?"
Locke looked at the lich king and said, "Unfortunately, some things existed long before you ever gave your permission."
The lich king let out a cold laugh. "Do you really take me for a fool? This power of yours clearly does not belong to this era."
"This power comes from the future."
"If this power existed in the Era of Stars, the foundations of the Era of Stars would crumble to nothing. This power of yours is a taboo in this era. Then there is only one possibility, you do not belong to this era."
Behind the lich king, one lich wizard after another materialized.
"I, as the eternal ruler, have no need for this power of yours to exist once I have established my reign. Since we have become eternal rulers, there is no further need to develop any magic."
"The magic you just demonstrated has told me clearly that continuing to develop magic brings absolutely no benefit."
"A power like that would only undermine the foundations of our rule! I will not allow something like that to continue existing."
The lich king declared this with complete confidence.
Locke pursed his lips. "Unfortunately, based on the history I know, you are the one who is supposed to be killed by your own son."
The confidence on the lich king's face immediately cracked. "Insolent wretch. So you do know something. That traitorous son of mine, why was he suddenly spirited away?"
"Since I am already undying, why does there always seem to be someone who believes a new king is needed?"
"Letting time stop at this very moment, remaining still forever, would that not be wonderful?"
The lich king and his court of liches took a step toward Locke and the other three, and the power of undeath bore down on Locke like a crushing tide.
Locke was surprised to discover that the moon's affinity with the power of undeath was also remarkably good.
Necromancy combined with a magic domain combined with these undying wizard liches seemed to produce a strange force, a special spiritual quality unlike anything the death mages he had encountered before had ever given him.
But before Locke could examine it carefully, the figures of himself, Warwick, and the others vanished from within the space where the Porcelain Moon had seized partial control.
Warwick, Witch Shirley, and the others let out an immediate sigh of relief.
In the next instant, the four of them found themselves standing on a small hillside.
Before the hillside was a setting sun, the evening clouds soft and beautiful. On the slope sat two young figures, a boy and a girl.
The girl's features appeared to be the Loom Princess as she looked in her youth.
The young man beside the princess appeared to be the Nameless King.
At that moment, the Nameless King was speaking quietly to the princess, "There is a secret I will only tell you, and no one else. You must never tell another soul."
"I suspect that my father is not my real father."
The young Loom Princess looked puzzled. "Ah? But Otto, your father is your king."
The young man Otto shook his head. "No. In my father, I have noticed certain habits and mannerisms that belong to my grandfather."
The princess furrowed her brow. "You are frightening me, Otto. Has your family not had only one son in each generation for five generations?"
"What are you thinking? Otto, you are the sole heir of your kingdom. You always have been. All you need to do is grow up happily, and then we can..."
The princess's face flushed red.
The young Otto let out a sigh. "An heir? Does an immortal person need an heir?"
"At first I thought it was simply my grandfather, but after much secret investigation on my part, I believe it may be my grandfather's grandfather."
"It is very possible that the Heliothos Kingdom has not had a new king in a very long time."
Otto said, "Adela, have you ever seen the kingdom's domain of the Heliothos Kingdom? It holds the reflected image of the kingdom's mountains and rivers. More beautiful than the real kingdom itself."
"There, the mountains and rivers seem untouched by any human construction."
"It is extraordinarily beautiful. But I can feel a dark force appearing within the domain. As time passes, that dark force is steadily eroding the kingdom's domain of the Heliothos Kingdom."
"I fear that in another ten years, the balance between life and death will be broken."
The princess looked frightened. "Then, Otto, what will you do?"
The young Otto's eyes were resolute. "My father recently told me he is considering reviving the ritual of offering sacrifice to the Black Sun Tower, to ask the Black Sun Tower for truth and prophecy."
"Let us see what comes of it."
"But I believe that the dead should not continue to rule the living. The reason is simple. The dead have been dead for a very long time, and their way of thinking is entirely different from that of the living."
"A kingdom ruled by the dead will no longer think from the perspective of the living."
Otto said, "I believe the emergence of necromancy has changed the entire order of the past."
"Wizards may no longer be suited to being the rulers of this world."
"Necromancy has given wizards an excessively long span of time. I have an idea. If the day comes when I can be king, my kingdom's domain will forbid anyone not chosen by me from using magic."
"I want to gather up magic and use alchemy and life magic to forge a kind of iron ball. That iron ball will be the proof that someone has been chosen by me as king."
A flame seemed to burn within the young Otto's eyes. "As long as wizards can be made to leave the mortal earth, as long as mortals can govern themselves, as long as the kings I choose are granted my magic to wage war on my behalf across the land..."
"Perhaps the problem of the undying rulers of this era can be solved."
"Perhaps it could solve three other great problems as well. Then perhaps the Era of Stars, one day, might vanish from before us just as that sunset fades from the sky..."
The princess swallowed. "Really, Otto? Could the Era of Stars, which has lasted so many years, with its three hundred million magical kingdoms, truly end one day? Who would bring that about?"
Otto said, "I have imagined an era. An order entirely unlike this one. A Mortal Age, where mortals decide their own fates for themselves, where every ruler reigns only briefly. The mortal kings chosen by me would typically only reign for ten years..."
"But I think that amount of time would be enough."
"Every person serving as king for only ten years... the world would have no more wizards, and even magic itself would gradually fade away in time. This world may change, but it would surely be better than it is now."
"That is my hope. Throughout my childhood, all I could see was the damage and harm that the wizard liches did to civilization. I despised them the way one despises vermin. I love things that are born at dawn and die at dusk. Those mortals truly have such short lives."
The young Otto sat on the hillside, gazing up at the evening clouds. "Mortals have short lives, but they are truly so full of creativity. That about them fills me with admiration."
"And I am not being hypocritical." The young Otto stood up and called out to the sky, "If heaven would grant me thirty years as king, I could certainly bring the Mortal Age into being! I would bring this troublesome Era of Stars to an end."
"Do you hear me!"
"I am not satisfied, I am not satisfied with this era. I do not believe the Era of Stars is the right answer. Let time keep moving forward, let this era come to an end!"
"Let me be king!"
"I only want thirty years as king!"
The young Loom Princess in her girlhood watched the young Otto. She bit her lip, then made up her mind. "Otto, if this is something you want to do, then I... will help you. No matter who your enemies are."
"Even if it is your own father!"