Chapter 1 Unbeknownst to the Holy Domain

What happens in the Holy Domain is unknown, and the mundane countries only care about what they can see and touch. The Chaos Tide still showed no signs of weakening, but thanks to a certain "miracle," the situation was no longer as precarious as it had been a few days prior. The darkness hadn't receded yet, but the Sunburn Towers of every kingdom had been relit, and the greatest crisis seemed to have passed.

The royal courts of every nation were discussing the ray of light that had pierced the sky the other day. Scholars and arcane mages argued red-faced over the possible causes of this phenomenon, while the kings were more concerned about how long the power brought by that ray of light could last. The pillar of light had gradually dissipated after lasting for more than ten minutes, but the mysterious energy it brought had reactivated every nearly extinguished Sunburn Tower in a way that mortals couldn't understand. Scholars couldn't explain the principle of this recharge, and could only say vaguely that it was some kind of divine resonance. The Sunburn Towers gained temporary energy in the resonance, but as for how long this energy could be used...no one knew at all.

Because the Sunburn Towers of various countries had entered a strange mode of operation after being irradiated by that ray of light, their original energy monitoring systems were all burned out. Now the operation of the towers was completely divorced from common sense, and those arrogant tower maintenance personnel of the past could only stare blankly at the down-and-out control arrays.

While the entire secular world was busy discussing the source of that ray of light, the source of the light was caught up in another wave of chaos.

A third of the White City needed to be mobilized for relocation. The various consequences caused by the "Light Erosion" phenomenon were being tensely evaluated. Countless magical items and magic-guided devices were destroyed by the energy burst. The good news was that there were no casualties in the entire accident. The bad news was that this incident caused a city-wide bewilderment on a large scale, and even the king himself and all the administrative officials were bewildered, so that for a time no one knew how to explain this matter.

In addition, there were no typos in the four words "city-wide bewilderment."

Hao Ren and the royal family, as well as Grand Scholar Alfred, stood on the top platform of the Golden Rose Palace, overlooking the highlands to the north of the city—where the Sunburn Tower was originally located. In fact, the tower still stood on the highlands, but...its condition was a bit incredible.

Centered on the tower, the area for many kilometers around it was a bit incredible.

Large swaths of transparent structures covered the tower and the ground, as if these places had been made invisible. The transparent areas had no fixed shape. They were randomly distributed strips and blocks. The smallest might only be the size of a palm, while the largest was almost the size of a house. Moreover, these transparent areas were not fixed: they moved around the Sunburn Tower and the highlands, as if they were alive.

From a distance, it felt as if the Sunburn Tower and its surrounding areas had become fragmented, as if some of their areas had disappeared out of thin air, and these areas that disappeared out of thin air were still constantly moving...

In addition, the Sunburn Tower and its surrounding area were shrouded in a faint white light, which was much brighter than the glimmer released by the tower before, but in the current situation, no one cared about this little anomaly anymore.

Hao Ren remembered what had happened before—when he poured an excessive amount of pure Source Blood into the energy pool of the Sunburn Tower, the power in the Source Blood was instantly and completely released. The power from the Goddess of Creation was poured into a mortal device, and the direct result was that it permanently changed the rules of an area—after the white light flashed, there were no casualties, but many incredible phenomena occurred.

The current state of the Sunburn Tower was one of the phenomena. The scholars gave this phenomenon a name, called "Light Erosion."

"The mystics believe that the 'Light Erosion' phenomenon is a kind of phase shift," Ania said softly, "This area has undergone a phase change under the influence of divine power, causing the entire area to continuously switch in different phases. The transparent matter has not been sent away, we just can't see it. They can still be touched."

"That's all nonsense," Rudolph III knocked on the air in front of him, but there was a slight collision sound in the air: it was the railing of the terrace, but it was temporarily invisible. "I can see this situation myself."

At the same time as His Majesty the King spoke, the transparent area of the Golden Rose Palace was also moving. The outline of the iron railing appeared in front of him from left to right. Veronica immediately put her hand on the railing when she saw this, and then breathed a sigh of relief.

Hao Ren just smiled awkwardly beside him, and didn't say anything, after all, he was 100% responsible for the situation in front of him...

Ania shook her head and continued, "The energy shock damaged many magical devices in the city. The mages are working overtime to repair the damaged things. More and more residents are leaving the North District. Light Erosion has seriously affected their daily lives. Lord Welsh is so busy that he has complained to me and Uncle Luen more than once."

His Majesty the King nodded, turned his face to look at Grand Scholar Alfred: "Have you found out the other harms of the Light Erosion phenomenon?"

The Grand Scholar shook his head. He knew what the King was concerned about: "No real damage has been observed yet, Your Majesty. Currently, it is only known that it can cause changes in metals and rocks, making them transparent, but it has no effect on organisms and biological products. This seems to be just an optical phenomenon, but...it is an optical phenomenon that cannot be explained."

Hao Ren coughed twice: "Ahem, I'm sorry, it seems to have caused you a lot of trouble?"

When Rudolph III heard this, he immediately waved his hand. He looked at Hao Ren very sincerely: "No, compared to the benefits, this little trouble is nothing. At least you have guaranteed the survival of our kingdom—the Sunburn Tower has indeed been relit, although...its condition is a bit strange."

The Sunburn Tower has been relit, which is also the reason why Hao Ren can still stand here with peace of mind after causing the divine power explosion. Although the cause of the side effect of "Light Erosion" has not yet been investigated, at least his guess about the efficacy of Source Blood is still very close to the truth. The energy in Source Blood did reactivate the tower, and even more than just reactivate it—the power of the tower was also greatly enhanced.

The news from around the White City had already been placed on Rudolph III's desk. The news mentioned that the Kindling Towers and Hearth Devices in various places had been strengthened several times after the flash of light that night. Now they were all working with unprecedented efficiency, which meant that the Order Barrier of the Taros Kingdom had been strengthened by a factor of two out of thin air.

Faced with such good news, Rudolph III certainly wouldn't take a little "small optical phenomenon" to heart.

"Let the scholars continue to study it. The king should focus his energy on the affairs of the kingdom." Rudolph III finally sighed, turned and left the terrace, and the others followed behind him.

When they came to the steps of the terrace, the transparent area of the Golden Rose Palace changed again. This time, the transparent thing was, unfortunately, the stairs...

A large group of people looked at each other. In the end, Grand Scholar Alfred braced himself and walked in front. The remaining people groped and moved down step by step while holding on to the already invisible walls. Veronica muttered as she walked, "This place is really unlivable... Father, when are we moving too?"

"Don't be ridiculous, how can the dignified Taros royal family be..."

"But Father, you bumped into the wall three times this morning..."

Rudolph III: "..."

"And broke a door."

Rudolph III: "..."

Hao Ren walked at the back. He didn't care when the royal family would move. He was just thinking about the reason for this phenomenon. The appearance of anything must have its logic, even if it is a supernatural thing like Source Blood. In fact, precisely because it is Source Blood, the phenomena it causes should be more in line with the cosmic laws of the Dream Plane—because the True God represents the laws of a universe.

Just as Hao Ren was thinking, some strange scenes suddenly flashed in the corner of his eye.

He looked up in shock and saw a silver-white metal plate floating in mid-air beside him—the metal plate seemed to be the corner of a table on the Petrified Tortoise Rock, and on the metal plate, "Gun" was staring blankly at him, staring at him with wide eyes.

The cat girl was still holding down a can of fish that had been opened halfway: Judging from her sneaky posture, she was obviously stealing food, and the look in her eyes when she stared at Hao Ren was like seeing a ghost.

"Gun?!" Hao Ren couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

The stupid cat also seemed to be taken aback. She jumped up high with a snap, and then pressed her fish can hard: "Meow meow meow meow?"

The movement here finally alarmed Veronica who was walking in front. The knight princess turned her head curiously: "Guardian? Who are you talking to?"

With such an interruption, "Gun's" figure and the image of that small piece of table corner disappeared.

Hao Ren blinked, and it took him a long time to come back to his senses. Facing the curious gazes of Veronica and others, he shook his head: "It's okay, I may have had a hallucination just now. This place is really weird now."