The golden staircase extended into the void, and the mysterious Rune Gate slowly opened.
Richard and Ulysses exchanged a glance, then each stepped onto the Dimension Gate belonging to their respective civilizations.
The sky in the Wizard Dimension remained gloomy. Richard summoned the Secret Keeper and conveyed his request for a meeting to the Crown Throne through him.
As the bronze bell tolled, Richard began a restless wait.
During this time, Richard started chatting with the Secret Keeper.
"Secret Keeper, how much do you know about the Wizard Dimension?"
"You’ve asked the right person," the Secret Keeper smiled, "I know almost everything about the Wizard Dimension."
"So does that mean you know about those..." Richard glanced at the distant Wizard Tower, where a Black Robed Wizard was frantically conducting experiments, "those ’wizards’ research too?"
The Secret Keeper nodded slightly, "Indeed, but don’t expect me to divulge such knowledge unless you can exchange it for equivalent knowledge."
"Equivalent exchange?"
"Equivalent exchange."
"What about knowledge of the Wizard Dimension?"
The Secret Keeper bowed slightly, "You are a Great Wizard, and you have the right to know most of the knowledge about the Wizard Dimension."
"Then tell me how to use the Wizard Dimension Power to enhance my combat strength."
Richard had obtained the Power of Dimension for some time, but apart from using it to enter the Illusionary Dimension and beyond the veil, he hadn’t noticed how it strengthened him.
"It’s a very common question," the Secret Keeper replied calmly, "You might consider the Power of Dimension similar to the power of mystery. The simplest use is to create some witchcraft and drive it with the Power of Dimension. The enhancement you get depends on the effect of your witchcraft."
"And what if my Spell is an offensive type of witchcraft?"
"That can also be effective, but I wouldn’t recommend it."
"Because it’s inefficient, not nearly as beneficial as augmentative witchcraft."
Richard nodded slightly, then asked, "Then can other Dimension Powers be used this way too?"
"...That I don’t know," the Secret Keeper shook his head, "But based on my research, the use of Dimension Power is often closely related to the dimension’s origin. Different civilizations create Illusionary Dimensions, and their corresponding use methods won’t be the same."
"I see, I have been enlightened."
Richard gave the Secret Keeper a Wizard’s Salute, and the Secret Keeper returned the gesture in kind.
Soon, a Rune Gate slowly opened, and a gigantic figure emerged from it.
"Richard, what do you want from me?" the Crown Throne spoke slowly.
Richard gave a Wizard’s Salute to the Crown Throne, then slowly spoke, "Dean, I was promoted as a Great Wizard in the Otherworld, you are aware of that."
"Hmm," the Crown Throne nodded slightly, "You finally want to talk about it?"
Back then, the matter of becoming a Great Wizard in the Otherworld was not directly questioned because any path to promoting a fourth-level being certainly hides great secrets.
Richard hadn’t mentioned it, surely for reasons he couldn’t disclose.
"Thank you for your understanding," Richard bowed slightly, "The ceremony for advancing to a fourth-level being actually came from another civilization. And the Alien Civilization World Master who taught me this ceremony has recently awoken from its slumber."
"Oh? Another civilization?" The Crown Throne showed a hint of curiosity, "Which civilization would be so generous, allowing the promotion ceremony to be passed on?"
"I wonder if you’re familiar with the Pantheon Civilization? Or perhaps the Gods Civilization."
The Crown Throne thought for a while, then shook its head, "No, this civilization may be quite distant from us, during my past travels, I never interacted with beings from this civilization."
"The Pantheon Civilization is the one who taught me the promotion ceremony. And from the words of the World Master of this Pantheon Civilization, I learned something—" Richard paused, speaking with an emphatic tone, "They are also engaged in civilizational war, and it has lasted over four thousand years."
Upon hearing about civilizational war, the Crown Throne’s gaze became sharp, and even the space around them twisted.
In an instant, Richard felt like a mountain was pressing down on him; his muscles trembled, his bones moaned, and his entire body tensed severely.
But fortunately, the Crown Throne soon realized his loss of composure and withdrew the pressure.
"What are you planning, kid?"
Richard relieved, slowly spoke, "I’m not planning anything. It depends on how our situation develops, and what you and other Crown Throne’s ideas are." Richard said humbly, "The Pantheon Civilization may have only three Dominators, but they have tens of thousands of World Lord Level combat strength. Moreover, their territory is vast, not lacking in lower-level strength..."
"And we happen to have six Dominators, but lack enough ground-level soldiers." The Physique Crown Throne continued Richard’s words, a slight smile on his face, "You kid, you always manage to come up with something new for me."
Seeing the Physique Crown Throne , Richard knew that there shouldn’t be any problems on the Wizard’s side.
The rest would depend on Ulysses.
Treading along the long stairs into the void, Ulysses arrived at a magical world,
This vast world had no conventional lands; countless floating islands in the air constituted the earth of this world. Clouds slowly flowed between the islands, dyed golden by the distant giant sun. At night, the stars would replace the sun, and then, each floating island would turn into a bright star.
"Caw, it’s truly nostalgic."
Ulysses looked at the scenery of the Gods’ Dimension, a trace of nostalgia flashing in his eyes — he hadn’t been to this world for over two thousand years.
In the center of the many floating islands, a colossal tree spanning the sky and earth held aloft a grand hall — that was the Pantheon. The Pantheon was situated at the highest point of this world, with only the sun and stars above it.
Watching that grand Pantheon, Ulysses shook his feathers and soared skyward.
Entering the Pantheon, the towering divine statues stood as usual. Ulysses glanced at several familiar spots where the statues of his friends were, but almost every one of them was empty. Only one of them was covered in cracks, seeming about to crumble soon.
"Those few unlucky ones, it seems their luck isn’t great."
Before his own divine statue, Ulysses looked at his own dim god statue, feeling a pang of sorrow. When helping Richard establish the church, he played a small trick — the Crow God in the Miracle God System wasn’t his main body, but rather his avatar.
Because his main body had already joined the Eternal God King’s Eternal Divine System, leaving the divine system without the Divine King’s permission would be seen as an eternal enemy. Without the shelter of other Divine Kings, the Eternal God King’s divine punishment could obliterate him across worlds. However, using an avatar to join other divine systems could bypass this restriction.
"Alas, it seems most Annihilation Crows have already turned to other divines."
The brightness of the divine statue represented the amount of power of faith of the divine. His divine statue being so dim meant he nearly had no believers left.
"Oh, little crow, you’ve returned."
A slightly surprised voice gave Ulysses a shiver. Turning around, he saw a large figure in a cloak, with a crow perched on each shoulder, standing behind him.
"Divine King, sir." Ulysses bowed his head.
The Transformation Divine King looked at Ulysses with great interest. As a Divine King, even if Ulysses was not in his divine system, he could discern Ulysses’ strength of faith.
In his observation, despite Ulysses’ dim divine statue, the power of faith he possessed was solid, almost close to some powerful senior gods.
"You’ve done well over these years. Your believers are almost on par with Holder."
"I dare not, I dare not, how can my few believers compare to Lord Holder." Ulysses said humbly.
Holder was one of the high gods in the Transformation Divine System, with strength not much different from Ulysses. But he had another identity, as one of the progenies of the Transformation Divine King.
"Holder doesn’t count as a lord." The Transformation Divine King sneered, "A worthless fool."
Then, his tone changed, speaking to Ulysses warmly, "Little crow, you see, the Eternal guy pays you little mind, your believers are about to be snatched clean. If you come to me, it will be more comfortable than staying with him..."
"Transformation, shut up!"
Before the Transformation Divine King finished speaking, the voice of the Eternal God King interrupted him.
"Stop trying to hoodwink here, Ulysses’ few believers are because his divine grace is not evident, now that he’s back, the believers will soon return."
The Eternal God King came to Ulysses’ side, guarding against the Transformation Divine King like guarding against a thief, fearing Ulysses would be coaxed away.
Ulysses watched this scene, feeling a bit dizzy. Why were both Divine Kings in the Pantheon? Had their war with the Abyss ended?
"Um, honorable Divine Kings, has our war with the Abyss ended?"
"Ended, of course not." The Transformation Divine King laughed, "It’s just been stalemated for the past thousand years."
Hearing that the war hadn’t ended, Ulysses felt a little relieved. If the war had ended, his prepared statements would be useless.
"Honorable Divine Kings, may I tell you something?"
"What is it?" The Eternal God King asked casually.
"In the years I was missing, I wandered into a civilization territory unknown to us, and formed a friendship with a member of that civilization."
"Is there anything worth saying about this? In the Pantheon, there are plenty of divines with ties to Abyss Demons, having ties with other civilization members is not an issue."
"But... what if he became a deity using our rituals? Do you two still remember that deity who achieved godhood by miraculous means decades ago?"