Silence, a heart-pounding silence.
The silence of the Physique Crown made Richard’s heart race. Whether this matter succeeds or fails, it holds only benefits and no harm for him.
Yet, for some reason, Richard felt an inexplicable unease in his heart.
As if the next words from the Physique Crown would change the trajectory of his future life.
After a moment of silence, the Physique Crown nodded slightly, "Richard, you always manage to surprise me. Cooperation with the Abyss Civilization is indeed worth a try for us."
After speaking, the Physique Crown looked towards the Secret Keeper.
"I want to convene the Conference of Truth."
The Secret Keeper bowed slightly.
Unlike the Gods Civilization, Richard didn’t know much about the Abyss Civilization. But just from the few traits he was aware of, many Truth Wizards felt intrigued.
"Truly a civilization with frightening potential."
Upon hearing Richard’s description, the Alchemy Crown spoke with a hint of amazement.
The rapid evolution and world infection exhibited by the Abyss Civilization showed potential even to the most idiotic of wizards.
"Heh heh heh, if only the Galaxy Mayfly valued individual strength like such creatures..."
A doppelganger of the Undead Crown sitting on the left of the Alchemy Crown let out a sinister laugh. For the Undead School, the corpses of powerful creatures are precious treasures.
Most subspecies of the Galaxy Mayfly have very weak individual strength. Even if revived by undead witchcraft, their combat power is inferior to ordinary native corpses.
This characteristic makes the Undead School, which should perform brilliantly in warfare, worthy of continuing as a support school.
"World infection... this ability is quite impressive."
At the innermost side of the round table, a rather amusing-looking scarecrow suddenly spoke.
This was the embodiment of the Curse Crown, whose past actions in the Wilderness Great World failed to kill the terrifying Demon Lord, allowing it to escape to the Endless Dimension.
Such a terrifying creature could not be left by the Wizards to recover and seek revenge.
Thus, the Curse Crown distanced itself from the frontline and began hunting the Demon Lord in the Endless Dimension.
"I feel this ability would be of great use to me, and I support establishing contact."
Seeing the Curse Crown’s stance, the remaining Truth Wizards hesitated no longer.
Though there was a power struggle between the Plastic Energy Crown and the Alchemy Crown, on matters beneficial to the entire Wizard Civilization, the two Crowns were never unclear on their stance.
However, while stating their stance, Richard felt the Plastic Energy Crown’s gaze towards him was somewhat odd.
The proposal to establish diplomatic relations with the Abyss Civilization was unanimously approved by the Truth Council. Naturally, the task of establishing contact fell to Richard.
The council did not set a strict deadline for Richard, only requesting him to contact the Abyss Civilization as soon as possible.
Moreover, the Truth Council would do its utmost to provide the necessary resources.
After the meeting ended, the various doppelgangers of the Crowns gradually dispersed.
But before leaving, the Physique Crown suddenly took a scroll from the Void and handed it to Richard.
"Don’t foolishly rush into their main base. If you’re noticed by the Dominator, crushing you would be as easy as crushing an insect. This is a contact ritual left to me by an Abyss Lord when I left the Abyss Civilization. I checked just now; that Lord is still alive."
Richard was taken aback, hurriedly taking the scroll.
He had originally planned to ask Ulysses if there were any rituals specifically for fishing. But unexpectedly, the Physique Crown directly solved this problem for him.
"Haha, what doesn’t the dean have?"
The Physique Crown smiled with some pride. Though compared to the other Crowns, his collection was still somewhat lacking. But for other Great Wizards, his collection could only be described as knowledge as vast as the sea.
"Do well," the Physique Crown patted Richard’s shoulder, "Your contributions in this war are significant. After the war is over, if you brush up on your knowledge, the only one who can compete with you for a seat of truth is that kid with the Sword of Victory."
Richard scratched his head at these words and laughed, "You speak too far ahead, achieving truth..."
"Far ahead? I don’t think so." The Physique Crown shook his head, "When I first had thoughts about becoming a Truth Wizard, I was only a thousand or two years older than you. Back then, I wasn’t even Five Rings, just a newly promoted Great Wizard."
As he spoke, he patted Richard’s shoulder again.
"Truth for you is no longer an unattainable thing."
"Ugh, your appearance..."
Looking at Richard, Ulysses’s eyes were full of disdain at the Abyss Aura exuding from him, obscured by bodily control yet still unable to be entirely hidden. He didn’t even rest on his shoulder as he usually did.
"I’m also trying to find a solution to this problem," Richard said somewhat helplessly. "But before solving this issue, contact with the Abyss Civilization must be established."
Mentioning establishing diplomatic relations with the Abyss Civilization, a complex emotion flashed in Ulysses’s eyes.
The Abyss Demons were his mortal enemies, but now he had to watch his friend go and deal with them.
"Bah, Richard, you’d better not mention establishing relations with the Abyss Civilization in my presence," Ulysses said in a low tone. "My friend, you must contribute your power to your civilization. I must also contribute mine to mine.
Whether I convey this news to the Divine King or not, it’s up to me to decide."
Richard was taken aback by these words, then showed a hint of frustration on his face.
"Ah, I forgot about that... Ulysses. We have many Soul Masters here who can ensure a painless memory wipe..."
Ulysses gave Richard a look, then entered the Secret Realm.
The fact that the Wizards would establish relations with the Abyss Civilization had actually been anticipated by several Divine Kings. After all, for the Wizards, the Abyss of Gods was the same. The relationship between two civilizations was not firm enough to discard the Abyss Civilization.
Therefore, the message must be conveyed.
However, out of selfish interest, Ulysses decided to delay conveying this message for a few years. At least until the Wizards and the Abyss are deeply entwined.
This way, he could avoid taking on high-risk and low-reward tasks like trying to prevent the establishment of relations between the two civilizations as best he could.
After Ulysses left, Richard shifted and returned beyond the command center.
Although this ritual seemed entirely risk-free, Richard decided to perform it outside the command center for safety reasons.
After all, he was about to communicate with an Abyss Lord.
Finding a suitable Earth Vein Node, Richard confirmed his position on the map and then took out the Crystal Ball to connect with the command center.
"Abel, in the next few days, there will be intense energy fluctuations in East Thirty-Two District; that’s me conducting an experiment, don’t be concerned."
Having arranged with the command center, Richard began setting up the communication ritual according to the Physique Crown’s scroll.
Following the scroll’s instructions, Richard used the blood of a Level 4 creature—a four-headed Giant Dragon raised by a Great Wizard—to draw an octagram with a diagonal length of eight meters on the Abyss Node.
Then he placed the heads, hearts, blood vessels, intestines, muscles, bones, eyes, and tongues of different creatures at the eight corners of the octagram.
Like the blood used to draw the array, these organs also came from Level 4 Creatures.
Once he had placed these items, Richard began to recite the spells recorded in the scroll.
The tones of these spells were very extreme, sounding like roars and wails. As the incantation continued, the blood forming the array began to flow, and blasphemous bloody runes slowly emerged within the array.
The entire array was engulfed in ominous red light.
Soon, the incantation was completed, and the red light enveloping the array became so thick it almost dripped blood.
Eight seconds after the incantation ended, the red light began to distort, and the offerings placed at the eight corners of the array formed into a bizarre creature.
Meanwhile, in a palace in the Abyss World, many Flowing Light Years away, a Demon Dragon the size of a hill suddenly opened its eyes.
Inside its belly, a creature parasitized by countless Flesh Tentacles, continuously extracting its Life Energy, suddenly shuddered.
"Carlos, I knew leaving you alive would be useful."
The Demon Dragon opened its mouth and expelled the Abyss Demon that was parasitized by Flesh Tentacles. The moment it was expelled, the Abyss Demon’s body shuddered violently, and a vast Magic Power surged toward it.
With a beat of its wings, the turbulent energy ceased. It looked at the being who once fancied itself as its master, a playful look in its eyes.
"Carlos, who is requesting this communication? The Supreme Octagram Communication Array, not just anybody can use it."
The Abyss Demon called Carlos glanced at the creature tormenting him for thousands of years and showed a mocking smile on its goat-like face.
"Honey, why don’t you take a look yourself? It shouldn’t be hard for you."
The Demon Dragon didn’t respond to Carlos’s provocation, and Abyss Runes appeared on its dark scales. Under the influence of Abyss Curse, the communication meant for the demon Carlos was transferred to the Demon Dragon.
On Richard’s side, the strange creature at the center of the array suddenly shuddered, then formed into a figure somewhat familiar to Richard.
Richard narrowed his eyes at the sudden change in the image. A Giant Dragon was a being the Physique Crown had mentioned, so the Abyss Demon he was supposed to contact couldn’t possibly be an Abyss-Transformed Dragon.
If it’s not a Giant Dragon, then without a doubt, he’s certainly not connected with the Abyss Lord he intended.
"But no matter, as long as it’s an Abyss Lord."
Richard shrugged his shoulders and was about to communicate with the Giant Dragon. But before he could speak, an ear-splitting dragon roar emanated from the bloody dragon, and in that roar, Richard sensed a feeling of...helplessness?
"Wizard? Wizard! You still haven’t let me go!"