Ch. 102
Chapter 102
The Three Pillar Gods and the Ancient Wizards
Lucy ran down the spiraling staircase, her heart pounding even more violently than when she had once been targeted by a dragon.
She had never expected her first meeting with her idol to happen under such circumstances.
In the clearing outside the castle, Theodosius was gazing at the crimson silhouette of the distant mountains.
When Lucy held her breath and bowed, the old wizard’s hoarse voice was the first to break the silence.
“You are that little fellow Fernando’s apprentice?”
Little fellow? Lucy was inwardly taken aback when she heard this.
In the other’s mouth, Mentor Fernando had instantly become a junior.
“Yes, Master, you know my teacher!”
“I did meet him once.” Theodosius gave a slight nod. “It must have been over two hundred years ago. When he defended his advancement at the Star Law Institute, I happened to be the chief examiner.”
“That child’s insights into anatomy…especially his designs for flesh constructs, were most impressive…How is he now?”
“Teacher is doing very well. He has now advanced to a mid-rank wizard and is preparing to attempt to break through to high-rank wizard.”
Though, according to Mentor Fernando himself, it would be nearly impossible for him to progress any further in this lifetime.
Theodosius also understood this and did not dwell on the topic. Instead, he spoke:
“Did you bring the Anatomy Notes?”
This abrupt request ought to have made anyone wary.
But Lucy did not believe that Master Theodosius would have any interest in her notes themselves. Clearly, he meant to instruct her.
She immediately took out The Witch’s Anatomical Notes and handed them over, then stood nervously to the side.
When the old wizard opened the first page, his gaze paused slightly.
“You can read High Elvish!”
“Yes, Master, I do understand a little High Elvish.”
“Being able to record Elvish rune inscriptions in real time during live dissections is far more than ‘a little’.”
Theodosius’s fingertip paused on the silver runes on the title page. Those twisted symbols were faintly glowing.
Even for him, translating the characters Lucy had written required full concentration to decipher, despite his profound attainments.
After a brief exchange, Theodosius no longer spoke and focused on leafing through Lucy’s wizard notes.
But the more he read, the deeper his frown grew, especially when he reached the section on the live dissection experiment of the Rotten Fang Wolf. An unusual glimmer flickered in his eyes.
“Why didn’t you conduct a control group experiment? The organ variations in the same species of enchanted beast are the key to optimizing witchcraft models.”
“Fernando never taught you this?”
Lucy’s breath stalled.
Teacher had indeed said such words, but according to the system’s criteria, repeatedly dissecting the same enchanted organ would not earn additional points.
So Lucy had deliberately neglected the control group experiment. At that moment, the shame of being exposed felt even more suffocating than dragon terror.
“Teacher did say it…It was my oversight.”
She drew a deep breath and calmly admitted her mistake.
Under the blood-colored sky, the two of them stood there discussing professional questions in a quiet back-and-forth, as if the earlier dragon’s might had never occurred.
It was not until the bell of Dusk Fortress tolled that Theodosius finally closed the notes and handed them back to Lucy.
“You are even more gifted than I imagined.” He turned and began walking toward the depths of the Old Lands. “Come with me. The journey ahead will be many times more thrilling than retracing the path of the migratory birds. I hope you will not regret it.”
“I will not, Master.” Lucy clutched her notes and hurried after him.
...
The expanse of the Old Lands was far vaster than Lucy had expected.
Even while riding in Master Theodosius’s airship, the surrounding scenery remained a stretch of crimson desolation, as if the Old Lands were an endless ruin without boundary.
It was not until dawn on the fourth day that an ancient city occupied by temple ruins finally appeared in their view.
What was even more astonishing was that there were human figures moving beneath the city walls.
“Master, there are still humans in the Old Lands!”
“Of course.” Theodosius stood at the front of the airship, a trace of wistfulness in his eyes. “I suppose I haven’t told you what the Old Lands truly are.”
Lucy nodded slightly.
Along the way, Master Theodosius had taught her much about the Anatomical School, but he had never spoken of the Old Lands themselves.
“In fact, ‘the Old Lands’ was never the original name of this continent. This land that once nurtured civilization has another name— the Continent of Light.”
In this plane, the era truly dominated by wizards had lasted only a mere 3,041 years—what is now called the Wizard Era.
And before that was what people called the ‘Age of Old Gods’, or the Age of the Gods.
The plane had been ruled by three great pantheons of gods: the God of Light, the God of the Realm of Death, and the God of Elements. Everyone who lived on this continent had been a devotee of these Three Gods.
Yet with the rise of wizard civilization, the wizards who possessed the might of self-knowledge gradually grew dissatisfied with the gods’ exploitation. In the end, it escalated into a war between wizards and the gods.
Countless deities were slain, and the Three Gods were buried in the dust of history.
Lucy’s eyes widened. This was the first time she had ever learned of such secrets.
“Then why did the wizards abandon the Old Lands? And where did the current Wizard Continent come from?”
Theodosius showed a bitter smile and continued, “It was not that we abandoned the Old Lands, but that we were pursued across our homeland by the Three Pillar Gods.”
Seeing Lucy’s look of shock and confusion, Theodosius went on to explain.
“You’re wondering if the wizards had already defeated the Three Gods, why did they still have to flee?”
“Because the Three Pillar Gods each commanded the laws of Light, Soul, and Elements in the Primary Plane. Unless the very foundations of these three properties were completely altered, even if you killed them ten thousand times, they would still descend again in a short span.”
“When the great ancient wizards exhausted every method and still could not utterly eradicate the Three Gods, they had no choice but to lead the unconverted human kin away from the Old Lands.”
“As for the current Wizard Continent, it is actually just four islands surrounding the Old Lands.”
Already numbed by all these shocking revelations, Lucy continued to ask,
“Then why didn’t the Three Gods pursue beyond the Old Lands?”
“It’s very simple. Although the Three Pillar Gods are difficult to deal with, if the wizards truly became ruthless, they had the power to exterminate every living thing in the Old Lands. At that point, even the Three Pillar Gods, without the support of their worshippers, would weaken until they fell into eternal slumber.”
Put plainly, the Three Pillar Gods and the wizards of old were like two nuclear-armed superpowers if either side was provoked enough, they could drag the other to mutual destruction.
“So, the Three Pillar Gods signed the Old Pact with the ancient wizards, setting the ten gateways of the Old Lands as boundaries to separate the old homeland from the Wizard Continent. Both sides would refrain from interfering with each other.”
For a long while, Lucy digested everything about the Old Lands before frowning and speaking.
“Then what is the purpose of our entry into the Old Lands this time?”
The pact surely imposed strict limits on any powerhouses crossing into the other’s sphere. If Theodosius had ventured here, and it was not to ignite a new war, the only explanation was that there was a relevant clause in the Old Pact.
A feral grin appeared at the corner of Theodosius’s mouth. “While the Old Pact does forbid wizards from harassing the Three Pillar Gods again, to prevent the old gods from growing too strong, it mandates that we regularly cull certain evil deities who wield the laws.”
“Put simply, the purpose of this journey is to slay a god.”
“But before that, we need to find a place to rest properly and let you broaden your horizons a little. And conveniently enough, there’s a rather good spot right ahead.”
Master Theodosius seemed to have noticed something intriguing, and his smile turned a bit fanatical.
Lucy was all too familiar with that expression.
Because it was almost identical to how she looked whenever she encountered an un-dissected specimen.
A specimen that could interest a Star Ring Wizard?!
At that thought, Lucy couldn’t help feeling a surge of excitement herself.