Chapter 458 The Final Chain - Awaken Greatness (5000)

Above the Sea of Fury, the weather repeats a cycle of shifting between sunshine and shadow.

Due to volcanic geothermal activity and warm ocean currents, a sky that was clear and cloudless a moment ago can instantly transform into a pitch-black, rainy day.

In the volatile eastern part of the Sea of Fury, closer to the Continent of Wind, a small island is home to an active volcano, perpetually exhaling plumes of black smoke that seem never to cease.

Undoubtedly, this island was formed by a volcanic eruption, and the volcano that created it is still not dormant. Such active volcanic islands comprise at least a thousand island groups of varying sizes in the Sea of Fury. Their potential dangers keep even the Windfolk adventurers, who specialize in exploration, cautious.

However, because the volcano is not dormant, the lava contains a vast amount of elemental magic, the world's blood. If properly utilized, an active volcano can be the best source of energy for a magic array.

Just like the lava cave within this volcanic island.

"Send me the space report."

Like carapace scraping against carapace, a buzzing tremor reverberated within the scorching lava cave, echoing with an angry rumble: "At top speed!"

This angry reprimand carried a certain magical effect. It instantly turned the hot air of the entire volcanic lava cave cold. In a corner of the lava cave, a wisp of fire elemental essence was clinging to a mineral crystal, condensing. Given some time, it might have evolved into a rudimentary fire elemental sprite, but upon hearing this voice, the deathly stillness and coldness emanating directly from the underworld made it shrink back.

Words of power.

Regardless of the world or race, language, or rather, 'the channel for exchanging information,' is sacred and contains power.

Whether it be traditional Words of Power, Dragon Shouts, Law following Speech, Shut-Mouth Zen, or Holy Words, the essence of these spells and divine abilities lies in the power of language. The strength of the power contained in the voice just now, capable of suppressing the volcanic environment and the birth of fire sprites within with a casual word, is something that even ordinary god-blessed individuals probably couldn't achieve.

On the Sacred Flame Continent and the Distant Wind Continent, there are forty-six god-blessed individuals who worship the three gods. Of these, no more than twenty can suppress a volcanic eruption with their own strength, and none possess such a cold and deathly essence – the Tartarus world is in the early days of a new era, and the lifespan of transcendents is long. Neither transcendent power nor inheritance has yet reached the point where they need to touch the power of the underworld.

"Sigh, so many unexpected events."

As the speaker's mood calmed, the chill in the lava cave gradually dissipated, and the pressure of deathly stillness that vaguely permeated the entire volcano gradually retreated into a robed figure at the center of the many magic arrays.

This robed figure was tall and stood in the center of the semi-circular lava cave dome. Centered on him, circular magic arrays were unfolding one after another. They rotated, and the power of source essence expanded along the runes and lines of the arrays, forming a three-dimensional sanctuary structure. The entire sanctuary array was drawing on the power of the entire volcano, gradually converting it into the purest magic power, and converging towards the robed figure.

At this moment, the figure, waiting for his subordinate to send back a report, removed his hood – it was a Windfolk. The appearance of an antman.

Antmen usually have a tall human form, and this one was no different, being nearly three meters tall with a muscular brown exoskeleton structure – but for some reason, this figure's physique didn't seem to have the power of a typical antman, but instead seemed somewhat weak, even gaunt.

Like a skeleton.

Of course, unlike humans who have flesh covering bone, as a branch of the insectoid race with exoskeletons, an antman's skeleton doesn't look much different from a living one... In fact, although this antman's exoskeleton appeared intact, it could be seen that his body contained a flickering deep blue soul light. Furthermore, the body beneath the robe, inlaid with gems and runes, could prove one thing.

He was a lich – a rare ant race lich.

The lich waited patiently for some time, and then received a rather terrified message from his subordinate.

"I'm sorry, Lord Ansent… I don't know why, the space report is delayed! I'm not lying, but it's true. I can't transmit the report to you immediately. I'm afraid I'll need to wait a few more minutes…"

Anxious and urgent voices came from the other end of the communication array. The lich, called Ansent, was initially stunned, then flew into a rage: "Nonsense! How is that possible? How could the space record's mission report be delayed!"

"Even worlds more powerful than this one, space has never… No, wait."

Halfway through his reprimand, Ansent seemed to have thought of something. The ant race lich stopped speaking and frowned: "Space delayed… Indeed, it's not impossible."

He couldn't help but recall the few accidents he had personally experienced, and the legends circulating in the space.

[Far-seeing Ansent].

Pioneer Space, a well-known lone adventurer, a grand magus focused on elemental magic, once single-handedly defeated six other teams in a large-scale multiplayer joint exploration mission, [War of Wishes], taking first place and successfully obtaining a chance for perfect resurrection, thus becoming famous among all explorers.

However, no matter how strong one is, accidents can happen when exploring the unknown alone.

After Ansent completed the exploration mission [War of Wishes], he followed the space's guidance to explore an S-class world called [Dark Wolf - Soaring Divine Tree]… And it was here that he ran into a major problem.

The world of [Soaring Divine Tree] had a very peculiar worldview. It was a world where the entire world was occupied by a divine tree called the 'Banyan Undying Tree'. An entire planet was merely soil for this divine tree to absorb nutrients. It constituted the entire natural environment of that world, and humans built cities and lived in its shade and among its roots.

At the same time, various monsters and demons derived from the many undying divine trees wreaked havoc in the wilderness. Aside from dispatching large armies to forcefully clear them, humans could only gradually shrink their living space, relying on another type of divine tree power called the 'Continuing Tree' to resist the erosion of the undying divine tree and build huge sanctuary cities.

The protagonist in this worldview was a young man who carried the blessing of the Continuing Tree, but had lost his memory.

He woke up from a dark and silent underground laboratory. As soon as he developed his own will, he was dragged into the most secret plan within the world's highest government, the 'Celestial Alliance', and the conflict with the Undying Cult, which worshiped the undying divine tree.

He had to constantly fight these two factions, and while exploring the truth of his own identity, he had to kill the undying demons in the world, and defeat the powerful warriors of the Celestial Alliance and the cyborgs of the Undying Cult.

Ansent's original mission was to assist the protagonist, [Zhou Zhou], in eliminating a fully mature, high-level commander demon, the 'Celestial Calamity Wood Dragon', located in the 'Giant Underground Sanctuary City - Celestial Capital', to prevent the city from being destroyed. Afterward, he was to work with the protagonist to cut off the undying divine tree's interference with the city, and help the Continuing Tree accumulate power to counterattack the undying divine tree.

But in the end, Ansent was too greedy for the divine tree power that [Zhou Zhou] possessed, and the 'Undying Divine Root' left behind by the Celestial Calamity Wood Dragon. So, he planned to launch a surprise attack after killing the Celestial Calamity Wood Dragon, risking the failure of the main quest to seize Zhou Zhou's divine tree power and the at least S-level Undying Divine Root.

However, the result was that Ansent, who failed to kill Zhou Zhou with one strike, attracted the hidden Boss in the [Soaring Divine Tree] worldview - namely, the Continuing Tree's main body, [Divine Tree Inevitable]!

Although the power of Divine Tree Inevitable had not yet broken through the Overlord tier, it was hundreds of times thicker than that of an ordinary Commander tier. It was so exaggerated that it was almost like cheating. Ordinary Overlord tiers probably didn't have as much power as him.

With one strike, he directly shattered the Celestial Calamity Wood Dragon's nest, causing Ansent's body to collapse and his soul to be severely damaged. If he hadn't obtained a chance for perfect resurrection in the [War of Wishes] world, he wouldn't even have had a chance to transform into a lich. And if he hadn't escaped by transforming into a lich, he would have probably died a second time after being resurrected.

In the end, when Ansent returned to Pioneer Space in a sorry state, what he saw was [Divine Tree Inevitable] confronting the awakening [Banyan Undying Tree]. The auras of the two divine trees, one small and one large, even broke through the atmospheric dome and went straight into the high heavens.

This was probably the true meaning of the world's name, [Soaring Divine Tree].

And it was at that time that Ansent first realized that his space mission report had experienced a brief delay… It was delayed for at least a few minutes, and then it slowly listed his gains and losses in the [Soaring Divine Tree] world.

This was hard to imagine - how could such a powerful Pioneer Space be delayed?

However, Ansent didn't pay too much attention to it at the time, after all, he was in the critical period of converting into a lich to extend his life. He had no mind to care about these things.

But even so, Ansent's experience served as a warning to all adventurers in Pioneer Space: Space certainly encourages exploration, allowing them to explore more unknown things, but before taking action, they should consider their own capabilities.

Every mission world has deep waters, and none should be underestimated. Otherwise, Pioneer Space wouldn't have sent them there to complete missions.

Originally, Ansent, as a native of the Tartarus world, felt that his old home didn't really have any deep waters.

As a member of the antman tribe in the past, he had always lived as an ordinary farmer under the arrangement of the Wind Lord. Until he had enough of such a boring life, and received the summons of Pioneer Space, Ansent didn't feel that there was anything special about his world.

Yes, the Wind God, the Fire God, and the Judgment God are all gods. The three gods are indeed very strong, and even in Pioneer Space's evaluation, they have the strength of the Overlord tier. They are innate gods who have obtained innate divine objects.

But, that was all.

The hidden Boss 'Divine Tree Inevitable' in the [Soaring Divine Tree] world also had power similar to or even surpassing them. Not to mention the 'Banyan Undying Tree', which was even stronger than Divine Tree Inevitable and occupied most of the natural power of that world!

In the report that was delayed by space, the power of that divine tree had already entered the tier above Overlord, belonging to 'Immortals'! It was an existence powerful enough to suppress the world and control all things, the ultimate super lifeform!

In addition, the 'Progenitor Dragon' in the [War of Wishes] world, responsible for fulfilling wishes; the Lords of Sixfold Tribulations in the [Six Paths Heavenly Demon] world, rampaging across the heavens and earth; and the Twilight Dragon in the [Twilight Warlord] world, who intended to end all things… These powerful existences, these super lifeforms at the top of multiple worlds, were all far stronger than the three gods of his old home!

With the help of Pioneer Space, having witnessed the powerful existences of so many unknown worlds, Ansent initially held a condescending, superior attitude towards his old home.

--I have seen scenery you cannot imagine, I have seen the servants of the Twilight Dragon climbing out of the abyss, the Sixfold Heavenly Demons riding meteorites falling from the burning sky.

Indeed, the three gods were existences he could not compare to now, but with the cultivation of space, he would inevitably surpass them in the future.

However, as mentioned before, Ansent, who originally thought his mother world was ordinary and without many undercurrents, discovered many incredible things in this world when he returned.

On his first return, outside the protective shield given by Pioneer Space for teleportation, he saw wisps of hazy gray mist.

Through that hazy gray mist, Ansent, entering a state of spiritual vision, seemed to see the hazy thing that enveloped the entire world and was being nurtured deep within the earth...

And it was at that time that he realized that the space report had been delayed again, and it took a long time before it slowly listed his report.

This might indicate… that his mother world also had existences similar to the 'Banyan Undying Tree', or even more powerful.

"Could it be that the struggle between the Judgment Dragon and the Judgment Lord is related to that gray mist?"

With too little information, the antman lich paced back and forth in the magic array, stirring up bursts of elemental light mist.

At this time, his heart was filled with both fear and excitement: "I originally thought I understood the situation in my old home very well, but now it seems I don't understand at all!"

"The water is deep, the water is too deep!"

Ordinary people would naturally feel somewhat frustrated when encountering such a thing. It was indeed an annoying feeling when something that was originally full of certainty suddenly became unpredictable.

But for the explorers in Pioneer Space, this kind of discovery of novelty in things they were originally familiar with was the most wonderful thing in the world.

And at this moment, Ansent finally received the report from his subordinate.

Pioneer Space actually encourages team exploration. After all, how much of the unknown can one witness alone? With multiple perspectives, the explored areas will become larger. Therefore, every explorer who obtains an A or higher rating will receive an 'Exploration Team Formation Permission' to establish a multi-person exploration team.

However, it's a bit embarrassing to say... Ansent has a bit of social anxiety.

It was precisely because of social anxiety that the antman lich initially felt out of place with the Wind Lord's constructed mental network and the antman race's collective life.

Can you imagine?! Antmen actually have collective bathhouses, with hundreds of people bathing together! Moreover, they eat in groups of hundreds or thousands, and their matchmaking is also done in groups of hundreds or thousands... Even if he didn't join Pioneer Space, Ansent felt that one day he would be unable to bear that damn environment and defect to the Seven Seas, becoming a pirate.

But even with social anxiety like Ansent, in order to facilitate the collection of intelligence in his old home, he still used the exploration team formation permission and recruited two local subordinates on two continents respectively to collect intelligence to assist in completing the mission.

One of them happened to be doing business in Twilight City recently, and he witnessed the Judgment Lord's divine descent, as well as the subsequent battle between the two Judgment Lords.

At this time, this subordinate's report was transmitted to Ansent's mind.

[Optional Faction Mission: Ascend to Godhood]

[Help the Seven Seas Pirates obtain the Soul of Origin Water and ascend to the position of the Water God. For each Water God born, receive one B-level development permission, 7000 exploration points.]

[Optional World Mission: Reconstruct the Cycle]

[Break the stagnant era and recreate the era cycle. Successfully reshape the era and break the cycle, receive one S-level development permission, exploration points.]

[Optional Team Mission: The Myriad Peoples in the Sea]

[Help the Seafolk establish their own kingdom. Depending on the degree of completion, receive one C-level development permission, 2000 exploration points, to two A-level development permissions, exploration points.]

Ansent only glanced over these simple mission reports – they were all missions that he deliberately triggered after returning to his mother world.

Missions in the mother world are considered benefits for explorers.

After all, exploring different worlds not only has a short time limit, but also has various main quests to complete. It is already very difficult to explore the world while completing quests.

But the mother world is different. Here, there are no mandatory missions to execute except for triggering them yourself. Moreover, every explorer is definitely very familiar with their old home, and following the clues to explore is naturally much easier than in a strange world.

Ansent clearly knew the origins of the above missions, and also knew how difficult those missions were – at least he could confirm that Pioneer Space was not tricking him, they were indeed that difficult.

Then, he glanced at the bottom of the report.

[Uncover the Background of the Tartarus World]

[Completion: Medium. Receive 6549 exploration points, one B-level development permission.]

Even in his infinitely familiar old home, coupled with a long period of exploration, Ansent's exploration of the world's background was only a mere 'Medium'.

Even so, he received a B-level mission reward for it.

According to Space's evaluation of 'Very Few, Few, Medium, High, Very High, Perfect', if he were to completely uncover the background of his old home, he could probably receive a reward exceeding an S-level mission!

But for Ansent, the most important thing was still the hidden mission that appeared as he uncovered the background of the Tartarus world, also known as the world of [A Song of Wind and Fire] in the eyes of other Pioneer Space explorers.

[The Final Chain - Awaken Greatness: Source of Life - Place of Death]

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There is half of the text missing, not finished. In order not to break the update, I will post it first.

Everyone, guess what Zhou Zhou's origins are (