The Egunus Ancient Divine Kingdom.

This was the ancient land that brought the first story arc to its climax.

If the Source of Calamity was the novice zone for the Evil Spirit Competition...

Then!

The Egunus Ancient Divine Kingdom was the advanced competition zone for the Evil Spirit Survivors.

In the original timeline,

the Evil Spirit Wizard Zorn Corick had an extremely low chance of escaping during the "War of the Divine Kingdom" in the final part of the first volume.

Afterward, he would have been the first to begin the quest to explore the Ancient Divine Kingdom.

Unfortunately for him!

No matter how much Zorn Corick struggled,

he was destined to become the poster child for someone who showed up first but ended up last.

Zorn Corick, the man who had basked in the limelight and been the darling of his era during the first arc,

would be repeatedly trampled upon in the struggle for the Ancient Divine Kingdom.

Her Imperial Majesty the Empress, who once contorted herself into whatever shape pleased him, would enact her insane revenge upon him.

In the vast second arc, the Lord of War, Joe Moriff, would humiliate him in every way possible, even calling him "old man."

The various new and peculiar Sequence holders of the next generation would also, more or less, get a chance to step on Zorn Corick.

When the era cast him aside, he was like an old dog with a broken back on the side of the road.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough time for the tables to turn and grant Zorn Corick a comeback.

In the end... Zorn Corick met a tragic end.

In a corner of the solidified Divine Kingdom graveyard, he built a desolate grave for himself, bringing his absurd, untamed, and arduous life to an end.

And even then... after death, his grave was dug up, and his flesh and bones were further refined.

But this time!

Things would obviously be different.

’A struggle for the Divine Kingdom?’

’Sorry.’

’It won’t be a struggle for the Divine Kingdom. It will be... a graveyard for all the darlings of the new era!’

...

「The next day.」

As noon approached, Alvin finally drove the carriage, taking Zorn and Albert away from Gray Mist Castle at the foot of the mountain.

Inside the carriage, Marquis Albert’s brows were tightly furrowed, his expression heavy with worry.

Zorn, on the other hand, was contemplating the details of his many subsequent plans, as well as the potential effects they might have on each other.

Now at Level 5, Zorn had a small but solid foundation in Ogrande City.

But it wasn’t enough.

He needed to prepare for his advancement to the Middle Rank Level.

"The Crying Blood Sun will probably rise in about a week," Marquis Albert spoke abruptly as they traveled.

"A week?"

Zorn’s brow twitched.

"Isn’t that too late? Dragging it out for so long could lead to unforeseen complications."

Hearing this, Marquis Albert lowered his voice.

"Not at all!"

"Saintisman’s ambition is even greater than we imagined."

"According to our intelligence, the Holy Fierce Sun Church is making moves in Autanston City and Saint Grellele."

"And at the border, Saintisman’s War Legion is constantly making intensive preparations."

Zorn’s spirits lifted at the news.

"So they plan to coordinate an attack from within and without? An undeclared war?"

"The Holy Fierce Sun... they’re not even pretending anymore?"

Marquis Albert sneered.

"The Holy Fierce Sun has already detected the movements of the Sun Church’s Resurrectionists in the Northern Border Region."

"Since the chains suppressing the development of Extraordinary Power in the Northern Border Region have been shattered, they naturally see no more reason to feign."

"They’re making moves in several other places as well."

"So... they have no reason to back down from Ogrande City."

"They’re determined to devour all of Ogrande City before they’ll stop!"

"For now, the estimate is one week."

"That also happens to be about how long your ritual can be maintained."

"Among the many potential warzones in the Northern Border Region,"

"our Ogrande City will be a crucial point of counterattack."

"During this time, you need to cultivate properly and stabilize your Sequence. We have a tough fight ahead of us here in Ogrande City."

"After all, the Fighting Master Zorn Corick is a powerful new force for our city’s younger generation."

Marquis Albert didn’t even need to say it.

Zorn was already planning to frantically grind his skills over the next period of time.

It would take at least half a year, maybe even longer, to get from Level 5 to Level Six.

During this time, Zorn needed to grind his main Witchcraft abilities in every aspect as much as possible.

Skills and powerful Witchcraft were the true source of a Caster’s strength.

Moreover!

Zorn’s skills and Witchcraft in all areas were about to experience a massive, all-around explosion in growth.

The reason was simple.

The passage to the Divine Kingdom that Blood Shadow Rose had been excavating had finally broken through, creating a fissure.

The power of the Divine Kingdom was, at this very moment, leaking out.

Last night, while Zorn was enjoying himself in bed with Joliya,

he had felt the increasingly potent power of the Divine Kingdom surging up from below.

That tiny fissure.

It was far from enough for the regular Transcendents within Blood Shadow Rose.

But for Zorn Corick, who was himself a part of this Divine Kingdom, it was not only enough, but more than enough.

He could fully utilize the resonance between himself and the Divine Kingdom.

He could activate the Divine Kingdom Ceremony developed by the Players.

And then, he could use the Divine Kingdom’s resources to accelerate his own skill growth.

Speaking of exploiting the Divine Kingdom,

that was just a routine operation for high-end Players.

At this stage, forget about using rituals to harness the Divine Kingdom’s power.

On the entire Holy Land Continent, they couldn’t even grasp the Divine Kingdom’s trajectory framework, the operation of its basic power, or even perform rituals to open up the peripheral areas.

For the Transcendents of this World,

exploring the Divine Kingdom would be their primary focus for the next several decades, or even centuries, of the world’s trajectory.

But for the high-end Players,

they knew everything about the Egunus Divine Kingdom like the back of their hands.

Players could squeeze out every last drop of hidden potential from every iota of power within the great treasure that was the Divine Kingdom.

Even something as ordinary as the "Divine Kingdom Sand" could be used in all sorts of spectacular ways by the Players.

The ’Divine Kingdom Resource Maximization Plan’.

This was a mandatory introductory course for high-end Players.

Squeezing out only 99% of the resources was an insult to a high-end Player.

Extracting 99.9% of the Divine Kingdom’s resources was standard procedure for them.

Of course, there were also some inhuman top-tier players who had pushed the competition to the third, or even fourth, decimal place.

Some of the even more abstract, troll-like top players

would even use the Divine Kingdom as a fishing ground to capture the Transcendents drawn to it.

This allowed the Divine Kingdom to produce resources exceeding 100% of its intrinsic value.

With the arrival of this brand new "Divine Kingdom" expansion,

the combination of ’Evil Spirit Wizard’ + ’Player’ was about to enter a powerful growth spurt.

......

WHOOSH... WHOOSH...

Deep within the hazy Steam Grey Mist,

Zorn stood beside an altar built of Obsidian, continuously taking out sacrificial materials.

Periodically, Zorn would give Sanma a list of materials,

having them collect various ingredients for him.

Although he never directly asked them for gold pounds,

most of the wealth earned by the Sanma Mafia during this period was spent buying materials for Zorn.

This meant that Zorn’s supply of materials had grown increasingly abundant.

He now had more than enough to establish the Divine Kingdom Ceremony.

Of course, the rituals Zorn was establishing went far beyond just the Divine Kingdom Ceremony.

There was also the Divine Sacrifice Rune Echo Ceremony, which Players used to exploit the Divine Kingdom·Curse Source Pool.

The Sun King Ceremony, for erasing his tracks.

The Self-Summoning Ceremony, for concealing his own fluctuations.

And the Sequence Skill Resonance Ceremony, for perfectly utilizing the power of the Divine Kingdom·Curse Source Pool.

A total of five ceremonies were prepared.

Zorn took a deep breath and slowly unfurled a part of his Spiritual Realm.

From the depths of his Evil Spirit Wizard Sequence’s memory, the obscure and mysterious words of the Taes Ancient God Language emerged one by one.

He began to chant in a low voice, awakening the resurgent power of the Ancient Divine Kingdom.

If a Player were to try to make the Divine Kingdom resonate from such a great distance,

it would undoubtedly be difficult.

But for an Evil Spirit Wizard, who hailed from the Ancient Divine Kingdom itself, there was no difficulty at all.

Soon, Zorn used the Divine Kingdom Ceremony to establish a resonance with his Spiritual Realm.

Then, he began to rapidly draw upon the power within the Divine Kingdom·Curse Source Pool.

Before long,

an Essence·Curse Rune Stone, about the size of a palm and glowing with a brilliant silver light, slowly crossed the majestic ritual bridge from the Ancient Divine Kingdom.

It descended gently into Zorn’s Spiritual Realm.

"Success!"

Seeing this, Zorn couldn’t help but clench his fist, joy instantly appearing on his face.

So many complex rituals, and all of them required his Spiritual Realm to maintain.

Zorn’s goal was these outrageously expensive Essence·Curse Rune Stones.

Both the Essence·Curse Rune Stone and the Ordinary·Curse Rune Stone could be used directly to enhance and increase the proficiency of one’s skills.

This was a privilege only Krypton Gold Players could enjoy.

The only way to obtain them was by exploring a Divine Kingdom.

If he didn’t seize this opportunity, they would be taken by someone else.

The Divine Kingdom Gate that Blood Shadow Rose had spent countless resources, immense effort, a huge amount of manpower and materials, and a full six months to barely pry open...

was now going to benefit Zorn completely.

Today, they were the perfect beasts of burden, the ultimate laborers!

Once an Essence·Curse Rune Stone left the Divine Kingdom,

it would slowly lose its power without being nurtured by it.

It had to be used as soon as possible.

And Zorn had long since prepared the corresponding ritual.

He tossed the Essence·Curse Rune Stone into the Sequence Skill Resonance Ceremony.

Then, streams of cool, pure Energy slowly poured into Zorn’s Sequence.

By consuming this Energy, Zorn could rapidly increase his skill proficiency.

Of course, if he wanted to break through to the next level, he would still need to meet the corresponding breakthrough requirements or consume a Sacred Mark.

As he continued to draw upon the power,

one Essence·Curse Rune Stone after another was pulled forth. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Occasionally, an Ordinary·Curse Rune Stone would also be drawn over.

An Essence Rune Stone was five times more effective than an ordinary one.

But whether they were Essence or Ordinary,

Zorn wouldn’t let any of them go.

Today, Zorn would loot every single one of them without leaving any behind.

With so many Curse Rune Stones,

Zorn could basically level up all of his skills by one.

Of course, upgrading everything evenly was a rather stupid method.

Proper allocation was the correct approach.

In Ogrande City, buried under the dark clouds of war, an undercurrent was surging.

And here, deep within the safety of the Ancient Ruins,

Zorn was stealing the resources that rightfully belonged to him.

His many other Curse Skills were about to undergo a massive transformation.