NOVPUBIchrite Academy, Jera Memorial Square.
The outdoor giant screen, which had been continuously broadcasting news, suddenly turned pitch black and then began to project the scenes of a brand-new Shadow World.
It immediately attracted the gazes of a few passing students.
Since they did not know the order of the Shadow World being displayed, most students just glanced at the screen and moved on. The end of the term was especially busy for them, and they had no inclination to pay attention to other people’s Shadow World records.
Only a minority of students kept their eyes focused on the outdoor screen for a bit longer.
The opening scene unveiled a city-state shrouded beneath war clouds.
The background text for the Shadow World appeared at the bottom of the screen, indicating that this was the capital called Hershalraym, belonging to the northern Palante Empire, currently under the shadow of the Huo Ning Empire controlled by the Blood Clan.
The sky was dim, with heavy clouds hanging low, as if foretelling the coming storm.
On the streets, the citizens hurried along, their expressions tense and worried, dressed in dark clothes, nearly merging with the surrounding gloom.
The camera slowly moved, passing through the busy streets of Hershalraym, capturing the latest reports on the war at a newspaper stand.
The headlines on the paper proclaimed good news, but the small print below revealed profound unease and fear.
Music from the shops on the street was low and rhythmic, creating an eerie mix with the occasional distant sounds of air raid sirens.
The scene shifted to the parliamentary building, the political center of the Palante Empire. This grand edifice appeared even more majestic and immovable against the somber sky.
Inside, the lighting was dim, with long corridors and ancient paintings giving off a somewhat sinister vibe.
In these corridors, politicians whispered about the fate of the nation, their faces full of worry and the weight of responsibility.
Following this, the scene changed to a closed office.
The room was filled with books, documents, and smoke, looking somewhat cramped and disordered, with a little black cat looking around in confusion on the desk.
A silhouette was sitting behind his desk, seemingly also having just arrived here, contemplating the challenges that lay ahead.
His gaze was profound, as if reviewing the past and the future, holding an unlit cigar in his hand, gently turning it.
Although expressionless, his identity was plainly revealed by the signatory on the letters on the desk—
[Palante Empire’s new Prime Minister: Lanci Welfort]
In an instant, exclamations erupted from the students at the edge of Jera Memorial Square.
"My god, Lan!"
Hearing the sound, more and more campus personnel turned their heads to look at the outdoor giant screen.
Many teachers and students at Ichrite Academy were familiar with the name Lanci, as his last visit with the Arolan Kingdom’s academic delegation left their school with nearly half fewer people.
Thankfully, he spared Carlen, the academy’s treasured Gold-level Card Maker, from any harm.
Hearing nothing about Lanci for half a year, the discussions about him had considerably cooled down.
Now seeing him return like a lightning storm and entering the Shadow World almost immediately caused the students to spread the news excitedly.
The end of the term was no longer important; they wanted to watch Lanci’s Shadow World live broadcast after a hiatus of half a year!
"By the way, which order is his Shadow World this time... It seems to be a completely open-world environment."
Students who had already settled themselves on the steps in front of the outdoor screen couldn’t help but discuss.
Most low-order Shadow Worlds tend to be enclosed environments.
Similar to the closed-world Devil’s Academy [Purgatory Corridor School], or the [Sanctuary Evil Banquet] where you confront the Goddess of Destruction within a castle, challengers have limited time and conditions to remain within the boundaries set by the Shadow World.
But the Shadow World currently displayed seemed to have a vast area of activity, freedom, and possibilities.
It was almost equivalent to the real world.
Often, the order of such Shadow Worlds could not be low.
...
In the mysterious Shadow World,
Lanci leaned back in his office chair, intently surveying the room.
He had just experienced a kind of chaotic darkness, and like the first ray of dawn piercing through layers of darkness, his vision gradually returned to light, revealing such an environment.
Only Cat Boss was with him.
Hyperion was nowhere to be seen.
Lanci’s gaze slowly moved around the office, noting that every detail of the room was imbued with traces of history.
The walls were adorned with symbols of the era—oil paintings depicting historical battles, seemingly hinting at the nation’s past glory and suffering.
Bookshelves were piled high with books and documents, a reflection of his dual roles as politician and scholar.
The room was also permeated with the smell of tobacco, a pipe and matches arranged on the table.
He picked up the pipe and looked at it, even though he clearly didn’t smoke, but it seemed that the identity he was assuming at the moment would often be accompanied by tobacco when alone.
"Meow meow, Lanci, where is this?"
Cat Boss couldn’t figure out what era they had arrived in, whether it was dangerous or safe.
However, it had heard that the majority of Shadow Worlds would be a relatively safe environment at the start, not directly throwing Challengers into a hopeless and deadly situation.
"Probably tens of thousands of years ago,"
Lanci set down the pipe and stared at the wartime map on the wall as he answered.
When he saw the words "Huo Ning Empire," he knew it was once again the Blood Moon Bad World Era.
But unlike the last Sacred Hall Villains Banquet, the Huo Ning Empire, located at the very south, had now greatly changed, having nearly swallowed up all the central nations and becoming the world’s greatest force.
The Palante Empire, where Lanci currently was, was a human empire in the north of the continent on the brink of life and death challenges and was one of the few countries still resisting the Blood Clan and the Huo Ning Empire.
Looking at the map, the north of the Palante Empire was all snowfields, and further north was the frigid Land of Perpetual Night, with almost no daylight. Passing through, one could enter the Demon Tribe Kingdom.
"Just looking at the geographical environment, the Palante Empire and the Protoss Empire are quite similar, while the current Huo Ning Empire is almost equivalent to the entire South Continent, and there’s no sea to separate the two,"
Lanci muttered to himself while explaining to Cat Boss.
Before Cat Boss could say more, the information about the Shadow World appeared before their eyes.
[Shadow World: Dark Solar Eclipse Demon Realm]
[Level: Seventh-order]
[Total number of Challengers: 3]
[Sixteen years ago, after that banquet, you were hunted down by the Blood Clan, scattered far and wide.]
[After fleeing Lichtenstein Castle, you changed your identity and escaped to the northern part of the continent, and over these sixteen years, you rose to become a top political figure of the Palante Empire and the last human defense line resisting the Blood Clan and the Huo Ning Empire.]
"The backstory of that Shadow World was set in a deep autumn, where twelve guests were invited by Priest Carigula to gather at the ancient Lichtenstein Castle on the cliff. It appeared we all had different social statuses, but in reality, we were all members of the secret church, aiming to overthrow the bloody rule of the Blood Clan over humans. However, Grand Priest Carigula met a brutal death that night, and among us twelve, a traitor had sided with the Blood Clan."
Lanci started explaining to Cat Boss, who seemed puzzled by the urgency of understanding the premise.
At the castle, Frey and he tricked the Goddess of Destruction into exposing the Traitor’s identity, used Basic Etiquette to make the Goddess of Destruction kneel, and eventually caught Earl Paluocas and Viscount Augustin to create an automated solar energy virtue unlimited machine—these events took place at that Shadow World Sanctuary Evil Banquet.
This new Shadow World’s corresponding historical timeline should indeed be sixteen years after the Sacred Hall Villains Banquet, continuing the story from the Blood Moon Bad World Era.
However, according to the rewards Lanci, Hyperion, and Frey received for passing the challenge, they also saw the original true history in the notes of their cards and materials. In the true history, their side, the church fighting against the Blood Clan, did not win a total victory. The Son of the Sun, played by Lanci, barely survived, while the Witch corresponding to Hyperion and the Werewolf corresponding to Frey had all died, leaving only the Son of the Sun to continue the fight against the Blood Clan alone.
Cat Boss nodded, stood on Lanci’s desk, and continued looking down with him.
[The Huo Ning Empire has now taken over the southern half of the continent’s territory, with a two-million-strong army pressing on the borders of the neighboring countries of the Palante Empire, ready to invade the northern nations at any moment. Due to the resistance-free and appeasement strategies of the former Prime Minister of the Palante Empire, which indulged the invasion and expansion of the Huo Ning Empire, the Palante Empire’s parliament has lost confidence in this Prime Minister and is looking for a new successor.]
[However, Duke Moriarty, the Minister of Foreign Affairs with the highest voice inside the parliament and a conservative, has refused to take over the mess, using the excuse of his own insufficient abilities.]
[The successor not only needs to shoulder the responsibility of restoring peace in the northern continent but also must be a candidate that the conservatives can accept. And so, you seized such an opportunity, living up to your years of effort, and stepped out from behind the scenes to the highest stage of the Palante Empire.]
[Yet awaiting you is a challenge that you are not yet prepared for and one whose weight might be too much to bear...]
[Because the outcome of the previous historical node was changed—the Werewolf and the Witch both survived—the world line of the Shadow World has also experienced a slight shift from the original history.]
[The Werewolf might not necessarily help you, at least not this time.]
[The whereabouts of the Witch are unknown; maybe she’s somewhere in the world, waiting for you.]
[This slight, negligible change to history’s vast trajectory might become the chance to end the Blood Moon Bad World Era decades in advance...]
[Mission Objective 1: Find the key to defeating the Blood Clan.]
[Mission Objective 2: At the end of the Shadow World, increase the human side’s chances of victory over the Blood Clan to more than 1%.]
[Mission Objective 3: All Challengers must survive until the 45-day deadline.]
[If the Challengers fail the mission objectives, a catastrophe will be triggered in the real world.]
[The starting location for Challengers varies according to the story’s background and the historical roles they play.]
[Time remaining: 44 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes.]
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Today there are two chapters, over six thousand words. It’s the last day for double monthly tickets, I beg for your monthly tickets!
