NOVPUB
Chapter 617: The Real Danger
“Did you see it move?” the fire sorcerer said bitterly.
Ten minutes ago, the sorcerers had gathered in the clearing, and Raven had lifted a large stone sphere, used as a road decoration, with one hand and hurled it forward.
The sphere flew with fierce speed for a meter, then stopped in mid-air, as if mocking the feeble gravity of the earth.
Ten minutes later, the sanctuary sorcerers surrounding the sphere, applying various reconnaissance miracles, finally had to admit that they couldn’t perceive any sign of movement from the sphere.
But they had been observing for ten minutes.
If one second was slowed to one minute, the sphere should have traveled ten seconds’ worth of distance; if one second was slowed to an hour, the sphere should have traveled a sixth of a second’s path.
“Could it be that one second is slowed to a day?” the wind sorcerer tried to remain calm. “The effect of the ‘Sanctuary’ is terrifying.”
“How long will the night last now?” Ashe suddenly asked.
“At least 10 hours,” Raven replied. “That’s 36,000 seconds.”
“If one second is slowed to a day, 36,000 seconds become 36,000 days, which is about 98 years,” Ashe said. “And the Dead City has two characteristics-most of the dead show no obvious changes in appearance, and no one can survive the night in the Dead City.”
“So, our bodies will age according to real-time, won’t grow old or hungry, only our minds will be affected by the perception of time. But a mere 98 years, without any material limitations, can no one survive?”
The fire sorcerer’s face turned grim. “There might be other murder mechanisms later.”
“But the biggest possibility is that there are no other mechanisms. You Senlo sorcerers haven’t found any other mechanisms in over two hundred years, which is enough to show that the Dead City’s heritage is only the ‘Sanctuary’,” Igor said. “Everyone’s soul is forced to live until death because their perception of time is stretched to an unbearable limit.”
“So, one second is definitely not stretched to a day; a 98-year night is not enough to kill all the ‘refugees’ entering the Dead City,” Ashe said. “Generally speaking, miracles related to time usually reference seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years.”
“If one second is stretched to a month, then the night becomes a three-thousand-year long night,” Ashe looked at Igor. “Can a soul’s lifespan endure that long?”
“It’s hard to say,” Igor shook his head. “The soul and body complement each other, inside and out. Body aging leads to the soul weakening, and if a sorcerer dies in the Virtual Realm, the soul’s damage will affect the body’s functions.”
“If our bodies truly don’t age, then our souls are unlikely to perish.”
However, the terrifying concept of three thousand years is enough to shatter most people’s mental defenses. It’s worth noting that it’s only 1668 now-the recorded time is only 1668 years!
It’s just half of three thousand years!
They have to survive twice the known historical time to leave the Dead City!?
Moreover, there’s an even more terrifying possibility-
“What if one second is slowed to a year?”
Harvey was the only one not observing the sphere; he sat on the coffin lid, holding hands with Alice inside, calmly said, “That means we have to live here for over thirty thousand years to leave.”
“Even the Divine Sovereign might not live as long as us,” the necromancer could still laugh.
Thirty thousand years!
No wonder the time didn’t slow down during their battle; they were already in the highest level of time deceleration, unable to magnify the speed further. 𝘙𝖆ℕȯᛒËš
No wonder spellforce wouldn’t automatically recover; spellforce is drawn from the Virtual Realm, where time flows normally! The recovery speed of spellforce can’t keep up with their sensory speed!
No wonder they couldn’t invoke the Demi-God, because the ‘Sanctuary’ only affects people, not other things-including Lala Fatty and the Demi-God.
Moreover, invoking the Demi-God requires spellcasting time, usually one second. If lucky, Ashe might transform into the Hell Mad Dragon Knight a month later; if unlucky, it would be on an anniversary.
It’s strange, sorcerers should be a group pursuing immortality, ‘Round Cicada’ and ‘Misty White’ are the best examples, countless sorcerers have pursued this illusory ideal, exhausting their wisdom. Yet, when Ashe and the others learned they might live for thirty thousand years here, they only felt endless fear and oppression.
It’s like those malicious fairy tales, you become immortal but turn into stone; you find the beautiful princess in the coffin, but she’s a hungry vampire who slept for a hundred years; you gain endless wealth but are trapped beneath a mountain cave…
“Impossible!” the fire sorcerer gritted his teeth. “I won’t be trapped here for thousands or tens of thousands of years! There must be a way to leave!”
“The effect of the ‘Sanctuary’ is too outrageous,” the wind sorcerer couldn’t hold it anymore, touching the sphere. “Pulling multiple people into a real dream lasting tens of thousands of years, this is already in the realm of divine intervention!”
“Moreover, why can’t our Sanctuary shield us from the ‘Sanctuary’s’ influence? Normally, Sanctuary should counteract all miracle distortions!”
Ashe wasn’t surprised by this point. “The ‘Mirage Prism’ in Black Robe Town, the ‘Blind Sight’ in Blind Town also ignore Sanctuary; sanctuary sorcerers still turn into Mirage Prism beauties in Black Robe Town, and lose their eye senses if they violate rules in Blind Town. Although ‘Sanctuary’ is outrageous, other places have similar heritage.”
“You shouldn’t be surprised,” Igor said. “Most gray fox heritage has this characteristic; the activation priority is always the highest, neither Sanctuary nor miracles can nullify the heritage… But speaking of which, even if the Gray Fox Divine Era was a great civilization, could they really create so many fantasy creations comparable to divine interventions?”
Perhaps Senlo people don’t feel much, but for Ashe and these outsiders, the divine era heritage they’ve encountered along the way has left them deeply puzzled-the gap between the Gray Fox Divine Era and other nations’ civilizations is too exaggerated.
If using sorcerers as productivity units, the Blood Moon Kingdom’s civilization level is probably where everyone (including ordinary people) has the productivity equivalent to a One-Winged Sorcerer; the Gospel Kingdom’s civilization level allows ordinary people to create production value close to a Two-Wings Sorcerer.
And the Senlo Kingdom’s outrageous level is to unite the power of the entire society, creating a total production equivalent to millions of legendary sorcerers!
Don’t think this quantity is exaggerated; comparing it to the Gospel system makes it clear. The Gospel system’s operation requires not only deities but also dozens to hundreds of legendary sanctuaries as energy batteries at all times, yet even so, it has to use ‘Gospel points’ to reduce service pressure.
And although the gray fox heritage isn’t as widespread as the Gospel system, the problem is, the heritage doesn’t require any energy supply!
Mirage Prism, Blind Sight, Sanctuary, Twin System… They have all lasted over two hundred years without any maintenance, still displaying effects comparable to divine interventions!
Ashe only realized these days-the Twin System creating a Fate Twin identical to him, even replicating spellforce and spirit, is already akin to divine intervention.
Creating people is inherently the domain of deities!
If gray fox sorcerers truly pre-sealed miracles in the Virtual Realm to support gray fox heritage, then the Gray Fox Divine Era’s social productivity is at least equivalent to millions of legendary sorcerers, and likely underestimated! Besides the heritage Ashe and the others encountered, many heritage were damaged in the ‘cataclysm’; they don’t know how many greater creations the gray fox sorcerers made beyond the ‘Sanctuary’!
“Wait, the Virtual Realm!” the spear sorcerer suddenly remembered. “We can hide in the Virtual Realm to restore normal time flow!”
Everyone’s spirits lifted, and they immediately tried to open the Gate of Truth. Ashe blinked and silently opened “Aurora’s Sorcerer Handbook,” selecting “virtual realm exploration.”
“No.”
The spear sorcerer’s face turned pale. “My soul can’t pass through the Gate of Truth.”
“It’s probably the same reason we can’t leave the Dead City,” the wind sorcerer looked at his palm, muttering. “No wonder I always felt the ‘Sanctuary’ has the power of spatial confinement… After triggering the time deceleration effect, we’re effectively trapped in the Sanctuary, unable to enter normal time flow, so we can’t leave the Dead City or enter the Virtual Realm!”
It was clear the wind sorcerer had a high level of expertise in the Spatial Sect, something Ashe and the others didn’t perceive. However, this wasn’t good news-they truly had no means to escape the Dead City!
Except for one person.
Ashe looked at the “Team Composition” showing “apocalypse observer,” “Death Maniac Sword Princess,” “Black and White Witch,” “Yolan Vesser,” with only his status as ‘ready,’ while others were ‘preparing.’
Once everyone is ‘ready,’ the virtual realm exploration naturally proceeds. But the agreed time to go online is still thousands or tens of thousands of years away…
However, Ashe can forcibly pull them online. After unlocking the operator Level 3 Bond, Ashe gained some management permissions, and ‘forcing team members online without permission’ is the most valuable permission.
Incidentally, Yolan Vesser’s Bond also quietly unlocked to Level 3; Ashe thought it must be his extraordinary personality charm and Yolan Vesser’s gentle and amiable character forming an organic combination, allowing the Bond Level to rapidly increase in the mundane.
As for whether “Aurora’s Sorcerer Handbook” would be nullified by the ‘Sanctuary,’ Ashe wasn’t worried at all-he realized in the Gospel that the priority of the Sorcerer’s Handbook already surpassed deities, even the Gospel deities couldn’t weave the secrets of the Sorcerer’s Handbook.
So, Ashe can force teammates online into the Virtual Realm at any time to escape the Temporal Cage of the ‘Sanctuary.’
Whether it’s three thousand years or thirty thousand years, it means nothing to him.
However…
Ashe glanced at the Con Artist, necromancer, and Raven beside him, waved to exit the Sorcerer’s Handbook interface, and said, “Let’s find a way to escape the confinement of the ‘Sanctuary.’”
“What other way?” the fire sorcerer’s tone grew increasingly hysterical. “We can’t leave, can’t enter the Virtual Realm, are we supposed to find the ‘Sanctuary’s’ originals? It’s been dug up by countless people over two hundred years!”
“There is a way.”
Everyone looked at Gwen behind Igor, Gwen looked at Igor. The Con Artist raised his eyebrows, walked in front of her to block the others’ view, and Gwen made a throat-slitting gesture but used another hand to block her throat.
Blocking death.
Igor immediately understood her meaning, turned to the others, and said, “There is indeed a way, and it’s an absolutely effective correct method.”
“What way?”
“Escape the danger.”
Igor said, “The mechanism of the ‘Sanctuary’ is that it triggers when you encounter danger and deactivates when you escape danger. If I’m not mistaken, the speed of time deceleration is related to the level of danger we encounter; the greater and more urgent the danger, the larger the deceleration, giving us more time to resolve the danger.”
“In other words, the reason we can’t leave the ‘Sanctuary’ is because…” He looked around. “It considers us to be facing a danger that requires thousands or tens of thousands of years to resolve.”
