Chapter 288 (2): Golden Triangle: Life, Void, Self

“The advancement process is quite simple: dismantle the ‘god’ part of Silver Cross and integrate the pieces into void and self. Once life, void, and self achieve balance, you’ll be a Gold-ranked mage.”

Silvia spoke seriously. “Master is right. Your Silver Cross is unusually solid. I don’t have the ability to break the balance for you, and relying on yourself alone isn’t realistic. You’ll need something external.”

The advancement process required outside help. Relying solely on himself... It would be akin to Wayne grabbing his own collar and lifting himself off the ground.

Anyone could tell that it was impossible. Stepping on his right foot with his left foot would’ve been easier. People with powerful glutes could accelerate while stepping on their right foot to soar into the sky...

Anyhow, since Wayne was too perfectly balanced, he couldn’t break his own balance. Silvia hoped that Senna could help Wayne break through the bottleneck and rank up to Gold.

Senna couldn’t do it. Breaking the balance would be considered an attack, and she was the one person present who could not harm Wayne even a little. “You have a perfect elven form. Perhaps you can borrow the power of nature.”

That reminded Wayne that the last time he disassembled and reassembled his hexagram to rank up to Silver, he had done it with the help of nature’s power.

Now that he had gathered the mantles of five chosen knights and recharged the five magic stones, allowing him to communicate with nature more smoothly, perhaps he could pull it off.

He had confidence!

Wayne nodded and got straight to work. Activating the five magic stones in his chest, he transformed instantly into a perfect elf.

Gulp!

x3

Silvia covered her face rather than scolding Veronica. Everyone appreciated beauty. She couldn’t blame her daughter for being tempted since there was no resisting the temptation. Even she, Wayne’s mother, had nearly slipped up.

Silvia had to admit that her son was popular with women for a reason. She couldn’t blame him just because beautiful women constantly threw themselves at him. He must want to be a good man who was faithful to only his wife for his entire life, too, but reality didn’t allow it!

Wayne closed his eyes to sense nature and listen to all the voices in the world. He expressed his desire:

don’t go easy on me just because I’m a delicate flower. Come at me with everything. If I so much as whimper, I wouldn’t be a real man.

Nature didn’t come after him. It praised his internal balance and demonstrated its own equilibrium to him.

After the exchange, Wayne stopped in resignation. “It failed. When I communicate with nature, I become part of it, and balance forms. I can’t use balance to break balance.”

His elven form was too perfect. Due to his high level and proficiency, he had lost the ability to mess himself up.

“What do I do?”

He heard three regretful sighs at the same time when he released his elven form. He shrugged and put his clothes back on. “I’ll find Mr. Moula. It’s about time for our swordsmanship lesson anyway.”

***

Nature’s seal site.

Each of the five seal sites, corresponding to the five chosen knights, had its own unique landscape and mood. Moonlight’s glacier and full moon, Sun’s scorched land and rising sun, Death’s misty swamplands, and Darkness’s deep valley in dark night.

Nature’s Land of Seal featured towering trees that obscured the sky with green canopies of crisscrossing branches and leaves. Stepping into it, one would find themselves treading on soft moss, and there was the smell of moist earth in the air. The vibrancy of thriving vitality unfolded before everyone’s eyes.

Moula leaned against a tree, playing a tune with a green leaf. The melodious notes echoed through the forest, drawing a large group of pixies to linger and enjoy the performance.

When the song ended, they chirped and clapped, presenting Moula with the flower crowns they had woven.

“Mr. Moula, sorry to disturb you.”

“Wayne...”

Moula looked at his successor—and Leo’s and Darienne’s—with mixed feelings. He had learned about Wayne’s situation. He deeply admired the young man’s determination to stay and guard the Frozen Land rather than running away.

Like Leo and Darienne, Moula believed there was a profound reason that Wayne had become three chosen knights in one. The three goddesses’ willingness to break conventions was likely due to Thoggua’s incredible threat. Thinking that the three chosen knights wouldn’t be enough, they found a substitute at the last minute.

It would be fine for Wayne to be a backup; unfortunately, he might be cannon fodder instead.

The thought was depressing. Moula believed that Wayne was far more talented than he was. No matter who Wayne took over in the end, he would achieve great things in the future. Using him as cannon fodder would be a waste.

Moula thought so, and so did Leo and Darienne. It was certainly a good thing for someone else to die in their place, but their pride wouldn’t allow it.

Thus, Wayne had been very busy lately, rushing between the three locations to learn swordsmanship, spearsmanship, and archery.

The three teachers were giving him an intense crash course, trying to shove all the lessons down his throat. It would be best if they could make him powerful in the shortest time possible and thus escape the cruel fate of being sacrificed.

As for who Wayne would ultimately be the successor of, the three knights knew in their hearts.

Definitely mine!

x3

“Wayne, it’s time to practice swordsmanship again. Today’s lesson will be intense. Are you ready?”

“Mr. Moula, the lesson can wait. I have a more important matter to take care of.” Wayne explained why he was here. “The risk is great, so I wish to advance to the Gold rank during this critical period. I know my power is insufficient. The stronger I get, the better our chances of victory. I truly hope that I can help everyone.”

As you should. You can only survive if you become stronger!

Moula had no reason to say no. He stepped forward to examine Wayne’s body. After a simple assessment, he nodded and praised, “Incredible. I’ve never seen such a stable Silver Cross.”

Indeed. Other people’s Silver Crosses were just a +, while Wayne’s had four borders framing it, like he was worried about it not being stable enough. He felt great when he welded the frame on, assured, but now that he was having trouble taking it off, he wished he could just delete his character and start over.

“Mr. Moula, can you handle it?”

“Leave it to me.”

Wayne sat down cross-legged. Moula stood behind him, his white Life Armor glowing as he said cheerfully, “I’m happy that you came to me, Wayne. Remember to call yourself my successor in the future and stay away from Leo and Darienne.”

The competition was on! Both Leo and Darienne had said the same thing.

Wayne nodded. “Mr. Moula, regardless of the outcome, I will be your successor.”

Delighted, Moula protected Wayne with the surging power of Life before pouring tremendous Life energy into Wayne’s body, doing his best to minimize the pain while fiercely striking the solid Silver Cross.

Boom!

Wayne’s ears rang, and his head spun, dizzy from the powerful blow.

He steadied himself and realized that his Silver Cross remained solid, unchanged by the forceful impact... Well, it wasn’t entirely unchanged. It was deformed, slightly crooked.

But then it recovered.

Moula looked embarrassed. With the power of the chosen knight, he had thought that one strike would do it, but it turned out that he had underestimated Wayne’s talent.

“That was just a test. This time, it’s for real. Bear with me. I’m afraid it’ll hurt quite a bit.”

“No problem. Not shedding tears in peacetime means bleeding in wartime.”

“Well said!”

Moula nodded approvingly, reshaping his Life energy with his thoughts before sending it surging into Wayne’s body. Learning from the earlier failure, he had formulated a new strategy. The white light split into eight parts to sever the Silver Cross’s four outer borders and two intersecting lines.

Bam!!!

The Silver Cross shattered. Wayne’s vision blurred, but at Moula’s powerful shout, he came to his senses instantly and dismantled god to disperse it into void and self as quickly as possible, following Silvia and Senna’s instructions.

God was the guide for the Silver stage. It represented faith, intimately connected to life, void, and self.

When the hexagram became a cross star, god formed from components extracted from void and self; when the cross star evolved into a triangular star, god was taken apart to reintegrate into void and self. Technically speaking, Silver was the preparatory stage for Gold, and all the efforts were meant to create a stable Golden Triangle.

Wayne’s Silver Cross was exceptionally stable, so much so that it recovered its balance incredibly quickly. Once Moula pulled back, the Silver Cross returned to normal, solid as an unmovable boulder.

Moula clicked his tongue in wonder. He learned something new even in his old age. Wayne wasn’t so pleased. The dismantled god couldn’t be integrated into void and self, so he needed Moula to further pulverize god for him—preferably into small particles for easier absorption.

That wouldn’t be a problem for Moula. He could easily do it.

Three hours later, Moula pulled his hand back with a peculiar expression and said to a visibly exhausted Wayne, “Your Silver Cross is too resilient. It’s normal for your first attempt to rank up to fail. Don’t be discouraged. This is a good start, and it’ll surely lead to a good ending.”

Wayne nodded. It was truly a good start. With the balance in his body broken, he could dismantle the Silver Cross into independent parts. If not for the staggering quantity and the long absorption time, he would’ve ranked up in three hours.

“Go back and rest. No sword training today,” Moula instructed. He watched Wayne go, then waved at the air with a frown.

Two screens of white light emerged, revealing Leo and Darienne.

“Moula, what is it? Has something changed with the seal?”

“No, but I think it should change somewhat.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just now, Wayne sought me out, asking me to help him rank up to Gold...”

“What? He didn’t come to me?” x2

“Um, that’s not the point.” Moula cheerfully told them to calm down. “After all, Wayne met me first. It’s natural for him to think of me for something as important as ranking up.”

“...”

Leo looked displeased, while Darienne started cursing immediately.

“Now isn’t the time for that argument. Wayne’s advancement to Gold is inevitable. He’s ready to sacrifice himself. That makes me feel ashamed. Since I became the goddess’s chosen knight, I’ve never let a child charge ahead of me.”

Moula’s expression grew solemn. “How’s the Darkness Knight? Can he guard his seal site?”

“Barely.”

“He’s good enough.”

“Good!” Moula nodded, turning to the two other chosen knights. “I plan to have Wayne guard the Death Knight’s seal site so that the three of us can charge forward and sever all of Thoggua’s tentacles.”

Staying on the defensive wouldn’t break the deadlock. None of them was Francan and thus had limited experience in defense. Now that the circumstances allowed for it, it was time to sound the horn of counterattack.

“Moula, I have no problem with it, but can Wayne and the Darkness Knight manage their parts?”

Leo questioned thoughtfully. He also wanted to strike back, but the cost of failure would be unbearable to everyone. They couldn’t ignore the risks the entire Chosen Land would have to bear just because they were looking out for Wayne and acting on impulse.

“If it’s just defense, the Darkness Knight can do it, but how about Wayne?” Darienne asked.

“Wayne alone won’t be enough since the chosen knights’ power is in our hands,” Moula said after careful consideration. “But it’ll be different with Anastasia involved. She has our power within her body, and Wayne can use her.”

“...” x2

Yeah, but what about Anastasia?

“Moula, Anastasia will die. Her chances of survival are negligible.”

“I asked. She wishes for death since she can no longer hold on.”

“What a pity. She shouldn’t die here...”