Chapter 1 Turning Point

Turning his head to look at Tomar, Han Xiao smiled and greeted him.

"Yo, hello there, friend who suddenly appeared."

"Y-you, hello."

Tomar snapped out of it, stuttering a reply as he sized up the four with a mix of surprise and suspicion, asking uncertainly, "You... are you real wizards?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Tomar realized he had asked a superfluous question.

What was there to ask? Only wizards could banish specters... and these four were definitely powerful wizards, otherwise, how could they instantly kill the mutated Blue Shadow Specter?

I thought I was protecting four laymen, but I didn't expect them to be colleagues... Tomar's eyes widened, secretly shocked.

Suddenly, Tomar seemed to remember something, his face changed, and he hurriedly took out white, shimmering dust from his bag, scattering it into the air. Then, he beckoned Han Xiao and the others to follow him.

"I used Dust of Erasing to wipe away the traces of magic here, so we shouldn't be discovered. Follow me quickly, I'll take you to the assembly point in Stoneheart City."

With that, Tomar nimbly climbed over the wall and ran out of the manor, sprinting all the way. Han Xiao and the three others, filled with bewilderment, followed leisurely. They arrived at an old, empty house in a corner of Stoneheart City. It was set up with a simple concealment spell, which was naturally clumsy and obvious in their eyes, but it was enough to deceive the natives of Planet Naron.

Climbing in through the chimney, Tomar lifted a floorboard in the corner of the house, revealing a dark cellar entrance that seemed bottomless.

"The assembly point is down here, follow me."

The cellar entrance had a suspended basket, using hinges and gears to transport people, like a primitive elevator.

They stepped onto it, and with the teeth-grinding sound of the hinges, the basket finally thumped against the ground.

Before them was a dimly lit space, like an underground base, filled with many wooden crates of supplies. There were a dozen or so rooms, and the flickering kerosene lamps were the only source of light.

Having become accustomed to advanced interstellar technology, Hella and the others found this backward place quite novel, giving them a sense of returning to ancient times.

"This is the Stoneheart City assembly point. I'll take you to meet Mr. Lanli, the person in charge here."

Tomar enthusiastically led them to one of the rooms, which had more than a dozen rows of bookshelves filled with old books.

An old man with a white beard was buried in reading by the faint light of the kerosene lamp. Hearing the sound, he looked up at them, a look of surprise on his face.

After hearing Tomar's explanation, the old man named Lanli lowered his guard and said in a hoarse voice, "So you are also wizard brothers. Feel free to use anything here. The Stoneheart City assembly point welcomes your arrival."

Tomar asked curiously, "I've been wondering all the way, how did you kill the specter without using magic potions?"

"It's actually quite simple. It's a technique for using spells." With Han Xiao's permission, Fording reluctantly began to role-play.

So, Black Star likes this kind of thing.

"Really? I don't think I've ever seen it in a book..." Tomar scratched his head.

Hearing this, Lanli suddenly stood up, surprised and delighted, "Only the legendary Grand Wizards can cast spells without relying on magic potions. Could it be that you are Grand Wizards?! I thought all the Grand Wizards were killed by that devil fifty years ago!"

"What devil? What's going on?"

Lanli was taken aback. "Don't you know?"

"Don't know..." Han Xiao feigned a look of confusion.

Actually, I know, but I can only trigger the mission if you tell me... Han Xiao secretly sighed.

"I understand, you are legendary hidden wizards who didn't participate in the battle fifty years ago."

Lanli became excited and explained the whole story.

Fifty years ago, wizards still walked widely on this land. A wizard named Wosumed created an "artifact" that could create and control specters, and could absorb the power of specters to enhance his magic power. In order to increase his power, he released a large number of Fear Specters in several towns, using the fear of ordinary people as nourishment to increase the power of the specters, and ultimately become a Grand Wizard.

At that time, many wizards united to kill Wosumed, but Wosumed used the "artifact" to kill all the wizards who besieged him. Then, he chased and killed the remaining wizards all over the world, almost exterminating all the wizards and cutting off countless spell inheritances.

After that, Wosumed became the court Archmage of the Heruin Kingdom, a veritable Great Demon King of the wizarding world. He also kept specters within the kingdom. At most, he restrained himself a little because of his identity. His specter army became increasingly powerful, wreaking havoc.

A small number of wizards defected to Wosumed, becoming his lackeys, while the other surviving wizards could only hide, establishing various assembly points to help each other.

Wosumed has been hunting down the surviving wizards, so the wizards hid themselves and no longer appeared publicly. The outside world lost track of the wizards, and the inheritance of spells was only controlled by Wosumed and the assembly points. The assembly point wizards would only teach spells to trustworthy young people, cautiously replenishing fresh blood, barely surviving.

This Wosumed is also a fellow who cultivates crops... Han Xiao curled his lips.

Having wandered the universe for so many years, he had heard similar events so many times that his ears were almost calloused. It was nothing more than a civilization on the surface giving rise to an overwhelming Boss that no one on the planet could defeat, and thus being ruled by darkness for an era.

Planet Naron didn't know that there were other creatures in the universe, and might not even know the definition of the universe, so naturally they had no ability to ask interstellar mercenaries for help.

Wosumed was the final target of this series of missions. He was tyrannical on Planet Naron, but in front of Han Xiao, he was just a younger brother who could be killed with a casual blow. However, directly rushing over and defeating the Boss might not give him the specialty reward in the last stage of the mission. In order to obtain the specialty safely, Han Xiao planned to complete the mission step by step.

Anyway, he was now like a max-level character bullying a novice village, so there was no pressure. He would just treat it as a vacation.

Lanli paced back and forth excitedly, his tone becoming respectful, saying, "Four wizard masters, we need your help."

"Tell us," Han Xiao nodded.

"If Wosumed is not dead for a day, the wizarding world will forever be under his control..."

"So you want us to kill him?" Fording interjected.

Lanli shook his head, with a wry smile on his face, "We have already tried this for fifty years. Wosumed is too powerful. He could kill several Grand Wizards decades ago, and he must be even more powerful now. Even if the four of you are Grand Wizards, you are no match for him. I can't let you go to your deaths."

Hella curled her lips. She alone could crush the entire Planet Naron, but seeing that Han Xiao didn't speak, she could only shut up in frustration.

"Then what do you need us to do?" Han Xiao asked patiently.

"Here's the thing, Wosumed's most powerful helpers are the specter army. He created the most powerful specter in history to help him lead the army. We call it the Specter King. To deal with Wosumed, we must first eliminate his helpers... but the Specter King is very powerful, and even Grand Wizards may not be his match. But we have found out his weakness.

The Specter King is a man-made product, maintained by three magic altars. Destroying each altar will weaken him. Our assembly point has found the location of the three altars. There is one altar near Stoneheart City, but it is guarded by a specter army. Now with the addition of the four of you, we have the power to destroy the altar."

As soon as he finished speaking, Han Xiao's panel showed the next mission, which was to destroy the altar near Stoneheart City. The mission description said that this was a pledge of allegiance, to gain the trust of the assembly point by destroying an altar.

"Okay, I accept."

Lanli was overjoyed and said, "Then I'll leave it to you. Our Stoneheart City assembly point has limited manpower and can only provide eight wizards to help you..."

"No need, he's enough." Han Xiao pointed to Tomar on the side.

Tomar, who was quietly listening, was a little surprised, then nodded firmly. "I'll do my best."

Han Xiao secretly nodded. Getting the specialty was one of his goals, and the second goal of this trip was Tomar. This guy had a low-level Luck Halo and was a protagonist-type character on Planet Naron.

Most missions have follow-up effects. When the players who did this mission back then returned to Planet Naron by chance a few versions later, they discovered that Tomar had left behind great deeds.

After Wosumed's death, the wizards of Planet Naron were finally free. Tomar became a famous wizard, dedicating his life to studying spells and achieving groundbreaking results, leaving behind countless knowledge for future generations, almost single-handedly raising the overall level of superpower on Planet Naron by a notch.

This was not an easy task. For example, it was equivalent to a person who had only received junior high school mathematics education figuring out advanced calculus on their own. In the progress of civilization, he was a great man-level figure who created a new era.

In fact, many historical figures of civilization were geniuses who were buried due to the limitations of the times.

Tomar was this type of person. His magical talent was outstanding, a genius rarely seen on Planet Naron in thousands of years. However, in such a backward place, geniuses could not receive systematic training, and even the most outstanding talent would be wasted.

Another purpose of Han Xiao's trip was to abduct Tomar and bring him into the legion for training.

Talent was the most valuable thing, and the more protagonist-type characters he had under his command, the better - if nothing else, they could bring good luck and enhance the legion's fortune.

…

The address given by Lanli was a cave hidden in the mountains, where a magic altar was said to be hidden.

Early the next morning, Han Xiao and his party set off with Tomar. In order to accommodate Tomar's pace, it took them most of the day to reach the cave, and it was already dark.

The group stood outside the cave. The dark entrance blew out cold wind, as if it were breathing, making it very eerie and strange.

Tomar shivered. "Nighttime is when specters come out, and their power will be amplified. We'd better camp outside for the night and go in at noon tomorrow."

"There's no need."

Han Xiao shook his head. The mission itself was not difficult for him. He led Hella and the others into the cave. Tomar hesitated for a few seconds, gritted his teeth, and hurriedly followed.

The interior of the cave was winding and twisting, with gusts of yin wind. The deeper they went, the more obvious the eerie aura became. In the depths of the cave, the aura of specters was almost undisguised, and faint whispers could be heard from time to time in the darkness.

Tomar was sweating profusely, his nerves were tense, he nervously looked around, afraid that a specter would suddenly jump out and give him a surprise, tightly holding the magic potion on his waist, ready to throw it at any time, which was completely different from Han Xiao and the others' leisurely stroll.

"M-maybe we should go back..." Tomar's voice trembled, "Although you are Grand Wizards, don't be too careless. There are at least three hundred specters here. It will be difficult for us to deal with them..."

As soon as he finished speaking, a strange stone altar finally appeared in front of him, decorated with hundreds of candles burning with green flames, never extinguishing.

"This is it, we must destroy the altar quickly, and then retreat immediately!"

Tomar spoke urgently, and hurriedly wanted to throw out the magic potion.

Just then, a chilling cold swept over, and hundreds of phantoms suddenly appeared around them, layer upon layer, coldly watching them, forming an encirclement.

"They're all specters..." Tomar's eyes widened, and his heart skipped a beat.

However, before his fear could erupt, all the eerie auras melted away like snow in the sun in an instant.

Hundreds of specters didn't say a word, and all disintegrated, instantly killed by Fording with a casual blow.

All the phantoms disappeared, and Tomar's full-throated scream got stuck in his throat, his eyes bulging.

This scene shocked his worldview.

What just happened? All those specters are gone?

Are Grand Wizards so powerful?!

"Is it enough to destroy this altar?" Hella waved her palm, and dark red energy swept out, with a bang, the entire altar turned into stone powder.

Han Xiao's panel popped up a prompt that the second stage of the mission was completed.

But at the next moment when the altar was destroyed, the cave suddenly began to shake.

Rumble—

The broken altar rose with black mist, which turned into a black vortex about one meter in size in the air. A wave of pressure came from the vortex, as if some kind of existence was descending.

Tomar's hair stood on end, and he felt as if he was being stared at by some kind of beast, and an instinctive fear rose in his heart.

"It's the Specter King..." Tomar's throat tightened, so frightened that he couldn't move, and could only let out a weak groan.

The next second, a sinister voice came from the vortex, with deep malice, as if it stirred the entire cave's vibration.

"You insects, how dare you destroy my altar! You will pay the price!"

Han Xiao and the others watched the Specter King perform without any expression.

"Hmph, it's too late for regret, I will devour your souls, turn you into a part of me, and plunge you into the deepest black... ah!"

Before he could finish pretending, Fording muttered "acting like a ghost," and shot out a thought force, like a thorn pierced into a balloon. The Specter King let out a miserable cry of "Ah~" as if it were leaking air, and then there was no sound.

The magic vortex in the air disappeared, the cave's vibration also calmed down, and all the anomalies disappeared, as if nothing had happened.

"Hey, you didn't kill it, did you?" Han Xiao was a little worried. If he killed this Specter King, would the mission be interrupted?

"It can be killed, but there's no need." Fording rolled his eyes unhappily.

"You know me best." Han Xiao laughed and patted him on the shoulder vigorously.

Saying that, Han Xiao turned back to call out to Tomar, who was still stunned in place.

"The altar has been taken care of, let's go back."

Tomar struggled to close his wide open mouth, and suddenly took a step back, staring at the few people with a vigilant expression.

"Just who exactly are you people?!"

Han Xiao raised an eyebrow, "I told you, we are wizards."

Tomar looked disbelieving.

Don't think you can fool me just because I haven't read many books, you are definitely not wizards.

Because wizards aren't this powerful!!

He gave himself a thumbs up for his rationality.

"Okay, since you found out, I'll tell you the truth..."

Han Xiao's eyes rolled, and he had an evil taste, opened his arms, and his expression became solemn.

"Actually, we are gods."

Hella and the others almost choked.

Wow, you are really shameless!

Tomar looked incredulous.

There are actually gods in this world? Could it be that those religions are true? I thought they were all swindlers and liars.

Being able to easily kill hundreds of specters, it seems that only gods can do it.

Tomar couldn't think of any other explanation. Facing a "god," he was at a loss, not knowing what to say.

Han Xiao secretly smiled, pretending to be serious, "I have come for Wosumed, his actions have violated the laws of nature, and he will be punished."

The people of Planet Naron were all natives, so it was not difficult to fool them. It wasn't the first time he had played the role of a god. He had tried it once before with the Black Spirit Race. Facing the natives, if you said you were an alien, the credibility would not be as good as saying that you were a god.

Hearing this, Tomar's eyes lit up, and he looked excited.

Seeing this, Han Xiao put his hand to his lips and smiled, "But I hope you can keep it a secret. It's best if only you know the truth that we are gods."

It was time to abduct him after the mission was completed.

"I know." Tomar nodded like a chicken pecking at rice.

He originally wanted to tell the others in the assembly point, but the "gods" personally asked him to keep it a secret, and there must be some hidden reason, so he decided to keep this secret in his heart.

As soon as he thought that he was the only mortal in the world who knew that the four people in front of him were gods, Tomar became so excited that his bladder tightened.