Chapter 405: Virtual Divine Essence

Having lost its limbs and head, leaving only a torso, the Ice Spirit Lord faced dismemberment once again. Eventually, Carlisle used the Blood Demon Sword to extract the element core hidden in its chest—half the size of a carriage. Only a sub-legendary-grade sword with extraordinary material could withstand the Ice Spirit Lord’s massive ice crystal core, which contained extreme cold energy.

Donald waved his hand, releasing a pale green divine light to seal the core. He employed the power of the laws of existence to seal such extreme cold energy, which surpassed ordinary material laws and could even freeze space. This core was far stronger than the previous Golden Ice Spirit Core; its contained domain secrets were almost on par with those of a small fragment of a divine essence. Though its power level was slightly lower, its immense energy made it virtually inexhaustible for a legendary warrior. At this level, the element core could draw energy from its surroundings to restore its strength, whereas those who hadn’t reached the legendary realm couldn’t unleash its full power, causing their strength to decline.

Donald kept the Ice Spirit Lord’s core. It was of little use to them, but if they used the method of creating a powerful body similar to the Water Soul Puppet obtained from the Dual-Legged Dragon Swamp Ruins, they might succeed in creating a powerful element puppet at the legendary level. Moreover, such an element core, akin to a perpetual motion machine, was worth as much as a sub-legendary artifact for those who practiced the ice law. Even if he didn’t need it himself, he could exchange it for resources needed in the future!

Apart from Saint Spirit Celt I, everyone present was Donald’s followers, so they naturally had no objections to him keeping this valuable loot. As for Celt I, before taking action, he had promised that aside from the divine body needed, everything else obtained would belong to Donald.

Although Donald had already informed Celt I about the powerful treasures that might be in the Great Arcane Tomb, Celt I wasn’t unaware of the existence of a Sky City. Yet he knew that gaining Donald’s support to become a god and obtaining a divine body was already a tremendous gain, almost like finding something for free. Besides, a contract had already been signed. To avoid severe punishment for breaking it, he had no choice but to abide by the agreement and not be blinded by greed.

Wasn’t Charles Celt already upright and magnanimous by nature, having lived for hundreds of years and seen much? Yet he still managed to stay true to his core principles. Just the fact that he could persist for centuries without deviating from his ancestral teachings and choosing the path to divinity shows how firm his will was. Such an iron will was indeed one of the prerequisites for achieving divinity!

After dealing with the trouble caused by the Ice Spirit Lord, the five of them gathered again on the platform at the waist of the iceberg. Donald waved his hand toward the entrance, releasing a blast of magical flame to observe what was inside. The flame, equivalent in power to a third-level fire spell, froze the moment it approached the entrance, turning into ice shards and disappearing.

“What intense cold!” Melcel exclaimed in shock.

Seeing this, Donald also spoke with a grave expression, “I guess it’s because the seal placed by the former Archmage Lord was so ancient that some divine energy seeped out. According to the books, that evil god’s power and domain are related to ice, snow, and cold. So this energy has a strong attraction for the Ice Spirit Lord, while the presence of a true god makes it fearful! That’s why it hesitates at the entrance of this platform and eventually uses it as its lair, drawing strength from the leaked energy.”

“In other words, once we go down, we’ll not only face dangers in the tomb but also have to be wary of that evil god. Not a single soul must escape its grasp, lest it cause more trouble in the North!”

Donald’s words made the others even more cautious. They had already encountered such a threat before even reaching the tomb—just imagine how powerful the dangers waiting below might be!

But where there’s danger, there’s reward. None of them were the type to shy away from challenges. As a warrior, Carlisle took the lead, unleashing his Blood Battle Domain to ward off the cold in the passage and protect everyone. Followed by the two legendary spellcasters, Chikofield and Donald, then the old mage Melcel. Charles I, seemingly the strongest among them, entered last, covering the rear of the group.

This time, Donald didn’t summon any creatures to explore, as creatures below the Gold rank couldn’t survive in such an extreme environment near absolute zero. As for small scouting animals like owls, without any rank, their energy-based bodies would likely freeze into ice shards the moment they appeared!

A ice mountain passage that stretched for kilometers seemed long to ordinary people, but for a group of just a handful of the strongest individuals in the main world, it was a distance that could be covered in moments. If not for concerns about potential traps within the passage, the incredible speed of a legendary sword sage like Carlisle would allow him to reach the end of the passage in just a few breaths.

Thus, when the five-member team reached the end of the passage and stepped out, they were all stunned by what they saw.

At the end of this ice mountain passage lay a vast cave beneath the ice, similar to an underground world in a dark realm. According to Donald’s estimates, this space could accommodate the entire Dalaran. Above was a towering ice crystal dome hundreds of feet high, and at the center of the cave lay a city spanning several square kilometers.

The City of the Sky, a city that could fly in the air— the greatest creation of the ancient Arcane Empire!

This city was built on what appeared to be a neatly cut and inverted mountain plateau. Below, the conical peak could be seen piercing through the underground ice layer of the cave, forming a vague black shadow.

Looking at the city atop the mountain, its structure resembled Mayan pyramids, giving Donald a sense of sci-fi style. Meanwhile, the numerous tall buildings were perfectly integrated with the natural environment, clearly displaying a simple and elegant elven style.

This was not surprising. Among all the mages, including the Archmage Lord, only about one-third were high elves or of human and elven descent. It was these mages with innate artistic talent who designed and built arcane creations with an elven style!

“This is the City of the Sky! I’ve finally seen it with my own eyes in my lifetime. It’s even more magnificent and beautiful than the illustrations in books…”

Messel exclaimed in awe.

The same feeling held true for everyone else present. Even a sword sage like Carlisle couldn’t help but feel a sense of awe at such a great arcane creation.

As they entered the City of the Sky, they didn’t suffer any attacks. All its buildings seemed to be isolated in a vacuum. Who knew how many years had passed? It had remained here for at least thousands of years, yet showed no signs of being eroded by time—not even a speck of dust had settled!

Everyone sensed this strangeness; clearly, the city still had enough energy for both attack and defense, otherwise it wouldn’t waste extra energy maintaining the cleanliness of its basic structures! As Donald and his group entered the core area of the Sky City, feeling both anxious and excited, approaching the control hub where the city lord resided, a giant figure appeared in front of the square of the central building. “Welcome, guests after 9,354 years, 3 months, and 7 days! I am the master of this city, Sera. You may have obtained my relics or stumbled upon this place by accident, but that doesn’t matter. As long as you’re not from the Abyss or the factions of the gods, you’re all guests of my Arcane Empire. Now, let me introduce to you what you’re about to experience!” When the figure appeared, Donald used his divine vision to realize it was a technique similar to a mental projection, combined with illusions to create an image. Yet this image was very different from ordinary ones—clearly, the person behind it could accurately calculate the time elapsed since then, which meant they had likely lost their physical form but still retained some degree of thinking ability for some reason! This made Donald think of the virtual divine entity system, one of the greatest achievements of the Arcane Empire! A complete Sky City consists of three main parts: an energy source that provides lift and propulsion; a virtual divine entity system that controls all functions of the Sky City; and finally, a carrier for building the city, such as a mountain of appropriate size! Strictly speaking, the virtual divine entity system is akin to the intelligent system of a mage tower, but it’s far more advanced than the tower’s spirit. Based on legends, Donald speculated that the great archmages created the virtual divine entity system by obtaining some of the rule powers of the main world’s will, creating beings similar to totem gods. In other words, those who master the virtual divine entity system can gain godlike powers, with the extent of those powers depending on the degree of rule powers the system can acquire.

That is why this system is named the Virtual Divine Entity System. Moreover, the Virtual Divine Entity Systems of the great archmages are not subject to the restrictions of the Abyssal Lord’s Virtual Divine Entity; whether in the main world or other spatial planes, these systems can constantly gather information about the rules of that world and establish connections with the core of the world’s will. Of course, for various reasons, only in the main material world can these Virtual Divine Entity Systems exert their fullest power.
This is also the main reason why the great archmages can dominate the main world and resist the gods!