Chapter 203: A New Allegiance
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 203: A New Allegiance
At the top floor of the Dome Tower.
Xie Bai sat in a corner, wiping the dust off an old notebook.
"The Dome Project. Author..."
The name was already illegible.
She flipped it open. On the first page, only a single sentence was written:
The Dome must eventually fall; may those who ascend to this height bear the burden of salvation.
As she turned the pages, she found they were filled with trivial matters.
Some were as significant as the grief felt over someone’s passing; others were as minor as a record of a bitter loaf of bread.
Among these entries, there was no shortage of grand ambitions, such as the establishment of the Dome Academy.
Unsurprisingly, these were the observations and experiences of the First Generation Dome.
At the very end of the notebook, there was only one sentence as a conclusion:
When the True Gods awaken, the notched ring shall rise. Then, the Authority of Fate can be stripped away, and our destinies returned to us.
"The Wheel of Fate?"
Xie Bai looked at the description thoughtfully.
Ever since she had bypassed the tower's restrictions and stepped directly onto the highest floor, she had been collecting the books stored here.
She had skimmed through more than half of them; almost all were historical records of the Dome Academy, occasionally interspersed with snippets of hidden lore.
Only this notebook mentioned a description related to the Wheel of Fate for the first time.
"According to this, the Wheel of Fate seems like some kind of trump card specifically designed against the God of Fate."
Xie Bai closed the notebook and looked up at the magnificent stained-glass dome.
"Come to think of it, was the Wheel of Fate—or rather, the game Wheel of Fate—born because of the God of Fate?"
Xie Bai’s intuition told her that was likely not the case.
Aside from the God of Fate, there were many True Gods far more powerful than him.
Gliese, the Lord of Holiness and Light.
Mira, the God of Life.
The Supreme Court, the original Divine Artifact.
And then there was the Void, which was even more enigmatic than all of the above.
For some reason, Xie Bai felt she was missing a key piece of information.
To be honest, she still didn't know the specific nature of the conflict between those True Gods and this world. Nor did she know what the Void King intended to do by coming here.
In the intelligence Xie Bai currently possessed, the True Gods seemed to play the role of villains, while the Void side acted as the protagonists opposing them.
In the end, the Void King’s name had faded away, while those True Gods had merely fallen into a slumber.
To a certain extent, Xie Bai felt as though the Void was the one being bullied.
"Is it because I possess Void power that I feel this way?"
Xie Bai glanced at her palm.
The power of the Void swirled around her hand, remarkably docile.
"Whatever. Once I finish grinding this Dome quest line, I’ll have Thanatos and the others come over and establish a Wheel of Fate branch here."
Although this world still held too many mysteries she didn't understand, at least half of it was already in her hands. Unraveling those secrets was only a matter of time.
Without realizing it, she had already completed the preliminary conquest of this world.
Yet she felt nothing, as if none of it mattered.
【"Pride" approves of your thoughts. To it, no matter what this world is, it is nothing more than a speck of dust beneath your feet, unworthy of concern.】
Xie Bai ignored the system prompt and placed the notebook back where she found it.
"If nothing goes wrong, these things were probably meant for Kairos and the others to find. Even if they aren't Children of Fate, they aren't half bad."
Under normal circumstances, Kairos—as the greatest genius of the Dome Academy—would surely have been the first to step onto the top floor and discover these records.
Following the guidance, he would have stepped into a grand conspiracy against Fate, one step at a time.
But the current situation could hardly be described as "normal."
Setting aside an anomaly like Xie Bai, the sudden intrusion of Julius alone was enough to throw the Dome Academy into chaos.
Within Xie Bai’s perception, Julius was currently carrying the Two Little Ones on his shoulders and had already reached the 6,500th floor. He was more than halfway to the 10,000th floor where she stood.
He far outpaced Kairos and his group, who were only at the 900th floor.
"By the way, is this Julius really from the Chaos Church? Or did the entire cult dump their entire budget for moral education onto him alone?"
If he didn't follow the orders of the Cult Leader of Chaos and use Chaos power, Xie Bai really wouldn't have been able to tell he was a Chaos Cultist.
Was this the "Warrior-side Child of Fate"?
Thinking of this, Xie Bai left the tower and headed outside the academy.
Among the records she had gathered from the top floor, there was plenty of information regarding hidden powerhouses.
For the sake of stability, Xie Bai decided to meet these people in advance.
The first was the legendary mage who had resolved the Magic Tide two hundred years ago and saved Ivy from a predicted fate.
He was also the Mage-side Child of Fate.
Gailoster.
A graduate of the Dome Academy and the most powerful all-attribute mage of the current era.
Xie Bai didn't want to waste words on someone like him.
With the assistance of Boundless Floating Light, she quickly reached the ocean at the edge of the continent and found Gailoster’s hidden residence.
It was a somewhat lonely little shack on a seaside cliff.
Based on the merchandise dolls she had bought from the Forum shop earlier, Gailoster should look like a young man with long blue hair, resembling a refined artist.
As expected, a blue-haired man who perfectly matched the description was sitting at an outdoor table on the cliffside, sketching the sea before him.
"Mmh, a beautiful blue. Perfect. This is the frame I want."
As soon as Gailoster spoke, the churning sea in the distance suddenly froze, hanging in the air like a sculpture.
Having done this, he picked up his brush and began to paint.
Just as he made his first stroke, the distant sea suddenly resumed its churning, shattering the tranquility he had established.
Snap!
Gailoster snapped his brush in half.
"Who’s there?! Do you have any idea how long I’ve waited for this moment?!"
Just as he was about to raise his hand, a cold, sharp blade was pressed against his neck.
In the next second, a crisp and somewhat youthful voice rang out.
"Kneel and swear fealty to me now, and I shall spare you."
Whether it was the tone of the voice or the suddenness of the demand, Gailoster almost burst out laughing when he heard this threat that sounded like a child’s prank.
However, in the next second, he couldn't laugh anymore.
The blade cut slightly into his neck, causing a trickle of blood to emerge from his body, which should have been protected by mana.
Gailoster tried to heal the wound, only to find that he couldn't gather his magic.
Not only that, but even the mana surging within his body had come to a standstill.
No matter what he did, he couldn't restore it to its original state, as if it were being held in a death grip by some unknown power.
A drop of cold sweat, something that shouldn't have appeared, rolled down Gailoster’s face.
Thud.
He dropped to his knees and said hurriedly, "I, Gailoster, am willing to pledge my loyalty to you. I speak no lies... I am willing to swear upon my soul."
The moment those words left his mouth, he felt as if something deep within him had been locked.
Before he could process the situation, the voice from behind spoke again.
"Very well. I have received your allegiance."
Hearing this, Gailoster slowly turned around.
Although he could guess from the voice that the other party might look quite young, he was still stunned the moment he actually saw her.
A petite loli, less than 1.5 meters tall, was standing on the table, looking down at him.
Her face was filled with nothing but pure disdain.