*PA*
The roots cracked, green liquid spurting out of them.
Mother Tree's tired voice echoed. "The polluted energy of the Nightmare Realm… If not for the green crystal, I would've never helped him…"
"You sent him to the surface in time. The King of Dark Wizards' power is increasing every minute. You would've taken more damage if he stayed here for too long," a male voice interrupted.
"I still need to rest for a couple hundred years…" Mother Tree sounded helpless. "I didn't know there was a dark wizard like him on the surface. My blood started boiling when he entered the underground world."
"Have some rest now. I'll stay with you," the man said in a gentle voice.
"Sure."
*************************
Several years later.
Somewhere deep in the Gem Sea.
The bottom of the sea was endless; there was a blue crystal palace standing in the center of the gray ground. There were four silver spikes on top of the palace, which bright white light was coming out of.
In the main hall of the palace, there was a middle-aged man with a white fan in his hand. The man had blond hair, blue eyes, and pink lips. There was also a ring in his chin. The man was talking to his guests through energy particles with a smile on his face.
There were two groups of guests in the main hall. Most of them were creatures like octopuses, crabs, centaurs; there were not many human beings. Some of them were naked and the rest was wearing human outfits.
The guests were all talking to each other; it seemed like a lot of them knew the people here.
Suddenly, a female voice came from outside.
"Dark Wizard King of Ramsoda is here!"
The guests all stopped chatting after hearing those words.
A man in tight black armor slowly appeared at the entrance of the hall. The man had long red hair, which was flying in the water. He was Angele—he came to the palace from Ramsoda.
Angele's appearance changed slightly. One of his red eyes turned blue and both of his eyes were glowing. They looked quite strange.
The man in front of the guests stood up and laughed.
"It was not Cinderella who invited you here. I have something that needs your help with." He clapped his hands.
Angele entered the hall and sat down on the right. The guests in the hall all nodded and greeted him.
There were around ten guests in the hall. They heard the man clap and realized that the man had something that he needed to discuss with Angele in private, so they stood up and left.
Only two guests stayed in the hall and there was a total of four people left.
Angele looked to the other side and noticed that there was a tall fish man in the seat. The fish man, who had a pair of glowing dark eyes, was eating a lamb leg. The fish man noticed that Angele was looking at him and smiled.
"Atlanta, who are they?" Angele looked at the middle-aged man.
"Let me introduce them to you." Atlanta smiled. "This is the god of the Echinate Whales, Leonard."
"Echinate Whale?" Angele was a bit surprised. He still remembered the day he saw the Echinate Whale for the first time. He looked at the fish man, who smiled at him again.
"I assume you know the Echinate Whales, King of Dark Wizards. You didn't know we can shrink, right? To be honest, without Cinderella's help, I don't think this is possible," Leonard spoke in a loud voice. "Nice to meet you by the way." He glanced at Angele.
"The Gem Sea is enormous and it's understandable that you don't shrink yourselves…" Angele smiled. "Sorry, who are you?" He looked at the other guest.
The other one was a young woman with no clothes on her body. Her long hair looked like hissing black snakes. Also, the woman's eyes were eye-catching. It was a pair of gray eyes that looked like two stone balls.
"I'm the Queen of the Medusas. You can call me Sofia," the woman responded in a light tone.
"I didn't meet any Medusa when I was in the underground world. I didn't expect to meet one here." Angele observed the Queen carefully.
The Queen's brow furrowed. She did not say anything else and closed her eyes.
Atlanta's brow also furrowed slightly.
"Alright, it's about the time. Since the King of Dark Wizards is here. I'll explain my plan."
He clapped his hand and released some invisible energy waves.
The entrance of the palace closed slowly.
"The Queen just came back from the Time Realm, but I think she's already noticed the problem." It sounded like Atlanta was talking to himself.
Medusa nodded. "That's why I'm here. I want to know what the guardians are thinking."
Leonard put down the lamb leg and started listening as well.
Atlanta chuckled. "It's nothing serious. The Sea Flowers are going to blossom and they attracted some realm monsters from the Time Realm. That's why I invited you here."
"Sea Flowers, huh?" It seemed like Leonard was interested.
"They are treasures to us. I didn't expect them to blossom again so soon."
Atlanta nodded.
"Excluding the ones from the sealed land, you're the strongest beings of the wizard world. Cinderella and the royal members of the three-eyed race are not coming. With your help, our chance of winning the competition will be higher."
"Sea Flowers are treasures to the beings living in the sea but I don't really need them." Angele pursed his lips and sent the words using energy particles.
"I understand, but the thousand-headed birds have something that Cinderella needs. You're still having trouble with the mark, right? That's why I asked you to come," Atlanta responded using energy particles.
"Thousand-eyed birds…" Angele narrowed his eyes. "I can use other materials as a replacement, right?"
"Of course, but the thousand-eyed birds are the best."
Atlanta explained and started talking to the other two. It seemed like they were also negotiating.
Angele started thinking.
In the last several years, Angele gained a deeper understanding of the power of time and the power of dimension. Cinderella promised him that she would make a potion to remove the mark, but she did not say when the potion would be finished.
Atlanta and Cinderella all had the power level of a rank 8 wizard. Leonard and Medusa had the power level of a rank 7 wizard. Strong beings like them all had one common problem—they did not care about time.
100 years were nothing to them.
Angele hesitated for a while and started talking with Atlanta through energy particles again.
"Atlanta, I think you know that I don't have much time left. If it'll take a long time, I'd rather go for other options. So, you must give me an accurate time if you want me to join. Cinderella is close to you, and everyone knows that."
Atlanta nodded.
"I understand your situation and I know that this is the last material you need. I promise you that you'll get the potion after the mission is completed. We can sign a contract if you don't trust me."
"I have a seed of the fountain here. We can sign a contract." Angele was waiting for Atlanta to talk about the contract.
A bitter smile appeared on Atlanta's face.
"Well… How many realms is this fountain connected to?"
"Four realms, I believe."
Atlanta shook his head. "That's like handling the pressure from four realms…"
"There are so many realms in this universe. Signing the contract doesn't mean you have to keep your promise. If you become an ancestor, the contract will be like nothing to you."
"Yeah, right…" Atlanta was speechless.
"Talking about the ancestors. Another injured ancestor is in this area—this is the third injured ancestor from the Chaos Realm. The ancestors still have different power levels and their special abilities can be countered. They can still be severely injured when they know too much about each other."
"The war of the Chaos Realm already lasted for hundreds of years and none of the ancestors died, also…" Angele suddenly stopped after he realized something. "You mean, the ancestors' special abilities are what makes them different?"
"Well, in the ancient times, only ancestors with extremely powerful abilities could kill other ancestors during a war," Atlanta explained. "To become an ancestor, you need to be able to control time and dimension. You also need to find out the secret of the origin. The special abilities will make you different; they decide how strong of an ancestor you are."
"Can we, like… You just said there was a severely injured ancestor, right?" Angele did not finish the question.
"Don't even think about it. No matter how weak an ancestor is, he can still kill us in the blink of an eye." Atlanta shook his head.
"Only two strong beings became ancestors by killing injured ancestors. Their bodies were different. Their bodies were so big that they were larger than average-sized realms."
Angele remained silent for a while and continued, "If I can control the time and dimension, how do I get my own special ability?"
"I don't know. I can already control the time and dimension. The origin is also not a problem for me. After the war ends, I'll go to the world intestine of the Chaos Realm. I may have a chance to finish the last step." Atlanta was not trying to hide his progress. "Many rank 8 beings failed at the last step. They turned into the nutrients of the realm and were removed from the history. In another world, if you can go to the world intestine of the strongest realm, you'll get the strongest special ability."
Atlanta sighed with mixed emotions.
"We all know what need to do to become an ancestor, but we're all afraid of losing everything."
Angele remained silent after hearing those words.