Lord of Prayer - Chapter 402 - 259: Light of the Cosmos, the Star Brilliance Bringing the Miracle of Life
After a bit of grumbling, the salvage operation quickly began. Two agents piloted an advanced submarine into the sea.
“Holy shit!”
“Oh, God!”
Before long, they discovered the starlight embedded in the seabed. Gazing at that infinitely beautiful radiance, the two of them were stunned into a long silence, only snapping out of it much later when called over the comms.
“Reporting. That unidentified object… it’s a ball of light.”
“The mechanical arm can’t retrieve it. We can’t touch it. It’s just a ball of light!”
“…Understood. Surface immediately.”
The first salvage attempt was declared a failure. The Special Agents in black suits reported the matter to their organization.
Zhou Chen’s actions were limited within this memory. He couldn’t figure out what organization was behind these agents in black suits, but it definitely wasn’t the FBI, because the agents were of various different ethnicities.
Time sped up again. The second salvage operation began, then the third, the fourth… All of them ended in failure.
With humanity’s current technology, it was simply impossible to capture that ball of light.
It wasn’t until much later that one of the organization’s highest-ranking leaders came in person. He took a submarine down in front of the ball of light and took out an ordinary-looking glass bottle.
“Light of the cosmos, starlight that brings the miracle of life, I wish for you to enter this bottle and grant this bottle your authority.”
And so, the wish took effect. The beautiful ball of light surged into the glass bottle, successfully captured by humanity.
Back on the ship, this high-ranking leader of the organization carefully put the bottle away.
“This may be humanity’s hope,” he said.
The scene then faded.
“…Holy shit?”
Zhou Chen couldn’t help but exclaim aloud. This memory revealed an enormous amount of information.
He’d recognize that glass bottle even if it were burned to ash—it was definitely the Wish Bottle. He never expected to have stumbled upon the Wish Bottle’s origin and learned a piece of the Old Era’s past.
’The organization these salvagers belong to knows some incredible things. They called that ball of light the “Light of the cosmos” and “starlight that brings the miracle of life.” They even knew the exact method to capture it. Maybe there have been many cases of starlight falling in the past… So the Miracle Light actually comes from the cosmos…’
’Hmm… this organization… It couldn’t be the Star Association, could it?’
Zhou Chen pondered for a moment and figured it was very likely.
But he wasn’t entirely sure, so he made a wish to confirm it. The result was as expected: the organization was indeed the Star Association.
Then another question arose.
The Star Association would have surely kept the Wish Bottle under heavy guard. So why did it end up with him?
Zhou Chen couldn’t figure it out, so he simply made a wish: “I want to know why the Wish Bottle came to me.”
But the wish didn’t take effect.
Zhou Chen fell into thought. There were only a few explanations for a wish not working: either he didn’t have enough wish value, or the wish was being interfered with.
He currently had a massive amount of wish value, so in theory, that shouldn’t be the issue. That only left interference.
Soon, Zhou Chen thought of the source of the interference—the Divine War!
The War of the Gods that had all but completely destroyed the Old Era!
It was likely because of this interference that the wish couldn’t be fulfilled. This also indirectly proved that his possession of the Wish Bottle was inextricably linked to the War of the Gods.
“It couldn’t have just accidentally hit me because the fighting was too intense, right…?” Zhou Chen muttered under his breath.
*Hiss…* ’Come to think of it, that actually seemed possible…’
This was the Extraordinary World, after all. It wasn’t surprising for strange things to happen.
’Figuring out the origin of the Wish Bottle has solved a mystery that’s been bothering me for a long time, but I’m still a long way from the truth of the Old Era’s destruction. The Star Association definitely knows everything. I wonder when I’ll be able to learn the truth…’
Zhou Chen felt that day wasn’t too far off. Including the time he spent living sixty years in the past, he had only been an Ascender for half a year, yet he had already condensed a Golden Soul Fragment and wasn’t far from Tier Three. Maybe in another half a year, he’d be a Crowned King.
The thought of his days living sixty years ago inevitably made Zhou Chen think of Li Xiye. After the Sword Forging Competition ended, she had taken off her Contract Ring and vanished. There had been no word from her since. He wondered if she was planning a surprise.
To be honest, Zhou Chen wasn’t ready to face Li Xiye. He always felt like he owed her, and if they really met, he wouldn’t know what to say.
’Maybe she’ll beat me up to vent her anger? After all, making a girl wait for sixty years… it’s impossible for her not to hold a grudge…’
’Xiye is so strong now she can change the laws of physics with her will. Is she going to beat me half to death…? She definitely will, won’t she…’
After letting his mind wander for a while, Zhou Chen let out a breath, cleared away these stray thoughts, and materialized the Hammer of Forging, ready to get down to business.
He took out one of the prizes from the Sword Forging Competition—the Forging Hammer once used by Forging Master Mitkail—and tapped the two hammers together.
The Forging Secret Power within Mitkail’s Forging Hammer was instantly and completely absorbed by the Hammer of Forging. To the naked eye, the ancient, sprawling fire patterns on the Hammer of Forging brightened, seeming to cheer joyfully as if it had eaten its fill.
If there were a progress bar, it would definitely show that the Hammer of Forging’s recovery had jumped a huge chunk. New Skills and Forging knowledge were unlocked along with it.
’Molten Body, Transcendent Ascension, Human Body Refinement… Did some kind of messed-up Skill get mixed in here…?’
Molten Body, to put it simply, was the complete Essence Materialization of one’s body, transforming a body of flesh and blood into an incarnation of steel and fire. In this state, any injuries sustained could be repaired by filling them with metal.
Transcendent Ascension was a Forging Ability. It could improve an item’s quality to an unreasonable degree, surpassing its theoretical limits.
As for Human Body Refinement, it was a bit terrifying. As long as one had enough materials, one could create a soulless body of flesh and blood. Stick a Soul inside, and the body would come to life. In the field of Alchemy, this was an absolute taboo.
In addition, Zhou Chen could now transform Extraordinary Artifacts into Essence Armaments. He was also much more adept at reshaping and modifying Extraordinary Artifacts—only Blacksmiths and Alchemists of sufficient Status could reforge Extraordinary Artifacts to remove their negative abilities. The abilities of a Forbidden Object, however, could not be changed; only its appearance could be altered, or it could undergo Essence Materialization.
Putting away the full and satisfied Hammer of Forging, Zhou Chen began a new task.
“I wish to obtain the most suitable Advanced Secret Ceremony.”
He then received the much-adjusted [Burst Kill Stream] Secret Ceremony.
The result calculated by the terminal’s mainframe, based on the Alchemy Association’s vast database, was the most standard answer.
That being the case, there was nothing more to say. He would choose this Secret Ceremony.
After settling on his Advanced Secret Ceremony, Zhou Chen tinkered for a bit, connecting “Santa Claus’s Wish List” to the Prayer System and strengthening the Wish Radar.
He then made another wish to create an intelligent management program, slapped a 2D anime girl skin on it, and pulled it over to act as the system’s customer service.
Next was the task of expanding the Round Table Hall’s membership. Zhou Chen thought for a moment and decided that, in addition to Ascenders, he would also recruit a group of ordinary people and train them from scratch. This would ensure their loyalty.
He used a wish to screen for and select thirty suitable candidates. These people were either disabled and longed to be whole, or they possessed lofty ideals and firm willpower.
He then made another wish to determine the feasibility of bringing several standout contestants from the Sword Forging Competition—such as Chengzi, Ding Yuan, and Li Yiliang—into the Round Table Hall. The result was that it was feasible.
’Hmm… My performance in the Sword Forging Competition was so outstanding, and I’m publicly known as Santa Claus. I’ll definitely be chosen… I need to make another side account, this time using my real identity…’
With a thought, Zhou Chen sent a notification to the old members of the Round Table Hall about an upcoming meeting. He told them to silently think of the suitable new candidates they had found, and he would then use a Prayer to judge whether they should be brought into the Round Table Hall.
Soon, the meeting began.
