Before Zenobia could finish speaking, Sophia extended her hand and grabbed her by the throat.
Her eyes flickered with a strange blue light as she looked at the face that was identical to her own. With a deliberate, measured tone, she said, “Have you said enough?! What does it matter if he’s with someone else? What does that have to do with me?!”
However, Zenobia showed no sign of panic. Instead, she burst into laughter, her face twisted into a mocking grin. “You noticed, didn’t you? He has someone he likes now, and it happened just in the past few days! You lost again! You lost again!”
Sophia’s chest rose and fell with rage, and she could almost feel the urge to choke the so-called Mistress of the Sin Domain to death.
But in the end, she slowly regained her composure.
“No matter what, you can forget about me helping you get the Celestial Pearl.” Sophia stared at Zenobia, whose face was now rigid with frustration, and said, “And weren’t you the Mistress of the Sin Domain? A mere Celestial Pearl—could it possibly be a challenge for you? Why would you need the help of a lowly high-level mage like me?”
Zenobia’s expression darkened at the insult.
She glared at Sophia and said, “The Celestial Pearl is beneath our feet, right here in the sea. If you can obtain it, everything you want will be within your grasp. Don’t you find that tempting?”
Sophia remained calm, her voice steady. “I don’t need the Celestial Pearl to ascend to the Divine Realm and get what I desire.”
She paused, her lips curling into a faint smirk. “And I won’t go looking for him. I will make him come find me himself.”
At this, Zenobia’s face shifted from anger to frustration.
She snapped, “Then just how long are you going to wait for that damned human to come find you?
“Are you planning to wait until you grow old, your beauty fades, your body turns to dust, and you’re reborn once again?
“Or are you going to wait until the Ancient Gods descend, the universe falls into silence, and a new era begins, with all divine souls erased?”
Sophia’s smile barely deepened at the corners of her mouth. “What I do has nothing to do with you.”
…
Meanwhile, on Snake Island.
In the dense forest, countless snakes slithered around, and at the core of the mountains, a grand palace stood tall.
“Hmm? That Luca has already reached thirty nautical miles out?” Furious Shark Evans sat on his throne, his interest piqued as he listened to his subordinates report.
One-eyed Carmichael, fanning himself lazily, added, “That’s about right. He’s already reached Waterhorn Island. The only thing is, for some unknown reason, he hasn’t continued forward.”
Beside him, a three-meter-tall man with a thick beard and only one arm picked up a large chunk of meat and shoved it into his mouth. As he chewed, he mumbled indistinctly, “What other reason could there be? He’s definitely scared.”
One-eyed Carmichael shook his head. “That kid named Luca, though young, is no ordinary person. Just from what he showed in the Bluewater Sea, it’s clear he has Superclass-level power.”
“Superclass at just over ten years old?” This statement made all the pirates in the hall pause in shock. They had seen many geniuses, but none with this kind of overwhelming ability.
Bloodhand Jack, the bearded, one-armed giant, wasn’t particularly concerned. He casually said, “No need to think too much. He’s probably relying on high-level or Superclass magic runes.”
“You all know how it is with Demonic Rune Mages. Without money, they’re just bottom-tier no-hopers. With money, they become unreasonable geniuses.”
At this, everyone in the hall burst into laughter. While no one denied the power of Demonic Rune Mages, the nature of the class meant that most of them were nothing more than flashy but ultimately useless practitioners. The dazzling feats and achievements often came from spending vast amounts of money, but when it came down to actual combat, they turned out to be soft and weak.
“What does the captain say? Should we send someone to scout the situation?” Carmichael looked to Evans, waiting for the leader to make a decision.
“What’s there to discuss?” Evans grinned widely, standing up and grabbing the serrated blade resting beside him. He shouted at the people inside the palace, “Everyone, gather up! We’re going to greet the newcomer ourselves!”
“Let them know who runs the Western Sea!”
“Don’t worry, Captain! We’ll scare the crap out of that kid!” The pirates in the hall cheered, clearly excited.
A group of effeminate people from Seaway City actually dared to venture into dangerous waters to trouble their Black Raven Pirate Crew!
They’d been wanting to kill these clueless fools for a while!
As Evans reached the door of the hall, something suddenly occurred to him.
He turned to Carmichael and said, “Oh, and don’t forget to bring our precious and beautiful Miss Ellie along, or else they’ll say we’re not playing by the rules.”
The rules of the sea were simple.
If you lose, you stay. If you win, you take everything.
…
Meanwhile, on the other side, after entering the trial dungeon door.
Luca hadn’t even opened his eyes yet, but he could already feel an intense, scorching hot wind hitting his face.
The temperature around him was incredibly high.
“No wonder,” he thought as he looked around and realized that he had entered a volcanic mountain range. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com
As far as the eye could see, everything was bathed in a fiery red. Volcanoes erupted from the ground, and the sky was obscured by the thick ashes rising into the air.
The black volcanic rocks were scattered across the land, and through the cracks, Luca could see the burning crimson flames and rolling lava below.
In just this short amount of time, beads of sweat began to form on Luca’s forehead.
It was important to note that his physique was far from ordinary; it was a divine body forged through divine refinement.
Even his divine body was affected by the intense heat here, so the flames in this place were clearly extraordinary.
At that moment, the hidden Solar Divine Spear rune on his forehead suddenly flickered.
A golden figure slowly appeared in the air, standing tall. Golden hair cascaded down from his head—it was the Solar Divine Spear, who had been dormant for a long time.
He looked around in surprise at the surroundings and said, “I was wondering why the fire elements around here are so dense. So we’re in the underground volcanic range. By the way, how did you end up in such a place?”
Luca shrugged and replied, “It’s the Awakening Trial dungeon. It just teleported me here.”
Upon hearing this, the Solar Divine Spear couldn’t help but laugh. “I really don’t know whether to say you’re lucky or unlucky. The flames here in the underground volcanic range are the essence of Earthfire, the same grade as Heavenly Fire. Forget about you as a high-level class, even if a Transcendent level being came here, they’d still be doomed to die.”
Luca understood then. No wonder his divine body was feeling discomfort here; the flames were indeed problematic.
After a brief pause, he asked, “What do you mean by ‘lucky’? Can you control the flames here?”
“You’re thinking too much,” Solar Divine Spear laughed. “Heavenly Fire and Earth Fire both belong to different natures. The Sun God controls the rules of Heavenly Fire, while the Earth God controls the rules of Earth Fire.
“The two rules may seem similar, but they are worlds apart.
“However, although I can’t control the flames here, since they originate from the same source, I can still ease your burden a little.”
As he spoke, he conjured a golden flame in his hand, and streams of Law of the Sun runes fused into Luca’s body.
In that instant, Luca could clearly feel the intense heat disappear.
He stretched out his hand and tried to get closer to a cluster of Earthfire. To his surprise, the flames actually avoided him as if they were consciously moving away.
This scene fascinated Luca.
It turned out that even powers of the same attribute could have such repelling effects.
“With the help of the Solar Divine Flame, completing the task will be much easier from here on out,” Luca said with a smile, looking up to search for the trial’s objective—the four Guardians.
His gaze eventually landed on a vast sea of lava, and in the middle of this fiery ocean, he saw a strange creature seemingly bathing in the flames.
At that moment, Solar Divine Spear glanced up at the highest volcano and said, “This place will be immensely beneficial for healing my injuries. From here on, I won’t be able to assist you much. You’ll have to rely on yourself.”
“Can this place really heal your injuries?” Luca’s eyes immediately lit up at the words. The Solar Divine Spear’s injuries had remained unhealed for over a hundred thousand years, and it had always been a headache for him.
He never imagined that he would find a solution here.
“Of course. The primordial fire can help heal my wounds, just like the fire attribute materials you helped me find before,” the Solar Divine Spear said with a hint of regret. “It’s a shame that the Earthfire here isn’t powerful enough to restore me to my peak state, but reaching the Transcendent level shouldn’t be a problem.”
Transcendent level? Luca couldn’t help but smile at the thought.
Even if the Solar Divine Spear couldn’t return to its full power, that was still more than enough for Luca at this point.
After bidding Luca farewell, the Solar Divine Spear transformed into a golden streak of light, racing toward the highest volcano.
The moment the golden figure entered the volcano, Luca clearly felt the fire element energy throughout the underground volcanic range gather and surge toward that very volcano.
The crimson Earthfire converged into flowing rivers, heading straight into the mouth of the volcano. The sight was nothing short of spectacular.
After confirming that there were no problems on the Solar Divine Spear’s side, Luca turned his attention back to the lava sea and began his journey toward the Guardian in the center of the fire ocean.
In this area, aside from the four Guardians and some fire spirits, there were no other monsters; the environment here wasn’t suitable for most monsters to survive.
As he got closer, Luca was finally able to make out the appearance of the Guardian.
It was an enormous crimson giant python, its entire body covered in glowing, iron-like red marks. It exuded the aura of a peak Superclass, just half a step away from breaking through to the Transcendent level.
“Looks like we’re in for a tough battle,” Luca muttered to himself, and with a flash of light in his hand, he summoned a Diamond-level black crystal spear. Golden patterns appeared on its surface, radiating with intense power.
Luca’s aura also began to rise rapidly.
The Guardian, sensing the hostile presence of this outsider, let out a terrifying roar.
“ROAR!!!” The deafening sound echoed throughout the entire lava sea.
Endless flames swirled around the giant python’s body.
The air seemed to tremble under the immense pressure of its aura, as if the very heavens themselves were collapsing.
Luca, taking one last look at the peak Superclass fire python before him, paused for a moment, then lightly patted the inert Jormungandr on his wrist. “Stop playing dead, it’s time to get to work.”