Chapter 750: Cryptic Realm Thaumaturgy!

A Heaven’s Tribulation that was only supposed to take 1 hour took 4 hours.

The host and guests were all pleased.

Everything finally ended.

The evil creatures unwillingly said their goodbyes.

The party was over.

The night fell back to silence.

Gu Qing Shan took a few sips of soup that he prepared to sober up but was still feeling dizzy.

He glanced around to confirm that there were no fiends or devils that remained.

It was now that he circulated his spirit energy to dispel all the alcohol from his body.

A huge cloud of alcohol mist came off his body, blown away by the wind to fill the entire barren mountain in a thick smell of liquor.

He drank 5 full barrels of spirit liquor by himself.

Those evil creatures were even worse, all of them were so drunk it was a miracle they could return at all.

Shannu pinched her nose: “Gongzi, the smell of alcohol is so terrible, you’ve been through a lot”

“I’m fine” Gu Qing Shan replied.

Shannu suggested: “Just now, gongzi could’ve drunk while silently dispelling the alcohol, that way you wouldn’t feel so uncomfortable”

Gu Qing Shan smiled bitterly: “Everyone would notice if I did that, there would be no point to drinking then”

Shannu gritted her teeth: “Maybe the next time they come, I should just fight and chase them away, otherwise gongzi would have to deal with them every time”

Gu Qing Shan waved his hand dismissively: “It’s only a drinking party”

Seeing her still a bit displeased, Gu Qing Shan became a bit more solemn and slowly told her: “Shannu, through everything I’ve seen so far, whether it’s the Age of Old or our era, I found that the infinite worlds are always interconnected and that there are three kinds of existences”

Shannu was intrigued: “Ah? Only three kinds, gongzi? What are they?”

Gu Qing Shan sighed: “Right, there are Gods, people, or living beings to be more exact, and evil creatures”

“Being a God is the easiest, they can create many things and give life to living beings. Before running away they were worshipped by living beings everywhere, even after running away there are still living beings who worship them”

“Being people, you have to live a very tough life, not only do you have to worship Gods, but you also have to try and become stronger to help the Gods stop their terrifying enemies. At the same time, the fate of ‘people’ are fixed, you can only be used and abused by Gods, working your whole life without seeing any hope”

“But evil creatures, I think that most of them were not created by Gods. One proof of this is that normal people couldn’t possibly find the world of the fiends and devils, normal people couldn’t even enter those worlds if they wanted to. Furthermore, evil creatures don’t have to listen to the orders of Gods, they live and survive by the combined Laws of billions of worlds. Just look, even the Heaven’s Tribulation summoned them to work for it, so I believe that evil creatures have a lot more freedom than people do, at least they don’t have to bend to the whims of Gods”

“Gongzi, how do you know that those evil creatures don’t have to listen to the orders of Gods?” Shannu asked.

“When the Tianma helped the Demon King Order steal the heritage of the Old Gods, I already noticed”

Gu Qing Shan continued: “The Tianma stole something so important from the Old Gods to help the evolution of the Old Gods’ hated enemies, an [Order]. This means that the Tianma doesn’t care what the Old Gods think”

“Then why did you get acquainted with them, gongzi?”

“There isn’t a reason, I simply wanted to be their friend” Gu Qing Shan smiled, “if one day, they need my help with something, I will help them. And similarly, if I need their help, they might come to my aid, which might be a huge saving grace”

Gu Qing Shan spoke with a serious expression: “That’s why, when we go out into the world like this, we need to make as many friends as we can, especially in the age of Apocalypse. Don’t just fight everyone you come across and think of that as being great, because it isn’t. We’re not main characters of some fantasy novel, there’s no need to make unnecessary trouble”

“After saying so much, in the end, you just wanted to advise me not to fight, alright, I understand”

Shannu stopped a bit and teased him: “On the other hand, gongzi is too lonely. You truly do need more friends, like that female Devil King from before”

Seeing the killing intent going away from her expression, and even had the will to tease him, Gu Qing Shan slowly calmed down.

“She’s not really my type, too flirtatious” Gu Qing Shan sighed.

Casually answering her, his gaze was focused on the void of space.

Lines of glowing text were scrolling past his retina.

[This Tribulation is over]

[You’ve reached Cryptic realm]

[Your total spirit energy has greatly increased]

[As a Cryptic realm cultivator, you will awaken a Thaumaturgy]

The icon representing [War God Thaumaturgy] on his War God UI lit up.

Line of glowing text appeared from the icon, turning into a new notification.

[You’ve reached Cryptic realm. You can now trigger the Thaumaturgy awakening Quest, would you like to trigger it now?]

“Trigger” Gu Qing Shan answered.

[Please pick one of the following choices:]

[One: complete a series of Quest and awaken a new Thaumaturgy as the reward]

[Two: complete a single Quest and evolve your current Lightning Thaumaturgy as the reward]

Reading the glowing lines of text in front of him, Gu Qing Shan fell into thought.

A new Thaumaturgy.

That would certainly be a good thing.

But his Lightning Thaumaturgy has been evolved three times from [Stunned] to [Rigid] and finally [Severance].

During the fragment of time that depicted the war from the Age of Old, I was able to abuse [Severance] to help the cultivators from the Age of Old eliminate an entire army of Desolate Demon Eyes.

And cultivators from the Age of Old seem to not know anything at all about Elemental Lightning.

Which means, it’s likely that [Severance] would become a great aid in battle if it could evolve again.

Still a bit hesitant, Gu Qing Shan decided to ask the War God System: “If I choose to awaken a new Thaumaturgy, what kind of Thaumaturgy will I receive?”

The War God System replied: [A new Thaumaturgy represents possibility. It will be determined the same way as the previous times you obtained a new Thaumaturgy, through random gacha]

Gu Qing Shan asked: “You mean like how I first obtained the Lightning Thaumaturgy?”

[Correct, if you need to, I can create a gacha simulation here to help you make a decision] the System replied.

“Then please simulate it once, I want to see what kinds of Thaumaturgy I’ll get” Gu Qing Shan said.

[Please spend Soul Points] the System told him.

“You want Soul Points for a simulation? I just want to take a look, can’t you do it for free?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

The System paused briefly before solemnly declaring: [The System will permanently shut down the simulator function]

“Wait! I’ll just give you the Soul Points” Gu Qing Shan hurriedly said.

And the Soul Points were consumed.

At this point, the War God System spoke: [Soul Points received, manifesting Thaumaturgy gacha simulation]

[Please note, the following is only a simulation and not the real thing]

Three unique icons appeared at the center of the War God UI.

[Thaumaturgy gacha complete, the following three choices have been generated according to your Quest’s rate of completion]

[Please select one of the following three Thaumaturgies to awaken]

Gu Qing Shan looked at the three icons.

He found that whenever he focused his gaze on one of the icons, the icon would lit up and a description would appear next to it.

The first icon was a grey card.

Depicted on the grey card was an old man, currently kneeling on the ground and praying.

When Gu Qing Shan focused his gaze on it, a description appeared.

[Summoning Card: Primal Chaos Summoning]

[You were able to obtain this Thaumaturgy because you have turned into a card]

[Primal Chaos Summoning: You can summon a primal chaos creature within the fog of primal chaos to help you fight]

[Note: Due to the restriction of the level of your card, you cannot control which creature you summon, it is possible to summon a small lizard or a monster of the same level as a God]

[Note: When the summoned creature is 10 times stronger than you are, it may backlash on you]

Gu Qing Shan shook his head.

This type of skill is too random to know if it’s going to aid in battle or not.

But a skill of this type showing up means I can obtain card-type skills now.

That’s new.

Gu Qing Shan looked towards the next icon.

A suit of armor covered in frost was depicted on the icon.

A description appeared next to the armor.

[Protection Thaumaturgy: Frost Armor (Primary)]

[Description: When you wear armor in battle, you can activate this Thaumaturgy to increase the defensive capabilities of your armor by 30%]

Gu Qing Shan took a deep breath.

The (Primary) means this is a Thaumaturgy that can evolve.

Just like [Severance], possible for this Thaumaturgy to evolve and become stronger.

So from Cryptic realm onwards, I will be able to obtain a Thaumaturgy capable of evolution that isn’t a Lightning-type, this is a crucial piece of information.

But from an objective point of view, the current [Severance] can already shift the flow of the battlefield against the Desolate world monsters, so its evolution might be even more crucial.

He looked at the final icon.

Huh.

This looks familiar.

The third icon was a female portrait.

However, this time the female depicted also had a crown.

[Divine Skill: Empress Transformation]

[Description: When using the Skill, the user will transform into an Empress. Allure +1800%, total strength +130%]

Gu Qing Shan almost choked on his saliva.

He forced himself to resist the 130% increase in total strength while constantly reminding himself that this was only a simulation and not a real choice.

“Alright, I understand” he told the War God UI.

[Please make a choice] the War God System urged him.

“One last question, between the new Thaumaturgy Quests and Lightning Thaumaturgy evolution Quest, which is harder?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

[The Lightning Thaumaturgy Quest is harder] the System responded.

Gu Qing Shan understood.

This meant that the 4th tier of Lightning Thaumaturgy was recognized by the War God System to be more powerful than the majority of other Thaumaturgies.

“I’ll choose to complete one Quest to evolve the Lightning Thaumaturgy” Gu Qing Shan quickly replied.

[Are you sure?] the War God System asked.

“I’m sure”

[Very well, you will soon face the toughest battle of your life, one small slip and you could perish, are you sure you want to begin this Quest?] the War God System once again asked for his confirmation with a solemn tone.

Gu Qing Shan paused briefly.

The System is giving me a warning.

Seems like this Quest is exceptionally hard.

It makes sense. This is to evolve a Thaumaturgy for the 4th time in a row, there’s no way it was going to be an easy task.

Gu Qing Shan confirmed: “I have decided to take this Quest without fail, now, please tell me the details of the Quest”

Lines of glowing text began to float onto the War God UI.

[Thaumaturgy Quest: Lightning of Life]

[Quest description: This is the Age of Old, an era where the Desolate world was terrifyingly powerful. You will have to wrestle against the monsters that even Divinities fear and obtain their overwhelming power to awaken the 4th tier of your Lightning Thaumaturgy]

[Quest objective: Overcome the odds and kill 100 Desolate monsters]

[Quest reward: Awakening the 4th tier of Lightning of Life]

Reading the Quest description, Gu Qing Shan was surprised.

He needed to kill 100 Desolate monsters.

Even cultivators vastly more powerful than himself couldn’t be able to do such a thing in a short amount of time, as killing too many of them on the battlefield could draw the enemy’s attention to yourself and become the focus of attack.

This truly is an incomparably hard and dangerous feat to accomplish.

But…

As an army cook, he would be on duty at the slaughterhouse starting tomorrow…