Chapter 515: The Mount That Reached God's Moon and the Witch Doctor Covenant

The Star Realm

A hot air balloon boat sailed slowly through the boundless darkness. Far behind the God's Mount, the distant earth dwindled little by little.

The spirits' hot air balloon boat was a miracle tool, but severed from the Dream Realm, it could no longer draw on the power that carried it between the real and the unreal.

Its speed had fallen sharply, and much of its power had weakened with it.

Unable to travel through the Dream Realm, the God's Mount drifted across the sky like a sailing ship borne along by the current.

The supreme divine beings aboard were in no hurry. None used their own power to hasten the vessel, so it flew on at a leisurely pace.

At last, on this day, it reached its destination.

Except for one of them.

At the window, Shelly watched God's Moon hanging in the sky.

"This is taking forever."

She turned her head and looked at the mythology spirit Vellen.

Flustered, Vellen waved his arms as he explained why they were flying so slowly.

Shelly clicked her tongue and shook her head.

"You're completely useless without the Dream Realm! You dream races do nothing but play all day. None of you ever works hard!"

"We're practically there! You could crawl the rest of the way!"

Vellen desperately wanted to point out that they were several hundred thousand kilometers deep into the Star Realm, where crawling was hardly an option. He did not dare say it aloud.

He looked deeply aggrieved.

In truth, Vellen had been on edge lately. So far from the Dream Realm, a miracle spirit like him could not shake a hollow feeling.

When Shelly finished, she patted her chest.

"I'm nothing like that~"

Vellen stared at her, a question mark all but floating over his forehead, and thought to himself.

"Lady Shelly, don't you spend all day playing too? I've never seen you work hard once!"

Then Shelly spoke, her face brimming with pride.

"I don't have to work hard, and I'm still amazing!"

Borrowing Yin Shen's manner of speech, Shelly addressed Vellen in her most serious tone.

"You're weak, so you've got to work hard. Quit thinking about playing all day!"

Vellen stared at her.

"..."

As the hot air balloon boat drew closer, a shape emerged from the darkness.

Only when they drew near did they discover that God's Moon had changed beyond recognition.

At the dawn of the Second Era, God's Moon had been formed from God's Grace Stone. Now it resembled an enormous round gateway.

Shelly ran over to the table and asked God Yinsai, who sat beside it, "God, where are we staying?"

Yin Shen had evidently decided long ago.

"Beneath the tree."

Shelly's eyes lit up.

"The big tree inside the moon?"

She raced back to the window and stared out at God's Moon.

"Wow!"

"That's going to be amazing!"

Before the God's Mount could cross the void and pass through the round gateway, a voice suddenly reached them from far away.

Someone had reached God's Moon, and the voice was strikingly familiar.

"As the creator of the imp race, and in my station as the God of the Witch Doctors."

"I make this vow to the supreme will of wisdom, the crown that rules all Wisdom Seeds."

"O unsurpassed will, protector and guide of every Wisdom Seed!"

"Please respond to my plea."

"..."

At the same moment, Hila leaned down from the second-floor stairs.

"I seem to hear the witch doctors. How strange. We are already so far away from them!"

Shelly pointed straight out the window.

"We're at God's Moon! Looks like we got here just in time to catch those six swearing their covenant together!"

Hila descended the stairs.

"The witch doctors have already taken this step!"

Yin Shen also looked up at God's Moon. Its light swelled in splendor, engulfing the hot air balloon boat before spreading toward the distant earth.

"This is only the beginning."

Hila stood beside the table and understood what Yin Shen meant.

For one thing, the witch doctors' covenant was only a beginning. A long road still stretched ahead of them.

For another, the near future was already taking shape. Once the covenant was sworn and the second Path of Wisdom lay open, more and more people would see this road and come to know it.

In time, they would walk it.

The frenzy that followed would sweep across the entire world.

"Is the age of many divine systems now at hand?"

Hila found herself looking forward to it, though she could not imagine what such a sight would be like.

Nor could she imagine what changes the rise of many divine systems would bring to the mortal world.

---

The Witch Doctor Kingdom, City of Old Things

Before the city, the six mythical witch doctors surveyed the settlement within the botanical garden. Once confined to a patch beneath the tree, it now encircled the entire tree.

The spiraling tree stairways had grown far grander, dividing into several strands that crossed and wove together.

Small houses and buildings of every color stood upon the branches.

Imps born from every kind of small object lived in the city. Larger imps usually went to the City of the Divine Kingdom and appeared here, inside or beyond the walls, only on occasion.

Every larger imp who did appear was a famous figure in the City of Old Things.

Beside the stream, the mythical witch doctors counted the imps.

"How many do we have now?"

The Right Hand Witch Doctor swept a glance across the city and offered an estimate before the count was complete.

"More than two thousand."

The Torso Witch Doctor surveyed the City of Old Things and shook their head.

"Most of these imps cannot even speak coherently. Like those ghosts, they repeat the same sentence over and over, and some cannot form words at all."

"Of these three thousand, only two or three hundred have the potential to become witch doctors. The rest may form a contract, but their potential is far too limited."

"Unless someone with the potential to become a powerful ability user is willing to form a contract with one."

The odds, however, were extremely slim.

A summons from the Witch Doctor Kingdom was already a one-in-ten-thousand chance. The odds that it would fall on someone gifted as an ability user were far smaller.

The Left Leg Witch Doctor asked the others, "Should we make it harder for an imp to be born?"

The Left Hand Witch Doctor answered at once, "An imp is born from a mortal's memories and the things that mortal cannot relinquish. Its birth already demands the strongest of memories and the fiercest of attachments. That was our very purpose in creating this race. Would changing it now not betray the idea with which we began?"

The Left Leg Witch Doctor pressed on.

"But then these imps will never find their companions. They will pass their entire existence in a daze, and that..."

The Right Hand Witch Doctor took the colder view.

"The imp race needs a large population to sustain it. Not every imp can find a contract holder and become a witch doctor at their side."

Nor did every imp possess the strength to set out on the witch doctor's road.

The Skull Witch Doctor spoke then.

"We already have enough imps in the Witch Doctor Kingdom to maintain our link with the Dream Realm. From this day onward, only imps of true potential shall come here."

"Let the ordinary imps remain in the mortal world!"

"Let them stay with the people they remember, in the homes they remember!"

"They cannot become witch doctors or grow stronger, but perhaps they can become part of tales and legends, guardian spirits watching over a household."

The Right Leg Witch Doctor, silent until then, finally spoke.

"And what if someone wantonly hunts the imps of the mortal world, or even harms them?"

The divine could neither intervene in every affair of the mortal world nor attend to every last detail.

The Skull Witch Doctor had plainly settled the question long ago.

"Mark anyone who harms a masterless imp without cause. Let that person become an enemy of the witch doctors, and let every witch doctor refuse them treatment."

For now, the decree hardly seemed a deterrent. As the witch doctor profession grew stronger, however, that would change entirely.

Breaking such a rule would mean offending an entire host of powerful people.

Few would willingly offend a group that might save their life at any time.

Sooner or later, even the mightiest ability users suffered stubborn wounds, curses, injuries from divine techniques or extraordinary diseases.

None of this, however, was why the mythical witch doctors had gathered to count the imps.

The Skull Witch Doctor turned to the other mythical witch doctors.

"Once we count the imps in the mortal world, our numbers are sufficient."

"The conditions for the imp race to swear a covenant have been met, if only barely."

"People are becoming witch doctors one after another. The profession has begun to take root on Ruhe Beast Island and the Avel Peninsula alike."

"We have founded the first witch doctor academy, and others shall follow."

"We have made a fine beginning. The first stage of our plan has been realized."

At that point, the Skull Witch Doctor's tone shifted.

"Perhaps the time to swear the covenant has come."

The other mythical witch doctors nodded. Their long labor had finally borne fruit.

"But what covenant shall we swear?"

"And after we swear it, can the witch doctors of this new era truly inherit our covenant and carry our road to its end?"

"Will they... be willing to complete it? Will they be willing to explore?"

They could simply swear the covenant themselves and be done with it, yet they wanted to consider what came after, ensuring that future witch doctors would benefit from the oath and carry it out willingly instead of being bound against their will.

The Right Hand Witch Doctor stepped forward and addressed the others.

"Look at the words left by the chosen ones in the City of Old Things. Do they not already tell us something?"

Lines of writing crowded the walls on both sides of the gate linking the mortal world to the Witch Doctor Kingdom.

Some lines were written in the winged people's language, others in the snake people's.

"I want to cure everyone who suffers from the illness I do."

"I want my body to be healthy."

"I want to live well, and live with all my strength."

"I want to be able to speak!"

"I want to stand!"

"I want to hear sounds."

"I want to see the sunlight!"

"..."

Every line was brief, and none was signed.

Yet each struck the heart like the point of an awl.

Lately, chosen people had arrived at this miniature city one after another. They came to the City of Old Things for the imps' trial, though in truth each side was testing the other.

Some of them knew what a witch doctor was.

Others knew nothing at all.

Over time, a custom had quietly taken shape in the Witch Doctor Kingdom.

Before leaving, each visitor wrote a single line on the wall as proof that they had once come to the City of Old Things.

Pointing to the walls on either side of the gate, the Left Hand Witch Doctor went on.

"We seek the most perfect form a Wisdom Seed can attain, the final form of the Wisdom Seed."

"They seek to cure their own illnesses and the illnesses of others. They seek healthy bodies, understanding of those bodies, and the secrets hidden within them."

"All of us seek the secrets of our own bodies and the limits of our own lives."

"Whether ordinary people or ability users. Whether snake people, winged people, or lizard people."

"Even mythology spirits such as ourselves."

At the Left Hand Witch Doctor's words, the others fell silent one by one, lost in thought.

The Skull Witch Doctor spoke first.

"Then our covenant is plain. We shall swear an eternal oath to spend our lives seeking the limits of our own lives and exploring the mysteries of our own race."

The Left Hand Witch Doctor nodded.

"A snake person witch doctor shall explore the secrets of the snake people's bodies. A winged person witch doctor shall explore the secrets of the winged people's bodies."

The Right Hand Witch Doctor went on, "Demon spirits and monsters, lizard people, magical beasts, and giant dragons. Every race can bring forth witch doctors, and each can seek the secrets of that race and of their own body."

The Left Leg Witch Doctor added, "And that is not all. Beyond the secrets of their own bodies, they can unlock the secrets held within the bodies of plants and animals."

The Right Leg Witch Doctor said, "In the end, what they seek remains the same. The limits of their own lives and of their own people."

The Torso Witch Doctor finished.

"As mythology spirits, we naturally seek the final form of the Wisdom Seed, the limits and mysteries of our own lives."

Spoken aloud, those words opened the road wide before them.

Now they knew exactly what covenant they should swear.

A few days later, the witch doctors gathered in the valley of flowers before the City of the Divine Kingdom. Silver Cups of Desire swayed around them, their faint whispers almost audible.

"Crown of Wisdom... a covenant."

"The road... of a true god!"

"Life... race..."

The witch doctors stood where the supreme divine beings' God's Mount had once rested.

Though they already stood in the Star Realm far beyond the sky, they tilted their heads back and gazed into the more distant depths of the stars.

They prepared no ritual. A wisdom race needed none to swear a covenant, since the power of the Crown of Wisdom was already rooted deep in the consciousness of every Wisdom Seed.

The Skull Witch Doctor turned back to the others.

"You remember the conditions of the Crown of Wisdom Covenant, and the covenants sworn before ours?"

The others nodded one after another, certain that nothing would go wrong.

"Very well!"

"Then let us begin!"

【Crown of Wisdom Covenant】

【First: the one who swears the covenant must be able to represent the entire race】

【Second: the covenant sworn must accord with the will of the race to continue.】

【Third: this covenant may never be broken, for all eternity.】

The three laws surfaced in the witch doctors' minds at once.

Then, speaking as one in the Wisdom Language, they called out to the source of all wisdom.

"As the creator of the imp race, and in my station as the God of the Witch Doctors."

"I make this vow to the supreme will of wisdom, the crown that rules all Wisdom Seeds."

"O unsurpassed will, protector and guide of every Wisdom Seed!"

"Please respond to my plea."

The words continued, clause pressing upon clause, until sounds and syllables seemed to carry a magic of their own. They rolled like waves, echoing across the starry sky.

The witch doctors' voices traveled on through the hollow darkness.

"O unsurpassed will, protector and guide of every Wisdom Seed!"

"Please respond to my plea."

"Protect and guide..."

"Please respond..."

Carried by the call of spirituality and the Dream Realm, the plea of the God of the Witch Doctors reached the depths of God's Moon.

Before the mythical witch doctors' eyes, the cold and shadowed starry sky brightened in an instant and kept growing brighter.

A ring of light took shape. Its radiance crossed the immense distance, bathing the Floating Island and the witch doctors alike.

The silver-white light fell not only upon the Witch Doctor Kingdom. From the heights, it spread downward.

Pouring from the sky, it swept across the earth below.

It reached Ruhe Beast Island.

It reached the Avel Peninsula, the Black Mountain Peninsula and the Land of Light.

Even the lizard people of the Land of the Giant Dragon looked up from hunting the vast jungles and carving out their homeland to watch God's Moon reveal itself.

Just as the legends described, some divine servants on Ruhe Beast Island and the Avel Peninsula stepped into the open to bathe in the light of God's Moon.

They hoped to borrow the power of God's Moon and increase their strength, if only a little.

However faint, it remained source power.

Mighty ability users, by contrast, did not dare lift their eyes to it.

On the Floating Island, the mythical witch doctors watched God's Moon answer their summons and felt shaken nonetheless.

"The Crown of Wisdom has answered our call!"

The answer also meant that the Crown of Wisdom had recognized the imps as a people and the witch doctors as their representatives.

The covenant ritual within the Abyss also truly began with the descent of God's Moon.

The six mythical witch doctors stood shoulder to shoulder. As the imps' masters and creators, they bowed low to God's Moon and began their oath.

Better than any ordinary divine being, the mythical witch doctors understood what God's Moon represented.

"O supreme Royal Authority of Wisdom, unsurpassed will of the Divine King!"

"On behalf of the witch doctor profession and the imp race, we swear to you an eternal oath. With the wisdom of all things, we seal a covenant that shall never be effaced."

"Imps are born from the afterglow and will of a life. Witch doctors came into this world to seek life's limits and the mysteries of their own bodies."

"This is the meaning of the imp race's birth, and the road pursued by the witch doctors."

"Gladly do we swear this oath to you, and carve this road forever into time and the passing years."

"We shall spend every power within our lives to walk this road, seek the limits of life, and explore the mysteries of the Wisdom Seed's body."

The six witch doctors' voices overlapped and rose ever higher, rolling through the Divine Kingdom in a mighty flood.

God's Moon burst into brilliant light. Its power linked to the spirit and will of every being, reaching into each one's wisdom origin and the depths of their spirituality.

A single line brought the covenant to its close.

"The imp race shall follow this will forever, and forever be bound by its law."

The Imp Covenant.

The covenant, for short.

In that moment, it was sealed!

God's Moon turned slowly, its light covering everything.

In the deepest place of all, the sealed covenant carved itself upon the Crown of Wisdom in the ancient letters created by King Redlichia, the Wisdom Script.

As God's Moon slowly drew back its light, the witch doctors rose one by one, excitement ringing in their voices.

The Torso Witch Doctor looked down at themselves, then across at the others.

"Was the covenant sealed?"

The Skull Witch Doctor nodded.

"It was."

The Torso Witch Doctor frowned.

"Why does nothing feel different?"

The Torso Witch Doctor turned to the Left Hand Witch Doctor.

"Have any of you sensed a change?"

The Left Hand Witch Doctor had kept both eyes closed throughout, meditating and communing with all their power to sense the subtle changes the covenant had brought to the mythical witch doctors and the imp race.

"Nothing has changed yet. It merely feels as though a fetter has closed around the power of the witch doctors and the imps."

As the sensation grew clearer, the Left Hand Witch Doctor went on.

"The spirituality and extraordinary power of the imps and the witch doctors seem to have shifted. Do they fit the body more closely now, making its inner mysteries easier to sense?"

"No. New organs should now be easier to bring forth."

The Right Leg Witch Doctor raised a hand and tried to cast a divine technique. It worked, yet a frown suddenly appeared.

"Our power is fettered as well. We cannot reach beyond the covenant we have just sworn to touch or pursue another road."

"At the least, we cannot elevate such a divine technique into a mythical law."

Understanding dawned on the Skull Witch Doctor, who nodded.

"Because we have already chosen our road."

The Skull Witch Doctor remembered the words the Creator had spoken to them before.

"A covenant is more than an agreement. It is a law of wisdom established by a wisdom race."

"It is the source of that race's power, the foundation of its existence, and the final destination it shall one day reach."

"We have made our choice and chosen the destination we wish to reach. Naturally, we cannot change it halfway."

---

The Mortal World, Witch Doctor Academy of the Oracle Kingdom

The moment God's Moon appeared, they came outside as well.

"Look, that's God's Moon from the legends!"

"Its light feels so warm."

"Why does its light feel hot?"

The newly born witch doctor apprentices and the witch doctors who had only recently appeared all raised their heads to the starry sky.

They all sensed that something had happened, though none knew exactly what.

Like the witch doctors above, the imps and the new era's witch doctors now felt a fetter drawn across their power, fixing the shape of both race and profession. Their power was bounded within a certain frame, and an unseen force would drive them down one road alone.

The unseen covenant bound them and changed them just as invisibly.

So it had been with the Abyss Covenant of old. Beyond forbidding direct entry into the mortal world, that covenant had invisibly shaped every Abyss race and made them peoples of the Darkness of All Spirits.

A covenant was both fetter and power.

The changes wrought by the witch doctors' covenant had only begun.

What they had done reached far beyond the imps and the witch doctors themselves.

Like a storm, it swept across the entire world.

---

The Land of the Giant Dragon

Across this broad land, the lizard people had rebuilt their homeland and begun to multiply and thrive.

They had raised a city and several villages.

Though still few in number, their civilization was well developed.

The city held a library with a vast collection of books, workshops of many kinds, and an unusually high number of extraordinary practitioners. The first generation of lizard people were still alive.

They also possessed deep knowledge of metallurgy, planting and divine techniques.

Yet the Dragon God they worshipped had apparently not shown himself for many years.

Except for a few elders, the younger generation of lizard people had never laid eyes on the Dragon God.

In the city, a lizard person elder saw God's Moon appear and stared skyward in shock.

"That is..."

Deep in the mountain jungles, a terrible black dragon suddenly raised its head out from among the giant trees.

That slight movement raised its head above the mountains and jungle, hinting at the sheer scale of its body.

The black dragon gazed into the depths of the sky at God's Moon, ablaze with silver radiance. The moon's outline was mirrored in its enormous eyes.

The instant its gaze met the light, the black dragon closed its eyes and lowered its head.

"God's Moon!"

"It has returned."

Black Dragon Anu understood one meaning behind God's Moon's appearance. He had once followed King Osis in the campaign against Akmanmon, the King of Ghouls.

Back then Akmanmon had sworn an oath to God's Moon as the master of a race.

The power of that covenant was one reason Akmanmon had proved so difficult to kill.

"Is someone swearing the Crown of Wisdom Covenant again?"

"Who is it?"

Yet Black Dragon Anu sensed something faintly.

This covenant felt different from the last because the one swearing it was a true divine being.

Across an unimaginable distance, he faintly heard the distant voice and felt the mythical law spread from the High Heavens, through the Dream Realm and into the mortal world.

Just then, a rather shrill voice sounded nearby, astonished beyond measure.

It had not merely heard the covenant. It had understood what those beings were saying.

That was the Wisdom Language of the primordial age.

"Did you hear that?!"

"They're calling themselves... they're calling themselves... mythical witch doctors?"