Crystal Palace from Infinite Anime

Not to mention, the Ratan Tower is full of tough guys. There are a group of flying dragons here and giant golems that can shoot lasers there. Even crossing a bridge will be blocked by a big flying dragon that is ten times more powerful than the damn Aegis.

If an ordinary player in the game is not around level 100 and dares to go to that area, he will definitely be beaten to death.

and so……

"It's better to rely on yourself than to rely on others!" Lin Zhiyu sighed in his heart.

Fortunately, at least Bertolos has pointed out a clear path for him.

If he could truly become a pyromancer, and achieve a fusion of body and mind with the flames, then why would he fear the cricket's scarlet corruption?

The problem now is that Lin Zhiyu doesn’t believe in God at all.

Even if he is willing to believe in some god in order to save himself, he has no suitable way to go for the time being!

Even if the black flames are removed.

As far as Lin Zhiyu knew, in fact, in a certain area in the southern part of Gaileyd, a "Bird of Death" that controlled spiritual fire would appear at night.

The problem is that thing can’t communicate!

The Shenpi clan will at least negotiate cooperation with others for their cause of killing gods.

The Death Bird was a reaper, a symbol of death itself, a messenger that carried life to the spirit world. If Lin Zhiyu, a living being, dared approach the Death Bird, he would be washed by spiritual fire, and there would be no chance of a proper conversation with it.

With this in mind, Lin Zhiyu asked Bertolos his question:

"If pyromancy is based on controlling fire and then infusing faith into it, then I don't believe in any gods at all. Where does my faith come from?"

Because Lin Zhiyu wasn't from the Borderland, it made sense for him not to believe in the Golden Tree. Therefore, Bertolos didn't think Lin Zhiyu's words were outrageous. But he was still surprised by Lin Zhiyu's words. After all, in a world where gods truly existed, there were very few people who didn't believe in them!

"Well... If you really don't have a god you believe in, then the best way is to find a god related to fire, and try to understand Him and follow Him." At this time, Bertolos thought of the Queen Xiaoyan, who was believed in by the Shenpi clan and had long disappeared in the history of the border area.

This is actually a good example.

But he was not in a position to use the Black Flame and the Queen of the Night Eyes as examples, so he used the fire of destruction on the snowy mountain as an example, and told Lin Zhiyu that in the era when the Golden Dynasty had just been established, there lived a group of fire giants on the snowy mountain.

Because they worship fire and believe in the evil god of fire who controls the fire of destruction, everyone of them is an extremely powerful flame mage.

Here, Bertolos clearly mentioned the fire of destruction on the snow-capped mountains, but he used the ancient fire giant clan to give Lin Zhiyu an example, rather than the fire martial arts monks on the snow-capped mountains.

This is because the fire martial arts monks were originally from the Golden Dynasty. After the Golden Dynasty fought a war and eliminated the fire giants, they were sent to guard the sealed fire of destruction.

Later, after a long period of observation, the fire martial arts monks were gradually attracted to the fire of destruction and became believers of the fire of destruction - this is actually a very secret and little-known thing.

Precisely because this is also a secret, even if Bertolos knew about it, he would not reveal it to Lin Zhiyu. Naturally, he would not use the fire martial arts monks as an example to tell Lin Zhiyu that the fire martial arts monks are actually the same as the fire giants and believe in the fire of destruction.

However, Bertolos's deliberate concealment allowed Lin Zhiyu to discover the key point.

"Well, Bertros, your mention of the fire of destruction on the snowy mountain reminds me of another group, the flame-practicing monks... You said that if the basic requirement for becoming a pyromancer is to believe in a god related to fire, then how do the flame-practicing monks become pyromancers?"

Since the fire monks belong to the Golden Dynasty, they should believe in the golden tree. However, the golden tree represents eternal life and has nothing to do with fire.

I didn't expect Lin Zhiyu to ask such a tricky question.

Bertolos remained silent, thinking to himself:

"The fire martial arts practitioners are not without faith in gods related to fire!"

But Bertolos soon realized that even if he told Lin Zhiyu that the fire martial arts monks believed in the fire evil god, this was not enough to answer Lin Zhiyu's previous question.

Because the fire martial arts monks did not believe in the evil fire god from the beginning!

So before they believed in the evil god of fire, were they already considered "fire magicians"?

"Hiss... Lin, I have to say, your question really stumped me." Bertolos frowned and was really lost in thought, wondering whether the fire martial artists had already comprehended the art of fire long before they believed in the evil god of fire.

If the answer is yes, then to become a pyromancer, is it not necessary to believe in a god related to fire?

Lin Zhiyu was also thinking about this question, and whispered to himself:

"Does the word faith have to be related to God and religion? Or, does it have to be belief and not faith..."

There is only one word difference between faith and belief, but the difference is huge.

It was because of what Lin Zhiyu said unintentionally in a low voice.

Bertolos suddenly opened his eyes wide, stared at Lin Zhiyu and asked:

"What did you say?"

Lin Zhiyu was stunned for a moment, then said:

"What I mean is that people don't necessarily have to place their faith in a high and mighty God. Just like your Red Lion Legion, you have always persisted in fighting against the Scarlet Corruption. This is actually a manifestation of faith or belief."

"If we define it as faith, I think General Shattered Star, or the flag representing the Red Lion Legion, is your faith."

"If we define it as belief, then your persistence and the reasons behind your persistence, aren't they your beliefs?"

After Lin Zhiyu finished these philosophical words.

Bertolos was completely stunned on the spot, but the light in his eyes was becoming brighter and brighter like a flame...

Chapter 18: Water Birds Dancing

As the saying goes, a word can awaken a dreamer.

As Lin Zhiyu finished speaking, Bertolos quickly realized that perhaps many people in their Red Lion Legion had already reached the threshold of being a flame mage.

It’s just that they never thought of integrating the power of fire into their bodies or even their souls, because from the beginning to the end, they only regarded fire as a tool.

An external tool to combat the scarlet corruption.

"Lin, I think you are right! Perhaps, what we really need is not to believe in a certain god related to fire, but to believe in fire itself, and believe in the meaning symbolized by the fire in our hearts." Bertolos stood up from his chair with shining eyes, and said to Lin Zhiyu with excitement.

After a brief pause, he said to Lin Zhiyu:

"If the essence of flame magic is as we think, then you should quickly figure out what your true beliefs are and whether there is any belief in your heart that you want to uphold forever."

After solemnly giving his instructions, Bertolos left in a hurry, presumably because he had some realization and needed to find a place to meditate alone.

After Bertolos left, no one else returned to the room where Lin Zhiyu was, because Lin Zhiyu also needed to meditate. After Bertolos left, he would not forget to remind others not to disturb Lin Zhiyu.

Afterwards, Lin Zhiyu stayed alone in the room, sitting on the hard bed, but no matter what he did, he could not gain any enlightenment like Bertolos.

Because he really didn't have any faith or belief, unlike Bertolos or other members of the Red Lion Legion, who always had a fire burning in their hearts.

"The Fire Giants have the Fire of Destruction, the Godskin Clan has the God-Slaying Black Flame, and perhaps even the Red Lion Legion will soon have their own unique Red Lion Fire."

"And what should my flame be?"

Suddenly, Lin Zhiyu raised his right hand, spread out his palm, and condensed a small ball of flame in his palm.

Looking at the flame, Lin Zhiyu was confused.

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Ionian swamps.

Busujima Saeko, covered in scars, held her weapons tightly in both hands and stared solemnly at the red-haired woman in front of her who attacked her like a madman for no reason.

The red-haired woman with messy and tangled hair was gasping for breath at this moment, and her condition was not much better than that of Busujima Saeko.

Her clothes and pants were cut into pieces all over her body - dark red blood was flowing out of these knife wounds made by Busujima Saeko, dripping into the rotten water of the same color as the blood.

"Who the hell are you!"

Busujima Saeko, who was covered in scars and bleeding, once again asked about the red-haired woman's identity in a deep voice, and did not want to fight with her to the end.

The two of them have exchanged dozens of moves.

The red-haired woman's swordsmanship is so amazing that even Busujima Saeko would feel inferior to her.

Busujima Saeko also tried, using the new ability she gained after clearing the Taimanin World - the active immobilization effect of "Super Vision" to briefly control the red-haired woman.

But this effect was ineffective against the red-haired woman, which meant that her spiritual attributes were far superior to hers! Otherwise, how could this happen?

Fortunately, the red-haired woman seemed to have internal injuries. Although her swordsmanship was extraordinary, her strength was not enough. Many times, her attacks should have been continuous and flawless, but they stopped abruptly halfway, as if her internal injuries had suddenly flared up and affected her performance.

With Busujima Saeko's strength, she will naturally seize the opportunity to launch a counterattack.

The result is that the two have exchanged dozens of moves, but the winner is still unknown, and each of them has countless scars on their bodies.

"If we keep fighting like this, I will either die in her hands or barely defeat her, and then there's no way I'll be able to walk out of this damn place with my seriously injured body!" Saeko thought to herself. She really didn't want to perish with someone for no reason.

She was also thinking about leaving this area and looking for Lin Zhiyu!

However, the red-haired woman holding the scimitar (curved sword) looks like a complete lunatic!

She was breathing heavily, her eyes were red, her eyeballs were densely packed with bloodshot, and her violent eyes were like a ferocious beast ready to devour someone.

Busujima Saeko tried to communicate with the red-haired woman, but the red-haired woman responded by spinning and jumping on the spot, as if she was about to launch another attack!

"Damn it! This guy is a lunatic!" Seeing that the situation was not good, Busujima Saeko couldn't help but tighten her grip on the hilt of the katana, mentally preparing herself for a do-or-die battle.

What surprised her and made her even more uneasy was that after the red-haired woman spun around and jumped up, her body unexpectedly, contrary to common sense, paused in mid-air for a moment.

In this moment of time.

Looking at the red-haired woman holding a knife and her body frozen in mid-air like a target, Busujima Saeko did not seize the opportunity to kill her.

Because at this moment, all the hairs on her body were standing on end!

"Danger!"

This is what Saeko Busujima knew from her intuition.

The next second, the red-haired woman who was originally suspended in mid-air instantly rushed in front of Busujima Saeko, waving her scimitar, drawing countless bright white blade lights.

The red-haired woman was extremely fast, but Busujima Saeko was still able to catch her figure with the naked eye.

Faced with the red-haired woman's extremely fast attack, Busujima Saeko raised the katana in her hand to try to resist, but in fact she could only see the red-haired woman's figure but could not see through her moves.

Swish swish!

As bright white sword lights flashed past Busujima Saeko.

Snap! Snap! Snap! Snap!

Busujima Saeko's body, which was already covered with scars, suddenly had many new long and deep knife marks.

The red-haired woman rushed from the front of Busujima Saeko to the back. At this time, she only needed to turn around and continue to attack. Busujima Saeko, who was already seriously injured, would probably die.

The red-haired woman did not seize such a good opportunity.

Instead, he suddenly froze in place, hunched over and started coughing continuously, coughing up a lot of blood.

Busujima Saeko was kneeling on the ground, supporting herself with her sword. When she heard the red-haired woman coughing continuously behind her, she quickly stood up with all her strength, turned around and slashed at the red-haired woman with her sword without hesitation.

As if sensing the danger, the red-haired woman immediately dodged sideways.

But her condition was really too bad. Her movements were not as swift as when she attacked Saeko just now. Although she avoided the vital points and was not killed by Saeko's sword, one of her arms was still cut off with a click and fell into the dark red swamp in an instant.

"Well!"

The severe pain from the broken arm made the red-haired woman groan.

She knelt on the ground, holding the right shoulder of her severed arm. Dark red blood kept flowing out of her mouth and her face showed pain. She was completely different from the mad dog who was not afraid of pain or death before.

But because the red-haired woman was kneeling on the ground with her head buried, Busujima Saeko did not notice this.

Having almost died at the hands of the red-haired woman's sharp sword style, Busujima Saeko was now blood-thirsty and was about to use up all of her remaining strength to completely kill the red-haired woman.

But that's it.

"Gululu..."

In the dark red swamp ahead, accompanied by bursts of bubbles, a man wearing light golden armor and a red cloak suddenly emerged from the water.

The man's face was covered by a helmet, and Busujima Saeko could not see his appearance.

But Busujima Saeko could see that the man was holding a rapier and a spear in his left and right hands respectively.

The man, sickly and lame, staggered towards Saeko. Her intuition told her that he was not a good person, so she chose to retreat, not wanting to risk fighting with her seriously injured body.

She did have a few exchange coupons left, which she could use to buy attribute points and endurance to restore her condition. However, her exchange coupon balance was only in the single digits, and even if she used all of them to buy attribute points and endurance, it would not make her feel energetic again immediately.

And who knows if the strange person who suddenly emerged from the water is even more terrifying than the red-haired woman just now?

"This damn place is too dangerous. It's better to leave here as soon as possible! And the weirdo that emerged from the water in front of me is not moving very fast. It seems that he doesn't want to kill me, but just wants to force me back."

While retreating, Busujima Saeko observed the strange man in armor who emerged from the water in front of her, and soon discovered that the strange man who emerged from the water stopped after walking to the side of the red-haired woman.

"That guy, is he protecting that crazy red-haired woman?"

Busujima Saeko showed a look of surprise.