Wizard: Starting from the Skill Tree

From this moment on, every prayer offered by believers of the Shadow Council to the Lord of the Dark Abyss will no longer direct the power of faith to Salonos, but will instead follow the faith channel Duke has rewritten, merging into the Light Divine Status and ultimately infusing into the Light God Court.

These believers won’t even realize they’ve changed whom they worship unknowingly.

Salonos spent countless years building his faith system in the Oracle Plane, and yet he has been outmaneuvered this easily.

The number of these believers isn’t large, but their quality is extremely high.

The recruitment standards of the Shadow Council are the most stringent among all major forces; each formal member undergoes rigorous screening and repeated tests, eliminating those with weak wills during the initiation ceremony.

Thus, they provide considerable power of faith, becoming yet another stable source of energy for the expansion of the Light God Court.

Duke doesn’t intend to integrate them into the Light Sect, as the Light Sect has its positioning, and the Shadow Council has its uses.

A power hidden in the shadows is more valuable than one exposed in the light.

As for Salonos, he can’t even understand what he has lost.

Before he reestablishes his connection with this crystal, he won’t even know his followers have changed allegiance.

Once the interplanar rift is completely closed, he will be unable to sense this crystal at all.

Duke’s spiritual power extends along the faith channels like reviewing an invisible roster.

Among thousands of anchors, the majority are low-tier members—black robed assassins, shadow mages, peripheral intelligence dealers...

But deep in the anchor network, he senses three exceedingly bright signals, far surpassing other anchors in luminosity, each emanating the rule fluctuations characteristic of Level 3 life.

The three remaining Great Mages of the Shadow Council.

After Dominic’s death, these three are the council’s only remaining top fighting strength.

Through the faith anchors, Duke can sense their current location, emotional state, and even subtle fluctuations of spiritual power.

They are clearly already aware of the unusual energy vibrations from the direction of Shadow Rift Valley, being in a state of extreme unease.

And further out, he senses other things.

These are several abnormal energy nodes, not belonging to any believer’s faith anchor, but having faint resonance with Salonos’s will.

Each node emanates dark purple energy fluctuations, same source as Shadow Stone Crystal, but the frequency and intensity differ.

Duke focuses his spiritual power on the nearest node, carefully sensing for a few breaths.

The contours of the thing gradually become clear in his perception, seemingly a small object, its surface engraved with shadow runes of the same source as the Descent Array, with a drop of Salonos’s original energy sealed inside.

This is a holy artifact, cross-planar anchor Salonos left in the Oracle Plane.

As long as these holy artifacts remain, he can through these anchors reconnect with the coordinates of the Oracle Plane and rebuild the faith channel.

Duke must destroy them immediately, cutting off Salonos’s entire contact with this plane.

He withdraws his spiritual power, fetches paper and pen from the Space Ring, marking the locations of these holy artifacts one by one on the Oracle Plane map.

Then he puts away the paper and pen, his aura suddenly changes.

The imprint of the Dark Bloodline deep within the Six-Element Compound Spiritual Crystal is activated by his will, a pure and ancient dark original aura far surpassing any shadow mage in the Oracle Plane surges from within him.

Dense dark red magic patterns appear on his skin’s surface, dark gold full-body armor automatically condenses from the patterns, dark gold wings spanning several meters unfold on the back, pupils contract into pure black vertical pupils, edges flowing with dark gold halo.

Duke’s body size has ascended several meters within breaths, shadow energy forms a spontaneous energy field around him, repelling the black frost crystals in the surrounding air far away.

Unlike Salonos’s chill, Duke’s presence carries a silent pressure like that of a food chain’s apex predator, stemming from ancient bloodline.

Using Dark Form to retrieve the Shadow Council’s holy artifacts is most fitting.

Then Duke sinks his consciousness into the Light Divine Status, along those three brightest faith anchors, directly injecting a carefully crafted oracle into the spiritual sea of the three Great Mages.

The content of the oracle is brief and clear: I am the Lord of the Dark Abyss, Salonos, projection avatar has descended to the Oracle Plane, now needing holy artifacts in your possession to enhance power. Dominic has sacrificed himself for me, his name shall forever be etched into the cornerstone of the Divine Hall of Shadow. Quickly send holy artifacts to designated location, make no mistake.

After issuing the oracle, Duke doesn’t stay waiting for a reply.

He collects the Shadow Stone Crystal already converted into faith channels, along with the residual runes of the entire Magic Array into the Light God Court, then the dark gold wings suddenly flutters, transforming him into a streak of dark gold light, dashing out of the rift towards the nearest holy artifact’s location.

Each flap of the wings leaves a circle of slowly expanding dark gold ripples behind, shredding the sparse clouds in the night sky into pieces.

Dominic is dead, he carries a divine oracle order with Dark Form to retrieve holy artifacts, the three Great Mages will not offer any obstruction.

The oracle is delivered directly to the spiritual sea through faith anchors, such soul-level resonance cannot be faked.

He must swiftly reach those holy artifact locations, severing the last thread connecting Salonos and these anchors, destroying them one by one.

The largest underground stronghold of the Shadow Council is located deep within the belly of a barren mountain in the north of the Rising Sun District, the entrance hidden behind a natural forest of stone pillars, outwardly seeming only a few inconspicuous rock cave crevices, but passing through them opens up to reveal vastness.

The mountain’s entire interior has been hollowed out into a gigantic underground fortress, the ceiling soaring nearly a hundred meters high, with thousands of shadow torches hanging, casting ghostly green light illuminating the hall like a spectral realm.

The walls are engraved with dense shadow runes, these runes emit dim glow under torchlight, maintaining the fortress’s defense Magic Array and air circulation.

In the center of the hall is a long obsidian walkway, lined on both sides with dozens of sturdy stone pillars, each engraved with the twisted shadow symbol of the Shadow Council.

Duke retracts the dark gold wings, silently landing through the ventilation crevice at the fortress’s top, his feet touching the obsidian pathway, causing the shadow torches throughout the hall to flicker.

On both sides of the hall stand dozens of black robed guards, upon seeing Duke’s appearance, they almost simultaneously drop to their knees, foreheads pressed against the cold obsidian floor, none dare to look up directly.

The pressure from Dark Form is akin to mortals gazing upon the abyss for those long steeped in shadow energy.

At the path’s end stands an obsidian platform, an elder with hair and beard white as snow tremblingly knelt upon the ground.

He’s been kneeling here for quite a while now.

Upon receiving the oracle, he immediately retrieved the three holy artifacts stored in the fortress’s deepest part, placing them upon the obsidian altar at the platform’s center, then ordered all guards to withdraw from the altar area, kneeling here alone awaiting the descent of his master.

Marcus hasn’t been this excited in a long time.

Since breaking through to the Great Mage realm decades ago, he thought nothing could excite him anymore, but he was wrong.

His master rarely directly converses with him through an oracle in such a commanding tone of urgency.

The projection avatar has descended, Dominic has sacrificed, now the master requires the three holy artifacts in his possession to enhance power.

This is the greatest recognition for the Shadow Council, and the highest praise for his decades of devoted loyalty.

Duke strides along the walkway step by step, with dark gold armor reflecting cool luster under shadow torchlight.

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