Wizard: Starting from the Skill Tree

Each step Duke took made the shadow torches on the altar tremble violently, as if even the flames themselves were bowing to him.

When he finally stopped in front of the high platform, the old man kneeling on the ground finally spoke with a trembling voice, filled with extreme awe, fanatical devotion, and a sense of a long-cherished wish fulfilled.

"Great Lord of the Dark Abyss! Your most faithful servant, Shadow High Priest Marcus, welcomes the descent of my lord!"

Marcus’s voice choked halfway through, and his graying head forcefully struck the cold obsidian ground with a crisp thud, leaving a bloodstain on his forehead, but he didn’t care, bowing a second, then a third time, each time exerting all his strength, as if only this most primitive body language could express his current inner excitement.

"My lord has not forgotten us... Lord Julius and Lord Dominic have already sacrificed one after another, the core of the council has withered almost completely, and your old servant has prayed day and night, fearing that the Shadow Council would vanish. But you have come, you have personally come!"

Marcus raised his head, his cloudy old eyes filled with tears mixed with the blood on his forehead, slowly flowing down the ravines of his wrinkles, but the corners of his mouth pulled into a nearly mad smile.

Then he shuffled back two steps on his knees, raising his hands high toward the altar, palms up, as if holding up an invisible holy artifact.

"These are the three holy artifacts you bestowed upon us. Your old servant has guarded them for decades, never daring to slacken even a bit, nourishing them daily with Shadow Energy, and worshipping them daily in accordance with the ritual procedures you bestowed, never missing a day!"

His voice echoed in the empty hall, each word tinged with the devotion engraved into his marrow over the decades.

"For decades, your old servant knew you would need them. The meaning of the Shadow Council’s existence to this day is to wait for this moment!"

Duke’s gaze passed over Marcus and settled on the three holy artifacts arranged side by side on the obsidian altar, then he slowly spoke.

In his Dark Form, his voice became deep and majestic, each syllable echoing as if from the depths of the abyss.

"Marcus, I have seen your loyalty."

In front of the high platform, Duke reached out and picked up the holy artifact on the far left.

It was a Shadow Scythe about the length of a forearm, with a blade forged from pure Shadow Crystal, dark purple runes flowing across its surface, the grip wrapped in circles of some long-dry, blackened vine.

He probed the interior of the scythe blade with his Spiritual Power, immediately sensing the residual will imprint of Salonos within.

The core function of the Shadow Scythe is to harvest soul fragments and convert the spiritual power of the harvested into a temporary power amplification for the user.

A Level 3 Top-Level Soul Element Witchcraft Artifact, its value on the Wizard Plane would be considerable, destroying it would be a waste.

The second holy artifact was a fist-sized Shadow Treasure Pearl, its surface dimpled, seemingly just an ordinary piece of obsidian, but when he probed the interior with his Spiritual Power, the structure of the entire underground fortress clearly manifested in his consciousness as a three-dimensional projection.

Inside the Pearl was an intricately engraved Surveillance Array, each node corresponding to the Shadow Rune at the respective position in the fortress, any unauthorized intrusion would trigger a ring of dark purple ripples on the Pearl’s surface.

A real-time surveillance core covering the entire fortress.

For Duke, its value was average, as there were too many similar things on the Wizard Plane.

The third holy artifact was the least conspicuous, a scroll tanned from the leather of some Shadow Creature.

The surface of the scroll bore no runes, but as soon as Duke’s Spiritual Power touched the edge, a torrent of complex information surged back.

It contained complete spells and casting techniques for dozens of forbidden Shadow Element magics.

From Shadow Shifting, Shadow Clone to Soul Corruption, each spell had been refined by Salonos himself, far more exquisite and efficient than the versions used by Shadow Mages on the Oracle Plane.

The value of this exceeded even that of the scythe, as it was knowledge from a powerful individual, there was much Duke could learn and draw from.

Duke casually placed the three holy artifacts back on the altar, pondering.

His original plan was to destroy them outright, completely erasing any remaining traces of Salonos on the Oracle Plane.

But upon closely examining these three holy artifacts, he realized that direct destruction was not the optimal solution.

Their grade was all at Level 3 Top Level or higher, rare high-level witchcraft artifacts even on the Wizard Plane.

Especially for the current Shadow Council, these three holy artifacts were core pillars in maintaining the organization’s deterrence and combat capability.

The Shadow Council was his power hidden in the shadows, the stronger the council, the more valuable it was to him.

Destruction wasn’t necessary, only purification.

The will imprint and Shadow Energy of Salonos embedded in the holy artifacts indeed needed to be cleared, but the method of clearing could be more refined.

By using the Light Rules to peel away the remnants of the Evil God layer by layer, while preserving the rune structure and core functions of the holy artifacts themselves.

The power attribute of the Light Divine Status just happened to restrain Shadow Energy, using the Light Rules to wash away the Shadow Mark, like using high-pressure water to clean a fine sculpture, as long as the water pressure was controlled properly, it could dust off the grime without damaging the sculpture itself.

Duke once again picked up the Shadow Scythe, the Light Divine Status trembling slightly within his Spiritual Sea, a thread of pale golden light infused into the scythe blade through his fingers.

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