118 ck Crow Gaze


    A few secondster, Cass realized that the falling stars weren’t real stars, but something wrapped in a spatial bubble.


    When they got closer, Cass saw that the bubbles were wrapped in armor.


    Dozens of armor of different shapesnded around Cass and spun.


    This scene was like a legendary story where a witch living in ake took out her collection and allowed the hero who hadpleted a trial to choose.


    However, unlike the legends, theke witch took out all her collections and the Presiding Judge…


    With this in mind, Cass couldn’t help but look up at the stars in the sky.


    If every star here represented the Presiding Judge’s collection…


    The armor surrounding Cass was either gorgeously decorated, in in material, strange in shape, or ssic in style. The only thing they had inmon was that every armor emitted a surging aura of strength.


    Cass was undoubtedly an amateur in the appraisal of enchanted equipment. He could onlypare the holy relic-level enchanted armor he was wearing to the dozens of armor.


    The conclusion was that the holy relic-level armor he was wearing was trashpared to the surrounding armor.


    “All the divine-level armor you can wear that doesn’t have any side effects or is within tolerable range is here. Do you want me to help you choose, or do you want to rely on your intuition to choose one?”


    The Presiding Judge’s words pulled Cass back to reality.


    All divine-level armor?


    Upon hearing this, Cass found his mind in a mess.


    Cass only had a vague understanding of how precious divine-level equipment was without a specific concept.


    He only knew that in the past, a divine artifact could cause a considerable war between kingdoms. Now, the only ones who dared to im to have a divine artifact and not be coveted by others were the Riel royal family, the Astral Council, and the Holy Spirits Church—the three pirs that maintained the Empire.


    Even the Rose Pce’s treasury and Duke of Thorn’s personal collection didn’t have any divine equipment.


    Cass gulped.


    “Presiding Judge, could this be…”


    “The uing mission is very dangerous. Even these things will only slightly increase your survival probability,” William exined frankly.


    Cass recalled the Presiding Judge’s words. This mission seemed to be targeting the Void Sovereigns.


    Therefore, he asked, “Then, are we going to…”


    “I’ll tell you the exact n in detailter, but you have to remember—there might be deaths,” William said.


    “Me?” Cass asked calmly.


    “Us,” William replied tersely.


    Then, he continued, “Therefore, these things are only worldly possessions. Don’t worry and choose.”


    For a moment, Cass was touched by the generosity of the Presiding Judge.


    However, he immediately had a question. Since they were worldly possessions, why did the Presiding Judge carefully store them in this alternate space?


    However, before he could think about it carefully, his attention was immediately attracted by the armor that was filled with powerful strength.


    A momentter, Cass pointed at a silver scale that seemed to be made of dragon scales and asked, “Is this okay?”


    He felt a faint affinity with the scaled armor as if they were connected by blood.


    William sighed and said, “I knew you would choose this. This is indeed mostpatible with you, but it’s also the choice with the greatest side effects for you.”


    With that said, William undid the spatial bubble wrapped around it.


    “This armor is a divine artifact forged by the ckwater Kingdom during the Bronze Age. It’s called Oka’s Scale, and it’s something specially designed for the King and Rebel ritual to strengthen the resonance… Do you understand what I mean?” William said.


    Cass nodded.


    This thing could help him resonate more with God King Oka’s power, but at the same time, it would put an even greater burden on his mind.


    Cass replied, “When I spar with Death Vera’s authority holder in the trial tower nowadays, I can already defeat him while staying lucid. Even if I wear this armor, I believe I can suppress that influence for some time, right?”


    However, this wasn’t very convincing. After all, an illusion couldn’tpletely simte the true strength of an enemy. Moreover, Simon was an extreme amateur as a user of Vera’s authority. Being able to control his thoughts and defeat him didn’t mean anything.


    William thought for a moment and nodded.


    “Alright, let’s use this.”


    With that said, he waved his hand, and the scale flew into Cass’s hand.


    Cass took the scales and was about to ask what mission they were doing when the armor floating around him flew up into the cosmos and turned into stars again.


    At the same time, more stars fell.


    “Next up, selecting essories,” William said.


    …


    Imagine a storm that can snap a mast like a sugarcane with a wave and then increase it tenfold.


    This was what happened every day at ck Crow Gaze.


    The sky and sea were twisted into one through the storm. Under the illumination of waves of lightning, the surging sea undted like the back of a behemoth.


    In the center of this vast storm was a triangr ck ind reef.


    On the ind reef stood an ethereal lighthouse. Although the light was faint and it looked like it would be swallowed by the storm in the next second, it remained standing, bringing light to the lost ships in the distance.


    Storms were a realization of despair, and lighthouses were hope.


    Countless marooned ships and pale and bloated corpses floated on the sea around the ind reef. Moreover, the closer they were to the lighthouse, the more of them there were.


    They were the materialization of the pursuit of a glimmer of hope—the lighthouse—in the storm of despair.


    Hope and despair went hand in hand.


    Without the beauty of hope, there would be no cruelty of despair.


    The reverse was also true.


    Crows circled above the countless corpses.


    asionally, when the surrounding storm calmed down slightly, they would fly to the corpses and gorge themselves. However, soon, a huge wave would suddenly strike this ce, devouring the crows into the depths of the deep sea and returning everything to silence.


    “Is this how he stops his strength from growing?”


    Looking at this scene, Coles hovered in the storm and muttered.


    The corpses that were drowned not far from the Lighthouse of Hope were the best food to strengthen the Father of the Crows.


    The crows circling in the storm were an extension of the Father of the Crows’ strength. If they swallowed the products of extreme hope and despair, they could quickly recover their strength and advance to the level of a quasi Void Sovereign.


    However, he had been draining himself like he was torturing himself for the past thousand years.


    Even if he instinctively couldn’t control himself from devouring the power, he would immediately pull it into the abyss of despair.


    Coles shook his head.


    “You’re wrong, ke!”


    He shouted at the lighthouse.


    His words were swallowed by the storm, and no one replied.


    Coles took a deep breath before the ck wings on his back spread out like dark clouds that blotted out the sky. At the same time, four huge phantom outlines appeared at the end of the storm. Instantly, the storm on the entire sea seemed to stop for a moment.


    “Look at the consequences of your choice back then. Is this the future you’re looking forward to?!”


    Coles shouted at the lighthouse again. This time, his voice seemed to echo throughout the world.


    This time, what replied to him was an endless flock of crows flying toward him.