After a moment’s hesitation, Madam Mable took the envelope.

"Don’t go too far, or I’ll have a hard time explaining things to Lord Albert!"

Zorn smiled.

"Madam Mable, I have deep roots and a large business in Ogrande City. If something goes wrong, do you think I could run away?"

"Rest assured, I know where the line is and how to handle it."

Hearing this, Mable nodded.

She was relatively at ease when it came to Zorn.

"Alright, you can go."

Carrying the large case, Zorn walked toward the Gray Mist Rift that had been opened by the ritual.

Madam Mable was Zorn’s strategic partner.

Helping her out a bit would improve their cooperation.

Besides, it didn’t require Zorn to give up too much. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

On top of that, Zorn could sense that Madam Mable was close to advancing to Level Six. She genuinely needed a type of Origin Power to help her complete the promotion.

She entered her office and came out about ten minutes later.

She was also carrying a small, white, fluffy Monster Treasure Chest.

"To the Mirror World Layer," she ordered the personnel controlling the ritual passage.

"Yes, ma’am!"

The staff immediately adjusted the passage to lead to the third layer, the Mirror World Layer.

...

「The First Layer: Gray Mist World Layer.」

After finding a relatively safe little corner, Zorn let his [Magical Castle] blossom into an ordinary, simple cabin in the woods.

Zorn initiated the World Origin siphoning ritual he had prepared long ago.

GURGLE GURGLE GURGLE...

The Magical Cottage began to slowly and steadily siphon the World Origin of the Gray Mist Layer.

This mysterious ritual for siphoning World Origin was a ritual from the final Chapter, one that could only be unlocked after achieving a comprehensive understanding of the seven world layers.

Fulfilling the prerequisites for this comprehensive understanding would take several years at a minimum.

Zorn, using his advantage as a [Player], took a shortcut and saved himself several years of effort.

Immersed in the gray mist, Zorn felt its fine, surging currents.

A vast amount of information about the [Legendary Ancient Mage - Small Plane Ruins] treasure Chapter appeared in his mind.

There were numerous secret treasures, hidden quests, unknown passages, special resources, and so on.

But what concerned Zorn the most was the single [Ancient God Curse] within that massive treasure Chapter.

Lower Rank Level.

Middle Rank Level.

Upper Rank Level.

At each major stage, a Transcendent could only master one [Ancient God Curse] or one [Ancient God Skill].

Once missed, the opportunity to master one would be gone forever.

Zorn was currently at the right level to master a Lower Rank Level Ancient God Curse.

’To obtain the Lower Rank Level [Ancient God Curse] seed from the [Legendary Ancient Mage]... I must complete at least three hidden challenge quests.’

’If I want a superior [Ancient God Curse] seed, I’ll need to complete five hidden challenge quests.’

’If I want the [Ancient God Curse] seed to be perfect... then I have to complete all seven hidden small-world quests.’

’Unlocking and obtaining the Ultimate Treasure—the Ancient Mage’s Divine Curse—is going to take a lot of time and effort.’

’Fortunately, time is something I don’t lack right now!’

’Alright then, let’s begin!’

In the original timeline, the [Evil Spirit Wizard] had tried to barge in by force to reap the rewards here.

But those good things all needed to be slowly cultivated with time and effort.

They couldn’t be obtained just by brute force.

His cooperation with the officials allowed Zorn to excavate the treasures here unhurriedly.

And no one would interfere with him during the entire process.

’Killing the first layer’s boss, the Gray Mist Knight King, will yield a treasure map blueprint.’

’Using the blueprint, I can excavate the Knight King’s ancient bones, which are scattered all over.’

’Finally, I summon the Knight King’s Ancient Heroic Spirit, kill it to restore its peace, and that completes the first layer’s ultimate hidden quest.’

’I wonder if the first layer’s gray mist boss has reformed yet. If not, I’ll have to go to the Gray Mist Totem District, kill those Elite Gray Mist Knights, and stack their helmets in the dilapidated stone pillar area to summon the remnant spirit of the Gray Mist Knight King.’

’After that...’

As he walked, Zorn vanished deep into the thick gray mist.

As he advanced, he would encounter Gray Mist Knights from time to time.

Combat was unavoidable.

Zorn was more than happy to fight these Gray Mist Knights.

The combat experience for his [Fighting Master] class and the kills for his [Evil Spirit Wizard] class both offered him rewards.

Just as Zorn had predicted, the first layer’s boss, the Gray Mist Knight King, had not reformed its Gray Mist Armor to be reborn.

So, Zorn adopted an indirect strategy to obtain the treasure map fragments, beginning his long treasure-hunting journey.

It took a full three days for Zorn to complete the hidden quest of the first Gray Mist World layer.

Next was the second layer, the "Purgatory World."

The ultimate treasure quest of the second layer was more difficult and took even more time.

Zorn spent about five days on it.

Then came the third layer.

Each world required Zorn to spend several days.

And this was with Zorn being extremely familiar with the quest process.

If he weren’t familiar with it and had to rely on the faint clues, it probably would have taken years.

Being busy inside the Ancient Mage’s treasure trove reminded Zorn of how it felt to be a [Player].

Back then, he would log on every day and wander the Ancient Ruins of the treasure trove, searching for resources and completing quests.

Now, he would come to the Ancient Ruins beneath Split Mist Town every morning and leave at night.

When he didn’t feel like leaving, Zorn would even rest for the night in his Magical Castle.

Besides the final hidden quests, if the right conditions appeared, Zorn would also try to complete some other conventional resource quests.

Although by the third day his Level Three Sequence Level was already at 99% full Experience, the Sequence Essence would accumulate within his Sequence and wouldn’t be lost.

Therefore, Zorn didn’t pass up any quests that offered rewards.

As Ogrande City continued to excavate the Ancient Mage Ruins and harvest large amounts of Extraordinary Sequence resources, Ogrande City soon launched a training system for Transcendent.

At the same time, the Ogrande City Hall accepted Zorn’s proposal to allow the Witches from the high mountains to enter Ogrande City and become official Transcendent.

This resolution, naturally, was met with strong opposition from the Church.

Throughout the long and complex river of history, the historical grudge between the Witches and the Church was not something that could be explained in just a few words.

They had gone to great lengths to drive the Witches up into the high mountains.

How could the Church tolerate the Witches now coming down from the mountains and even joining Ogrande City’s official ranks?

Letting Witches join the ruling class... wouldn’t that mean thousands of years of effort had been for nothing?

It was said that during the negotiations between the Church’s high-level members and the powerful leaders of Ogrande City, tensions were so high that both sides were on the verge of coming to blows.

But in the end, both sides managed to restrain themselves and began to discuss terms.

The very fact that the Church was willing to negotiate with Ogrande City’s officials showed that the Holy Fierce Sun Church in Ogrande City was also feeling the pressure.

In the past... negotiate? Negotiate my ass.

The Church wouldn’t negotiate with anyone; they would have directly issued a Bishop’s edict to crusade against the Witches.

The Knight Orders would be dispatched to annihilate them!

But now, with the power of Transcendent on the rise, the Holy Fierce Sun Church no longer possessed the supreme Extraordinary Power it once had.

They even needed to cooperate with Ogrande City’s officials to encircle and suppress the Sun Secret Cult.

Without the city’s cooperation, it was uncertain who would be encircling whom.

The outside world didn’t know the contents of the final agreement reached by the two sides.

But Zorn knew.

The Witches were allowed to enter Ogrande City, become official Transcendent, and participate in all activities.

In return, the Ogrande City officials would drop all charges against Duke Mu Huo.

For Zorn, this outcome was a clear win-win.

The Witches had come to Ogrande City.

This made his faction of collaborators even more powerful.

And driving Duke Mu Huo into the Church’s arms had been part of Zorn’s plan all along.