Chapter 201 | Infinite Passive System: I Killed My Way Through the Wizard World

Boulder raised his cup as well.

The two coral cups clinked together in midair, producing a crisp ring.

“Hahaha, good, good, good!” Boulder’s voice was filled with smug satisfaction. “Drink, drink, drink!”

Both of them threw their heads back and drained the liquid in their cups.

Ethan set down his empty cup, reached for the unopened bottle of Coral Brew on the low table, unscrewed the cap, and filled Boulder’s cup to the brim before pouring himself half a cup.

“Your Highness,” Ethan said, raising his cup. “In all my years at Blood Bone Tower, no one has ever been this generous to me. You are the first.”

Boulder took the cup and gulped down another mouthful.

Ethan also took a sip, using the rim of his cup to hide the slight twitch of his lips.

Outside the thirteen layers of concealment arrays, on the gravelly slopes of Horn Mountain, Wizard Dark Stream and Wizard Blood Fury squatted like stone statues at the edge of the array. Neither of them spoke.

On the web woven from gray silk threads, the projection of the altar was as clear as day. When Boulder pulled out a handful of knowledge crystals, Blood Fury's lip twitched. When Boulder said, “If you don't take them, it means you look down on this prince,” Blood Fury's eye twitched twice. And when Ethan actually stored those seven knowledge crystals into his storage ring one by one, raised his cup, and said, “To you,” Blood Fury finally couldn't hold it in any longer, squeezing out a couple of mumbled syllables from his throat.

“What the fuck...”

Dark Stream glanced sideways at him.

Blood Fury pointed at the projection on the gray silk, his crimson eyes filled with disbelief. “Dark Stream, tell me, how the hell did that kid pull this off? He’s just a newly promoted First-Tier Wizard whose cultivation hasn’t even fully stabilized yet. That Sea Dragon prince is a Second-Tier lifeform. Even if his brain was completely pickled in Coral Brew, he shouldn't be this stupid, right? Seven Second-Tier wizardry models, just given away like that? What kind of spell did this kid cast on that Sea Dragon? A Second-Tier lifeform! No matter how unexposed to the world the Sea Race is, they shouldn't be swindled like this by a First-Tier Wizard, right?”

Dark Stream raised his right hand and gently plucked the gray silk thread in front of him.

The thread vibrated, and the projection of the altar became slightly clearer.

“He didn't cast any spell. He simply gave this Sea Dragon prince exactly what he wanted most.”

Blood Fury turned his head to look at Dark Stream.

“What's that?”

“Validation.” Dark Stream withdrew his finger as the gray silk thread wrapped around his fingertip before unraveling. “This Sea Dragon prince has lived in the deep sea for hundreds of years, surrounded by nothing but kowtowing sycophants. Most of his plans and schemes probably weren't taken seriously by anyone within the Sea Race. Now that he’s come to land and met a wizard willing to listen to his boasting—and flatter him just right—it's only natural he'd get carried away.”

Blood Fury fell silent for a couple of seconds.

He turned his gaze back to Ethan in the gray silk projection.

Ethan was holding his coral cup, listening intently to whatever Boulder was saying. He nodded from time to time, occasionally interjecting with phrases like “Your Highness is absolutely right” or “I am truly in awe of your grand vision.”

“This kid is a fucking genius,” Blood Fury squeezed the words out through his teeth.

...

“Genos,” Boulder said, raising his cup, the drunkenness in his voice even heavier than before. “Let me tell you, those Second-Tier wizardry models are nothing. Once you reach the deep sea, this prince will take you to the treasury to pick whatever you want. The Sea Dragon tribe’s treasury has accumulated wealth for hundreds of thousands of years. What kind of treasure don't we have? When the time comes, just take whatever you want. Don't be polite with me.”

“Your Highness,” Ethan set down his cup and leaned forward slightly, lowering his voice. “I do have one request.”

Boulder waved his hand grandly. “Speak!”

“It’s about the Spirit-Deceiving Array,” Ethan said. “I’ve spent years in Blood Bone Tower, so I have a decent understanding of the academy's monitoring array distribution. I remember the locations of the monitoring nodes in the three empires surrounding the Thorn Empire, the rotation cycles of the arrays, and even the encryption frequencies of the emergency distress signals. If Your Highness could let me examine the complete array diagram of the Spirit-Deceiving Array, I might be able to help you upgrade its effectiveness. At the very least, we can make sure it evades the routine patrols of Second-Tier Wizards.”

Boulder's hand holding the cup paused.

In his light blue eyes, the alcohol-induced excitement faded slightly.

“The complete array diagram of the Spirit-Deceiving Array?” Boulder set his cup on the low table, his finger slowly tracing the rim. “Genos, this is something I spent over a century developing, mobilizing hundreds of array masters from the Sea Race. It is so complex that anyone who isn't an array master wouldn't even be able to make heads or tails of it. The energy circulation circuits, the information replacement mechanisms, and the fluctuation camouflage layers involved—any single part of it would take a Second-Tier Wizard from Blood Bone Tower half a lifetime to research. You...”

Ethan nodded, his expression remaining deeply respectful. “Your Highness, I understand. The Spirit-Deceiving Array is your trump card, and as an outsider who has only just joined you, I indeed shouldn't ask for so much. It's just...”

He paused, taking a sip from his coral cup.

“It's just that since I’ve agreed to return to the deep sea with you, I've essentially bound myself to your ship. If your plan succeeds, I will rise to greatness alongside you. If your plan fails, I won't be able to escape either. That is why I wished to understand the details of the Spirit-Deceiving Array better, to see if I could be of any assistance. After all, having spent all these years in Blood Bone Tower, I have a fairly thorough understanding of the academy's monitoring systems.”

Boulder stared at Ethan for a few seconds.

Ethan didn't shrink from his gaze, holding his coral cup with a completely open and sincere expression.

Boulder suddenly grinned.

“Genos,” Boulder said, raising his cup and taking a large gulp. “This prince likes your pragmatism. You don't hesitate to ask for benefits, and you don't hesitate to show your loyalty when the time is right.”

He pulled out another knowledge crystal from his storage device.

This crystal was a full size larger than the previous seven, about the size of a fist. It was a deep blue color, with countless fine, silver-white lines flowing within. Those lines intertwined, wound, split, and recombined inside the crystal, forming a three-dimensional structure so complex it would make one's head spin. Runes faintly flickered on the surface of the crystal, and each flicker sent out a ripple of extremely faint blue light that would dissipate on its own after expanding two or three inches into the air.

Boulder placed this crystal on the low table but didn't push it forward.

“Genos, this prince treats you as a confidant. This array diagram can be shown to you. But we must make one thing clear first.”

Ethan shifted his gaze from the crystal to lock onto Boulder's light blue eyes.

“Please go ahead, Your Highness.”

“The Spirit-Deceiving Array is my Sea Race’s trump card on land. If this card is leaked beforehand, this prince’s century-long planning will be completely ruined.” Boulder tapped his finger gently on the surface of the crystal twice. “Therefore, you only have one choice.”