Chapter 127: The Last Emperor

When Andy heard Oliver mention that name, he became very curious and asked why the wizarding world was also called the "Cheater’s Realm."

Oliver’s explanation shocked Andy profoundly.

The primary reason the wizarding world was dubbed the Cheater’s Realm was that once a wizard embarked on the path of cultivation, there was a certain chance to awaken a “Soul Gift.” Soul Gifts were wildly varied, with all sorts of powers—some even utterly useless.

Yet, among them, there were always a few whose Soul Gifts were astonishingly powerful. Although the odds were slim, given the vast population of the wizarding world, their numbers were still considerable. Most of these individuals, barring those who gave up or died prematurely, would rise to prominence through their magical cultivation and become extraordinarily powerful beings.

Some possessed formidable combat strength, effortlessly challenging foes far beyond their level as easily as eating or drinking; others were deft and talented, excelling in secondary crafts; some advanced rapidly, climbing the ranks of wizardry with ease; and some were cunning strategists, orchestrating grand plans with casual ease.

If you were lucky enough to witness their growth, you would undoubtedly exclaim, “Damn, you must be cheating!”

But it wasn’t that they were cheating—the entire world was rigged.

Beyond the influence of Soul Gifts, another reason the wizarding world earned the title of Cheater’s Realm was its location—the very area where the fragments of the Endless Secret Stone Tablet had scattered long ago. These fragments, when combined with added materials through magical arrays, could form secret treasures of varying effects.

The function of these secret treasures depended not only on the materials used but also on the luck of the synthesizer. While most of the treasures created were mediocre and required many Source Energy Crystals to upgrade before unlocking greater powers, there were always some with miraculous effects.

Those who possessed such treasures became another form of “cheater,” especially since these treasures could continuously be upgraded.

Whether it was secret treasures or Soul Gifts, Andy had witnessed them firsthand. In a sense, he too was among the “cheaters.” Yet, hearing that many more existed in that world left Andy feeling a faint melancholy.

Was this what happened when you crossed worlds with a golden finger only to enter hell mode?

But what truly stunned Andy was Oliver’s explanation of the origins of Soul Gifts.

It was said that thousands of years ago, before the wizarding world had fully established its place, wizards had no Soul Gifts. At most, some could develop meditation talents several levels weaker than Soul Gifts by practicing meditation techniques.

At that time, the capital of the Arcane Empire had just vanished. Some noble families from the remnants of the empire seized the opportunity to enthrone a prince who happened to be outside the royal city when the Endless Secret Stone Tablet exploded.

They intended to use him as a puppet to continue the Arcane Empire’s rule. This prince was the youngest son of the Arcane Emperor, D’Arcy Augustus.

D’Arcy was only eight years old then and was manipulated by these noble families for several years. During these years, the Arcane Empire suffered consecutive defeats against the Alliance of Gods, and internal strife brewed within the empire. Meanwhile, these noble families fought fiercely for power, seeking to control more imperial authority.

As D’Arcy grew older, he grew increasingly disillusioned with these so-called loyalists. One day, with the help of his sister, he escaped their watch and even stole the remaining base of the Endless Secret Stone Tablet after the explosion.

His sister, Charlotte Augustus, had avoided the catastrophe in the Sky City because she had gone to another dimension in search of her missing lover.

After D’Arcy disappeared, these noble families could no longer maintain their rule under the pretense of righteousness nor suppress the rise of wizards. Following a great upheaval within the empire, these families sealed off the dimension they inhabited and withdrew from external conflicts to focus on arcane research. They began calling themselves the Hidden Clan.

The wizards formed a council, replacing the arcane families as rulers of the dimension once controlled by the Arcane Empire. This marked the embryonic form of the modern wizarding world.

However, when the wizard council first took control, the war with the Alliance of Gods was extremely unfavorable. Wizards struggled to hold their ground as the gods gradually encroached on their territories.

Some farsighted wizards proposed a bold plan: to develop education at all costs and train new wizards. This idea was widely supported.

The wizard council established numerous magical academies on a resource-rich dimension far from the frontlines, collecting countless arcane records and building vast libraries. Skilled educators were assigned to teach there, gathering prodigies from various dimensions. This dimension was renamed the Academy Dimension.

After a thousand years of development, the Academy Dimension produced many new wizards who aided in the war effort, but it was still far from enough. The frontlines remained dire.

This was because a new force had emerged within the Alliance of Gods: the mages under the magical goddess Tanasha Augustus. Tanasha was a newly ascended deity in the Alliance, once the eldest daughter of Emperor Augustus and the Arcane Empire’s crown princess, who inexplicably defected to the enemy.

Her mages were her former followers from the Arcane Empire.

Tanasha combined her arcane knowledge with divine faith to invent the Magic Web. Since then, her followers began calling themselves “mages,” reviving an ancient title from the Arcane Empire.

Compared to wizards, who needed to meet spiritual power standards, painstakingly build magical models, and train hard to control their magic, mages’ cultivation was much simpler. Once their spiritual power reached a threshold, they could use the Magic Web to memorize spells, which they could cast at an advanced control level instantly.

Though mages were useless beyond the Magic Web’s coverage, their rapid training meant that for every wizard the wizarding world produced, the Alliance could create three mages.

Therefore, even after the mages joined the war, the frontlines remained unfavorable for the wizarding world. If not for the daily spell slot limitations and the lengthy time required to build the Magic Web in newly conquered areas, the wizarding world would have retreated even faster.

The main reason the war persisted for over a thousand years without total defeat was that a few ancient and powerful wizards remained in the council, deterring the gods from launching an all-out war.

But at this rate, the wizarding world’s fresh blood and war potential would be slowly exhausted.

Just as the council was racking its brains for solutions, they could never have imagined that the crisis would be resolved in such an extraordinary way.

The last emperor of the Arcane Empire, D’Arcy Augustus, who had vanished for over a thousand years, suddenly appeared in the Academy Dimension and accomplished a world-shaking feat.