Beckford’s Eyes

After eliminating Christina and destroying another castle in the process, Yinsen acted as if he had merely done something trivial. He brushed nonexistent dust from his sleeves and straightened his clothes, which had been ruffled by the surging Arcane Energy.

"Now we can go over and see what happened."

What was there to see? The entire castle had been reduced to scattered ice fragments beneath that powerful magical attack. The intense chill created by the blizzard was not so easily dispelled. Looking at the snow and ice covering the ground, everyone felt as if they had suddenly arrived in a land of Extreme Cold. Many adventurers without the protection of Magic Stone Equipment were freezing.

Though Yinsen appeared calm, he was secretly assessing the power of his spell. The blizzard unleashed through the Casket of Ancient Winters was even stronger than he had expected. The power contained within the Casket of Ancient Winters was indeed fierce and domineering.

"If Loki keeps working at it, even if he cannot surpass Thor, he will still have Combat Power capable of matching his."

Yinsen remembered that after Thor had initially awakened Thor’s Power, Thanos had still beaten him badly. Yet after forging a new weapon, whether it was because the axe was powerful or because the new weapon made it easier for Thor to fully wield his strength, Thor had nearly scored an Instant Kill on Thanos instead.

But even Thor at that point might not have displayed Combat Power greater than this blizzard attack. In other words, if Loki could successfully master the energy within the Casket of Ancient Winters and unleash an attack like this with his own power, it would mean his Combat Power was at least on the same level as Thanos’s.

As for now, Loki, who had only just mastered this power, should be roughly comparable to Thor when Thor still needed Mjolnir to draw upon his own strength. However, Loki was still inferior to the later Thor, who had broken free of Mjolnir and begun to master his own power.

Comparing them like this also let Yinsen understand what level he was currently at.

After estimating it, Yinsen finally reached a conclusion: he was still quite far from Thanos. Aside from the gap in physical ability, his greatest problem was that the magic power within him was not deep enough.

Fortunately, after passing through so many worlds, Yinsen had plenty of ways to make up for this weakness. Especially now that he had mastered the Tesseract, once he entered the Marvel Universe, it would be equivalent to having an endless source of energy at his disposal. Under those circumstances, it was not impossible for him to fight Thanos.

"At least I wouldn’t be completely helpless."

After holding himself back for so many years and painstakingly grinding levels, Yinsen had finally begun to see signs of becoming a high-level character. Now, he truly no longer needed to treat every situation with the same excessive caution as before.

At this moment, Loki was doing something similar to Yinsen. Compared with Yinsen, Loki was more interested in the power of this spell. Seeing the snow and ice spread across the ground, he looked exceedingly delighted.

He saw a vast and bright future for himself in it. At first, he had only half believed what Yinsen had told him. Although he had trained according to Yinsen’s guidance and tried his best to master this power, he had never had a clear idea of just how far he could go.

Not until today, through Yinsen’s spell, did Loki gain greater confidence in his future.

"There are no clues left here."

Brent looked around, then helplessly shook his head. Even if there had originally been clues, they had all been destroyed by that terrifying attack.

Looking at the snow and ice beneath his feet, he could not see the slightest trace of the former castle among those tiny ice particles. If he had not personally watched Yinsen create and complete that attack from nothing, he might have suspected that this had always been a Snowfield and that the castle had never existed at all.

Thinking of this, Brent finally asked the question that had been weighing on his mind: who exactly was the person killed by Yinsen’s attack?

"You knew that person?"

"Christina." Yinsen remembered clearly that this was the lich’s name. "Someone exceptionally skilled at using Death Energy."

Yinsen had originally wanted to say that she was a lich, but then he realized that the lich form he had seen earlier was merely one of Christina’s avatars. He did not know whether Christina’s true body had become a lich.

Glancing at the ice fragments beneath his feet, he could no longer confirm that. "She should have been a subordinate of someone named Beckford."

"Beckford?"

Surprisingly, Brent was not the only one to make a startled sound. Blade, who had been wandering nearby, reacted as well.

He had been lingering around the area, occasionally scraping at the snow and ice with his foot, as though he wanted to see what lay beneath it.

Everything he did was futile, because beneath the snow and ice he scraped away was an even harder layer of ice. As for what lay farther below, it was not something he could easily dig through.

When Yinsen mentioned Beckford’s name, Blade had been considering whether to use his weapon to dig a little deeper. The moment he heard Beckford’s name, he almost instinctively made a startled sound, then stood there in silence.

Meanwhile, after his initial shock, Brent continued questioning Yinsen, repeatedly confirming what he had said.

"You said Beckford? Are you sure?"

"I am certain it was Beckford. You know him?"

"Beckford was a very powerful adventurer." Brent’s expression was grim. He had not expected to hear that name. "And not just in these waters."

"What do you mean?" What did he mean, not just in these waters?

"Beckford was famous. Any adventurer with even a little experience knew that name."

Brent felt that what had happened this time no longer seemed quite so strange, since it involved Beckford. "It is just that no one has truly seen Beckford in recent years. Every so often, there are only rumors about him."

"What kind of rumors?"

"Beckford became a monster."

As Brent spoke, Yinsen finally gained a general impression of Beckford.

Beckford had been a very powerful adventurer, so powerful that almost no one dared make an enemy of him, until he crossed the Stormy Seas and headed for the next stretch of sea.

"Many people believed that if anyone could discover the Endless Land, Beckford was undoubtedly the most likely person. Just when countless people thought he had set foot upon the Endless Land, he returned to these waters."

Brent found it difficult to understand. He could not comprehend why an adventurer with such a promising future would suddenly return here, much less become a monster in the rumors.

He had always believed those rumors were nothing but gossip, since there was no evidence proving that Beckford had truly returned.

Besides, those rumors only appeared after long intervals, and apart from claiming that Beckford had become a monster, they contained no details at all. Perhaps they were merely stories fabricated by adventurers.

"I really never expected to hear that name from you."

Brent rubbed his temples. The situation was worse than he had imagined. If it really was Beckford, and if Beckford had truly become a monster, then the danger they were about to face would be far more perilous than they had expected.

The only fortunate thing now was that Yinsen was also very powerful. Though Brent did not know whether Yinsen could compare with the once invincible Beckford, he should at least be able to put up a fight, right?

"I don’t understand. If it really was Beckford, what could have made him return to these waters and become a monster?"

Yinsen, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly looked to the side and said something that sent chills through everyone. "Perhaps he can explain it to us himself."

Both Brent and Blade, who had suddenly gone silent, changed expression dramatically. They looked in the direction Yinsen was staring while tightening their grips on their weapons.

Under everyone’s gaze, a shadow slowly emerged from the ground, then stood there quietly.

This translucent figure had an utterly ordinary appearance. He looked like a common middle-aged man. If not for his eerie translucent form, he would have been no different from the ordinary sailors nearby. If he mixed into a crowd, he would be difficult to pick out again.

"Beckford?"

Yinsen was initially puzzled that Beckford looked like an ordinary middle-aged sailor. Then he understood that this was not Beckford’s true body at all, but merely an "eye" he had sent out.

It was similar to the avatar Christina had used, using one’s own Mental Power to control an avatar for activities such as scouting. The only difference was that Beckford had chosen an undead creature as his avatar.

"Since you’ve come out, I assume you have something to say to us?"

The ghost with the face of an ordinary middle-aged man carefully examined Yinsen with eyes brimming with evil energy. Only then did he turn to Brent and answer the question Brent had asked earlier.

"Because I discovered the Truth of the World!"

The undead’s words carried a strange effect. Several people felt slightly dazed, but such a petty trick had no effect on Yinsen. His increasingly powerful Mental Power had long since allowed him to become immune to this level of Mental Attack.

Not only that, Yinsen only needed to make his magic power vibrate slightly to completely shatter Beckford’s interference. At the same time, the undead before him trembled violently, as though it might collapse and dissipate at any moment.

Beckford glanced at Yinsen again, as if nothing had happened, then continued speaking. This time, however, there were no additional effects.

"Not long after I reached the Sea of Miracles, I finally discovered this world’s true secret." Beckford continued in an emotionless tone. "This world is far worse than you imagine. I returned here to save everyone in these waters."