Legacy System: Rise Of The Richest Man

LS: 40

After the peculiar sensation of passing through the portal faded, William found himself standing in a strange, unfamiliar location.

"Wow!"

The scene before him prompted the hero to exclaim in genuine astonishment.

Spread before his eyes was a vast, barren land plunged into darkness and gloom. Only the faint crescent light of the full moon hanging in the sky battled the intense blackness.

Not far from his current position, William’s gaze fell on a truly vast, large water body that stretched over a long distance, seemingly unending from his perspective. The hero needed no geography expert to tell him this was Dark Island, the sacred landmark and hideout of the most terrifying dark wizard cult in this dark world.

The sound of water calmly flowing could be heard clearly, and the waters were almost visible as they softly reflected the moon.

"What is that?"

A surprised voice muttered behind the hero as its owner’s eyes suddenly and instantly fell upon a mysterious, silhouetted structure rising from the water’s center—one the hero had just noticed at that moment.

In the center of the vast water body, a towering, magnificent spire rose toward the endless sky. The tower was at least twenty stories tall, its mere sight conveying a gloomy, threatening presence that sent chills deep down their spines.

All the crew had already emerged far from the portal and now stared at the malevolent tower with nervous expressions on their faces, quietly whispering among themselves as they wondered truly how difficult it would be to conquer it successfully afterward.

King Julian wore the most concerned expression, while Osborne appeared as though he had just witnessed the greatest wonder of nature, a look of awe on his face.

The softly glowing portal behind them began shrinking gradually, seconds after they all stepped through it. In less than ten seconds, the portal vanished completely, and the soft light it cast over the crew vanished entirely as well.

William wore a solemn, serious expression as he carefully sized up the tower. He had never expected the cultists’ hideout to be a tower. That detail wasn’t mentioned in any detailed reports, since no one had ever seen it. Even the true light wizard had to guess what it looked like.

While William observed the tower, he noticed something very strange at its tip. A section of it appeared to be rotating.

William continued watching the tower’s unusual roof when he saw a small spark of light moving slowly in a 360° arc. It was similar to patrol lights positioned around it, and within seconds, the very bright beam would gradually begin rotating, then turn directly toward their current position.

'This is bad!'

William turned toward the rest of the crew, who were still watching the malevolent tower, and barked at the top of his voice.

"Everyone, get down and lie as flat as possible. Do not move even once until I give the order!"

His warning came suddenly, abruptly, but none of the crew truly dared question their hero, they quickly dropped to the ground, lying completely as flat as possible, as if playing dead.

Although they had countless questions they wanted to ask right away, they decided it was better to quietly remain silent. Their hearts were still beating fast as they wondered why their valiant hero had issued such a thoroughly uncompromising order.

But the answer soon revealed itself as a blinding, bright beam of light flashed in their direction. The light was so intense it felt as though they had suddenly been thrust into a hot, scorching afternoon.

The sudden brief burst of light made them flinch and shiver. Some even erroneously believed it was a powerful fire magic spell sent their way by the cult, who might have already detected their presence.

Terrified and curious about the source of the bright light, they lifted their gazes slightly from their positions on the ground. Their eyes then landed on the top of the towering structure, which now housed a massive orb of light steadily flashing in their direction.

Given the tower’s incredible height and the illumination’s visually blinding intensity from the massive orb of light, they nearly actually mistook it for the sun.

"What the heck is that?"

Whispers actually escaped involuntarily from their lips, collectively, none had ever before witnessed such a scene in their lives.

Only after the hero’s detailed explanation did they clearly realize the bright light was a form of surveillance the cult had set to carefully monitor the dark surroundings of their hidden hideout.

"We likely have wizards stationed up there with the task of carefully sweeping every direction of surveillance, constantly watching for intruders. If they detect any movement, they can immediately alert the others, and we would be in serious trouble before we even possibly reach the island, let alone actually infiltrate the tower."

While explaining to them, William could not deny that he was truly just as surprised that such an invention evidently already existed in this world, which seemingly lacked centuries of technological advancement.

'Well, they have magic.'

William diverted his gaze from the orb of light and chose to examine his surroundings properly using the bright illumination to guide him.

'Hmm.'

William discovered countless bones scattered ominously across the area. These remains were truly enormous: the smallest he saw was longer than an average adult, and the largest was even twice the size of the Cranosith.

'For anyone to truly defeat such a gigantic abnormality, they must indeed be immensely powerful.'

Beyond the skeletal remains, William observed that this area bleakly resembled the intensely barren land they had passed before reaching the looming Mountain of Skulls, for no sign of any living creature could be seen here—not even a single blade of grass.

This was even more troubling, given how close this location was to a water body.

William’s only conclusion was that the cult’s activities had likely poisoned the land, rendering it truly infertile and uninhabitable for any living creature.

William continued observing his surroundings when the beam of light silently and slowly swept past them.

William promptly rose and gave the signal for the others to quickly stand as well.

"We must act quickly before the light turns back to sweep us again."