I, the wizard, the foolish Buddha.

The Fifth Foundation, the Palace of Light and Shadow, the Corridor of Faith.

This gallery doesn't seem to have been built for human beings; it's far too tall and grand.

Although it's called an art gallery, its area is much larger than the stadium that was newly built in the East for this year's World Cup. People standing here look like ants.

Its dome may be over a hundred meters high, enough for a dragon to soar through.

In fact, wizards have been flying into the gallery on fire dragons.

The paintings that used to hang in the gallery have been removed, and even the walls that symbolized faith have been torn down. Now, standing on the edge of the gallery is like standing on a cliff, with a direct view of the land and the blue sky beyond the holy mountain.

“After today, this place should be renamed the Corridor of Truth.” Harland seemed very confident about today’s baptismal battle. As he walked with the others toward the center of the gallery, he stroked his white beard and said, “Roland is quite good at painting. When the time comes, let him paint today’s battle. The front will be open like this, and the painting will be hung on the back wall—Roland, what do you say?”

"Don't even think about it," old Johnson snorted. "If I let him paint, I'm afraid something else will crawl out of the painting."

Roland shook his head, not joining in the old folks' bickering.

"There are so many people outside," Roland said, looking at the land beyond the cliff.

The view here is fantastic, like looking out from a mountaintop. Many cities lie near this sacred mountain range, and one stands right at the foot of the cliff. It's a bit far, but the city is large enough to be easily spotted.

The city is filled with towering towers, and under the sunlight, it shimmers with a dazzling magical glow. If one's eyesight is good enough, one can even see many people flying into the sky, gazing towards the horizon.

There are people not only in the city, but also in the suburbs, wheat fields, rivers, and forests outside the city, and even at the foot of the holy mountain.

Looking around, the crowd stretched from the ground to the sky, occupying almost every corner of the field of vision.

Out of curiosity, Roland couldn't resist using 'Elemental Vision'. Then, countless stars appeared in his field of vision—the hidden magical radiance emanating from the people.

The people of the Eastern Realm are now able to learn and use magic. Spells are like idioms to them; even children who haven't learned all the words can say a couple.

In addition, the magic industry has overcapacity, so magical items have become everyday luxury items. Even the magic carpet servants, which were once expensive and symbolized status and prestige, are more common than bicycles were decades ago.

Those wealthier families even possessed magical treasures.

When these people gathered together, the magical radiance emanating from them was dazzling.

Looking at the stars that seemed to float above the earth, Roland couldn't help but marvel at the development of the Eastern Territory over the years.

In just fifty years, the world has undergone earth-shattering changes. Because Roland often secluded himself in his research institute or library, he sometimes even felt that he had fallen behind the entire era.

When Roland came out of the library a couple of days ago, he didn't recognize many of the new things. Helena and that brat O'Reilly even mocked him for being from ancient times.

Fifty years. In Roland's memory, the South, which had just ended the war, was still plagued by bandits and famine.

Now, when Roland walks down the street, he can't even be sure whether the passersby he encounters are living people or android apprentices.

I've heard that wizards are currently discussing the human rights of android apprentices. Roland really doesn't understand why something like a puppet needs human rights.

Of course, this plan failed due to strong opposition from the Twilight and Black Abyss wizards. Old Johnson was quite right when he said, "We don't even have human rights right now, and you're worrying about those rusty clockwork mechanisms?"
“Of course there are a lot of people; almost everyone on the ground has come,” Elder Williams replied to Roland.

"Huh? You've all come over?" Roland asked. "Didn't you say it was the same everywhere? What are you doing here?"

“There’s always a need for more participation, right?” Brianna laughed. “Even though the Dawn of Light’s spiritual network can unite everyone with you, people still want to join in the fun before the event starts.”

“There’s also the element of security,” Harland said, stroking his beard. “You know, the gods don’t go mad before entering the ‘Zero Realm.’ But after entering the ‘Zero Realm,’ the concept of death no longer exists.”
As long as the gods don't go mad, the methods of the Dawn of Light cannot be easily breached by Heaven. Therefore, this place is safer than the other side of the planet.

Everyone wanted to smoothly enter the 'Zero Realm' and participate in the real war, so they all came.

The term 'Zero Boundary' originated from a study by wizards on the 'Underworld Ocean'. Apart from a few individuals like Roland, most people have become accustomed to using this new term to refer to the Underworld Ocean.

"To put it bluntly, everyone was afraid that Heaven would reveal itself, so they burned the Eastern World into a glass sphere," Johnson said. "Although our souls have embraced the dawn and can be resurrected from the River Styx, resurrection takes time."

Therefore, if you die before entering the 'Zero Boundary,' you may not be able to join the battlefield.

“You’re overthinking it,” Roland said, shaking his head. “They wouldn’t dare to make such a big move, otherwise they would be helping us.”

“Indeed. This place is too close to the Zero Boundary. Without the wings of the Angel of Peace, we would have already fallen in. Excessive power would tear the wings apart,” Brianna said, looking towards the distant horizon.

She paused, then added, "The scenery is also due to the crowds gathered here—we sped up yesterday, and today the view from Zero Boundary is much larger than usual."

Roland looked towards the horizon in the distant sky.

Near the mountains on the horizon, the sky was a strange color, as vibrant as paint splashed into water and swirling around.

The swirling paint was moving up and down visibly near the mountains, resembling a constantly rising and setting sunset.

Occasionally, when the colorful clouds rise high enough, a glimpse of black can be seen—that is the 'sun'. A black 'sun'. Or rather, the entrance to the Zero Boundary.

Using the 'sun' as a metaphor for this thing is inappropriate, because it is dozens of times larger than a normal sun.

If this thing were to rise, its area would surely occupy one-third of the sky.

At that moment, Roland suddenly noticed that the black sun seemed to be slowly growing larger with each sunrise and sunset. His expression changed slightly, and he hurriedly asked, "Didn't you say it had stopped? Why is it still approaching?"

“It has indeed stopped, but not by ourselves. It was Heaven who pulled it.” Brianna tapped her forearm, her gaze unfocused, and then she said, “According to the latest estimate from the second line, it will stop completely in about half an hour.”

I reckon that by then, the gods will open the door and come to inquire.

The gods really need to come and ask what happened, because if it weren't for the Heavenly Kingdom pulling hard on the 'rope,' the Eastern Realm would have been sucked into the 'Zero Realm' this morning, along with the entire Heavenly Kingdom.

Therefore, the gods have a very important task to do during this baptism—to pull this world out of the 'zero realm'.

And the wizards also have a very important task—tug-of-war. (End of Chapter)