I created the myth of the Great Old Ones.

"Uh, Miss Sia?"

Lu Ban reached out and waved his hand between her eyes and the pages of the book.

There was still no response.

"Fell asleep?"

He leaned closer for a look. The girl in armor kept her eyes open and was even turning the pages of a book, but she didn't respond to Lu Ban's calls.

Like a kind of doll.

"...Something went wrong?"

Lu Ban wasn't sure if there were any ghosts or monsters in this desert that could turn people into puppets, so he hurriedly pulled out a crowbar and forcefully knocked down on the armor behind Xia's head.

bang-

The crisp sound echoed through the desert.

Lu Ban noticed that Xi Ya had stopped turning the pages of the book.

Like a puppet suddenly turning into a person, Xi Ya raised her head, her eyes filled with lively color again. She looked at Lu Ban, and then at the crowbar in Lu Ban's hand.

"What are you doing?"

Such a question.

"Just now you..."

Lu Ban hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.

"It's magic."

Xia explained.

"This spell is called the Reading Spell. After casting it on a book, it allows my body to remain in a reading state, learning knowledge, while my own consciousness can rest and do other things."

"?"

Is this a case of textbooks growing up and learning to crawl into our brains on their own?

Lu Ban didn't quite understand.

He only knew that this thing would definitely be super useful in class.

"Well, I just looked up a way to learn magic, and I can let you try it now."

Xia spoke again, which excited Lu Ban.

Chapter 178 Three Handshakes

Although he had to pray every day to master magic, Lu Ban felt that if he could learn even one or two spells, even just making fireballs would be very useful.

He originally had no faith, but if the gods of the Night Kingdom were willing to give him some power, Lu Ban wouldn't mind believing in them. After all, it's free, so he might as well believe a little.

"First, you need to go through a simple ceremony to connect to the Gray Tower's magic network, sign an agreement, and become a spellcaster recognized by the magic network. This step is usually done when we are fourteen years old in the Gray Tower. I have a basic template here, so there shouldn't be any problems."

"Once you become a spellcaster in the magic network, you will have the authority to pray for spells from the gods within the magic network. At first, you may only have one or two, but as you continue to use magic, or continue to learn, or become a chosen one of a certain god, you will eventually be able to obtain about ten commonly used spell slots, and powerful people may have more."

"Well, the prayer process is a bit complicated. If I explain it in terms you can understand, you can think of it as the spellcaster and the magic network shaking hands three times."

"For the first handshake, you first extend your hand into the magic net and wait for the gods within to respond; after the gods receive your prayers, they will give you a response, telling you that they have heard you, and this is the second handshake; finally, when you hear the gods' response, you must continue to pray, telling the gods that you have received their response, at this time, the third handshake is completed, and you will be able to receive the knowledge bestowed by the gods."

"Finally, all you need to do is connect to the magic network after midnight every day, then pray for spells. These spells will be injected into your brain through the magic network, becoming temporary knowledge, and then you can cast spells."

"Of course, these spells are actually gifts from the gods, not your own. So once midnight passes, this knowledge will disappear, and all you have to do is pray again and ask for spells."

After Xia finished her rambling explanation, she looked at Lu Ban with an expression that said, "It's very simple, isn't it?"

Lu Ban didn't understand. He was now somewhat relieved that none of the fantasy movies he had watched had a very detailed description of the structure of magic.

It seems that the story of someone who is a poor student in this world and becomes a genius after transmigrating to a magical other world is 100% fictional.

"It's very simple. We can try it now. However, this other world is different from our world, so the connection to the magic network may not be smooth. Sometimes it may take a long time for the gods to respond."

Xia produced a piece of parchment and a quill pen from somewhere, and then quickly wrote on the paper, forming something resembling a contract.

"Here you go, this is the most basic spellcaster's agreement, usually used to let children experience spells. It only lasts for one hour. Let's try it out first."

Xia became quite enthusiastic when she talked about these things.

It's like the expression on the face of a top student who, during a holiday at home with nothing to do, finds that his greatest interest is working through past college entrance exam questions, and then sees the last question of the final major problem in last year's Jiangcheng college entrance exam math section, which has three solutions.

Lu Ban took the parchment; he had never seen the writing on it before, but he was able to understand it quickly.

This isn't a contract to sell your soul to the devil; it's just a document similar to a user agreement.

He didn't understand how Xia had managed to memorize such complicated information. Lu Ban looked at it carefully and realized it was basically the same as the documents for buying electronic products.

He signed his name.

"Next, all you need to do is read this sentence aloud as written here, and you can try shaking hands for the first time."

Sia pointed to a passage on the parchment.

Lu Ban read that passage aloud.

"Observer of the Gray Tower, I beseech you for knowledge, truth, and all the reality of all things."

As soon as he finished reading, Lu Ban felt the surroundings suddenly darken.

The campfire's light grew incredibly dim, and even the night sky seemed to deepen. He couldn't see Sia beside him, as if he were alone in a void, where stars seemed to be shining.

"Ok?"

Lu Ban soon discovered that although there were stars in the sky, they seemed to ignore him and twinkled alone.

Is anyone there?

Lu Ban asked a question.

No response.

"Could it be because we're in a different region that the latency is higher?"

When playing domestic games while abroad, the latency will also increase, which Lu Ban thinks is similar to the spell of the Gray Tower.

He waited for a while, and then the stars that were still visible went out one by one.

It's like someone going out to see what was going on out of curiosity, only to find out it was Lu Ban and then going home.

"???"

Lu Ban felt very hurt.

He waited for a while, but still no stars responded to him. Lu Ban felt the surroundings getting brighter and brighter. Soon, he saw the campfire, the silver desert, camels and luggage, and Xi Ya wearing armor beside him.

"So, what kind of spell did you pray for?"

The girl looked over excitedly.

"...Is something wrong? It seems like no God is responding to me?"

Lu Ban said hesitantly.

"That's impossible. Even if you're an ordinary person, as long as you sign this contract, you'll definitely be noticed by the magic network. Even if you can't get a spell through prayer, a god will respond to you."

Xia seemed somewhat surprised and hurriedly flipped through the book, but found no relevant explanation.

"Impossible, impossible, absolutely impossible."

She was somewhat disoriented.

"Could it be that this place is too far away, so your gods cannot find it?"

Lu Ban tried asking.

"I just cast a spell, there's no way the connection wouldn't work... unless..."

Xia suddenly fell silent.

"Do you remember what I just said? To use magic spells, you need to pray to the gods and then increase the number of spells you can use through your own learning and practice."

"However, there is another kind of person who is born with a connection to the magic network, or rather, when these people are born, a god chooses them, and only this one god can answer their prayers."

"The Grey Tower calls these people 'Chosen Ones'."

"?"

Lu Ban felt there was a big problem.

The Chosen One of the Silent Lands and this Chosen One are clearly two different things, otherwise Sia would not have been able to come here.

He was just an ordinary young man, so how did he end up being chosen by the gods of the Gray Tower?

Or is it that this deity is not from the Gray Tower, but comes from its own world?

Thinking of the stars he had once seen at the Jiangcheng Grand Theater, Lu Ban suddenly realized something.

"Could it be that back then..."

"What do you usually do with these chosen ones in your Gray Tower?"

Lu Ban asked curiously.

"There is a complete difference between receiving a response to a divine prayer and being actively observed by a deity. The former merely borrows the deity's knowledge, while the latter means being pursued by that knowledge. The chosen ones recorded in the history of the Gray Tower..."

Xia considered her words carefully before replying.

"They all died tragically."

Chapter 179 The Most Precious Thing in the Apocalypse

early morning.

Lu Ban saw the stars dim and the sky turn golden. This gradient from pitch black to golden surpassed all landscapes on Earth and could be called a magnificent sight.

He decided to pretend that what happened last night never happened.

Actually, Lu Ban didn't really want to learn magic.

Since it's said that you can conjure a fireball if you stay single until you're thirty, Lu Ban felt he still had a few years left and didn't need to rush.

In the latter half of the night, Sia basically studied using her reading technique, like a statue that occasionally moved.