Snow Dream did not respond. Orson raised his novice staff and casually pointed it at the ground, launching several Chaos Magic Balls with a brutal "normal attack" sequence.
A sharp clang echoed as the Chaos Chain triggered!
The Lotus of Chaos appeared, forcefully dragging the pretending-to-be-defeated Snow Dream out of the mountain.
"I've lost. I'll return your things to you," Snow Dream said, shaking her head slightly. The effect of the archangel had worn off, and she had reverted to her true form.
Her quasi-Divine item was now on cooldown, and she had lost her means of escape. She brushed the dust from her body, calmly stood up, and looked up at the familiar yet strange man before her.
Snow Dream understood Orson well enough. She wasn't foolish enough to say anything like asking for forgiveness. Once this man made up his mind, he would follow through to the end.
Betrayal had already become a fact. She wouldn't try to justify herself because, now that she had chosen to go against Orson, she would carry through with her own will as well!
Snow Dream recalled the dying Holy Light Silver Dragon and raised her hand, summoning the Soul Seal Sea and the Elf Queen Statue.
Orson didn't reach out for them but coldly said, "There's more."
"I'm sorry, but I can't give you the items I received from my wish. They're important to me," Snow Dream said with a wry smile, shaking her head. "Besides, these things are of no use to you."
"I know they're useless to me, but they are important to you, and that's why you need to give them to me."
Orson's expression remained calm as he suppressed his emotional fluctuations. "You have no bargaining power with me right now, unless you're willing to pay a heavy price to redeem them."
Snow Dream furrowed her brows, almost immediately understanding Orson's thoughts.
Whether it was PvP tactics or tackling high-difficulty dungeon raids, the key was maximizing the benefits when conditions were right. That's what top-tier players did!
It was something she had learned from Orson himself.
Backstabbing Wedge at a critical moment had granted her great rewards. Now, Snow Dream had deeply bound herself with Usher, surpassing the eight guild leaders, and had even become a rising star in the DK Group.
It was clear that Orson's way of thinking worked.
"I'm willing to redeem them, but I don't have much gold for you," Snow Dream said after a moment of thought. "However, I can exchange information with you. Would you be willing to negotiate with someone as dirty as me?"
As she spoke, a self-deprecating smile appeared on her face.
The mistakes had already been made, and she had only made more. So what?
A strong person only made choices that were beneficial to them, and that's exactly what she had done, in line with the teachings of the man before her.
Orson's eyes flickered slightly as he sighed. "Alright."
"These are the coordinates of five Cardinals. Each NPC spawn point has three; you'll need to check them one by one. I'll send you the rest of the information once I've looked it up after returning," Snow Dream said, rattling off a series of coordinate numbers, her lips curling up into a barely noticeable smile.
Orson's heart stirred. No wonder Snow Dream had the confidence to negotiate with him—these coordinates were indeed very important to him.
In order to secure the ancient teleportation array and enter other servers before the national war started, he had instructed people to secretly gather information on the remaining eleven Cardinals.
A quick glance told him that all these coordinates pointed to heavily guarded strongholds and bunkers.
Verifying their authenticity was simple: just cross-check them with the coordinates collected by the Godslayer Assassins' Guild.
If the coordinates overlapped, their authenticity could be confirmed to some extent.
"I've given you the coordinates. Now, can I leave?" Snow Dream frowned, showing a somewhat irritated expression.
She gave a small apologetic smile, then mounted the severely injured Holy Light Silver Dragon and flew toward the spatial rift.
Orson didn't speak, immediately seeing through her expression. She was faking it—trying to confuse him.
"Aren't you afraid I'll go back on my word and kill you now?" Orson turned to look at her, his tone cold, as though he could strike at any moment. Experience exclusive tales on My Virtual Library Empire
"You won't, because as you said, you know what I'm plotting, so you can't kill me," Snow Dream replied without looking back.
Orson fell silent, their unspoken understanding and tacit agreement hanging in the air. It was a mutual acknowledgment, but also a sense of sorrow.
"Then you can leave."
Orson sighed deeply. As Snow Dream turned, her eyes were filled with resolve and sorrow.
She hadn't just mastered the coordinates of five Cardinals; she had long since learned the coordinates of the eleven remaining Cardinals.
She had only revealed five coordinates to prevent Orson from killing her and taking her treasures.
Ever since Karquil was slain by him, the other Red-robed Archbishops had been living in fear, their movements unpredictable. Trying to hunt them all down would waste a lot of Orson's time.
And right now, time was the one thing Orson lacked.
"Only to preserve her life, but not to reveal the Cardinal coordinates and weaken the Holy Light Church's power..." Orson furrowed his brow, pondering again.
With Snow Dream's ability, she would eventually completely control the Church's power. It was illogical for her to weaken her own strength just for a few items.
After a brief moment of reflection, Orson came to a bold conclusion: "Using a knife to kill someone."
According to the Infinite Dimensions backstory, the Holy Light Church's Saintess was traditionally a priestess who served the Holy Church of Light.
Snow Dream, however, was a mage and belonged to the Empire Mage Guild. The two were not exactly allies.
If Snow Dream wanted to take full control of the Holy Light Church, the best method would be to eliminate the opposition and promote her own NPCs to key positions, thus maximizing her power!
"Nice move, you even included me in your plans," Orson shook his head.
If his guess was correct, Snow Dream's strategy had truly impressed him!
However, at this moment, he needed the remaining eleven Saints' Stones. Snow Dream required higher authority within the Church.
A transaction between the two would lead to a win-win situation.
This would bring no loss to Orson.
After cleaning up the battlefield and collecting an immense amount of loot, the Monster Siege event was nearing its end.
Orson did not immediately return to the US server but instead detached from the guild and began mass monster farming to gradually regain the lost levels.
"You've reached level 35!"
"You've reached level 36…"
Orson monopolized two Abyssal Rift corpse bugs, clearing out the monsters that would have spawned in the NUK server.
The players from the South Korea server were left bewildered, waiting for ages without seeing any monsters spawn, and the main city remained eerily quiet.
After grinding to level 40, Orson equipped the Heavenly Fire Set again, with extraterrestrial effects swirling around him.
"Let's see what kind of thing you really are. If you have a health bar, you're dead," Orson sneered, looking up at the massive shadow in the sky. After a moment of hesitation, he mounted his Crimson Lizard King and chased after it.
One hand was ready to open a spatial tunnel to escape at any moment, while the other swung his staff, sending a deathly blow with the Grip of the Underworld.
mlss!
mlss!
...
"It seems this is indeed a dungeon mechanism; this boss is invincible..." Orson suddenly paused as he saw the shadow dissipating a little.
His eyes sharpened in surprise when he realized that beneath the shadow, the true form of Ancestor Vilitian wasn't there!
There was only a bronze stone platform radiating with precious light!
"The Titan Wish Pool!" Orson was shocked, recalling the illusion magic released by his previous "mentor" Flame Fosset, who summoned elemental giants to drive away the Earth Dragon.
"Could that Vilitian be fake?!" Orson's scalp tingled, as he wondered what twisted secrets this Titan land was hiding.
The bronze stone platform seemed to have sensed a threat or realized that its cover had been blown, and it immediately flew straight toward the US server.
"You killed me twice, stop right there! Whether you have a health bar or not, I'm going to kill you!" Orson immediately regained his focus, mounted Crimson Lizard King, and gave chase, quickly following the bronze platform out of the Abyssal Rift!