There were currently a total of three known entities who had been turned to a statue.
The first was the Last God, who had turned into a statue by burning himself away with the majority of the world's supernatural entities at the end of the first Empire.
The second was Nala, who had turned herself into a statue by burning herself at the Kiln of the First Flame.
And finally, the third was a true devout servant of Nala, Alkors Louis, the heir to the [School of Steel Respiratory Art]. After discovering that Nala was burning herself away, he had used [Respiratory Art] to harmonize himself to the rhythm he felt and turned into a statue just like Nala.
And according to the Supreme God world's simulations, Alkors' statue was the easiest for them to return to normal, and there was only a single means to achieve this.
That is------- big bones should be boiled into soup… not!
It was actually to gather the factors corresponding to this phenomenon, this meant they needed an artifact that could become firewood during the Age of Flames that now contain the rules of the new world within it, which would be used to light a Rejuvenating Flame that would rekindle life within the statue.
And the Bone of God just happened to perfectly fit the requirements. It was an artifact that represented the Giants during the Age of Flames, and the fact that it was still potent after the Age of Turbulence means that it had also become accustomed to the rules of the Age of Metal.
There was a high possibility of awakening petrified entities through using the Bone of God to rekindle their flames.
However, Bones of God had now been scattered all over the world, and the only one whose location they could confirm was in the border city of the New Royas Kingdom, which was the one that had been split in half and implanted inside Parry and Ramillies.
Since they weren't well-prepared yet, wouldn't making their way in front of the King of Evil Spirits essentially be a death wish?
But apart from it, there were very few other things that fit all the requirements, otherwise, why were people so afraid of becoming firewood?
"There's another solution, the dragon's bloodline"
The discussion of Xu Yao's group had reached this point, mentioning that the dragon's bloodline had also been passed down since the Age of Flames.
During the Age of Turbulence, many people with this bloodline had gotten out of control and turned into monsters. The descendants of Negary's Dragonmen troops, the monstrous offsprings of stray Bizarre Scales, as well as the bloodline of families that naturally contained dragon's blood like the Tagula clan, all of them had to face the threat of their bloodline going out of control through each generation.
However, life was strong, and as long as it wasn't direct destruction, they would eventually adapt to their circumstances.
After many generations of their bloodline going out of control, someone from a dragon's bloodline family had managed to adapt to the changes of the era and used that very same bloodline as the foundation to establish a new school of Pugilists, thus becoming a first-rate Pugilist.
That person was called the Dragon Warrior, and it would be possible for them to light a fire that rekindled Nala's vitality and awoke her from her slumber if they extracted all the dragon's blood from his body.
However, the Dragon Warrior's current level of strength was too low. With his power level only at two stages of Divinity Extraction, it would be like pouring some water into a desert. From their estimations, it would take at least someone who had completed three stages of Divinity Extraction in order to awaken Nala, or perhaps even higher than that.
None of them knew for sure what power level Nala had managed to achieve before burning herself in the First Flame, but they had confirmed that the more powerful someone was prior to becoming a statue, the harder it would be to rekindle their fire.
In other words, Alkors might awaken right away just by being splashed with some dragon's blood.
This guy was the heir of the [School of Steel], and even though it was a [Respiratory Art], only the heavens would know whether or not it actually had some connections to the Age of Metal. He might even be quite the formidable ally when he reawakens.
The knight of the Saintess, who had turned into a statue with her, suddenly waking up over a thousand years later into an unfamiliar era; in order to awaken his Saintess, he would walk the path of collecting the necessary factors.
This sounds nothing short of a classic hero's journey, he would fit right into the mold of a main character.
Or rather, there were too many people in this world whose story could fit into the mold of a main character.
The Dragon Warrior who had determined himself to struggle free of the influence of his own bloodline; the newest generation of Chris who hums the hymn of justice and exact his own sense of just; the only son of the Black Blood clan whose Blood of Impurity originated from a Crowman had plagued them for over a thousand years; a first-rate Pugilist who was called the Ghost Knight that was actually a Ghostman; Parry and Ramillies who shoulders the glory and honor of their respective families in the border city of Royas, having been implanted with fragments of the Bone of God; the mysteriously resurrected Aureum whose identity was just as much of a mystery; the reawakening Great Emperor of Royas, Eldridge.
In any other worlds, such people would at least play the role of Deuteragonist if they weren't the [Protagonist], but in the Flame world, there were so many of them that the Supreme God world could make a long-term series out of their stories.
A blessed land with many heroes. One could describe the current Flame world in this manner, or one could also call it Arkham, regardless if this 'Arkham' referred to a mental hospital or a small city.
Regardless, since the Dragon Warrior wasn't reliable as a plan, the group of Apostles had actually placed the hope of awakening Nala on the Salvation Church itself.
Due to the return of the King of Evil Spirits, the Salvation Church had recently been gathering and accumulating a lot of items of interest. From their analyzed information, they knew that there was a great possibility of the skull of the last dragon, the human-lover Versace, to be in the possession of Duke Slick.
According to their analysis, Versace might possibly have been the origin of the Tagula clan's dragon bloodline, which by extension would be the origin of Nala's dragon bloodline. If it hadn't been destroyed during the Age of Turbulence, there was a 80-90% chance of it being able to rekindle Nala's flame.
Of course, the most urgent task for them right now was to awaken Alkors, which might be able to serve as an extra helping hand, otherwise, they would definitely clash with the Duke by directly asking for the dragon's skull.
Naturally, clashing with the Duke was inevitable, as the other party was only gathering people on the pretense of rallying under Nala's banner, while their true intentions were unknown to everyone.
However, there was a great deal of difference when interfering with the inner workings of the Salvation Church as a member and interfering with it as a group of strangers.
And with Alkors on their side, they would naturally have the high ground of righteousness.
After entering the Duchy, the Apostles squad only discussed briefly to completely grasp the world's status quo before scattering again. After all, they were all expert combatants who had completed three stages of Divinity Extraction.
The only reason they weren't willing to clash directly against the Salvation Church was inconvenience, not out of fear towards Duke Slick.
Ying was responsible for looking for an artifact to rekindle Alkors; Bai Zi Xi was responsible for bringing Alkors' statue to the rendezvous point; Blondie was responsible for searching for survivors from the Tagula clan who had lost the Tagula name during the Age of Turbulence. After her awakening, Nala might be more willing to cooperate with them if they had this descendant on their side.
Big Qiang was responsible for seeking out Adventurer Chris, who would then gather those willing to fight against the King of Evil Spirits under one banner and persuade those who can't be convinced with words using his fists.
As for Xu Yao himself, he would be closely monitoring Duke Slick and resolve the issue of later Apostles being transported into this world.
…
In the border city, the fog was gradually spreading wider. Those who had realized that something was wrong had already escaped the city, which naturally including Aureum's group.
As he, Parry, and Ramillies had undead bodies, they established the Deathless Organization with the goal of collecting ancient knowledge as well as scouting various ruins.
Aureum was purely pursuing knowledge to better understand who he was; Parry wanted to become stronger in order to find his memories; while Ramillies wanted to regain his family's glory.
Negary was now travelling with the black crow Yayu on his shoulder and Lan Shan who continued to hold an umbrella over him as they headed towards the capital of the New Royas Kingdom. Since all preparations were now ready, he wanted to visit an old friend.
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