10 night
The structure of the golden-domed building was simple
There was no fence, and only a silver line marking the ground. Faint silver glowed and flowed within the line. The entire building was simply surrounded by a circle of this silver line to demarcate it from the other buildings.
Lin Sheng looked down at the lines, squinted and slowly took a step forward as he pulled one of the axes from his back and tossed it gently at the line.
*Clack.*
The ax connected with the line, tumbled for a bit, and lay still on the ground.
"No problems there."
Lin Sheng looked up and slowly crossed the silver line as he made his way before the building.
The main door was in pure gold, on it were massive symbols about passing through two gates.
The symbols had the silhouette of a man's face, and on the head were two horns as two ram-like horns grew from the back of his head. There were no eyes within the eyes socket, giving out a bizarre, chilling aura of terror.
Lin Sheng paused for a bit before putting his hand onto the door and pushed hard.
*Clack.*
The door seemed to be locked, as a metallic clang was heard.
Lin Sheng pulled his hand back and took a step back as he shot out a powerful kick.
*Bam!!*
The door shook under the massive impact, and as silver glint flashed through it, it did not budge.
Lin Sheng continued kicking it for about half a dozen times. Not only did the door not budge, it felt like it was getting sturdier by the moment.
Frowning, Lin Sheng looked around the building as he started to circle the research center.
After a good half a circle later, he was at the back of the building and found a round platform covered with a yellow curtain.
The platform seemed to be made out of grey stone, and engraved on it were countless intricate circuits and symbols with a layer of translucent crystal enshrouding it.
And what piqued Lin Sheng's interest was, there was a transparent connected corridor between the platform and the building. A completely sealed glass walkway and the entrance was that round platform.
"This seems like… a back door? A backdoor that requires special authorization?" Lin Sheng raised the yellow curtain around the platform and observed the engraved circuits and symbols.
He was not the clueless idiot from the past. After taking in a large number of memories, he had some knowledge about these circuits and symbols. After all, while the sanctum mainly focused on sacred power as its core system, but within the Ashen Seals and the summoning rituals, they were still based on basic runic symbols and magical circuits.
It could be said that the Ashen Seal was based and expanded from the spellcasting system.
Lin Sheng made his way to the front of the platform and peered inside.
The pathway was empty, with only some black bloodstains on the ground. It was so faint that if he did not focus he would have missed it.
He slowly made his way in as he pulled out two axes from his back.
The pathway was about ten meters long and he quickly made his way through it as he entered a rather empty hall.
Looking up from the hall, it was like the main hall of an ancient temple. There was a faint golden glow from the top of the dome, and the source of the light was a large round light screen on it.
On both sides of the hall were rows of long rectangular pillars, and at the top of them were stripes that looked like claws.
A bright red triangular cloth hung on every pillar with golden trims on their side. On the cloth was a large four-horned human head, just like the one on the door.
"Another one…"
He gripped his axes tight as he walked into the hall. In the center of the hall, there were a few overturned black stone tables and cutleries scattered all over the ground. Some of the plates had crusty food remnants on them.
"It seemed like the meal was in progress before it was violently disrupted…" Lin Sheng said as he kicked one of the stone chairs. It was heavy, at least a hundred kilograms in weight.
"Even a chair is that heavy?" He frowned in slight confusion. It did not seem like it was meant for a normal person's use.
He then looked around. There were dark shadows between the pillars of both sides.
From the shadow, he could see a number of sealed doors. On the top of the door were blurry portraits, probably indicating who the owner of the room was.
Lin Sheng circled around the hall and found in the corner was a few gorgeous form-fitting black dress, an intricately sewn cloak, two wooden staves, and a few pretty but useless vases.
There was nothing else other than those.
"It seems like there's nothing in the central hall, and the good stuff is probably inside the rooms.
"To think that there's a square hall inside the round building. There are eight rooms on each side, so sixteen in total…"
Lin Sheng looked around and walked towards the first room on the left.
He paused for a moment as he held his hand out to hold onto the bronze vine-like knob and twisted it.
*Clack.*
The door slowly pulled outwards.
The room was simple with only a Greystone platform in it, with its upper sections engraved full of compact runes with all four walls having four large ellipsoid crystals etched in them.
Lin Sheng paused for a moment and realized that there was no danger before he stepped into the room.
*Hiss…*
A red light suddenly lit up in the middle of the platform.
An orb of flames quickly rose from the platform. It was originally the size of a football, but it rapidly expanded and in a blink of an eye, became the size of a man.
Within the flames, a large humanoid creature with four horns charged out towards Lin Sheng with nary a sound.
The humanoid being had dark skin and wore a similarly dark metal armor.
The armor was roughly built, aside from the neck and the waist area with their skull adornments, the rest of the armor was simply linked by simple crisscrossed chains.
The being had legs that resembled a mountain goat, and it wore two silver knee guards with human faces etched on each of them. In its hands was a flaming broadsword in one, with a translucent round shield in another.
*Clang!!*
Lin Sheng raised his ax to block the blow. As embers flew, he quickly realized that the heat was coming from the sword.
"Ansag! Ansaglinar!" The humanoid monster roared as it slashed in a brutal arc.
It was powerful and was beyond the ability of a Level 3 to block. Only a Level 4 could manage that.
Lin Sheng carefully took a big step back and dodged the slash.
A massive amount of heat was emanating from the burning double-edged blade and was quickly heating the room up.
The monster continued its brutal assault, but its skill was subpar and simply relied on its massive strength and speed.
After absorbing so many memories of so many sword masters, these were simply child's play for Lin Sheng.
He continuously dodged about a dozen blows as he observed the monster's skillset and abilities as he tried to mutter simple Deviltongue words to try to communicate with the latter.
However, the monster seemed to be without intelligence and was only shouting a few specific words repeatedly as it relentlessly continued its frenzied attacks.
After a minute of observation, Lin Sheng noticed his opponent had run out of skills to throw at him, and simply threw one of his short axes toward the latter's head.
*Whuff!!*
The short ax spun into a ring and sank directly into the monster's head.
It stopped for a moment, as a surge of holy white light exploded out of its body, leaving it a walking mess bellowing black smoke
"Roar!!"
It let out a painful roar as it charged forward again, swinging its flaming blade wildly at Lin Sheng.
His eyes turned crimson as his veins expanded and popped all over the surface of his skin, not unlike swarms of green worms.
Lin Sheng did not dodge this time. A deafening clang rang out as he blocked the blade while he lashed out a powerful side kick.
A thud later, the monster flew away and slammed hard against the floor, its hip twisted into an odd angle. Its spine broke.
"Defense Level 1, strength Level 4, speed Level 3, combat awareness Level 3. Average level, three. If it has some better defense, it could be Level 4 even."
Lin Sheng looked at the armor worn by the monster, it seemed to have slivers of purple crystals in it, but it did not activate during battle. Probably too much time had since passed, and it has lost its effect.
"It probably uses some supernatural defense, but has lost its effect due to time, causing this to happen."
He slowly walked over to the howling monster and smashed his ax against its head.
*Bam!*
The skull and the ax head cracked at the same time.
The monster's howl stopped as it flopped, and stayed forever quiet.
There was a massive gap in its head as a large amount of gross yellow-white matter flowed out of it. Lin Sheng waited for a moment, and realized that there were no black lines forming, surprised him.
That did not really bother him, though, as he bent down and picked up the flaming twin-bladed sword.
The moment the sword left the monster's hand, the flames on the blade quickly shrunk, and became dim.
In his land, the sword looked more like a massive torch, and even with the smaller flames, the embers were still about the size of a finger, and was still capable of singing someone.
Oddly enough, he did not feel the hilt heating up. The burning blade seemed to be a junk blade a lousy smith had made. It was simple, crude, its blade thick and not tapered, and there were even chips off the edges.
The hilt had a simple brown cloth wrap, while the guard was fashioned out of a red metal into a horn-like shape.
The blade itself did not have any engravings and looked the part of a third-rate weapon.
"What about that shield? Lin Sheng remembered that the beast had a semi-transparent shield.
What surprised him was the shield had gone missing as if it had long disappeared.
"Seems like the shield was the monster's own ability," he guessed as he swung the flaming twin-bladed sword about.
A surge of sacred power soon went into the blade
*Boom!*
Suddenly, the flames of the blade roared to life as the embers spat out at least half a meter away as if Lin Sheng was holding a ball of flames.
The flames even burnt him, but Lin Sheng had dragon skin and was highly resistant to fire, so that did not bother him.
He gently swept the blade onto the wall. As the blade barely made contact with the wall for over two seconds, a black scar was burnt on the wall.
"Not bad!"
Lin Sheng knelt down, satisfied as he started rummaging through the body of the monster. As he did not manage to find anything else, he picked up the sword and started looking around the room.
The room seemed to be purposely made for this monster. There was no furniture or any signs or visage of life, not even any combustibles nearby.
After a quick search, Lin Sheng left the room and came to the second one on the left of the hall.
He gently pushed the door open. Before he could even fully open a door, a surge of power blasted out from the room and slammed at the door onto Lin Sheng.
*Bam!!*
A monster with four horns on its head, wielding a flaming sword charged out at Lin Sheng.
*Clang!*
The two flaming swords clashed against each other as Lin Sheng lashed out a punch against the monster's head.
With a massive thud, the monster's entire face collapsed inwards.
Not even two seconds later, the monster collapsed on the ground and died. The battle was over.
Lin Sheng was pleased as he withdrew his sword.
With his Level 5 sacred powers and the combined strength of Level 6, a Level 3 to Level 4 monster was nothing to him.
*Hiss…*
This time around, a black line appeared from the monster's body and entered Lin Sheng's chest.
He closed his eyes as he absorbed it. Images of darkness, slumber, and feasting entered his mind.
There were two particular images that left a mark on him, one was that the monster with the flaming sword was gathered with many other monsters as they gorged on food and drink in the hall.
The second one, the four-horned monster, was being defeated head-on by a young man in Blood Armor and fell on the ground without any resistance.
Lin Sheng saw the face and noticed some similarities with the Steel Lord's aide. This monster was probably defeated by an elite of the Warrior's Guild before and had carved that memory into its soul.
He could feel his spirit grow a little, just a wee bit.
"After reaching Level 5, the total volume of sacred power has increased. I think I'll need at the very least hundreds of these monster's soul fragments to level up… Seems I need to find stronger monsters to meet the requirements, otherwise it'll take forever to get to Level 6 with these trash mobs."
He sighed to himself as he pried the flaming sword from the monster's hand. Two blades in both hands, that suited him fine.
As he kicked the body aside, Lin Sheng walked into the second room.
There were metal discs of various sizes in there. The plates were all dark yellow, with intricate engravings on the surface of them, probably a part of some special book-making process.
Lin Sheng walked closed and took one of the discs to read. It was written in ancient Rehn, and aside from some odd grammar, he could read it.
The discs were all placed neatly within the holes in the wall, and on every disc was a short but special essay.
Lin Sheng looked at the disc in his hand. It was the size of a human head with almost thousands of tiny words engraved into it. It would not have been legible if he did not focus.
On top of the disc was a title. "Ideas and theories about building the Holy Sanctum's defense system." Beneath it were many rows of tiny words.
"The defense system of the Holy Sanctum? Could that be…" Lin Sheng recalled that ritual that had appeared in the Steel Lord's memories.
As long as the Steel Lord lived, every non-human being would not be able to escape the city. If it was that ritual of such a scale…
His interest was piqued, and he gave the disc a thorough read.
On the disc was everything about the functions of the city's defensive system without any detailed instructions.
Lin Sheng quickly went through it, and aside from some conceptual ideas. There was nothing.
He then placed the disc back at its original place before sweeping his gaze over the rest and checked their titles.
"The Introductory Usage of Defensive Runes."
"The Discussion of Possible Issues With the Energy Nodes."
"Babylonian Effect Calculation"
"The Relation of Energy and Electromagnetic Fields' Exchange."
"The Font of the Holy Sanctum: Construction and Maintenance (Volume One)."
Lin Sheng's gaze paused for a moment as he took the disc about the Holy Sanctum down and started reading it.
"A font of sacred power. The construction of any Holy Sanctum would need a font as its base. As a massive facility to store and convert sacred power, the font of sacred power would need the attributes that the sorcerer's magic fonts do not have.
"Its functions: The storage, provision, and conversion of sacred power. Providing a natural base for a Soul Benediction matrix (Soul Benediction: One of the most basic Divine Arts. It is a supernatural matrix that will provide natural healing of any ailments upon gathering a large amount of sacred power. The area of effect will fluctuate according to the reserve of sacred power.)
"Requirements:
"A convertor to change the spiritual power of prayer into sacred power.
"A sealed structure that will not be exposed to store sacred power for the long term.
"The required items are waterproof masonry, platinum, gold, Ashen Seal core, anti-corrosion paint, heat-resistant paint, insect repellent matrix, yellow crystals, activation sacred powers."
Lin Sheng's hand shuddered as he held the disc.
He had recalled that terrifying suppressive powers the Holy Sanctum had displayed before, and the Steel Lord and that massive human-headed snake monster within Blackfeather City were pushed all the way back by the sanctum.
The Holy Sanctum's powers definitely did not materialize out of thin air, and it seemed like there was a reservoir for the sacred power font.
As for how long this reserve can last, he had no idea.
Lin Sheng sighed and continued to read. At the bottom of the disc was a list of materials, with their amount and quality clearly listed in detail.
Then… there was nothing??
Lin Sheng was stunned as he flipped the disc onto its back. There was nothing.
He quickly went to look at the other discs around, but all of them were theories and discussions about everything other than the sacred power font.
"There has to be a volume two! They won't be putting it here with a guard for nothing!" Lin Sheng had taken that monster as a guard.
He was pleasantly elated as he never expected to acquire this unexpected knowledge. If he could master the techniques of creating a sacred power font; that meant that he could build a holy sanctum in the real world as well.
The Holy Sanctum was very useful, not only it could shelter the weak, heal the wounded, or serve as a source of energy for rituals, it could even create sacred tomes!
If he has a sacred tome, he could then learn new Ashen Seals as the tome was a unique treasure that could unlock an Ashen Seal sealed deep within one's soul.
Its greatest use was that it could materialize the Ashen Seals that he had already learned and turned them into a Primordial Seal for him to teach it to others.
While there was a limit on its usage and that he could only teach one seal at a time, but Lin Sheng was grateful. He could see hope now!
Now if he could summon a cleric-like being that had mastered the Ashen Seal…
After going around the room for a good while, Lin Sheng still could not find the second disc.
Not wasting any time, he got out of the room and went to the third.
*Clack.*
As the door was pulled open, another four-horned monster charged out roaring at Lin Sheng.
Lin Sheng simply raised one sword to block, while lashed out a horizontal slash with another.
With his massive strength and speed, a sonic boom blasted out as the blade sank into the monster's waist and slicing it into two.
*Bam!*
The four-horned monster staggered backward as it fell growling onto the ground into two. Its life force was strong that it thrashed about for a good while before finally becoming inert.
Lin Sheng stepped over its body and started rummaging through the room.
As expected, he found a few more scattered metal discs, and one of them was the second volume of the sacred power font.
This time around, however, it was about the structure of the font, and notes on what to look out for during construction.
"…The construction of the sacred power font is basic among the basics of the city defense system. I have already designed the entire structural blueprint.
"The other three modules of the sacred font will be managed by Master Khenhalo, Master Arjelf, and Master Ophaif Xerma. Try to complete the construction at the earliest."
At the bottom was a round, pillar-like blueprint layout, and it was in three-dimensional form.
"The first is the material list, the second is the blueprint… Is there a third?" Lin Sheng stored the second disc and made his way out of the room.
He placed the discs on the ground at the center of the hall, before taking his sword as he searched the other rooms.
Soon, he had gone over all eight rooms on the left. He did not manage to find any other metal discs, but he did run into a couple more four-horned monsters. They were released from their mortal coil after a few slashes by Lin Sheng.
These monsters were of Level 3 on average. Plus, their Level 4 strength and the flaming blade made them a formidable foe.
Sadly, they met Lin Sheng, and under the suppressive aura of his Level 5 sacred power, he could simply inhibit their physical abilities, and weaken them tremendously.
Even with the Berserk skill, it was merely for them to get an extra hit in.
While he did not find any other discs, Lin Sheng managed to find some magical staves that had run dry of magic, and some sorcerer's robe, plus a crystal staff as well.
All of these items were referred to as soul crystals by the person in mage robes in the monster's memories.
They were special vessels that could store souls and absorb the souls that he had killed and store them for later use during his magical experiments.
Lin Sheng had no idea what the items really were at that moment, so he simply brought them out and tossed them into the middle of the hall before turning to the rooms on the right.
There were eight rooms in total on the right as well, with colorful sequential paintings on them, unlike the ones on the left.
The room doors on the right looked a little heavy as they seemed to have a thin layer of faint silver membrane on it.
Lin Sheng walked to the first room on the right and looked at that thin layer as he lifted his sword and stabbed at the door.
*Bam!!*
A blue lightning arc shot out from the door and onto the sword before leaping onto Lin Sheng's arm.
Shocked, Lin Sheng tried to release his grip on the hilt but it was too late, the arc was too fast, and he could not react in time.
The moment the lightning arc struck the back of his hand, his sacred power immediately surged and clashed against the arc.
*Bam!!*
A puff of green smoke blasted out as Lin Sheng staggered two steps back, and felt a good amount of sacred power within was consumed even as his skin pricked in burning pain.
"Is that something of electric current?" Lin Sheng looked at the back of his hand.
It was charred black, as both skin and flesh were cooked.
"Even my resistance could not ward it off… This strength… is superb!" He looked at the door again.
The faint silver membrane seemed to have been consumed and was slowly disappearing.
Lin Sheng stepped forward and picked up the flaming sword, but the flames on it were quickly dying off. It seemed like the lightning arc had destroyed its flaming capabilities.
Lin Sheng shook the sword a little and it immediately broke in the center as the front half fell onto the ground. The flames on it dying off permanently.
He simply threw the broken blade aside and picked up one from the corpses lying around.
There were still four more on the ground for him to use for a good while.
As he held the sword, Lin Sheng made his way to the first door and prodded the door with the tip of his sword.
There was no arc lightning now.
Only then did he held his hand out to pull the door open.
And within the room was a monster engulfed in blue electric current with its back facing him.
The monster had a ram's head, among the faint yellow musculature was a prism-shaped wound. And within the wound was a flowing blue liquid current as if the monster was totally made out of electricity.
Lin Sheng looked at the flowing current on the monster's body, and then looked at the flowing silver membrane on the wall and floor around him. The membrane clearly had something to do with the monster.
Lin Sheng stood unmoving as he swept his gaze across the room setting.
Soon enough, he located in the corner, a metal shelf with five metal discs on it.
And on one of the disc, he could see its title even from afar.
"The Sacred Power Font Prayer Conversion Module."
The moment he saw the disc.
"It's there!"
Lin Sheng was elated as he slowly pushed the door open and pulled two axes out of his back, and aimed at the ram-headed electric monster.
"Die!" With a flick of his hand, he transferred all of his strength into the axes
Two short axes quickly turned into spinning blades as they flew toward the monster.
*Bam! Bam!!*
The ax heads struck the back of the monster's head.
"Rawrghhh!!"
The monster raised its head as it roared furiously, its body suddenly burst open into countless of blue electric currents that flew toward Lin Sheng at the door like whips.
Lin Sheng quickly took a few steps back as his body glowed white and his eyes turned into a draconic state. As he faced the oncoming electric whips, he let out a breath.
*Whoosh!*
A surge of crimson flame engulfed the entire front of the room like lava as lines upon lines of electricity crashed into the flames. Two fonts of energy were clashing at each other within a level unseen to the eye.
Lin Sheng could clearly feel that his breath was being suppressed and weakened by something. His gush of flames would have been like a flood but at this moment, it was barely a square foot into the room.
A massive surge of electricity rushed into the flames as fire and electricity clashed against each other like dark clouds of different shades.
Not too long later, Lin Sheng was out of breath. The power of his breath was determined by the potency of the dragon blood within his blood. While he had increased in level, his bloodline did not.
So the power of his breath had not changed and was slowly but surely being suppressed by the electricity.
"Go!" Lin Sheng once again threw out two short axes with all his might. The axes were imbued with potent sacred powers as they howled through the area onto the ground.
The electric current on the ground was affected by the sacred power and like pebbles upon a pond's surface, electric sparks went flying.
The sacred power on the short axes could barely hold for a fraction of a second before it was engulfed by the electricity. Just then, Lin Sheng could no longer hold his breath and quickly broke away.
He quickly transferred a torrent of sacred power into the short ax in his hand.
*Hiss…*
This time around, he seemed to have imbued the ax with every last bit of his sacred power and the ax head lit up like a light bulb, glowing extremely bright.
As the gentle white light lit the entire place up, even the massive light source above the dome looked dim in comparison.
"Another one!" Lin Sheng threw the ax in a brutal arc.
The glowing short ax was almost like a grenade and Lin Sheng turned and ran the moment he lobbed it.
He did not bother to see the results of the attack nor did he bothered turning his head back as he ran straight along the path he had come.
Barely a few steps in, Lin Sheng could feel a scorching wave was just right behind him.
He gritted his teeth as he stomped hard, launching himself forward and onto the ground.
*Booom!!!*
At that same moment, a lightning arc of white and blue exploded from behind him, forming a miniature maelstrom as scorching heat and air roiled across the entire hall.
The explosion started from the entrance of the first room on the right, and the ensuing heat blast shot out in a fan shape outwards. Everywhere the heatwave touched, the surface was charred as short lightning arcs danced about around the wall.
Among the clacking, a massive blue lightning arc quickly roiled, gathered and formed into a slightly dimmed ram-headed monster.
Its entire body was rent with wounds, and flowing electricity could be seen from the wounds.
"Ansalgorna!" It roared as it headed in Lin Sheng's direction with big strides.
But just as it took a couple of steps…
*Whoosh!!*
A massive ball of crimson flame shot out from the exit of the passageway and slammed against its body.
The monster staggered as it tried to fall back as the electric current within its body collided against the energy from the breath.
*Bam bam bam!!*
The chain reaction triggered a few explosions over its body, the continuous explosion staggered it to the point of imbalance.
"Waargh!!" It let out a furious and frenzied howl as it charged headlong toward Lin Sheng.
*Bam! Bam! Bam!*
As its heavy footfalls slammed against the ground, sending minor tremors all over. The monster only needed a few steps to get to the entrance of the passageway, and lashed its arm out at Lin Sheng at blinding speed.
Suddenly, an ax came down in a vertical stroke past its claws and ripped its chest open with a massive force.
*Crack!*
A sizable rent was torn open on the monster's chest and exposed its beating electrically-charged heart.
At this moment, a second short ax imbued with sacred power struck into the rent, and onto the beating blue heart.
The monster's movements abruptly paused as its three sharp claws stopped just in front of Lin Sheng's neck, and just a few centimeters short, it could have ripped Lin Sheng's throat open, and turning the tide of battle.
Unfortunately for it, it was a step too slow.
*Whoosh!*
The monster's body quickly blackened and turned into ash as it collapsed into a pile of burnt ash onto the ground.
Lin Sheng heaved as he breathed as his face and neck were drenched by sweat.
The claw earlier had only missed him by a few centimeters, and the skin of his throat blistered due to the scorching heat.
"That was fun." He bent down as he breathed hard, taking a short rest.
Only when he had recovered his breath that he squat down and started searching the pile of ash.
The ash was still warm as Lin Sheng used his ax to go through it, and an ellipsoid blue gemstone rolled out of it.
The gemstone glowed and dimmed in a faint blue hue. Its surface was smooth as if it was polished before.
Lin Sheng picked the gemstone up after taking a look at it. He could still sense the aura of a living being from it.
"That monster isn't dead yet?" He had not absorbed its soul fragments yet, so it could still be alive.
He then ran through his memory but failing to find any information about the use of this gemstone. So he simply tossed it up into the air and lashed his ax out.
*Crack!*
The gemstone was broken into two in the air, shattering into a shower of white dust.
Strands of black lines finally appeared as they coalesce and darted into Lin Sheng's chest.
He paused for a bit as a torrent of totally foreign memory surged into his mind.
The images of the memories were twisted and grey. Everything the lightning beast saw was different than the eyes of men.
Within the world of the monster, every passing moment was distorted, disintegrated, and pulsating as if an earthquake was shaking every moment.
The sounds it heard were also a series of quaking, their meaning unknown.
Lin Sheng closed his eyes for a while before breaking out of it.
"It's meaningless… there's too little to work it out. I don't understand its language, so I don't even know what's going on…" Only now did he understand the gulf between humans and monsters.
Their senses were different, so their knowledge would be the same as well.
"Luckily, my spirit's growth was almost akin to killing twenty-odd Blood Armor or a Blackfeather Swordsmen. Not bad."
Lin Sheng let out a satisfied smile. After a moment's rest, he walked into the first room on the right side and quickly took the disc to read.
