Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Thick dark clouds blocked out the sky. The streets were enveloped in darkness by dusk. Many were hurrying home. Regardless of the time or era, save for a few individuals, being drenched in rain was not considered a pleasant experience. It was especially the case in parts where medical treatments were absent or lacking, for catching a cold could often spell death.
The passersby were all wearing linen clothes of a similar gray color, absent in variation of color or styles. Only the occasional patrol soldiers stood out from the crowd. The bronze breast and shin plates together with the iron-black swords and spears equipped them with an air of toughness.
With his entire body wrapped in a linen robe, Lucien tailed behind a middle-aged man whose pace altered frequently. The man weaved between alleyways and main roads, just like every other ordinary passerby.
The sky grew darker, and winds began howling. A storm would come at any moment. The patrolling soldiers had no choice but to speed up their march towards the camp within the city walls.
Stopping in front of a stone two-story building, the middle-aged man surveyed his surroundings cautiously. Only after confirming that no one was paying attention in his direction did he knock gently on the walnut wood door with a peculiar rhythm: first twice on the center of the door, followed by thrice on the left near where the door would pivot, and finished with once on the lock. Each part produced a different sound.
After a ten-second silence, a hole suddenly appeared on the door, and a light-brown eye peered from it.
The middle-aged man took a step back, making sure that the gray rose on the corner of his shirt was clearly visible to the eye.
The image was so unobvious that unless one had known about it beforehand, he would never be able to spot it.
Lucien also adjusted his posture such that his “gray rose” stood out.
The brown eye blinked and vanished behind the door. Then, the walnut door opened slowly, and a midget-like hunchbacked man said in a low voice, “Respected initiators, ‘Crown’ is waiting for you.”
The middle-aged man took the lead and entered the room swiftly, his gaze signaling Lucien to follow.
Lucien was not as agile and alert as the middle-aged man. He pushed the doors open with a smile and entered the room leisurely as if it was a normal visit to an ordinary friend.
The middle-aged man nodded his head ever so slightly after witnessing Lucien’s performance.
After the night watcher assassin forced Lucien into the Portal, the teleportation was disrupted due to the self-explosion attack on the gate, and Lucien was thrown into this baffling city “Politown”. Furthermore, as Lucien had separated from the protection of the Portal during the final stage of the teleportation, he was affected seriously by space turbulence. Not only was his body severely hurt, but his spirit was now also very weak. He was only at the level of ordinary knights and middle-rank sorcerers. His equipment had also taken damage during the space storm, and required repair before they could be used again.
However, Lucien was rather lucky: He had neither run into any high-ranking godhood personnel and the Grand Cardinal of the Church nor into false gods or monsters. Instead, He had been taken in by a kind-hearted old man named Norton. After two months of recovery, his magic power and knight standard had recovered.
The only problem remained was that the magic items that he had equipped at the time required special materials to repair. Of course, the legendary Sun’s Corona and the ninth-level Sun Staff were protected by their tier-corresponding magic and were undamaged.
Frost Freeze, Pale Justice, Transformation Mask, and the other items in the storage bag were also undamaged. Even Norton only saw the transformed ordinary-human appearance of Lucien.
In the past two months, Lucien had not run into any sorcerer or the Saint Truth personnel, neither had he managed to obtain any relevant information. It appeared that they were far from the city, far enough that even rumors about the incident were nonexistent. If he had not felt the strange, omnipresent sensation suppressing spiritual power that Fernando mentioned about, Lucien would suspect that he had entered a different alternate dimension.
According to the old man Norton, Lucien came to know that Politown was situated at the shores of ocean Erdo, and was the heart of the Erdo peninsula’s politics and economy.
In the beginning, the indigenous Barril people ruled over this land. They built the Barril empire and worshipped the “the Lord of Fire and Destruction” Avando. However, a hundred years ago, the massive Angornorma Empire attacked from across the sea and conquered the land. Avando was also defeated and exiled by “The Lord of War” Antanas, who was worshipped by the Empire.
Seeking to crumble the foundation of faith of the Barril people, Angornorma’s Servants of God spread the word that Avando had been killed.
The Erdo Governor-Generals appointed by the Angornorma Empire had always ruled with cruelty and treated the Barrils as slaves. As such, the island was rife with war. Rebels who claimed that they were blessed by Avando and those who started worshiping other gods waged war frequently. However, due to the strength of the Angornorma empire, coupled with their horrifying “God”, the uprisings were quelled time and again.
This should have mattered little to Lucien as he was, with great caution not to reveal himself, preparing to gather information about the surrounding geography and kingdoms in hope of finding traces about the Congress of Magic. After all, sufficient preparation would guarantee a safe journey — The strange sensation that suppressed spiritual power suppressed Electromagnetism Message as well, and Lucien estimated that effective communication could only be established within a range of ten kilometers.
Thus, Lucien would not dare to venture out without precise information. Who knows if he would run straight into the Saint Truth personnel or lands ruled by the vampires. The Transformation Mask could fool your average Joe, but definitely not the Grand Cardinal personnel, not to mention the pope and Prince Dracula.
However, Norton, who was in the last phase of his life, seemed to have felt that Lucien performance in the past two months had steamrolled the youngsters and children that he had taken in. He was also convinced that Lucien was undoubtedly a faithful Barril by Lucien’s mastery over the Barril tongue — The Angornorma empire had gone to great lengths to popularize their tongue, so unless taught since a young age and coupled with a longing for Barril’s independence, no young man would be able to speak the Barril tongue with such fluency. As such, he decided to pass on his secret identity to Lucien before his death.
The identity was that of a high ranking member of the “Secret Praying Congress”, the seventh apostle of the incarnation of the “Lord of Fire and Destruction”.
Lucien was well aware that his mastery of the Barril tongue was entirely the credit of the magic spell Mastery of Languages. However, considering that information would be much easier to come by in an organization, he agreed. Due to the constant rebellions, Politown was under close surveillance of both the “Erdo Governor-General” and the “Lord of War Temple”. Under such conditions, trying to fool with others’ memories was unlikely to work well. Therefore, infiltrating into Angornorma’s high ranking officers to find information could only be attempted once, as he would be at risk of being exposed if the matter drags on for more than a day.
Honestly, if it hadn’t been for Norton’s protection, Lucien would have faced many identity checks already. As for the Erdo Governor-General, rumors had it that he was a hybrid child of god and human, and was capable of using the “Strength of God” like the chief priest of the God of War Temple. It was equivalent to having two ordinary two level-nine red robes stationed there.
There were no crazy sorcerers nor bloodline knights in this world. However, the false gods often indulged in promiscuity and produced many offspring. These offspring were also equipped with qualities similar to that of bloodline knights.
Ordinary humans could only promote by becoming Servants of God and rise along the ranks of the priests. The army was only capable of dealing with ordinary folk and was helpless in the face of the divine-blood “heroes”. Luckily, the divine-blooded were few in numbers, and the army was still useful in suppressing uprisings if things don’t get too out of hand.
Following the fifth apostle “Anheuse”, they passed through the great hall and arrived behind the building. As Anheuse opened a secret passage that revealed a staircase leading up, Lucien looked on detachedly as he pondered if he should find a chance and research on this incarnation of “The Lord of Fire and Destruction”. It was the first time that he encountered the incarnation of a False God, and it would be a prime opportunity to obtain first-hand information. This was also one of the main reasons why he decided to join this “Secret Praying Congress”.
The staircase looked like it would lead them straight to the ceiling. However, Anheuse stopped abruptly when they were halfway up and opened yet another hidden door. The staircase that appeared this time led downwards.
The two proceeded in silence for a substantial amount of time before finally arriving in front of a bronze door. The door was covered in all kinds of strange flame patterns.
His hand placed on one of the flame patterns, Anheuse’s entire body radiated a red light. Then he pushed open the bronze door forcefully.
Beyond the door was a hall filled with a row of lit braziers. It was rather bare save for the stone pillars and a round table at its center.
There were 13 chairs around the table, one of which was gold and embedded with rubies. No one had occupied it yet. At both sides of the gold chair were 6 silver chairs, which were also decorated with similar flame patterns.
Five out of the twelve silver chairs had been occupied. An ashen-haired old man with a full beard looked at Lucien and said, “According to Norton’s recommendation before he passed away, the great God of Flame and Destruction had prophesized that you, Leviathan, would be the seventh apostle.”
Leviathan was Lucien’s alias.
“However, you have not yet demonstrated any power nor made any sacrifice for the god. In the coming year, we will examine you. Only after passing the tests will you be granted the ‘Seed of Spirit’ and receive extraordinary power.”
“Understood.” Lucien was immediately curious about this “Seed of Spirit”. Could this be the key to deciphering the secrets of the divine spells? Should he capture the apostles or the “Lord of Fire and Destruction” for research?
After the old man finished his piece, he glanced at Lucien. “Have a seat. We will carry out the Flame Baptism for you in a while. As for now, we have more urgent matters to tend to.”
“What matters?” Anheuse had thought that they had gathered for the sole purpose of carrying out the Flame Baptism for the seventh apostle.
“It’s about our path in the future, about how to let the god recover completely”. The old man, who was the first apostle Jacob, said in a low voice.
