Chapter 312: Shackled
Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion
The darkness was boundless and seemed everlasting.
Lucien was floating in this space. The certain power in his chest was shouting some words that he was not able to hear clearly. But the words were so powerful that the darkness almost started to surge, as if a storm was going to arrive.
Suddenly, dark green vines quickly rose from the ground beside Lucien’s feet and tightened their grip around him within a couple of seconds. The dark red thorns on them were covered with dried human blood, and the dangerous sweet smell from it could paralyze people easily.
Lucien tried very hard. He tried to cast spells, but there was no spiritual power left in this strange space.
The thorns fiercely stabbed into Lucien’s body and the unbearable pain made him cry out loud like Elvis. And, at the same time, his whole body felt frozen.
However, the great pain woke Lucien up. Rays of light that were too bright to look at came into space and pierced the darkness.
Lucien felt very dizzy. He squinted in the sudden bright sunlight. Very quickly, he recalled that he had been hit by the many magic rays from the scarlet tree. And he did not even have the time to activate his boots—Sidestep.
Subconsciously, Lucien cast Short Distance Teleportation to avoid the following attack from the tree.
It seemed that Elemental Swirl worked, so Lucien, fortunately, had had enough time to recover. But what about the vines in the darkness? Were they from Lucien’s subconscious to make him wake up as soon as possible?
However, as soon as Lucien used the spell, he instantly realized that, just like what happened in his dream, his spiritual power had been drained by using Elemental Swirl. Therefore, he pressed his hands against the ground and dodged sideways.
As a level two knight, Lucien’s life force became stronger. Thus, unlike what happened before, after using Elemental Swirl, Lucien was now still able to move relatively swiftly.
But after he rolled over, he noticed that there was nothing underneath him. When Lucien’s eyes were more used to the light, he was shocked to find out the fact that he was in a small room painted white. There were no vines, no creepy trees, and no eyes!
Bang! Lucien fell onto the floor.
A knight’s body was tough. Lucien did not feel much pain. He quickly looked around.
It was a small room. Except for a small wooden bed, there was only an open wood box here. And nothing was in it.
The room was not dirty, but it was so simple that Lucien wondered if he was in a cell. Maybe he did a space-time travel again?
Lucien lifted his hands and saw that they still looked the same. He touched his neck and felt the summoning mark was still there. Lucien finally believed that he was still Lucien Evans.
But that did not bring much relief to Lucien, because there was a black bracelet on each of his wrist. The black bracelets were shining with a creepy light. Furthermore, when Lucien touched his neck, he felt that there was also a collar on it.
What was even worse was that all his magic items were gone! Sun’s Corona, Fire Weaver’s Bracelet, Sidestep Boots, Transformation suit, Ogre Gloves… all gone!
There were tiny needles on the bracelets, piercing into Lucien’s skin. The look on Lucien’s face was very serious. He guessed that the bracelets should be used for confinement and the collar should be used to prevent him from using his spiritual power. No wonder Lucien felt that his spiritual power was drained even more compared to the time when he cast Elemental Swirl still as a junior-rank mage!
Being able to use neither his spiritual power nor his Blessing, Lucien tried to get access to his spirit library. However, it was blocked by some strange power.
Lucien wondered if his spirit library required his spiritual power to be accessed.
Lucien kept trying. He tried to use the mark on his neck to see if he could summon Rhine in his dream. Rhine had the title called the Observer, so he should be the one who could provide Lucien with the most useful information about the Dark Mountain Range!
However, he failed again. For a second, Lucien felt very helpless, just as when he first arrived in this world.
“But I’ve got a healthy body, a strengthened soul. I think and take actions way better than I used to. Calm down, Lucien. There’s hope.” Lucien comforted himself, “Try to gather more information about this place. So I can figure out the next step.”
Lucien was quite experienced with all kinds of difficulties that he ran into since he arrived in this world. He never gave up easily, and he always tried to stay positive. He believed that his true treasure was not the magic items, instead, it should be his knowledge in his brain that no one could take away from him! For example, he knew well about the bracelet, the collar, and many magic circles!
Lucien tried to pull the iron gate, and, of course, it was locked. So he walked back to the bed and sat down, trying to see what he could do with the bracelets.
At this time, Lucien heard the sound from some tinkling keys.
Someone inserted the key into the keyhole. With a click, the iron door was slowly opened.
A young man whose face looked drunken walked in with a big chain of keys. His back was used to bending forward. But as soon as he saw Lucien in the cell, he stuck out his chest a bit and said to him in a bit arrogant way, “Since you’ve woken up, follow me to see the master.”
He was wearing a black short robe and a long trouser. There was nothing on his wrists or neck.
“Master?” Lucien hurriedly asked? Before he saw the so-called “master”, he needed to know what this place was for and why he was here.
“How dare you say the word ‘Master’? You were saved by master only because there’s a lack of experiment materials! Keep this in mind—you’re just the most trashy experiment material in this magic tower!”
Lucien’s heart missed a bit. The ending of being the material for some magic experiments was not really better than death.
However, Lucien was still alive. He still had hope!
“I was saved? Where is this place?” Lucien pretended that he did not understand.
The young servant looked a bit pissed, “I was born here! I don’t want to waste my time on explaining to you what kind of place this is! What I can tell you is that those people who came here by mistake and never managed to leave called this place the Devil’s Territory.”
Lucien realized that he was really not a lucky guy. He slightly released a sigh.
After finding Elvis, the liaison, Lucien thought that his mission was almost done, as Elvis was very experienced in commuting between the campsite and the magic tower of the Nightmare King. However, the Devil’s Territory got them!
“So… what happened to those people who never managed to leave? … Where’s my companion?” Lucien kept asking, following what the young servant said.
It seemed that what Lucien just asked amused the young servant, so he answered, “Your companion? He’s already a dried body now! Those people either ended up feeding the beasts or becoming the experiment materials of master. Two… no, three… are still alive… Wait, bastard! Shut your mouth and follow me!”
It was the first time that the young servant saw someone like Lucien, who had endless questions in this horrible situation. When he realized what was going on here, the young servant suddenly looked worried and afraid.
Lucien did not want to push him too much. Wearing the bracelets and the collar, Lucien followed the young servant and walked upstairs in the magic tower.
On their way upstairs, Lucien stared at the back of the young servant, making the evaluation that whether this young man was strong and trained from the way the servant walked, and whether he could break the servant’s neck or knock him out.
When they were on the fifth floor, Lucien stopped evaluating and started to recall the material he once read in the library of the Congress— a book called About the Human Body Experiments Conducted by Ancient Sorcerers.
They came in front of a black door drawn with mysterious patterns. The young servant gently knocked at the door and said, “Master, the material that you picked back has woken up. He’s here.”
“Bring it in,” said an old, female voice.
Lucien was not surprised with the fact that the sorcerer was female. Both male and female ancient sorcerers were equally dangerous.
The black door opened automatically. Lucien saw the entire lab. It was similar to the lab left by Maskelyne. Lucien saw the gray liquid called Aether flowing in the tubes, the complicated structure of tubes and pipes covering the whole lab, the many pale human hands hanging up there, as well as the dissecting table, the platform for alchemical experiment usage, and lots of weird-shaped lab devices and containers.
An old woman in a red magic robe whose back was badly crooked forward stopped her dissecting work and turned around to look at Lucien.
Her hair was basically all white. And her skin was sagging like a loose bag. She looked beyond ugly and horrifying.
After staring at Lucien with her cloudy green eyes for a while, she slightly nodded. And her old voice sounded a bit crazy: “Electric shock first.”
