LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 72
Chapter 72
Yan, stepping into the third floor once more, approached the statue of the Founder amidst the hall.
“With this sword, I shall send ten thousand souls to their celestial rest.”
“What secrets lie here?” Yan wondered, touching the inscription with a hint of skepticism.
Unlike the statue on the second floor, there was no discernible difference.
Nor were there any marks of swordsmanship as before.
“To send the dead to their celestial rest…” he mused.
‘Celestial rest’ implies returning to the heavens,
And ‘the dead’ often refers to those who have passed.
The second sword returns the deceased to the heavens.
“Could it be referring to the undead?”
The undead.
Corpses and skeletons, remnants that move under certain conditions.
Some undead, it is said, even if shattered by a blade, will regenerate.
Among them, the Lich.
Momon, too, had been shattered time and again in battle with the Crown Prince and the Special Task Force Leader in the Blade Mountains, yet continued to regenerate.
‘From this, I can infer the piece to be gained here.’
Firstly, a method or secret technique to extinguish ‘mana’ or ‘magical power’ itself.
In a way, it resonated with the power of Ascalon.
The undead typically move by mana or magical power as a medium.
Thus, the easiest way to defeat them is to eliminate the medium itself.
Even Momon, known as the greatest among the undead Ancient Liches, had immense skill.
‘Life hung by a thread on a single Life Vessel.’
Secondly, a clue about the expansion of one’s domain.
‘Domain’ is a technique only those at the pinnacle among superhumans can use.
A personal space where the laws of nature and reason can be restructured at the caster’s will.
Simply put, it’s the ultimate point of martial prowess where one can wield power akin to a god within.
Creating such a domain would make dissipating energy from the undead effortless.
And lastly, the third.
The mysterious power used by the Holy Order, divine energy.
Energy that swells with praise and belief in the deity.
The Special Task Force had conducted numerous experiments, dissections, and analyses to unravel its secrets…
But the more they did, the more the Order’s usual nonsense of ‘Praise the god, and all will be resolved’ seemed to be the only conclusion.
Energy alone could heal wounds and showed tremendous power against peculiar things like the undead or demonic arts.
“…Was the Founder a devout religious figure?”
“[Nonsense.]”
Momon sneered once more.
“Not so?”
“[It’s more believable that the bastard would rather become a god himself than believe in one.]”
From that, Yan gleaned a fragment of the Founder’s character.
An atheist who wouldn’t believe without seeing with his own eyes.
“Then this isn’t it either.”
Yan looked up at the statue of the Founder.
Holding a large orb in his right hand, raised high to the sky, below which demons and skeletons clung to the Founder’s legs, wailing.
“I really can’t tell with this one.”
Like the statue on the second floor, if there were a hint, perhaps. But here, there was nothing of the sort.
Yan didn’t give up and scrutinized the statue.
But no matter how long he stared, nothing could be discerned.
Time was quickly running out, with only 30 minutes left.
“I’ll have to come back tomorrow to look at this.”
Yan sighed deeply.
It seemed nothing would change by continuing to watch here.
Turning away from the statue, Yan walked towards the stairs.
With a tinge of regret, he glanced back.
An odd scene caught Yan’s eye.
“…A shadow?”
The elongated shadow behind the statue was peculiar.
If it were a shadow cast by the statue, it should naturally take the statue’s shape.
But the shadow stretched out on the floor was less a shape and more…
“A line?”
It could have been seen as a random scribble.
Yan postponed his descent and approached the statue again, or more precisely, the shadow.
Observing it quietly, Yan’s eyes suddenly widened.
And he blurted out without realizing,
“…The Mana Road of the Mana Heart?”
The line that seemed randomly drawn was something only Yan, who handled the Mana Heart, could recognize.
The path of the Dantian and the Mana Heart was entirely different.
A line stretching straight, then veering left, zig zagging down, and spiraling at one point, spreading out in all directions.
Yan quietly observed the shadow, then sat down on the ground, closing his eyes.
Following the direction the line had taken, he manipulated his mana.
Woong…
The sun pulsed with life.
Mana, unfiltered by moon or Mercury, veered left directly.
Into the twin meridians on his left, mana flowed.
Descending, it spiraled within, then burst forth in all directions with a bang!
-My knights and people, in an instant, were turned to the dead by ‘it’.
A voice emerged, as if from nowhere.
If the second floor resonated with the voice of the mind-space, now mana’s manipulation brought forth sounds.
Meaning,
‘Using energy as a sound amplifier?’
How profound must one’s understanding of energy be to achieve this?
Yan continued, guided by the shadow’s path, to wield mana.
-Alone, slaying a beast as vast as a fortress or laying waste to nations was simple, but reversing those turned to the dead was impossible.
Thus, I researched. My friends… are no more, but as a ‘king,’ it was my duty.
‘…?’
Yan frowned at the incomprehensible babble, yet he did not cease the flow of mana.
-During those fruitless days, I discovered a power antithetical to the dead. Fortune smiled upon me. By chance, I encountered an ‘angel’.
“Angel?”
Aren’t they but fictional beings from the Holy Order’s gospel and myths?
Regardless,
Yan shook off the thoughts and refocused on the voice.
-I dissected and studied it. From that, I gleaned some understanding of ‘divine power’.
-Could this perhaps make the impossible possible?
-Implanting new power within me was no difficult task. For I harbored the Mana Heart.
-But that’s a tale of the past.
-My body already houses six dragons; I could not add more. I needed something from my existing resources to create and harbor divine power.
‘Six dragons… Does that mean all the planets are filled?’
According to Momon, the Founder referred to what he called planets as ‘dragons’.
-So I pondered. What if I used the largest part of the Mana Heart, the wish-fulfilling pearl?
Yan quickly grasped the identity of the wish-fulfilling pearl.
‘It speaks of the sun.’
In Yan’s Mana Heart, the sun was the largest, and like the Founder’s, it was an organ without specific attributes, adaptable for any use.
-After long torment, interrogation, and study of the ‘angel’.
-I achieved satisfactory results.
Yan held his breath and listened intently.
-‘She’ claimed that this energy arises when one clings to life.
-The essence of divine power is refined life force. The more one craves life, the more divine power one will harbor.
-From then on, I thrust myself into the abyss of death. I sought unbeatable foes, chewed and swallowed poison.
-I skirted death dozens of times.
-I had things to do; I could not die. Only after truly yearning for life did new energy begin to fill me.
Yan’s face twisted grotesquely.
“Is this not the work of a madman?”
To crave life, he drove himself to the brink of death.
Such audacity is not for the faint-hearted.
Without the courage to face death, one could not even attempt it.
-Yet, the ‘divine power’ thus created melted my people and knights.
-I could not reverse it. The divine power I spread melted those turned to the dead as quickly as ice under sunlight.
-I failed to save them. Unaware, people from other nations began to hail me as a ‘hero’, and I had no choice but to declare those turned to the dead as a malevolent horde.
-This is a vile memory that must not be erased, my atrocity.
-If I ever awaken again, I shall atone and atone again.
-Do not forget the despair of those turned to the dead, my sin.
-Ah…
No more voices came.
[Idiot.]
Unlike the voice in the mind-space, this time even Momon seemed to hear it.
Momon sighed, filled with complex emotions.
“This… It’s not just a piece conveying enlightenment.”
Yan intuitively realized the piece contained more than just the transfer of power.
“Momon, don’t you have anything to say?”
Despite Yan’s question, Momon remained silent.
Just as Yan was about to call out to Momon again…
Ding. Ding. Ding.
The bell signaling the closure of the imperial armory resounded.
The clock hands pointed to 10 o’clock.
Yan had learned of new techniques with the sword and the sun, and about the energy known as ‘divine power’.
“Sigh…”
He couldn’t easily smile.
The emotions in the voice were too distant, too bleak.
Yan, too, was momentarily affected by it.
“Let’s return and reflect on the swordsmanship.”
With those words, Yan left the imperial armory.
* * *
In the deserted imperial armory,
Someone revealed themselves.
“Hmmmm.”
A man pondering deeply, stroking his chin.
It was the Grand Instructor.
He harbored doubts about Yan’s rapid growth.
Until his admission, Yan was nothing more than trash.
Yet, suddenly, Yan began to outpace everyone explosively.
According to the Crown Prince, Yan had shown extraordinary abilities during the first exam, but it was more about his fierce determination and mental fortitude than physical strength or potential.
Yan’s explosive growth in power began at the end of the first exam.
That is, right after he left the imperial armory.
The Grand Instructor was convinced that Yan had acquired something from the armory.
So, he stealthily followed Yan, observing every move, but to no avail.
Yan skimmed through all the books on the second and third floors at an incredibly fast pace, whether he was reading or just flipping through them.
He stood in front of the Founder’s statue, seemingly lost in thought.
The only thing that could be considered a gain was…
“Yan has a split personality…”
Alone in the armory, he mentioned the name ‘Momon’ and seemed to be talking to someone.
Since no other presence was felt, it was highly likely that he had a split personality.
“What did he do in front of this?”
The Grand Instructor stood in front of the Founder’s statue, just as Yan had.
His sharp gaze scrutinized the statue.
After a brief moment,
“Tch, there’s nothing here.”
The Grand Instructor turned away, his interest seemingly vanished.
As the last trace of the Grand Instructor disappeared, a chilling silence enveloped the armory.