Nightmare s CallNightmare s Call
Lin Sheng slowly closed his eyes as he sat in the dead center of the Hall of Yin and Yang in the Holy Spirit Palace.
He was surrounded by a massive wheel, crimson, inlaid with white symbols and text. It was Ward of Protect from the Dark Wheel.
Right then, Lin Sheng was akin to a huge fetal sac, in the crucial period of simulated divine conception.
The essence of Divinity originated from the faith and prayers of countless souls. Those faiths and prayers were akin to the willpower of the living souls. Willpower came from the souls and was part of the souls. The living soul’s willpower was strong but filled with many desires and impurities. Without purification, he would not be able to conceive divinity.
The next step ensued after the purification stage.
As all willpowers converged into one, and after a long period of resonance, friction and compression, inside the core would generate a desire for which most living souls prayed.
This was the essence of divinity.
“So the essence of divinity is desire? A transcended desire?”
Sitting on the open plain beside the Divine Pillar and wrapped around by the powerful air- and light-distorting soul power, Lin Sheng meditated and observed.
The soul power had overflowed from his body, but using the spell that the Golden Red Humanoid taught, he drew the overflowed soul power together, stopping the leakage.
“Integrate and sort the desires, twist them into power. The type of believer will determine the kind of divinity. Now I know…”
Meditating the principle and meaning of the spell, Lin Sheng’s mind’s eye opened. He looked down at himself, and the willpower converged around him.
The reverberating, invisible energy outside the soul power was the willpower.
Under the effect of the spell, willpower was binding his soul power, modifying it into the form of divinity wished by all living beings.
“You’ve got very thick willpower, only slightly thinner than the master last time,” the Golden Red humanoid said.
“I can feel people, many of them, praying,” said Lin Sheng.
“You feel it? Awesome!” The Golden Red Humanoid was impressed. “Then listen, pick one will and use it as your first divinity. You must remember, the first one is always the most important. It will be the foundation of all your divinity in the future. The better the foundation, the more divinity you can infuse. And the more divinity you infuse, the easier it will be to ignite the divine flame when you become a demigod. That’s because it is easier to gather more power that you can use.”
Lin Sheng was feeling the desires the willpower was sending him. There were three main types of desire: purifying the Blacktide, healing, and protecting the land. There were many more other desires, but the three were dominant.
“Are these the wishes and prayers the people saying to me?” Lin Sheng gazed at the three willpowers, and he had to select one as his foundation.
Nearly with no hesitation, he chose the third type of desire: protecting the land. The desire to protect could perfectly accommodate the other two types.
To protect, we need to heal and to purify the Blacktide, going into the war with a perfect condition. Lin Sheng started to convey and resonate with the thought in the willpower.
Soon, all the willpower outside his soul power began to gather. After he made his selection, the willpower, under the effect of the spell, started to nourish and modify Lin Sheng’s soul comprehensively.
Gradually, as his soul changed, his consciousness began to fade away. He needed sleep, and when he woke up again, everything would be over.
…
A few days later, in Henricqal.
The majestic pale-red force field of the Tower of Dusk was shrouding the entire holy city, covering everything under the dream-like sunset glow.
Ten million people were going about their lives—working, learning, and living—in an orderly manner in the city. Everyone had work and a mission to do; no one was an idler.
It did not matter where one came from—safety zone or outside the safety zone, everyone could use their talent and everyone was valuable.
This was the rule of the holy city: no one should be an idler. Your contribution and value to the holy city and society would determine the resources and social benefits you would enjoy.
Under the illumination of the Tower of Dusk, even the gray mist could not obscure the brilliance of the holy city.
The border zone.
The safety zone was the best place in Henricqal. After that, it was the public zone where ordinary people live.
Further out was the work zone where there were massive labs and farms. They constantly used the mysterious dark technology to produce a massive amount of high-purity food and water.
Outside the work zone was the defense zone, where the holy city’s most massive defense forces were based. The powerful clerics used to practice dark energy and holy power. But as time went by, the holy power in him started to overtake and suppress the dark energy. So they became the Sanctum’s most loyal forces, fighting to protect their living.
About 100,000 Transcendents had gathered here. Most of them were refugees while only a small number of them were selected and trained by the Sanctum. They were wearing white armor, their helmets modified into fully sealed gas masks. They were the example of dark technology-holy power combinations.
A cleric, clad in armor, stomped and crushed a white stone in the ruins with his armored leg. His armor weighed 250 kilograms, making a loud hissing noise as the pneumatic system did its bit. It sounded as if the sobbing of a little girl, so everyone called it the sobbing noise.
“The patrol route stays the same, Falcon is safe.” The voice of a man came from inside the armor.
“This is Elephant. There is a situation here. I have stumbled upon three-tailed terrestrial crabs. Threat level low. All killed. Moving ahead now.” The voice came through the comm.
It was a type of communication device with a powerful signal, produced by the research institute of Baine University in the holy city, using the combination of dark energy and holy power. The device would guarantee uninterrupted communication within a one-kilometer radius, outside of which the Blacktide could interfere and cut off the signal.
Due to the strong radiation emitted by this type of comm, only Transcendents, especially clerics with powerful self-healing ability, were allowed to use it.
Falcon cut off the signal, checking his surroundings and letting out a sigh before he kept moving.
He was in an area with more Blacktide activities, a place full of danger. But Falcon had patrolled the area many times, knowing the place like the back of his hand.
“It’s quiet today.” He trundled forward, smashing with his hand a black spider the size of a bathroom sink dangling down from the wall. The creature was dead instantly. This mutant spider was highly poisonous, body hair as sharp as spikes. Once pricked, the poison would enter the skin, corroding the internal organs, turning the poor victim into a pack of human-shaped nutrient liquid. But killing such a spider was just a matter of lifting his hand for a fully armored cleric.