City of Sin (Yanyu Jiangnan)

Creation and Eternity

Martin paused for a moment after he was done with the Book of Creation and Holding, carefully stroking its cover before sighing, “I strengthened the Inquisition Mark so you can tailor it to your needs. You can choose between three level 16s, two level 18s, or a single level 20. I also added the crest of the Radiant Lord inside; it can absorb energy passively and allow you to perform the summoning once every two days. Good for you?”

Richard took the book and looked at the page with the mark, knowing clearly the sheer value of what Martin had just added. Now, he wouldn’t even need to wait for a summoning to try to analyse the laws of light; the crest alone would be enough. Regular wealth was quickly becoming inconsequential to him, and these sorts of opportunities to study laws were what had true value.

“Thank you,” he nodded.

Martin reached out once more, asking with a smile, “So, about that alliance…”

“Nope, business. Each of us has our own problems, and things will only get worse if they’re entangled.”

Martin chuckled, “So paranoid. Anyway, this is yours. I’ll be waiting.”

The saint undid a necklace and passed it on before donning a concealing robe, having the steward lead him away. A cursory scan told Richard that the necklace had an internal storage that isolated all auras within, containing a half-naked statue and a few smudged papers.

However, Richard was far more interested in the Book of Creation itself. The tome had been heavy and large, refusing to enter any spatial equipment and possessing an aura that could not be isolated. These issues had led to him using it less and less as of late, but now its worth had increased greatly. When Martin broke the level limit, he had also changed something else about the book’s functioning.

He left for his meditation room under the castle, adjusting the magic arrays within to boost nature magic before placing the book on a platform and activating the power of his Schloan. Once the well of stars appeared, he also activated Ruven.

Milky-white life energy bubbled out from within him, being poured into the Book of Creation which guzzled it all up. The image of an elf gradually showed itself, dressed in an elegant white ceremonial robe with golden edges and two scarlet ribbons hanging from the shoulders. While the silhouette was still a little blurred, he could tell that this was one of the famous pale shamans of the ancient elven empire.

The pale shamans were amongst the best healers of the elves. They couldn’t match up to human priests, but unlike priests who ran out of energy quickly they could sustain themselves in battle for a long time. The two ribbons signified that the shaman was already level 18; any further levels would have been denoted by dark gold branches that signified a level each. Unfortunately, he had already pushed Ruven to its limit; this was as far as he could go.

With a thought, he started to increase the amount of mana he poured into Schloan as well. The white fog started to turn light green, the aura of nature strengthening and also changing the image of the elf on the page. The white robes switched to blue, and although the scarlet ribbons remained the platinum staff had turned into a staff of nature. Thus was a jade shaman, another famous healer meant for a different kind of battle. These shamans had much greater range with their healing, able to support large dispatchments of soldiers instead of individuals or small parties. However, the level was still limited to 18.

Richard next flipped to another page of the book, starting to use Dismazon instead. The power of his truename formed a demon— something he expected given his bloodline’s lineage— but it looked rather odd. The demon had a slender form and three elegant horns reaching towards the sky, almost even handsome instead of the brutes that were the rest of its skin. The flaming eyes, long tail, and reversed joints in the lower limbs made its identity clear, but it looked almost like a devil as well.

Although Norland didn’t have too much detailed information about the hells or the abyss, it was a known fact that the demons and devils had been warring for hundreds of thousands of years. Any mixes had already been eliminated by both sides, and it was impossible to believe that any members of the two collectives could have offspring. However, the demon on the page most certainly didn’t exist within any records; the more Richard looked, the more devilish some of the characteristics seemed.

The figure grew clearer and a little more devilish as he increased the amount of energy he poured into it, but it stopped at a midpoint and the properties didn’t become more distinct. Richard was rather fascinated by this; the strange figure already had power comparable to saints, but he hadn’t even activated Dismazon to the fullest extent or started on the power of the blue moon.

Oh, right… He started adding some blue moonforce into the page, causing the image to change once more. The demon’s eyes turned blue while its body started to crack apart, the same blue flames visibly flowing through its body. However, as the amount of moonforce added grew, it suddenly vanished!

What replaced the demon was four specks of azure light, connected to each other by energy lines to form a slowly rotating tetrahedron. Richard was stunned by the change; this new… thing felt more like a mechanical product than a summoned being.

Even with his output capped, Richard couldn’t find out anything about this object. He could only guess that it was stronger than the demon, but by how much was a complete unknown. When he ran out of energy, it stabilised on the page.

Closing the Book of Creation, Richard huffed for a moment before gulping down a number of mana and energy potions in one go. Leaning back into his chair, he rested for a while before feeling slightly better. Just like with the power of laws, using truename power took a huge toll on one’s mental faculties, mana, and stamina. However, unlike saint runes which could act as a conduit for the power of laws that dropped the consumption, there was no such thing for bloodlines. Of course, there were few people like Richard who could use any laws they came across as well.

Placing the book on his knee, Richard softly tapped the heavy cover while deep in thought. Martin clearly knew much more about it than he did, revealing that there were a number of secrets still to unlock. This book definitely wasn’t as straightforward as it seemed, and there were definitely many other pages scattered around.

“Master,” the steward’s voice suddenly rang from a communication array in the hall, “Mister Martin just sent a letter with someone. He says you are to open it yourself.”

Richard opened the door and received the letter, unlocking it with his mana signature and starting to read through the saint’s perfect handwriting:

‘Dearest Richard,

‘I forgot to mention something to you when I was visiting. Or rather, I believed that I had given you enough already, but now I believe this is a way to strengthen our friendship. Ancient records in the Church state that when the holy scriptures come into contact with objects possessing the power of time, they stand a chance to fuse together and evolve.

‘I sincerely hope you manage to find a book with the power of time during your travels, and please do be mindful. I noticed the book has already evolved once, but this is far from its final form. If such a thing does happen, I hope you will let me take a look at it. Curiosity kills the cat, but what is living without it?

‘Yours Sincerely,

Martin.’