Chapter 341: The Rising Wind

Karon glanced back. That was all. There was nothing more. He looked at Mavero with utter calm and gave a half salute. “Me.”

There was no reason to decline, no reason to suggest that everyone go through the motions of discussing the matter, and certainly no need for any false consolation or reassurances. Based on the four conditions Mavero had laid out, the most qualified person was undeniably Karon.

He knew that his squad members’ collective retreat was not because his status as their captain had pressured them into silence, nor was it because they did not want to receive the clearance. They simply had no reason to fight him for it.

During the district selection, Bart and the others had seen Karon’s terrifying soul power. During the final selection, everyone had witnessed his leadership, as well as the depth of spiritual reserves, which had allowed him to suppress an illusion demon by himself. Mars knew that the captain also had considerable mastery of arrays.

Their captain seemed to have no shortcomings in terms of ability. It was almost as if he could do the work of everyone in the squad by himself. In fact, even if this were not this specific clearance being given, but some other reward, everyone would still have defaulted to giving it to their captain. Giving it to anyone else would have sat poorly with them. Giving it to the captain allowed everyone to feel at ease.

Murray noticed what was happening over at Karon’s squad. They were both captains, but the gap between them really was enormous. All Murray could do was show a bitter smile.

He was not jealous. He knew very well that since he had relied on Teygan Region’s connections to assemble this squad, he inevitably lost the immense prestige that came from personally building a squad. No one could seize every advantage without paying a price.

Mavero nodded to Karon, a trace of approval showing in his eyes. Karon caught that glimmer, and began analyzing the mental state behind such an emotion.

Mavero had said that he was around the same age as the trainees. There was no reason for him to lie about that in this place. After all, he was an instructor, and the older the instructor, the more his bearing and status would be enhanced. That meant that he was not some old man who merely looked young.

Hewson showed great respect for the younger man, yet that respect had nothing to do with position. It could not be due to his family, either, since Mavero had stated that he had no surname. In the end, only one possibility remained: bloodline. Not bloodline in the sense of family, but a legacy inherited from another place. With that, it became understandable that he would show approval from an elder’s perspective.

Hewson moved to Mavero’s side and softly said, “Karon Silva.”

“Oh, I’ll remember him.”

Hewson stepped back. Originally, he would have paid particular attention to this young man called Karon today, because yesterday, not only had Karon beaten Levin to the ground, he had also caused Levin to voluntarily mention it. If that old thing had not sincerely liked this young man, he would never have done that. Unfortunately, today should have been Hewson’s own class, his own stage where he could have calmly interacted with this interesting young man. Now, that opportunity was gone.

Murray’s squad finished voting. The rule was that they were not allowed to vote for themselves. In the end, Murray was granted this opportunity by receiving a majority of the votes, yet when he walked to Karon’s side, his face still showed a somewhat awkward expression.

The only thing he could hope for now was that, in the time between the end of their training and when they left for Reincarnation Valley, he could invite everyone’s parents over for a meeting and have them reaffirm a sense of unity. In the past, he would not have thought much of it; Born into a family like his, Murray had long since grown used to negotiations and compromise, along with the need to maintain a show of unity. However, having tasted defeat from Karon, there had been a moment when Murray no longer even wanted to be captain.

“Please extend your hands.”

Karon and Murray obeyed and stretched out their hands. Mavero placed both hands before his chest. Soon, a crystalline glow appeared. His lips began to move rapidly as he recited a prayer.

Karon could not clearly hear what the man was saying. This was not only because Mavero was speaking quickly, but because a layer of soul power was rippling out, creating a great deal of interference. Even so, he could still hear a few key words.

“Marchettini... Wheel of Order... in the name of summoning...”

This Mavero, does he have some connection to Marchettini of the Twelve Knights? Karon did not know, and this was not the right time to ask.

When the prayer ended, two strands of gold rippled out from the crystalline halo between Mavero’s hands. The gold slowly formed two runes, which struck the backs of both Karon’s and Murray’s hands, then immediately faded away.

They had obtained the clearance just like that? It seemed as though nothing special had happened, and there was no special feeling either. It was like a pig released from its pen and put on the market, stamped with a purple quarantine approval mark, one that could be easily washed off.

Karon glanced at Murray and discovered the man was also looking at him. Clearly, Murray was also quite puzzled.

Mavero released his hands, and the crystalline glow dispersed. He turned his face slightly and nodded to Hewson.

The older man took two scrolls out of his pocket and said, “Each of you take one. This is the summoning Art for the Black Keep. These scrolls can withstand ten mental scans each. Take it and study it together with your teammates. It would be best to divide it into sections for comprehension and study so you can make faster progress, master the summoning Art, and attempt to summon your own Black Keep.

“Additionally, there is one more detail. Theoretically, today’s class will be a long one. According to our calculations, you will likely need one to two days to piece this Art together as a squad, so this class will only end two days before you leave for Reincarnation Valley. The final day has to be reserved for the last lesson, when a dedicated instructor will brief you on the situation inside the Reincarnation Gate and the mission you will be undertaking.

“In other words, the sooner you master this Art as a squad, the sooner the final lesson can be held, and the more time you will have free before you leave.

“Karon, you’ll be able to have some fun with your teammates in St. Andis.”

“Yes, Instructor.” Karon smiled as he acknowledged the comment. He did not feel that his squad was being looked down on because they were specifically mentioned. After all, most of Murray’s squad members were natives of Teygan Region.

Mavero said, “There is one more benefit we can offer you. Based on the quality and style of the Black Keep you summon, we will match you with suitable armaments.”

Murray asked, “The design of Black Keep can vary?”

Mavero nodded. “There is no variation in the Knight Regiment, because the army emphasizes a unified style. Oh, that was not precise enough. The Knight Regiment does emphasize a unified style, but within that unified style, there are still differences in the castle’s height, width, number of floors, and so on.”

Hewson spoke up, “So make good use of your time. The sooner you master this Art, the more time you will have to rest, and the more calmly you can select and configure armaments from the list we will provide. Everything can be directly reimbursed. You will not receive such benefits later on.”

It seems the mission inside the Reincarnation Gate is very important. Otherwise, the church wouldn’t pay such a heavy price.

Mavero said, “All right. You can now leave this castle and go to the open ground outside to study and master it. Someone will provide you with food and fresh water.”

Karon noticed that Mavero’s gaze carried a faint melancholy and regret. Melancholy over what? Regret over what?

Murray accepted a scroll and led his squad downstairs. Just as Karon’s people were preparing to go down as well, he hesitated for a moment, then turned back to face Mavero. “Instructor.”

“What is it?”

“This student would like to witness the power of Black Keep, because I feel this will give us a more intuitive understanding and speed up the learning process.”

Mavero looked at Hewson. The old man nodded. “This is a proper request from a student, and it is also necessary for teaching. Of course it is allowed.”

Mavero smiled.

***

The two squads of trainees walked out of the castle and came to the open ground outside. Karon waved to Murray, who walked over. “The instructor is going to demonstrate the power of Black Keep first.”

“Good.” Murray immediately turned and called out to his own squad members, “All of you come over and watch.”

Immediately after that, he softly asked Karon, “Who do you think he is?”

“I don’t know.”

“I’ve guessed a little.”

“Let’s hear it.”

“There is a certain kind of person whose excellence is innate.” Murray smiled. “There’s no point being jealous.”

“You could be a bit more specific.”

“A lot of churches have existences like Divine Progeny within them. You know about that, right?”

“I’ve heard of it. You’re saying he’s... But in our Church of Order, there is only the God of Order.”

“Yes, in our Church of Order, there is only the great God of Order. There are no subordinate gods. At least, there are no subordinate gods in the traditional sense. Churches that defected over later on and altered their mythological narratives don’t count.

“But those existences who stood by the God of Order’s side, even if they were never addressed as gods, were actually not at all inferior to the subordinate gods of other churches in terms of power and status.

“Marchettini. I suspect he is Marchettini’s inheritor.”

“Inheritor? Why not reincarnator?”

“He should only have inherited some of Marchettini’s memories and spirituality. I don’t deny the existence of reincarnators, but I don’t believe they would come here to be our instructor and teach us. You understand what I mean?”

“I do. Gods don’t have such good tempers, and they wouldn’t do something so boring.”

“Exactly.”

***

“If I had known I could try it out once, I would not have summoned this basic Black Keep, nor would I have matched it with these standard armaments.”

Hearing this, Hewson quickly said, “Please, you must restrain yourself.”

“Heh.” Mavero nodded. “Do you know, in my mind, some broken images often appear. The one that appears most often is of me controlling a Black Keep, standing at the very front, and behind me is...”

Hewson immediately crossed his arms before his chest. “Praise the great God of Order.”

“Actually, I have always known that I am not Marchettini. I merely had the fortune to obtain a small portion of fragments of his memories.”

“That is a miracle. Even a small portion of memory fragments is enough to make you great.”

“Yes, so I have always been grateful.” Mavero closed his eyes and said in a deep voice, “Black Keep, prepare for battle!”

Wuuuuuu!

***

As Karon and the others watched, the castle’s black surface began to turn glossy. When the black gained a sheen, a strange sense of dislocation was created, as though the castle before them had already been cut away from the space it occupied.

A suffocating pressure swept over them like a tide. It was using sheer presence to demonstrate what a weapon of war meant.

At this moment, the castle seemed to possess a life of its own, as though it had already awakened and opened its eyes.

The Piercing Crossbow began to charge, then fired a shot forward with a hum. The bolt shot into the forest ahead of the castle. Instantly, the forest looked as if someone had dragged a chopstick through a pile of flour. On both sides of the line, the trees were stripped completely bare.

Karon found it hard to imagine how, if he were the one targeted by such an attack, he could escape that bolt in such a short span of time. Even if he did manage to escape, merely being brushed by the shockwave would leave him badly injured. The leaves that had been stripped from the trees might well be a person’s flesh and skin.

The Reis Arts Mirror then started to activate, and a black barrier fell, completely covering the castle.

“A defensive array?” Murray said.

“No, it’s an amplification array,” Karon corrected. “It amplifies itself, then the effect is fired out from the magic crystal cannon.”

Sure enough, the magic crystal cannon moved. It began charging, causing terrifying energy fluctuations to spread out. The nearby area was instantly blanketed with a kind of dead silence, as if everything around them had been reduced to the black vortex that was continuously gathering with the cannon’s barrel. Finally, with a sharp howl, a black torrent blasted out. It did not target the island at all, but the surface of the sea.

The blackness scattered. Boom!

A huge whirlpool was blasted up from the sea’s surface. Rain started falling upon Karon and the others, accompanied by the occasional fish and shrimp.

When first seeing the crossbow fire, Karon had still been considering how he might evade such an attack, but when the magic crystal cannon fired, if he failed to anticipate such a thing in advance, trying to dodge after it fired would be far too late. The size of the area it could target was large enough to render most means of evasion useless.

“...Isn’t that a little too exaggerated?” Karon asked.

Murray nodded. “It is.”

“Or perhaps the effect is different when he uses it than when we use it, or when the people in the Knight Regiment use it?”

“That’s possible.”

With the demonstration ended, the Black Keep began to dissipate, along with its three armaments.

Karon began estimating the distance the armaments were teleported. The essence of their appearance should be the same as when he teleported the Sword of Aelius. Somewhere nearby or within the general region, there should be a teleportation point for them. So, teleporting them over and then teleporting them back, if he used his family’s refrigerator as a basis for calculation, a conservative cost estimate was more than twenty thousand Order credits’ worth of teleportation crystals. In fact, his family’s refrigerator was famously “cheap,” so the actual cost could only be higher than that.

This teaching expense really was extravagant... If it were Karon himself, he would probably have had people manually transport those three armaments back to save on costs.

But this raised yet another question. This benefit, providing armaments to his and Murray’s two squads, how exactly would that provision work? For teleportation of this kind, there was a high chance a teleportation array would have to be set up near Reincarnation Valley, so that after Karon and Murray’s squads entered the Reincarnation Gate and used Black Keep, their armaments could be provided to them. Would they be using the delegation’s station as the basis for constructing the teleportation array there? If that was the case, would Karon and the others also be given a chance to recover the armaments afterward?

Earlier, Mavero had clearly constructed a teleportation array inside the castle to send the three armaments back. Karon’s and Murray’s squads would not use that unless absolutely necessary, and even if they did, they could not possibly have the leisure to spend a long time drawing a reverse teleportation array after the battle to send the armaments back.

Even if Karon wanted to teleport the armaments back, the Church of Order camped outside would probably not have a receiving array set up just to receive their things. Even if the armaments were not used, they would not simply be given to the squads, much less allowed to be taken away. In other words, this so-called benefit was actually a one-time consumable. Hewson had played a little word game earlier. The armaments assigned to the squads by the church could only be used within the Reincarnation Gate. Once the Reincarnation Gate trial ended, if Karon wanted to use Black Keep again, he would have to save up enough credits to outfit it with his own armaments.

The captain had paid such a great price just to assemble a luxury car. How much would it cost Karon to get his hands on armaments specially supplied only to the Knight Regiment? Moreover, the cost of summoning them even once was extremely high, and that was assuming his refrigerator at home was upgraded first. Otherwise, they simply would not fit. In short, with his current family assets, using this thing for a single fight would bankrupt him.

At that moment, Karon finally understood why the captain was so obsessed with earning credits. Once you became a captain, you saw all kinds of incredible things, and all of them shared one single flaw: they were expensive!

Captain, I will never again use the plastic ring incident to call you stingy. Karon sighed. He had not yet become a captain and had not officially formed his own squad, but his mind was already filled with thoughts of how to rake in credits.

***

Mavero and Hewson walked over. Hewson said, “You may begin reading the contents of the scrolls. Try to produce some results before midnight.”

“Yes,” Karon said.

“Yes,” Murray said.

The two squads each formed a circle, and both captains began reading first. Karon opened the scroll and sent his consciousness into it.

He had come into contact with similar Art imprint scrolls many times before, whether from Pu’er and Kevin, or from Richard, but those had all been single-use scrolls. Once the imprint was placed on the scroll, they could only be read once. This scroll could be read ten times, which meant it was even more expensive.

Twenty minutes later, Murray and Karon both ended their readings and passed the scrolls to the next squad member.

“How was it?” Pasquio leaned over and asked Murray.

Murray replied, “I’ll try to understand the first fifth. The rest of you can record the remaining sections in batches, then each spend an afternoon digesting them. I think by evening, we’ll be able to attempt our first summons as a squad, using me as the medium.

“They should be about the same as well. No, they should take a little longer than us, because this tests the strength of every individual in the team. I admit our cohesion is not as good as theirs, but in terms of individual ability, we are definitely stronger than them...”

Pasquio said, “Captain...”

“Mm, what is it?”

“Look over there.”

Murray turned to look at Karon’s squad, and his eyes instantly widened.

“This... how is that possible!”

***

Karon handed the scroll to Mars, but he immediately passed it along to Bart, saying, “Captain, you digest and master the opening section. I will digest and understand the closing section. The opening and closing sections are usually the most complicated and the least tolerant of mistakes, so the two of us will take charge of those portions.”

“Oh, all right.”

Bart asked, “Captain, how much of the opening do you plan to digest? That way I can divide up the rest myself.”

“How much?”

“I mean what fraction,” Bart said. “That way, I can discuss everyone’s respective sections with the others.”

“What fraction? Let me think...” Karon spread out his hand and began to think and recall. His fingertips kept moving, as if he were playing a piano. At the same time, a huge black sigil appeared beneath Karon’s feet, and the foundation rose into view with it...