Nightmare’s Call

Lin Sheng emerged from the Darkspirit Gate, leaning on the inside wall of the isolation room, feeling a little exhausted. It was only a few days on the outside world, but in the dark spirit caves, it was nearly half a month. Spending this long in combat, exploration and finding resources had bored Lin Sheng to tears. Not that he was physically drained. He was just weary of the repetitive works.

He took a little rest, then walked out of the isolation room. White light flashed on his dusty armor and it became sparkling clean, as good as new. The Armor of Dawn was made up of the perfect combination of pure Holy Power and particles in the air. As soon as Holy Power flew over it, the armor would restore itself.

Closing the door behind him, Lin Sheng walked out into the hall, coming back to his workstation, from where he usually ran his field operations. But most of the time, what one saw was just window dressing. He was doing his stuff in his mind. He communicated with his summoned creatures, from the ordinary to the commander-class creatures, through a mental connection.

Sitting at the workstation, Lin Sheng compiled in his mind the information he received from various places. Because of the sheer volume of information of the ordinary summoned creatures, no way could he attend to all of them. So he divided them up, layer by layer, class by class. Unless the commanders made the initiation to contact him, he would not bother with them in most circumstances.

Things came from Xylond; the Thunderbeast was reporting the progress of establishing a route between the two sides. The effort had failed.

“Try a few times again. If it still doesn’t work, try the air route. Planes might be fast, but it creates too much noise.”

After giving his instructions to the Xylond side, Lin Sheng contacted Tenko Kasumi on the Henricqal side. He got a surprise this time. Tenko Kasumi told him that the concentration of Holy Power in Henricqal had reached a ridiculous level. Within days of his absence, the place had become the holiest of the holiest, a top-class peaceful city. Anyone with some supernatural ability could clearly see the white light spots permeating Henricqal.

Tenko Kasumi was in the midst of doing her business in the toilet while browsing a magazine in her hands.

“I would have to find you if you haven’t come out. The Holy Power Font is nearly filled to the brim. You got to upgrade the Sanctum now. Otherwise, we are going to see a large amount of Holy Power going to waste.

“The Holy Power Font is full?” Lin Sheng knew the followers there could be very devoted. But never did he expect they were this fervent.

“Yes, it’s getting full, overflowing,” Tenko Kasumi said.

“Probably the effect of the time of chaos.” Lin Sheng figured.

“Stop lamenting. You might want to hurry up,” Tenko Kasumi said. “In fact, the font has reached it maximum holding capacity this morning, badly needing you here to increase the exhaustion rate.”

“Got it. Right away.”

He did not know what to say. All he knew was, living in the threat of the dark period, people’s craving for a sense of security had spiked to an unprecedented level.

He put on his helmet, closed the visor, and checked that the security alarm in the research center was working fine before he left. The street outside the research center used to be a bustling commercial area. But all was left of it was a few scavengers roaming in the streets, using an iron clamp to pick up whatever stuff they deemed valuable. The row of commercial buildings across the street had been deserted. The outer walls were dirty. They did not have the mirror-like effect that they used to have. Lin Sheng could not help letting out a sigh.

“The pursuit of strengths is the only thing that you will find no regret, no matter when.”

He was thinking, had he not pursued strengths in the first place but chosen to hide in a safe spot in the dreams, he could have been dead a long time ago in a dark corner somewhere. He shook the thought from his head and strode toward his new ride—a silver, four-seater Flute cabriolet.

The Flute was the top car brand in Miga. It was the few best cars that had been selected after the Sanctum sorted out the vehicle in the city. The original owner was dead. They said all his kins were also dead. So all his properties, including the car, had been confiscated. But it meant little now because the car and the houses were almost worthless.

He hopped inside and turned the ignition. As unassuming as this car was, it had a feature that no other cars could match: it ran quietly.

Lin Sheng drove to the Sanctum division in the suburb. He got out. The door closed with a nice, satisfying thud, waking up the guard who dozed off at the Sanctum entrance.

“May holy light shine on you and me!” The guard cupped his fists as a form of greeting.

Lin Sheng returned with a nod. Instead of going to see the other senior figures in the front hall, he went around to the prayer hall where the Holy Power Font was. He pushed the doors open and strutted inside. No one was here. The red carpet, the beautiful reliefs on the walls, the exquisite patterns on the stained window glass, and the rows of neat and clean, glossy black benches that could almost reflect his face—all these renovations made the prayer room lack the plebeian effect.

The light spots in the air were visible; they were the condensation of the floating Holy Power particles. It showed how severe the overflowing problem of Holy Power was.

Lin Sheng walked along the red carpet up to the prayer altar, then turned around, standing in the spot where the Holy Power Font was.

Shutting his eyes, he saw in the dark a map of Henricqal in his mind’s eye. The map that looked like a sand table rotated clockwise at Lin Sheng’s will. As it rotated, a faint sound came. The terrain on the sand table slowly sank, and the map of Henricqal split in half. A grayish black stone column with a clear handprint rose from the gap.

“Please verify your handprint. Handprint of the Bonded is needed to activate the next step.” The gentle female voice came again.

Lin Sheng went forward, extended his right hand to press on the handprint on the stone column.

“Handprint verification completed. Welcome to the Selection Menu.”

A tree map popped up before his eyes. Beginning from the Sanctum of Dusk, it extended upward and split into three branches.

“Addable divine skills:

“1 – Energy Suppression (the unified suppression of all non-holy forces. All non-holy forces energy decrease by one standard level when entering the Sanctum of Shadow.)

“Holy power required: 5,000. Raisable up to three levels.

“2 – Guardian of the Twilight (slow healing effect on those with holy seal while spawning a weak shield on their skin) (Holy seal is the person marked by the holy power)

“Holy power required: 5,000. Raisable up to three levels.

“3 – The Twilight Pool (a special Holy Power Font that is transformed by absorbing the Power of Dusk. Pool water can transform ordinary creatures into special holy light creatures with a certain probability.)

 “(The holy light creature: a special creature with a strong physique and resilience, with the holy power of affinity.)

“Holy power required: 10,000. Raisable up to three levels.

“4 – The Great Holy Power Font (Capacity is raisable to 1 million. Excess holy power will condense automatically into the holy crystal.)

“Holy power required: 20,000

“5 – The Twilight Tower (Create large red-cloud canopy to defeat most spying skills. All Divine Words within the Sanctum’s radiation rage will increase.)

“Holy power required: 20,000. Raisable up to three levels.

“6 – the Willpower Sanctum (capable of absorbing the wishes of the souls, creating the Ethereal Wisp.)

 “(Ethereal Wisp: Level 8 energy creature, capable of long-range magic control and attack)

“Holy power required: 50,000. Raisable up to three levels.”