Chapter 83: The Sun Charm

Orson let out a slow sigh, staring down at the starlight edge.

This isn’t going to work, he thought, his jaw tightening. The sword art was too clunky in this new frame; his muscle memory was fighting the physics of a body that hadn’t spent decades tempering its marrow.

Before he could shear the blade back into his ring, a translucent blue notification materialized directly in his field of vision.

[ SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT ]

You have slain a Crimson Aberrant. Reward: 1 Item Gained.

Warning: Contract missing.

Unable to convert Astral Essence—

The text suddenly glitched, violent static ripping across the floating interface.

[ SYSTEM OVERRIDE ]

New Power Source Detected: Old World Cultivation.

Converting Astral Essence to Spiritual Energy...

A sudden rush of raw, unrefined energy surged through Orson’s meridians. The warmth spread from his chest down to his fingertips, washing away the dull fatigue in his muscles. It wasn’t a massive influx—just a small drop compared to the vast ocean of power he used to command—but it was precisely what he needed to solidify his foundation.

He swiped his hand across the air, pulling up his status display to inspect the changes.

[ STATUS ]

Name: Orson

Astral Being Host: Uncontracted

Astral Rank: Human

Class: White Hollow

Ability: None

Power Source: Cultivation of the Old World

Spiritual Root: White Hollow

Realm: Qi Gathering (Peak)

[ ABILITIES & INVENTORY ]

Items & Weapons: 1 Item Gained

Innate Abilities: None

[ ASTRAL PROJECTION ]

Nameless Nightmare

Orson scrolled directly down to the inventory tab, tapping the freshly acquired item entry. With a light shimmer, a small object materialized in the palm of his hand.

It was a small, heavy stone medallion—the Sun Charm.

[ ITEM ]

Name: Sun Charm

Type: Devotional Relic

Description: In the ancient era, seekers of the Golden Sun Realm made pilgrimages to the grand Sun Temple. Those whose devotion touched the Sun God were granted this charm as a sacred token of his favor.

Passive Ability (Solar Grace): Reduces incoming Light and Fire damage by 25%.

Note: Though worn by age, the faint warmth of a distant sun still hums within its core.

Orson turned the weathered charm over in his hand, feeling the faint, subtle pulse of thermal energy thrumming beneath the stone.

Am I really going to need this? he thought, looking up at the sky where the sun was shining down.

He tied the charm securely to his belt, feeling the 25% thermal dampening field immediately settle over his skin like a cool breeze.

With a quick flick of his wrist, he dismissed the system window and turned his attention back to the battlefield. Smoke was still rising from the center of the island, where the contractors were fighting against wolf-like beasts.

Orson looked back at his weapon and swung it again, testing the arc through the air, before glancing around the clearing. The contractors and the wolf-like aberrant beasts were still locked in a fierce, chaotic battle.

He surveyed the battlefield. There were plenty of contractors scattered across the area, and surely, at least one of them had to hold a deep-seated fear of blades.

Well, I hope someone is, he thought.

Just as the thought settled, Orson activated his astral projection. His eyes turned entirely black, drinking in the light as he scanned the clearing. His focus locked onto a single contractor struggling against a wolf.

Immediately, voices began to echo inside his skull—sinister whispers, erratic and overlapping at first, thrashing around the inside of his mind. Slowly, the chaotic murmurs condensed, rising into a single, unified voice that rasped together:

He is afraid of being attacked by his friends and family... he fears betrayal above all.

The moment the final whisper died down, the surrounding darkness pooled together, materializing a massive, shield-like structure directly into Orson’s hands.

Wait, what? Orson thought, staring at the heavy barrier now resting in his grip. So because the guy is terrified of being betrayed, I get a shield to protect myself?

He looked down at the sprawling shield. Despite its imposing size, holding it felt like holding a feather. He shifted his grip, skeptical.

Is this thing even going to protect me?

Meanwhile, high above, four suns shone down with brilliant intensity, while the fifth and largest sun at the absolute center remained slightly dim.

Barnabas moved from island to island with inhuman speed, vaulting across the floating terrain. As he reached a higher altitude, he suddenly paused, noticing something wrong. Several of the islands were missing.

He wasn’t sure if his mind was playing tricks on him, but the government had already mapped out this breach in extensive detail. Based on everything he knew, there was supposed to be a grand temple after a specific sequence of islands. Yet Barnabas had been scaling the heights for a while now, finding nothing.

Maybe it’s further up, he thought, shaking off the doubt as he resumed his climb.

Then, as if caught in a trick of the mind, he looked high up into the sky and spotted someone falling.

It was just like the woman he had saved earlier—Rain—but what made this strange was that the falling man had simply appeared out of nowhere. High above him, thousands of floating islands still filled the atmosphere behind a bizarre spatial barrier, yet this man had just materialized beneath it.

He must have been trapped in the ocean layer as well, just like Rain, Barnabas thought, picking up his speed as he leaped from island to island to catch the falling contractor before he hit the ground.

Right as he closed the distance, Barnabas felt a sudden, oppressive spike of energy coming from directly behind the falling man.

He locked his gaze upward.

A massive ball of condensed light-fire was hurtling down through the sky. When Saint Barnabas looked into the blinding flare, it felt as though the central sun itself was descending straight into the breach.

As the mini-sun descended, Barnabas pushed his legs to their absolute limit. But judging from where he stood, he knew the cold truth: even if he moved ten times faster, he wasn’t going to be able to save the falling man from being incinerated by that solar mass.

Still, standing by was not an option. Barnabas had to try.

With a mental command, he called up his weapon from the system window. A massive war hammer materialized in his grip, its handle glowing with a low, intense inner flame. Balancing the heavy weapon, he launched himself across another floating island, vaulting from tree to tree in a blur of motion until he reached the cliff edge. Without hesitating, he leaped off the precipice toward the next landmass.

Saint Barnabas gritted his teeth as he soared through the open sky. He watched the blinding sphere of light-fire close the distance on the young man, knowing in his heart he was already too late.