Chapter 215: Seed of Disaster

While Moon was inspecting, he found a black object that looked like it was made of glass—

"Year 4788, 4th month, the 25th day"

"This is the day I, Lyncarter of Arbiter’s Circle of Nine, died."

"Greetings, young ascender from the future."

Startled, Moon dropped it and jumped backward onto one of the skeletons, Liquid Mountain aimed at the source of the voice.

"Who are you?" Moon asked, for at this moment, there was another person in the room.

A man in a white hooded cape stood there; his hair was white, and his eyes were a similar color to Moon’s light brown.

He didn’t carry any weapons, and he didn’t even feel dangerous to Moon. But that didn’t mean a thing; how could a person who wasn’t dangerous stand in this place and look perfectly unharmed?

"For whoever happened to survive where I died, I leave this message, entrusting you with my legacy and my 5th seat, the patroller’s Lightwalker seat at the Arbiters’ table," the man said again with a soft smile.

"What are you talking about?" Moon asked him again. "What do you mean, dead?" Before adding, "You look perfectly fine."

The man didn’t seem to respond or react to Moon or anything he did, even when his eyes followed him perfectly.

"We Arbiters lived for duty. I am not sure if Arbiters still exist by the time this is found... Please carry on the legacy of a forgotten era where we once performed our duties, and guard the Tower, our home, from invasive forces."

Moon didn’t say another word; he only listened to what the man was saying. He was starting to get an idea of what was happening.

"Three years before I died, I detected a new energy, abnormalities unlike anything in our Tower’s System of Echoes."

The man regretfully shook his head. "It wasn’t just stray energy. It was a seed of a disaster, and fortunately, it was me who happened to find it."

The man exhaled. "During my inspection, my body was defensively invaded."

Moon’s eyes widened; he now understood. "This is a recorded message," he exclaimed.

The man before him apparently came from an era before Death Echo existed. Moon couldn’t fathom how long ago that was; he wasn’t even aware of what year they were in now.

The man’s smile returned bitterly. "I tried to seal it within my body, but my body was eroded." He extended his hand, showing another image of himself.

His hair was black; the whites of his eyes were also black. On his arms burned something that looked like black flames. "It was too late for me. This wasn’t simply a huge amount of external energy; it was a disaster waiting to fall, and I had to bear it alone."

The image of his dying self dissipated. "I had no choice. I couldn’t allow it to roam freely in the Tower, nor could I tame it."

The man paused for a moment, looking down. "This energy could be a seed to something greater, a being beyond our understanding. I suspect it could be a new rule that’s being imprinted on the Tower, paving the way for a disaster that has yet to come."

He raised his gaze back to Moon. "I’m not sure if I managed to prevent it, or if there are more seeds," he chuckled.

Moon looked at the man; he sat down between the skeletons and took off the helmet. Sadness overtook his expression.

Moon found it heavy to bear the tales of heroes who died to achieve a goal.

Lyncarter didn’t seem to be aware of his emotions. "Though, over those two years, I came to realize an undeniable fact. This Energy hates the living."

He closed his eyes. "No matter what, it’ll seek to invade anything alive and corrupt their Echo, replicating itself."

"I ran tests, experimented with my own body to find a way to contain it. Seals of the ancients were the answer, and I only knew a little... Yet, I still succeeded, though I was also at death’s door," he went on.

"Even though I succeeded, the seal isn’t going to last forever; soon they will find it. Whoever sent this, or those working with him, will find it."

He smiled proudly. "The ancients were right to turn the first floor into an energy-deprived space; this seed would have aimed there otherwise, and who knows, maybe they did aim there and failed."

"The root and base of our Tower cannot be allowed to be harmed."

Moon looked down at the ground, feeling the pride and bitterness in his voice. "No one wants to sacrifice himself if they have a choice," he said, extending his hand to one of the black, glass-like orbs on the ground.

Lyncarter spoke again. "A special person who could bear this curse without dying was needed. For only the dead could bear it. I built this place with what was left of my Echo and my knowledge of Seals."

"Once this location is found, the monsters that could be reanimated with this energy will seek it. Thus, with what was left and the help of the administrator, I built another seal to strip them of their stats, including my own, if there’s anything left of it by the time you’re finally here."

Moon flinched; his eyes went to the empty eye sockets of the black skeletons. He felt like they were, for the first time, staring at him.

"These are undead," he whispered at the realization.

’Why would Death Echo saturate the bones of something that wasn’t undead?’ Moon smacked his head. How stupid he was.

"We also arranged the quest to only bring new ascenders to make sure the owner of this Energy, if one day happened to sneak in, wouldn’t be able to find this space," Lyncarter added.

Moon didn’t feel good about the way he said ’Space’ instead of ’Place’ this time, but he didn’t say anything.

Lyncarter’s bitterness became more intense; his eyes went moist. "Seeking whoever could reach this place, I became a sinner to countless generations," he said heavily, exhaling sharply.

He placed his hand on his chest and looked up. "The Tower is my witness, for I didn’t have any other choice. I did everything I could, knowing too well I couldn’t be saved."

He looked at Moon. "I even created an illusion of my prime self to do the talking," he chuckled again, more heavily.

He looked deep into Moon’s eyes. "I leave my legacy, my teachings, and my burdens to you, child of the future."

He looked up again. "May the Tower guide a righteous soul to this place."

As soon as he spoke his final words, the illusion of Lyncarter disappeared, replaced by a skeleton that looked like black flames were surrounding each of its bones.

In the center of its lower sternum, something that looked exactly like the black orb he was holding was embedded into the bone.

Moon stood, exhaling sharply.

He looked around and shook his head. "Sinner, are you really feeling sorry for these bastards?" he whispered.

He kicked the skull of a skeleton while walking forward.

Moon came closer to the remnants of Lyncarter. "You are not a sinner. These bastards, all of them, don’t deserve those words."