Chapter 983: Act 156 – The War Tablet: Dragon Skin II
A faint golden beam woven from light spikes rose from the center of the valley, piercing the clouds above where Brendel was pointing. Due to its extremely light color, it had blended almost seamlessly with the sky from several miles away, making it completely unnoticed until now against the backdrop of the verdant valley. Brendel and Bai Jia exchanged glances and instantly understood what it was: “Fragment of Rule—”
“I didn’t expect a Fragment of Rule to fall here near Fatan City,” Bai Jia said quietly with some excitement, “Because ordinary players value Knowledge Tablets far more than Fragments of Rule. Only major factions pay attention to such things, so very few know the exact landing points of the first batch of Fragments of Rule.” Her implication was that they struck it rich this time.
In the game, Fragments of Rule hold almost no value for individual players, but for a faction, they are incredibly important. Their most basic function is to create a man-made sun in the eternal night; possessing it means one can establish a completely independent nation, as in the subsequent era, there will be plenty of refugees forced by circumstances seeking to join you. This was something all aspiring leaders dreamed of.
As an earl under Duke Toniger, the importance of this for Brendel was obvious. He had originally planned to search around Mehotoffen for a Fragment of Rule because he was familiar with the location of one there. He hadn’t expected such good fortune to come his way without any effort.
The location where the War Tablet had fallen was at the very bottom of the valley, amidst a dense oak forest stood clusters of white ruins. These marble buildings must have once been magnificent palaces, but now only broken walls remained, obscured among the dense foliage, giving glimpses of their past glory. Brendel pushed aside the thick air roots, a swarm of unnamed insects scattering chaotically from the disturbed trunks, making one’s scalp tingle. However, neither Brendel nor Bai Jia seemed to care, the latter brushing a spider off her shoulder and gazing at the two massive rocks revealed by the parted roots. The two grayish-blue boulders were covered in mottled moss, interlocking further ahead, resembling an archway. Beneath the arch, a deep shadow loomed, where an ancient oak tree twisted atop the rocks, its complex roots hanging down, firmly anchoring the two stones together.
The forest was eerily silent as the five of them emerged from the thicket and came under the boulders. Bai Jia took a resin torch from her backpack, lit it, and raised it high. The flickering firelight immediately cast uneven shadows across the rocky surface, with two shadows crossing each other forming an ‘X’ shape, the result of deep grooves left by someone.
She glanced over and then retrieved the torch, saying, “It’s right here.”
Speaking, she took the lead and stepped into the deepness, while Brendel surveyed the surroundings and followed closely behind. Next came Himelam, who, as a devout follower of the Earth Mother, could not risk exposing the tokens of her deity at all times. She usually wrapped that item up in cloth, carrying it on her back. Medephis seemed to enjoy the dim environment, comfortably squinting, while the last in line, Andrigraphis, wrinkled his nose and appeared reluctant, lifting up his skirt to avoid dirt.
As they advanced with the firelight, the darkness retreated. After a short distance, a wall came into view, or rather, it was a thick stone archway with several symbols inscribed on it, all ancient Cruz characters representing sunlight, air, and life from top to bottom. These were the three powers of the Sun God, Perkin. Sir Roslin was a devout follower of Perkin, even considered a saint, which was why his remains could be housed in the crypt of the Perkin Temple.
Bai Jia stopped in front of the door and secured the torch on the holder beside it, turning to the others and saying, “This is a magical door that requires the magic of three followers of Perkin to open it. We don’t have any followers of the Sun God here, but Perkin is a subordinate god of Martha, so priests of other subordinate gods can substitute. Miss Himelam, you can count as one. Earl Brendel, Andrigraphis, and Medephis can be one group; fortunately, we all can cast magic.”
“What should I do, Lady Nemesis?” Himelam asked.
“Just place your hand on the door and recite the incantation to cast the ‘Magic Mark’ spell,” Brendel replied. In the game, the so-called infusion of magic was just this; the Magic Mark was the most basic spell across all schools of magic. It doesn’t form a circle, but this foundational spell exists in the magic of every school and can be used to identify magical items (merely identifying whether there is a magical response). The magic marks from different schools work in similar ways but serve almost the same purpose.
“Go in groups,” Bai Jia reminded again, “Himelam, you’re up first.”
The High Priestess nodded and stepped forward to place her hand on the door, chanting an incantation. Before long, the sun symbol at the top of the door lit up, glowing with faint golden light under the dim conditions. Brendel and Bai Jia exchanged glances and placed their hands on the stone door. After infusing their magic, the blue air symbol also lit up.
Finally, it was Andrigraphis and Medephis’s turn. After reciting their spell, the red life symbol lit up, and the stone door creaked and shook, slowly sinking into the ground, dust cascading down as a dark space was soon revealed. Before anyone could take a good look, a withered hand suddenly stretched from the darkness and grabbed the sinking stone door with a snap. Two points of bloody red light flared up, revealing a skull with two flames of red soul fire burning in its eye sockets.
The undead use soul fire to differentiate their soul intensity. In Madara, most of the lowest tier of undead—including recently resurrected skeletons and zombies—have pale, almost transparent soul fires. As they grow stronger, the color of their soul fire shifts from light to dark, eventually turning orange, red, blue, or even purple. The skeleton before them had deep red flames flickering in its eyeballs, indicating it was at least a level of a skeletal knight.
When Brendel had escaped Buche and encountered a skeletal knight, it had terrified him, but now it was hardly enough to impress him—just a silver peak skeleton. Before Brendel could make a move, Medephis suddenly pointed, “Eternal Realm!” The skeletal knight and a dozen other skeletons behind it suddenly froze, as if hit by a paralysis spell, their red lights flickering slightly before they stood motionless.
“Turn around,” Medephis ordered with an authoritative tone. “Clear the way!”
The skeletons turned around without hesitation, stepping creakingly into the darkness. At this point, the stone door had completely sunk below ground, and Brendel finally saw that each of these skeletons wore rusted armor—indeed, they were skeletal knights. He glanced at Medephis; his ability to control these undead was not from the Nightmoon Knight but instead a natural ability of high-tier undead beings, of course, effective only on undead weaker than him. Although the vampire perversion had weakened significantly after the deck reconstruction, it still held strength equivalent to that of golden lower-tier beings, easily maintaining control over a few silver peak skeletons.
“These undead have not been transformed for long,” Bai Jia commented as she watched the skeletons leave. “It should be caused by the magic tide; the bodies resting in this crypt were mostly knights and saints of Perkin, possessing some prowess, which is why such powerful undead can be created.”
Brendel nodded; though these skeletal knights posed no threat yet, having such strong undead at the entrance of the crypt raised concerns about what might lie within. It was akin to a dungeon where the mobs at the entrance were at level 30 or 50; what level would the elites and bosses be inside? “Be careful,” he said. “Medephis, you control these skeletons to lead the way. Andrigraphis, you protect Himelam. Bai Jia—Lady Nemesis, come to my side.”
Among the five, Medephis and Andrigraphis were undead themselves, blending into a place filled with the undead as natural camouflage. Himelam, as a priestess, faced inadequacies in combat like most priests. While worshippers of the Earth Mother were somewhat more combat-oriented among priests, it was still a relative comparison against the typically fragile priests, especially when contrasted with offensively-oriented classes like the Nightmoon Knight. Judging by pure power, Lady Nemesis was likely the weakest among them; although the Lady Knight was close to element manifestation, she excelled in swordsmanship while Bai Jia was specialized in spells—there was a significant difference between them that couldn’t be adjusted to immediately.
As Bai Jia had predicted, the magical tide stirred up by the Sea of Magic had profoundly altered this place. With the chaotic magic surrounding the elemental barriers, the power of the Magic Moon had been amplified hundreds of times. The primary effect on the continent was that the magical essence flooding the world became richer, leading to a surge in the transformation of many plants and animals into magical beings, and corpses were no exception, significantly increasing the chance of wild undead appearing.
In this dark crypt wrapped in ominous magic, the effects were even more pronounced—
Upon entering the stone door, they first encountered a long stone staircase leading deep underground. Soon, the five entered a vast, dark crypt. The walls, columns, vaults, and ceilings were embellished in a style reminiscent of the ruins on the surface; they appeared to be architectural constructs from the same period. However, a thick white mist permeated the crypt, the air filled with a stench of decay. Bai Jia held her torch as they passed through a chamber lined with numerous coffins, finding that wherever the torchlight shone, thick spider webs covered the area, and occasionally had to dodge fist-sized spiders scurrying in the shadows of the stone slabs and wooden frameworks.
They were first greeted by more than a dozen skeletal knights, who were mostly controlled by Andrigraphis in one encounter. Following that, these vampire twins directed their subordinates among the skeletal knights to turn against themselves and shatter their own kind. As they delved deeper, mummies and ghouls began to appear in the crypt, and Brendel even encountered a Glorious Lich—a golden peak undead being with power rivaling that of the skeletal lord Cabais he had once defeated in Cold Fir Fortress.
In face of these powerful undead creatures, Andrigraphis and Medephis’s minions quickly depleted, yet the Glorious Lich was skewerable in a single exchange, pinned against a post by Brendel’s Earth Sword thrusting through its soul fire.
The Glorious Lich seemed like a minor boss character, leaving behind a dark crystal on the ground once perished. Brendel picked it up and examined it, a joyful expression emerging on his face.
“It’s this thing.” Bai Jia’s eyes brightened upon seeing the crystal in Brendel’s hand.
“This is an Infusion Crystal, a very precious item,” Medephis exclaimed, “I wonder what kind of magic was infused within it.”
Brendel raised the crystal under the firelight and nodded; this was indeed an Infusion Crystal—essentially a type of magic scroll, but made using undead soul crystals. It is well-known that most magical beings leave behind magic crystals upon death, and undead are no different, with those left behind being soul crystals. Gray soul crystals have no use for most wizards and alchemists, but priests and necromancer wizards can utilize them to store divine spells or craft higher undead like ghosts.
The soul crystals storing divine spells are known as Infusion Crystals. Differentiating from regular soul crystals which are gray, Infusion Crystals are black. While Infusion Crystals share similar effects with scrolls and are considered one-time-use items, they are much more potent. They significantly enhance the strength and penetration of the stored spell, elevating the spellcaster’s level and are easier to activate without the need for the complex processes involved in using a scroll. Such items are exceedingly rare even in Madara due to the few capable artisans who can craft them, combined with the low success rates. Moreover, soul crystals are inherently valuable materials for creating higher undead, which means few would indulge in wasting them to make such single-use items.
For this reason, the divine spells stored in ordinary Infusion Crystals will generally be of a high tier.
Brendel quickly identified the Infusion Crystal in his hand through his “system”: “Soul Spike Infusion Crystal.”
“Ninth-circle divine spells!” Bai Jia’s amazement escalated: “Brendel, you’re lucky… wait, this isn’t a divine spell.” She suddenly realized, “This is dark magic, necromantic magic.” Brendel continued, the Soul Spike was an incredibly vile dark magic that could bypass most magical defenses to target one’s soul directly. The most alarming aspect of this spell was that even if one had remarkable willpower and resisted much of the magical effect, it would still leave an imprint on their soul, waiting for a moment of weakness to strike again, catching one off guard. He instinctively glanced at the corpse of the Glorious Lich—this undead naturally could not have materialized out of thin air, but was transformed from the original corpse in this crypt; judging by the intensity of this undead, the corpse’s former owner should have been at least a saint knight.
Bai Jia, having reacted first, walked over to the now fully deceased undead and tore a piece of fabric from its rotten body: “This is a shroud of holy body wrap. This person was at least a saint in their lifetime. Odd, followers of Perkin are the undead’s natural enemies; how could they have a soul crystal infused with dark magic on them?”
“If this person was indeed a follower of Perkin and a saint, it’s likely they had fought many undead in their life, perhaps this is a trophy left over from slaying a necromancer?” Himelam speculated after thinking.
That reason seemed the only plausible explanation. Brendel nodded, reluctantly accepting the reasoning, but glanced at the dark crystal in his hand, feeling it was somewhat dubious. Would a follower of Perkin carry an evil item on them, let alone bring it into their own crypt? He temporarily set that thought aside. The path in this crypt had now reached its end. Behind the Glorious Lich’s body lay a tightly closed door. He gestured for Medephis and Andrigraphis to push it open, and with a series of creaking and grinding noises, a round small hall appeared before the five.
A beam of sunlight poured down from above the small hall, appearing particularly conspicuous in the pitch darkness below. Only now did they notice a large hole had been broken open in the arched ceiling above the hall, as if something had fallen from there and pierced through the ceiling. Brendel quickly realized what had caused the scene before him; his vision shifted, and indeed, in the midst of the wrecked hall, he found what he had been seeking.
It was a square metal plate, flickering with a faint silver light, rising and falling softly beneath the sunlight, suspended in mid-air, quietly rotating as if awaiting its first owner to arrive.
The War Tablet!
