Chapter 87: The Secrets of Canaan (5k)
“Well, I received news in advance.”
Professor Barbarossa, resembling a giant gorilla, glanced over at Ingrid through his gold-rimmed glasses, clearly familiar with this high-ranking official from the military: “Since you also have the authority to access Level Nine files, I won’t interfere.”
As he spoke, he turned sideways, opening the path to the archive behind him.
Ingrid then saluted him again with a standard military salute before leading Rast inside.
As Rast walked behind Ingrid, passing by her side, he sensed a shift in the surrounding energy. Professor Barbarossa’s gaze fell downwards, those beast-like eyes locking onto him.
“Selected by that silver weasel, were you?”
Perhaps due to his enormous size, Professor Barbarossa’s voice resonated like thunder: “To be chosen by that silver weasel means your temperament and talent should be quite good.”
“But looking at your faint aura, you’re at best below Tier Three. I bet you haven’t been into the Night World many times.”
“The academy’s ideals are certainly noble… But before truly stepping into the Echo of Calamity, do not let the will and expectations of others sweep you away. Instead, follow your own will to make decisions.”
“There is only one life; once you enter the Night World, there’s no turning back.”
“Avoiding risks when you haven’t reached that level of awareness yet and choosing to escape is not shameful.”
Professor Barbarossa’s words grew heavier: “In these years guarding the Tower of Secrets, I’ve seen too many cases.”
“Like me, who has become neither human nor ghost, that’s still considered lucky. Many spirited Night Travelers have sunk into the Night World, their bones never to return.”
“Moreover, although the End of the Night World has greater rewards, its dangers are incomparable to others… You can’t team up to enter, and even the historical background nodes are uncertain, making it impossible to collect targeted intelligence.”
He shifted his tone, speaking earnestly: “So, Young Rast, if you’re thinking about exploring the End of the Night World… come find me more often, and I will provide you with practical training.”
“I have been at the Tower of Secrets for so many years; no one knows the End of the Night World better than I do.”
The reflection in Professor Barbarossa’s gold-rimmed glasses sparkled with wisdom: “If I personally train you, your chances of survival returning from the Night World will surely increase significantly.”
“Don’t mind this big guy.”
Mr. Silver jumped onto Rast’s shoulder, rolling his eyes at the boasting giant gorilla.
“When this guy was still a professor at Lionheart Institute, he was quite the restless fighter. Every practical class left students miserable.”
“Now that he has turned into a security guard at the Tower of Secrets… there are very few Night Travelers with the authority to enter the Tower and the End of the Night World, and they all have their own tasks, so no one has time to chat with him.”
“After all these years, he’s probably so bored that mushrooms are growing on his backside. Every time he catches a newbie, he uses this practical training line, but to put it plainly, he just wants someone to keep him company.”
“You can just pretend you didn’t hear it.”
So that’s how it is…
Rast looked up at the towering figure radiating a palpable energy, Professor Barbarossa, who was gazing down at him through his gold-rimmed glasses, and he sensed a hint of eager anticipation from those beast-like eyes.
It was like a lonely elderly person in the countryside watching their visiting grandchildren leave after only a few days, wanting to keep them around but unable to voice it due to pride.
“Professor Barbarossa, may I ask you a question?”
After thinking it over, Rast asked.
“What is the specific function of your Night Blade?”
“My Night Blade?”
Professor Barbarossa was clearly taken aback.
“Normally, students at your level are not permitted to inquire about my Night Blade’s information.”
“However, since you are an outstanding newbie at the academy, some curiosity is quite normal. Let’s give that silver weasel some face.”
Barbarossa’s voice maintained a dignified tone befitting his position, yet he answered surprisingly quickly, as if he had been waiting for this moment.
“My Night Blade is called ‘Silence Disqualified.’ I have currently developed two abilities. The most basic effect, ‘Withering Stone,’ nullifies any ‘Extraordinary’ effects upon contact with my body.”
“Of course, this nullification of Extraordinary effects has limitations, such as being ineffective against mental and soul attacks, and it can only completely nullify Extraordinary effects from beings of lower tiers than myself.”
“When facing enemies equal to or higher than my tier, it can only disqualify their Extraordinary abilities to a certain extent, reducing their effectiveness.”
Seemingly fearing Rast might lose interest, Barbarossa quickly added:
“My second-tier ability is ‘Lake of Silence,’ which, as the name suggests, creates an external domain in which the Extraordinary is disqualified and rendered silent.”
“Of course, an externally emitted silence domain has greater limitations; typically, it can only be used to bully weaker opponents.”
“So, Young Rast, you don’t need to worry that my tier is too high to provide you with practical guidance.”
“When I was at Lionheart Institute, I was responsible for military combat training, and I can apply the silence domain to myself, suppressing my tier to be equal to yours, to act as your sparring partner.”
As if fearing Rast wouldn’t believe him, with a distorted glow, Professor Barbarossa’s form swiftly shrank.
Soon, he transformed from a nearly ten-meter-tall giant gorilla into a size just slightly taller than an average person.
But he still looked like a gorilla.
Rast noted that during Professor Barbarossa’s shrinking process, the gold-rimmed glasses he wore shrank along with him.
Undoubtedly, this gold-rimmed glasses was also an Emblem Armor.
But he didn’t know what its effect was.
“To render all the Extraordinary ‘disqualified,’ is Barbarossa’s Night Blade that special?”
Listening to the professor’s explanation, Rast felt a thrill, asking softly under the moonlight.
“That’s correct. So this fellow, who clearly belongs to the ‘Forest’ Sequence, where that sequence mainly focuses on support and logistics, typically uses druidic beast transformation only as a last resort for survival… Yet Barbarossa fights like he’s from the ‘Chariot.'”
“Every time he battles, he uses his druid abilities to turn into a huge beast and jumps right into the fray. After all, other people’s Extraordinary abilities are ‘disqualified,’ and in a physical clash, it’s highly unlikely others can outmatch this brute.”
As he spoke, Mr. Silver shot a skeptical glance at Rast.
Given this kid’s tendency to poke into everything, it was unusual for him to be so earnest about an inquiry.
If nothing else…
On the other side, looking at his shrunken form, Professor Barbarossa couldn’t help but feel somewhat dispirited.
‘Silence Disqualified,’ this Night Blade capable of nullifying superpowers seemed strong, but had absolutely no effect on the distortion of his own soul.
In his current state, he would certainly scare a lot of people if he stepped outside. Unless he figured out how to lift this curse, he’d probably be stuck guarding the Tower of Secrets for the rest of his life.
Messages had come from the academy, stating that this class’s Round Table chief possesses a certain rule-type instant-d*ath Night Blade… Once she breaks through to Tier Six, perhaps she can use the Night Blade to ‘k*ll’ the curse on his soul.
However, Barbarossa wasn’t very hopeful about this; after all, he had a premonition… His soul wasn’t merely under a curse but had already become completely twisted, taking on a non-human form.
Even if that Round Table chief named Akshia managed to break through to Tier Six, what could she actually do? Would she really k*ll his transformed soul?
He had actually prepared himself psychologically to live with this form; it was just that the Tower of Secrets was far too dull. The occasional visitor hurried through for research or to head to the End of the Night World, leaving him with no one to talk to.
As a professor at Starry University, Barbarossa had not a single student to teach here.
To maintain confidentiality, all network signals were blocked within the Tower of Secrets, leaving him with no chance to surf the web.
At that moment, he heard Rast’s voice.
“Professor Barbarossa, I’m very interested in the practical training you mentioned.”
“I will visit you again before the next entry into the End of the Night World, and I’ll ask you for some practical experience.”
The boy’s sincere words warmed Barbarossa’s heart, reminiscent of a lonely old man.
Only the silver weasel looked at the harmonious scene with disdain.
Based on Rast’s personality… he likely had his eyes on the Night Blade just like Young Xiya did back then.
This Night Blade and I share a fate ×2.
…
After a brief conversation with Professor Barbarossa, the trio entered the archive within the Tower of Secrets.
Before them stood enormous metal bookshelves, densely arranged and filled with countless ancient texts, books, confidential documents, files, and evidence.
Given the specifications of the Tower of Secrets archives, if they were to search the shelves in order, they might spend three entire days and nights without finding the corresponding files or documents.
However, Ingrid, as the Inspectorate Director from the military, was clearly familiar with the archive.
She gazed into the deep and obscure archive, took off her black silk gloves, and pointed her dark silver prosthetic hand toward the archive.
The next moment, a light, elegant phrase in Ancient Aran flowed from Ingrid’s lips, resonating in the air.
This ancient language, not commonly spoken in the present world but widely used in the Night World, was a required course for every Night Traveler at Starry University.
Due to the earlier reminder from Mr. Silver, Rast had specifically reviewed Ancient Aran while in bed.
With Rast’s mental and memorization prowess, he had forcibly memorized the vocabulary of Ancient Aran in just a few days.
Though still quite unfamiliar with grammar and speech, Rast understood the long, tuneful sequence of syllables—
[Full Library Search: All archives and document materials related to “Canaan”]
[Search Condition Restriction: Confidential Level Nine]
To prevent information leakage, the Tower of Secrets blocked all network signals and even set up electromagnetic interference expressly to prevent technological replication.
However—
The Extraordinary who created the Tower of Secrets transcended computer programming, instead directly writing and establishing the corresponding retrieval rules for the archive within the Tower’s space.
As a result, the retrieval rules set forth in the space were triggered.
Mana began to flow slowly, searching, querying, and generating for the entire library according to the preset conditions.
Until the flow of mana in the archive gradually settled, indicating the search was complete.
In front of the three, on the wooden table, were two black briefcases, adorned with silver metallic edges, which had appeared there unknown to them.
Inside the briefcases were naturally everything related to Canaan.
Ingrid pointed at the two briefcases on the table and then re-donned her black silk gloves over her prosthetic hand.
Mr. Silver, recognizing the context, found a corner and started on some dried fish.
Having heard Hiltina recount their complete experience at Deep Blue Harbor, Mr. Silver naturally understood the significance of the term “Canaan” in Rast’s mind.
Rast took a deep breath, suppressing the turbulence in his heart.
Then, he opened the first briefcase.
Immediately, he saw a brief document.
[On May 30, Year 813 of the Summer Blossom Calendar, at a quarter past seven in the morning, near the Saintly Snow Mountains in the northern region of the Western Continent, approximately 800 kilometers from the main peak, an unusually enormous violent explosion occurred.]
[According to the descriptions from witnesses hundreds of kilometers away, an immensely large fireball streaked across the sky, its brightness akin to that of the sun. Minutes later, a bright light illuminated the heavens, shortly after which windows within a 700-kilometer radius shattered from the blast.]
[Based on confirmation by dispatched personnel, the center of the explosion was a border town named “Canaan,” which completely vanished during this Extraordinary event.]
[Since the unusually explosive incident occurred in the Falan Holy Kingdom’s Fales Province, it has been preliminarily termed by authorities as the “Fales Great Explosion.”]
[After the “Fales Great Explosion,” due to its unexpected and unannounced occurrence, the authorities of the Falan Holy Kingdom initially determined it to be the manifestation of the Night World disaster Echo of Calamity known as “Dusk Calamity.”]
[However, after dispatching multiple Night Travelers for confirmation, this conjecture was rejected.]
[Prior to the Fales Great Explosion, there had been no unchallenged disaster Echo of Calamity within the Western Continent, and following the completion of the Fifth Era’s Echo of Calamity explorations, it was confirmed that all twelve Night Worlds of the Fifth Era had been completely captured, with no uncharted Fifth Era Night Worlds existing.]
[Later, after the Falan Holy Kingdom dispatched Tier Six experts to the scene for investigation, the confidentiality specifications of this event were swiftly raised, and the Falan Holy Kingdom began to implement strict secrecy measures, along with post-incident handling and information cleansing.]
[Due to the limited communication technology of the time, as the communication network had yet to be established, information could only be transmitted through paper media. Furthermore, the town of Canaan’s location was extremely remote with few inhabitants within a thousand miles, leading to very few eyewitnesses… Thus, authorities swiftly suppressed the effects of this incident.]
[The Granwill Empire’s Intelligence Bureau, relying solely on infiltrators within the Falan Holy Kingdom, was able to successfully preserve the information contained in this document, resulting in the exposure of several Falan informants, including a viscount.]
The document ended abruptly here.
Rast closed the briefcase.
Now it was the year 994 of the Summer Blossom Calendar.
In other words, the “Fales Great Explosion” recorded in the files had occurred nearly two hundred years ago.
At that time, the Western Continent hadn’t even developed a semblance of communication networks, and the speed of information dissemination was extremely slow.
Additionally, the swift handling of information by local officials suppressed public opinion.
No wonder not even Starry University was aware of it; only a specialized organization like the Granwill Intelligence Bureau, dealing in espionage, could glean clues from informants they had embedded within.
With this in mind, Rast opened the second briefcase.
What first caught his eye was an old black-and-white photograph, despite careful maintenance in the archive, showing clear signs of fading.
These were the marks left by nearly two hundred years.
Yet even so, Rast recognized the scenery depicted in the black-and-white blocks of the photograph—
Rolling mountains, the peaks covered in white snow…
That was the landscape he had seen in Canaan; wherever you stood in that small town and looked up, you could see the distant mountains with their snowy peaks.
However.
In the photograph’s composition, the place that should have been Canaan—
A hillside covered in soft green shade, a lake shimmering like a silver mirror below the slope, and a peaceful town sitting beside it…
All memories connected to that scene had vanished from the photograph.
In their place was a monstrous void that entirely enveloped Rast’s memory of the small town of Canaan.
The vast emptiness, bottomless, appeared grotesque and fearsome.
It was as if someone was holding an eraser and, from a higher dimension, came down and landed on the world map.
Then, wiped away the little town named Canaan and the surrounding world clean, entirely.
That immense void and the distant snow-capped mountains were printed into the black-and-white world, suffused with a sense of extreme rupture and discord.
Rast stood there, staring blankly at the black-and-white photograph.
After a long time, he silently retrieved the remaining few items from the briefcase.
First was a jar containing lunar-like dust samples encased in protective foam glass.
Next was a corresponding inspection report.
[Regarding the suspected soil samples from the original site of “Canaan,” the following conclusions were drawn after testing:]
[The laws of time and space in that area had been forcibly rewritten and invaded, which subsequently triggered the fragmentation of spatial rules… ultimately causing the phenomena of “Temporal Invasion” and “Temporal Annihilation.”]
[Preliminary judgment indicates that this phenomenon originated from an Era-ending level of Dusk Calamity, Divine Descent of the True God, or the full power use of a time-space type Night Blade above Tier Six.]
(End of Chapter)
