Chapter 362: Red Angel

Chapter 362: Red Angel

Williams Street, located at the border of the West End and Queens District, is a prime and livable area in Barkeland.

After leaving St. Samuel's Church, Luke took a carriage and made his way to the house marked with the number 8 on the upper right. A "For Sale" sign hung on the gate of this house.

The original owner of the house was an unremarkable bankrupt viscount, with one notable detail: he was a descendant of the "Blood Emperor", Alistair Tudor.

And in the basement of this house lived a guest.

Or rather, three guests.

Luke gazed at the house for a moment, then walked up to the gate and gently touched the keyhole. The door opened silently, and he stepped inside, the door closing with a soft click behind him.

He passed through the dusty, disordered living room and followed the stairs down to a spacious basement. In the dim candlelight, a grayish-white stone door in the corner was revealed. With a heavy creak, a dark stone corridor slowly came into view.

On either side and at the end of the corridor were several wooden doors, showing signs of decay and age. Luke briefly inspected them before continuing forward, eventually reaching a black double-stone door at the end.

At this point, he paused briefly, then took out a ball of soft white light from his pocket. This was the Extraordinary Trait of the Sequence 5 "Arcane Mentor" on the Reader Path, obtained from Mr. A!

Typically, from Sequence 5 onwards, various auxiliary rituals are prepared to help the user stay awake and reduce the mental imprint. However, the rituals are mainly to increase the success rate; it is still possible to ascend by directly consuming the Extraordinary Trait, although the risks are much higher.

Luke, however, was relying on his Divine Blessing to assimilate the Extraordinary Trait, similar to a shepherd tending to his flock, but with the added step of digestion. Apart from the divine ritual, the remaining conditions for advancement were largely unnecessary.

"Without wine, I'll have to make do."

Luke swallowed the Extraordinary Trait with a hint of regret and slowly closed his eyes.

A cool sensation washed over his brain, and countless points of Spiritual Energy burst forth. Various peculiar ritual magics, unheard-of arcane techniques, and wild, imaginative ideas began to surge.

The Reader Path, or the White Tower Path, is a path where "knowledge is power", with all methods centered around knowledge.

Early-stage Readers are not particularly powerful and can even be considered quite weak. At Sequence 9, Readers enhance their focus, memory, and comprehension, mastering ritual magic. At Sequence 8, as "Scholars", they improve their logical analysis and become experts in ritual magic, though they lack combat skills. At Sequence 7, as "Detectives", they begin to gain some physical agility and proficiency in weapon use and combat techniques.

However, they are still primarily focused on learning and observation, with limited combat ability.

It is not until Sequence 6, as "Scholars", that they undergo a significant transformation, gaining the ability to observe, analyze, and imitate. The knowledge accumulated in the earlier Sequences becomes useful at this stage.

Theoretically, as long as they have sufficient knowledge, from Sequence 6 onwards, the Readers on this path can become the strongest T0-level beings among all paths.

At Sequence 5, as "Arcane Mentors", they master a vast amount of knowledge, can observe and understand the essence of things, discern underlying rules, and analyze and imitate. They can then create and combine their own arcane techniques based on their needs.

Luke was very familiar with this ability. The "Transformation" of the versatile Luke from a child's world was an advanced version of this skill!

Many versions of Luke in different worlds loved this ability, not just for the various roles he could play, but also because he could analyze and replicate anything he found interesting. Once he accessed the encyclopedia, he could freely experiment and even bring things from one world to another.

The various abilities of the "Xenoman" from another world, brought over by his Divine Blessing, were converted and evolved into more fitting "arcane techniques" in this world.

Arcane techniques for manipulating and consuming spirits, modifying the body and soul, altering the external world centered around oneself, consuming and digesting, creating seals and magical items, and observing higher dimensions...

A vast array of arcane techniques was "created", and the Spiritual Energy that had yet to dissipate instantly gathered. As Luke opened his eyes, he saw a constellation of stars before him, and the sound of bubbles bursting, which he had heard an hour ago, rang in his ears.

The Extraordinary Trait of the "Arcane Mentor" was completely assimilated!

"The Reader Path is just too compatible with me."

Luke sighed softly, unable to contain his amazement.

It wasn't just the "Scholar" and "Arcane Mentor" that fit him; the Sequence 3 "Insightful" also matched him perfectly. Having analyzed countless worlds and opened numerous tomes, he was almost certain that the "Insightful" path would be a breeze for him.

Even the Sequence 4 "Seer" was a good fit for someone who had read the original work. However, the core of this path was "the unknown unknown", which brought unpredictable changes, making it not the most suitable choice.

After upgrading himself, Luke pushed open the black stone door in front of him.

As soon as a gap appeared, a black, slippery creature suddenly dropped from above. It was a long snake with a triangular head and red markings.

Thud, thud, thud—more snakes dropped from the door, piling up at the entrance. Inside, countless snakes of various colors writhed and huddled together, forming an absurdly large nest of snakes several meters wide.

A wave of disgust hit him.

"Are hunters some kind of snake trap...?"

Luke's mouth twitched, feeling a bout of arachnophobia coming on.

He closed the stone door again, his eyes glowing with light, and his body becoming ethereal and transparent, as if ascending to a higher dimension.

Then he floated up, passing through all the walls as if using a cheat code in a game, descending through the building with a distinct Fourth Era style.

At the bottom of the hall, there were seven large, heavy black stone doors on the wall: two on the left, one in the middle, and four on the right. The asymmetrical design would drive any Ocd person mad.

Luke's body returned to normal, and his gaze fell on the middle door. He walked straight over to it.

As he approached, a cold laugh echoed in his ears, the air around him becoming stagnant, and a chilling wind swept through.

Whoosh.

Along with the wind came a surge of darkness, as if trying to engulf all light. An invisible force began to erode and occupy Luke's body, affecting his mind.

Luke, who had just witnessed true darkness, felt no inner turmoil at the "Red Angel" Medici's trick; in fact, he almost wanted to laugh.

He watched the encroaching darkness with a blank expression, relaxing his body. A corrupt divine aura surged from within him—the divine aura of the True Creator!

The tidal wave of darkness suddenly stopped, trembling and contracting, indicating its master's agitation.

A moment later, the darkness dissipated, and a voice, not quite calm, spoke.

"My Lord?"

In the Third Era, after the "Ancient Sun God" was betrayed and devoured by three of his angelic kings, the dark side of his spirit combined with the "Hanged Man" authority to form the "True Creator."

Thus, the title "Lord of All Creation" could refer to the "True Creator."

The three betraying angelic kings became the current seven major deities: the "Eternal Blazesun" Osercus, the "Lord of Storms" Leorod, and the "God of Knowledge and Wisdom" Helbergen.

The "Angel of Fate" Ulorius and the "Red Angel" Medici continued to serve the "True Creator", even as the "True Creator" had gone mad and fallen, no longer the "Ancient Sun God" who had created the "Radiant Era."

Unfortunately, loyalty did not earn them kindness.

Medici was ultimately brought down by the "Angel of Time" Amon, who had raised him, and the "Angel of Imagination" Adam, who had inherited the divine aspect of the "Ancient Sun God", becoming the material for the "Blood Emperor" Alistair Tudor to ascend to true divinity.

Luke looked at the stone door with a mix of pity, as if he could see the skeleton sitting on the stone throne inside.

"Your loyalty hasn't changed a bit."

Medici fell silent for a moment, sensing the implications, while two other voices chimed in.

"Hah, you act like a wild dog the moment you sense a familiar aura, thinking the 'True Creator' will save you? The 'Red Angel' was once so naive?"

"Without our uniqueness and Extraordinary Traits, we have no value. Isn't that obvious? Otherwise, why would no one have come for you in over a thousand years?"

Medici scoffed, "You panic the moment someone with my Lord's aura arrives, afraid I might get help and kill the two of you?"

"Don't worry, I won't kill you. Instead, I'll give you a 'Witch's' Extraordinary Trait, so you can stand on the streets day and night. In memory of the time we spent together, I'll make sure you have plenty of business."

"Spoken like a true one, but it’s a shame your thing is already rotten. How can you possibly take care of it? Are you planning to possess someone else’s body? Then who’s really using it, you or them?"

"You seem to have a thing for those who were men originally, Red Angel? Don’t tell me you have some ideas about the Ancient Sun God. Has He ever invited you to His bed?"

Impressive, each one more venomous than the last.

Luke listened with a whistle of amazement. Hunters really do have sharp tongues. Three of them together for over a thousand years—just thinking about it makes it sound like hell.

But perhaps it’s precisely because they have each other to vent their frustrations that they haven’t lost their will over such a long time.

Soon, the merged Soren Einhorn Medici stopped arguing and came to a consensus. They urgently needed to change their current situation.

Medici, the dominant entity, asked in a deep voice, "Are you sent by my Lord?"

"No."

Luke shook his head, "This divine power is from the True Creator’s Divine Blessing, given to a fraudster to try and use his body to manifest. I intercepted it on the way."

Two scoffs echoed, seemingly mocking Medici for his misplaced hope, which turned out to be an enemy instead of a savior.

The cold aura expanded and contracted several times. Medici remained silent for two seconds, his tone turning unfriendly, "Then who are you, and what brings you here?"

Luke shrugged, "I admire your loyalty and want you to switch your allegiance, but... I doubt you’ll agree?"

Indeed, his words were met with several mocking voices before he even finished speaking.

Luke didn’t get angry, his tone remained calm, "So, how about a compromise? I’ll set you free, and you help me with something. We’ll call it even, what do you say?"

Medici didn’t agree immediately, speaking nonchalantly, "Go on, I’ll decide based on what you say."

"It’s not a big deal."

Luke spoke casually, "I plan to become a Red Sacrificer, but there’s a Conqueror’s Extraordinary Trait far away and hard to find. I want you to bring it to me."

"Considering you were once the pinnacle of the Hunter path—the Red Angel, God of War, symbol of iron and blood, ruler of chaos and conflict—you should have some deep connection to the Conqueror’s Extraordinary Trait, right?"

The space fell into a long silence.

After a while, Medici’s mocking voice finally sounded.

"… If you’re playing the fool, you’ve certainly made me laugh."

Medici chuckled, ignoring the fact that he had long lost his uniqueness and Sequence 1 Extraordinary Trait, and had almost no connection to Extraordinary Traits anymore.

Also, he was a spirit who could only exert less than Sequence 3 Saint power and would fade over time if he left a specific location, making it impossible for him to retrieve a Sequence 1 Extraordinary Trait.

Even if he fully digested the Magic Potion and had ritual assistance, the ascension to a true god would be extremely dangerous. Now, anyone dares to spout such grandiose words so casually?

"Fine."

Medici’s mocking laugh was casual, "If you don’t trust me, you can ask the Eternal Blazesun to witness it."

The Eternal Blazesun is known as the God of Contracts and can create unbreakable agreements.

"Then forget it, no need to trouble your former colleague."

Luke sidestepped Medici’s subtle trap, laughing softly, his tone relaxed, "The entity I believe in also has authority over oaths. From the moment I proposed the terms and you agreed, the contract was already set."

This... the entity he believes in?

The merged spirits were taken aback.

...

Tinggen City, 2 Narcissus Street.

After lunch, Klein returned to his room, locked the door, and drew the curtains. After a thorough check, he took four steps backward and arrived at Huiwu Zhi Shang.

...

In the grand palace, the bronze table was weathered and ancient, as if it had remained unchanged for millennia.

Klein looked down as three stars lit up, and familiar figures materialized one by one.

"Good afternoon, Fool."

"Good afternoon, Hanged Man."

Aurelia, tall and blonde, exuding a vague beauty, greeted everyone as she had in previous meetings, her tone more subdued than before.

She looked at the one who introduced the concept of war, the one who made her use the Spectator to pay attention to certain things, the one who caused her distress, her lips trembling as she curtsied, her voice heavy.

"Good afternoon, Emperor!"

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end