Chapter 413: The Next Record
This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation.com
Vanna had always thought of Morris as a quiet, studious gentleman. Back in their homeland, Pland, Morris spent most of his time teaching in the classroom or immersed in the vast library. He lectured at various educational establishments and was deeply committed to his academic pursuits. Vanna rarely had the chance to witness the more peculiar, supernatural aspects of this elderly scholar.
However, during their journey on the “Vanished,” Vanna began to see a different side of Morris. She realized that these seemingly innocuous scholars—devout followers of the God of Wisdom, Lahem—relied on something unusual for their scholarly work. She discovered one of the riskiest professions in their world: the relentless pursuit of knowledge.
Vanna reflected on this and found it logical. Scholars needed special and powerful abilities, given the various entities in the world vying for knowledge, from malevolent demons to spiritual illusions.
Overwhelmed by this realization, Vanna massaged her temples, trying to calm her thoughts. She muttered, “So you’re this powerful… If I had known earlier, I might have studied harder…”
Morris shook his head, his face emotionless. “No, you were too far behind. Physical training suits you better.”
Caught off guard, Vanna retorted, “At least I graduated from Pland’s university…”
Morris glanced at her dryly. “One-third of your credits were for athletics, another third for religious studies.”
Vanna was speechless. After a few seconds of silence, she looked around at the fog surrounding them and awkwardly changed the topic. “The cultist you dealt with, was he controlling those fake creatures?”
Morris shook his head. “He was probably one of many controllers. Did you hear the noises from the other districts? The entire city-state is infested with such creatures now. Who knows how many cultists have slipped into the real world in this dense fog? I fear we won’t be able to eliminate all of them.”
Vanna nodded gravely, ready to say something else when she noticed something unusual from the corner of her eye. With a soft gasp, she darted toward the dead cultist. Squatting down to inspect the body, she tore open his shirt without hesitation.
Underneath the cultist’s torn clothing, his flesh was disintegrating and writhing, resembling pitch-black mud. As the life force left the body, the mud’s movement slowed, gradually drying out.
“…Is this another imposter?!” Vanna’s eyes widened in disbelief. “These cultists… do they transform their own kind into doppelgangers?!”
“It’s not that simple,” Morris replied, his brow furrowed in deep thought. He examined the deceased cultist’s body, recalling their recent encounter. After a pause, he shook his head. “I sensed his thought patterns, distinct from those of the counterfeits. These fake entities show a noticeable discontinuity in their cognitive processes, a hallmark of human uniqueness. Even though they can impersonate ordinary people, they can’t maintain a stable consciousness due to the inherent instability of the ‘primal element.’ This cultist didn’t have that issue.”
He gestured toward the decaying flesh under the cultist’s chest, smeared in black mud. “More importantly, this area here. Notice he’s not entirely composed of primal elements. The primal essence and normal flesh coexist. It’s more like mutual contamination.”
Vanna stared at the indicated spot for a long time, her eyebrows knotting in disgust. “These blasphemers willingly pollute themselves with the element? Replacing parts of their flesh with it… It’s revolting. Even for the Annihilators, this is an extraordinarily perverse level.”
Morris remained calm. “It’s not much different from those who willingly transform into evil demons. These fanatics loathe natural, mortal flesh and have always been inclined to alter themselves in irrational ways.”
With that, he focused on the large black book tightly clutched in the cultist’s hand. After a brief hesitation, the elderly scholar forcefully pried the book from the cultist’s grip.
“Be careful,” Vanna warned. “This book might contain sacrilegious and corrupt material. With the sun’s power diminished, careless contact…”
“Scholars always delve into unfamiliar and mysterious books. For us, every reading is a journey of challenge and discovery,” Morris gently shook his head. “Don’t worry, the Lahem school provides specialized training for reading under these conditions. Your role is to stay alert and assist me if anything is attracted by this book.”
Vanna hesitated, then earnestly nodded. “…Alright.”
Morris acknowledged Vanna’s concern with a grunt, performed a brief, silent prayer, and retrieved a small vial filled with herbal powder from his pocket. He scattered half of it on the ground and set it alight, then dusted the remaining powder over the mysterious book. Checking the status of the colored stone bracelet on his wrist, Morris solemnly settled himself down, placing the enigmatic tome on his lap.
The book’s cover was a deep, impenetrable black, void of any text or emblems. Barely discernible web-like patterns were engraved on the tough outer cover, giving no indication of its origins.
Morris gently lifted the cover to examine the contents. Meanwhile, Vanna deliberately diverted her gaze to avoid any potential influence from the book.
A slew of chaotic lines and symbols unfolded before Morris’s eyes.
At first, the complex array of symbols and lines was challenging to interpret. They didn’t match any language or ancient script he knew. However, as he turned to the next page, the markings within the pages came to life. The ink transformed into animate, writhing entities, scampering within the paper’s boundaries. This sudden animation of the characters engaged Morris’s attention, and within moments, he began to discern the narrative buried within the pages.
The symbols and lines twisted and gyrated rapidly. Every element trembled under his gaze, and the conveyed “knowledge” was etched directly into his mind!
An instinctual thought flashed across Morris’s mind, triggering his subconscious protective mechanisms. In the next instant, his primary consciousness detached, his rationality strengthened, and he became an observer. From a remote, ethereal viewpoint, he observed his “self” in the real world while calmly scrutinizing the content emerging in his brain.
“…The council of the forgotten kings met time and again, solidifying the initial plan…”
“Those forsaken, their flesh would disintegrate under the light…”
After reading only these two sentences, the illusionary “projection” of Morris furrowed his brow.
This was reminiscent of a note brought back by a young informant named “Crow” when the captain initially led the team to explore the second water route! It was that cryptic, unidentified, and suspected ancient record of a “holy text”!
A subtle change swept over Morris’s eyes, and he instantly compelled his body to flip through the pages. His eyes absorbed the blasphemous and distorted text, building corresponding knowledge-based memories in his mind. He then inspected this content from the perspective of an observer within his head.
As Morris delved deeper into the holy text, he discovered that, indeed, the passages followed those recorded by Crow, though they appeared as fragmented sentences:
“…Following the departure of the forsaken clan, the formation of the universe proceeded according to plan, with the forgotten kings embarking on the creation of the original and ultimate blueprint…”
“However, the initial design was promptly abandoned, as the ripple effects of the Great Annihilation continued to disrupt the mortal world… The kings amalgamated dust into stone, and stone into celestial bodies, but these stellar creations crumbled and shattered, unable to withstand the trials…”
“The King of the Pale Giants, referred to as ‘Ta Ruijin’, fell during the first extended night of Genesis…”
“…The kings then initiated the design of the second blueprint. They chose one from among them to play the role of the creator. The first selected was the Dream King, also known as the ‘King of Knowledge and Memory’, a mighty being who had demonstrated true feats of creation…”
“But the second design also faltered, and so the Dream King was torn apart during the second extended night of Genesis, with a fragment of him clinging to the periphery of the real world…”
“The execution of the third blueprint was assigned to another king, referred to as the ‘King of Darkness, or the ‘Master of the Swarm’. He is the collective sovereign of innumerable formless entities, holding the power of creation and the reversal of creation… In truth, he is also known as the ‘elder brother of wisdom’.”
“…The King of Darkness commenced his work. During the third extended night, he bestowed the blueprint upon the swarm and appealed for assistance from the remaining clans. To prevent meeting the same fate as the Dream King and the King of the Pale Giants, he fragmented the blueprint, replacing the multitude of nations in the mortal world with twelve hundred city-states. He delegated governance of the first ten cities to a specific clan, bestowing upon them the title ‘Crete’.”
“The third extended night hence passed peacefully. This was seen as a positive outcome.”
“However, the forgotten kings took issue with the King of Darkness’s amendment of the blueprint and obstructed his path back to the holy throne. However, the clan of the ten cities expressed gratitude to the King of Darkness. Fearing to praise this king openly before the other kings, they conferred upon him a different revered title. They referred to him as the Holy Lord, also known as — The Nether Lord.”
Damn, so the cultist do have merit. Not some crazed cult but one that is actually locked behind reason.
Then, who are the “Gods”. Don’t tell me they are the real cults…
i think the gods that failed somehow became broken pieces. and the ones that succeeded and made the world we have now became the gods we have now. i dont think the gods have much beef with the broken ones, as they are much of a hands off approach. the churches do have an issue with the cults now tho, because, well, they do cult stuff and try to break the status quo. for the people, the cult are the cults, because they do what they do, even if their origins are weird and twisted. both gods and brokens one must have failed avoiding the end of the world fully anyway. the followers of the broken want to just have anyone face the same end sooner… even if their broken gods doesn’t seek it, see the sun.
you should read that with a bit of salt. it is a bible of sort. even if there is some truth in there, it meddled with their biases. it for sure will want to you to read story from their side. no bible is free of biases.
I think we should still be hesitant to be nice to the cults.
Try to remember that the black sun cult is basically torturing its god.
Hey wait didn’t we see that giant floating in subspace a while ago?
lo mismo que pensé cuando lo mencionaron . 0 .
Yeah, I think that giant is the king of the pale giants, Ta Ruijin.
I wonder if the God of Knowledge is what remained of the Dream King…
I have a feeling it might be related to the guy who ranks Anomalies, actually.
“King of Knowledge and Memory” to me implies some level over memory manipulation, and what happens to those who enters that place? Another thing of note is that he somehow knows about pretty much all the Anomalies and ranks them accordingly, what is that if not Knowledge?… But these are all just conjectures.
It’s been a while since I’ve read, so I’m starting to catch up now.
Ta ruijin is the flame god..
Just what is night of Genesis? Is it subspace? How did it kill 2 gods in the past? And this brings me more question, just what is the true identity of the green flame of Captain Duncan? We can confirm that Captain Duncan was obviously a human, but when he went back from subspace, he got the green fire. Does this fire have anything to do with the gods that perished in there. It’s getting more interesting