abnabooks Chapter 36 The Crimson Secret
Chapter 36 The Crimson Secret
"You're in luck, it's Jasmine Time now." Felix pulled out his pocket watch, glanced at the dial, and smiled.
This was the second time Lucius had heard Felix utter the word; at the time, he thought it was just some kind of internal scheduling code.
Now, he voiced the question that had been lingering in his mind:
"Captain Felix, what is Jasmine Time? Is this obsidian door the same as the door to the relics storage room?"
Felix closed his pocket watch and put it back in his pocket, placed his palm on the surface of the obsidian door, and turned to face Lucius:
"The terms 'Obsidian' and 'Jasmine' refer to the Scarfaces - Merigunis, who are among the greatest named beings in the Daytime Forge."
Named… Lucius quickly recalled the word in his mind; he had learned the concept in his second-year class on the religious history of the Kingdom of Horn at East York University.
The named being is also known as a "minor deity," and appears as the face of that deity when mentioned alongside the deity they serve.
The simplest example is the Invincible Sun Church.
Of the five true gods worshipped by the Church of the Invincible Sun today, three were once named beings of the Sun.
The setting sun, the crescent moon, the dawn.
After the sun was split, they officially ascended from being named beings to becoming new gods, each inheriting all the power belonging to their own aspect of the sun's authority.
As a result, the Church of the Invincible Sun quickly stabilized during the violent upheaval that swept the entire world in the early Fourth Age.
However... the Invincible Sun Church can never return to the era when it was still shining brightly and was crowned with the title of "strongest". Instead, it is the Unyielding Order of the White-Day Forge.
With that thought in mind, Lucius turned his gaze back to the obsidian door in front of him.
The originally smooth surface began to crack outwards from the center, revealing countless fine lines of light.
Cracks spread outwards from beneath Felix's palm, and then the fragments transformed into a swirling, distorted vortex of light.
At the same time, the jasmine fragrance that Yuan Sheng had previously smelled at the entrance of the relics storage room suddenly spread throughout the entire second floor of the library.
Felix nodded to Lucius, then stepped into the vortex of light.
Lucius took a deep breath, stepped forward, and in a daze, he found himself standing in a vast prison space.
Directly in front of him was a straight central corridor, with countless cells neatly arranged on both sides.
Lucius glanced at the cell instinctively. Inside, there was only a stone shelf with a book on it, its cover locked by chains.
"The power of the Scaber-Merigunis has put them into slumber, but they will become restless again during the Obsidian season."
Felix walked ahead, and occasionally a few of the secret books in the cells on either side would tremble violently as he passed by, before falling silent again under the suppression of the jasmine scent.
Lucius followed Felix down the corridor, where the scent of jasmine grew stronger.
Felix stopped, pushed open a half-open stone door, and stepped aside to let Lucius go in first:
"This is the solitary confinement room, and also the place where the power of the Scarred One - Merigunis is most intense."
When Lucius entered, he found that the cell was very small, only big enough for a set of stone table and chairs that were integrated with the floor.
"You sit here, I'll go and bring out that secret manual," Felix instructed solemnly, then turned and left the confinement room.
Lucius waited less than two minutes before Felix, carrying a red-covered secret manual with two opposing glasses printed on the cover, slid open the stone door of the solitary confinement chamber.
"This is the Skull Song," Felix placed the secret manual on the stone table, briefly explaining its origin: "It was a spoil of war we obtained during a battle with the Blood Cup Order."
Lucius took the "Skull Song" but didn't open it immediately. He looked up and asked, "Captain, what happens if I fail to absorb the secret technique?"
Felix chuckled softly, easing the silence in the confinement room, and said helplessly:
"You'll probably end up like the members of your previous research group. If you become a mutant, I'll try to resolve your suffering as soon as possible."
Lucius smiled but didn't say anything. After Felix left, he looked at the occult diary in his mind. The few remaining occult points on it reassured him quite a bit.
With unwavering determination, he opened the first page of "The Skull Song".
The above is a book of poems that celebrates greed and pleasure, recorded in simple Horn language.
[On July 1, 1855, in the Fifth Age, I read "The Skull Song" and gained occult knowledge from "The Crimson Secret".]
[Complying with the code of conduct "Seeking Knowledge" earns +1 Mysticism Point]
【The Crimson Secret (lv0, 0%)】
【Sexual aspect: Cup (1), Intuition requires (1)】
[Effect: Facial Recognition]
[Note: Some words can only be spelled correctly when the appropriate ink is used.]
"Add more points to the diary!" Lucius thought to himself.
[Consumes 1 Mystic Point, Crimson Secret (lv0→lv1, 0%)]
[Gained Ability: Facial Recognition]
Current Mysticism Points: 1
The next moment, Lucius saw the room filled with golden-red light, even more intense than the sexual aura he had seen on Felix under the sexual aura test reagent.
"Is this a 'casting' of sexuality?"
Before Lucius had even become a Sequencer, he gained the Phase Realm ability, a privilege usually reserved for Sequencers, by using his perception of faces.
He looked around curiously, trying to spot other colors, but the confinement room was clearly only bathed in the same golden-red light.
The power belonging to the furnace was so intense that it overwhelmed the traces of all other phases.
"Alright, this only has the power of the Forged Form. Next time, go to the street and see what colors people are wearing."
Lucius made a mental note, then looked down at himself.
Within the field of vision of the facial perception, a bright yellow glow radiates outward from the inside of his skull, while a deep red glow slowly seeps out from the location of his facial sensory organs.
The facial transformation, which originally required a 6-hour wait, was skipped entirely during the diary entry process.
The extraordinary organ had fully formed inside his body.
"I've really fallen into the mindset of an ordinary sequencer," Lucius muttered, realizing that he didn't need to wait for time to slowly modify himself by allocating points through mysticism.
"This can't be exposed," Lucius thought to himself, retracting his sensory mask and fading the golden-red light in his eyes.
Lucius stood up and walked to the stone door, moved the heavy stone slab, and found Felix leaning against the corridor wall waiting.
"Captain, nothing went wrong." Lucius spoke first, his voice calm and composed, just as it had been when he went in.
Felix looked him up and down, nodded, and didn't suspect anything.
He led Lucius out of the prison corridor, through the swirling vortex of light, and back to the first floor of the secret library.
"My suggestion is that you can read a book here as you like, and wait until 7 p.m. when the secret modification is complete, then drink the potion in the office."
Lucius took out his pocket watch again. It had taken him less than half an hour to concoct the potion and absorb the secret technique, and it was only a little past 1 a.m.
Felix then looked at Lucius and smiled, "Of course, you can also go to the reception room; consider it a chance to familiarize yourself with the work beforehand."
Between going to work and slacking off, Lucius decisively chose the latter.
"Captain, I will leave here before seven o'clock."