13 Mink Street

“Young Master, you’re back. Please go rest.” Master Anderson brought Mike with him to welcome Karon, but made no unnecessary small talk. He simply stepped aside so Karon could head up the stairs. Karon smiled at the old man and proceeded up.

Pu’er rode Kevin inside the manor and addressed Master Anderson, “Take down the bags in the car, but don’t touch the sword case.”

“Yes.” In unison, Master Anderson and Mike bowed to Pu’er. Their greeting was even more solemn and formal than the one they had just offered Karon.

Pu’er glanced at Karon, who had already gone upstairs, then turned back to Master Anderson. “You little thing, all your skill has really gone into knowing how to behave around people.”

“Your teachings are right.”

“Focus on training your successor.”

“Yes, I understand. Please rest assured, Elder.”

“Call me Elder again and I’ll scratch you to death.”

“Yes...”

“Prepare supper and send it up. Alright, stupid dog, let’s go!”

“Woof!”

Master Anderson and Mike straightened back up. The father and son glanced at each other, both revealing bitter smiles.

At that moment, Borg arrived, carrying the heavily injured Judia on his back.

“She was beaten by the young master again?” Mike asked.

Borg reported, “Judia provoked him, even scraping the paint off of Young Master’s car.”

Mike immediately grew concerned. “Is she badly injured?”

Master Anderson remained calm. “Don’t worry. Young Master knows his limits.”

After saying this, the old man returned to his own room to rest. Mike carried Judia off to find his wife and have the girl treated. Borg rubbed his wrist, smiled, then headed to the kitchen to see if he could freeload a bit of supper.

Karon first went to Eunice’s door. The two female attendants keeping watch outside the room for the night immediately rose from their chairs and bowed when they saw him.

Eunice was lethargic, which made it difficult for her to maintain a regular schedule. Sometimes, she would wake in the middle of the night, and her attendants would immediately need to inform the kitchen to prepare food. During the days Karon was not at the manor, Eunice was the most highly regarded person in the entire manor.

“Is she asleep?” Karon asked.

“Yes. Miss has not woken yet.”

“Mhmm. I came to tell you not to wake her. Understood?”

“Yes, Young Master.”

After giving his instructions, Karon went up to the third floor and entered the patriarch’s master bedroom that belonged solely to him. He first showered, then lounged in the spacious bath, dispelling the small bit of fatigue induced by the long drive. When he got out, he changed into a set of black pajamas.

An extremely sumptuous supper had been laid out on the floor. Pu’er and Kevin were sitting on the floor eating. When the cat saw Karon, she waved to him and said, “Dear Little Karon, let’s eat first. After eating, we can go look at those legs.”

Karon sat down on the carpet and casually knocked Pu’er on the head. She gave a dissatisfied “hmph,” then resumed eating the food before her.

After eating a little, Karon left the bedroom. Borg was stationed outside of the room, and when he heard the door, he immediately put the last meat pie that he had been holding for some time into his mouth and began chewing. As he did so, he asked, “Young Master, do you have any instructions?”

“I’m going to the performance hall to have a look.”

“Alright, Young Master. I’ll get a flashlight and accompany you. Oh, and the key that’s stored in the study.”

“Mhmm.”

Karon left the manor and soon arrived at the entrance of the performance hall to the south. The main doors were locked with thick iron chains, and the aura fluctuations of a defensive ritual array could be felt from the building. Borg used the key to unlock the chain, then unfurled a scroll that he pulled out and laid it on the ground. That opened a gap in the defensive array.

How should he put it? In Karon’s eyes, this level of defensive ritual array was more decorative than anything. After all, the Allen family’s ritual array standards were quite limited, and even if they wanted to spend money hiring an excellent ritual array master, they would struggle to find one.

Borg tactfully remained outside, not following Karon in.

The interior was not at all dim. On the contrary, it was quite bright, with a number of ever-burning lamps hung throughout the performance hall.

In the central area was a massive circle. Inside it had been placed twelve coffins at even intervals. Eleven of them were exquisite, while one was very ugly.

Karon walked to the ugly coffin and touched the lid. After that, he moved on to the second coffin and stood there for a while as well.

Before he was able to rely on his Chains of Order to reinforce and replenish these individuals’ spirituality, he could not Awaken them. Each Awakening would further deplete them, and for the moment, that was irreversible.

Karon first walked to the center of the ritual array. He crouched down, pressing his palm to the center of the smallest circle, and began infusing his spirituality. This ritual array required power to be maintained, so strictly speaking, Karon needed to visit every once in a while to replenish it.

During this process, black Chains of Order appeared and began rotating around Karon’s body.

After he withdrew his hand and ended the infusion, the chains did not vanish. Instead, they freely moved about the enormous ritual array that contained the twelve coffins. From the chains, Karon could clearly sense a certain sense of anticipation.

Karon walked back to Earl Rekar’s coffin. He then guided the black chain to extend from beneath his feet into the coffin. He closed his eyes. He did not necessarily have to Awaken these two in order to communicate with them. He could attempt to simply merge with their consciousness, just as he had done the first time he had met Earl Rekar. The loss suffered with this method was practically negligible.

The sound of waves reached his ears. Karon opened his eyes and was somewhat surprised to discover that although he was still aboard a pirate ship, the ship was not the slightest bit noisy. There were no reveling sailors, no laughing prostitutes, and even the queen was no longer sitting on Earl Rekar’s lap. At this moment, the man himself was sitting at the edge of the deck, a bottle of rum beside him and a fishing rod in his hands.

This quiet style felt rather odd to Karon. It seemed that the earl had turned over a new leaf.

Karon walked over. Earl Rekar heard the footsteps and turned back to see Karon. The man immediately threw the fishing rod down and dropped to one knee before Karon. “I offer you my loyalty!”

It was no act, nor was it perfunctory. From Earl Rekar’s actions, Karon saw heartfelt sincerity and... fear.

“It seems you’ve changed quite a lot, Earl,” Karon said.

Earl Rekar replied, “More terrifying than death is eternal death.”

“Is that so?”

“And you are the only great existence capable of saving me. Day and night, I sing praises to your name and pray to you!”

“I thought you would hate me.”

“Perhaps others would, but I do not, because those lying here were all personally chosen by you.”

“That does remind me. In the future, when choosing someone to lie here, I must consider carefully. Otherwise, they will only continue brewing hatred toward me.”

Just as Earl Rekar had said, lying in these coffins was absolutely not something that was truly blissful. It was more like death being stretched out to infinity. It was no different from Karon imprisoning them. It was a form of spiritual torment, and it was very easy for someone to focus their anger on Karon. It was only because Earl Rekar and Saman had both willingly chosen this that they were able to accept it.

“No, you have misunderstood my meaning. No matter how much resentment one may harbor toward you while here, when you decide to let them Awaken again, you will be their master, their savior, and their light.”

“Alright, I understand. But I don’t like that feeling. Do you know Darkmoon Island?”

“Darkmoon Island? I know it. I once dominated those seas. Darkmoon Island was merely a passable faction.”

“It has developed quite well now. Better than Allen Manor.”

Earl Rekar looked slightly embarrassed and said, “I feel that at this point, finding a force that has developed worse than my Allen family would actually be harder.”

“Heh.” Karon took a deep breath. The salty sea breeze was not especially comfortable, but the vast ocean view was more than enough to easily cover such minor flaws. “Originally, there was a person from Darkmoon Island who was actually rather suitable to lie here, but in the end, I didn’t do that.”

“His character must have been terrible.”

“Character is difficult to define. It can only be judged subjectively by me.”

“Yes. You are the standard by which all things are measured and judged.”

“What is wrong with you, Earl?” Karon noticed the man’s behavior was unusual.

“When I was unfrozen and Awakened last time to change coffins, that servant of yours recited some of your quotes for me.”

“Alright.” No wonder Karon felt that Earl Rekar’s manner of speech somewhat mimicked Alfred’s. Alfred had long since seized every possible opportunity to preach.

“I don’t know what kind of existences the God of Order’s twelve knights were, nor am I certain that I can truly gather twelve myself. I can’t even guarantee whether I can really grant all of you eternal life. Still, I will adhere to my selection criteria: I will not accept a single one who I look down on.”

“That is how it should be. You have the right to choose your retainers!”

“Do you usually fish here?”

“When a dream continues for too long, it inevitably becomes dull. In these dreams, I usually fish for one day, then study water-element power the next. Last time, I discussed Progenitor Allen’s limitations with that descendant Poelle, and I can use this opportunity to ponder and study it further.”

“You can even study in dreams?”

“Yes. Today happened to be a fishing day. This is a rest day.”

“Perhaps I can find you a neighbor.”

“Hm? I know there is also someone lying in the very ugly coffin beside mine, but when I briefly Awakened after being unsealed, he was already lying inside asleep.”

“Do you know his identity?”

“I heard your valet briefly introduce him. He seems to be someone from the Church of Pamireth.”

“Mhmm. I know that he is also someone who dislikes boredom. Wait a moment. I’ll give it a try.”

Karon raised his hand and pointed ahead.

***

Outside, Karon continued to stand in front of Earl Rekar’s coffin as another black Chain of Order split off from beneath his feet and extended to Saman’s coffin.

***

A black vortex appeared before Karon. Within that vortex, a small road paved with chains could be seen.

“Shall we go in and take a look?” Karon said to Earl Rekar, before stepping into the vortex.

When he emerged, Karon found himself inside a cemetery. Close behind the gate was a caretaker’s cabin. Everything was identical to the cemetery Saman had cared for in York City.

Earl Rekar followed Karon, and he took in the new environment. “This environment is worse than mine.”

“He’s simply used to this place. He himself is still quite lively.”

Saman was sitting on the steps beneath the caretaker’s cabin. A large broom lay in front of him, a pipe was clenched in his mouth, and a recorder was held in his hand.

When Karon walked up to him, Saman smiled and said, “Hey, it isn’t time to cook yet.”

“Heh.” Karon laughed.

Only then did Saman realize that this was the real Karon, not someone created from his dream. “Karon, is it really you?”

“Mhmm. It’s me. I came to see you.”

“Oh, my heavens. I’m almost bored to death.” Compared to Earl Rekar’s absolute reverence, Saman seemed much more at ease in front of Karon. Of course, he had naturally added a respectful “you” to his form of address.

“So, I brought you a neighbor. In the future, when you have nothing to do, you two can visit each other. That entrance shouldn’t disappear.”

“Hello, my name is Rekar. Rekar Allen.”

“Just call me Saman. You should be much older than me.”

“Yes.”

Karon also sat down on the steps and said, “Give me a little more time.”

“Hey, no rush, no rush. Please take your time. Our boredom is only a joke. Imprisonment with hope, as long as hope remains, can still produce a little sweetness.” Saman instead comforted Karon.

“He is right. You may walk slowly, and we will wait slowly.”

“Mhmm.” Karon nodded. “Actually, my strength has improved quite a lot recently, though my realm hasn’t changed much.”

Saman said, “Most of the time, strength and realm are relative, but sometimes, the relationship between them is not particularly strong. There’s no need for you to take this to heart too much.”

“Those words remind me of my grandpa. He was an Inquisitor his entire life.”

Karon then proceeded to share things he had recently experienced. He had deliberately come to see and accompany these two, so naturally, he needed to tell them some of what had happened in the outside world. At the very least, doing so could offer them some fresh material for their dreams.

Besides, with these two men, there was absolutely no need for any secrets. Karon could grant them the fullest trust, because they had no way at all to bypass him and share his secrets with anyone. In other words, anyone else might betray him, but these two alone absolutely could not.

After he finished speaking, Karon’s eyes flushed red, and the Darkmoon Eyes appeared.

Earl Rekar commented in surprise, “So these are the Darkmoon Eyes? I truly never expected the clan on that island could develop to such an extent.”

Saman said, “That clan’s faith must have been interrupted in the past, or they inherited a faith that already had a severed foundation. Because of that, what can ultimately be triggered is actually filled with unknowns.”

“These eyes were not cultivated by Bernard himself either. They were a gift from someone else. That organization has existed for a very long time, so possessing a sacred object from the predecessor of the Darkmoon faith is normal. Also, I once saw these eyes manifest the image of a goddess. At the very beginning of the Darkmoon faith, there should have been a deity.”

Earl Rekar sighed. “A lost faith?”

Saman, however, asked in astonishment, “Then how many Church faith systems do you currently have on you?”

“Let me count.” Karon spread his fingers and began counting, “The Order faith system and the Light faith system. These two faiths are truly systemic. My Order system is Inquisitor-level, while the Light system is also the equivalent of an Inquisitor, which is a Lightbearer. That makes me a dual-attribute Inquisitor, I suppose. As for family faith systems, there’s the Allen family and the Immers family faith system, the second beginning with my grandfather. These two family faiths are also systemic. In short, there are just four systemic ones.”

Earl Rekar blinked. “Just that?”

Saman was also left speechless.

“As for non-systemic ones, meaning ones I only use in a form similar to Arts, the Sea God’s Armor is one. To this day, I have not touched that faith system. Also, there’s the Darkmoon Blade. Even though I obtained the Darkmoon Eyes and saw that goddess, I still only use the Darkmoon Blade as a martial arts technique. Right now, it is my strongest combat method. In close combat, I have a very large advantage. Additionally, I also have the Altair family bloodline and the Gorman family bloodline, but I have no interest in searching for relatives with the Altair family bloodline, so I don’t plan to bother with it. The Gorman family has an Arts technique that looks like a magic cube that allows them to control a ritual array. I do plan to learn that one.

“Oh, and there is one more...” Karon extended his palm forward. A cloud of gray mist rose from his palm and gradually condensed into a blurry “gate.”

“The Church of Reincarnation?” Saman exclaimed.

Earl Rekar reached up and pushed his own jaw back closed.

“As for those scattered fragments, I’ve never incorporated them into complete systems because I have no intention of coming into deep contact with them. More importantly, I’m worried that picking up too many systems simultaneously will cause my advancement to eventually become far more difficult. Should the worst-case scenario really happen, where advancing one system requires all of my other systems to advance alongside it, I might completely seal off my own growth.”

Saman nodded. “Although the foundation of your hypothesis lacks any true reason, I somehow also feel that it is very reasonable.”

Earl Rekar offered a bitter smile. “As someone born into a family faith system, I have always carried a kind of awe toward the Churches. Yet you make me feel that these faiths have suddenly become...”

Saman jumped in. “Cheap.”

Earl Rekar asked, “How exactly did you do it?”

Saman sarcastically asked, “What, do you want to learn too?”

“Can’t I ask? Why is a youngster like you so aggressive when speaking?”

Karon said, “I’ve also considered this question. If analyzed according to theory, during my purification, the God of Light appeared, as did the Eye of Order. That’s the equivalent to my purification being supported by two High Gods, although neither may have been aware of that. The Allen family system was obtained through my symbiotic relationship with Pu’er, while the Immers family lineage faith system came through my bloodline. As for the other Arts, I use the power of Light to convert to those powers, because I don’t suffer any loss from conversion. In terms of usage efficiency, I’m nearly at the same level as a pure believer of those systems. In addition, the characteristic of my Immers family faith system may be learning, because my grandfather was a genius.”

Saman immediately added, “You are also a genius.”

Earl Rekar agreed, “Yes, yes, yes.”

“So, I learn things quite quickly.”

Saman carefully asked, “If we don’t analyze it from a theoretical perspective, then what could it be?”

“In the eyes of almost everyone, every system corresponds to a god. It is that god who created that system and represents it. Therefore, every system is associated with a god or a progenitor. If someone wants to walk any given system, they must believe in that god or progenitor. This is almost an iron law. As for me...” Karon paused, then continued. “I have no faith in gods.”