Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 3064: Chapter 3065: The Evening Bell Cathedral

Angel was naturally no stranger to the thief of time.

The thief of time would search various worlds and mark those with talent and the potential to embark on the path of truth. Then, by stealing the choices these potentials make at life’s crucial moments, achieve self-transcendence.

Black Earl: ”I’m not sure if the thief of time is a ’miracle’ creature. But it is the most powerful creature related to time that I know of.”

Angel also isn’t entirely sure if the thief of time is a miracle creature, but most likely... it is.

Because the goal of ”pursuing the path of truth”, although it is the wish of all Wizards, only miracle creatures perhaps truly qualify for the pursuit. And since the thief of time is relentlessly pursuing the path of truth, it shows it has obtained this qualification, making it a miracle creature.

Moreover, Angel has met more than one Legendary Wizard, and asked them about the thief of time. Their answers were also ambiguous. Although they didn’t give a definite answer, it can be confirmed that in the eyes of Legendary Wizards, the thief of time is also a legendary figure.

According to them, the thief of time can quickly traverse endless space-time distances, perhaps being in the West Continent Wizard World one moment, and in the Southern Domain Wizard World the next.

This rapid transfer, though it can use special worlds as shortcuts, according to rumors, the thief of time does not take shortcuts, it relies on its own power for transfer.

This, even Legendary Wizards cannot achieve.

Angel has read Culori’s diary. Culori, as a Legendary Wizard, wants to travel from the Origin World to the Southern Domain without relying on out-of-discussion methods, but can only slowly cross the endless space-time distance, counting time by years.

So, in the eyes of these Legendary Wizards, the thief of time’s position is supreme.

It is most likely, truly a miracle creature.

Black Earl: ”Even such a powerful being like the thief of time, according to rumors, has still not achieved absolute mastery of time.”

Therefore, absolute mastery of time may be difficult even for miracle creatures.

”All impossibilities are merely because of the partiality of what we see and hear.” Angel murmured.

Black Earl did not refute: ”You’re right. Perhaps what I don’t understand is due to my ignorance. However, I believe, if there truly exists one who can completely master time, such existence is definitely beyond our comprehension.”

Ants can’t imagine the world of humans, nor fathom human emotions.

Ants don’t understand why sometimes they’re crushed underfoot, and other times those footprints deliberately avoid them.

Humans might know, but ants surely do not.

The gap between ants and humans is akin to the gap between humans and such time-mastering, perhaps higher-dimensional beings.

Dox: ”Since the current Time Series can’t absolutely control time, then what are their capabilities?”

Black Earl pondered for a moment, seemingly considering his words.

After a while, Black Earl spoke: ”To my knowledge, the capabilities of Time Series are mostly internalized.”

”Internalized?” Dox looked confused, what does internalized mean?

Black Earl: ”Internalized means it is difficult to discern by sensory perception.”

At this point, Black Earl controlled the elements drifting in the air, condensing a blazing flame in front of him. As soon as the flame appeared, it quickly transformed, ultimately becoming a fireball imbued with magnificent power.

Without any warning, the fireball rushed towards Dox at great speed.

Dox seemed unaware of the approaching fireball.

As the fireball almost reached Dox’s head, suddenly, several sword lights flashed, directly slicing the fireball into bits of flame, falling to the ground and disappearing.

Dox still appeared to have made no movement, but everyone understood that it was Dox who drew his sword and used sword light to shatter the fireball, his speed so fast it seemed he hadn’t moved at all.

Black Earl was indifferent to the fireball being broken, simply asking: ”What ability did I use?”

Dox thought for a moment and answered: ”Is it the fire control trick from the Trick Art?”

Trick Art is a Level 0 trick, capable of creating many feats that seem magical to ordinary people but are practically useless.

Black Earl didn’t comment on whether Dox’s answer was right or wrong. Instead, he again gathered energy, which also formed a sphere, flying towards Dox.

Dox easily intercepted it once more.

Black Earl asked again: ”What ability did I use this time?”

Dox hesitated not, directly saying: ”Though the energy track is not visible to the naked eye, through the energy perspective it can be known that this is a spiritual power controlled mental power burst.”

Mental power burst is an application technique of spiritual power. Judged by trick standards, it barely reaches Level 1, but very few apprentices can release mental power bursts. Either naturally high mental power values or being at the peak of apprenticeship; due to its high threshold and low returns, this skill is generally not considered a trick.

Black Earl nodded: ”Your answers were correct, whether it’s fire control trick or mental power burst, these are explicit abilities. With the naked eye or energy perspective, its track can be captured and its essence confirmed.”

”And contrary to explicit abilities is internalized ability. You capture its track yet can’t confirm its essence.”

Aex’s ability is an internalized ability. This is why you cannot determine what category Aex belongs to.”

Of course, not only Time Series abilities tend to be internalized, many categories are difficult to determine the essence of in ability. From a conceptual perspective, it can also be considered internalized.

Moreover, Wizards of the Time Series don’t consider their ability internalized... the term ’internalized’ is simply coined by Black Earl for convenience in explanation.

Dox seemed thoughtful: ”So according to the lord’s meaning, Aex’s consecutive slash is also internalized? Also a Time Series ability? Just because the essence of energy isn’t apparent, I couldn’t make the correct judgment?”

Black Earl nodded: ”That’s the meaning.”

After hearing this, Dox’s perplexity didn’t disappear, instead it deepened.

He really couldn’t regard ”consecutive slash” as a time ability. To him, Aex’s consecutive slash seemed more likely bestowed by the Wild God.

Black Earl turned to Angel: ”As for your second question earlier, how do I judge Aex to be Time Series? The answer is... consecutive slash.”

For Dox, the most unbelievable and impossible answer was precisely Black Earl’s basis for judging Aex.

This left Dox quite unable to accept it, eagerly looking at Black Earl, awaiting his explanation.

Angel and Vay also curiously watched Black Earl. For Wizards not of Bloodline Art, it’s indeed tough to develop empathetic feelings from the Bloodline Art of consecutive slash, so unlike Dox, they didn’t feel so troubled. What they really want to know is, why is consecutive slash a Time Series ability?

Although Time Series knowledge is precious, with Black Earl having already said this much, he didn’t intend to hide it... He took a long breath, as past memories slowly emerged.

...

Regarding Time Series ability—Consecutive Slash.

This information, the Black Earl actually didn’t acquire it for long.

Back when Mr. Monty discovered he was abandoned by the Thief of Time, he became suspicious; as for the path to Legendary ascension, he no longer proceeded steadily as before but started to take unusual methods.

In the end, he chose to elevate and expand his legendary path through the bloodline of a Demon God’s descendant.

It was also at this time that Monty invited many Wizards, hoping to gain support.

And at that time, the Black Earl was also among those invited.

To Monty, he cared a lot about the Black Earl’s choices, even more than most other Wizards.

Because the Black Earl is a loner.

Even though the Black Earl is the head of the Noah Family, he is the only prominent one, and the rest are all virtually useless. In the eyes of Monty Wizard, these descendants were completely disposable.

Moreover, from the outside perspective, the Black Earl indeed seemed to act like this. He left his Avatars beside each of the descendants, actually harboring his own schemes... This scheme, in Monty’s view, was possibly achieving himself through the blood of relatives.

In this way, the Black Earl was alone, making any decision without any burden.

Even if Monty truly gained the bloodline of a Demon God’s descendant, and had the ability to ascend, the Black Earl could entirely ignore this and attempt to assassinate him. Whether he could succeed or not didn’t matter, he had no burden, he could run away at any time.

Unlike other top-tier Wizards who generally have their own undertakings.

For example, Rhein would care about those in the Barbarian Cave, and because of this, he’d be greatly restricted.

Therefore, in Monty’s view, the Black Earl was an unstable variable, much more noteworthy than top-tier Wizards like Rhein or the Sea God.

And although the Black Earl was invited, he didn’t attend the meeting held by the Black Earl, which made Monty even more uneasy.

Later, many things happened, and after many twists and turns, Monty finally exchanged a ”Frost Blossom” for the Black Earl’s promise: not to interfere with the Frost Moon Alliance’s operations in the Abyss.

Actually, Monty was overthinking it, the Black Earl never intended to do anything to Monty, it was all Monty’s imagination.

But one cannot deny, Monty’s imagination did bring benefits to the Black Earl.

The Frost Moon Alliance has two grand treasuries, also its highest rewards, namely the Frost Blossom and the Moon Chapter.

The Frost Blossom is a treasure secret realm, where the various supplies obtained after the Frost Moon Alliance’s pan-dimensional expansion are stored.

The Moon Chapter holds the knowledge collected from various planes, which can be called the ”Pan-Dimensional Plane Library.”

It could be said, whether the Frost Blossom or the Moon Chapter holds immense attraction to all Southern Domain Wizards, even including the Black Earl.

Speaking of which, Angel was also awarded access to the Frost Blossom and Moon Chapter by Monty, but Angel never dared to go... After all, Monty’s intention was not to reward Angel, but to deceitfully lure Angel into a trap.

The Black Earl, unlike Angel, went openly. Even if Monty truly had schemes, with the Black Earl’s abilities, he could easily escape... Moreover, it wasn’t the Black Earl’s main body that went, he used an Avatar. Therefore, he was utterly fearless of any threat.

The Black Earl went to the Frost Blossom, where he received a mysterious invitation, which was the ticket to enter the special secret realm ”The Evening Bell Cathedral.”

The Evening Bell Cathedral, located in the Abyss’s Void.

It’s a peculiar building with a strong religious feel, its origins unknown, its owner unknown, whether it’s an Abyss construction also remains unknown.

The only known fact is, the Evening Bell Cathedral possesses incredible power and extremely stringent rules.

To enter the Evening Bell Cathedral, one must obtain an invitation.

If you try to force entry into the Evening Bell Cathedral without an invitation, you will completely lose yourself, becoming an unknowing Clock Watcher of the Cathedral.

But if you enter with an invitation, you have the exemption from losing yourself—limited to one hall.

This means, if you enter the Evening Bell Cathedral, you can tour one of the halls. As long as you leave before the evening bell rings, you won’t get lost.

The Evening Bell Cathedral holds many secrets, even visiting just one hall could yield great rewards.

If you reach the courtyard’s core, it’s said you could obtain more exemption rights.

However, once you enter the Evening Bell Cathedral, you will be randomly teleported, without any choice.

”After entering the Evening Bell Cathedral, I was teleported to a place not recorded by predecessors.” The Black Earl remained silent for a while and then slowly said, ”But it wasn’t any hall, it was a... Coachman’s room.”

”The Coachman’s room was very small, just like ordinary household furniture, though there were many furnishings, they were basically useless daily items.”

Just as the Black Earl lamented fate’s unfairness, thinking himself unlucky, the horse lamp hanging on the door emitted a brilliant light.

As the light shone upon the Black Earl, a wealth of information was transmitted.

According to the transmitted information, the horse lamp before him had the ability to illuminate the sea of memories.

To put it simply, it could project scenes from memory, allowing one to do as they please within the memory.

What does it mean to ”do as one pleases within the memory”?

For instance, if you have a duel with an arch-enemy and you lose, feeling unwilling; you could use the horse lamp to illuminate the battle scene at that time, allowing you to simulate the battle with your arch-enemy endlessly in your memory. Through repeated battle simulations, one could improve their combat ability and the winning rate against their adversary.

This is a formal example of how to use the horse lamp, but of course, you could also take less conventional routes.

Anyway, you can do whatever you want, ”doing as one pleases” is entirely achievable, just that everything is within the memory, not in reality.

The horse lamp’s ability is indeed powerful, but regrettably, it cannot illuminate the Black Earl’s memories.

Because the horse lamp already recorded a memory node.

And only the owner of the horse lamp can delete this memory node.

Although the Black Earl couldn’t delete this memory node, he could still use the horse lamp to experience this memory node, and that too, an unlimited number of times.

This memory node, without a doubt, contains the memories of the horse lamp’s owner.

The Black Earl was very interested in this lamp owner, so he entered this node and... began experiencing it repeatedly, infinitely.