Chapter 417: Sound of the Knell (2)
Translator: Leo Editor: Kurisu
Angele arranged the contents of the sacred book and separated it into three parts: Prologue, Funeral Oration, and the Epilogue.
The sacred book had a normal appearance and it looked nothing like a book with the secret bloodline techniques.
The prologue was filled up with beautiful words that were praising the sacred book and Angele was not sure why they were even kept in the book.
The funeral oration part was all about the method that could help Angele with his true form. It was a method that could improve his soul and bloodline, this was what Angele needed the most at the moment. Also, the application of the true form was explained in detail by the book.
Blueprints of special items and equipment were recorded in the epilogue; however, Angele never heard of the required resources. He assumed that the resources were called differently now.
Angele decided to improve his soul and bloodline first after checking the book.
"According to the sacred book, every individual is different. I need to improve my soul and bloodline so they'll become part of my true form. I'll be able to form the core of the true form later and the true form can be perfected by absorbing resources or creatures that are rare or strong," Angele muttered as he turned the pages. He stopped at the second last page.
The content on light yellow leather paper was easy to view under the dim light from the oil lamp.
It was a magic circle that was drawn with black lines.
It was a complicated magic circle with dozens of patterns that varied in shapes inside. The whole circle looked like a luxurious pocket watch with a perfectly designed mechanical structure.
Also, the patterns inside the magic circle were all moving slowly. It looked like they were drawn with normal black ink, but it seemed like they were powered by energy particles or something.
"The Black Death Sacrificial Rite, huh? It sure sounds promising. However, it's way too early for me to try and improve my true form. I shall take it slowly," Angele said as he closed the notebook.
Angele noticed that it seemed like the Erin's Funeral Oration was strongly associated with negative energy particles. It was a terrifying energy wave that represented the death.
Although the technique focused on helping the owner improve his soul and bloodline, the whole procedure was based on the terrifying negative energy particles. The one who practiced the sacred book would be impacted by the energy wave since the technique would only work perfectly for creatures that were born with such energy.
Angele was a stranger to the negative energy so he decided to proceed with caution.
'Anyways, the mentality training technique on the book works.' Angele scrunched his brow and started thinking. 'I need to increase my mentality to a certain level before I can start on the Erin's Funeral Oration. I have a lot of time.'
Most of the mentality training techniques recorded in the book required the assistance of certain drugs. There was one way to increase his mentality without the requirement of drugs, the Sound of the Knell.
By affecting the resonance of the body and the mentality with the sound, his mentality and body would be improved at the same time.
The hardest part of this technique was the control of the sound. To a normal wizard, it was similar to removing the mitochondria from a cell without using the microscope.
That was the reason why this technique was ranked the lowest among all the mentality training techniques. It was the most effective technique, yet it was extremely hard to execute.
Angele was certain that the Sound of the Knell would be perfect for him when he read about it.
The only thing he needed to do was using a different combinations of his voice to create a resonance between his body and mentality.
With the help of the biochip, Angele could control his voice perfectly without any problem.
Angele went through the important points of the Sound of the Knell in his mind.
He sat by the table, put down his hands on the notebook, and opened his mouth slightly.
*Woo*
A strange vibration came out his mouth; it sounded like the noise made by some old machines.
Angele exhaled all the air from his chest and the voice slowly disappeared from his mouth.
He inhaled deeply and a slightly different vibration sound came out of his mouth.
The pitch of the sound was changing all the time; sometimes, it would change three times in a second.
Blue light dots appeared in front of his eyes, they were bright in the dark room.
Finally, the vibrating sound turned into the sound made by the bell.
*Dang Dang Dang*
Angele suddenly closed his mouth after the bell rang for three times.
The sound of the bell was still echoing in the air.
Angele's face turned red and there were tiny red dots all over his body. The red light and blue light were twisting in front of his eyes.
The noise somehow reduced the temperature of his body and he was slightly dizzy. It felt like circling at the same location.
Angele's sight blurred and it felt like he was having a dream.
'You have completed the Sound of the Knell once. Unknown force field detected…' Zero's voice echoed in Angele's ears.
'Unknown force field is weakening… Estimated duration: 15 seconds.
'Estimated duration: 10 seconds.
'Estimated duration: 5 seconds.
'Unknown force field had disappeared. You're no longer affected by the force field…'
Angele felt refreshed after the countdown finished. He woke up and the red dots quickly disappeared from his body.
'Sound of the Knell learned. Your body is damaged by the Sound of the Death. Damage taken: 1.2%.
'Your attribute is increasing. Mentality increased. Mentality will be increased to 162.7 in three hours.'
Angele smiled, his mentality was increased from 157 to 160 by practicing the Molten Core River, but it took him a long time to reach that number.
It was the first time he practiced the Sound of the Knell and the result was incredible. It seemed like the ancient techniques were much stronger than the modern meditation techniques.
Angele could feel that his mentality was strengthened and became denser after the practice. A lot of impurities had also been extracted from his body.
Although the Sound of the Knell would damage his body, there was no other limitation as long as Angele could handle the damage.
"Although the effect might become weaker later, my mentality would already be at an incredible level at that point," Angele muttered. Vivian's students all reached their limits and stopped progressing, it was the problem of their talent's level.
Many wizards with average talents stopped at rank 3 and only the geniuses could break the limit and become rank 4 wizards.
That was the reason why there were only few rank 4 wizards.
A lot of the wizards stopped progressing as they got old because they had low talent levels. Some of the rank 3 wizards spent hundreds of years trying to advance to the next rank but most of them failed.
...Unless they could find a way to extend their life expectancy.
Angele's talent level was below the average and the highest rank he could reach was rank 3. However, with the Sound of the Knell, he could at least increase his mentality at a fast rate.
If he decided to just keep practicing the Molten Core River, it would take him a long time to reach rank 3.
Angele started practicing the Sound of the Knell after the red blood dots disappeared from his body.
He felt much more comfortable than the last time.
His mentality increased by 4 points as the practice progressed.
Angele's high Stamina was helpful—it would take him several seconds for his body to heal from the damage.
He kept repeating the process after his body was fixed.
Angele forgot about everything else and focused solely on this procedure.
However, there was one thing that he did not pay attention to. As the practice went, blurry white faces appeared around Angele's body one after one.
Those blurry faces surrounded Angele and watched the young wizard practice the secret technique. It looked like the faces were wearing white masks and were composed of the fog.
Every ten rounds of practice, one blurry face of a human would appear beside Angele and there were already many faces around him.
A thin layer of black glow appeared on Angele's body.
Finally, Angele stopped after he got tired.
'Mentality increased to 192.5. Body damage 17.2%. Limitation reached.' Zero's mechanical voice echoed in Angeles' ears.
His recovery speed slowed down as the damage was getting serious after he practiced the technique consecutively.
Angele stopped practicing the technique as it seemed like his mentality was maximized.
He finally realized that he was surrounded by the blurry white faces after his head became clear.
The faces floated in the air and they were staring at Angele quietly.
"So, that's the consequence." Angele was not surprised as he had read about the situation from the sacred book. "The one who practices the Sound of the Knell will be haunted by ghosts."
Angele had a bitter smile on his face.
"Without the crystal scorpion, those souls would attack me already."
Suddenly, red glows appeared in his eyes.
He could hear the noise by flames from his heart.
*WOO*
Angele put his hand on the chest and he could feel the intense pain coming from his heart. The red scorpion sign appeared between his brow.
'You've completed the fourth stage of the Molten Core River and become a rank 3 wizard,' the biochip informed.
A hint of happiness appeared in Angele's eyes, he quickly took out a test tube with blue liquid inside and drank it all to sooth his chest pain.
'Abilities acquired from the fourth stage of Molten Core River: Summon Fire Elemental, Element Travel,' Zero added.