Scheme
High in the skies, a semiplane had been opened up temporarily. Leylin’s main body opened his eyes within, seeing the mark of a two-eared jar in front. A trace of laws burst forth, activating the imprint.
The Jar Spectre was a being of laws who’d existed since the era of the Snake Dowager. Rumour had it that it could hear sounds from all over the Shadow World, regardless of who it was. The Snake Dowager had made use of this fact, collecting its body’s fragments and turning them into imprints that could be used for secure communication.
The pitiful end of this being of laws allowed Leylin to learn of Shar’s methods.
“Allsnake! The Mistress of the Night has already found Thousand Bears City, and my main body has already left…” He gave a summary of what had transpired and quickly received an answer. “Imperial Capital Kerallen, this is the place where everything ends…”
“By the way, I’ve obtained two very interesting things. Want to take a look?” Without waiting for an answer from Leylin, the Snake Dowager impatiently sent two documents to him.
“Oh! Project X… and the Tree of Life project, huh?” Leylin stroked his chin, reading through all the contents in an instant.
“Shar’s playing with fire!” The Snake Dowager’s voice held a rare hint of excitement, “The World Will is the conscient of all life forms in Shadow World, including the mountains, rivers, and forests. It will only consciously make a thought every few hundred thousand years… what she’s doing will definitely result in anger from the World Will… this is an opportunity for us!”
“You’re too naive…” Leylin ruthlessly poured cold water on the Snake Dowager, “Did you think I didn’t notice the issues with the genes of the surrounding humans? This isn’t quite it… look…”
He then sent the information he had recorded to the Snake Dowager. There was a period of silence from the other end, though the jar imprint began to show tremendous vibrations. Evidently, she was extremely shaken, “How– how dare she…”
“The X project wasn’t only applied to humans. Bugs, animals, even microorganisms. About 60% of all biological creatures in the world have already been affected…” Leylin’s tone was icy, “Also, the plan doesn’t just end there. Extradimensional spectres, pure energy being, and even the conscient of the land itself… The radiation of the Shadow Weave has trapped everything, and they can’t escape…”
With the A.I. Chip collecting data for him, Leylin’s abilities in this area obviously surpassed all other beings. With his great persuasive power and analytical graphs, the Snake Dowager on the other end did not have any chance to speak.
“If Shar’s target was just the humans, then that would really be an opportunity for us, since they only have at most 20% of access to the World Will. Doing this will definitely result in them being abandoned by the World Will…”
“But she instead holds such extreme control, nibbling away at the world from the Shadows. She controls over half of the World Will already; no matter how much you try to resist you won’t be able to match the favour she receives.” Leylin concluded.
In actuality, he thought well of Shar’s methods. If they were not around to interfere, she would most definitely succeed. Besides, fusing with the World Will would definitely cause one to lose a part of themselves. This was an assimilation in thought of all intelligent life forms of the Shadow World, and even Shar could not avoid this.
However, once these two plans were complete, there would no longer be any obstructions. In other words, Shar was currently in the process of fusing with the World Will, becoming a conscient that has devoured a whole world.
Indeed, only a god could have such guts. The rationality of the Magi would never let them do something so insane. Truth be told, Leylin would most likely do something similar given the situation as well.
Warlocks were slightly more crazy than Magi, after all, and he did believe there was a great probability of success here. Shar was an example.
The Snake Dowager remained quiet for a long while at the other side, before she finally sent a soul transmission full of unwillingness, “So… we can only give up?”
“No. We still have a chance, or I’d long since have left the Shadow World….” Leylin’s thoughts were the complete opposite of the Snake Dowager’s.
“This plan is actually flawless, but there’s not enough time to proceed with it. This could be the price that the Mistress of the Night had to pay for exterminating other existences of laws, as well as to recover. That could be why she still isn’t done corroding the World Will yet…”
“Our only chance at destroying her plans is the very moment that the Tree of Life moves…” After placating the Snake Dowager and arranging to meet at the imperial capital Kerallen, Leylin closed off the jar imprint while looking deep in thought.
Shar had given Leylin a great lesson in understanding the World Will.
‘By the same logic, nibbling away the control to take over the World Will seems plausible in the World of Gods, though it would be more difficult…
‘Now, while Shar has control over more than half of the World Will and can use the World Origin Force at any time, this also means a complete break away from the original relationship of having fused with the World Will. The part of the World Will that had not been controlled will definitely fight against this corrosion and perhaps clash against Shar violently. Who knows, her main body could be busy with this… The fact that the Snake Dowager and I can still lie low in the Shadow World and not be found by the Mistress of the Night is the best proof!’
Space shimmered, and Leylin’s main body soared into the skies. The stars and moon flickered in the dark skies, as cold gusts of wind blew fresh air into his face.
“It’s already night…” Leylin looked in a direction, “Imperial capital Kerallen! Let’s settle everything there!”
……
The imperial capital was the hub of researchers and mechanics in the Shadow Empire, the birthplace of the legendary Rapid Shadow series. Many things not yet available to the greater world, or things that were only rumoured to exist, were all present here.
The imperial guards stationed at the centre of the city had the best of equipment, protecting the imperial palace day and night.
The imperial city had an area of about 10% of the capital, but it wasn’t any extravagant structure. Rather, it was a robotic city full of technological character. The imperial research centre, imperial university, and all sorts of high-tech research institutions surrounded the area, forming a circle around the city.
There was an extremely secret darkroom within this hi-fi city, located thousands of metres underground with mendur alloy walls almost a hundred metres thick. This metal was the most solid known to the Empire, with the best isolation properties. It would normally be sold by the gram for astronomical prices.
The princess silently headed to the entrance of the darkroom, removing her wristwatch, bracelet, and all other technology from her body. Only after multiple strict, humiliating tests could she finally enter the darkroom.
The room had very simple decorations, with an oil lamp emanating faint rays of light within. One could somewhat see the many volumes that were falling apart on a few broken bookshelves.
Behind a black hardwood table was seated a middle-aged man with grey hair, seeming extremely poised. A faint lustre emitted from the ancient spell formation behind the man, twining around the princess.
If one looked closer, two items could be seen at the heart of the spell formation, one being a power-recharging source, and the core a few crimson fish scales and a pair of shrivelled eyeballs.
“Father…” The princess slowly knelt.
“The blind prophet Ari’s Book of Salvation has been fished out and stowed away, sealed completely. The rebel armies at the Demonic Islands were mostly exterminated, but Crowley of the Bloodline Alliance managed to escape… Please punish me, father!”
The princess reported primly.
“You’ve done well enough, Ling!” The emperor who had control over the entire Shadow Empire spoke, “As long as the master is happy and shifts attention away from us, then we’ve succeeded! Even while at the cost of the Book of Salvation…” The emperor seemed rather excited, a rare flush rising on his cheeks.
“Do you know who the blind prophet is?” The emperor seemed rather eager to talk today, and even if she was the princess, Ling had no choice but to listen obediently.
“It was a master of ancient times, holding the same amount of power as the Snake Dowager. Ari was a reincarnation of a portion of prophet Kalle’s conscient. This is the reason for the Book of Salvation containing such terrifyingly powerful predictions!”
“The prophet Kalle!” The princess looked up, focusing on the shrivelled eyeballs in the spell formation behind the emperor.
“That’s right, these are Kalle’s eyes, the reason Kalle could only be called the blind prophet after reincarnated. There’s also the reverse scales of the mermaid protector of the unknown master!”
The emperor suddenly began to cough vigorously, the flush on his face more pronounced, “The Empire has laboured over hundreds of generations, and made use of countless favours to obtain these two items. Only with their protection can we communicate so freely without fear of being found out by that person…”
At the mention of that being, the emperor still lowered his voice, evidently from a habitual fear.
“Now is our chance! The Book of Salvation has predicted that the Snake Dowager shall return. She has the ability to fight that person, so when the time comes our plan can succeed. The royal family will truly be revived, no longer slaves to a master!”
Somehow, Princess Ling sensed a crazed look on her father’s face as if he were a madman, taking a huge gamble for this. Ling went silent for a moment before she persuaded hoarsely, “Even so… suddenly changing the Tree of Life plan and project X could…”
“I’ve planned everything. There won’t be any problems!” The emperor waved his arms decisively, “When the time comes, my master’s thoughts after having assimilated will allow them to become a god in an instant, freeing the royal family from control!”