Throne of Magical Arcana
chapter-122

As if he just passed through a heavy curtain, Lucien felt a bit cold, and then his body hit something hard.

He heard himself let out a moan and then joy seized his heart for a second: it had been quite a while since he last heard any sound. Then, in the next second, he took a few quick steps back and held up his sword again.

Lucien was now standing in a spacious corridor. His feet felt the soft and thick carpet on the ground. Although everything was still black and white, this place felt more gentle and kind to Lucien.

Then, within Lucien’s expectations, the two filthy ghouls followed him through the portal and also spoiled the beauty of the place. However, they were struggling to stand up from the ground, making it seem they were not used to the environment at all.

"Maybe they’re not that strong here." The thought flashed across Lucien’s mind, and then he immediately wielded Alert toward one of the ghouls, targeting the deep wound on its neck which was caused by Lucien’s frost blade.

The second hack almost took the ghoul’s head off. Its head slanted to one side, hanging on through just a small piece of skin.

Throwing a handful of sulphur powder toward the second ghoul, Lucien made a fire wall to stop its attack. Then, he turned around, firmly held his sword again and directly chopped the first ghoul’s head off.

Black sticky liquid spilled out of the filthy creature’s head. The horrible smell made Lucien feel very nauseous and he almost threw up.

A few seconds later, Lucien ended the other ghoul.

Leaning against his sword, he let out a long sigh. He felt lucky that the ghouls were not intelligent at all, or he would now be the one lying on the ground with his brain spread everywhere.

Walking a bit away from the bodies and slowly sitting down, Lucien gave himself some time to recover. Then, he came back to the bodies and disgustedly removed the skin of their palms, or say, claws, with his sword, putting it into a special small bag.

The skin could be used as the reagent for a second circle spell, Ghoul Touch. Lucien definitely would not waste it.

After burning down the remains of the ghouls with his sulphur fire, Lucien cautiously walked along the corridor with his sword at the ready in his hand.

The corridor with the white carpet and dark gray walls seemed to be endlessly long. Lucien felt he was walking in a tomb. The only good thing was that he sensed nothing dangerous.

Finally, in the end of the corridor, he saw a black gate, on which there was another special dodecagon magic circle, that Lucien had already seen before in Astrology and Magic Elements, and the pattern also missed a piece.

He got a bit excited. Taking out another small tube of mercury, he completed the magic circle using the same method.

Then, the magic circle started to shine brightly and the gate slowly opened on its own. Behind the gate there was a luxuriously-decorated lobby.

Lucien first saw the fireplace in the lobby. The flame jumping and wavering in the fireplace was also white, but it felt quite warm.

Beside the fireplace, there was a gray desk, on which a black book lay. Out of the window behind the desk, Lucien saw many bizarrely-looking magic plants: some of them had baby faces, some of them had big mouths, and some were shining like precious gem. The door to the magic garden was right beside the desk.

Surprisingly, no magic trap was detected when Lucien was approaching the desk. He did not directly touch the book with his hand, but used the sword to turn the pages.

On the first page of the book, Lucien saw an inventory written in Sylvanas:

"Moonlight Rose: Room 1, Shelf No. 25;

Jade Green Mycin: Room 1, Shelf No. 72;

The root of Thorn Tree: Room 1, No. 99; Its sap in Room 2, No. 3;

Vampire blood: Room 3, No. 21;

Enchantress teeth: Room 3, No. 46;

...

Ghost-faced leaves: Room 7, No. 17;

The feather of Stone Snake: Room 7, No. 92;

Goatherd’s Moon Flower: Room 8, No. 8;

Murloc’s lymph: Room 9, No. 1."

...

The following pages were all inventories. Lucien first thought that it was simply a book for registering the assorted materials stored here, but soon he realized that he actually needed all the materials that he just read, as if the book was specially written for him!

Lucien turned the pages back and forth several times and made sure his guessing was correct. Some of the materials were for Silver Moon, some for Magic Gate, and some for Crying Soul…

He was thrilled, but also felt creepy. When he removed his eyes from the book and looked up, he saw that a white-haired old man was sitting on the chair beside the desk, writing something on the book.

Lucien was stunned for a second, but then he realized that this was just an eidolon, or say, a piece of memory left by someone. Looking at the date that the old man wrote down on his paper, Lucien realized that this image was left almost a thousand years ago.

Soon, the image disappeared. Then Lucien turned the book to its final pages. The long diary-like notes left by the owner shocked him, "When I was doing the experiment, I found this world by accident. It is like a copy of the real world, or say, a projection of the main world, but some parts of it are in quite a chaos. Furthermore, no life in the real world is projected. Interesting.

...

"Now, I’m certain that this world is very suitable for the undead creatures like revenants and ghosts, but the black-and-white world is just too boring for a living person.

"Compared to the Skeleton Land located on the 123rd layer of the Pit, a land consisting of fire and ice, this place is almost too silent to be called as ‘hell’. This is a world for the dead to enjoy their eternal sleep. Let me name it ‘the World of Souls’

"It seems like I’m not the only one who knows about this place now…

...

"Deep in this world, I found a very dangerous but interesting place, which has an astonishing connection with our experiment. I shall invite my buddies to explore there again with me to see if we can find out what the secret is.

...

"We’re about to leave now… In fact, I made a prophecy a couple of days ago, at a great cost, and thus I know what I will face, but I’m still going. And you, the one who is reading my notes now, may I call you ‘the nonbeliever who walks in light and darkness’. You must have my book, Astrology and Magic Elements, and you have come here because of the poem and the manuscript.

"I might be still trapped there when someday you enter the legendary dimension. I do not expect that you’ll come specially for me, but if you find me, please free me. Don’t go there when you’re not prepared. The legendary dimension is dangerous even for senior-rank mages and archmages."

Lucien’s body was covered with goose bumps. He felt the author of Astrology and Magic Elements was communicating with him across time and space through the notes.

Lucien quickly turned the pages and wanted to know more about this world. The fragmented description and explanation was more than confusing to him.

"There is a crystal ball called Morning Light in the left drawer of the desk, and in the right drawer I left my self-made magic item for you. Its name’s Sun's Corona. It can help you sense the gaps existing between the World of Souls and the main world late at night. Gaps exist throughout the whole continent.

"The seal on Sun’s Corona is made of five layers. Each time when you reach a new level, say, junior-rank mage, middle-rank mage, senior-rank mage, archmage and legendary archmage, one layer of the seal will be unlocked, and you will be able to use the magic of that level. When the last layer of the seal is unlocked, you’ll be able to find the dangerous but interesting place I mentioned before.

"All right, my friend, from the moment when you first saw my notes, you’d have an hour to explore this place safely. An hour later, the lock will be collapsing and at that moment you can leave this place through the small door of the magic garden.

"Remember, walk forward and do not look back. And my prophecy showed that you’d be facing a great danger soon, so seize your chance to improve your power here before you leave. Room No. 10 is the alchemy room.

Your friend,

The Prophet

Waldo · K · Maskelyne."

That was a lot of information for Lucien, and the notes left by Waldo confused him quite a bit. However, Lucien was very impressed by how accurate his prophecy was.

Following the Prophet’s guidance, Lucien found a fist-sized fine crystal ball in the left drawer, which was definitely a necessity for sorcerers specializing in the school of Astrology.

As he opened the drawer on the right side, Lucien saw a round amulet the size of a regular badge. It was the Sun’s Corona that Waldo had mentioned. The light golden amulet was carved with rays of light, as if it were a crown, and at the center of the amulet, there was a cross which was very familiar to Lucien.

Beside Sun’s Corona, there was a roll of parchment, which showed the inner magic structure of this magic item and explained how Lucien was supposed to leave his individual spirit imprint on the structure, to become its owner.

"Sun’s Corona. Level nine medium rank. Five layers of seal to be unlocked.

Spells that can be used once a day are the following:

1st circle, Holy Strike (sealed); 2nd circle, Death Resistance (sealed); 3rd circle, Burning Radiance (sealed); 4th circle, Death Ward (sealed); 5th circle, Flame Strike (sealed); 6th circle, Exorcist Halo (sealed); 7th circle, Ashes (sealed); 8th circle, Sunburst (sealed); 9th circle, Undeath's Eternal Foe (sealed).

Depending on to what extent the seals have been unlocked, the person who wears Sun’s Corona is capable of praying for the undead and freeing them, and the person can also sense the gaps connecting the main world and the World of Souls.

Sun’s Corona is the eternal foe of the undead.

Waldo · K · Maskelyne."

Staring at the piece of parchment, Lucien was totally shocked.

The cross pattern at the center of Sun’s Corona, the Grand Cross in the sky and the spells…

Different ideas flashed across his mind like films. That night when Lucien went down into the sewers came back to him.

The Saint Truth Badge owned by Benjamin…

The spells Benjamin used…

Lucien’s brows frowned, and his eyes opened wide.

All that magic belonged to the category of divine spells!

Furthermore, the pattern at the center of Sun’s Corona was a cross, the symbol of the Saint Truth!

How would all that make sense?!