Circle of Inevitability

828 Same Kind?

Drumming echoed continuously, each beat resonating with Lumian's heartbeat, making him feel like he was about to vomit blood.

Enduring the discomfort, Lumian pushed through the cold liquid like a sudden downpour, under countless watching eyes and strange, soft chuckles, steadfastly moving forward.

One step, two steps, three steps, suddenly a blood-red color lit up his bandage-wrapped vision.

It was a reddish plain, with an army of undead in iron-black armor advancing.

My first nightmare after I started studying? The thought flashed through Lumian's mind. He then noticed the scene before him fracturing, overlaid with images of burning palaces, forests of thunder, mountains of corpses, and rows of blindfolded experimental subjects marching.

These were all from his recent nightmares.

Lumian realized it wasn't the bandages losing their effect but a powerful hallucination induced by something, blending reality and illusion.

Meanwhile, the monotone voice in his left ear stopped reciting knowledge from books and became sharp and raspy, shouting something unintelligible.

The residual aura of Blood Emperor Alista Tudor had been triggered!

Simultaneously, the mark from the Underworld Daoist grew colder, suppressing the emerging violence and madness, while a slight burning sensation appeared on Lumian's left chest.

Is this a mishmash of everything? Lumian mentally mocked himself.

With these changes, the cold liquid droplets softened, like cold, wet hands brushing against his body.

The war drumbeats no longer synchronized with his heartbeat, the mysterious gazes lost their unnerving power, and the scratching chuckles turned into soft, alluring singing.

Lumian paused, guessing at what was happening.

He maintained a steady pace, heading deeper into the hall marked on his mental map.

The "raindrops," drumming, gazes, and singing remained unchanged, allowing him to proceed smoothly.

This must be the corruption from the 0-01 sealing information and knowledge I've learned, triggering hallucinations and making the dangers here see me as one of their own, similarly corrupted?

This also triggered the Blood Emperor's residual aura, causing a chain reaction with the Underworld Daoist's mark and Mr. Fool's seal. Without these, I might have truly become a puppet like the others here, a real experimental subject...

Hmm, did Mr. Fool's seal also passively confuse perceptions?

Deciding based on similar levels of corruption could be a mysticism principle or an exploit...

As his thoughts cleared, Lumian raised his right hand, pressing it to his left chest, silently muttering and joking with himself, Praise Mr. Fool!

Thanks to Archbishop Heraberg, thanks to the power of knowledge!

Learning brings me joy!

While listening to the strange roars in his earplugs, Lumian tried to discern any hidden information, maintaining his quick pace to avoid provoking unseen dangers.

Estimating his steps and distance, comparing it with his mental map, Lumian finally reached what should be the hall's exit.

At that moment, the nightmare scenes in his vision changed.

He seemed to be at a high place, looking down at a mountain of corpses and bones.

His gaze moved down, past the burning pale flames and dark-red lights in the eye sockets of the skeletons, past the rotting flesh and pale bones, to the dark red near-black ground, and the iron-black armor.

The metallic surface of the armor reflected a single black figure.

Lumian saw it clearly: It was the bespectacled, scholarly-looking serial killer Guei!

This exile, sent to Morora with Lumian, Julie, and Lez, had vanished after spending some time in the Knowledge Cathedral.

The reflections of Guei on the armor seemed to sense Lumian's gaze, suddenly looking up, but quickly lowering his head again, as if realizing it was a mistake.

The fragmented scenes vanished.

Guei?

His reflection on the iron-black armot... like mirrors...

Is he the Mirror Person who infiltrated Morora?

Lumian's eyes widened behind the white bandages.

He quickly compared Guei's figure with the Mirror Person from his nightmares: Highly likely the same!

So it's him... and he even knows to study in the Knowledge Cathedral... He's now around that mountain of corpses? Lumian suddenly felt that Guei might be as troublesome and dangerous as Albus Medici, Julie, Celeste, or Wanak.

Recalling the recent scene, Lumian thought his perspective was odd:

At the top of the mountain of corpses?

Overlooking everything...

Did I share the perspective of 0-01?

Right, being heavily corrupted means becoming its puppet, and it seems high-level Hunters can share power, damage, vision, hearing, and feelings with their team...

0-01 just considered me one of its own?

It didn't give me power like Wanak, probably not fully 'accepted'... If I read all the remaining books and mastered the knowledge, would the corruption reach a critical point, making 0-01 see me as a fully submissive puppet, while I'm not? In such a case, I could approach it and find a way to leave a mark.

This matches my earlier guess. The purpose of the test is to gauge the level of corruption, my body's endurance, and the balance of the various corruptions within me.

I really needed to ace it. If I hid anything and colored Archbishop Heraberg's judgment, I'd have been the one suffering. I would either become a true puppet of 0-01 or die here due to insufficient corruption.

Knowledge is indeed power; knowledge indeed holds wealth!

Lumian couldn't help but curse Julie and Celeste. Those two Demonesses raised by pigs had prevented him from completing his studies!

Since it had already happened, he could only keep cursing while passing through the hall's exit.

After walking a few dozen meters along the marked passage, Lumian suddenly felt a disturbance to the side, hearing the sound of something heavy moving through the air.

Holding his carbide lamp and the head of the Abscessed Hand, he lunged forward and rolled away.

Thud!

The sound of something heavy hitting the ground echoed.

Using the sound, Lumian quickly sketched an image of the "enemy" in his mind: a giant sword!

In the underground mausoleum, the only beings carrying giant swords without feeling alive that Lumian could think of were the puppet soldiers.

Am I being attacked by a puppet soldier in this passage?

Hey, we're on the same side! We're both 0-01's soldiers!

Surprised, Lumian heard a whooshing sound as the giant sword swung down again.

Completely blind, Lumian activated the black mark on his right shoulder, teleporting behind the suspected puppet soldier attacker.

Simultaneously, knowledge from the Doll Crafting and Maintenance book flashed in his mind: "The puppet soldiers used in the underground tomb are uniformly two meters tall, made of iron...

"Their weapons come in four types: giant swords, hammers, spears, and bows...

"The weakest point of the puppet soldiers is their neck, due to mechanical structure issues and the inevitable development brought by the mausoleum's corrupting forces..."

As this knowledge flashed by, Lumian leaped, tensed his chest muscles, spread his arms, raised his right fist, and aimed at the back of the puppet soldier's neck, as constructed in his mind.

His fist ignited with layers of compressed white-hot flames, finally striking something hard and cold.

With a clang, the compressed flames were injected into the puppet soldier's neck.

Using the force, Lumian flipped back in midair, while an explosive sound echoed from within the puppet soldier.

A Cull completed with Fire Infusion!

The sound of heavy metal fragments hitting the ground followed.

As Lumian steadied himself, he heard Albus's voice in his ear:

"You can see?"

This member of the Medici family had a peculiar metallic quality in his voice.

Albus is here too? Did he witness me precisely dismantling the puppet soldier? Lumian's right hand stealthily reached into the Traveler's Bag, as he responded with a smile, ''Can you see too?"

Albus's metallic voice came from another direction:

"I can't see by myself; I'm blindfolded like you. But I can share the vision of the puppet soldiers here."

This is an example of the power of high-level Hunters... A gift from the Red Angel? This gift can even piggyback on 0-01's puppets... According to Madam Magician, that King of Angels once held 0-01... Lumian deliberately harrumphed and said, "Did you make the puppet soldier attack me?"

Albus switched locations again, seemingly using different puppet soldiers to speak.

"This was a test. Only those who pass the test are qualified to cooperate with me."

"You think you're worthy of cooperating with me? Why would you think I want to work with you?" Lumian said disdainfully.

Albus laughed. "That Demoness has a very dangerous item. If we don't work together, she could take us out one by one."

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