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Chapter 378: The Night Highland

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

A grim and dark-looking castle stood by the lake covered with black duckweed. Its pinnacles on the top resembled the javelins in the style of the ancient magic empire.

Harold Hammer, carrying a heavy bag of ore on his back, was walking slowly toward the castle's warehouse. As an underage dwarf, he was not as strong as the muscular fully-grown dwarves who could easily wield a huge heavy hammer like a toy. The bag of ore was really heavy for him.

However, Harold had no complaints about hard labor since at least he could still survive. Those strong dwarves were selected out to become the food of the vampire masters.

This castle belonged to the Great Kindred Count whose name was Vlad Cecil. The surrounding more than a hundred dwarf villages were under his control. The vampires chose "the pure blood and flesh" from among them for food, and drove the rest of the dwarves as their slaves to do the hard labor in the mines and castle. Day and night, the slave dwarves had to mine the special metal called needham gold from the plateau as well as caramo iron and mythril for the vampire master.

It seemed that the dwarves' destiny was doomed as soon as they were born. They either ended up as food for the vampires or died early from the intense laboring. The only sweet moment was when they found their beloved partner and had their offspring.

Though Harold had never left this village under the control of the castle, he heard that the dwarves living in the north were also suffering just like them. All the dwarves on the highland were in great pain, living like domestic animals.

Harold looked up at the night sky and the bright constellations over the highland. He was at a loss and depressed, wondering if his life was just going to be like this without any hope and if the past glory of dwarves could never come back again.

A sharp pain came from Harold's face as the thick whip left a deep and bloody wound on its left side. The wound stretched across the dwarves' distinctive big nose to the right.

"Move!"

There came the evil voice, and the shadow of the whip was in front of Harold.

Yes, some dwarves still had a third choice. They could choose to turn their backs on their ancestors and act like a well-trained dog to the vampires to become their blood servants, who were responsible for torturing their own brothers and sisters.

The elegant, privileged vampire counts would not watch the miners working in the dirty mines themselves, and thus they needed some servants. Every embrace would cost them the original blood power and the weaker vampires would be drained off if giving embrace for too many times. Therefore, even the powerful vampires were not willing to have many children.

That was why the number of vampires was never big. Most of their servants were just the blood servants whose blood was drained up by the vampires but did not die. They were simply puppets of the vampires.

The servants were as strong as knights, but their power could not be further improved any more. Their life-span was only of one-tenth of their master's lifetime, and they could never, and would never launch a rebellion.

Harold glanced at the dwarf dressing in fine clothes and holding the whip, and then he looked down and responded in low voice, "Yes, Butler Wells."

Countless dwarves died because of this abominable traitor. Although Wells was only a supervisor, he preferred to be called a butler. When the real vampire butler, Galata, showed up, Wells would kneel on the ground to kiss Galata's shoe.

The red-haired Wells had removed all of his beard because his master, Vlad, hated it very much, and thus his bumpy skin was revealed. Seeing Harold's good-looking dark brown beard, Wells was quite pissed. Lifting his right hand, he whipped Harold again.

"What were you thinking? Dwarves don't need to think! You hear me? You filthy dirty bastard!"

It seemed that Wells had forgotten the fact that he was also a dwarf, instead, he regarded himself as a decent servant for the noble kindred.

"Yes, Butler Wells." Harold gripped the bag loaded with the ores even tighter.

"Get out of my sight. Move!" Wells scolded.

After taking a few steps, Harold heard that Wells's voice had become disgustingly sweet, "Good afternoon, Madam Tess, Sir Galata! This way, please… It's dirty over there. Those filthy dwarves should not be seen…"

Without looking back, Harold could easily imagine Wells' flattering manner, and how well-dressed the tall vampire butler Galata was. Galata always dressed in a fancy black suit decorated with a neat bow tie.

Madam Tess must be the same charming and beautiful. She had the shining blond hair and proportioned figure. Her jade-colored eyes never changed after she was turned into a vampire by the embrace from Count Vlad.

Harold's heart twitched when thinking of Madam Tess. She was the most beautiful female dwarf who was famous in the surrounding many villages, and she was also once the dream girl for Harold. However, she was picked by the count and then became his vampire bride.

The cool wind from the highland reminded Harold what he should do. Harold lowered his head and moved forward slowly bearing the ore bag. He heard the commands from behind.

"Hurry up with the smelting. Be careful. Some dwarves who have managed to escape have formed a rebellion force."

…

When the evening arrived, Harold finally finished the hard labor and could take a rest. After getting the food—two black bread sticks, Harold was ready to go back to his place in the nearby village.

As he walked, he looked around and suddenly behaved very cautiously. When making sure it was safe, Harold became excited and quickly took a quiet path in the darkness.

After more than ten minutes, Harold had gone through a few thin groves. A common-looking huge stone appeared in front of Harold. Carefully checking around again, Harold cautiously walked to the other side of the huge stone and gently knocked at it.

"Steam above," whispered Harold in very low voice using the dwarf language. Although it sounded like a spell, there was no spiritual power involved.

The huge stone suddenly split like an opening gate. A dwarf popped out. After looking around, he hurriedly said, "Come in, Harold."

Harold went into the gap swiftly. After the dwarf locked the stone gate from inside, Harold gave him a breadstick and said, "Uncle Warren, I should go down there now."

"Go, my child. The Elder is waiting for you," said Warren.

Warren took a bit bite at the bread and swallowed it down with water as if he had starved for a long time.

Harold knew that the lack of food was always a big problem for the rebellion force. He chewed the black bread and gulped the water that he carried with him when walking downward. He was deeply impressed by the underground palace built by the dwarf ancestors.

He wondered why their powerful ancestors were defeated by the vampires. Had all the gods decided to abandon them?

The wall paintings along either side of the passage were magnificent: There were airboats in the sky, steamboats in the ocean, powerful cannons aiming at the dragons, and running steam trains on the plain… Although it was not Harold's first time seeing the paintings, he was just as excited as before. He loved listening to the glorious stories told by the Elder, Augustus Heartbroken. When he thought of the honor and glory that once belonged to their ancestor's civilization, Harold's heart was filled with hope.

At the end of the passage, there was a big hall, accompanied by two rows of small rooms on both sides. The roar of steam kept coming out, and a sturdy dwarf was driving the steam hammer to forge weapons.

"Hey, Harold." A dwarf with long white beard nodded slightly. When the dwarf saw what Harold was looking at, he sighed, "Our civilization has been lost. We cannot duplicate the complex steam engines, cannons, and rifles anymore. We can only try our best to make the sharper swords and axes. Although they are enough for killing the blood servants, the swords and axes cannot hurt the vampires."

The way the elder dwarf talked was rather gloomy and dismal.

The several dwarves dressing simply tried to cut in when the elder dwarf was speaking. They were of a higher rank in the rebellion force and did not want this desperation to spread out.

Augustus put on a peaceful smile and said, "Myrna, Aquinas… We have to let them know what we are facing. Yes, there is no hope. But shall we have our knees on the ground for the rest of our life, or shall we fight and bleed to safeguard our ancestors' glory and die like real dwarves… This is our own choice."

"Steam above!" The dwarves in the small rooms burst out the roaring. They were going to die anyway, and they wished to die as a warrior.

Sharing the food, Augustus asked Harold what was going on in the castle. The reason why they decided to hide on Count Vlad's territory was that they heard Count Vlad was injured when he was on the battlefield and thus he needed to sleep from time to time to heal himself.

"Madam Tess has sent out the blood servants to find you…" said Harold. As a worker, he did not know much. Then Harold looked at Augustus, and his eyes were shining with hope, "Can I know more about the ancient steam civilization?"

The good-looking, young female dwarf whose name was Myrna was also looking forward to the stories. The stories were like the warm sunlight that could give hope to everyone in the rebellion force.

"… We dwarves… once ruled the boundless land. We had magnificent cities at the ports of the boundless ocean and along the Nigreen River… At that time, the erected iron chimneys were like tall forests, and the smoke coming out from them could cover the sky…"

"There were steam trains traveling between the cities. From here to the north, it would only take you a few hours. Every one of the dwarves could get enough food and have access to all kinds of mechanic inventions. We had the steam elevators that could directly lift one to the top floor of the building, and we always had hot water because of the steam boilers…"

"… The brave dwarf warriors were expanding our territory equipped with high-pressure steam bags, mechanic arms, and steam rifles. Our steamboats were sailing in the oceans. Our great cannons made the enemies bend their back…"

Although the dwarves did not even know what sunlight was, they were still listening to the stories with great interest. The stories could show them paradise. They listened to the stories while staring at the frescos. They could see the cities flourishing with the steam civilization.

Harold tightened his fists. He swore in his mind that one day he would rebuild the dwarf cities.

When telling the stories, Augustus' face was written with pride and hope.

"Alright… This is all for today. It's time for us to worship the God of Steam, the master of life and death." Augustus stood up and walked to the center of the hall, where there was a strange-looking altar.

"Does it work?" The young dwarf, Myrna, asked a bit confusedly.

Augustus cast her a stern look and said, "When we found this place, we found the rite left by our ancestors. They were that powerful and smart, and I am sure that they would not waste their time on things that were useless. Maybe our ancestors were abandoned because they were not showing enough respect to the God of Steam. We should be very pious, so we can win the mercy of the God of Steam again."

The dwarves all nodded. In this desperate situation, they were not going to let go of any hope.

Therefore, all the dwarves gathered at the front of the altar. Following the Elder, they started to dance in a strange way.

"The almighty God of Steam! Your devout followers and servants are praying."

Chapter 379: The God of Steam's Arrival

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

"You rule everything. You decide life and death. You are the god of gods, the king of kings."

The movement of the Elder was quite distorted in a weird way, and he moved around in a quite disorganized manner. However, if one observed carefully, one could tell that Augustus' movement was still following some mysterious patterns.

The rest of the dwarves were having a hard time following his movement, and at the same time, they repeated the Elder's words, "You give us life; you give us food; you give us the courage when facing the difficulties, as well as goodness, integrity, and perseverance."

At the entry of the palace, four transparent figures were staring at the dwarves' praying.

"It looks like the manner from the ancient magic empire…" said the vampire bride, Tess, using the kindred's talent called Short-distance Mind Communication to the butler Galata, Wells, and the maid Edith. Tess was feeling both amused and confused.

They had found the place where the rebellion force hid!

Both Wells and Edith were blood servants, and they grew up on Night Highland. The farthest place Wells and Edith went to was the castle of another vampire count. They had no idea what the ancient magic empire was, and thus when hearing Tess' words, both of them lowered their heads but did not know what to say. Of course, they did not have access to the study in the castle, and Wells did not even know how to read!

"The old dwarf is acting quite differently. His movement is very complex and distorted," responded the vampire butler, Galata, respectfully, "To me, it resembles the ritual dance from the Saint Truth."

"The ritual dance from the Saint Truth came from the simple magic rites," said Tess in a low voice. "Galata, don't you see that the old dwarf is playing the six different roles? The dance should be carried out by six sorcerers in six different directions, using different movements… But he is now dancing all by himself."

Both Wells and Edith lowered their head even further. They dared not to interrupt the conversation, as they knew that Count Vlad was severely hurt by the divine power of the Saint Truth at the end of a war called the War of Dawn. Count Vlad never completely recovered from it, and thus in the recent several hundred years, the count had been sleeping for most of the time and never left Night Highland again. Therefore, no one was allowed to talk about the Saint Truth except for the noble kindred.

"Madam, you are right," Galata agreed after a closer observation, "but their praying song is for sure not a spell, so the rite won't work. I can't tell what the rite is, though."

"It doesn't matter. It is not going to work anyway. When we catch the filthy dwarves, we will know," Tess sneered. "I hate those pastors and preachers. Because of them, my dear Vlad cannot always be with me!"

"We can never know where the rebellion force is without your sharp perception, madam," flattered Wells. He was worried that Madam Tess' emotion would get out of control.

Tess smiled, "He is different. Laboring in the mine for three years, he is still energetic and his eyes are still filled with hope. That is not right. I did not expect that he was connected to the rebellion force, though."

"As you said, madam," Edith flattered, "dwarves do not deserve having any hopes. They are animals."

Seeing that the rite had almost come to the end, Tess raised her hand and commanded, "Kill them all. Let the bodies dry on the wall."

"Yes, madam," answered Galata, Wells, and Edith together.

Harold kneeled on the ground in an extremely respectful manner following the Elder, and they prayed in low voice, "The great master of life and death! You have mercy on us and you have the great power in your hand. We shall make everyone respect your name. May we get out of the pain and sufferings under your blessing and glory!"

"May your sacred name, Steam, ascend to the top again!"

Harold added in his mind, "May we rebuild the splendid steam civilization under your blessing!"

Then, he heard a bitter scream!

Harold quickly got up and hurriedly looked at the direction where the scream came from.

Four figures slowly appeared. They were Madam Tess, butler Galata, Wells, and Edith.

Galata's two white fangs pierced through the neck of a dwarf. Wells just cut the throat of another dwarf, and the blood spread everywhere.

A blood servant did not deserve enjoying the blood.

"Why… How did you find this place?" Harold burst out because of the great fear. He could not help trembling.

The beautiful dwarf vampire took out a fine handkerchief made of Black Nightingale from the Kingdom of Holm. She gently wiped the corner of her lips and said, "It was you who led us here."

All of the dwarves looked back at Harold. They were all shocked, and their eyes were filled with bitterness and hatred.

"Harold… why?" Aquinas picked up the heavy ax.

"I trusted you!" Myrna's voice trembled.

"I didn't… I… Elder, I didn't!" Harold hurriedly explained, "Please trust me! I never did this!"

Tess giggled. She signaled to tell Galata not to kill the dwarves right away. She liked watching this.

"I trust you, Harold," said the Elder. "If you did betray us, they would have directly broken in."

Harold almost burst into tears.

Augustus sadly shook his head and then said to the rest of the dwarves aloud, "You want to fight? Or you want to kneel down?!"

"Steam above!" cried out the dwarves holding their weapons.

Tess covered her mouth and said in a disappointed way, "Boring… Galata, do it."

Galata adjusted his bow tie slightly and then bowed, "As your command, madam."

Facing the dwarves holding the axes coming to him, Galata was still very relaxed.

When the ax almost hacked in his back, Galata turned into a streak of shadow like a ghost and then showed up behind the dwarf holding the ax.

Galata's left hand was now a sharp claw. He instantly tore the dwarf's body into half. The dwarf let out a bitter scream but his voice was immediately chocked by the gurgling of blood from his cut-open throat.

Then the shadow swiftly went into the crowd of the dwarves. The screams were everywhere.

When the many dwarves finally encircled Galata, countless small bats covered the vampire butler. Then, the vampire showed up on the other side of the hall, following the bats.

The rest of the dwarves were fighting against Wells and Edith. There was no big difference between their power. The heavy axes was a big threat to the two blood servants.

Seeing that there was little hope to beat Galata, Augustus commanded, "Go to the gate! Get out!"

The seven or eight dwarves exchanged a look. They burst out a harsh roar and together charged at the vampire butler. They were going to use their life to win time for the rest of the dwarves.

However, they died one by one. The time they could win for their people was not long.

The rest of the dwarves rushed toward the gate, with tears in their eyes. Wells and Edith lost the gate, and the dwarves almost reached the passage!

"Useless…" said Tess coldly. Two white fangs grew out of her beautiful and delicate lips. She raised her right hand and a cluster of black smoke covered the few leading dwarves.

Ahhhh!

When the black smoke disappeared, the several dwarves fell onto the ground and their blood had been drained up.

The rest of the dwarves were scared. They ran around out of panic but all stayed at least a meter away from Tess.

"Why… Why is she so powerful?" The dwarves in the back, including the Elder, murmured out of shock.

Although the Elder was rather calm, and he knew that the rebellion force could not fight against the senior-rank vampires, he had never expected that the common and middle-rank vampires were also this powerful. They were slaughtering the dwarves like killing domestic animals!

The Elder kneeled down facing the altar. He raised his hands and cried, "Why all our efforts… means nothing… We sacrificed, we died… for nothing?!"

Tess took out the fancy handkerchief and wiped her hands, "Why don't you understand? The only reason why you are still alive is that we are too bored. We are just playing a game with you."

"Is that right…" There were tears in the Elder's eyes, and he hit the floor using his head, "So we dwarves died for nothing…?"

Augustus turned around and cried to the altar, "The God of Steam! The Almighty God! The master of life and death! Please… please save us!"

More dwarves were dying behind him.

"Wake up, dwarf. No one is going to help you," Tess teased. "You dwarves have been so innocent for thousands of years."

The Elder did not listen to her. Praying, repeating the name of the God, the Elder hit his head against the stages of the altar. His blood dyed the altar surface red.

"Idiots…" Wells mocked at him.

The rest of the dwarves all kneeled down desperately. Was that the end? Just like that? Harold could not bear the great pain.

However, light suddenly burst out from the altar. The entire altar was covered with a pure light!

Ecstasy rose in Harold's mind. He kneeled on the ground on all fours, crying.

"The great master of life and death. Have mercy on us; you hold the ultimate power. We shall make everyone respect your name."

The Elder, Myrna, and Aquinas were all shocked. With tears, they prayed facing the altar, "May we get out of the pain and sufferings under your blessing and glory!

"May your sacred name, Steam, ascend to the top again!"

A figure wearing a black suit slowly appeared.

"My Lord, your arrival brings us all the blessings!"

"The master of life and death, your glory can purify everything!"

The Elder, Harold, and the rest of the dwarves were very excited.

Was it the God of Steam?! Did Zie come to save them?

Tess, Galata, and the two blood servants stared at the altar in great shock.

What was going on!?

Chapter 380: The God of Steam

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

The light became brighter, and the figure also became clearer, but the light rippled in the air and covered the face and the upper body of the figure.

At this time, the figure suddenly disappeared. Only the white pure light still lit up the whole hall.

The Elder, Harold, Aquinas and the rest of the dwarves did not see that since they were still prostrating on the ground, but Tess, Galata, Wells, and Edith saw it.

"Haha, their god has disappeared! Their god has just abandoned them again!" Wells released a long sigh and said with wild joy.

When the altar lit up, Wells freaked out. For a moment, he thought that the dwarf's god did come to save them. Wells could not read, and because of all the stories he had heard, he believed in the existence of God. Although he was a blood servant of his noble kindred master, facing the unimaginable power of God, as a traitor, Wells' heart was still filled with fear.

Edith laughed very hard, "See… haha, your god is not going to bless you anymore. The kindred is the chosen one!"

When the altar lit up, Edith was just as nervous.

The dwarves hurriedly looked up and saw the empty altar.

"Did the God of Steam abandon us?"

"What did we do…?"

Desperation spread out among the dwarves who were still alive. For a moment, they thought they were saved.

"Senior-rank Invisibility! He is a sorcerer!" The profound butler suddenly realized what was going on, "That is a teleportation circle! A space joint!"

"Galata, kill him! I am going to inform the count!" Tess got nervous, and the black bat wings stretched out behind her. She hurriedly turned around and left the underground hall immediately.

The space joint was like the gate for a castle. Therefore, controlling as many space joints as possible was very important to safeguard one's territory. Usually, a space joint would change hands many times between the different powers.

Both Tess and Galata knew how important it was to control the space joint!

At the same time, since they did not know how powerful the sorcerer was, Tess had decided to go back to seek the help of the count. Galata should be able to win some time for them.

Although Vlad had been tortured by the divine power for a long time, as a senior-rank vampire, he was the most powerful kindred in the area.

Usually, the power of a vampire was directly linked to his or her title. A baron vampire's power was about the level of a level one knight or a dark mage; a viscount vampire had the power of a middle-rank mage; a vampire count or marquis was as powerful as a senior-rank mage; a duke's power could be compared to that of an archmage or a gold knight; a vampire prince was of the same level as a legendary archmage.

However, the titles did not work all the time. Many vampires had been living in the human society or living alone for a very long time, and even though they had become more powerful, they would not bother reporting this to the Vampire High Council. As for Rhine, who had been living for more than thousands of years, he simply preferred the count title. In fact, he was well-qualified for the title of a vampire prince.

Galata hesitated for a moment, but in the next second, he jumped on the altar with great determination. He was totally loyal to the count, and of course, he would obey Ms. Tess' command.

A vampire was very sensitive to life force. Galata was sure that the sorcerer was still on the altar.

As soon as Lucien was sent here, he saw the dwarves prostrating on the ground, praying and crying around him. He was so confused for a moment that he thought he just jumped into another world again!

However, Lucien still immediately cast on himself the fourth-circle spell, Invisibility (Advanced), to hide.

When Lucien realized that he could still use magic, he was certain that he was still in the same world.

After becoming invisible, he started to calm down. As an expert in language, it was not difficult for him to tell the fact that the dwarves were using the ancient language, which shared the same origin with the modern dwarf language.

Lucien wondered what the dwarves were doing. However, before he figured out the answer for all of his questions, he heard the vampires saying the words "space joint".

When he saw the vampires, Lucien became certain that he had indeed arrived at Night Highland. In the next second, he saw a male vampire coming directly at him.

Lucien's eyes slightly squinted. He raised his hand to point at the vampire. He could not let others know the existence of the space joint!

He still needed the space joint on Night Highland to make some more jumps between the dimensions. If this was discovered by the vampire princes, Lucien would be in great trouble.

Rhine did not tell him which vampire was trustworthy, and that meant he could trust nobody.

Harold stared at the empty altar and the pure light that was slowly disappearing. He started to accept the fact that they had been completely abandoned by their god.

Was it because they were not devout enough?

Was it because the cruel vampires had won the favor of gods?

Was their fate doomed already?

Biting hard, his lips started to bleed. He felt extremely desperate, confused, and lost. Harold wished to die right away.

Only death could end the great pain!

Only death could bring him the forever peace!

Harold was not alone here. All the dwarves felt the same way, even including the Elder, who had lost all of his fate.

A shadow suddenly swept over them toward the altar.

They knew it was Galata, but that was also the only thing that they could come up with.

All of a sudden, a dazzling light lit up the Elder's turbid pupils! Galata was covered in a colorful light!

Red, black, and green… The light spots burst out. Some turned into gas very quickly; some smelled like sulfur; some changed colors very fast and fell on the ground flat.

Within a second, Galata disappeared completely. Only the light spots were left.

"What is that?!" Tess was totally shocked. Galata had been killed even before she had the chance to fully stretch out her wings. How was that possible?!

She had never seen magic like that before!

Was that a legendary archmage? She once heard the legend that Hathaway, the Lord of Elements, had the power to break someone down into countless elements!

A great fear seized her mind. She knew that she must run, right now!

A cluster of black smoke suddenly rose, and countless small bats flew out in all directions.

It happened so quickly that Wells and Edith did not even have any time to take actions.

Seeing that their god decomposed Galata so easily, Harold's heart was filled with joy and surprise.

Their god was still with them!

The God of Steam still remembered them!

He burst into tears. A gentle, warm stream flowed in his body, and it felt like the nice pat that he received from his parents when he was young.

"Is this the power of God?" Harold murmured.

He could not think clearly, but he heard a bitter scream. He turned around hurriedly and saw that the white smoke rose out of Wells' body, and his rotten pieces of flesh were falling on the ground. Soon, there was only his skeleton left on the ground, and the same thing happened to the maid named Edith as well.

Close to the passage, all the small bats had also fallen on the ground, cramping and twitching. Then, the bats quickly disappeared in the holy light.

Exorcist Halo!

A few seconds later, Harold heard the scream from Tess.

"Tess and Galata… died?" The dwarves could not believe it was real.

They were vampires, the nightmare that had been torturing them for so many years!

Was this the power of God? They did not know.

Aquinas was very close to the altar, and the remaining pieces of Galata were right in front of them. He carefully picked up one of the black pieces.

His eyes suddenly opened wide, and his hands were trembling. "This is iron! And coal! The real God of Steam has come to us!"

He hurriedly threw the pieces in his hands away and prostrated himself on the ground, praying aloud, "The great master of life and death, have mercy on us, just like you have the ultimate power."

"We will get out of the pain and sufferings under your blessing and glory!"

The dwarves looked around and became certain that their god had arrived here for them!

"The mortal eyes cannot see the true god; the ordinary painting brush cannot portray the ultimate power; the real master never appears in front of the mortal!" The Elder came up with the reason why they could not see their god, and exclaimed aloud.

"You rule everything, from life to death. You are the king of kings, the god of gods."

The rest of the dwarves also hit their head against the ground with ecstasy toward the altar following the Elder. Lucien still did not understand fully what was going on here.

"Our glory, our life, and our power, all go to you! The almighty God of Steam!"

The dwarves exclaimed aloud together in a very devout manner.

God was as gracious as the sea and as mighty as the mountains!

Chapter 381: A Dream City

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Lucien finally realized what was going on there. The dwarves thought that he was their God of Steam, the master of life and death, and they were worshipping him.

This was Night Highland, once under the control of the dwarves, but later they were conquered by the vampires.

They should be from the last group of dwarves left from the Civilization of Steam, and they were raised by the vampires as labors.

These dwarves managed to escape from the vampire and found the relic left by their ancestors. They thought that the teleportation circle was an altar, and they misunderstood the material left by their ancestors when they tried to learn magic as the instruction for reaching their God. In this case, he was sent here when the dwarves were carrying out their rite.

It seemed that the vampires killed by him were here to kill the dwarves, and thus the dwarves, after witnessing his power, firmly believed that he was the God of Steam.

Lucien's brain worked very fast. It did not take him long to figure out the story.

Then, Lucien's first thought was that he should use magic to erase the dwarves' memory. However, when Lucien saw the cast-iron stoves in the rooms around and the steam hammer, an idea suddenly stroke him. The dwarves had mastered the basic knowledge of the Steam Civilization and should be able to carry out some relatively complex smelting procedures.

To simplify the alchemical products and items, Lucien first needed the skilled workers who were able to make the gears.

Since the skills of making alchemical items and products were mostly owned by the sorcerers, and the Congress would not waste the apprentices' time doing the harsh labor work, very rarely could an ordinary person join an alchemy work. This problem had been bothering Lucien for a long time, preventing him from spreading the usage of alchemical items and products, which would not only bring Lucien a great amount of wealth but also shake the ordinary people's belief in the Church.

Lucien thought that this would take a very long time, at least a few generations. However, he saw new hope in the dwarves from the Civilization of Steam.

"The almighty God of Steam, may your name spread throughout the world!"

The dwarves' praying inspired Lucien. He quickly got a plan: he could make the dwarves work for the Congress of Magic using the name of their God, so the dwarves would be completely loyal to them, and it would also be much easier to make them sign the magic compact.

Facing the fact that Lucien had saved their life and could provide the dwarves with a bright future to work as the new workers for the Congress, the dwarves would definitely accept the offer instead of being the slaves for those vampires. However, Lucien still wanted to make sure that the dwarves would be sincerely willing to work for them.

Lucien still had his mission to complete. Furthermore, the teleportation circle set up beside the space joint was not able to send many dwarves out, but using the teleportation circle too frequently in a short period of time would draw the vampires' attention. Lucien decided to let the dwarves hide here on Night Highland for a bit longer, and in that case, they could also have some time to grow bigger by enrolling more dwarves. Once his mission was completed, to avoid the great conflict, Lucien would ask the Congress to set up another gate to take away all the dwarves.

If a war broke out between the Congress of Magic and the vampires, the Church would be the biggest beneficiary.

Although Lucien was moved with compassion seeing how the dwarves were suffering, currently he could not come up with a better solution.

The fourth circle magic spell, Invisibility (Advanced), would still last for a while. Lucien took out a tube of liquid and gently uncorked it. The liquid instantly turned a colorless and odorless gas, which soon filled in the entire hall.

…

The dwarves were still praying, praying to their almighty God, praying for their beautiful future full of hope.

Suddenly, Harold felt that the temperature started increasing. When he opened his eyes, to his great surprise, Harold saw that the floor made of grey stone bricks had turned into yellow hot sand.

"Go. Go deep into the desert to find my Kingdom.

"Go. Go there so you could find everything you want."

The sacred and solemn voice came from the sky. The dwarves again deeply lowered their heads and put their faces against the hot sand. "Your name is respected. Your will is fulfilled. Master, you dominate everything in the world."

The voice then disappeared. After a long time, the elder slowly looked up and saw that they were now in the boundless desert. Close to the horizon line, he saw something green that he believed was an oasis.

It was the first time that they witnessed the unimaginable power of God.

The hot wind burnt their faces. The dwarves remained where they were, totally shocked. It was even the first time that they saw the sun! Night Highland would never be lit up.

Harold moved his lips and murmured, "Sun… Daylight…"

His words awakened the elder and the rest of the dwarves. Myrna asked as if she was in a dream, "Where shall we go…?"

"…Where?" The Elder hesitated for a moment but very quickly cheered up, and his voice was full of hope and passion, "We go deep into the desert! We find our master's Kingdom!"

Harold felt that he was almost going crazy from the excitement, "So we can get back our lost civilization, right? We can build a steam city!"

Very excited, Aquinas also quivered, "Me, too. I want to see those black chimneys, the grand airboats, the great cannons again!"

Rebuilding a steam city was the ultimate dream for the dwarves from the rebellion force. A steam city represented their supreme honor!

The Elder looked around at the dwarves' sweaty red faces. He raised his arm and cried out, "The master of life and death told us that we can find everything we want deep in the desert! So we go deep into the desert!"

"Steam above! We go deep into the desert!" repeated the rest of the dwarves aloud together.

…

Although they did not have a clear guidance, the dwarves could feel that something was calling them in the front.

Walking in the desert was hard. The sunlight was dazzling, and the wind was drying them up. The dwarves came to know how horrible a desert could be. They were thirsty. They felt dizzy.

"Myrna, are you alright?" Harold quickly grabbed Myrna's arm when she was about to fall over.

Myrna shook her head and bit her lips, "I'm okay. This is the trial given by the Master. To get to his Kingdom, I won't give up."

The dwarves were encouraged by Myrna's words. What she said was true. If they could not bear the pain, they did not deserve the blessing.

Suddenly, they heard the cheerful voice of the elder, "Look! It's there!"

The dwarves looked at the same direction together and saw the huge city in the oasis.

The city was there! Their Master's kingdom!

The dwarves had completely forgotten the exhaustion. They ran toward the huge city as fast as they could.

When they were closer to the city, a sudden loud buzzing sound came from the sky.

The dwarves all looked up and saw a huge weird bird coming from the other side of the sky toward the city. When the weird bird was right above them, the dwarves finally recognized what it was. It was not a bird, but a giant machine covered with a silvery white metal!

The bird was so huge that the dwarves felt that they were just a group of ants.

The machine bird lowered its speed and slowly landed in the city somewhere they could not see.

"Is this… an airboat?" Harold was shocked, but the machine bird looked different from what he saw on the frescos.

The elder slowly shook his head, "No… That is not an airboat. An airboat is not that fast. But it is definitely man-made!"

What was it then? All the dwarves asked themselves.

"We will figure that out when we reach the city," said the elder with great determination.

The dwarves set off again, and silence covered them. They did not know what they would see next on their way approaching the city.

After more than ten minutes, the dwarves reached the edge of the oasis and finally saw the city.

Many of them took a deep breath since they were deeply shocked by the view. This city was totally out of their imagination!

On the other side of the city, they saw the very tall and straight chimneys and the many factories and plants. The dwarves were more familiar with the scenery since they had seen it many times in their dreams. However, on the other side of the city, there were buildings even taller than those chimneys. Even the most exaggerated legends had failed to describe that resplendence and imposing manner!

The tall buildings were close to each other, tiled in different colors including black, gray, silver white, and brown. The well-aligned windows reflected the sunlight.

Between the tall buildings and factories, there were wide roads and even land bridges, on which ran the strange but also good-looking vehicles very fast.

The shadowy figures guarding the city were holding metal objects like steam rifles in their hands, but smaller and lighter.

Little did Harold ever realize how sharp his eyes could be. He could even see the slow-moving elevators in the building, and the many shadowy figures using the strange devices talking to each other even when they were in the different buildings.

Myrna also saw the shadowy figures holding some strange metal tablets. All kinds of pictures showed up just with a gentle tap.

Night fell very soon, and the city was lit up by the many lights, turning it into a place where all the stars gathered on the ground.

The dwarves were speechless for a long time at the incredible splendor of the city.

Suddenly, a gap opened in the ground at the edge of the city, and a huge "metal arrow" shot out with a bright flame into the distance.

"What is that?!" The dwarves were totally shocked.

Then, the metal arrow fell to the ground on the horizon, followed by a deafening bang!

The ground was shaking, and the dwarves' ears buzzing. There was a new sun at the edge of the desert, burning and glowing, with enough power to destroy the entire world. The bright sun soon disappeared. Heavy smoke in the shape of a huge mushroom was left there at the horizon as if there was another horrible hell in the distance.

Seeing that, Harold swallowed hard. The metal arrow could definitely destroy the entire Night Highland.

The look on the face of the elder and the rest of the dwarves were very serious. They held the power in awe. When they looked back at the dream-like city, the beautiful lights blurred their eyes.

"Where is this place?" Harold blurted out, feeling afraid but also excited, "This place is even greater than the steam city described in the elder's stories!"

"This is…" Myrna murmured, quivering.

The solemn and sacred arrived again,

"This is Atlantis. My kingdom."

Chapter 382: Count Vlad

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

The dwarves had never seen anything like that before. The scene had exceeded their ultimate imagination.

The tall buildings made them feel so small, and the star-light lights made the city look even bigger and more splendid. The civilization that the city belonged to was way more advanced than Steam Civilization.

The dwarves felt that they were facing the boundless starry sky. They were deeply shocked by how insignificant and tiny they were.

This was the power of civilization.

After a while, the elder finally sobered up and kneeled down on the ground, prostrating, although the sand was still very hot.

"Our almighty God of Steam! Your kingdom is the domain where all the gods live. Your kingdom shows the ultimate power of steam!"

Hearing the elder's prayer, the dwarves also kneeled down in an extremely devout manner, facing the city,

"Your blessing is as vast as the ocean; your stateliness is as solemn as the great mountain."

The solemn voice arrived again, "My name shall not be revealed to the heretics."

It took the elder a second to comprehend the words and then he quickly repeated leading the rest of the dwarves, "The name of Master shall not be revealed to the heretics."

The solemn voice continued, "Traitors will all be devoured by steam."

The dwarves followed, "Anyone who betrays us will be devoured by steam."

The voice became ethereal, "Be my people. Be my willing servants. No more slavery."

The dwarves answered together, "Your glory above!"

The voice slowly disappeared in the air. At this time, Harold saw the city swelling in front of them and then turned into bubbles and pieces of shadow.

In the bubbles and pieces of shadow, the strange vehicles became bigger and the inner complex structure was completely revealed, including the pistons and bearings, as well as the mysterious patterns, which were totally different from that of Steam Civilization. In the bubbles and pieces of shadow, the strange metal bird also went transparent, and its structure, wires, and gears were also revealed.

In the bubbles and pieces of shadow, the structures of the tall buildings, factories, chimneys, and the land bridges were all shown to the dwarves.

…

Feeling extremely dizzy, the dwarves felt that their head was going to explode since what they were looking at had gone way beyond their comprehension.

The bubbles and pieces of shadow surrounded them, and the entire world started to ripple and fall into parts.

"I have shown you what you want, and for the rest of it, you have to find it yourself using persistence, courage, and bravery." This was the last message left by the solemn voice.

The elder still remembered to pray despite the great dizziness, "Respected be your name. Follow your path. We shall build up your kingdom on the ground!"

The desert had completely disappeared. The space started swirling, and the dwarves passed out. After a long time, when they slowly woke up, they found themselves lying on the ground of the familiar underground cave.

"What happened?" Facing the altar, the elder felt that he was still in a dream.

Looking at the thick book in his head, Harold was confused. He had just learned how to read after the elder for two years, and therefore, it took him some time to recognize the words on the surface of the book – Elementary Mechanical Forging.

"It was real! God of Steam saved us!" Harold blurted out excitedly.

The rest of the dwarves also noticed the book. They started to cry since they finally saw hope for the first time.

At this time, all the memory came back to them:

The dwarf rebellion force found the secret cave where the Civilization of Steam used to pray to God by chance, and thus they settled down to hide here. Also, they carried on the tradition to pray to God. Today, they were attacked by the vampires and many died in the bitter fight.

When the great desperation seized them, the dwarves' God saved them from the vampires and led them to an underground palace where the dwarves' frescos were everywhere. When they pushed open the gate of the palace, they saw the miracle city—Atlantis, their God's kingdom!

The Elder sighed when his memory was still in a chaos, "So the underground palace, frescos, desert, oasis, and Atlantis… They are not real. The God of Steam made our soul see them…"

In the chaos, most of the people who more or less knew about magic would guess that their memory had been modified, but the dwarves were different. They believed that what happened was a miracle revealed by their God, and therefore, they saw nothing wrong with it.

Sometimes, how powerful an illusion spell was really depended on how the caster used it.

Atlant, the Eye of Curse, once put it in his paper, "By finding one's weakness, one can easily put fake memories into a person's brain, even without using illusion."

"I don't think so… your grace!" disputed Aquinas, the leader of the rebellion force. "It exists in the Steam Paradise! One day, the will of God shall be done on earth!"

Harold still remembered what the dream city looked like, and he murmured, "I… I thought the steam city was the ultimate miracle, the most exciting place in the world, but Atlantis… Atlantis is… incredible…"

Harold did not know how to put a proper comment on it.

Another dwarf cut in, "All of the machines there are so amazing. I guess that's how Steam Civilization will be like when it peaks… No, no… Atlantis has way surpassed the power of Steam Civilization!"

The rest of the dwarves all agreed because they had seen it with their own eyes!

A dream city!

Harold looked very excited, with his hands clenching into fists, "Atlantis… Atlantis! My dream is to build an Atlantis on the ground, even if it is only one-third of a miracle compared to the real one!"

"I can never forget the river of stars…" Myrna murmured like she was still in the beautiful dream, "What a pity… We did not see the structure of the huge metal arrow."

"That's right…" The dwarves were quite disappointed. After all, the destructive weapon created by their God was so powerful that it was capable of completely destroying the entire world!

"Also… we did not see the other inner structures clearly," said Harold, feeling upset. But he soon cheered up and said, "First, we should have a solid foundation!"

Harold raised the book in his hand and found that there was a piece of parchment in the book.

It was a compact, a compact with their God.

Finishing reading the compact, the elder excitedly announced, "The Almighty God of Steam asks us to sign the compact with the City of Atlantis, as we have peeped into its secrets."

Of course, the dwarves signed the compact without any hesitation. The compact represented the future hope that the dwarves had to get rid of their destiny as the vampires' slaves.

Light burst out of the parchment pact. Lucien, a distance away from the dwarves, slightly nodded and then left.

It took him a lot of work to move the dwarves to the secret underground cave that he found using magic. He reordered the dwarves' memory and then interwove some fake ones into it.

Once the dwarves had accepted the memory, it was hard for them to tell the fake from the true.

Lucien used Alferris' blood and constructed the desert and the city called Atlantis using the fifth-circle illusion spell, Fantasy. Lucien borrowed the basic design of a metropolis on the Earth and mixed it with a number of magic symbols.

After leaving the underground cave, he looked very serious. He knew that, since the vampire bride and butler had been killed by him, the count would not easily let this go. Sooner or later, the count would find the underground palace and the space joint.

Lucien had to take care of this.

Thus, he headed for the count's castle.

…

On the next day, in the early morning, the dwarf slaves were already working under the threat of the thick whips. The constellations were still above them.

The supervisors were not worried about the fact that Madam Tess and the butler had not come back at all because they were informed that a group of rebellion force was identified. It was more than normal that Madam Tess and the butler had to spend a few days taking care of that.

In the dark basement of the castle, in the middle of many dark magic circles, there was a bloody coffin, from which black smoke kept coming out from time to time. This was the core of the castle, the place where Count Vlad slept and cured himself.

Every time when Vlad was about to go sleep, he would fully turn on all the magic circles and traps around him to protect himself.

According to Vlad himself, the construction and design of the castle took him more than a thousand years. It was impossible to break in without activating the magic circles, even for a vampire marquis or duke. The castle was like a masterpiece in defense.

Therefore, the castle showed a relatively lower power when it came to attacking its enemies.

Madam Tess, butler Galata, and another two vampire brides knew how to reach Count Vlad.

Therefore, the best way for Lucien to kill the count would be using the two vampire brides to get Vlad out of the core basement.

Count Vlad survived in the War of Dawn. He was not an idiot. Once Lucien made a mistake and missed the best chance to kill the vampire, that would be the end of him.

Lucien could not bear even a single mistake.

Chapter 383:

The Other Way Around

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

The hand-shaped silver candlesticks lit up the corridor in the dark and gloomy castle. The red candles flickered to provide a dim light, showing a sense of creepy beauty.

Wearing a black robe with a hood, Lucien stood outside of the basement quietly, studying the defensive magic circles placed by Count Vlad.

The gate of the castle usually opened for the slaves to go in and out, as well as for the transportation of ores and metals. The several detecting magic circles were not a big deal for Lucien. As a senior-rank mage, Lucien entered the castle rather easily.

Lucien could tell that these defense magic circles were rather powerful. As a vampire who had survived for a few thousand years, Vlad did collect some good magic circles. The twenty-seven dark magic circles had formed a strong protection reliable enough to resist a level eight divine spell. Fortunately, the castle did not have an alchemical life in it, or there was no chance that Lucien could sneak into this place.

On the corridor, the female blood servants walked past Lucien as if he did not exist. They were once human beings, elves, or dwarves, but now they had become the servants in the castle.

Lucien had not learned the sixth-circle spell, Suggestion (group), and thus it took him quite a long time to cast the suggestion spell on every single living thing in the castle one by one. Although he was already a senior-rank mage, his spirit had been drained up from doing so, and he waited for a long time to have it recovered.

Standing in front of the basement, Lucien rubbed his chin thoughtfully and did his analysis: It would take him at least two months to crack this defense system, and the biggest trouble was the fact that Count Vlad could notice it at any time. Once Vlad woke up, that would be the end for himself.

Although Vlad had been sleeping for a long time, his power and knowledge were pretty up-to-date, as he cast spells using his blood power, not his cognitive world.

Lucien had to find a way to get Vlad out.

Many thoughts flashed through his mind, such as to inform Vlad that there was an affair between Tess and Galata… However, neither of them worked.

Lucien decided to take another perspective.

After a while, he nodded thoughtfully and started to work on analyzing the structure of the magic circles and how the power in them flowed.

…

More than ten days later, the castle still operated normally as usual. The brides, butlers, blood servants, and slaves were all busy minding their own business.

Somehow they all turned a blind eye toward the strange young man wearing a black robe. He was busy too. He was busy with placing all the precious materials around following some kind of pattern.

Finally, the magic circle was done. Clapping his hands, Lucien stood up straight slowly.

When Lucien cast the spell, his spiritual power spread out and the magic circle in front of the basement was activated. The light streams lit up one by one and the power lines flowed in all the directions.

Except for inside the power room in the basement and the controlling core, different magic circles lit up in all the important sectors and parts in the castle, including the constraint rooms, summoning rooms, magic garden, power wells.

Soon, the magic circles joined together and the whole castle was covered in a dream-like shield made of dazzling starlight!

The magic dome suddenly shrank and attached tight against the walls of the basement. The light disappeared as if it had joined the dark magic circles.

Then, everything quieted down.

The vampires and dwarves were still doing their own work as if nothing had ever happened. In the basement, Count Vlad was still sleeping. He did not notice any difference.

That was because Lucien had never tried to crack the count's dark magic circles.

The function of the powerful magic circle that Lucien just placed was very simple. Lucien added another layer of defense on top of what the count already had. Lucien wanted him to sleep more safe and sound.

Therefore, the defense was also not easy to be cracked, either from inside or outside. It would even take Lucien himself almost ten months to remove the protection. Also, the power from the magic wells and garden would constantly infuse into the magic circle. When the count woke up, part of the power from the power rooms would be constrained. Even with the help of the controlling core, Vlad would have to spend five to six years to get out, and before that he could not even send a message out.

Five or six years later, Lucien believed that he would not have to worry about the exposure of the space joint anymore.

That was what Lucien meant by taking another perspective. When the defense was powerful, instead of destroying it, Lucien would make it even more unbreakable.

There was a naughty smile on Lucien's face. However, at the same time, constructing those magic circles also cost him a lot. Although most of the materials came from the count's warehouse, Lucien also spent some of his own materials on it. Count Vlad's most important treasury vault was in the basement, so Lucien did not get anything too valuable other than the lots of mythril and precious metals.

After checking the magic circle again, Lucien placed another secret magic circle beside the entry of the basement, in which Vlad's voice was mimicked and saved.

If anyone tried to wake him up, the voice would refuse politely.

After all these things were done, Lucien walked out of the castle at a leisure pace. A few steps away from the gate, Lucien turned around with his right hand on his chest and bowed.

"Have a sweet dream, Count Vlad."

…

In the underground cave, the dwarves who had signed the compact had found the steam hammers, smelting pots, food, paper, and the other items following their "memory".

"We need to do three things," said the elder, Augustus, in high spirit, holding three books in his hands, Transforming Electromagnetic Waves and Basic Application, Religion Theory, and Protracted War. "First of all, we have to develop our doctrine as soon as possible to enroll more of our people; Second, we shall start farming by looking for the farmable soil on Night Highland to end famine; Third, we shall avoid the head-on confrontation with the vampires as much as possible until we grow much bigger and with better weapons."

The three books left gave Augustus a lot of encouragement.

"Yes, Your Honor! Steam Above!" The dwarves raised their arm and shouted. The knowledge from the books had shocked them, and now they longed for knowledge more than they had ever before.

They once thought that they had inherited part of the culture and wisdom of the Steam Civilization, but now they had realized that they were not even close to it, not to mention to the ultimate civilization like Atlantis!

The dwarves were full of hope and motivated. When they started working on their own staff, the elder kneeled down again in front of the altar. After praying, the elder took out the paper and quill and wrote:

"Machine Revelation: Zie has arrived to tell people that when there is gain, there is loss, and when there is the loss, there is gain. All the sufferings have meanings, and by going through the sufferings, one can obtain wisdom and a strong soul. There is an equal exchange. With this belief, one could stay away from falling into hell."

…

After watching these dwarves for a while, Lucien was relieved and started to head north.

In the north, there were a few very powerful vampire princes. It was said that one of them, the most powerful one, when sleeping, could turn his dream into reality on Night Highland.

However, at that moment it had nothing to do with Lucien. When arriving in the north, Lucien soon changed his direction and headed for a castle enveloped in darkness.

The outline of the castle looked rather vague as if it was just a projection of a great castle from the main material world. The castle was called the Observer's Castle, and it belonged to Count Silver Eye, Rhine.

Rhine was as powerful as a vampire prince, and he was watching one of the space joints connecting to the Dark Mountain Range. Using the magic circle near the space joint, Lucien could directly arrive at the outside of the castle in the Dark Mountain Range.

In the fog, Lucien walked in this shadow castle and dispelled the magic traps one by one following the instructions left by Rhine.

Soon, Lucien saw a magic circle on the ground. Stepping on it, he cast a spell. The light devoured him, and he disappeared.

…

On Night Highland, in a luxurious castle of Syracuse style.

Holding a glass in his hand, a good-looking man said to his butler, who was standing beside him, "Rhine has been missing for a long time, and the old guy is ready to take some actions…"

His red eyes slightly squinted, and his attitude toward what he was talking about was rather ambiguous.

Chapter 384: Transformation Mask

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

After the familiar dizziness left Lucien, he saw many creepy red flowers in front of him. The sea of flowers in red was boundless.

Sensing the smell of a living thing, the flowers gradually bloomed, petal by petal, and the inner blood and flesh were revealed. The flesh was moving! Like a heart, the center of the flowers could beat!

Seeing the flowers, Lucien's heart missed a beat. He knew how dangerous these flowers were! However, soon he calmed himself down since he was standing in Rhine's garden, after all. Lucien started to cast a creepy and mysterious spell.

Once the spell was cast, the beautiful but ominous flowers gently swung back and forth as if they were welcoming Lucien, and then the flowers quickly turned into countless tiny red bugs and retreated like the fall of the tide, leaving the black land in the middle.

Lucien was curious, wondering how to define those creatures. Were they flowers, or bugs? He had never read anything like this in any books. As an arcanist who was crazy with all kinds of arcana studies, Lucien almost tried to catch a few of the bugs for future experiment…

However, he had a job to do. He walked out of the magic circle and through the gate of the hall following the black path revealed. After Lucien left, the tiny blood-colored bugs quickly gathered again and returned to the form of the eerie beautiful flowers. The flowers smelled incredibly sweet, making one feel very dizzy and soggy in his limbs.

Lucien immediately cast a filtering bubble to keep away the unpleasant sweet smell.

However, the red ocean suddenly boiled and leaned toward Lucien aggressively, like countless ghosts and zombies trying to grab him with their rotten pale arms.

Lucien did not expect that the flowers, or bugs, were this sensitive to magic waves! He tried his best to stop himself from casting more spells to protect himself, and instead just simply let the petals gently sweep on his face. Lucien felt a bit itchy and numb.

Although no further magic waves could be detected, the furious red ocean was not going to calm itself down. Surrounding Lucien, the ocean was roaring.

With the help of his Holm Crown ring, Lucien stayed very calm and completely ignored the dangerous and horrible scene.

Although he had no idea how powerful these flowers or bugs were, he had decided to be very careful with everything in this castle.

In a pretended calm manner, Lucien walked out of the red ocean and stepped on the path connecting to the gate of the castle.

Two rows of tall trees were planted beside the road, and pieces of semi-withered yellow leaves were swirling to the ground. The beautiful scenery in front of this dark, gloomy castle was like what Lucien was used to seeing in Gesu District in Aalto.

When Lucien was walking toward the gate, suddenly, the rows of eyes on the trunk of the trees opened, revealing a sharp contrast of black and white. Lucien's figure was reflected in every single pupil, but some of the eyes looked confused, some were calm and peaceful, some angry, and some cold…

The eyes were all staring at Lucien. Sweat formed on his forehead, and he knew that this time the trees were the real scarlet trees. The last time Lucien saw these trees was in his dream. As what he saw in his dream was based on his imagination, the trees in the dream were quite different from the real ones.

Not many of these magic trees could manage to grow mature, but once they grew up, the trees were of the power of a senior-rank mage, and like the Beholders, the trees could shoot out many rays. Also, the scarlet trees could drain one's blood and produce illusions.

Although wearing many great magic items, Lucien was confident that he could deal with one or two scarlet trees and turn them into some good magic materials. However, there were two rows of them!

Under the gaze of the trees, Lucien walked step by step and finally reached the gate of the castle.

When Lucien's feet touched the smooth and hard floor, he released a sigh of relief. It was such a torture walking through the crowd of horrible creatures, although Rhine had told him the spell to protect himself.

Before Lucien raised his right hand, a deep voice came from the inside of the castle.

"I feel master's mark on you."

"Yes, Mr. Rhine sent me here to pick up a few items," said Lucien, short and brief. Once he was recognized by the alchemical life in the castle, the rest of the mission should be of no risk.

The deep voice responded, "I'm Castle Mikhalik. Password, please."

"Kilahkim," answered Lucien. He realized that the password was simply the retrography of the name of the alchemical life. Lucien had to say that this was not creative at all.

"Distinguished guest, please," the gate of the castle slowly opened, and the elegant and well-decorated main hall was revealed. "Except for the controlling core, energy room, and the base of the treasury vault, you can go anywhere you wish."

…

In the study loaded with all the different kinds of books, Lucien cast the spell Rhine taught him and, at the same time, he formed the spiritual power in the shape of a sharp spine and fiercely stabbed it at the quill pot.

The quill pot lit up with a layer of dim light and started to make a cracking sound. When the pot retreated, a black hole was revealed.

After carefully checking around, Lucien took several items using Mage's Hand out from the hole. There was a mini-statue of a Sphinx, a filthy bloody ball, a Broom Brooch, and a clown mask with a ridiculous smile on it.

"Transformation Mask, a level nine middle-rank magic item. The wearer can transform oneself into any creatures of the same gender, but cannot carry on the creatures' talents. With the corresponding blood sample, the wearer can become another person completely."

Lucien studied the mask using his spiritual power and found that so far the mask had recorded seven thousand eight hundred and ninety-five kinds of blood, and it was up to the wearer which one to pick.

"The power of transformation came from the blood, therefore, even a legendary archmage can be deceived without carefulness. The wearer's spiritual power or willpower has to be close to senior-rank, or the wear would go crazy.

"Very often, identity works better than magic! From: A mind-split, anonymous sorcerer."

Lucien got to know the complete information about the mask with the spell, Identification. And for the rest of the three items, he could only tell that they contained some kind of mysterious and ambiguous supernatural power, and each of them was different from the other. They were the items for activating the three magic circles.

Putting the mask and the three items into the pouch, Lucien recorded some of the books in the study in his spirit library. Rhine always called himself the Observer of History, and Lucien was certain that there were some interesting books here.

It took Lucien a while to record the books, as he did not want Mikhalik to notice his special ability. Lucien recorded fifty of the books after six hours.

…

The shining gems, gold coins of different time periods, brand-new knight armors, many magic robes, weapons, and magic items dazzled Lucien's eyes. Rhine's collection consisted of all the more precious items!

Among the many extraordinary items, most of them were of senior-rank, but the level nine, ten and legendary items were obviously stored in the basement of the treasury.

After careful selection, and after making a lot of difficult decisions, Lucien finally picked out a scroll and a belt.

The eighth-circle magic scroll, Night Travel.

Health Belt, the level eight high-rank magic item. The wearer would be immune to disease, poison, negative energy, and magic spells that could sicken the target.

"Health is the key to life. From: White Philosophy."

The scroll could make Space Lock invalid, thus it would be very useful for escaping. Since Time Travel was the talent magic of vampires, arcanists had not figured out a way to copy it. Lucien was planning on studying the scroll and using it at the most crucial moment.

Furthermore, the belt was also very powerful.

After leaving his spiritual mark in the belt, Lucien looked at the shelf where all the magic staffs were stored. He was about to pick a good one for himself. The one he had right now was still a level two magic staff, which did not really match his rank.

When Lucien was having a hard time making up his mind, he saw a very ordinary-looking sword on the shelf beside it. The sword looked so plain with its wood cross guard.

Lucien was curious why Rhine would keep such an ordinary sword in his collection. Thus, he quickly cast Identification on the sword. When he received the message, Lucien was shocked:

"Pale Justice, level eight, perfect rank, extraordinary sword. When facing evil creatures, including evil spirits, demons and devils, the sword can become a rank one legendary weapon. The person who wields this sword is immune to fear, charm, ferocity, and helplessness, and each hacking and attacking can hit the target as guided by justice. The person has to at least have the power of a level six radiant knight to pick up the sword of justice."

"Justice can be pale, especially when compared to other kinds of radiant powers, but justice is everywhere, and it applies to everyone and everything. Be it on the battlefields or in the farming fields, justice is everywhere."

Lucien heard of this famous sword before!

Chapter 385: Vampire High Council

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

The dazzling stars were like shining pure diamonds on the black velvet.

The astonishing scenery of the dream-like night sky above the highland was eternal.

In the darkness slightly lit by the starlight, Lucien left the projection of the Castle of Observer.

In the shadow of the trees, he put on the transformation mask. He grew taller, his skin became finer and pale, the color of his eyes turned into that of the silver moon, and his hair also became silver.

Within a few seconds, Lucien had turned himself into Rhine, wearing his typical red shirt and black suit.

Adjusting his bow a bit, Lucien headed for another vampire castle in the distance with an elegant pace.

In that castle lived Marquis Lasare, a five-thousand-year-old powerful vampire, who was responsible for safeguarding the space joint connecting Night Highland to the desert in the south part of Gusta.

When Lucien was in the treasury room, he finally picked the sword named Pale Justice, not because it was immune to all the negative effects, but because it was a rank-one legendary magic item when facing evil creatures!

Right now Lucien needed to deal with these powerful vampires, thus he needed to pick the weapon that was the most useful for him right now.

As for the limit that only a level six radiant knight could use the sword, Lucien had his own way to deal with it. With Ogre Glove, Lucien could have the power of a level five grand knight, and plus a few middle or low rank spells for strengthening power, for example, the fourth-circle spell, Brute Force, and the second circle spell, Ox Force, Lucien could meet the minimum requirement for picking up the sword.

Although this could only last for a few minutes, that was enough for Lucien! After all, during a few minutes, the sword would always hit its target.

And even among the sixth-circle spells that Lucien had not learned, there was a magic spell called Baler's Transformation that could enable sorcerers to turn themselves into knights of the corresponding levels.

In fact, there was more planning in Lucien's mind: this powerful knight sword could be a gift.

From time to time, Lucien would still long for the beautiful future.

…

To the left of the strange-shaped castle, there was a grand palace with thick stone pillars and smooth floor.

In Lucien's eyes, it resembled the temples of ancient Greece on the Earth.

The crisp sound of leather shoes stepping on the floor came from a distance, and a tall and strong vampire stopped in front of Lucien.

"Why are you here?" asked the vampire in an arrogant manner.

Lucien, who was now Rhine, smiled, "I'm here to use the space joint circle."

"Did Sir Marquis agree?" the vampire asked.

Lucien pretended to be calm, "According to the Vampire High Council, we all can use most of the space joints on Night Highland. Is this one an exception?"

He did not want to stay here for too long, as Lucien knew that Rhine was a member of the High Council, and once other vampire princes came, it would be very risky for him.

The vampire knew that was true, but he still answered coldly, "We have identified some traitors, and maybe you are one as well. Without the permission of Sir Marquis, I have to check carefully."

When the vampire was saying, his right hand slightly moved to make a sign, as if he was asking for something.

Lucien knew what the vampire was trying to do, but the role he was playing now was an elegant and proud vampire, thus there was no way that Lucien would bribe him.

Once Marquis Lasare got to know this, Lasare would be able to tell immediately that he was not the real vampire prince, Rhine.

Lucien's silver eyes slightly squinted, and when he was about to tell the vampire to leave him alone, he heard an old voice, "It's been a while since we saw each other last time, Sir Observer."

He should be Marquis Lasare! Lucien tried his best to prevent his heart from beating too fast. Right now he only wished that Lasare did not know Rhine well, or Lasare would probably tell that he was a fake one!

"Sir… Observer?" The vampire who was trying to extort money was shocked, and his body trembled. He did not know that the vampire in front of him was, in fact, a vampire prince. When the legendary-level vampire squinted, that was almost the end of him!

Lucien still pretended to be rather casual and calm, "Lasare, I'm heading for the South Desert." He just wanted to keep everything short and brief. And Rhine told him to call the marquis' name directly.

"Sir Observer, Prince Dracula has been looking for you," said Lasare with a mysterious smile. He was an old but elegant vampire, who was always holding his exquisite cane.

"What does he want?" Lucien turned around, wearing the typical smile of Rhine.

Lasare thought that Rhine was playing silly on purpose. Prince Dracula had always been envious of Rhine's talent in being able to borrow the power of the Originals.

"Prince Dracula wants to see you in the next High Council meeting, over the inner conflict of the Dark Council." Lasare offered an excuse which was not really the case.

It was said that Rhine, Count Silver Eye, was absent for a long time because he was severely injured by a legendary, and right now he was hiding to recover. Therefore, Prince Dracula was eager to take some actions, since his talent was to devour and take other vampires' talent.

Prince Dracula had always been upset with the fact that, obviously, Silver Moon Alterna was showing more grace on Rhine, not him. But it was he who was the most powerful vampire prince, born before anyone else.

The casual smile was still on Rhine's face, and he said to the level eight vampire, "I've always been absent. So I guess missing the meeting one more time still doesn't matter."

It was really hard talking in Rhine's manner. Lucien believed that playing Fernando, his teacher, would be way easier because all he needed to do was to roar.

"Sir Observer, I'm sure that Prince Dracula has awoken because he learned that you're back," said Lasare in neither humble nor pushy way, "and he would like to meet you to talk about the future of the Kindred."

"Sorry, I'm in a rush." Lucien felt that he was getting more and more nervous.

When Lucien was about to walk to the space joint magic circle, Lasare stopped Lucien hurriedly, "Please wait a moment, Sir Observer."

"Lasare…" Lucien turned around and stared at Lasare with a mild smile, but he called the Marquis' name.

Lasare immediately sensed the great threat hidden under the smile. He took a few steps back and could not say anything else.

Lucien slightly nodded and continued to walk toward the space joint.

Lasare tried to say something, but he did not know what to say. He could only look at the gate of the place nervously, wondering if Prince Dracula had awoken.

Although Lucien was walking in a rather calm pace, he felt that he was about to pass out at any time because of his great tension. Finally, he stepped onto the magic circle and activated it.

Lasare released a sigh after seeing Rhine disappear in the magic circle. If given a few more minutes, Lasare would be able to send the message to Prince Dracula.

He was not able to stop a vampire prince. He regretted that he did not buy some of the useful telecommunication magic items invented by the Congress of Magic.

…

Beside the huge tomb in the shape of a pyramid, Lucien dragged a sphinx to the corner. After a few days' observation, Lucien was certain that this sphinx was the tomb guard on duty tonight.

Taking out a drop of blood from it, Lucien dropped it on the mask. The clown's face grinned in a funny smile, and its look kept changing. When the mask stopped changing, Lucien put it on. His body suddenly grew bigger and four lion legs and a tail came out.

After hiding the sphinx properly, Lucien, who was at that moment a sphinx, picked up the dart and raced towards the campsite. The level nine high priest was there!

Lucien left the space circle and directly went deep into the desert.

On the campsite, the sphinxes were dancing in a weird way surrounding the bonfire, and later they started mating.

When Lucien was watching, a strong sphinx came to him and said, "Fil, stop drooling. It's your shift now. Go!"

Lucien was a bit speechless as he was not drooling at all. However, he still turned around and ran toward the tomb.

"Fil, why are you going that way?" asked the sphinx confusedly.

Lucien suddenly stopped. He did not know what was wrong.

Chapter 386: Step by Step

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

The grandeur of the sun setting on the horizon was breathtaking.

However, on the sphinx campsite, Lucien felt the cold sweat on his back.

Before Lucien figured out the answer, the sphinx scolded, "Filthy Scorpion, you have your head between your legs? Use your brain! Go and shower yourself in Sun Water! You wanna become one of those undead creatures?"

The desert environment was very harsh, thus the nobles in the Empire of Gusta were reluctant to expand southward. Therefore, most of the sphinxes' bad languages were about scorpions, because they were the sphinxes biggest enemy.

Sun Water? The sphinx's words reminded Lucien that this sphinx that he was playing, whose name was Fil, would always spend a little while in the stone house on which the midday sunlight directly shone, and then it would go to safeguard the tomb with the other sphinxes.

Lucien took it for granted that the stone house was an agreed place where the sphinxes would gather, so when he got Fil's memory using mesmerization, he did not cover this part.

"I'm terribly sorry… I'm going right now." Lucien hurriedly nodded and left. A few seconds earlier, Lucien was deciding whether he should use Implication, Charm, or Necrotic Control to make sure that this sphinx would not bring him any further trouble.

In the stone house, there was a pool in the shape of a golden sun, in which there was gold-colored liquid.

Beside the pool, a rough and robust-looking female sphinx was scooping the liquid with a strange big gold spoon and sprinkled the liquid on the sphinxes waiting in line.

Although the male sphinxes all looked very barbarous and ill-mannered, they showed great admiration toward the female. Lucien wondered if she was a real beauty as a female sphinx.

However, in Lucien's eyes, she was barely a standing female lion. Lucien could see zero beauty in her.

He walked forward and let the golden liquid sprinkle on him. The liquid felt very warm like sunshine, but Lucien did not get wet at all from it.

"Fil, you're acting a bit strange today," said the female sphinx, Sana, in a low voice. "You've lost your courage? You are not looking at me today."

Lucien got nervous again.

"Yeah… maybe…" Lucien decided not to contradict this proud female.

Sana laughed, "I'm curious. What made you lose your courage? You are even not keen on pursuing your mate!"

When Lucien was in this dilemma and did not know what to do, another male sphinx jumped out and "saved" him. "Fil, don't waste our time! Don't act weird to catch Sana's attention! Don't even try! Last night you were still staring at Sana secretly!"

Lucien pretended that he had been seen through and looked at Sana in a way full of both hope and fear.

Sana realized what Fil's strategy was and purposefully turned her back against him.

When Lucien left the stone house, he felt really tired, as if he just went through a good fight.

…

"Follow me into the tome. Don't disturb His Majesty's sleep." A big muscular sphinx holding a long spear said to the tomb guards sternly.

"Yes, Sir Helges," answered the sphinxes together.

Lucien lowered his head and opened his mouth, pretending that he was answering. In this way, he figured out the name of their leader. It seemed that Helges had the power of a grand knight, and five or six of the guards were of the level of knights. The rest of them, including Fil, were about the level of knight squires.

The guards here were all selected. It was a great honor for a sphinx to become a tomb guard.

Under the guidance of Helges, Lucien stepped on the brownstone bricks and entered the tomb.

Instantly, the heat in the desert disappeared and the cold air became dominant as if they had come to the world of death.

The bricks and stone beams were in very good condition, and the gems, pearls, and crystals were shining the cold light.

The tomb was even grander than any villas, manors, or magic towers that Lucien had ever seen. The rooms and corridors were spacious enough for giants to enjoy themselves there.

Influenced by the Empire of Meshkate, it was believed that sphinxes controlled the secret of life and death and that death was not the end, but the beginning of the real immortality. Pyramids were the magic building for the powerful sphinxes to ascend to the immortal heaven, and therefore, the pyramids were all beyond magnificent.

Meanwhile, many sphinxes believed that their greatest king, the king who was during his eternal sleep, would finally wake up in the pyramid and lead the sphinx to rule the entire world.

And Lucien was in the greatest king's tomb right now.

Holding the spear, Lucien patrolled around following Helges. He saw rotten dead bodies hanging on the wall in many halls. Some of them were scorpions, some were human beings or other races. They were all sacrifices.

Ascending a few floors, the tomb guards entered a hall drawn with countless weird symbols. The most eye-catching fresco was the scene of a powerful sphinx killing members of other races.

At the center of the hall, there were black stone coffins. When passing by, Lucien could sense the evil and cold power in the coffins! He wondered if they were sphinx sacrifices which had been converted into mummy guards.

Since he was in a tomb right now, Lucien temporarily deactivated Sun's Corona so he would not be that sensitive toward the power of death.

Leaving the creepy hall, Helges and the other tomb guards continued to patrol around. Along the winding corridors, they came in front of a huge stone gate. On the gate, one side was drawn with the sun, and the other had a silver moon, symbolizing life and death respectively.

Even without spreading out his spiritual power, Lucien could still feel the horrible power of death behind the stone gate!

Behind the stone gate, Rhine secretly set up a magic circle using the power of the tomb.

In front of the stone gate, two grand-knight-level guards were holding their spears tight. Their legs were much thicker compared to that of Fil.

Close to them, there was a stone chamber. A solemn-looking sphinx high priest was sitting in it, praying for the resuscitation of their greatest king.

Lucien had gained a basic understanding of the layout of the tomb, but the problem was how he could get in there. His brain worked fast, trying to figure out a solution. It was not a difficult job for Rhine, a legendary-level vampire, as he could directly go through the stone gate in the form of a gentle breeze.

Lucien was not going to force his way into this place. He knew how powerful the sphinxes could be in the tomb.

Also, right in front of the high priest, he also could not attack the gatekeepers.

"We go back," said Helges after saluting the high priest. That was the first round patrolling.

Lucien had to leave after him since right now he had no good plan. He tried to walk as slow as he could and finally fell to the end of the team. When they walked past a corner, Lucien dropped a tiny block stone on the floor silently, one by one.

When they were about to walk past the hall placed with the black stone coffins, Lucien saw two sphinx dressing in the same way as the gatekeepers coming from the opposite direction.

Lucien got an idea in his mind. He lowered his head and kept following the team. The two gatekeepers walked past him.

When they reached the creepy hall, Helges said to them in low voice, "Take a break here. The next team will come soon."

The hall was very cold, and Lucien could almost feel that the coldness was trying to get into his body like it was alive, however, it was kept away from his body by the warm feeling given by the golden liquid sprinkled on Lucien. Helges, obviously, disliked the air of death and coldness very much. He took a few steps forward and stood outside of the hall.

Seeing that, Lucien secretly moved toward the corner and sneaked into the corridor connecting to the stone gate.

"What are you doing?"

It was Helges' voice!

Lucien looked up and said in the pretended nervous way, "Sir… My, my precious stones are lost… in the corridors…"

As he was saying, Lucien showed the pocket with the hole in it to Helges.

The imploring look in Fil's eyes somehow touched Helges' heart. Helges lowered his voice, "Go and get them back. Do not disturb the high priest."

Helges did not think that a random tomb guard would bring him any big trouble.

Fil, or Lucien, was very grateful and almost burst into tears. Turning around, Lucien left the hall cautiously without any noise. With proper mental guidance and good performance, Lucien restrained the power of the spell, Indication, and thus the magic wave was greatly reduced.

…

Lucien walked fast and gradually caught up with the two gatekeepers, following them from a proper distance, until they reached a quiet corridor.

Lucien picked up the pace and walked past them, but he purposefully yanked one of the gatekeepers' arm and pretended that was an accident.

"Hey!" roared angrily the gatekeeper, Aska, in a low voice. How dare the humble tomb guard just run into him without apologizing properly?!

"Ah… Sorry. I'm sorry." Lucien lowered his head as if he just noticed the mistake he made.

Aska was pissed off seeing the sphinx's attitude, "You walk alone here, it's very suspicious! And you just say 'sorry'?! That's it?"

"I got the permission from Sir Helges, to get back my gems," answered Lucien like a simple-minded fool, "I ran into you. And I said sorry."

"You shall kneel down!" Aska was angry, "Helges is nothing to me!"

"I listen to Sir Helges! His permission is everything! And I apologized already!" Lucien's body slightly trembled, but he would not compromise.

Aska wasted a few more sentences on the sphinx, but saw that the humble tomb guard was basically asking for a good lesson to learn how to behave properly. Blood flooded Aska's mind as he was going to beat this filthy scorpion up with his big fist.

"Aska, wait. The high priest can see you through the magic circle," said the other gatekeeper, Inke, "Go that way. They cannot see you."

Aska grinned in a gloomy way and picked Lucien up from the floor, "I'll teach you a good lesson today."

"S… Sorry…" Lucien seemed to be startled.

Aska laughed as the winner. He dragged Lucien with him and turned around a corner.

When he was about to give Lucien a good punch, he felt a sharp pain in his lower abdomen. And before he could release a scream of pain, another punch given by a fist covered with dim light followed.

Aska lost his consciousness. He directly passed out.

On the other side, Inke could hear the dull sound of the punchings and he shook his head slightly. Aska was too bad-tempered, he thought to himself.

After a while, Inke saw Aska walk out with a big satisfied smile. Inke asked curiously, "Feel better now?"

"Haha, now not even that bastard's mother could recognize him!" said Aska in a good mood.

"What did you do?"

It was the voice of the high priest!