Secret Behind the Altar

Three days had passed since Ryo managed to solve the library riddle. Finally, the time had come to reveal the secret behind it. He crept among the plants to avoid the night watchman who wandered the school grounds.

With one jump, he managed to get out of the school environment as he utilized a tree that grew near the wall.

He looked at his watch.

'It's 00:20, I have to run from here,' thought Ryo to himself when he saw the suspicion written across the night watchman's face. He must have heard Ryo's jump.

Ryo ran from one small alley to another and took the fastest route. It only took ten minutes for him to reach the old churchyard which held a gothic style building.

He slowly opened the large wooden door which resulted in the creaking sound of hinges echoing throughout the room. He found himself surrounded by large windows decorated with relics of prophetic stories.

The splendor of its architecture stunned him, and he couldn't stop looking up with his mouth agape.

He saw the altar of offering referred to in the writing, but similar to before, he did not understand. The altar was empty. Ryo tried to approach for another clue but then heard something.

Tap, tap, tap.

The sound of light foot step echoed from behind, he turned and saw a woman's figure that shone underneath the moonlight which poured in from the round window above her. She was currently disguised, her face covered by the hooded robe she wore.

He hadn't felt her presence at all which made Ryo alert.

"I didn't expect to meet you here, breaking the curfew and exiting the academy grounds without the guards' permission. You must have a good reason for this, don't you? Ryosuke?"

The woman took off her hood and revealed a sharp look in her eyes. She finally showed her identity in front of Ryo.

"It's exactly for a good reason as you said. I already expected you to come, Mrs Katya, I got an invitation that you wrote a hundred years ago," said Ryo. He took out a piece of paper from his pocket.

"Oh? Haha, I knew you would be able to solve that riddle."

"What is the meaning of this riddle?"

Ryo was increasingly curious and looked very confused.

"Follow me, there's something I want to show you," said Katya as she stepped into the back room.

Ryo followed her, but he was a little curious about what Katya was doing at church that night. He finally asked Katya. "What are you doing here in the middle of the night?"

"Pray to God."

"I never thought you were believing and actually praying to a God, when you yourself have the power equal to God."

Katya just chuckled "I'm just a weak creature. In fact, there are many more powerful beings in the universe far away. But there is one entity in the entire universe that transcends all power, I believe He must exist."

Katya entered the code to open a small secret door in the wall, then pressed a few symbols, the door opened and led to a downward spiral staircase.

"Reincarnation Cycle." Ryo chirped as he recalled something from the book as he descended the stairs.

"That's right, this ladder depicts reincarnation and the cycle of life, it seems you have read that book a lot,"

"Order of Masonry? What exactly is it?"

"As the book says, we were a gathering of the most influential people on Earth even before The Calamity happened." Katya replied as she lit a small lantern.

"But all the data on the internet just disappeared? I couldn't even find the word Mason in my search."

"People in power were jealous of the secrets we have, provoked society and burned everything we had. But I managed to save some of the knowledge we had stored," said Katya with a gloomy face.

"It seems that the knowledge of ancient mysteries that the Masonry Order has is really very great," Ryo said.

"Not really, it's just that the knowledge we keep is so taboo to the general public."

Ryo became more and more curious. "Taboo? Is it forbidden teaching or something?"

"We know the truth of the world, but the humans in power don't want their truth to be exposed. What looks taboo is just a matter of point of view," said Katya with a grin.

"Wow, this world is more chaotic than it seems, so what happened to the rest of the Order?" asked Ryo.

"That's a story for another day."

The two of them talked some more while they descended the stairs and then the two of them finally set foot on the last step and came to a pitch-black room. As he looked at the darkness of the room, it almost seemed to be staring back at Ryo.

Katya lit a wick in the corner of the room, and the fire quickly spread around the walls and lit a small lantern. It's brightness was similar to that of an electric current that lights a lamp.

"Amazing," said Ryo as he finally laid eyes on the sight in front of him.

A vast underground room appeared in front of his eyes, bookshelves extending tens of meters, with hundreds of thousands of books neatly lined up. Statues of heroes from various eras and cultures stood proudly scattered in the room.

Swords, shields, spears, bows, there were all statues with their respective weapons, they seemed to have resisted the scourge of time and continued to survive for thousands of years.

Ryo's gaze swept over his surroundings some more.

Ceramic pots, jewelry, porcelain, piles of relics from prehistoric times, and scrolls of ancient parchment. Everything was neatly arranged in the room and each one looked very well maintained.

"Welcome to Alexandria, The Lost Library," said Katya as she spread her arms.

"All of these? All this knowledge is even more valuable than anything on earth, and you have it all?"

"Not mine, just a deposit. Even after the 5000 years I lived, died and reincarnated, I couldn't understand all the knowledge here," said Katya as she descended a few small steps. She walked towards a table at the far end of the room.

Ryo was still amazed by all the rows of books, they all looked very ancient and thick. "Who had been here before?" he asked as he followed.

"Just a few, Me, Elena, Ryuji, Sebastian, and you. I don't mind sharing this knowledge with the right people, a book here, if used by the wrong hands, can lead to very bad consequences."

Ryo took an English book from his shelf and read the title;

[Soul, and how to transplant it.]

Ryo's eyes widened as if he couldn't believe it. "Of course, a book like this could give birth to very bad consequences. Imagine Pharaoh's soul being transplanted into a new body, his ambition to dominate and surpass God would bring disaster."

"Ah, it's not from that shelf where I'd like to show you something. Come closer," said Katya.he took a book with ancient Chinese characters from the table and gestured to it.

"What is this inscription?"

"Ancient Chinese script, its literal title is Sword King's Wisdom, written by an ascetic 3000 years ago. He traveled the world and learned all swordsmanship from all corners of the earth, even rumors had it he learned it from the gods."

Ryo opened the book slowly.

Although very old, the illustrations were even clearer than modern books, he couldn't believe that people at that time already had such an extraordinary understanding of the art of cultivating internal energy and harnessing natural energy.

"80% of the material taught in the academy comes from the books here, with a little modification and modern science, everything written here becomes very possible to be realized."

He didn't hear Katya's words, the book took all his attention and captured him in the world in the book.

"And one more thing, Ryo. This will complete your visit," said Katya as she took out a black box. The box emitted a blackish aura that was very strong but also felt so alive.

"What box is this?" His eyes widened as he then touched the surface of the box. The black aura didn't resist Ryo and slowly enveloped Ryo's hands.

Katya opened the box and revealed its contents "The Katana scabbard that Ryuji left behind, I'm sure you brought it with you right?"

Ryo nodded and took out his sword from the spatial space, the energy of the two seemed to be related to each other, they attracted each other like a couple who had been separated for a long time, he seemed to understand what the Katana wanted and sheathed it.

The black aura instantly enveloped Ryo's body and sent his consciousness flying into another realm. He then heard the same sound when his power was awakened, various kinds of information seemed to flood Ryo's mind, and he could see a text in his mind.

[Integration Complete]

[Name: Ryo]

[Race: Unknown]

[Dark Sovereign Mastery: 0.002%]

[Title: Unknown]

[Weapon: Heaven's Cursed Blade]

[Handler: The Great Dragon Sage]

The enormous energy forced its way into Ryo's body like a needle piercing every pore of his skin.

After a moment, the pain subsided, and he ended up floating in a bright white space as far as the eye could see.