“It’s a pity, of the special coins, only the blood money in my hand is left,” Xia De reminded.
“It doesn’t matter, I’ve made a great contribution again this time, so applying for a relic from the church should be no problem,” Iluna said happily.
Afterward, the three of them headed to the basement. Xia De first put all the relics transported this time back behind the hidden wall in the basement. As for the ordinary items, which was the card of the future man made of an unknown metal, after Luvia’s inspection confirmed it was indeed an ordinary item, Xia De tucked it into Miss Felianna’s notebook to use as a bookmark.
In the circular space behind the hidden wall, after determining that this place, where the Space Old God, cracks of origin, stood, could not accommodate that door, Xia De officially determined the location of the door leading to the Dark Dungeon.
The entrance to the basement was behind the stairs on the first floor. The steps were in the western part of the basement, while the hidden wall was on the opposite eastern side. Xia De, holding the Founding·Darkness, stood in front of the northern wall of the basement. Under the gaze of the cat on his shoulder and the two girls beside him, he tossed the card into the air.
The newly installed gas lamp was very bright, but in this light, the card did not fall due to gravity; instead, it floated towards the wall in front of him until the back of the card was completely pressed against the wall.
Xia De extended his finger and pointed at the card face, while softly saying, “Darkness!”
A strange halo radiated from the card’s surface as his fingertip touched it. At the same time, thin white mist drifted out from the gap between the back of the card and the wall, climbing along the wall.
Xia De moved the Founding·Darkness away from the wall, but the white mist did not disappear; instead, it became denser and denser until it completely transformed into a white mist door that obscured the wall behind it. A few seconds later, because no one entered, the white mist disappeared, and the wall returned to normal.
“No problem, this is now the entrance to the Old God crawling darkness’s residual space, the Dark Dungeon,” Xia De said, patting the wall, which appeared normal.
“Unlike a normal entrance, entering this door doesn’t require the Ling Rune of Darkness; you just need to place your hand on the wall and recite the incantation. The incantation is like this—”
Xia De coughed, “May darkness protect me in the shadows.”
White mist reappeared between his palm and the wall, and the white mist door formed.
Leaving Mia outside, the three of them walked in together. Behind the white mist door was indeed a space completely enveloped in white mist.
“Outsider, you have stepped into the ‘Dark Dungeon’.”
“Taking one step here allows you to enter the Dark Dungeon. It is a special area, nearly infinite in size, opened up by the great one, and can even be directly called the ‘Shadow Realm’. The interior of the dungeon is maze-like and imprisons the shadows of any living creature, except for gods and gods in their Saint form,” Xia De recalled the information he had obtained from the leaf, reaching out and waving his hand in the air, the mist swirling around his hand.
“The correct entry conditions are finding the door’s location and possessing Darkness. The correct method of use requires a relic called ‘Black Robe Fragment’. But because of the special nature of this door, we don’t need it.”
Luvia curiously looked around. Iluna had entered the Judge’s Court before, and Xia De had experienced many similar places; only she was entering the white mist for the first time.
“What is this place for?”
“Under normal circumstances, we can only see our own shadows through the dungeon.”
As Xia De spoke, the surrounding white mist slightly dispersed, and three bronze trapdoors appeared on the ground. On each trapdoor, their three names were written in delarion common language, making them easy to distinguish.
“Because we entered together, we can see everyone’s dungeon, but in reality, we can only open the door that belongs to us.”
“Our shadows? Is the dungeon behind the door another us?” Iluna asked curiously. Only Xia De, who had learned about the Dark Dungeon from the Father of Infinite Trees, could provide such detailed Knowledge.
Their “other selves” were far less convenient than the voice in Xia De’s ear; even if they entered here, they could only know that this was the Dark Dungeon, and nothing else.
“No, no, you can think of it as… hmm, it’s hard to describe. It’s roughly like us in a mirror. Completely identical, yet not truly existing,” Xia De explained. Iluna still didn’t quite understand, but Luvia showed a knowing expression.
“Us recorded by darkness.”
“That’s roughly the meaning. Going deep into the dungeon to face oneself, talking or even fighting with oneself, can help those who enter here see themselves more clearly, which is beneficial for learning certain Miracles that require a strong inner self. But most importantly, even a Ring術士 who has lost control, as long as they haven’t completely lost their mind, can gradually recover from the process of losing control by seeing themselves in the dungeon.”
“Reversing loss of control multiple times? That’s very interesting,” Luvia commented.
In fact, this was more than just interesting. Among the three spaces Xia De could fully use—the Time Corridor, the Space Labyrinth, and the Dark Dungeon—the Dark Dungeon, which reversed the state of loss of control, could be ranked second in terms of utility.
“Of course, this is just seeing oneself. If you have someone’s hair, blood, part of their soul, and true name, you can also open that person’s dungeon. Talking to them to get information, or defeating them to gain some of their memories, or even Miracles and spells, are all possible. But doing so will also inherit the other party’s negative emotions, and this impact is very significant. Under normal circumstances, it’s not worth doing for power.”
“It sounds like the dungeon left by the Old God is like a specimen room in the darkness, recording specimens of all life that has appeared,” Iluna gave an inappropriate example, but then frowned in confusion.
“However, I seem to have heard of a similar place.”
“What?” Xia De and Luvia both looked at her. Iluna smiled awkwardly.
“When I was training at the church, I heard the Old Fathers discuss the Dawn Church, which is the Church of Light and Darkness. I seem to have heard a saying that the Dawn Church possesses a way to normalize Ring術士 who have lost control, but the conditions are very strict. If there isn’t a specific Ling Rune, a complex ritual is required.”
“The Dawn Church also possesses a way to access the Dark Dungeon!” Gu Luvia immediately understood.
“Xia De said the Blood Spirit School has almost found the Creation Birthing Chamber, so the spaces left by the Thirteen Ancient Gods are not necessarily discovered only with the appearance of the Chosen One. Those Ring術士 organizations with ancient inheritances may have already mastered some of them... Speaking of which, the Prophet Association seems to have a strange saying.”
Luvia frowned slightly, wondering what she was thinking. Xia De, however, thought more. He had recently confirmed that most of the Old God’s power came from the departed Ancient Gods. Then, the power of the True Gods might also originate from the Ancient Gods. Therefore, Mr. Dawn, who is the God of Light and Darkness, most likely inherited the power of the Old God crawling darkness, which is why the church could enter the Dark Dungeon.
Thinking this way, the divine duties of the Five True Gods seem to correspond to the main divine duties of the Ancient Gods.
“That’s pretty much it for this place. We don’t have anyone we want to see right now, so why don’t we go see ourselves? Maybe we’ll gain something. The time here is synchronized with the outside, and there’s a door to leave deeper in the dungeon,” Xia De said to the two girls, then squatted down first, intending to open the door engraved with his name.
But he didn’t expect that as soon as he gripped the doorknob, the door actually disintegrated into gray dust in the white mist.
He stared dumbfounded at the metal doorknob remaining in his hand, and then the doorknob also gradually disintegrated into dust, dissipating into the white mist.
“How come I’m never surprised when something unexpected happens to you?” Luvia said with a laugh, squatting down to pull open her own door. Beneath the trapdoor was a deep, dark staircase. Although white mist drifted down, it wasn’t as dense as on the ground, so he could see some murals carved on both sides of the wall, which seemed to depict a woman holding a baby.
Iluna also opened her door; beneath it was likewise a deep, dark staircase, and the mural closest to the entrance also depicted a woman holding a baby.
“See, we’re all normal,” the seventeen-year-old girl said.
“Hmm, ladies, who would be willing to give me some hair and blood? I want to go down and see too.”
He looked at Luvia, who smiled, “Xia De, don’t even think about it.”
He then looked at Iluna, who shook her head slightly, “I can’t do that, Xia De. Girls always have their secrets.”
They both walked into their respective dark staircases, and the trapdoors closed behind them. Xia De couldn’t approach the two trapdoors and could only watch them melt into the mist.
“Seriously, why did my door crumble?” He was quite displeased.
“It’s probably related to your use of divinity,” her voice whispered.
“That’s certainly possible.” Xia De looked at the white mist in front of him.
“Compared to the white mist left by Time, Space, Balance, and the Witch, the function here is equally interesting. The self in darkness, the specimen room of mortals, the dungeon... I suppose you should have some extra information, right?”
“Outsider, when you touched the doorknob, you gained additional information.”
“Sacrifice a drop of divinity to gain one opportunity per month to delve deep into the dungeon.”
“Sacrifice a powerful soul tainted by darkness to gain one opportunity to delve deep into the dungeon.”
Xia De didn’t know what a “powerful soul” was, but soul trading was strictly forbidden. Whether in the black market, the academy, or any other channel, once soul trading was discovered, the church had unlimited power to enforce the law and kill. Moreover, in the sixth epoch’s Ring術士 system, Miracles and spells that purely utilized souls were already quite rare; this was something you couldn’t even buy if you wanted to.
“However, what is the opportunity to delve deep into the dungeon?”
“The Dark Dungeon is composed of vast spaces; under normal circumstances, one only enters the shallow layers of the dungeon. The deeper layers of the dungeon imprison some terrifying things. Those demons from the third era, even older evil demons, monsters that only exist in subspace, and the shadows of unknowable-grade humanoid relics, are all in the deeper layers. Besides this, the deeper layers of the dungeon also conceal some secrets from ancient eras. Each time you make a sacrifice, you have three hours to explore. Knowledge, power, relics, wealth—as long as you come out alive, you are bound to gain something.”
“Dungeon exploration? Ancient evil demons? It sounds very dangerous,” Xia De said, looking left and right, then stepped back, walking out of the wall and returning to his own basement.
“Sacrificing someone else’s soul… that doesn’t sound like something I could do, unless I really encountered a bad person.”
He picked up the cat sniffing around on the floor.
“I wonder if the Dawn Church would do something like that… Oh, the church probably only knows about sacrificing divinity; they wouldn’t get information about sacrificing dark souls. However, divinity can actually allow one to explore once a month… If a lucky person truly, by very accidental circumstances, opens the monthly Dark Dungeon, that would probably be very interesting.”
“Right, Mia?”
She was giggling for some reason.
Carrying the lazily squirming cat, he walked out of the basement, but as he stood on the steps, Xia De suddenly turned his head to look at the basement wall.
“At this rate, won’t the ‘doors’ at Saint Delan Square Six increase?”
No one answered his question.
“However, it’s a good thing my house is big enough. Even if there really are thirteen, cough, twelve doors, it’s completely enough to accommodate them.”
Thinking this, Xia De left the basement, preparing to close the windows; it seemed to be raining outside. But when closing the windows, he was very careful not to stand by the window, fearing being struck by lightning.
