Chapter 99: Second-Generation King’s Blood |
Celt's eyes opened a little wider.
Damn, this thing is kind of handsome.
He completely ignored the human faces on the trees, sizing up this "Perpetual Arboretum" that was being called a "proto-Divine Realm."
He didn't find it aesthetically offensive at all.
On the contrary, he thought it was a pretty novel design.
Hmm, compared to the tree he and Samuel transformed into before, this one would have been even more bizarre.
"But why call it a proto-form? It doesn't look incomplete to me," Celt asked, relaxing and putting one hand on his hip.
"Because this really isn't a complete Divine Realm," Allenay explained patiently to Celt, "but I don't actually know what a true Divine Realm is, so I can't explain it to you."
"The whole 'incomplete Divine Realm' thing was something the Priest told me," Celt said.
Celt nodded.
But he soon guessed why this "proto-Divine Realm" was only a "proto-form."
He quickly checked the link between himself and Samuel and found that their connection hadn't been completely severed by entering this Perpetual Arboretum.
"Samuel, can you hear me?" he mouthed in his mind.
After a few seconds, Samuel's voice finally sounded in his head.
"Can... barely...," came the reply.
Although the voice still came directly into his head, it sounded very distant, like shouting across several city blocks.
It was intermittent, with static and poor contact.
"The livestream's... picture quality... has... also... gotten... worse... feels... like... several... layers... of... filters." Samuel's muffled addition reached Celt's mind a few seconds later.
"Is that so."
Celt reached up and touched Sereia, then understood.
At least they weren't completely cut off from the outside world; it seemed similar to the place Samuel was in now, Liant Town.
But compared to Liant Town, this place was more concealed and had stronger isolation.
At least Liant Town couldn't block communications between Samuel and Celt.
"Can I take a look?" Celt pointed at a tree with a human face and asked curiously.
"Go ahead." Priest Ethen's voice was a few dozen meters away, but it sounded directly at his ear.
Celt lifted an eyebrow but said nothing.
He walked over a few steps to a tree.
He noticed he was stepping on flowers and grass as he walked.
But those plants quickly stood back up after being stepped on, not crushed to death.
The smiling face on the tree had been with its eyes closed; when it noticed Celt's approach it opened its eyes and looked down at him.
"Hey~." Celt raised his hand in greeting.
"Hello," the face replied.
"Oh, you can speak."
"Yes, I can speak." The voice was magnetic, gentle, and patient.
"Then where are your vocal organs?" Celt asked, curiously touching the trunk. "Do you have vocal cords inside the wood?"
"I vibrate the air directly to speak," the face explained patiently.
"Oh." Celt nodded.
"Are these people that the Priest swallowed?" Celt asked Samuel in his mind.
He glanced at the tree, then at the forest that stretched out without end.
"Well... probably... a lot..." Samuel's disjointed voice came through.
"Let me see..."
On the other end, Samuel switched to player vision, synchronizing his special perception to Celt’s eyes.
The images in front of Celt were delayed first to Samuel's mind, then after Samuel's conversion delayed again back to Celt.
The delay was almost five seconds.
It felt extremely uncomfortable.
But in player vision there was nothing special to see.
From the player-view perspective, these "trees with faces" were just "trees with faces," and like Ethen himself, player vision revealed nothing unusual.
Looking back, the only thing that appeared differently in player vision compared to normal sight was Allenay, the Law Contemplator.
Still, Celt could sense that the entire Perpetual Arboretum and Priest Ethen's spirituality were fused together.
Just as Celt could ignite a Spiritual Flame on himself that spread a few meters around his body, this forest was like Ethen's Spiritual Flame — it radiated outward, reached the bounds of this endless forest, and molded itself into trees, soil, vegetation...
Samuel shut off player vision. Celt lowered his head and raised a finger, lighting a small flicker of Spiritual Flame at his fingertip.
The Spiritual Flame wavered at his fingertip, but igniting and maintaining it here wasn't as easy as out in the world.
He wondered: if the entire Perpetual Arboretum lay within Ethen's spiritual coverage, then with the Law Mark "Messenger" factored in, could it achieve an "attack lock" effect?
He rubbed his stomach.
Even worse, if Ethen didn't need his Spiritual Flame all over the body, perhaps Ethen could make attacks appear directly inside his body.
Holy shit, this is broken!
He looked up again and met the face's eyes.
The face maintained a gentle, blissful expression.
Yeah, the people Ethen swallowed seemed to be living pretty well.
That reminded Celt of what he'd done yesterday.
He had killed the Homeless Man because the man's soul had already collapsed; his mind had died in bliss. If that soul wasn't handled promptly, it would later experience pain again.
But if those blissfully dead souls could come to this world — whether becoming a tree or feeding the trees — that would be much better than simply vanishing.
That was one reason Celt had come to the church today.
Although he hadn't expected to enter here, he had seen the "Heaven" Ethen preached about.
He had come to the Continuity Church initially to find Priest Ethen, and after speaking with Allenay so long, being connected like this was an unexpected bonus.
He just didn't know what standards Ethen used to accept souls.
If it was purely about purity, then souls whose minds were completely dead should meet the criteria.
"Ah, I'm okay here." Celt smiled and turned to Priest Ethen.
"Then please come inside." Ethen's voice still sounded directly at Celt's ear.
The great gates of the arboretum slowly opened.
Ethen, standing before the gate, stepped aside and made a slight bow, inviting them in.
"You can converse here," Ethen said warmly, "and you needn't worry about outside observation."
"Please do," Allenay politely gestured.
"Alright." Celt nodded, turned, and walked toward the arboretum, following Allenay up wooden steps formed from tree roots.
The steps were solid and made no sound when he stepped on them.
The arboretum seemed to be the center of the proto-Divine Realm; with each step he climbed, Celt felt the delay in his connection with Samuel grow, as if the distance between them were stretching farther.
Though each step was small, each step felt like stretching the distance between him and Samuel by tens of thousands of meters.
"Ah... I can't... take... this..." Samuel's voice grew uncomfortable. "When you get back... let's just... share... memories..."
Terrible picture quality, constant image flickers, intermittent voice with noise, audio and video out of sync...
The livestream was getting on Samuel's nerves.
Soon the feed was cut off.
It was unclear whether Samuel had intentionally cut the stream or whether the proto-Divine Realm was truly blocking the link between Celt and Samuel.
Finally, Celt entered Ethen's arboretum interior.
It looked similar to the Continuity Church's decor, only far larger.
Was it because the real-world church couldn't be built big enough, so the dream was implanted into his proto-Divine Realm?
But his guess was quickly denied.
"This is my first church, the world's very first 'Continuity Church,'" Priest Ethen explained as if showing friends his home. "After I carved out my own proto-Divine Realm, I moved the church here."
Oh, so the place Celt had seen in the outside world was the impoverished version.
Walking along longer and wider corridors than the outside Continuity Church, Celt curiously studied frames on the walls.
Some depicted forests, some animals, some people.
"Priest, can you teach me how to open a proto-Divine Realm?" Celt asked eagerly.
Ethen looked at him and shook his head.
"You need to become a Law Contemplator first."
Celt's eyes brightened. "So once I'm a Law Contemplator I can do it?"
"No. After you become a Law Contemplator, you can begin working toward becoming a Law Inscriber."
"Oh..."
They passed down the corridor and Ethen opened a door, bringing the two into a confessional room.
"Here will do," he said gently. "You may converse anywhere in the tree garden, but there's a sofa here so you can sit comfortably."
"Thank you, Priest," Celt said.
"No need," Ethen replied, shaking his head.
He nodded slightly, signaling that the two could talk alone.
Then his form slowly turned transparent and vanished.
"What's he doing?" Celt asked Allenay.
"The Priest can appear anywhere within his proto-Divine Realm. He's giving us private space," Allenay explained.
"That so-called private space is hardly private..." Celt complained.
"That's still better than outside." Celt entered the room and pulled open a cushioned chair to sit.
A nearby small fireplace lit itself.
"An induction stove, fancy," Celt said as he sat.
"The Priest simply ignited the fireplace," Allenay smiled. "Although the room's temperature is also under his control, lighting a real fire creates atmosphere. It should suit Absurdity's aesthetics more than merely adjusting the temperature directly."
"Is that so." Celt nodded, expression unchanged.
He didn't react much to the phrase "induction stove" — maybe he'd seen similar things before, or maybe the term was just literal and easy to understand.
Both sat down. Allenay brushed his golden hair behind his ear and looked at Celt, his eyes shimmering.
Celt reclined in his chair and watched him, curious about what he meant by his mysterious tone.
Soon Allenay spoke softly:
"Celt, Law Rhymes affect destiny, you know that, right?"
Seeing Celt nod, Allenay continued.
"Then what do you think 'Royal Blood' would symbolize for destiny?"
Celt considered and answered uncertainly, "Becoming a king?"
He said it casually, not expecting Allenay to actually nod.
Allenay let out a soft laugh.
"Close."
"'Royal Blood' represents the continuation of the 'king' in the future."
"To destroy this country, or to continue this country. To become the future 'king,' and what kind of 'king' one becomes..."
"In short, it's a monumental and rebellious Law Rhyme."
"As long as it exists, it's a threat to the current monarch."
"So every recipient of 'Royal Blood' faces severe constraints — limitations in every direction — so that after we grow, we become 'kings who achieve nothing.'"
Celt nodded in understanding.
"Then why doesn't the king just kill all of you?"
"Wouldn't that be simpler?"
"Or even if some curse prevents killing 'Royal Blood,' couldn't they incapacitate you and let you die slowly of natural causes?"
Celt asked bluntly.
High emotional intelligence, indeed.
"Good question." Allenay nodded, unoffended.
After all, Celt himself was also a bearer of Royal Blood.
"That's exactly the point," Allenay answered.
"Huh?" Celt was puzzled.
"Because the number of 'Royal Blood' in each era is fixed," Allenay replied seriously. "A cycle in this era usually lasts a hundred to a hundred and fifty years."
"If a royal line's 'Royal Blood' falls or is lost, it will scatter into the populace after about a hundred years, and through fate coincidences some non-royal will acquire 'Royal Blood.'"
"The situation you just described is very likely to break 'Royal Blood.' After all, such a person cannot shoulder the title of 'king,' not even the title of a 'king who achieves nothing,' and the Royal Blood would be lost."
"And if you kill them outright, it's a hundred percent chance the Royal Blood will be lost."
"Then the vacant 'Royal Blood' appears among the common people."
"This is called 'second-generation Royal Blood,'" Allenay said, staring intently at Celt.
"A bit counterintuitively, 'second-generation Royal Blood' is not worse than 'first-generation Royal Blood.'"
"On the contrary, it carries the talents, destiny, and future of the previous holder — carrying the unrealized future of the former holder — and can become a true 'king.'"
"Furthermore, such a 'king' can become far stronger and far less controllable than non-royal 'Royal Blood' holders."
"Because they haven't been hemmed in by restrictions from every direction, they're hard to find, and fate can propel them to heights the initial Royal Blood could never reach."
"Um..."
Celt tentatively raised a hand and pointed at himself.
"Me?"
Allenay smiled gently.
"Yes, you."