608: Chapter 577: Aura of Fear (1/3) 608: Chapter 577: Aura of Fear (1/3) Director Hornagar had essentially told Ian everything he knew.
Whether it was about their plans, the possible reasons for anomalies, or even who “that guy” was…
he had spilled it all.
Ian originally found it odd—he hadn’t even begun to torture the other party yet, so how did a Second Energy Level, a perfectly fine director of the Spirit Wisdom Institute, beco as docile as a dog?
No, worse than a dog…
at the very least, a dog would put up so resistance.
But he quickly realized the reason.
—Because he had killed the Nightmare Spawn, so of its power now clung to him.
As the victor over the Nightmare Entity, in this Subspace Labyrinth, Ian was also endowed with a portion of the Nightmare Spawn’s abilities.
And this power now seed to be a fear-inducing spirit aura that made people unable to refuse his demands, even if the demands were outrageous, they would only comply blankly.
Of course, there was also the fact that the director was essentially a coward; the two reasons complented each other.
This was actually quite a common occurrence.
Subspace labyrinths in Terra were not mysterious places.
While only those who were high in the Third Energy Level, like the Fae, could dive into the Domain of Void with their near-Aetherized Heart Light Bodies at will, Sublimators of lower power levels could also indirectly enter the Domain of Void through various rituals and secret thods, or by entering certain special areas.
The Domain of Void was unstable, and after the Calamity of Heavenly Fall, many of its parts, especially areas related to the Void facilities of the previous era’s civilization, collapsed into labyrinths, also known as Subspace Labyrinths.
In these labyrinths, there are nurous peculiar creatures, such as the common Phantoms, Ether Realm Crows, Netherworld ssengers, and various kinds of Voidrealm Machine Gods.
Most of the gains in the Subspace can’t be taken out of the labyrinth itself; they could only be considered regional buffs, and Ian’s fear-inducing spirit aura was the sa.
Knowledge, information, and various techniques are the main attractions in the Subspace Labyrinths.
But this was not absolute.
In the City of Knowledge, a Grand Scholar, after killing a Voidrealm Machine God, forcefully stayed in the Domain of Void for eleven years despite his decaying body and collapsing soul.
He contemplated the ch Deity’s power that lingered on him day and night, eventually succeeding in creating an inheritance of the Voidrealm Machine God that he managed to send out of Subspace.
He was Regg Shadefollower, the fifteenth-generation grand ntor of the Chengying Spire lineage and the creator of one of the few Spirit Energy inheritances in Terra, “Ether Realm Divine Guard”.
Besides, there are nurous Spirit Energy constructs that must be made in specific areas of the Domain of Void or special properties of Subspace…
at least according to what Yisen Gard had ntioned, so families’ Aether Armants must be forged in such a way.
If Ian so desired, he could also stay in the Subspace Labyrinth for several years, analyze the part of the Nightmare Spawn’s power that lingered on him, and turn it into a kind of Spirit Energy Technique…
but obviously, he didn’t have the ti for that.
Grand Scholar Regg had an entire scholarly organization to handle other matters for him, allowing him to forcibly linger in the Domain of Void for such a prolonged ti, and after creating the inheritance, he died due to his soul being exhausted—his death was a genuine case of soul dispersal, which commanded respect.
That was incomparable to the Spirit Wisdom Institute group who experinted on others.
But now, he just had to consider how he would utilize this power.
Of course, before that, Ian still needed to analyze the information Director Hornagar had provided him.
—The Spirit Wisdom Institute and Duke of Solin were indeed collaborating with Fiery Fla Land.
But they each had their own research plans, rely sharing so inconsequential information on regular terms, everyone harboring the intent to exploit others’ technology to achieve their own goals, and even harboring ulterior motives, wishing to sabotage others’ plans while fulfilling their own.
Fiery Fla Land had a final plan concerning the fusion of Spirit Energy and biotechnology, “River of Souls’ Death”.
The Grand Duchy had a final plan concerning Spirit Energy Domain of Void technology, “Bygone Dead Monarch”.
And the Spirit Wisdom Institute’s Spirit Energy Awakening project, “Naless Savior”.
This is the most core and confidential of the three major plans in the Avak Central Research Laboratory.
Just like the Azure City Laboratory, which was rely assisting the Central Research Laboratory by handling so peripheral technologies that were irrelevant to the main objective and that the Central Lab didn’t have ti to deal with.
Beyond that, there were also additional plans such as the “Nightmare Demon King.” The research on the Void Spawn by the Spirit Wisdom Institute was actually quite coincidental; they were simply attempting to find the “archetype of fear for intelligent life” and unexpectedly extracted the existence of such super behemoths from the innate mories of extraterrestrial beings.
So, these kinds of studies shouldn’t be conducted casually in Terra, and it’s lucky they weren’t successful, or else if the Void Spawn really erged, everyone would be annihilated.
Overall, the level of research in the Avak Laboratory was so high that it rivaled even the Tower of Phantom Spirits in the City of Knowledge, which specialized in Spirit Energy.
Especially the experints related to Spirit Energy—any of them had the potential to change the current era’s power structure.
Michael wasn’t wrong, Duke of Solin definitely possessed Inega II’s related inheritance.
However, due to the sabotage of a new researcher, the souls of all the experintal subjects imprisoned in the Avak Laboratory were released.
Originally, there wouldn’t have been many souls…
Souls are considered a luxury on the Terra Continent.
As a rule, only those at the Middle-to-High Tier of the Second Energy Level could possibly condense one, and it’s nearly a fantasy for ordinary people to beco Phantoms after death unless they have Spirit Energy Potential and their place of death has so connection to the Ether.
But who would’ve thought that one of the many experintal plans of the Duke included “Artificial Souls”?
With the help of Attached Brain, the vast majority of experintal subjects condensed the simplest and crudest of souls, and the Attached Brain also recorded all the feedback from these subjects’ experiences before death…
These data, recorded in the Attached Brain, were also an extrely important source of information for the Avak Laboratory; they couldn’t possibly not use it.
So, basically, all the experintal subjects who died in the Avak Laboratory left behind their own souls.
They were originally considered raw material for the Phantom Army, and were thus properly preserved in several spirit-prison enchantnts in hibernation, naturally causing no destruction.
But the new researcher released all the vengeful souls, and the unbelievable number of souls combined with resentnt instantly transford the Ether, creating the Silent Abyss.
And that researcher who released the vengeful souls, due to so unknown reasons, actually obtained the power of the Grand Duchy’s ultimate plan “Deceased Monarch.”
After that, he breached the shelter in Fiery Fla Land, and may have also acquired the power of the “River of Death.”
This is also why Tianhong King arrived imdiately—it’s because the researchers at Fiery Fla Land were eliminated too early by the Deceased Monarch, and without his personal presence, Fiery Fla Land wouldn’t be able to share in the spoils.
“The Deceased Monarch absorbs all the souls he kills and gains power from them…
Co to think of it, the song I heard in front of the Subspace Entrance seems to be describing this?”
Standing on the corpse of Director Hornagar, Ian lifted his head thoughtfully and looked at the colorful images on the screen, thinking, “River of Death, Deceased Monarch—yes, before I entered Subspace, those Phantasms were hinting at a Savior here…
Wait, don’t tell all their experints actually succeeded?!”
Thinking this, Ian couldn’t help but widen his eyes and look at the Spirit Wisdom Institute corpses behind him, speaking with so surprise, “Although each and every one of you are no better than beasts, it turns out that you actually had so success.”
In summary, that’s roughly what happened.
Due to the deliberate act of a newcor researcher—currently it’s not known who he is a mole for—all the restrained Lost Souls of Avak Central Research Laboratory were released, leading to the subspace transformation of this place.
At the sa ti, let’s just call him the Deceased Monarch.
The Deceased Monarch directly ascended from the First Energy Level to the Third Energy Level and destroyed the shelter in Fiery Fla Land situated in Subspace…
He was seriously injured there and couldn’t eliminate the shelters controlled by Duke of Solin’s side and the Spirit Wisdom Institute’s side in the short term, giving these two sides the opportunity to control Phantasms and Magical Beasts to strike back and solidify their defenses.
anwhile, various forces from outside also arrived at the Avak Domain, forcing the Deceased Monarch to dispatch many of his powerful Phantasms and Magical Beasts to confront those squads, delaying their entry into the Subspace Labyrinth.
The Phantasm of Sio and the Mountain-Bearing Tortoise were examples of this.
And now, according to the last calculations of Director Hornagar before his death, the Deceased Monarch has now acquired a part of the power of the River of Death project and is currently digesting it…
And once he completes the digestion, he will reclaim the peak power of his pri.
And even…
he might go even further!
But whether it’s the peak of the Third Energy Level, or the Fourth Energy Level, that he couldn’t speculate.
User Comments
0 comments from readers