Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 599 - Interstice of Life and Death

Chapter 599: Chapter 599 Interstice of Life and Death

Chapter 599: Chapter 599 Interstice of Life and Death

With Sister Delphine’s final blessing, the campfire behind them suddenly leapt into life. The flames, centered on the campfire, flowed along the ceremonial traces previously arranged on the ground, and within a few breaths, fiery lines had already lit up the entire courtyard.

The winding patterns and ancient runes danced under the starry sky, their movement in the firelight making them ever more three-dimensional and real.

At the same time, the flames on the ground also flowed from both sides of Shard and Sister Delphine, along the gutters on both sides of the path towards the front manor. But before reaching the steps of the manor, they turned, extending in two streams to encircle the entire building.

The nuns beside the path shook their bells, held their porcelain bottles, and gently waved their white flags. And at the main entrance of the manor, the two High Ring Nuns opened the doors simultaneously.

In an instant, the white mist, representing the boundary of two worlds, poured out like a roaring beast, but as it drifted away from the door, it faded and precisely stopped spreading at the edge of the courtyard. The light from the fire danced in the mist, stabilizing the boundary here.

Underfoot was still the land of the material world, but the world of the deceased had also seeped in.

Shard continued to talk as he walked along the pathway. The fog seemed to be thickest on the pathway; walking within it, he couldn’t even see the nuns on either side clearly.

But he could still hear the soft murmurs of the nuns. They were praying to death itself, with their archaic language and antiquated syntax, it was as if time had been pulled back to an era when everyone revered death.

[Outlander, you have felt the miracle.]

[Outlander, you have felt the desecration.]

[Outlander, you have felt the enlightenment.]

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[Outlander, you have felt the whisper.]

Her voice was incessant in his ears, and as Shard continued to move forward, he vaguely felt that the world had changed a bit. It was not just the cold wind and some strange whispers; the whole world seemed different.

When he arrived at the entrance of the manor, he could hardly see the nuns standing on either side. Ahead was the main door, and without hesitation, Shard stepped inside.

The white mist still lingered inside, but the manor in front of him was no longer as it had been upon entry. There was no foyer, only a straight corridor leading to the deepest part of the manor, and at the end of the corridor was that door.

“Good, I don’t have to waste any more time then.”

The air carried a scent of decay and rot, emerging from the fog ahead, and more and more fragmented voices, none sounding like those of the living, were becoming increasingly numerous. Shard held his breath and felt the power of this abnormal space, slowly approaching the end of the corridor.

Where the fog originated, the wall that had represented the “crack” was no longer the twisting black vortex, but now a dilapidated wooden door. Shard paused in front of the door and then extended his hand to push it open.

Behind the door was pitch darkness, with the cold air mixed with the white mist assaulting his body and spirit. The red glimmer from the thin line on his wrist provided him with warmth, while the leaf in his mouth continuously replenished his body with vitality.

“Praise the Father of the Infinite Tree, may time be with me.”

“Praise the Sage of Silvermoon, may moonlight shine upon me forever.”

“Praise Mr. Dawn, illuminate the shadows, the shadows follow the dawn.”

[What else?]

After Shard’s trio of praises, she asked softly,

“Praise the Ancient God of Death, may death protect me, an outlander.”

He stepped through.

[Crossing the interstice of life and death, the blurred boundary has touched the deepest secrets of your soul.]

[Outlander, you have gained insight into ‘death’.]

This phrase had appeared before he acquired the “Greed” Spirit Rune, indicating that while Shard felt the power of [Death], he had yet to construct a Spirit Rune in the Ring of Fate. This was the second time he’d heard this, the first being when Priest Augustus gave him his last rites.

[Death, Outlander, you have left the world of the living.]

[Even you cannot linger in this world for long.]

She reminded him in his ears as he crossed the doorway, and the harsh wind abruptly vanished.

The change in space, with which he was already accustomed due to his experience with Spatial Leaps, left Shard feeling no discomfort. However, the rejection his body felt in this environment truly made him realize what the “Interstice of Life and Death” was.

Outside the door, the world was still scattered with drifting white fog, but here the fog did not move and was stationary in the air. In front stood the corridor deep within Baron Russell’s Estate, but everything in front of him looked faded, turned to shades of gray, white, and black, as if it had undergone a century’s worth of aging, becoming incredibly decrepit.

The cold and damp fog was very similar to what Shard had encountered when he came down the mountain in the afternoon, and even less hospitable to the living.

“If a Low Ring Sorcerer like the priest could last a week in a place like this, then what about me?”

[With that leaf always in your mouth, you must leave within a thousand days.]

“Understood.”

Shard nodded, raising his hand to look at it. In this world that had lost color and life, his skin and clothing still retained their hues. However, whenever he moved his limbs, he distinctly felt a different kind of power than what his flesh provided.

This Level 0 Relic was unlike any other Shard had encountered; the omnipresent Four Elements did not give him headaches or any similar negative sensations, the Whisper Element being effectively balanced by the other three.

Although here physical strength was not pronounced, with soul inside and outside the body, it was clear that a soul housing Divinity was stronger than the bodies of ordinary people. Since the Circle Sorcerer System unified body and soul, he remained a Three Rings, yet the abundant Spirit, and the feeling that he could punch through walls with a wave of his hand, was something his normal body did not possess.

He even felt that in this place, he could barely use Maze Lock once. But Sister Delphine had said that in this world trapped between life and death, the recovery speed of a Circle Sorcerer’s spirit and stamina was extremely slow. Thus, if Shard dared to use Maze Lock here, he’d have to bear the consequences of complete exhaustion for several hours and the inability to use any Arcane Technique or Sorcery.

“It’s not too bad.”

The ground was covered with gray moss, and the walls were clasped with dark traces. When he turned to look behind, the door he came through had disappeared.

But the thin, burning crimson line wrapped around his wrist was still there. When Shard wanted to return, he could reach this spot; the line would guide him out.

Instead of setting off immediately, he crouched down to examine the moss by the wall and barely recognized it as a special plant called “Corpse Grass.” In the material world, this plant sprouted from corpses, was not only deadly poisonous but also accelerated the aging of those who carried it. Yet in this world, it seemed like a very ordinary plant.

“This place is even stranger than I imagined.”

He stood up, looking at the pendant on his chest and gently touching it. The Holy Emblem of the “True God Mr. Dawn” emitted a golden light, then floated forward, but because it was tethered by a string, it merely hovered in front of his chest.

This place, a world that shouldn’t exist on the Edge of Life and Death, was eternally enshrouded in white fog. Shard, who possessed the “Space-Time” Spirit Rune, could clearly feel that this was not a stable normal space but more like a dream or something else entirely.

The terrain here was mostly a replica of Sicarl Mountain and the city of Midshire Fort at its foot. But there were no other living beings here, just lingering spirits.

There was not even the slightest sound in the whole world; even the noise caused by Shard’s footsteps was muted to the point where he could barely hear it himself.

And leaving the house to go outside, he unexpectedly found the sky was not the blackness he imagined but a peculiar gray. There was no sun, nor moon, nor stars; everything appeared dead.

Shard had no desire to linger in this world, so he followed the guidance of the Holy Emblem to leave the estate, heading toward the city.

The silent world was particularly terrifying; the occasional spiritual body with a gruesome death that suddenly appeared beside him, although only brushing past, still made an already oppressive mood even worse.

Before Shard truly entered the city, in the forest he met an Evil Spirit that tried to attack him. It was a knightly undead, holding its own head, riding on horseback with a caved-in chest; it looked like a soul that had died long ago.

The ritual of the Spiritual Practice Order should have shielded Shard from the notice of evil spirits, but perhaps due to the unlucky hair, the headless knight’s evil spirit still noticed him as he approached.

“As expected, the ritual can indeed weaken evil spirits’ perception of me, but if I get too close…”

Soundlessly, the knight wielding a spear charged toward Shard on horseback. In the moment the evil spirit and Shard passed each other, a silver Moonlight flashed in this colorless world.

Afterward, Shard continued walking forward, while the evil spirit was silently split in half and then dissipated into the air:

“I am a true Knight.”

These were its last words.

On the border between life and death, Shard was truly strong.

Although the estate was far from the city, when Shard crossed the forest, he surprisingly found himself standing in the quiet outskirts of Midshire Fort City.

He walked down one street, crossed an intersection and stepped directly into the city. Although this place indeed seemed like a reflection of the real world, it was not completely identical.

“This also makes it convenient to save time, but is Priest Augustus in the city? Could he be in the church?”

Shard speculated.

Mists were obscure, and shadowy spirits drifted everywhere. Today, Shard had seen more spirits than the total he had seen since coming to this world. It seemed the souls of those who had died in Midshire Fort and the surrounding areas had a chance to come to this abnormal place.

This was a desecration of the rules of death; normally, after death, the spirit should leave directly.

“How exactly did such an erroneously ambiguous place of life and death form?”

He really couldn’t understand it, but if all the spirits here surged into the real world, even if only a few were evil spirits, they would surely destroy the entire Middle Eastern region of the Old Continent.

“Doesn’t the Church have a way to resolve such places in one stroke? If it’s just a matter of constant sealing, bigger problems will definitely arise later.”

Thinking this, he suddenly heard a faint cry for help. Shard hesitated and stopped, because the world here diminished sounds; thus, the source of the voice should be very close.

“Are there other living people here?”

He recalled that reports from the Academy mentioned an unusually high number of disappearances this autumn.