City of Sin (Yanyu Jiangnan)

Inspiration

Recalling the incidents of the past two days, as well as everything that had happened ever since he entered Faelor, Richard felt like his blood was boiling. The inspiration from his conversation with Flowsand appeared once more, this time growing clearer and clearer by the moment. It was like a playful wisp of fire, tempting him continuously but not letting him catch it.

He didn’t hurry it along, instead stopping to ponder quietly. At that moment, all the lessons in philosophy from the Deepblue passed through his mind. ‘Your thinking dictates everything!’ The words that almost every teacher of his shouted before dismissing the class reverberated through his head. He realised that he was passively responding to the changes in his surroundings, rarely thinking of the path he was prepared to take.

The pursuit of power was an empty catchphrase. A realistic question would be to ask what means he could take to obtain that strength, and how far he could go.

As far as he could see, the laws on Faelor and Norland were quite similar. Although the limit of Faelor’s power was lower than Norland’s, it was still a plane that could produce people of legendary might. At the very least, he himself was far from being suppressed by the laws.

However, the many battles had revealed several other key differences between the planes. An enemy who seemed comparable to them on the surface would be easy to win against, and in fact most of the time it was without any issue. Outside of Flowsand, he himself, the broodmother, Waterflower, Gangdor, and other unique factors, one other stark difference between the two planes had already reared its head.

Runes!

The art of runecrafting that Norland had developed over millennia was the ultimate manifestation of the application of magic for war. Gangdor with a single rune could compete against opponents who were two to three levels higher than him for a short duration, and if he had a complete set of runes that suited him he could easily defeat even a level 14 Stormhammer.

Any standard rune knight that he built up with his knowledge would be able to compare to a saint class of Faelor. Knights at level 13 to 14 would be pushed to level 17, some even to level 18. It was as though a large number of powerhouses could be created out of thin air. If at equal numbers Faelor could perhaps resist Norland’s might, the appearance of runes and armies of rune knights that were thousands strong all comparable to saint classes would easily tear this plane’s resistance apart.

As for he himself, his talent, position, resources… Most of what made him unique came from runes.

It was only then that Richard understood the importance of his philosophy classes. It wasn’t to show him a constant path to success, instead to teach him a framework for his thought process that would elevate him.

With the answer found, inspiration came naturally. The spark floating before him was completely within reach, and could be grabbed with a stretch of the hand. And thus he stretched out, grabbing hold of this spark to come to a realisation.

However, even after capturing the inspiration Richard refused to let go. On the contrary, his grip grew stronger as he rubbed it, the feeling of that flame disappearing from his mind. His hand began to feel a soft elasticity.

At that moment, Flowsand’s hoarse voice rang in his ears, “You’re pinching my rear.”

“It can’t be,” Richard opened his eyes to see Flowsand beside his bed, “I’m grabbing a hold of inspiration.” He did not let go, instead pinching it harder a few times.

“What about now, then?” she asked, “Is it still a mistake?”

He smirked in response, “Now? I’m touching your butt of course!”

Flowsand took a step closer to the bedside, allowing him to easily touch more of her. She also asked, “Do you want me to take off my clothes? But looking at your current health, it doesn’t really seem suitable.”

Richard snorted, stretching out and smacking her rear. The exertion affected the wound on his chest, however, and his face paled with pain. Enduring it with much effort, Richard let out a breath of turbid air, “Heal me quickly, I know you have a way!”

Flowsand removed the bandage on his body as she spoke, “I just thought of a way, but it won’t be able to solve the root of the problem. Shadowforce is not simple. Its origin is more profound than that of any deity on this plane.”

The wound on his chest was aired, but it revealed that the three slashes hadn’t closed up. The bleeding was only stopped due to thick ointment, and shadowforce lingered around that as well. Richard felt a faint darkness in the corner of his vision.

Flowsand took out a bottle of colourless water. However, the overflowing mana it showed upon removal indicated that this was far from ordinary. “This will hurt a bit, bear with it.”

Richard nodded without much worry. His will was quite firm, and he was confident of his tolerance for pain.

Flowsand tilted the bottle in her hand, pouring the water onto Richard’s wound. The moment it came into contact with the lingering shadowforce, it was as though it had been poured into a hot pan. It instantly started boiling, splattering everywhere as it released large amounts of mist.

At that instant, the severe pain caused Richard to black out. His body abruptly jumped off the bed, before falling back down once more. This was an instinctive reaction to the severe pain. He also opened his mouth wide, his face beginning to distort. Being able to hold it in without screaming was already his limit, but he still let out a few guttural roars.

How was this a ‘bit?’ This was clearly torture!

And yet, the holy water had eliminated all traces of the shadowforce on the wound. Traces of black lines could be seen entangled with holy light, reluctantly fading into the mist.

Flowsand began chanting, and two greater heals fell upon Richard’s body. The wound on his chest closed up at a visible speed under the magic’s effect, and in the next two to three days it would heal completely.

Following that, Flowsand continued her chants. This time the spell took three to four times longer than a greater heal, and the mana consumed was just as great. A ray of divine light fell upon Richard’s body, causing the searing pain to fade in an instant. This was Restoration, a grade 5 spell. Greater heals only affected surface injuries, unable to fix bones or internal damage. This was where restoration came in. The nightmare panther had penetrated Richard’s chest, leaving a row of incisions on his ribs. Without restoration, it would take as long as three months for him to recover.

Flowsand immediately grew weak after she cast restoration. She knelt down, her upper body lying on his bedside. However, Richard had just healed from his injuries, and the baptism of the holy water had left him leaking cold sweat. At that moment, he didn’t even have the strength to sit up.

Both of these weakened bodies ended up leaning against each other.

Finally calming his breathing a little, Richard asked, “Flowsand, the holy water didn’t feel right.”

Flowsand nodded, answering lazily a few moments later, “What’s wrong with holy water that has divine power infused? It’s a little painful, I admit, but isn’t it very effective?”

“How is that a little?!” Richard didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He barely lifted his hand to comb through Flowsand’s hair, “Why do I feel the God of Valour’s power in it?”

“Well it’s holy water with divine power infused. Did I say it came from the Eternal Dragon?”

“Where did it come from, though? I don’t remember taking any from the church.” Richard was puzzled.

“Didn’t I take a lot of scrolls? I gained some understanding of Neian’s power, so I infused it into the holy water while I was modifying those scrolls. That way, I wouldn’t be wasting the extracted energy.”

Richard was taken aback, “You can steal divine power?”

“Isn’t that something normal?” Flowsand stated as a matter of fact, “It’s no big deal. Only the people of this plane think that the deities are omniscient, omnipotent, and cannot be deceived. It isn’t difficult to make use of the power of a lesser deity like Neian.

“Speaking of, there’s someone named Theodore who really excelled in this field. Not only could he steal divine power, he could even deceive gods themselves and intercept faith! Forget small fry like Neian, he managed to deceive the gods of a primary plane! Right, he’s been living in the Deepblue all these years. I remember you said you attended his class before.”

Richard was rendered speechless. Such words could come from anyone, but uttered by a priestess herself made him feel an indescribable sense of discomfort. Theodore had given him an impression of someone knowledgeable and somewhat dull; he hadn’t expected the man to be so remarkable as to intercept divine faith itself.

“Be careful to avoid his detection. We’re still in his territory, and aren’t ready to withstand divine punishment yet,” he warned seriously.

“Yes!” Flowsand nodded firmly, looking obedient and adorable. She didn’t seem one bit like someone who would dare to steal divine power.

“We need to stay here for a month longer, I have some matters to attend to. It might be faster, but a month at most,” Richard said.

Flowsand was a bit surprised, “Is it something important? I thought we were going to leave this place already!”

“Yes, very important!”

“How important?”

Richard lifted Flowsand’s chin, staring into her bottomless amber eyes, “Extremely. So important that if I succeed, you can prepare to resist.”

“I’m always ready,” Flowsand smiled.

Only after another entire day of rest could Richard move freely, and he headed straight for Waterflower’s room when he got out of bed. His soulguard had been moved to the largest room on this floor as per his instructions, with two adjacent rooms opened up completely to give her a huge space of more than 200 square metres.

It was already deep into the night, but Richard moved his worktable and tools into the young lady’s room. His table was filled with all sorts of magic materials.

The girl stood in the center of the room, looking like an ethereal spirit. There were no lights within, the only illumination being the rays of moonlight shining through the window. The moonlight reflected off her, making her look even more beautiful and unearthly.

Waterflower knew that Richard was crafting runes for her, and it filled her with a strong sense of anticipation and some nervousness. Richard took a deep breath and let it out, calming himself down before hinting for the young lady to remove her clothes.

Waterflower was stunned by the request, hesitant to complete it. She seemed to think of something quite quickly, however, beginning to remove all her clothes to stand before him fully naked.

This was a near-perfect body. Her smooth skin was unblemished, the two average breasts perky and her legs slender and long. Unlike Flowsand, Waterflower’s body was filled with a sense of strength. However, it also seemed illusionary as though enveloped in layers of mist.

Scanning over her with a spell, Richard walked up to Waterflower and circled around her. He closely observed every inch of her skin as close as possible, muttering to himself, “This is truly a work of god, it’s supreme art! It seems like the concept will work out…”

At that moment, Richard was completely immersed in the wonderful world of runes and magic. He didn’t notice the young lady’s breathing growing more rapid, nor her body trembling slightly. At that moment, every part of this perfect body was radiating a magical light: her carrying capacity was so great that he would go crazy! Although Waterflower hadn’t unlocked anything else from her bloodline upon reaching level 10, her rune capacity had increased. She was now on par with Flowsand in that regard! In Richard’s eyes, Waterflower was the ideal rune knight that any runemaster could only dream of.

By this point he’d made it behind her, half-squatting with his face less than ten centimetres away from her body. His gaze slowly moved down, tracing the curve of her butt. This beautiful line fit perfectly with the idea for a rune that he had in his mind. He was engulfed in happiness for a moment, and couldn’t help stretching out to touch that perfect skin.

However, the girl’s body heated up the moment his fingertips made contact. It seemed as though an intense flame had been ignited within her body.

Originally lost in the world of runes, Richard suddenly felt his heart clench. Before his body could respond the world was turned upside down, shaking hard. A loud bang sounded out as various lights flashed in his vision. All his internal organs seemed to be displaced, the pain from the severe impact excruciating.

However, things were not over. He felt a sharp pain in his rear, and in that moment he could see Waterflower killing him. “STOP!” he screamed.

At that moment, the girl was already pressing down on his back with one hand, the other trained against his butt in preparation to strike. It wouldn’t matter even if there were no steel spikes in the Archeron death camps, because her hands were actually even more powerful. There was more than one fellow who had his intestines ripped out by her hand.

With the loud exclamation, Waterflower awoke from her shock. Her mind being blank before, she’d moved on instinct and only now did she realise what she had done. She immediately pulled back at the speed of lightning, her entire person silently retreating a few metres. She stood straight, staring down at an area ten centimetres in front of her feet. She looked so well-behaved it was as if nothing had happened just now.