Apocalypse Forecast

Chapter 565 476: Buried Sacred Place_1

As Huai Shi clicked his tongue in wonder, a sudden impulse struck him.

After he walked a few steps forward, the Afterimages he left behind started to move on their own.

Following Huai Shi's will, the face within one of his Afterimages began to change, taking on the appearance of Red Gloves. The Afterimage transformed into Mountain Ghost·Red Gloves, gripping the Sacrificial Knife.

With Huai Shi's thoughts, he continuously appeared and disappeared within his Afterimages.

The abilities from the Ring of Nibelungen and the Talents of the Soloist had actually fused, appearing or vanishing according to Huai Shi's thoughts.

When Huai Shi concentrated on controlling them, he could stand still, and more than a dozen Afterimages would move out of his body on their own.

Unfortunately, the moment Huai Shi relaxed even slightly, they would each do as they pleased, utterly disobedient, like untethered Huskies. He really couldn't figure out why.

"The maximum number is sixty-one. Very good, more than four times the usual amount," Raven nodded in satisfaction as she tallied. "Next, once you can perfectly control your own Afterimages, it will mean you have mastered the Talent of the Soloist.

By then, not only Yin Souls and Mountain Ghosts, but you yourself, within a two-hundred-meter radius, will be able to move and flicker between your own Afterimages as you wish. I don't need to remind you of the specific applications, do I?"

Of course not.

With perfect teleportation and manifestation, even though he had just become aware of this Transformation, Huai Shi's mind could already conjure a dozen ways to apply it.

It was essentially an alternative speed boost, and he could even smoothly cross obstacles and dodge with ease. If he wished to escape, he could split into dozens of Afterimages running in all directions, mingle among them, and good luck to anyone trying to stop him.

"Besides that, there's the most important matter." After Raven finished tallying, she put down her notebook and pen. "The four kinds of insights and four kinds of advancement materials—can you sense where they are?"

With her reminder, Huai Shi closed his eyes and searched within himself but found that even the usual Mirror of Nothingness had disappeared. Not that it was ever truly substantial, being merely an outline. However, now even the outline was gone.

All had merged into the Stigma of the Soloist and, together with the advancement materials, seemed to form a core of sorts.

Huai Shi opened his eyes and reached out with an open hand.

After a deep sound, his Soul Ability activated on its own. Straightened steel condensed, followed by countless intertwining mists that gathered and hung down like a Banner from the long pole.

A Banner intertwined with bone-white and pitch-black?

Huai Shi waved his hand, and the Banner fell to the ground. In an instant, rolling darkness swept outwards in all directions.

Pure blackness and pure silence swallowed everything within a fifty-meter radius. In this area, whether it was normal vision, spiritual perception, thermal sensing, infrared, or even higher-end Source Substance perspectives, it became difficult to see anything clearly.

Unless someone used an insight Talent that surpassed Huai Shi's Rank to forcefully observe, it would be hard to see even a vague outline of anything.

As he supported the Banner with one hand, the Sword of Virtue spontaneously appeared in his right.

"In a crowning canopy of verdant banners, ascended to the Ninth Heaven, caressing the Comet's tail," the Raven's voice came from the darkness. "Brandishing the Longsword and embracing the young wormwood, sage and alone, fit to rule for the people... That is the true pinnacle of the Soloist.

Congratulations, Huai Shi. You now qualify to claim the legacy of the Heavenly Inquiry Route."

The endless darkness seemed like a sanctuary to Huai Shi.

Far from feeling discomfort, he felt as though he were returning home. The darkness did not hinder his vision; on the contrary, it seemed to extend his perception, making everything clearer.

Huai Shi could sense a vague vortex lingering around him, from which the Raven's voice was emerging.

What pleased him even more was that, after the Banner appeared, the effects of the Fear Aura and Plague Halo, which he thought had vanished, had reappeared.

Blood Revenge Crystal, Holy Grace, Relic Bone, and Undying Flames.

Among the four precious advancement materials, Holy Grace merged into Huai Shi's body, enhancing his already alarmingly potent vitality. The Undying Flames emerged on the Banner's surface, dominating the center, burning fiercely without bringing any light. Instead, they devoured all brightness, plunging everything into absolute darkness. The powers of the Relic Bone and Blood Revenge Crystal both operated here, supporting the foundation of this darkness, turning it into a fortress and hiding every trace of Huai Shi.

"What is this?" he asked, bewildered.

"It is based on the original Yin Soul's Dark Windbreaker," the Raven's voice continued from the vortex. "Benefiting from the extensive infusion of Blood Revenge Crystals, the Relic Bone of the Rotten Dream induced a premature Metamorphosis, resulting in your most important Skill—the Buried Sacred Place."

"Doesn't sound like a pleasant place," he remarked.

"Erm... In a nutshell, it's a kind of church and Sanctuary." The Raven spoke nonchalantly. "Now that you're a Soloist, albeit with trivial Divine Nature, possessing it is different from lacking it. The place you stand is your Domain, your Territory, your Sanctuary."

"Sanctuary? You call this thing a Sanctuary?" Huai Shi looked around at the darkness. "Why does my Sanctuary feel like a graveyard?"

"For a place of divine worship—be it a church, a temple, or a monastery—isn't it normal to have a graveyard nearby?" The Raven casually flapped its wings. "It's just that your graveyard is exceptionally large... Don't mind it, don't mind it. Who cares, since you've buried such a great figure in your graveyard, right?"

Yes, that's right... the remnants of the Rotten Dream Queen...

In a sense, a part of the Rotten Dream Queen was indeed buried in this darkness. Therefore, the Soloist's Stigma underwent changes, giving birth to such a bizarre and sinister Skill.

"I've said it many times: the Heavenly Inquiry Route is an auxiliary Stigma—auxiliary! If you like being hard-headed and brash, that's your choice, but for most people, it's difficult to possess direct combat abilities. The Sanctuary of the Soloist is the only Ability they can rely on to preserve themselves." The Raven said solemnly, "Without the support of other 'tools'—referring to their summoned entities—the Abilities of both Mountain Ghost and Soloist are inherently limited. That's why they use the Ring of Nibelungen, nurturing Legions to compensate for their weaknesses. The existence of the Sanctuary is to create a tactical advantage for the Legion's combat, and your original Nightmare Fog and Plague Halo were born as aids for this purpose."

You're a support character.

Huai Shi's face was a picture of confusion as those words from the Raven smacked him in the face.

With his own formidable combat skills, how on earth had he suddenly become a support character? Besides, he'd always harbored the heart of a damage dealer! How did he suddenly turn into a healer?

"Do you mean... my profession deals with summoning?"

"Facing a weirdo like you—a Sublimator who can beat a Legion single-handedly—is really troublesome," sighed the Raven. "Well, there are always outliers..."

Before becoming a Soloist, whether as a Yin Soul or a Mountain Ghost, abilities were more geared towards survival and escape. Whether it was the Yin Soul's Dark Windbreaker or the Mountain Ghost's Life Drain, both Abilities were specialized to maximize a Sublimator's survivability, ensuring they didn't die too horrendously.

Before reaching the Fourth Stage, the only trademark Skill of those on the Heavenly Inquiry Route was their Sanctuary.

With the Sanctuary, a fundamental Transformation could be achieved, allowing them to no longer live in fear. Under the protection of their Legion, they would be secure.

This was the strength of the Heavenly Inquiry Route.

In the Heavenly Kingdom Genealogy, it was one of the most suitable paths for cultivating a Legion, second only to the Path of Dusk, yet completely different from it.

The Frost Giant Army from the Path of Dusk consisted of painstakingly crafted vanguards and substitutes—lose one, and it was gone forever.

The Yin Soul Legion of the Heavenly Inquiry Route, on the other hand, was the complete opposite. They were an incredible bargain, especially with the protection of a Sanctuary.

In the Heavenly Inquiry Route, all Sanctuaries possess a fundamental Ability: to suppress Stigmas of non-dark attributes within and to strengthen all Yin Souls and Mountain Ghosts within the Domain.

As a high-rolling and life-investing 'premium VIP customer,' Huai Shi's Buried Sacred Place possessed even more astounding effects.

Imbued with the traits of the Rotten Dream, all Legion members within it could control illusions to some extent, affecting enemies' minds, and were also immune to their original weakness against Source Matter Attacks.

As long as a glimmer of life remained, they could rapidly absorb Huai Shi's Source Substance to regenerate.

Huai Shi's own Fear Aura and Plague Halo had been completely distributed among them. It was as if, from that point on, Huai Shi had a bunch of alt accounts.

"And what's even scarier is... COUGH. COUGH." The Raven suddenly looked somewhat embarrassed. "Due to certain reasons... well, the Book of Fate interfered with your advancement. Anyone who enters your Sanctuary will be extremely unlucky."

"Extremely unlucky?" Huai Shi was puzzled. "What do you mean by unlucky?"

"No, it should be... extremely, extremely, *extremely* unlucky," the Raven exclaimed with a TSK-TSK, "the kind of bad luck where even selling your house and going bankrupt can't get you an SSR."

"HISS!"

Huai Shi sucked in a breath of cold air.

Such terror—this child must not be... Wait, isn't this about me?

Immediately following, he realized an even more critical issue.

"About the range of these unlucky souls you mentioned..." Huai Shi looked into her eyes, asking word by word, "Does it include me?"

"AHAHA, of course not!" The Raven laughed heartily, a guilty look on her face as she glanced around. "What are you even thinking, AHAHAHA..."

This was indeed true.

Huai Shi's luck was no longer completely Africa-level; it had returned to average.

Yet as the culprit responsible for making gamers all over the world draw dead in card pulls, if people knew about it, wouldn't they flay him alive?

Over ninety gaming companies worldwide were sued collectively by Players for false drop rates. After an investigation by the Astronomical Society, because Huai Shi was hidden behind the Golden Amber, it was the Sand King who ultimately took the fall.

Yes, it must be the adjustments to Current Circumstances that led to these insignificant issues.

The Sand King, buoyed by joyous news, casually rummaged through his assets and plucked a single hair—a trifle. "This fine? Our Australia Mining Consortium will take care of it."

Otherwise, Huai Shi would have already welcomed bankruptcy. And he would have had to work for the Astronomical Society for ten lifetimes, without eating or drinking, to pay it off.

"Lastly, I need to tell you what you must pay most attention to next." The Raven became unusually serious. "About the Soloist's 'Sky's Command'."