novelraw Chapter 404: Polar Star Society Branch, Star Demon’s Eyeball Heart
Chapter 404: Polar Star Society Branch, Star Demon’s Eyeball Heart
[You hold the Teleportation Badge in your hand and walk up to the giant starry painting that covers the entire wall.]
[You reach out and touch the twinkling stars painted on the canvas one by one…]
[Suddenly, an immense suction force surges out. The giant painting ripples like the surface of water. You do not resist and allow your body to be pulled into the painting…]
[Teleporting…]
[…]
[…]
[Teleportation successful.]
[You open your eyes and find yourself in an unfamiliar room. Looking out from a nearby window, you can see countless beautiful stars scattered across the cold, silent darkness of the void…]
[On the wall behind you hangs a small painting. The canvas is blank and empty. You immediately understand that as long as you touch this painting, you can return to Dexter Manor.]
[You notice a book lying on the desk in the room…][You walk to the desk and open the book to browse its contents…]
[The text records some notes written by a Star-Favored, concerning the destruction of the other two strongholds in the auxiliary capital…]
[As you look at the familiar handwriting you yourself recorded, fragmented memories within the Shell begin to awaken…]
[This room is the gathering place for the managers of the three strongholds in Notos, the auxiliary capital, but now it has become your private room.]
[Because the managers of the other two strongholds are already dead.]
[Notos borders the Imperial Capital Saint Etienne. The power of both the Direct Vision School and the Multivision School here is extremely strong, far beyond anything in the borderlands.]
[The Scholars discovered the other two strongholds in the auxiliary capital and, as expected, tore them up by the roots.]
[The powerful believers of the radiant stars had their eyes gouged out and were executed on the spot, while the weaker ones were thrown into prisons to suffer cruel punishment…]
[Although the great radiant stars can do anything, they deeply fear that detestable Servant of Knowledge and cannot descend to intervene.]
[Otherwise, the heretics of the Schools who are loyal to the evil god Omniscient True Knowledge would have been wiped out long ago.]
[The Executor Lord once said that although the organization can only hide in the darkness for now, this is the final darkness before dawn. Very soon, those who chase the stars will welcome the most radiant first light.]
[The fragmented memories end there.]
After reading the memories, Lin Xun could not help furrowing his brow.
He remembered that when he drew from the Book of Favor for the first time in the fourth chapter, the Servant of Knowledge had mentioned that in the war of the deities, many mortal powerhouses had followed Omniscient True Knowledge.
Those powerful believers had grown through the fires of war, advancing to become demigods and even gods themselves. The rewards recorded in the Divine Book of Favor were given to these believers who had made outstanding contributions in the war of the deities.
Yet according to the Star-Favored’s memories, the stars seemed to fear only the Servant of Knowledge.
Which raised a question. Where were those human powerhouse believers who had already become gods?
Lin Xun had seen the Omniscient Divine Statuette and the Divine Image of the Radiant Stars, and had even seen the other star deities, but he had never once seen a single human god on the side that swore to Omniscient True Knowledge, nor had he even heard a legend about one.
If those gods were still around, it would be impossible for there not to be a single divine statue of them.
“…They all died, right?”
“That should not be the case. Omniscient True Knowledge is the victor of the war of the deities. Even the defeated radiant stars are not completely dead. How could the victorious side’s people all be gone?”
He could not help recalling the old plot of the Dark Dragon Knight he had once experienced.
The Dragon Knight and his mount had been bound and suppressed with runic chains etched full of characters, and they had eventually died in a lightless subterranean cavern.
There was no way those rune characters on the chains had been carved by the star side.
Then there was the legendary story the Emerald Half-Dragon had told him: […Each of the dragon progenitors followed their covenant with the True Lord Omniscient True Knowledge: they sealed most of their own power and took all their descendants into seclusion in the mountains and forests…]
All the clues seemed clear now. When the birds are gone, the fine bow is put away. When the cunning rabbit dies, the hunting dog is cooked…
“If things really are that way, then Omniscient True Knowledge is truly a thoroughly evil god.”
Lin Xun had no idea what expression he should wear. As an Oathbreaker who had already changed sides once, even if he learned that Omniscient True Knowledge was an evil god, he could only keep charging down this path. There was no chance to jump off the carriage halfway a second time.
For the time being, the Servant of Knowledge’s attitude toward him was much better than the attitude of the stars anyway…
[You have gained Knowledge. Knowledge stat increased by 5000. Current Knowledge stat: 40800/37800.]
[What you know has surpassed the critical threshold. You have touched the extraordinary once more. You catch another glimpse of Omniscient True Knowledge…]
[You have not been summoned by the Temple of Knowledge and cannot enter the Temple of Knowledge.]
[Chaotic, disordered Knowledge continuously pours into your soul. You gradually lose yourself in the ocean of Knowledge.]
[Your reason drifts far away from you, and madness takes over your mind.]
[Your head explodes with a boom…]
[You are dead.]
“…”
“I just entered the branch and got my head blown off before I even left the room…”
“But it has been a long time since I last popped my head. Yeah, this is the feeling.”
After several increments to his Knowledge stat, he had unknowingly broken through the cap again.
After his wandering soul resurrected in Blackwater Prison, he spent one point of soul strength to purge the Disorder from his soul, then spent another point to reshape the Shell of the Star-Favored.
[All chaotic, disordered Knowledge in your soul has been swept clean.]
[You are under the effect of Blessing of Knowledge +7. Knowledge cap has increased again. Current Knowledge stat: 0/40800.]
Lin Xun spent quite some effort to make it back to the manor.
It was worth mentioning that his summoned creatures had all returned to their Spirit Orbs when he died, while the girls from the auction, after being freed from the illusion, did not dare leave their cages even though he had already broken the locks…
[…]
[You step into the office of the Star-Favored. When the Emerald Half-Dragon sees you, its eyes widen. It points at the giant painting, then at you in confusion, asking when you came out because it had just seen you go in.]
[You answer with a straight face that the one who went in just now was your twin brother…]
Lin Xun ignored the half-dragon. After releasing a few summoned creatures, he teleported back to the Polar Star Society branch.
[…]
[You return once more to the familiar room and search it carefully. Apart from that book, there does not seem to be any other valuable item.]
[You open the door and walk outside…]
[The walls of the corridor outside are covered in tiny, twinkling stars, very similar to what you saw in the Star-Chasing Corridor.]
[The corridor is empty. Its end seems to open into a hall.]
[You stride forward, drawing closer and closer to the hall…]
[From afar, you can already see the massive statue standing in the very center of the hall.]
[The statue is not in human form, but rather a spinning oval galaxy dotted with countless small stars.]
[It is the very familiar Divine Image of the Radiant Stars.]
[Several other corridors and a staircase leading upward connect to the hall. Not far away stands a reception counter.]
[Behind the counter is a beautiful woman wearing a star robe. She is just about to greet you when a silhouette rushes down from upstairs.]
[That person freezes for a moment upon seeing you there, then immediately says, you, yes, you, come with it upstairs right now, we happen to be short-handed.]
[The star robe on this person is the same standard uniform as yours. They appear to be another Star-Favored, yet you, who are of the same rank, habitually obey without the slightest dissatisfaction.]
[Because you know they are the assistant of the Starrealm Envoy Lord. In this branch, the Starrealm Envoy is currently the highest-ranking leader you can meet.]
[You follow the assistant at a trot up the stairs until you reach the third floor.]
[While leading you along, the assistant tells you that once you enter the transplant room of the Priest Lord, you must not look around, and you must not ask questions. You must simply do whatever you are told to do. Do you understand?]
[You cannot help nodding.]
[The assistant leads you down the corridor to a room at the very end…]
[They murmur an obscure incantation, and the door swings open on its own.]
[A thick stench of blood floods out. You widen your eyes and see that the spacious room is filled with many refined copper operating tables, each bearing the corpse of a different creature.]
[Some of the corpses are large, some small. A few bodies are covered with carapaces of chitin, patterned with markings like scattered stars, revealing obvious features of starborn beings.]
[Other bodies have curved horns sprouting from their heads. Even in death, they emit a horrific, sinister aura. They are a subterranean race known as Abyss Demons.]
[You even see several half-dragon corpses with different skin tones…]
[Figures wearing star robes hurry about before the operating tables. They dissect the corpses and remove the structures and organs they need, placing them into refined copper trays nearby…]
[On a dais at the very back of the room squats a twisted, deformed monster. Its body is as fat as a mountain of flesh, its surface covered in mottled, ghostly green scales. It waves two short, thick arms while constantly directing the others in their dissections.]
[It snarls harshly, Table Number 13, why is your hand shaking? If you damage the eye of the Starhorn Rhinogold, I will gouge out your eyes and use them as synthesis material.]
[Table Number 21, you idiot, they asked for the liver of the Abyssal Lava Demon, not its kidneys.]
[Table Number 5…]
[You have discovered Polar Star Society Star Radiance Priest Who Gazes Upward.]
[This is your first time seeing the appearance of Polar Star Society Star Radiance Priest Who Gazes Upward. Knowledge stat increased by 7000. Current Knowledge stat: 7000/40800.]
“…This monster is the Star Radiance Priest. From the name, it sounds like an upgraded version of a Starlight Priest.”
“Damn it, could this be the high-level healer I have been longing for?”
The corner of Lin Xun’s mouth twitched, and his face turned black.
Even though he had Flesh Authority and could alter the Shell’s appearance, if the original form was this disgusting, it would always feel uncomfortable in his heart.
No, with such a deformed body, it was not even certain whether he could possess it.
[The Star Radiance Priest suddenly notices you being brought over by the assistant and immediately asks with a sour expression why there is only you.]
[The assistant hurriedly explains, Priest Lord, time is short and there was no way to find someone more suitable. This is the person in charge of Notos in the auxiliary capital. Their strength is among the best of the Star-Favored and they are the most suitable candidate for now…]
[The Star Radiance Priest does not look any happier after hearing this. It immediately unloads a torrent of insults on the assistant, who seems long used to its foul language and does not bother to argue back.]
[Once the Star Radiance Priest has finally vented enough to feel better, it turns to you and hollers, what are you standing there for, get over here now…]
[You hurry forward and come to the operating table before the Star Radiance Priest.]
[On the operating table lies a bloody heart, about a size larger than a normal human heart. Embedded in its surface are several eyes that can still move.]
[The moment you approach the operating table, all the eyes on the heart swivel in unison to stare at you, making your skin crawl.]
[The whole heart is still contracting and expanding, but its rhythm is slowing and its beats are growing weaker.]
[The gaze in those eyes on the heart is visibly fading…]
[You have discovered Star Demon’s Eyeball Heart (Special Item).]
[Star Demon’s Eyeball Heart (Special Item): After countless experiments, an eyeball heart that perfectly fuses the traits of spirits of the stars and Abyss Demons has finally been completed.]
[This small and fragile heart bears infinite potential. Its existence may herald an entirely new path to becoming a god.]
[The effect of transplanting this eyeball heart is unknown. Please transplant with caution.]
Lin Xun narrowed his eyes.
From the document written by the Multivision President in the fourth chapter, he had learned that starborn beings and Abyss Demons were very likely derived from the same original species.
It was only because the two had walked different evolutionary paths that they had ended up so drastically different now.
“Judging by the item description, the Abyss Demon Completion Project is at least feasible. Maybe fusing the two races really could open up another road to godhood.”
“Tsk. Although the World of Omniscience’s eyeball transplant technology is impressive, transplanting eyeballs is only for gaining Knowledge. Their actual flesh-reconstruction techniques are terribly skewed.”
“When it comes to experiments in fusing creatures, the Wet Nurse is the top expert. Now that I have inherited the Wet Nurse’s Flesh Authority, maybe I can do something in this area.”
[The Star Radiance Priest asks whether you possess unwavering, devout faith in the radiant stars.]
[You nod without hesitation.]
[It continues to ask whether you are willing to offer your life to the radiant stars.]
[You loudly answer yes without a second thought.]
[The Star Radiance Priest finally smiles and shouts, then what are you dawdling for? Strip and lie down now.]
[Will you become experimental material for the Star Radiance Priest, or will you immediately drop the disguise and kill everyone in the transplant room?]
Lin Xun decisively chose the former.
If the transplant failed, at worst he would waste a bit of soul strength, but if it succeeded, he might gain an unexpected reward.
[You quickly take off your clothes and lie naked on the operating table…]
[The Star Radiance Priest glances at your lower body and cannot help clicking its tongue. While picking up a syringe, it curses that you idiot, you only needed to take off your upper robe, who told you to strip completely?]
[It drives the needle into your arm and swiftly pushes in the liquid medicine.]
[You feel a massive wave of drowsiness crash over you and, in the haze, you seem to hear a few stray mutters from the Star Radiance Priest…]
[You are very large… but it will belong to me very soon…]
[…]