As the sun in Maria’s World was bright and shiny, the cover on the floating castle was finally able to be taken off of its base. Verthandi and Delmedi lived happily in the floating castle for a long time.
The castle had a playground, library, a botanical garden, and even some strange buildings that Lu Zhiyu had built on the ground floor. Their favorite part about living there, however, was that they could see the stars from nearly every corner of the castle whenever they looked up to the sky.
Now that they were back in Maria’s World, both of them were very happy. One day, they were playing around in the castle, when they rushed into the study where Lu Zhiyu was usually resting. At this moment, however, Lu Zhiyu was not there.
So, they starting horsing around in Lu Zhiyu’s room, hitting each other with couch cushions. Then, they found a heavy book on the table.
“What is that book?” one of them asked.
“I don’t know! I haven’t seen it before!” the other replied.
The book had a thick cover with a fearsome skull on it, which attracted the attention of the two children. Delmedi picked up the book, opened it and found that it had a large number of pictures and explanations about the devil species in it.
“Wow! The monsters of the Abyss World!” Delmedi said.
“Put it back, or Daddy will be angry!” Verthandi requested.
“No, let’s just have a look. It’s so interesting!” Delmedi said.
“Delmedi!” Verthandi wrinkled her nose angrily and was going to grab that book, when Delmedi ran out with it still in her hands!
They kept chasing each other around on the lawn square, and at last, at the guard rail along the edge of the property, Delmedi was caught by Verthandi. While they were squabbling, the book suddenly fell down.
They were stunned, each of them holding onto the rail and looking down at the falling book! Below them were layers of clouds, under which were the sea and mountains, as well as many villages and cities along the shore.
Now, the floating castle was moving towards the east of Maria’s World. The black cover book then passed through the clouds and disappeared.
“Did it fall into the sea?” Delmedi asked.
“Papa is going to scold us!” Verthandi stared at Delmedi.
“It’s your fault. If you didn’t chase me, I wouldn’t have dropped it!” Delmedi said.
“Delmedi, you are a bad girl!” Verthandi shouted at Delmedi.
As the girls were arguing, Verthandi began to hit Delmedi and continued to scold her. Meanwhile, the black book kept falling, its pages turning in the wind.
Finally, the wind tossed it to reveal its front cover again, which, in addition to a black scary skull, revealed a line of Finnish symbols that meant “the Book of the Devil.”
Then, buffeted by the strong wind that was blowing, the book completely broke apart, scattering into numerous large sheets of paper…
————–
Eastern Tuten
In recent years, Tuten’s maritime trade had become more and more developed. Although a large number of Children of the Sea and a large number of beasts were still wreaking havoc in the sea, the humans began to master some extraordinary powers. Also, ships coming from the distant Church of Light territory continued to reach all parts of the Alan Continent.
Although ocean exploration and trade across the continent had not yet been successful, the territory of the whole Alan Continent had gradually been explored by human beings, which was a major leap in progress. Decades after the death of Saintess Kelly and the first pope, the Church of Light had been broken into numerous internal divisions.
Without artifacts and spiritual leaders such as Saintess Kelly, who represented absolute theocracy, no one could command the red cardinal bishops and the Temple Knights in the various kingdoms and principalities. As the new Pope of the Church of Light was unable to command red cardinal bishops and Temple Knights outside of sovereign territory, the parishes began to gradually become independent.
Although they still were under the control of the Church of Light nominally, they started to build their own relationships with the nobles of various kingdoms and principalities.
Also, as the parishes of the Church of Light began to make contacts within the local community, including the nobles, many aristocratic fleets began to employ knights and priests of the church and sent them out to conduct missionary work in distant places. Thus, the activities of the Church of Light had been further expanded, which had also led to the increased development of maritime trade.
Many of the priests’ were considered to be great asset aboard the ships, as their extraordinary powers were enough to fight off some offshore monsters and ordinary magical beasts. Some fleets, however, were unable to hire priests to come aboard, but they could choose wizards who had mastered the devil powers.
Akkad was a first-generation priest, as well as being a student of Anthony the Great Wise, who was the founder of wizard alchemy and the alchemy system. When Edward, Bohr’s disciple, had become a level four wizard, Akkad had given up his position as master of the wizard tower and chosen to travel.
The first generation of wizards, with the exception of Bohr, had experienced successive failures at this level so far. The most talented among them had his mind power severely damaged and lost the possibility of achieving level four.
Among the others, some suffered direct collapses of their awarenesses, while others almost died. As such, their success rate was much lower than Bohr had predicted.
Akkad had been stuck at the threshold to level four for a long time. Although his mind power was strong enough, he was still uncertain about it. Now that he was beginning to age, Akkad had to make up his mind soon.
After all, Akkad was now over a hundred years old, and most of his contemporaries had already passed away. For Akkad, this trip was also his final shot for a breakthrough.
Akkad slowly approached the legendary Tuten in a big boat. This huge eastern country was a city-state alliance country. The king was elected by each city-state and served for a term of seven years.
Number seven was of special significance to the Tutens, and the atmosphere in the province was quite different than that of the Church of Light. In recent years, missionary priests of the Church of Light began to arrive here, but little progress had been made.
The rejection of wizards here was not as strong as that of the Church of Light and the Orc Kingdom. But, because it was too far from the core of the human area, there weren’t many wizards in Tuten.
The Tutens nearby the docks were somewhat scantily clad. In fact, many of the men were naked, while the women’s clothing showed off their long legs. Near the dock, a large number of vendors had congregated to sell their wares.
“We have arrived, Mr. Akkad. Do you need anything else?” the captain asked.
“No, thank you!” Akkad said.
“All right, Mr. Akkad!” the captain politely sent Akkad off the ship.
Akkad was wearing a black robe. He looked about fifty years old and had a beard and numerous wrinkles on his face. Suddenly, several cries came from the market area, which attracted everyone’s attention.
“Help, help!”
“Hold him down!”
“What happened?”
Akkad heard the crowd shouting. Among the crowd, He immediately saw a man who was covering his neck with both of his hands and whose skin was melting and seeping out mucus.
The person then turned into a translucent state, little by little. Appalled by the sight of him, the people around him instantly retreated. Many timid people were frightened and fell to the ground in shock.
“Er, er… Er… Er! “The man pinched his neck as if to strangle himself. Several people around him wanted to hold him down, but they were suddenly thrown to the ground by an enormous force that came from out of nowhere!
The man opened his mouth, and inside it, there was a fist-sized eye that looked evil and fierce.
“Step away! It’s a curse from hell! He’s possessed by the devil!” Akkad shouted.
A large number of vendors fled in a panic, while overturned fruits and vegetables were everywhere. The market was in a total mess.
At that moment, Akkad waved his hand as a fireball hit the monster, causing it to turn green. Its mucus was like gasoline all over his body, and the whole man was lit on fire in an instant.
The monster closed its mouth, turned into a flame, and finally died. As there was an awfully bad smell coming from the blazing fire, everyone who smelled it felt dizzy and nauseous.
Before its death, it uttered an agonized scream that seemed to come from the pit of hell, and a large number of people could not help covering their ears. Everyone watched as the monster was engulfed by a scorching flame, then finally burned into ashes.
Some were hurt by the power of the eye, while some were too frightened to move. The busy coastal market had now become deathly silent…
As the sun in Maria’s World was bright and shiny, the cover on the floating castle was finally able to be taken off of its base. Verthandi and Delmedi lived happily in the floating castle for a long time.
The castle had a playground, library, a botanical garden, and even some strange buildings that Lu Zhiyu had built on the ground floor. Their favorite part about living there, however, was that they could see the stars from nearly every corner of the castle whenever they looked up to the sky.
Now that they were back in Maria’s World, both of them were very happy. One day, they were playing around in the castle, when they rushed into the study where Lu Zhiyu was usually resting. At this moment, however, Lu Zhiyu was not there.
So, they starting horsing around in Lu Zhiyu’s room, hitting each other with couch cushions. Then, they found a heavy book on the table.
“What is that book?” one of them asked.
“I don’t know! I haven’t seen it before!” the other replied.
The book had a thick cover with a fearsome skull on it, which attracted the attention of the two children. Delmedi picked up the book, opened it and found that it had a large number of pictures and explanations about the devil species in it.
“Wow! The monsters of the Abyss World!” Delmedi said.
“Put it back, or Daddy will be angry!” Verthandi requested.
“No, let’s just have a look. It’s so interesting!” Delmedi said.
“Delmedi!” Verthandi wrinkled her nose angrily and was going to grab that book, when Delmedi ran out with it still in her hands!
They kept chasing each other around on the lawn square, and at last, at the guard rail along the edge of the property, Delmedi was caught by Verthandi. While they were squabbling, the book suddenly fell down.
They were stunned, each of them holding onto the rail and looking down at the falling book! Below them were layers of clouds, under which were the sea and mountains, as well as many villages and cities along the shore.
Now, the floating castle was moving towards the east of Maria’s World. The black cover book then passed through the clouds and disappeared.
“Did it fall into the sea?” Delmedi asked.
“Papa is going to scold us!” Verthandi stared at Delmedi.
“It’s your fault. If you didn’t chase me, I wouldn’t have dropped it!” Delmedi said.
“Delmedi, you are a bad girl!” Verthandi shouted at Delmedi.
As the girls were arguing, Verthandi began to hit Delmedi and continued to scold her. Meanwhile, the black book kept falling, its pages turning in the wind.
Finally, the wind tossed it to reveal its front cover again, which, in addition to a black scary skull, revealed a line of Finnish symbols that meant “the Book of the Devil.”
Then, buffeted by the strong wind that was blowing, the book completely broke apart, scattering into numerous large sheets of paper…
————–
Eastern Tuten
In recent years, Tuten’s maritime trade had become more and more developed. Although a large number of Children of the Sea and a large number of beasts were still wreaking havoc in the sea, the humans began to master some extraordinary powers. Also, ships coming from the distant Church of Light territory continued to reach all parts of the Alan Continent.
Although ocean exploration and trade across the continent had not yet been successful, the territory of the whole Alan Continent had gradually been explored by human beings, which was a major leap in progress. Decades after the death of Saintess Kelly and the first pope, the Church of Light had been broken into numerous internal divisions.
Without artifacts and spiritual leaders such as Saintess Kelly, who represented absolute theocracy, no one could command the red cardinal bishops and the Temple Knights in the various kingdoms and principalities. As the new Pope of the Church of Light was unable to command red cardinal bishops and Temple Knights outside of sovereign territory, the parishes began to gradually become independent.
Although they still were under the control of the Church of Light nominally, they started to build their own relationships with the nobles of various kingdoms and principalities.
Also, as the parishes of the Church of Light began to make contacts within the local community, including the nobles, many aristocratic fleets began to employ knights and priests of the church and sent them out to conduct missionary work in distant places. Thus, the activities of the Church of Light had been further expanded, which had also led to the increased development of maritime trade.
Many of the priests’ were considered to be great asset aboard the ships, as their extraordinary powers were enough to fight off some offshore monsters and ordinary magical beasts. Some fleets, however, were unable to hire priests to come aboard, but they could choose wizards who had mastered the devil powers.
Akkad was a first-generation priest, as well as being a student of Anthony the Great Wise, who was the founder of wizard alchemy and the alchemy system. When Edward, Bohr’s disciple, had become a level four wizard, Akkad had given up his position as master of the wizard tower and chosen to travel.
The first generation of wizards, with the exception of Bohr, had experienced successive failures at this level so far. The most talented among them had his mind power severely damaged and lost the possibility of achieving level four.
Among the others, some suffered direct collapses of their awarenesses, while others almost died. As such, their success rate was much lower than Bohr had predicted.
Akkad had been stuck at the threshold to level four for a long time. Although his mind power was strong enough, he was still uncertain about it. Now that he was beginning to age, Akkad had to make up his mind soon.
After all, Akkad was now over a hundred years old, and most of his contemporaries had already passed away. For Akkad, this trip was also his final shot for a breakthrough.
Akkad slowly approached the legendary Tuten in a big boat. This huge eastern country was a city-state alliance country. The king was elected by each city-state and served for a term of seven years.
Number seven was of special significance to the Tutens, and the atmosphere in the province was quite different than that of the Church of Light. In recent years, missionary priests of the Church of Light began to arrive here, but little progress had been made.
The rejection of wizards here was not as strong as that of the Church of Light and the Orc Kingdom. But, because it was too far from the core of the human area, there weren’t many wizards in Tuten.
The Tutens nearby the docks were somewhat scantily clad. In fact, many of the men were naked, while the women’s clothing showed off their long legs. Near the dock, a large number of vendors had congregated to sell their wares.
“We have arrived, Mr. Akkad. Do you need anything else?” the captain asked.
“No, thank you!” Akkad said.
“All right, Mr. Akkad!” the captain politely sent Akkad off the ship.
Akkad was wearing a black robe. He looked about fifty years old and had a beard and numerous wrinkles on his face. Suddenly, several cries came from the market area, which attracted everyone’s attention.
“Help, help!”
“Hold him down!”
“What happened?”
Akkad heard the crowd shouting. Among the crowd, He immediately saw a man who was covering his neck with both of his hands and whose skin was melting and seeping out mucus.
The person then turned into a translucent state, little by little. Appalled by the sight of him, the people around him instantly retreated. Many timid people were frightened and fell to the ground in shock.
“Er, er… Er… Er! “The man pinched his neck as if to strangle himself. Several people around him wanted to hold him down, but they were suddenly thrown to the ground by an enormous force that came from out of nowhere!
The man opened his mouth, and inside it, there was a fist-sized eye that looked evil and fierce.
“Step away! It’s a curse from hell! He’s possessed by the devil!” Akkad shouted.
A large number of vendors fled in a panic, while overturned fruits and vegetables were everywhere. The market was in a total mess.
At that moment, Akkad waved his hand as a fireball hit the monster, causing it to turn green. Its mucus was like gasoline all over his body, and the whole man was lit on fire in an instant.
The monster closed its mouth, turned into a flame, and finally died. As there was an awfully bad smell coming from the blazing fire, everyone who smelled it felt dizzy and nauseous.
Before its death, it uttered an agonized scream that seemed to come from the pit of hell, and a large number of people could not help covering their ears. Everyone watched as the monster was engulfed by a scorching flame, then finally burned into ashes.
Some were hurt by the power of the eye, while some were too frightened to move. The busy coastal market had now become deathly silent…
