Chapter 281: Fusion, Eye of the Dark Moon! (Please Subscribe!)

Chapter 281: Fusion, The Eye of the Dark Moon! (Subscription Requested!)

Fire was burning.

Bernard's corpse had already been reduced to black charcoal, but Karen continued to cast the spell "Light Incineration" upon it.

Back when he worked at the funeral parlor, whenever he encountered a corpse that needed cremation, he always worried that the crematorium would skimp on fuel and fail to burn the body thoroughly, forcing him to use a small hammer to break it down himself at the end.

Expending his own effort was of little consequence; his real concern was that the clients wouldn't receive the complete ashes, as some larger retained bone fragments were difficult to fit inside the urn.

Whatever the case, Bernard had once been a friend to Purr, Jennifer, and Philias;

Out of professional ethics, Karen would not allow Bernard to harbor such a regret.

Finally, after the flames had scorched and hollowed out a massive crater in the ground, Karen bent down and blew a breath toward Bernard's now porous remains.

Bernard had been roasted until he was crisp and ready to turn to ash,

And with that single breath,

The structure that had still managed to retain a human shape completely dissolved into a pool of crystalline bone dust.

Karen picked up the broom in the cave, its bristle head long since rotted away, leaving only a stone rod, which he used to carefully poke through the ashes, confirming that no impurities remained and that no gallstones had been baked out;

Subsequently, Karen took a large stone basin and gathered all of Bernard's ashes into it, ensuring that the cave was left entirely immaculate.

Having finished this, Karen carried the stone basin to the seashore, walking along the coast while using a spoon he found in the cave to scatter the ashes into the ocean, spoonful by spoonful.

He walked the whole way, scattering them the entire time.

Once everything was dispersed, Karen placed the stone basin into the seawater and washed it thoroughly.

"Phew..."

Exhaling a long breath, Karen felt for the first time that destroying a corpse and erasing all traces was actually so complicated.

As expected, the cat in our family, Purr, saw through things most clearly; the safest approach was indeed to scatter Bernard's ashes to the wind.

Karen gathered a few relatively beautiful seashells, placed them into the stone basin, and carried it over to the corpse pit.

With half a pack of cigarettes left in his pocket, Karen poured them all out, stuck them upright before the tombstone, took out his lighter, and lit them all.

Watching the curling smoke rise, Karen could not help but smile:

"I wonder if anyone will ever burn incense for me, or for my followers, in the future."

The characters he had carved into the tombstone remained sharp and vivid, requiring the touch of time to wear away all the abrupt sharpness.

"I probably won't return to this island again, so I wish you all smooth sailing on your new voyage."

Immediately following this, Karen walked back into the cave and arranged the seashells he had gathered onto Jennifer's stone coffin:

"I spoke a bit too confidently before; if Purr wants to come visit you in the future, I might just tag along and make another trip here."

With this, the cleanup work was entirely concluded.

Karen found a stone bench and sat down, pulling two red crescents from his pocket, each only the size of a pinky fingernail, yet strikingly vibrant in their redness.

Everything inside them belonging to Bernard had already been erased by Karen, wiped perfectly clean; he had applied the purification spell nearly ten times just to handle them.

During that time, Karen had tried smashing them with stones and burning them with fire, but neither had caused any damage to these two crescents.

Therefore, Bernard truly hadn't worried about him directly destroying his corpse earlier, because this pair of Dark Moon Eyes would inevitably survive; as long as these eyes remained, Bernard would possess a chance to "come back to life."

In fact, if he hadn't returned to the cave once more to confirm Bernard's "corpse revival," Karen would never have inspected things so meticulously when dealing with Bernard's body.

However,

Now came the problem,

How exactly should he use this pair of Dark Moon Eyes?

That white worm was something he couldn't use himself and could only give to Richard, but this pair of Dark Moon Eyes felt very suitable for him.

His current style of combat relied heavily on the enhancement of the Dark Moon Blade; if he also possessed the Dark Moon Eyes, the amplification effect when using the Dark Moon Blade would bound to be remarkably pronounced.

Bernard would rather endure such torture just to grit his teeth and protect the secret of these eyes, and the reason he chose to place his coffin above ground was likely to rely on the moonlight of the Dark Moon to nourish them every night;

Therefore, the value of this pair of eyes was bound to be immense, very likely exceeding his own imagination.

Karen attempted to channel his spiritual energy into the pair of red crescents, yet he did not receive the slightest response, which meant its method of use differed from other holy artifacts.

Could it be that they needed to be pressed against the eyes?

Karen hesitated for a moment, then picked up one crescent and placed it over his own eye, but no effect occurred.

Was there an internal trigger mechanism?

Karen pursed his lips; the current situation was rather awkward because if he couldn't master this pair of things right now, then once he carried them back to Dark Moon Island, he might very well be detected by the people there because of them.

Although Bernard's descendants probably didn't know their ancestor possessed this funerary object, the connection between this thing and the Dark Moon was simply too great, and Karen didn't dare guarantee total safety.

"Tsk..."

Karen took a deep breath, drew his dagger, and cut open his palm; lately, the frequency of his palm getting cut open was a bit high.

Once the small slit was cut, Karen placed a crescent against his wound, yet it still remained entirely unresponsive.

Incapable of fusing, incapable of triggering.

Applying a minor healing spell to his palm, Karen manifested the Dark Moon Blade, but the Dark Moon Blade toward it, and it toward the Dark Moon Blade, were equally completely unresponsive.

Alright,

The only thing that could be confirmed was that it was bound to be an extremely high-level holy artifact, perhaps even surpassing the level of a holy artifact to a certain extent, given that even the introductory usage was already this complicated.

If his family's cat and dog were here, they would certainly have a way.

But dawn had already broken now, and he truly ought to head back; should he risk bringing this pair of things back with him?

If he just left them here, he really wouldn't be able to reconcile with it.

When moving Bernard's corpse earlier, Karen had resisted the temptation of the funerary objects; this time, he truly found it difficult to resist, as the difference in value was entirely different, and anyone's rationality carried a price tag.

Next, Karen used the power of Order, the power of Light, the water-attribute power of the Ancestor Allen, and he even summoned the black chains, yet none had any effect.

A pity; he had already let Mr. Eisen take Richard and activate the teleportation array to leave. If Eisen were here now, he could have had him use that Rubik's cube to deduce and analyze this pair of crescents again.

There was no alternative; to be safe, he would first find a place to apply a simple seal upon it and hide it away.

Karen held them in his left hand, tossed them upward, caught them again, and weighed them a few times.

Right at that moment, the ring finger of Karen's left hand suddenly twitched.

Karen lowered his head and discovered that one crescent had actually stuck itself to the silver ring on his left ring finger.

Ever since he put on that silver mask left behind by his grandfather, the mask had taken up residence on this ring that Mr. Lemar had crafted for him, altering its original style and color.

Karen raised his hand, watching the crescent being magnetically held and fixed upon it by the ring.

This works?

Karen placed the other crescent against it as well, and it was similarly drawn in.

"Heh..."

Karen did not know what would happen next; he didn't know how to use this pair of crescents, and he knew even less what use the silver mask left by his grandfather possessed...

Oh, no, once he had worn it to go to the forbidden space where he met Loya, and another time he relied on it to masquerade as a temple elder within that space of the sphere of light.

But Karen knew clearly that this was by no means the true purpose of this mask, and he had merely triggered a few peripheral functions by chance.

Now,

both were things he could not yet control; he wanted to see if any spark could be produced between them.

At that moment, Karen perceived the silver ring beginning to grow hot, and the crescent moons also began to exude a red glow.

Karen reached out to stroke the ring, twisted his neck, and the silver mask was donned upon his face.

Immediately, the two crescent moons that had originally been sucked and held by the ring broke free from it, floating before Karen as they began to rotate alternately.

This sign indicated that this pair of Eyes of the Dark Moon had been successfully triggered.

Well, though he did not know what the principle was, the current situation seemed quite good.

The two crescent moons rotated alternately and finally collided together, turning into a patch of moonlight that enveloped Karen.

Wearing the silver mask, Karen stood motionless; after the moonlight fell upon his body, it gathered toward the position of his eyes.

At this moment, Karen felt his eyes were extremely dry, but this uncomfortable sensation quickly vanished, turning instead into a burst of coolness.

Karen blinked hard, discovering that in his line of sight, a layer of dark red double vision had appeared; fortunately, the double vision was gradually receding, and after a while, his vision completely recovered.

Is that, it?

Karen attempted to mobilize the spiritual power within his body, only to find to his astonishment that the spiritual power within him was gathering toward the position of his eyes, as if being absorbed by his eyes.

"Hiss..."

This process seemed impossible to stop once it began, and Karen knelt on the ground in great pain; the speed at which his spiritual power was currently being drained was even more exaggerated than when he used to use the Awakening Technique to awaken corpses.

"Pant... pant..."

Time continued for about an hour, and Karen felt that the spiritual power within his body was almost completely drained.

Fortunately, it finally stopped.

Once it stopped, the spiritual power previously absorbed at the position of his eyes began to diffuse outward, forming a cycle.

"A storage effect, is it..."

Karen realized what had happened; this was equivalent to having an additional reservoir for storing spiritual power within his body now, and he clearly had not filled the reservoir provided by the Eyes of the Dark Moon yet; it had merely absorbed an amount equivalent to his original internal stock.

In other words, once he fully rested and replenished his physical state, the accumulation of spiritual power within his body would directly double as a result!

One must know that one of his original major advantages was a storage of spiritual power that surpassed ordinary people; now, this major advantage was directly doubled.

Then, when he used spells and engaged in battle in the future, unless it was a particularly extreme moment of crisis, he basically would no longer need to worry about the problem of overdrawing.

However, just as Karen stood straight, his eyes reddened once more, and a tearing force aimed at his soul struck.

After storing his spiritual power, was this going to split his soul?

All of this came without the slightest preparation, and a pain hard to describe in words crashed directly into Karen, allowing him to experience what Bernard had gone through earlier.

But along with the light emitted by the silver mask, the splitting aimed at his soul stopped directly.

Karen felt as if he had been pierced fiercely by a needle, after which nothing else happened, save for his face being drenched in cold sweat.

Reaching out, he touched the mask; this mask had protected the integrity of his soul.

"Whew... it should be completely over, right?"

Karen stood in place and waited for a while; no other changes occurred, and after confirming that the fusion was completely finished, Karen spread his palm, and the Blade of the Dark Moon appeared, but the Blade of the Dark Moon summoned this time was fully three times longer than before, and at the same time, the power of the dark moon upon it was purer.

When using the power of the dark moon, a blood color also surfaced in Karen's eyes.

With a slight wave, several deep gashes were immediately sliced into the stone wall of the cave.

"Not only is the storage doubled, but there is also an additional power output port when spells are used."

Karen felt that the next time he engaged in close combat, he should be able to fight Ophelia to a draw, and this was a conservative estimate.

After all, as long as he did not fall into a disadvantage at the beginning, Ophelia would certainly be no match for his kind of consumption in a stalemate.

"In the future, as long as my opponent fails to defeat me and heavily injure me at the very beginning, as long as I can drag them into a stalemate, I will have the ability to turn the tables in the mid-to-late stage."

Karen positioned his own strength once again; however, for the specific effect, he still needed to find someone to practice with, for example... the Captain.

After returning to Wien, he could find the Captain to spar in close combat again and have him give an evaluation.

With a thought from Karen, the silver mask on his face disappeared, but Karen noticed that within the silver ring, something else seemed to have appeared.

Triggering the ring anew,

the silver mask appeared on Karen's face once more, and then disappeared.

Immediately, Karen turned into Mr. Pavaro, and then turned back into himself.

"An extra mask has appeared..."

Karen stimulated it again, and in an instant, Karen turned into another person; he walked in front of the mirror in the cave that had been polished very smoothly and took a look; although the mirror surface could not achieve great clarity, one could roughly see who it was.

It was actually... Bernard's human skin mask.

"Damn! Truly disgusting."

This did not mean that any remnant of Bernard's aura or mental imprint remained, after which Karen had already cleaned it very thoroughly and completely.

It could only be said that the Eyes of the Dark Moon retained the existential inertia of their first owner, and then this existential inertia was duplicated by the mutated silver ring; of course, the main credit here belonged to the silver mask left by Grandfather.

"Presumably Lemar didn't even know that the ring he made could actually evolve..."

No, it was hard to say; after all, the parent puppets he made for Serena could actually develop to the point of emotional breakdown and divorce.

"After returning, I'll have Kevin and Puerh help look into whether Bernard's mask can be removed, or perhaps, find Lemar to have a look?"

Although Mr. Pavaro's image was greasy and slightly balding, Karen did not mind Mr. Pavaro's mask; on the contrary, toward Bernard, who looked very clean and well-maintained, Karen felt a genuine psychological and physiological discomfort.

Overall, in this matter, he had made a profit.

Not only did he learn about the organization "The Silencers," but he also obtained the Eyes of the Dark Moon, and in passing, he had also helped the Captain and Puerh scatter Bernard's ashes.

Alright, it was almost noon.

Karen re-inspected the cave; his Sword of Alius and the sword box had already been carried away by Richard first, which meant he had nothing extra to bring now.

After confirming there were no other left-behind traces, Karen walked out of the cave and arrived at the teleportation array.

The array activated, and a white light enveloped Karen.

"Buzz!"

Karen appeared on the carpet of the master bedroom; Mr. Eisen and Richard were not here, they should be waiting for him in the carriage outside.

However,

just as Karen was prepared to open the bedroom door to go out, he heard footsteps and voices of conversation coming from the stairs.

"Are you a bunch of useless trash? How could you lose the ancestor's remains?"

"General, it was our failure of duty, but at that time all the guards we could use were concentrated into the legion; there were truly not enough available hands at the Palace of Yearning."

"At all costs, the ancestor's remains must be found, and at the same time block this news, it absolutely must not be leaked outside; additionally, notify the Council of Elders to have them sense the location of the ancestor's remains through prayer to the Dark Moon.

The ancestor's remains must still be on the island, or at least, in the near seas!"

"Yes, General!"

"Furthermore, there is one more matter. In addition to the remnants of the Light who were slaughtered in the Palace of Yearning, isn't there still a batch confined within the dungeons? Go yourself and arrange for them to secretly board a ship and leave the island."

"General, this..."

"Do as I commanded."

"Yes, General!"

The captain of the guard departed, leaving Tafman to gaze at the bandaged wound on his arm. The island's physician had just treated him; though the evil spirit's corruption had been drawn out, this arm was completely beyond recovery.

Yet Tafman felt no great sorrow because of this. On the contrary, looking at the empty space by his shoulder actually brought a strange sense of relief to his heart.

He continued up the stairs: "Who on earth could have stolen the ancestor's remains?"

Arriving on the third floor, he had intended to head to the study, but his footsteps suddenly ground to a halt before the door of the master bedroom.

Standing behind the door, Karen heard the footsteps stop right outside, and his heart instantly skipped a beat.

Delayed as he was by various entanglements, he had emerged too late, and now he was actually trapped inside the bedroom by Tafman, who seemed to have already sensed that someone might be within.

Karen turned his gaze toward the bedroom window—should he jump?

But Tafman's guards were likely outside; by now, the various forces of Dark Moon Island should have returned to their respective posts.

Outside the door, Tafman extended his hand, gripped the doorknob, and pushed the door open, catching sight of the person standing just behind it.

Tafman's expression froze, giving way to utter shock:

"You... Your Excellency... how is this possible..."

Standing before him was none other than the ancestor, whose eyes shimmered with a remarkably pure dark moon luster—the Eyes of the Dark Moon, the symbol of supreme nobility!

Looking back at Tafman, a faint smile graced the corners of Karen's lips as he spoke in a slow, deliberate cadence:

"I hear you were looking for me?"

—

Good night!