Chapter 695: Mobilization of the Artifact Spirits!

Chapter 695: The General Mobilization of Artifact Spirits!

"Life behaves much like a generous elder, deeply fond of presenting us with gifts. For some, unwrapping the box brings a delightful surprise; for others, it is nothing short of a horror."

"Ultimately, whether it is what you desired or not, refusal is simply not an option."

"So, Cullen, are you mocking me?"

"A little, perhaps." Cullen lifted his water glass, took a sip, and continued as he set it back down, "My apologies. That part about the syringe caused me to lose my composure slightly."

"Hah. I am ranked even lower than a breeding boar."

"Perhaps you could visit a pig farm for some firsthand observation. It might..."

"Might what?"

"Might make you feel a bit better. If you look closely enough, you should still be able to find a few advantages you hold over a breeding boar."

"I actually thought you would sympathize with me."

"You should sympathize with me. To think you actually activated a communication array just to talk about this. Do you have any idea how many crystals were consumed on my end while I listened to you ramble just now?"

"Our friendship cannot be measured in mere coin."

"You ought to consider the cost of maintaining that friendship as well. Next time, let us just use the telephone. Truly."

"Are you that short on vouchers?"

"Lately, there have been rather many places requiring their use."

"Well, once my department is fully established, a portion of the funds can be routed through your office."

"What do you mean by that?"

"You do not understand? In any case, the expenses of a department are massive—plenty of items that can be clearly accounted for, and plenty that cannot. If you permit your people to provide services for me, I will simply wrap those costs into the budget."

"As a friend, I worry you will end up at a disadvantage."

"It is not as if they are my own vouchers. My quarterly operating budget is a fixed amount; if I do not spend it all, it cannot be converted directly into personal cash anyway. Besides, Cullen, you are already the local power here. How could anyone manage a department's work in York City without dealing with the Whip of Order?"

"You seem to have forgotten that your fiancée is about to become the regional director here. Surely no one would make things difficult for you under such circumstances. Furthermore, your own status is already noble."

"That has nothing to do with her. Besides, a noble status does not mean things actually get done smoothly down in the local districts. I am not that pedantic or naive. I am not a child in kindergarten."

That analogy sounded somewhat familiar.

It seemed a certain someone quite liked using that very comparison for those esteemed Children of God.

Cullen suddenly thought of a possibility and asked, "Who suggested this to you?"

"You guessed it? Heh, the head of investigation who lent me his office. I thought what he said made a great deal of sense."

"Mm, yes." Cullen cleared his throat and added, "Your judgment of character has always been exceptionally precise."

"At any rate, I have only one requirement. My special allocation of funds can flow through your office, but you must promise to secure a few more entities like that six-winged angel for me."

"Items of that caliber are not exactly ornamental flowers lining a park pathway, to be plucked whenever one pleases."

"And yet, I find it to be the simplest and fastest method, is it not?"

"Very well. Next time you can just say so directly without such a lengthy preamble."

"That matter is merely secondary. My emotional troubles were the true purpose behind wanting to contact you this time. After all, when it comes to such things, you are the only one I can speak to. To anyone else, I simply cannot voice them at all; I even have to deceive them. Right, how long will your vacation last? I want to meet up for a drink."

"I return tomorrow, but I have quite a lot on my plate during this period. Your affairs will have to be pushed back a bit."

"Oh? A friend's matters are of so little consequence?"

"Precisely because we are friends, I feel comfortable postponing them for a while."

"Heh." Mavalio let out a cold laugh. "In light of your attitude toward a friend, I shall speak quite a few ill words about you in her presence over the next few days, just to add some difficulty to your future work."

"In light of what you previously stated, your fiancée supposedly detests you quite thoroughly. Speaking ill of me to her will very likely backfire, causing her to view me with greater favor."

Mavalio fell silent.

Deactivating the communication array, Cullen shook his head with a touch of helplessness.

"Chief, I truly did not expect a Child of God to possess such a side," Muri said with a smile.

"Very childish, is it not?" Cullen asked.

"I can perceive that he truly regards you as a friend."

"I can perceive it as well, but my own affairs were nearly delayed on account of his romantic entanglements."

Cullen produced the Laks copper coin, resting it openly in his palm, and instructed Muri, "Go keep watch outside."

"Yes, Chief."

Muri stepped out of the communication room and took up a defensive position. Simultaneously, to be safe, he gripped a smooth, rounded pearl. This pearl possessed a mind-calming effect, which happened to be perfect for preventing himself from being affected by any leaked influence from the Laks copper coin.

The pearl had been sent to him by his family, yet Muri knew it was likely a gift from his grandfather, given that he had also received a promotion recently.

However, though he accepted the item, Muri had long ceased to feel any affection for that household.

A beam of light emanated from the ring on Cullen's fingertip, and immediately following, a silver mask overlaid his face. Under Cullen's stimulation, the Laks copper coin began to awaken.

As the artifact spirit of the copper coin, Loya ought to receive the resonance.

Very quickly, Cullen perceived a vortex of consciousness waiting ahead for him to enter. Without hesitation, Cullen plunged straight into it.

Following a passage of pitch-black tunnel, Cullen perceived a gaze sweeping past.

This was the eye responsible for guarding the sealed space of the Church of Order, rumored to originate from a powerful, fierce beast.

Soon, the gaze swept away, and seizing this window, Cullen continued his descent.

Finally, the darkness transformed into a starlike luster, and Cullen materialized atop a platform. Placed before him was a transparent box containing two Laks copper coins.

"Who are you..."

The voice of a woman drifted over. Cullen turned sideways and saw a woman clad in a long blue dress appearing at his side.

No, to be exact, it was he who had suddenly appeared at her side.

"Mmh..."

Loya, who was supposed to be asleep, rubbed her eyes. The moment she caught sight of Cullen, she immediately began rubbing them even harder.

"Oh, why am I still dreaming?"

"Loya, you are not dreaming," the woman in the blue dress said.

"Ah!"

Loya immediately sat upright, her face lighting up with pleasant surprise. "Brother Cullen, is it truly you?"

Upon hearing this title, the woman gazed with a somewhat complex expression at the man wearing the silver mask. Clearly, she was no stranger to the name Brother Cullen.

"It is me, Loya."

"Sister, my Brother Cullen came to visit me, heehee!"

Loya skipped down, actively reaching out to wrap her arms around Karen's, only to find herself failing.

Here, these powerful artifact spirits possessed bodies that were nearly substantial; instead, it was someone like Karen, who entered merely relying on his soul consciousness, who was the unreal one.

The woman clearly had many doubts in her heart, but she still turned around immediately and reminded, "Watch out for the time when the next round of gazes sweeps past. I'll go keep watch for you, for fear someone might come over to visit at this moment."

"Alright, thank you, sister."

The woman disappeared.

"Brother Karen, you don't know, sister is so good to me, she has taught me a lot of things, hee-hee, she is absolutely someone worthy of trust. Oh, right, sister's true form is a harp, the Goddess Mils's harp."

The Goddess Mils's harp?

The divine artifact of his own dog's dream goddess?

"Brother Karen, did you come to see me?"

"I came to ask for your help, Loya."

"Okay, okay!" Loya immediately clenched her small fists, "Being able to help Brother Karen makes me very happy, heh-heh."

"You just helped me a great deal not long ago, have you forgotten?"

"That doesn't count, that was official business, without any personal nature. This time, it must be of a personal nature, right?"

Loya knew that if it were official business, her Brother Karen would apply to go through the regular procedures, rather than coming to see her secretly like this in front of her eyes.

"Yes, I have a symbiotic contract partner."

"Oh? Brother Karen's symbiotic contract partner must be a very powerful demonic beast!"

"Yes, it is completely pitch-black, its sharp claws are keen, and it can spray lava."

"Sounds so fierce and powerful!"

"But for a long time we have been facing a problem, because of a past severe injury, its strength is now being heavily restricted..."

"Then wouldn't it be unable to help you with anything, Brother Karen?"

"Yes, I am now preparing to set about resolving this problem, which requires a surgery, but this involves the symbiotic contract, and the risk of the surgery is very high. I have obtained a blueprint in my hands, but this set of plans might not be mature, so I hope you can invite some artifact spirits here who have attainments and insight in this area to help refine this plan. Can you do it?"

"Of course, no problem!" Loya patted her little chest, "I can move them to help, leave it to me!"

There was a bunch of artifact spirits whose enthusiasm she could absolutely mobilize!

"Thank you, Loya."

Karen spread open his palm.

At the same time, Karen inside the communications room of the Allen Manor also spread open his palm, within which lay a scroll, imprinted with the surgical plan. Karen was using his own soul consciousness as a bridge to imprint it for Loya here.

After all, although his person was here right now, he couldn't bring even a single piece of paper over.

However, Karen had still underestimated the difficulty of conducting a consciousness imprint here; the mental imprint in front of him attempted to condense several times, yet all failed.

"It seems undoable," Karen said with a bit of helplessness.

The plan was very complex, with every link holding immense complications; it was impossible for Karen to directly dictate it to Loya here. If he wanted her to find other artifact spirits to help, she had to at least have a complete plan in hand.

"Brother Karen, you can't do it in this state of yours; you still have to carry out a blessing by setting up a formation."

Karen was currently only "communicating" through the attraction between the silver mask, the copper coin, and the artifact spirit. In fact, Karen also possessed a method to borrow Loya's power to a certain extent, but that required setting up.

"My valet is already setting up the formation. Once the formation is set up, I will contact you again; I had made preparations for both ways earlier."

"Ah, Brother Karen, you haven't come in vain then. If we utilize a formation, I need a little bit of time to make some arrangements in advance so as to conceal the commotion."

"I know, you've told me before, wait for me a moment."

"Alright, Brother Karen, I'll wait for you."

At this moment, Karen perceived that the gaze was sweeping over again, and he immediately withdrew his consciousness.

"Buzz!"

Inside the communications room of the Allen Manor, the silver mask on Karen's face vanished out of sight, and his person stood firm after his figure swayed slightly.

If communicating with Mavallio earlier only consumed some spirit crystals, then the communication with Loya just now was a real and solid consumption of his own soul power.

It was a good thing that his own soul strength was strong enough, otherwise a clergyman of the same tier might have their soul shatter from communicating just once.

Heh, in this, there was also the credit of the Scythe of War; no matter who was slashed by that thing from time to time, as long as they didn't die, it would be very hard for their soul strength not to increase in a disguised way.

Karen walked out of the communications room.

Muri: "Chief, is it completed?"

Karen shook his head: "I still have to go to Alfred's place to borrow the power of the magic array to complete it."

"I'll accompany you."

"Mm."

Karen walked out of the ancient castle, and under Muri's accompaniment, he walked into the performing arts hall.

At this time, in the central area of the performing arts hall, Alfred was meticulously arranging the formation. Seeing Karen arrive, Alfred smiled and said, "It seems it didn't succeed, but please rest assured, Young Master, in another two hours, this subordinate will be able to complete it."

"Let me arrange it together with you."

"No need, Young Master, several of the more complex formation links have already been arranged by this subordinate; next is purely graffiti and coloring."

Karen nodded, walked in front of a coffin, and said, "Then I'll go talk with Old Saman and the others first."

"Alright, Young Master, I will notify you when it's completed."

Karen stood in place, closed

"Yes, please take good care of yourselves."

Karen nodded. He knew that these two must be quite anxious. If they had died, they wouldn't have any troubles, which might actually be better. But it just so happened that he had revived them, and now it was equivalent to forcing them to remain "imprisoned" while fully conscious.

Without this "hope" keeping them dangling, they were in fact enduring a kind of excruciating torture.

However, Karen himself was unsure when exactly he would awaken that specific power of the Chains of Order. He felt it was very, very close, yet it also felt like a layer of window paper, leaving him with absolutely no idea where to poke through it.

Leaving the dream world and opening his eyes, Karen returned to the center area surrounded by twelve coffins.

"Young master, I was just about to go and call for you, haha. The arrangement has been completed."

Karen glanced at the array on the ground. This was a collection of several spell formations. Individually, none of them were very difficult to set up. If he had enough array materials in hand, Karen could even deploy them quickly and easily. The complexity, however, lay in the integration of several critical nodes. They could not be allowed to interfere with one another during collective operation. This required a vast amount of time and effort to fill in using the clumsiest of methods.

"If we encounter a sudden emergency in the future, we probably shouldn't rely on Loya's power."

"Yes, young master. But with your current position, sudden emergencies should be getting fewer and fewer. Besides, aren't there still Muri and the others?" Alfred gently rubbed his wrist. "Muri and his companions will use their loyalty to stand before you forever, buying the best possible timing for you."

"Yes, Minister," Muri immediately chimed in.

"Mm, very good."

Karen could only sigh in his heart. It seemed that Alfred's ideological education work had been developing very well lately.

The array was activated. Karen held the Laks bronze coin in his left hand and the scroll in his right, the silver mask once again covering his face.

In the next moment, a black vortex appeared beneath his feet. The vortex first expanded and finally began to shrink, turning into a circle of half a square meter, gradually manifesting substantial form.

According to the normal process, Loya could project a portion of her power out through here.

Only this time, Karen needed to project something over. He bent down and dropped the scroll into it, and the scroll vanished out of sight.

...

"Listen, you are all a bunch of useless fools! You have painstakingly researched prison breaks for countless ages, launched countless escape attempts, and failed every single time! I feel ashamed just for you!"

Loya had changed into a black divine robe. With her hands on her hips, she unceremoniously directed her mockery at the crowd of artifact spirits standing around her.

This circle of artifact spirits was either breaking out of prison or planning a prison break every single day.

They had failed continuously yet never gave up. To a certain extent, this could be considered a screen of the highest standard. After all, for those who could endure until now while maintaining their initiative and enthusiasm, their "political stance" was absolutely trustworthy.

At the very least, they would absolutely never snitch!

"Loya, do you know what you are saying?"

"Little girl, do not think that just because we usually spoil you, you have the right to talk to us like this."

"We only look out for you because you are the youngest, not wanting to see you get bullied."

"How dare you defile our glorious cause!"

"It seems I need to teach you a lesson, haha."

The woman in the blue dress stood by the side, remaining silent. She was not pondering how "Brother Karen" had managed to get in. She was curious as to why Loya's "Brother Karen" possessed an aura that made her feel so comfortable—a completely unfamiliar yet deeply intimate familiarity.

Thinking of this, when the woman in the blue dress looked at Loya again, a trace of apology surfaced in her eyes. Loya had always told her how wonderful and charming her "Brother Karen" was, and it seemed... it might be true.

Otherwise, she simply could not explain where this inexplicable good impression had come from. How could she feel such closeness to a man without even seeing his face?

"The method of prison break you have been bitterly searching for, I have already found. A mysterious and great existence has established a connection with me. He possesses the ability to enter and leave this forbidden space!

He promised that one day in the future, he will take me out of here and grant me true freedom.

Now, I likewise promise you that on the day I leave, I will also take all of you out with me!"

"The little girl has gone mad."

"Newly born artifact spirits are indeed prone to mental disorientation. I was the same back then."

"Yes, exactly. She has fallen into a delusion."

"Loya, you need to be wary of your state. We artifact spirits actually face the risk of losing our minds as well."

Loya scolded, "Hey, hey, hey! Did you all forget what I just said? That is a mysterious and great existence!"

"A mysterious and great existence... Loya, who are you telling stories to? Which of our former masters wasn't a great and mysterious existence?"

"Exactly. Are you trying to say that the one who established a connection with you is your God Laks?"

"Hahaha, how come I didn't know that God Laks has already returned? If he returned, wouldn't our masters have returned too?"

"Oh, don't mock the little girl like that. What if a certain god really returned ahead of schedule and specifically took a liking to our little Loya?"

"Which god would dare to do such a thing? This is the forbidden space of the Church of Order. Even if we exclude that big fellow who glares and scans this place every day, just the tight guard of the Church of Order's Forbidden Space Department is absolutely not something anyone can enter at will.

Even the deities of the past wouldn't dare to stretch their hands directly in here, because that would be viewed as a severe provocation to the Church of Order."

"Yeah, is he not afraid of the God of Order's wrath?"

"Don't talk about little Loya like that, okay? What if the mysterious and great existence connected with her is the God of Order himself?"

The crowd of artifact spirits erupted: "Hahahahaha!"

Amidst the surrounding mockery, Loya squatted down.

The surrounding artifact spirits all thought the little girl was too aggrieved and embarrassed by the ridicule, wanting to crouch down, hold her head, and weep. But who would have thought that Loya's next action would leave the surrounding spirits with wide-open mouths, entirely losing their voices.

Because they saw a black vortex appear before Loya, and immediately after, a scroll emerged.

The artifact spirits: "..."

Everyone knew very well that this was definitely not the regular channel from the forbidden space when a divine artifact needed to be deployed. This was truly... a private channel!

She could actually construct a teleportation array within the forbidden space and successfully transport a physical item inside!

Although this private channel was too small and too fragile to allow an artifact spirit to complete a smuggling operation, let alone leave with their own original divine artifact body, this had already directly surpassed all the achievements of this prison-break group over countless years!

Since a crack had already appeared, could a fissure, a cave, a collapse... be far behind?

Loya held up the scroll, her eyes sweeping across the surroundings. She found that the eyes of all the artifact spirits around her began to turn red, and their breathing grew heavy.

"The facts have already been presented before you. First of all, we need absolute confidentiality regarding this matter. We cannot let the other artifact spirits outside know. You also know that in their eyes, our group is a bunch of idiots who only know how to perform futile tasks for countless ages.

Moreover, even if we snitched, what could we get? Get a higher-class prison area arranged for you by the Church of Order? We all know that the Church of Order can never give us the freedom we desire!"

As Loya spoke these words, what surfaced in her mind was the tone and demeanor of Brother Karen when she had gone to court to testify that day.

Facts proved that her Brother Karen was the best in every aspect. Look, their emotions had already been completely stirred up by her.

"Our former masters have either fallen, gone into hiding and vanished, or died under the suppression of the God of Order. Although according to the prophecy, they might return at some point in the future.

But just as you said, we are imprisoned in the forbidden space of the Church of Order. Even if your former master returns, would he dare to come and take you back to rescue you?

Perhaps the God of Order has also returned, haha.

Therefore, for a group like us, whoever can grant us freedom is our new master. Do you agree?"

"Agree!"

"That's right!"

"As long as it can get me out, as long as it can give me freedom!"

"For freedom, I am willing to pay any price!"

"This is my dream, the dream that our group has pursued!"

"We are not like those artifact spirits who have no initiative. Their fighting spirit has already been ground away in the years of imprisonment. They don't even deserve to be called artifact spirits!"

"Yes, only this small remnant of us, artifact spirits who have clung fast to the yearning for freedom, have lived up to the true purpose of existence!"

"..."

"Excellent, then next..."

Luoya nodded with deep satisfaction, then once more hoisted the scroll in her hand high above:

"Together, let us fulfill our master's task!"