Chapter 328: Void Chat Room, Midnight Library

Many members of the Night Church have already responded; they are all scholars of considerable standing. Let us first review and discuss this material together before we initiate the tasks we have prepared.

Within the space of the Eden Seed, several people and one deity sat around a table. Upon the surface lay a small sapling manifested from the power of the Lady of the Night, which was currently extending thin, wispy threads of darkness to connect with everyone present, save for Wang Yu.

It is truly remarkable; with such a simple application, one can achieve face-to-face communication across vast distances.

Wang Yu had just learned from Avia about what she and the Lady of the Night had accomplished together. He could only say that it did not disappoint him in the slightest—or rather, it was a surprise layered with astonishment. The significance of this thing was truly immense.

Shall I open it, then? The current method of constructing this space is still quite crude, and the consumption of faith energy will be relatively high. Let us try to conserve as much as possible.

The Lady of the Night asked Avia, who sat beside her, preparing to activate the Void Chat Room.

The divine arts of the Lady of the Night are much easier to cast than those of other churches. For divine arts of the same level, where followers of other faiths might cast one, the followers of the Lady of the Night can cast two. Ultimately, this is all thanks to the Lady of the Night herself.

Other deities generally collect four-fifths of the faith energy from their followers to grow their own power, returning only one-fifth to the followers to borrow their strength for casting divine arts.

The Lady of the Night, however, keeps only about one-third for herself, returning the rest to her followers to fuel their divine arts and maintain the prayer communication network.

It is this form of faith energy distribution that allows her followers to achieve a simple state of self-sufficiency; as long as they maintain their faith, they need not worry about being unable to access the prayer communication network.

Open it. I have already uploaded the data to the Midnight Bookstore; we can pull it directly into the chat room from there in a moment.

Avia set down an object in her hand and nodded. The Lady of the Night waved her hand, and power from the night projected into the minds of every follower who had sent a request, docking with their souls and allowing their consciousness to enter a space constructed by the Lady of the Night.

At this moment, in Alastair, in Elliott’s caravan... in every corner, followers of the Lady of the Night closed their eyes, initiated prayers to cast divine arts, and brought their souls into contact with the power of the Lady of the Night, letting their consciousness submerge within.

When they opened their eyes again, everything before these followers had changed completely: an endless expanse of clear, limpid water, mirroring the beautiful, star-studded night sky above, with the colossal Tree of the Night standing silently and magnificently in the distance as a backdrop.

Truly incredible. Is this the power of the Lady of the Night?

It is so astonishing. What is the principle behind this? The power of a god is just like this; the souls of followers must be something truly special to a deity.

Is this world real? This feeling of being both illusory and tangible is hard to describe...

...

The followers who entered the Void Chat Room walked about in this space they had never seen before, attempting to familiarize themselves with this strange and breathtaking world.

The followers could see one another, but they could not discern each other’s faces; everyone here was merely a black silhouette, devoid of features or the like.

Hello?

Shier had also entered this space. As a devout follower of the Lady of the Night, he was very interested in this new phenomenon. One must remember that when Wang Yu was building the prototype of the prayer communication network, he had used Shier as the test subject.

Looking at his own hands, now turned into silhouettes, Shier could not sit still. He casually tapped a fellow black silhouette and offered a greeting.

Hello?

The other party paused before responding, seemingly not yet accustomed to this space.

May I test if I can interact with you?

Shier rubbed his hands together; he could not suppress his curiosity. This world projected their consciousness here, so could they perhaps fight or something similar?

Very well...

With a hint of hesitation, the other party nodded.

Hah! Oof!

Shier did not stand on ceremony; he lunged at the other with a sweeping leg. But the other party’s reaction speed was lightning-fast—jumping to dodge, side-stepping, and hooking Shier’s neck, he instantly pinned him to the ground, causing Shier to let out a series of strange cries.

Damn it, although our physical attributes are indeed identical, the techniques are still completely different...

Shier lay splayed out on the surface of the lake, lamenting in his heart why his luck was so poor that he had randomly picked a knight-class professional with superb combat skills.

It is a pity I cannot use the prayer communication network and this new thing; otherwise, I would really like to experience the feeling of virtual reality.

Wang Yu watched the scene projected into the air by the Lady of the Night. The screen showed that space and the little black shadows running around like curious babies, occasionally engaging in face-to-face wrestling—these were the followers who had entered.

Wang Yu actually wanted to use this ability as well, but as before, without the key as a transit station, nothing that acted upon the soul could take effect on him. Thus, he could use neither the prayer communication network nor the Void Chat Room.

What are you thinking about? This meeting is waiting for you. Put this on; by using your mental power to communicate with the runes, you can indirectly enter this space.

Avia interrupted Wang Yu’s thoughts with a smile, handing him the object she had been fiddling with.

Whoa.

Wang Yu took the monocle, which looked almost identical to the Perfect Fractal Lens, from the girl. He had not expected her to have prepared it for him already. My, this really is...

He put on the monocle, overlapping the Perfect Fractal Lens above his eye with this alchemical tool. Wang Yu then linked his mental power to the Perfect Fractal Lens, and the next moment, the scene of the Void Chat Room appeared before his eyes.

As Wang Yu entered, the other followers already inside turned their gazes toward his position.

The reason was simple: the moment Wang Yu entered, a massive table rose abruptly from the surface of the lake, with chairs circling it, clearly reserved for the followers.

Is that... the Archbishop?

It is Lord Wang Yu. Is the meeting about to begin? I wonder what could require such a marvelous space as a venue.

It must be Wang Yu, but would this guy really give himself such a flashy image?

On one side of the giant round table, a black figure sat, though its appearance was vastly different from the other little black men. Dark flames surged and boiled on its body, looking like a raging fire, and behind it, a tall, illusory shadow stood in silent vigil.

The followers discussed Wang Yu’s unique entrance. Shier, who knew Wang Yu well, was somewhat confused; Wang Yu had always been low-key, so why was his image today so imposing?

In fact, it was much as Shier suspected: Wang Yu’s perspective was fixed. He could only speak and observe; he could not see the image of himself burning with black flames, the phantom standing behind him, or the giant round table appearing with him. He assumed he was no different from anyone else.

Wang Yu said nothing else. After all, he was not the one chairing the meeting; he simply said, Everyone, please come and take a seat.

The followers gathered around and chose seats at random. The number of seats matched the number of followers perfectly, filling the space around the round table once they were all seated.

Everyone turned their gaze toward Wang Yu, who, despite no designated head of the table, was the default focus due to his conspicuous appearance, waiting for him to explain the matter at hand.

Wang Yu scratched his head. Since everyone was looking at him, it would not be inappropriate for him to speak. As long as he made things clear, there would be no problem.

I have brought you all here for two reasons. The first is to ask for your help in analyzing the contents of this material; if conditions allow, I would like you to perform some partial verification. The second concerns a new development regarding the Night Church, but we shall leave that for later.

As Wang Yu spoke, because he could not move, only his voice entered the Void Chat Room. To the others, it appeared as if the figure burning with black flames sat perfectly still, speaking with an imposing and calm demeanor.

Avia coordinated with Wang Yu’s words, manipulating void energy to manifest the material he mentioned into pages, presenting them on the table before every participating follower for them to peruse.

The participants present were all scholars of some capability, and naturally, they were curious about what this material could be. They quickly began to flip through the pages, and upon reading, they were immediately drawn into the content. A profound silence fell around the round table.

This material left behind by Lancer was something quite special; it was a summary inference regarding one of the key points of super-magic research. Even taken alone, it was a highly valuable piece of magitech research.

However, without combining it with other research content, one could not complete the super-magic research based on this key material alone. The incomplete parts of this data and the content requiring verification were exactly where Avia sought cooperation from the scholars among the Lady of the Night’s followers.

After about half an hour, some scholars finished reading the material and fell into deep thought. Soon, more and more people finished, and after pondering for a time, their inner confusion and interest transformed into a desire to speak.

Not knowing who the people beside them were, and since this material was not some precious personal possession, some scholars began to communicate naturally with those sitting next to them. Rapid discussions broke out around the round table.

Exchanging viewpoints, calculating together, refuting ideas, and offering mutual recognition and affirmation occurred among the scholars; negation and dissatisfaction arose simultaneously.

Those who reached a consensus left their seats to seek the opinions of a third party, while those who disagreed left their original positions, attempting to find someone who could verify their conclusions. Unknowingly, these scholars, now in a state of research, left their seats and began to discuss in small groups.

Time passed quickly, and these scholars reached a common conclusion: this material was highly valuable, but it could not be resolved through discussion alone. They would have to return to the material world and conduct experiments to arrive at an accurate answer; otherwise, there would be too many points of divergence and doubt that could not be reconciled.

Returning to his original seat, Charles volunteered to act as the representative, relaying the preliminary findings to Wang Yu, who remained motionless, and confirming that a return to the material world was necessary for further results.

Wang Yu nodded, recording these insights upon the endless pages, and with that, the matter of the documents was temporarily laid to rest.

"I thank you all for your analysis and study of these materials; next, I shall present to you a new creation of the Church of the Night—a sanctuary belonging solely to us, a platform for the preservation and sharing of knowledge: the Midnight Library."

As he spoke, he cast a glance at the introduction to the Midnight Library that the girl had handed him in the material world, and Wang Yu raised his eyebrows in astonishment; truly, the surprises were arriving one after another.

Darkness surged and solidified into form; above the lake where the round table rested, a multitude of bookshelves erupted from the void, encircling the believers who gazed about in equal wonder, rapidly coalescing into a vast and towering library.

The Midnight Library.