Chapter 108: Leonard

By the time Lei Ke Dun finally gathered all the materials needed for the ritual, more than a day had passed; the expense of buying gems was too high, so he was forced to earn some extra cash from a gang in the Eastern District.

After collecting the materials, Lei Ke Dun immediately began the ceremony, preparing to seek some starry‑sky‑related knowledge from Huang Guangweinitan.

He arranged the candles and materials required for the ritual, drew the symbol pointing to the spirit realm's Seven Lights, and dripped black mandala liquid onto the lit candles.

He stepped back and began chanting the incantation:

"Ever‑lasting light of the spirit realm, embodiment of boundless knowledge, the rational and adaptable Huang."

"I pray to you, I pray for knowledge related to the starry sky."

Huang Guangweinitan responded quickly; a stack of books traveled along the link between the ceremony and the spirit realm, thrown out from the other side.

"This isn't a sacrifice or granting ritual; it's that the ceremony pinpointed me, and then the books were thrown directly through the link from the spirit realm, right?"

Lei Ke Dun subconsciously guessed the technique Huang Guangweinitan used to send him those books.

He couldn't help but pat his own forehead as soon as he finished the sentence.

"Is this really a habit brought on by the demon drug? It already feels like my instinct," Lei Ke Dun muttered to himself.

"But the spirit realm's Seven Lights treat me so casually! It's like dealing with the neighbor's kid!"

"Eh, the neighbor? Mr. Huang, who has long resided in the spirit realm, and they really could be considered neighbors!"

His thoughts drifted for a moment; Lei Ke Dun felt his mental circuit wobble. He shook his head, stopped pondering the Seven Lights' attitude, since it was a good thing anyway.

At the end of the ceremony he thanked Huang Guangweinitan once, regardless of whether the other side could hear, and packed away the remaining materials, since they were acquaintances and could be used again next time.

Originally, Lei Ke Dun intended, after obtaining the knowledge from Huang Guang, to proceed with the advancement ceremony of the Corpse Collector Path, Sequence Five.

But seeing the books Huang Guang tossed to him, he felt it wouldn't be right to sacrifice the books outright.

"Looks like I'll have to copy them myself again."

Lei Ke Dun lifted the books from the ground and sighed.

To speed up the copying, Lei Ke Dun even summoned a spirit‑realm creature skilled at copying books to help. He later found that the creature's handwriting was far better than his own, so he had Tu Ba Ge also summon an identical spirit‑realm creature and handed all the books over to them for copying.

Re‑copying the few books Huang Guangweinitan gave that recorded starry‑sky knowledge took another few days.

"Raising an extraordinary animal of the Corpse Collector Path really was the right choice; future copying work can be entirely outsourced to restless spirits."

Holding the finally copied starry‑sky knowledge, Lei Ke Dun already thought of how to handle such situations in the future.

After preparing the Star Astronomer's advancement ceremony, Lei Ke Dun took out the auxiliary materials for the demon drug, quickly mixing a half‑finished bottle of it.

As the advancement ceremony began, the papers scattered around that recorded starry‑sky knowledge started moving on their own without wind, as if invisible hands were tugging them, then they began to slowly ignite themselves.

Seeing this, Lei Ke Dun quickly drank the half‑finished demon drug in his hand and then began to meditate.

As the meditative pattern formed in his mind, Lei Ke Dun smoothly poured his consciousness into that huge eye.

Then Lei Ke Dun's consciousness appeared again before the sage's attribute; he didn't know whether this was deep within his own mind or elsewhere.

But that massive eye, glowing a pale violet as if countless bits of information had coalesced, already showed faint signs of melting, as if merging with the surrounding space.

With Lei Ke Dun's consciousness present, a small fragment bearing many tiny glows peeled away and merged into his consciousness.

The meditative state was abruptly broken; Lei Ke Dun felt as if he were in a galaxy, every speck of starlight around him reflected perfectly into his eyes.

Those starlights were no longer ordinary glimmers in his eyes, but concretized knowledge.

Immersed in that starlight, it was as if he were immersed in an ocean of knowledge, and without Lei Ke Dun noticing, he gradually lost himself.

Under the demon drug's influence, Lei Ke Dun's body began to mutate, with one eyeless eyeball after another emerging from his flesh.

Between flesh and blood, many brass‑colored glimmers roamed, both merging with and suppressing the mutation.

Just as Lei Ke Dun was gradually losing himself, patches of starlight in the surrounding sky formed constellations that held together his drifting consciousness.

Until Lei Ke Dun began to regain himself, reuniting spirit and body. Only then did this advancement conclude.

"Huh~, advancement is getting more dangerous; even after completing the ceremony, it's like walking a tightrope—you can't afford any slack!" Lei Ke Dun sighed.

He then began to feel the changes and new extraordinary abilities the Star Astronomer bestowed upon him.

The Star Astronomer's core ability is a single one: "Starlight Power," which is more akin to harnessing natural forces.

At this stage, an extraordinary being's casting no longer leverages its own or surrounding spirit, but instead leverages the surrounding natural forces at a deeper level, channeling them into its spells, greatly enhancing effects while reducing personal consumption.

Using this nature‑representing starlight can blanket a region, causing the target to dissolve and crumble under the starlight.

It can also be infused into objects, vastly boosting certain effects, and even the starlight itself can be materialized into objects forged from starlight.

It can act on the self, turning one into countless starlights that reconverge, revealing one's own silhouette.

"In short, it's a caster who has mastered higher‑level power, somewhat like pre‑empowering abstract knowledge with tangible force."

Lei Ke Dun summarized the Star Astronomer's abilities.

After advancing to Star Astronomer, Lei Ke Dun felt his mind filled with much starry‑sky knowledge, such as how to draw power from the movement of constellations and how to make predictions from stellar changes.

"I'm starting to like this sequence; this starlight‑based ability may not be the strongest in the sequence, but it's definitely the coolest!"

Lei Ke Dun imagined the scenes of starlight he would cast wherever he went, and an uncontrollable grin curled his lips.

"Hmm?"

His own spirit was suddenly stirred; Lei Ke Dun saw a pale‑yellow sheet bearing a golden sunflower pattern fall from the spirit realm and drift before him.

"After this messenger mutated once, why does it look cooler!"

Lei Ke Dun reached out and took the paper that floated down.

It bore only a few scrawled characters: "Help! Leonard Mitchell."

"Leonard? What life does he want me to save? Shouldn't he be looking for his grandfather?"

Lei Ke Dun was puzzled for a moment, then realized:

"Pa Lie Si is asleep—no, that's not the point. How did I forget Ke Lai En again? I've already left Ting Gen; the goddess is being too petty! Or was it A Meng's brother who did it?"

"No, why did I suddenly decide to leave Ting Gen?"

"Damn! This is troublesome; I hope it's still in time."

Thinking of what's happening in Ting Gen now made Lei Ke Dun's head spin, and he couldn't help but curse.

Paries fell into a slumber because of his own reasons, and events over there are likely to undergo some changes.

Leiketon did not hesitate, stepping directly into the spirit realm and hurrying toward Tinggen.

When Leiketon arrived at Tinggen, the Leiketon still in the spirit realm felt the power of the Solar Realm erupt ahead, with scorching, dazzling light flashing.

When Leiketon left the spirit realm, the scene he saw was Deng En Smith lying on the ground, pierced in the left chest by a slightly pale hand belonging to Klein, and Leiketon could even see the shock and resentment in Klein's eyes.

Leiketon saw the former Grand Bishop of the Night Church, Insi Zangweier, standing behind Klein, and he also saw the Leiketon who had just stepped out of the spirit realm.

The two locked eyes, and a dazzling brilliance erupted again, the "Purification Slash" targeting evil spirits and vengeful souls appearing where Insi Zangweier stood.

Klein was already a corpse, so Leiketon need not worry about collateral damage; he simulated the Solar Realm ability most restraining to the necromancy realm, and purification‑infused light beams appeared one after another around Insi Zangweier.

Continuously dodging, Insi Zangweier tried to find a chance to counterattack, but what met him were instant, spontaneously ignited golden illusory flames.

Insi Zangweier could only keep evading, yet each time he managed to avoid the flames' attacks just right.

The next moment, Leiketon's simulated Light Fire scorched a passing spirit‑realm creature.

A strange creature resembling a stone‑carved ape suddenly emerged from the spirit realm, its body dotted with blackened scorch marks.

It let out a roar at Leiketon, raised an arm as thick as Leiketon's thigh, and swung a punch.

Leiketon was stunned to find the distance between himself and the spirit creature effectively nonexistent, and the opponent's fist landed on him the next instant.

Leiketon's figure instantly became transparent, like a statue formed of countless starlights, shattered by the punch into countless specks of starlight.

The starlight surged, and the next instant Leiketon's form reassembled within the fragments of star rays, appearing in another direction.

"Imprison"—as the incantation was spoken, brilliant star rays swirled around Leiketon, then one after another flew outward, landing on the stone‑carved ape and binding it in place.

But the imprison effect was poor, severely weakened, seeming ready to fail at any moment.

"Expel," another draconic word.

Leiketon's eyes were veiled with starlight, forcibly opening a rift between the spirit realm and reality in this area, and an invisible pull dragged the strange, tenacious spirit creature back toward the spirit realm.

The pull landed on the odd spirit creature, but its effect twisted, pushing it toward Leiketon instead.

A pure, bright light flared, shining on the spirit creature and dispersing most of its strange effect.

Whoosh!

A gale howled up, sweeping the spirit creature and hurling it into the forcibly opened rift between reality and the spirit realm.

Then another burst of starlight surged outward, weakening the connection between the surrounding spirit realm and reality.

When Leiketon finished all this and refocused his attention on Insi Zangweier, the opponent had already vanished.

"I've forgotten the main target again!"

Coming to his senses, Leiketon realized he had been subtly affected again. But this time it should be a 0-08 dry.

"No"

A hoarse, almost silent sound echoed through the ruins.

Leiketon turned his head and saw Leonard stumbling, half‑crawling, half‑walking, toward the bodies of Deng En and Klein.

"Sometimes, the one who is alive is the hardest to bear."

Leiketon dissolved into starlight, then reassembled beside Leonard.

(End of Chapter)