Chapter 79: Change (Third Update, Requesting Monthly Tickets)

Lu Mi had previously told Ryan Cos and others in brief about Guillaume Béne’s chest bearing the black thorn symbol, the Hidden One’s title containing “Fate,” and the corresponding material components—gray amber, tulips, lilacs, and musk—blaming all sources solely on the parish priest, distancing himself entirely from the matter.

Now, upon his warning, Lyra, Ryan Cos, and Valentine immediately grew alert, forming corresponding suspicions.

“Place of sacrifice?” Ryan Cos murmured to himself.

As he spoke, everyone turned their gazes toward the basement.

With the faint light trickling down the stairs, they barely made out the general shape inside:

The space beneath the church was slightly larger than the entire first floor of Lu Mi’s home, its floor paved with gray-white stone slabs, the surrounding areas plunged into deep darkness where light barely reached, and in the center stood a stone altar half a person’s height.

The top of the altar slightly indented inward, as if concealing something, though it remained indistinct.

Lu Mi, lost in thought, whispered:

“This may be where the parish priest and others petitioned the evil entity for ‘blessings.’”

“They built a demon altar beneath the church!” Valentine was utterly enraged; Lu Mi suspected he might ignite at any moment, transforming into holy light to purify everything here.

“Calm down,” Ryan Cos slapped Valentine’s shoulder. “Prepare to ignite the flame.”

He then gestured for Lyra to conduct a reconnaissance.

Lyra maintained her sweet smile, sniffed her upturned nose, and said:

“The Hidden One whose title contains ‘Fate’ really loves fragrance…”

As she sighed, she stepped into the basement, her lips moving silently, as if reciting something wordlessly.

The four small silver bells on her again tinkled, sometimes fiercely, sometimes gently.

One step, two steps, three steps… Lyra turned back to Ryan Cos and the others and said:

“No anomalies at the entrance.”

Only then did Ryan Cos, Lu Mi, and Valentine pass through the aged brown wooden door and entered the basement, reaching the spot where Lyra had stopped.

Lyra continued forward.

After only a few steps, the silver bells hanging from her veil and boots began to shake violently.

Ding-dong! Ding-dong!

The sound rushed urgently in all directions.

Immediately, Ryan Cos’s body was surrounded by specks of dawn-like light, coalescing into a full-body suit of silver-white armor on his skin.

At the same time, a pure light greatsword appeared in his hand.

Valentine half-opened his arms, allowing golden phantom flames to ignite beside him.

One of the flames suddenly stretched and widened, and Lyra’s figure stepped out from within.

She returned from near the altar to where Lu Mi and the others stood.

How miraculous… Lu Mi marveled again at Lyra’s abilities; compared to the comprehensible, imaginable “Sun” Path powers and Ryan Cos’s battle state, Lyra’s manifestations were far stranger and more uncanny—like yesterday’s ability to shift his wound from his thigh to his calf’s edge, utterly unthinkable.

Faced with this sudden “alarm,” Lu Mi did the only thing he could:

Drew his iron-black axe and retreated behind Ryan Cos, whose body had grown considerably larger.

During this, he glanced around and detected no unusual changes.

Remember, he was using “Spirit Sight.”

Of course, Lu Mi did notice something—through the light cast by the golden flames, he saw piles of human bones along the basement’s edges, some still covered with pale sheepskin.

Were these previous offerings? The parish priest and others had been conducting occult rituals here for at least half a year, yet Lu Mi and Aurora had noticed nothing… Lu Mi’s thoughts flashed rapidly; he felt again how alien the village of Keldu, where he had lived nearly five years, had become—something here had been off for a long time, perhaps since the very beginning.

“Is everything alright?” Ryan Cos asked Lyra, keeping his gaze fixed on the altar.

Lyra shook her head:

“No obvious problems, just signs of danger.”

“Strange…” Lu Mi had just turned his head to look at Lyra when his voice cut off abruptly.

He saw the beautiful woman’s face turning translucent, beneath which writhed countless twisted worms, crawling in and out, making her more terrifying, more sinister, more spine-chilling and heart-pounding than any legendary demon.

This surpassed Lu Mi’s imagination—he feared he would suffer nightmares for a long time.

“Y-your face!” he blurted out, unable to suppress his terror.

Lyra instinctively touched her face with her right hand, and her expression changed instantly.

Whether her complexion had changed, Lu Mi couldn’t tell through the translucent, writhing worms.

Lyra quickly looked at the back of her hand—its skin had also turned translucent, the flesh beneath seemingly transformed into strange worms.

"You're nearing loss of control!" Valentine also noticed Lyra's condition.

Lyra murmured in confusion:

“But my mental state feels fine.”

“First, confirm whether this is an illusion,” Ryan Cos reminded, turning his head.

Almost simultaneously, Lu Mi noticed the tall warrior rapidly shrinking—his silver-white armor and the light greatsword dissolved along with him.

In the blink of an eye, Ryan Cos had become a mere one-meter-fifty-tall dwarf, his brown tunic and light-yellow trousers now too large or too long.

Was he also changing? Only Lu Mi and Valentine remained unaffected… Lu Mi’s pupils dilated sharply; he instinctively glanced at Valentine.

“Ryan Cos, you’ve shrunk!” Valentine, now a pure being of light, urgently warned his companion.

“…” Lu Mi, nearly blinded by the light, hurriedly asked Lyra, “Have I changed?”

Lyra, her face crawling with countless translucent worms that seemed ready to burst free yet remained bound to flesh, replied:

“You’re normal.”

“But in this situation, normalcy may be the greatest abnormality.”

I’m normal? Could the black thorn symbol be protecting me, making this ‘danger’ perceive me as one of its own? Lu Mi suddenly suspected.

At this moment, Ryan Cos had finished examining his body and, still on guard, said:

“I didn’t shrink—I reverted to my former appearance. I’ve lost all my supernatural abilities.”

“Former appearance?” Lu Mi blurted out.

A vague idea flickered in his mind.

Ryan Cos nodded:

“Yes. I was born short—a great misfortune for a man—so when choosing ‘potion’ paths, I selected ‘Warrior,’ which effectively altered my height.

“Whether lucky or unlucky, in the past five or six years, anomalies and monsters related to the ‘Warrior’ Path have increased dramatically, making it easier for me to acquire the materials needed for advancement.”

After hearing Ryan Cos’s words, Lu Mi roughly understood the source of the transformation:

“You’ve returned to your past!”

“As far as I know, the Hidden One’s authority involves the past…”

Here, imitating the mysterious woman, he deliberately paused for several seconds, adding another phrase:

“And also the present, and, and, and, the future.”

Though he was speaking in Intis, caution was still necessary.

Lyra reacted instantly, blurting out:

“Valentine and I have entered the future—this is the state of one of our futures?”

“And I’m the present?” Lu Mi affirmed Lyra’s guess with a question.

He then recalled the three-faced monster he’d encountered in the Dream Ruins.

The monster had only one head, yet bore three faces—one aged, one mature, one youthful.

Lu Mi suspected this too was a blessing from the black thorn symbol’s master, of higher tier, but the recipient had been unable to bear it—or had encountered some accident—becoming the three-faced monster.

Lyra nodded gently:

"Probably. But this change hasn’t affected my mental state—I feel no hint of loss of control."

“Nor do I feel myself burning,” Valentine added.

Ryan Cos thought for a moment and said:

“Similarly, I haven’t lost my memories.

“Perhaps only a trace of power remains here, unable to affect mind, soul, or memory—but if we remain in this state too long, I’m unsure what serious aftereffects might arise.

"I'm fine; I can simply re-ingest the potion and advance again. But you two—your futures were originally full of possibilities, yet now, perhaps they’re already fixed: one lost control, one turned to holy light. This is, uh, what I understand as ‘Fate.’"

“How terrifying,” Lyra remarked with a smile. “Fortunately, we can still restart the cycle—and perhaps even find our way back to the ‘present’ here.”

Seeing no monstrous threats approaching, Lu Mi suggested:

“Shall we leave first? See if we can naturally revert?”

“And perhaps along the way, we’ll encounter the force of the ‘present.’”

Ryan Cos didn’t object:

“Let’s try.”

He was now an ordinary man; advancing further would be dangerous.

"I fear another shift might trigger outright loss of control," Lyra said cautiously.

Encountering the ‘present’ would be good; encountering the ‘past’ would be troublesome—adding another layer of ‘future’ might lead to unknown consequences.

Lu Mi volunteered:

“I’ll go ahead. I still have one chance to change my state.”

He mainly wanted to test whether he’d simply been lucky to encounter the ‘present,’ or whether the black thorn symbol on his chest was protecting him.

“Be careful,” Ryan Cos said without stopping him; Lyra nodded in agreement.

Valentine’s gaze toward Lu Mi softened slightly.

He couldn’t help thinking:

This young man has great spirit of sacrifice—and he’s a devout follower of my Lord. After breaking the cycle, perhaps I can find a way to purge the hidden corruption from him and recruit him into our ranks.

Seeing Lu Mi about to step forward, Valentine, having regained his composure, suggested:

“Let me try first if I can dispel this state?”

No one objected, neither did Lu Mi, for he was in “the Now,” needing neither to dispel any “negative state” nor to undergo purification.

The next instant, he realized he had miscalculated.

Valentine did not directly create holy water to purify Lyra and Ryan Cos; instead, he first used the “Solar Halo.”

A flash of dark gold light surged outward, spreading an invisible force in all directions.

PS: Third update—requesting monthly tickets~

(End of chapter)