Chapter 791: Prophet of Yorta (5)

Before his eyes, the Papyrus, scattering golden light, bore unsettling phrases.

An intense resonance, as if the embedded spellcraft was about to activate at any moment.

Kiiing!!

Golden light, extending from within the Papyrus, wrapped around Lennok, climbing up his arm.

A contradictory sensation, feeling like a cozy cradle yet simultaneously an infinitely exclusionary foreign object.

It seemed to simultaneously touch and overturn the inside and outside, while also attempting to perfectly maintain and preserve.

A bizarre form of will-thought, demanding both change and immutability from the spell’s target, as if truly trying to manifest them.

“…Your Grace?”

However, instead of accepting that flow, Lennok returned the Shrine Maiden’s spiritual body to the ring.

He believed the cult did not need to know the true nature of the will-thought unfolding here.

‘A Resurrection Spell.’

A miracle never permitted, even in this Yorta, where the living and the dead coexisted.

What did it mean that Ethan Bajour, who arrived in Yorta before Lennok, had left behind such an item?

Had he truly succeeded in overcoming his own death and resurrecting, as Olivera had said?

Perhaps, in that process, he had acquired a different kind of talent than Kaiser.

Though he hadn’t expected to find records left by Ethan Bajour here, Lennok inwardly accepted this causality.

If this Military Spirit City was the stage he chose to overcome his death, wouldn’t it be the most fitting cradle for a resurrected being?

Thinking so, Lennok pushed away the light enveloping him and immediately canceled the spell’s activation.

He had intuitively known the moment he read the description on the Papyrus that it should not be used now.

Crack!!

With a sound like shattering glass, the Papyrus lost its light and became still.

Lennok shook his head, looking at the slowly fading script on the Papyrus.

‘It’s an item that vanishes after one use. At least, it’s not something to use right now.’

The description on the Papyrus mentioned “unique embedded consumption spellcraft.”

That likely meant the spellcraft embedded in this Papyrus was for single-use consumption.

Using this spell now would reveal what Ethan’s will-thought felt like, but it would be difficult to gain any meaningful yield.

Furthermore, Lennok had not forgotten where this was originally hidden.

‘The Demolding Curse. It was enclosed with a mention of the Guardian Spirit Beast. There’s a possibility the spell’s target is adjusted for a spirit beast, not a human.’

Reading Ethan’s notes in the Ghostly Chronicles, he seemed to have felt a kinship with the Demolding Curse, thinking it similar to his own plight.

If he had felt something for the Guardian Spirit Beast dying from the Demolding Curse and left this behind,

Then the spell’s target was likely adjusted for a spirit beast, not a human.

At the very least, additional research and investigation would be required to use this properly.

As Lennok put the Papyrus away into his robe, the giant figure watching from behind stammered.

“Wh-what just happened?”

“I’ve taken care of everything that happened here.”

Lennok replied.

“The Guardian Spirit Beast won’t move again. Memorial Tower’s fifth underground level will be sealed off with this.”

“…”

“For the only means of transportation in a tomb to be this, ghosts sure have strange tastes… Do they not even consider the living because they lack bodies?”

Lennok nodded, examining the broken elevator at the edge of the cliff.

“I can probably fix it for one more use.”

“…You can fix that junk?”

“My talents are quite extensive.”

The giant, silent at Lennok’s unenthusiastic reply, sighed and stood up.

“It only carries one person at a time anyway. If I’m lucky, I might be able to get on too. I’ll go search for any surviving prisoners in the meantime.”

“And loot the belongings of the dead ones?”

“…No need to leave them behind, I suppose.”

Lennok immediately boarded the elevator, watching the giant mumble awkwardly.

“Well, thanks for saving me anyway. When you called yourself a Prophet, I thought you were completely insane…”

The giant nodded, watching him.

“My name is Fisher. If we ever meet on the surface, I’ll repay this debt then.”

“I’m not holding my breath.”

As if inwardly agreeing with Lennok’s words, the giant gave a wry smile and disappeared behind the cliff.

Lennok watched him go, then woke Davi, who had been soundly asleep in his robe.

[You only call me when it’s like this.]

Davi grumbled, yet placed his paw on the control panel and rubbed it, causing the elevator to lurch and begin moving.

Wooosh!!

The elevator rapidly ascended the cliff in an instant.

Davi, poking his head out from under the robe, looked at the receding ground and said,

[I’ve only temporarily reconnected the broken circuit, so it’ll be difficult to operate again without further maintenance.]

“Bad news for the one left behind.”

He said that, but the giant must have had something to rely on to say he’d remain in the Memorial Tower’s underground levels.

Perhaps he found something useful among the bodies or belongings of the dead prisoners.

Lennok roughly guessed what he intended to do, but saw no reason to help or hinder him.

Memorial Tower’s fifth underground level. Once he had dealt with the Frost Lord’s corpse, the most important thing was to escape this place as quickly as possible.

“Now, to the surface…”

It was a short time for being trapped in exchange for Onion’s airship, but a long time considering what he needed to do in Yorta.

Clunk!!

“…”

His brief moment of sentimentality was cut short. Standing inside the shaking elevator with its harsh noise, Lennok instantly felt nauseous.

Taking motion sickness medicine as naturally as breathing, Lennok leaned against the back of the elevator and forced himself to look into the distance.

“…It’s not very effective.”

The sheer scale of the Memorial Tower’s interior was vast; even climbing the cliff from the fifth underground level took considerable time.

At this rate, he would probably have to ride the elevator for about six more minutes.

Lennok pondered for a moment, then took out the Papyrus Ethan had left behind again from his robe.

While researching the Resurrection Spell immediately would be difficult, he knew that the Papyrus with the spell written on it was no ordinary item either.

The Papyrus Aureus he had just acquired, and the Papyrus Argenteus he had brought from Jindun’s Cradle.

Wasn’t the Papyrus Lennok used for pre-charging his Blink spell remarkably similar to the scroll Ethan had left behind?

“Their names are similar, but their natures are different. That’s a common characteristic of serial artifacts.”

[If anything, the difference seems quite significant, doesn’t it?]

Shimmer!!

After floating the two Papyrus scrolls side by side in the air, Lennok was finally able to clearly discern their differences.

The Argenteus, emitting a brilliant silver light, and the Aureus, a vivid golden light.

But the most immediate difference was in the surface area of the Papyrus.

Unlike the Argenteus, which would easily cover Lennok’s body when fully unfolded, Ethan’s Aureus was only the size of a small booklet.

If the Papyrus left by Jindun was the original itself, what Ethan left behind was only a fragment.

The remaining parts of the Aureus seemed highly likely to be with Ethan Bajour himself.

“The principle of recording and storing spells is similar. If they were given different names, there must be a distinguishing feature…”

The Papyrus Argenteus, which Lennok used to charge his Blink spell, wasn’t just an item that could store and bind spells.

It also had the ability to leave behind pure, unmaterialized mana prototypes, or even will-thoughts themselves, within the Papyrus.

It was also possible to categorize, store, and search for the recorded abilities.

However, if the Argenteus and Aureus had the same abilities, there would have been no need to name them separately.

“Is its characteristic that it can be divided and used? For that, it’s excessively unoriginal.”

[You spent a lot of time researching how to put Blink magic into silver paper before, didn’t you?]

Davi said with a yawn.

[If you need it, should I make a chart to compare it with the gold paper?]

“…Ethan Bajour is an eccentric who left behind such an artifact simply because he found the Demolding Curse similar to his own plight.”

Lennok fell into thought, forgetting the shaking of the elevator.

“Setting his own name as the activation keyword for the Papyrus, for example… I wonder if he has a personality that is extremely obsessive about items or connections related to himself.”

[But Master has never seen that organism directly.]

“That’s why I’m imagining it.”

Lennok replied, rummaging through his robe.

“An item related to Ethan Bajour. Or an item he was interested in during his lifetime…”

Click!!

Lennok pulled out a necklace shining with transparent light from his robe and looked at it.

It was once a scalpel directly gifted to him by Jordan, but in reality, it was a seal engraved with the name of the Ascendant Seonjong.

And Kaiser’s Memento, which Ethan had been uniquely interested in during his lifetime.

The moment Lennok, after pondering, slowly brought it close to the golden shining Aureus.

Kiririkk!!

Several phrases began to rapidly appear on the empty Papyrus.

=The cliff located at the escape route of Memorial Tower’s fifth underground level is connected not to the tower’s upper levels, but to the tower’s lower outer tiers.

=Unlike the Memorial Tower’s underground levels, which the Court of Soul Pacification neglects, entering the tower’s upper levels is recommended via the outer tiers.

=This cliff is an unintended environment even within Yorta, said to be the result of three Myriad Ghosts fighting and altering the terrain.

[Things are just getting written on it on their own.]

Davi tilted his head, unaware of the details.

[But this feels similar to that unpleasant notebook Master got from the vampire before, doesn’t it?]

“Yes. It’s clear that the Ghostly Chronicles were created by referencing the Blood-Thought Scribe.”

Lennok nodded.

Various phrases appearing on the Papyrus. The flow and handwritten form of the answers.

It seemed similar to the Blood-Thought Scribe Zyble, the record-keeping device that Madam had given Lennok, which recorded and updated information via blood.

“This confirms it. Ethan Bajour didn’t just leave the Ghostly Chronicles’ records lying around randomly.”

Lennok said, picking up the Papyrus fragment.

“After completing his journey in Yorta, he gathered all the records he left behind and organized them within this Papyrus.”

As someone who stated he liked to record things himself, did he organize the various knowledge he gained here and leave it within this Papyrus?

The ability to access a Papyrus designed for Ethan himself was possible because Lennok knew Kaiser’s past in such detail.

“The records themselves are new. Does it randomly pull up records of related items nearby?”

Davi, who had been silently observing the phrases, suddenly spoke.

[If you measure the intimacy that links nearby objects with associated search terms, it’s almost at the level of weak AI.]

[With just a little training, it could select desired search terms from the target’s surroundings.]

“I’ll ask you to do that right away.”

Clunk, Clunk!!

The elevator had almost reached the edge of the cliff, swaying precariously as if it might fall at any moment.

Thud!!

It didn’t even reach the very top of the cliff, stopping awkwardly just below the edge.

Davi, holding the Papyrus fragment in his paw and tapping it with his tail, handed it to Lennok.

[Master. It’s done.]

“Already?”

[If it’s just about accumulating large amounts of data and forcibly teaching commands, even these old-fashioned artifacts can do it.]

Davi replied, as if it were nothing.

[It ambiguously mimics the principles of the Blood-Thought Scribe, making it even easier to intervene.]

“…You were intentionally not calling it by its proper name all this time, weren’t you?”

[By the way, now that its function has been adjusted, what are you planning to use this scroll for?]

Davi, casually changing the subject, asked.

[It seems to be subtly mixing useless information with what it delivers, doesn’t it?]

“…”

Davi’s words weren’t entirely wrong.

The phrases appearing on the Papyrus suddenly began to explain Yorta’s history at length.

=It is said that before the Memorial Tower was built as the fruit of the Myriad Ghosts’ Night Parade, only corpses filled the Headrain River.

=The fact that this city, which deals with both spirit and flesh, was once filled only with death, personally strikes me as interesting…

Regardless of recording various information through investigation, it seemed to indiscriminately mix in useless personal impressions.

It was natural for Davi, a Cybernetic Spirit, not to give such records a good evaluation.

However, Lennok intuitively sensed that the value of the records in this Chronicle was immense.

“Ethan Bajour is a resurrected being who traveled all over Yorta and personally entered Mugan.”

Clutching the Papyrus, Lennok immediately extended mana threads upwards.

Having instantly ascended to the top of the cliff, Lennok chuckled as he looked at the Ghostly Chronicles.

“If such an eccentric left these records, wouldn’t he know better than anyone what methods to use when traversing this city?”

Military Spirit City, Yorta. Memorial Tower Outer Ring Route.

Lower Tier. Ten Ghosts Designated Living District.

A massive river flowed through the lower tiers of the dimly lit ghost city.

A bustling commercial area built along the riverbanks, formed by the Headrain River cutting through the entire city.

A man cloaked in a jet-black robe stood in the living quarter, which outsiders visited after passing through inspections.

“…”

An unusually quiet and dark atmosphere.

Occasionally, passersby cast glances at his unusual attire, but quickly lost interest and moved on.

Aside from Yorta being a closed city, there were more than a few individuals who roamed around dressed like that.

Many wished to conceal their identities in this city where the living and the dead coexisted.

But Lennok paid no mind to such glances, focusing on reading the scroll he held.

[Your Grace.]

The Shrine Maiden, standing behind Lennok and looking around, spoke.

[At this rate, you’ll soon be caught again and escorted to prison, won’t you?]

“…”

[Whatever you found in the Frost Lord’s Tomb, at least think while you’re moving-]

“Found it.”

[…Huh?]

Ignoring the Shrine Maiden’s retort, phrases from the Ghostly Chronicles rapidly appeared on the scroll.

=Escaping an assigned tier within Yorta requires complex procedures.

=Most are related to ritualistic objects or night parades, making it difficult for outsiders to pass through.

=However, if a traveler is assigned to a dock close to that tier, one workaround can be used.

Lennok, who had been reading the Chronicles, immediately walked towards the riverside.

The scene of a quiet dock after a flurry of boats had passed.

Lennok carefully observed the width of the river, confirmed the area, and nodded, immediately drawing up mana.

“This area should be more than enough.”

Woooonnng!!!

At that moment, an enormous shadow surged from within his shadow robe with a tremendous vibration.

Kwagagaga!!

An overwhelming sense of weight dominating the surroundings, and a damp mist erupting outwards like an explosion.

Simultaneously, the form of a colossal Ghost Ship, smashing and pressing down the entire dock area along the river.

Kwaaaang!!!

In Yorta’s lower tier, in the middle of a living quarter inhabited by locals, screams of horror erupted from all directions at the sight of the Ghost Ship.

“Kyaaah!!”

“Wh-what is that!!”

“Call the Spirit Soldier Army, now!!”

[…]

Leaving the speechless Shrine Maiden behind, Lennok immediately boarded the ship and placed the Papyrus on the deck.

“Now, then…”

On the Papyrus lying on the deck, the phrases that had just appeared were slowly fading.

=According to ancient laws within the city, all vessels must be moved to a suitable dock.

=If a vessel too large for the tier’s dock is presented, administrative action is invariably taken, bypassing various procedures.

=This is the fastest way to cross from the lower tiers to the upper tiers, recommended for travelers visiting the city for the first time.

=It is an old, bad law that even the spirits of the Court of Soul Pacification find troublesome.

Lennok, who had read the personal opinion left at the end of the Chronicle’s record, muttered, looking at the chaos unfolding below the ship.

“Ghostly Chronicles. Shall we see how accurate a travel guide it is?”