OBS Chapter 4179 Whispers of Vanity
Chapter 4179 Whispers of Vanity
Chapter 4179 Whispers - Vanity
What exactly are you?
Shad asked from the lake water, the human skin, knowing it couldn't escape, staring into Shad's eyes:
"I am the first human skin peeled off by the [Twilight Creator]. Let me go, and I can tell you the secrets of the ancient gods, I can even tell you the secrets of our ancestors, tell you what really happened at the beginning of creation, and tell you where our ancestors and the ancient gods came from."
I have witnessed their stories, and I have seen the world in its earliest form. Let me go, and you can obtain the oldest secrets from me. With my individual strength, I am at most a Keeper-level relic; the building is yours.
Shade shook his head:
“I’d love to know those stories, but in my opinion, it’s much safer to sit around a round table for afternoon tea with someone I trust and talk about them at a suitable time than to learn the so-called ‘truth’ from you.”
He raised the longsword in his hand, the crimson moonlight enveloping the silver blade, and within that moonlight, there was also a silent purple glow bestowed by the doll lady:
"Moonlight Slash!"
Not seeking a fatal blow, but only hoping to temporarily seal it away. Shad's entire body transformed into crimson moonlight with a purple halo at the bottom of the lake, and the arc-shaped sword mark rushed towards the regenerating human skin.
The latter did not dodge, but instead opened its arms to meet the attack:
"Are you willing to become one with me?"
The moonlight pierced through the fragile human skin, but then the torn skin touched Shad's body.
And so, the outsider "saw" a very short story. It happened a long, long time ago, in a nascent world where there were both early inhabitants and children created by ancient gods.
All beings need to coexist in that world at the beginning of creation to rebuild civilization. Most beings know what a great responsibility this is and are therefore full of ambition, but some still have other ideas.
She was born of the ancestors. She did not know where her ancestors came from, but she envied the beautiful appearance and powerful talents of the new races created by the ancient gods. She was not jealous, but simply longed to have such an appearance, to be the focus of everyone's attention, and to become the most unique individual in the story.
Thus, the sin in her heart led to true evil, and she launched what she thought was a covert attack on the first child of the ancient gods, while the gods who had turned their gaze to this new world also looked at her.
She was the first vain one, the evil that humanity displayed before the birth of civilization.
She committed an unforgivable sin, so as punishment, the ancient god destroyed her body and peeled off her skin. Then, the god's followers inscribed her sins on her skin and sealed her away somewhere in that new world, as a warning to others not to succumb to such sin.
Sometime after a long, long time, when the seeds of civilization had long since grown into towering trees, a reckless explorer accidentally broke the seal and released them. The skin then wrapped the adventurer and led him back to his people. Subsequently, a mysterious building that could give people a beautiful appearance appeared.
The Leather Goods Guild was born from this, and the pain he personally experienced was summarized as "the craftsmanship of the leatherworker." The vanity that was born in ancient times was thus brewed into a poisonous wine called "Leather Goods Guild."
The story involves a very, very distant past. It's like looking at the story through frosted glass, so he doesn't know much about the background information, only that he roughly knows where that skin originated.
Although ancient, it was not powerful. After escaping its seal, it went through many things, establishing the Leatherwork Guild in the late First Age, and becoming a relic in the early Second Age.
Shad knew perfectly well that this was not his own story, but as the story was nearing its end, he still felt that his perspective had become that of a first-person viewpoint.
The skin almost completely enveloped him at the bottom of the artificial lake, but fortunately, the doll on his shoulder wasn't considered part of Shad, so she wasn't attacked by the skin.
"Don't be misled by other people's stories. Remember who you are. Now, say your name."
Even the doll-like lady couldn't peel away that layer of skin, but her voice reached Shad's ears. The outsider hadn't completely confused the story with reality; he knew what he had to do—
"Shad Suren Hamilton - Life Fire Form!"
A flame ignited in his palm, which then set his entire body ablaze, and the human skin that was fused with Shad's skin was also ignited.
It realized the deadly crisis, but tiny sparks of crimson fire had already appeared on the surface of the skin. Then the area of the skin that was ignited grew larger and larger until Shad and the skin were completely ignited by the twisted life force.
Of course, there are risks involved in doing this, as it means that one's own life force will be tainted by the "distorted life spark." Even though the "spark source mark" has the ability to make Shad immune to its effects, he is not sure whether the mark will still be effective once his body is transformed into a spark.
Fortunately, once flesh and blood transformed into the flame of life, the power of the primordial flame immediately sensed the calamity of the world and separated it from Shad's own life flame.
Taking this opportunity, the AllSpark frantically extracted the powerful whispering essence from the skin that had been transformed into a spark. The skin tried to resist, but its form had been altered by Shad's magic, and it was slowly losing its power.
The life force of the skin was absorbed by the source of the fire, and the things beyond the life force it contained, along with that ancient story recorded in the early mythological era, permeated into the soul of Shad.
The dull tolling of bells and the shrill sound of steam whistles echoed from the bottom of the lake. As the life ring spun, black iron-colored whispering auras continuously flew out from the fiery humanoid figure, gradually dyeing the life ring black.
Her voice remained clear even underwater:
[Outsider, you sensed the "whispers."]
[They pursue superficial glamour, praise, and a false sense of respectability, unaware that their inner qualities are paramount. Thus, their outward appearance becomes everything, and their outward appearance bears the weight of this oldest story and its sins.]
On the rapidly spinning ring of destiny, a black iron-colored aura beside the [Life] mark inscribed the third spirit rune of the ten rings for Shad, which is also the second whisper spirit rune of the ten rings.
[Stranger, you have inscribed the Black Iron Whisper rune - Vanity.]
[You have acquired the Arcane Art - Humility of Weapons: When an item is wrapped in leather, its elemental strength is hidden. Corresponds to the [Vanity] rune.]
[Outsider, you have devoured the sins of [Skin]: Mental Resistance ↑, Physical Strength ↑, Darkness Resistance ↑, Soul Strength ↑. All sin-related powers have been comprehensively enhanced.]
The description of this new magical spell is quite simple, but its effects are extremely useful. The biggest problem with carrying relics in daily life is that other ring mages can easily detect whispers at close range, but with this spell, Shad only needs to prepare some leather pouches to safely carry relics into sensitive situations.
"Vanity" was certainly not Shad's own sin, but since the way he obtained sin this time was by absorbing the original sin from that human skin, Shad did not need to prepare a ritual, and the power of "Vanity" was directly integrated into the "Chain of Great Sin".
As for the sins of "skin", Shad believes that it is probably part of the "brand of great sin", after all, he had sensed that power before.
He had expected to obtain some kind of materialized metal piece or stone fragment, but after the Life Ring slowly disappeared into the water, and he reverted to his flesh form under Miss Felian Anna's worried gaze, he gained nothing except a human skin in his hand.
"Why don't I feel anything this time when I absorbed the foreign power?"
As for that human skin, it was probably the true form of the "guild master." Although Shad won, he knew very well that he was not capable of completely destroying it. In fact, due to its antiquity and the fact that relics are not easily destroyed, even the primordial fire in its current state could not burn it out.
"I'll handle it."
Purple light shone in the doll's hand. The power of the human skin was temporarily sealed by Miss Feliananna, and the "Spark of Life" contained within it was not allowed to be absorbed by the "Spark Source" by Shad.
The Spark Source had absorbed too much life energy from this thing in a short period of time, and was already showing signs of instability. This was no normal Spark Source, and Shad was very worried that it would go out of control.
However, this can be considered as completing the containment of the "guild master". If it hadn't tried to seize Xia De's body, the containment process probably wouldn't have gone so smoothly.
"But the mark of grave sin"
“As I said before, the mark of great sin has long since shattered.”
A familiar, hoarse voice came from the darkness at the bottom of the lake; the voice was light and pleasant.
Shad looked around. The remains of the demon's death had disappeared, and the power that had seeped from the demon's body had vanished without a trace.
He floated in the water, his feet not touching the bottom, and the hoarse voice came from all directions, as if the owner of the voice was swimming around Shad:
“Once it’s shattered, it can’t be put back together. The mark of sin is passed down in the form of original sin. The piece of flesh I gave you was sin, part of the mark; the power you absorbed from that skin was sin, also part of the mark. It seems that the power of the mark is really suitable for you.”
The sound of swimming was very close to Shad, but he couldn't see anything. The doll didn't say anything at the moment, but simply observed her surroundings quietly.
"However, if you can actually obtain sins from more individuals who have obtained fragments of the 'Great Sin Mark', you might eventually be able to piece together some truly remarkable power."
The invisible entity laughed gleefully, and then asked:
"Can you tell me? You broke my contract with the guild and then threw yourself into the water. Although it was to deal with both the demon and the relic at the same time, aren't you worried that I might attack you from the water?"
Shad continued to observe his surroundings:
Instead of attacking me, shouldn't you be focusing on getting inside the guild hall and finding your own skin?
The mermaid, who had vanished without a trace, continued to laugh:
Is it possible that while you were dealing with that skin and absorbing the sins, I had already obtained my own skin? Without the contract that binds me, is that place still an obstacle for me?