The City of Silver, the Morgue Hall.
Derrick stood on the steps, his eyes red as he looked ahead at his parents, who lay in their respective coffins.
A simple, straight silver sword was stuck in the stone slab in front of him, swaying slightly amidst the occasional thunder that shook the house.
The Berg inside the coffin were not truly dead yet; they struggled to keep their eyes open, breathing weakly and violently at times. But in some people's eyes, the brilliance of their lives had dimmed uncontrollably and irreversibly.
" Derrick, make your move!" An old man dressed in a black robe and leaning on a sturdy cane looked at the boy whose face was almost Distortion and said in a deep voice.
"No, no, no!" Derrick, with his brown hair, shook his head repeatedly, taking a step back with each word he uttered. In the end, he let out a scream that sounded like his heart was being torn apart and his lungs were being ripped open.
Thump!
The old man tapped his cane and said:
Do you want the entire city to be buried alive for your parents?
"You should know very well that we are the people of darkness, forsaken by the gods, destined to live in this cursed place. All the dead will become terrifying Evil Spirit, and no matter what method is used, it is difficult to reverse this fate, except, except for those of the same bloodline who will personally end their lives!"
"Why? Why?" Derrick asked, shaking his head in bewilderment and despair. "Why are the people of our City of Silver destined to kill their fathers and mothers from the moment they are born...?"
The old man closed his eyes, seemingly recalling his past experiences. "... This is our destiny, this is the curse we bear, this is the will of God..."
"Draw your sword, Derrick, as a sign of respect for your parents."
"After you calm down, you can try to become God-blooded Warrior."
Berg, inside the coffin, tried to speak, but after his chest heaved a few times, he could only utter hoarse sounds.
Derrick took a difficult step back to the side of the silver straight sword, and stretched out his right hand with trembling hands.
The icy touch sent a chill through his brain, instantly reminding him of the Blood Ice his father brought back from hunting trips; a single piece the size of his palm could keep a room cool for days.
Images flashed before his eyes: his stern father teaching him swordsmanship, his kind father brushing dust off his back, his gentle mother mending clothes, his brave mother shielding him from the mutated Monster, and the family gathered together, sharing food by the flickering candlelight...
A low, suppressed sound escaped his throat as he forcefully pulled out his straight sword with his right hand.
Thump thump thump!
He lowered his head, rushed forward, raised his straight sword high, and plunged it down heavily.
Ah! With a painful scream, blood splattered out, landing on Derrick's face and in his eyes.
His vision was filled with crimson, so he drew his straight sword and plunged it into the coffin beside him.
The sharp metal pierced his flesh; Derrick released his grip and staggered to his feet.
Without even glancing inside the two coffins, he stumbled out of the morgue as if chased by Evil Spirit, his hands clenched tightly, his teeth clenched, and faint traces of blood washed from his face.
"Sigh..." The old man who had been watching all of this sighed.
Stone pillars stand tall along the streets of the City of Silver, with lanterns hanging from them, each containing an unlit candle.
The sky here has no the Sun, no the Moon, no the Star, only unchanging darkness and lightning that tears everything apart.
Illuminated by the lightning, the citizens of the City of Silver traversed the dimly lit roads. The few hours each day when the lightning ceased were considered by them to be the legendary true night, during which candles were needed to light up the city, dispel the darkness, and guard against Monster.
Derrick walked aimlessly through the streets, not thinking about his destination at all, but as he walked, he found himself back at his doorstep.
He took out his key, unlocked the padlock, and pushed open the door. He saw everything familiar, but he didn't hear his mother's concerned voice, nor did he encounter his father's scolding for running around. The house was empty and desolate.
Derrick gritted his teeth again, hurried back to his room, and once again searched for the crystal ball that his father said was used by a long-destroyed city-state to worship the gods.
He knelt down, facing the crystal ball, and prayed with little hope, praying painfully:
"Great God, please turn your gaze back to this place you have abandoned."
"Great God, please free us, the people of darkness, from that curse of fate."
"I am willing to dedicate my life to you, and please you with my blood."
Again and again, just as he was in complete despair and about to stand up, he saw a burst of deep red light erupt from the pure crystal ball.
The light flowed like water, instantly engulfing Derrick.
When he regained consciousness, he found himself standing in a magnificent palace supported by huge stone pillars. In front of him was an ancient and mottled bronze table, and opposite the table sat a figure shrouded in thick Gray Fog.
Besides, the surroundings were empty, ethereal, and desolate, while the bottom was filled with boundless gray-white mist and unreal deep Red Light dots of light.
A flame of hope was ignited in Derrick's heart. He looked blankly and doubtfully at the figure seated high above him and said:
"You... you are a god?"
After asking the question, he suddenly remembered a sentence from the general knowledge book of City of Silver and quickly lowered his head.
The sentence is:
"Do not look directly at God!"
Klein leaned back, clasped his hands together, and replied in Jotun with a relaxed and casual air:
"I am not a god, I am just a the Fool is interested in the long history."
Having already lightly tapped his left teeth twice, he discovered that the Astral Body deep within the boy's ethereal Ether Body was mottled and inconsistent in color.
This indicates that the other party is not yet Beyonder.
The Fool ... Derrick chewed on the word, remaining silent for a long time before finally managing to say it with difficulty:
"Whether you are a god or the Fool, my prayer remains unchanged. I wish that everyone in the City of Silver be freed from the curse of fate, that the Sun described in those books will appear in the sky, and if, if possible, I also wish that my parents could be resurrected."
"Hey, I'm not a wish-granting machine..." Klein released his hands and chuckled.
Why should I help you?
Derrick was stunned for a moment, and it took him a long time to say:
"I will offer my soul, I will please you with my blood."
"I have no interest in the blood and souls of mortals." Klein smiled and shook his head, watching the boy's expression gradually turn to despair.
Before the other person could speak again, he said leisurely:
But I can give you a chance.
"I am a the Fool loves equivalent exchange. You can get what you want from me, or from others like yourself, using everything you can obtain. Note that the value must be equivalent..."
"This will make you stronger. Perhaps one day, you will be able to rely on yourself to free the City of Silver from the curse and restore the Sun to the sky."
Based on the other party's description, he was fairly certain that City of Silver was located in the so-called Forsaken Land of the Gods.
Of course, he couldn't be 100% certain yet. After all, according to religious texts, the state of the sky without the Sun still existed in the First Era, the Chaos Era. After all, no one knew whether there were any strange places unknown to the kingdoms of the Northern Continent besides the Forsaken Land of the Gods.
Derrick listened quietly, lowered his head in silence, and after a while replied:
"I want to become the ' The Sun,' and I want to obtain the Potion recipe for its initial Sequence from you."
Sequence, Potion, " The Sun "... The Sequence Pathway mastered by the Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun... it seems they truly exist in the same world...
The word " Sequence " originated after the first Blasphemy Slate appeared, at the end of the Second Dark Age... In other words, if City of Silver is truly in the " Forsaken Land of the Gods," it means that this region was only separated from the Northern Continent at least towards the end of the Second Age...
Could this be related to the cataclysm of the Third Age? Legend has it that the Evernight Goddess, the Earth Mother, and the God of Combat were born, and together with the Lord of Storms, the Eternal Blazing Sun, God of Knowledge and Wisdom, they protected humanity through the cataclysm... Klein gleaned a lot of information from the other party's words.
However, he found it difficult to listen, and even more difficult to organize his thoughts, because he was not yet fluent in the Jotun.
Fortunately, the Ancient Feysac is directly derived from the Jotun, and Klein is barely an expert in this area. Therefore, he has made rapid progress in mastering the Jotun and is no longer showing any signs of weakness.
Klein maintained his composure and replied in a calm tone:
"This deal can be postponed. For the next two days, you'd better not go out and try not to stay in the same room with other people."
He didn't know the time unit in Silver City, nor how to convert it to the time of the Kingdom of Rune in the Northern Continent, so he could only vaguely say "tomorrow," and tell them after the Tarot gathering that from now on, it would be this time...
As for the unit "day," since it exists in the Jotun, Klein believed that even if the City of Silver didn't use it for counting, the other side should understand what it meant.
"... Yes, I will obey your orders." Derrick replied with his head bowed, offering no objection.
Klein secretly breathed a sigh of relief and tapped his fingers lightly on the edge of the table, saying:
"Before sending you back, let's complete the equivalent exchange we just made. I've given you a powerful opportunity, and you must pay a corresponding price."
"I've said I'm a the Fool who loves long history, and what I demand in exchange is the history of the City of Silver, what you know about it."
Derrick thought for a moment, then replied in a low voice:
I will describe it truthfully.
" The City of Silver has existed since the Lord Who Created Everything, the Omniscient and Omnipotent God, abandoned this land. No, it existed even before that, only it was called the Nation of Silver."