Sin City

Chapter 10

The temple did not have a dome, but was surrounded by a circle of tall stone pillars that were white like jade, in the middle of which was an altar, and three faint goddess statues stood around the altar. They have different postures and different distances from each other. There should have been six goddesses beside the altar who each represented six different abilities. The more goddess Richard could see, the more abilities one could choose in enlightenment.

Little Richard's memory was excellent, he quickly recognized the abilities represented by the three goddesses. It is the 'mortal force' that can give the enlightened person a great great power, the 'burst of life', that gives great vitality and can perform healing; and the 'wind' which increases speed and agility.

Richard was a little disappointed, in fact he had already made a choice in his mind, his choice was a 'wisdom' that greatly increased intelligence, because a real man needed wisdom.

But having three choices is not bad, I just wish I had a choice. In fact, what Helen did not tell Richard was that most of the people who had received enlightenment only saw empty temples.

Little Richard walked up to the altar, trying to open his eyes wide, wanting to see the figure of the goddess of wisdom. But this temple, along with this entire starry sky was not real, no matter how hard he tried, what could he see? Instead, out of hesitation and indecision, even the three goddess figures began to blur.

“Do you want more capabilities?” A voice suddenly rang out in Richard's ears.

Little Richard was startled and looked around, but seeing nothing, the sound came suddenly, it was mechanically monotonous, filled with a cold and insensitive metallic taste, he said, which made him feel very scared.

"Who are you?” Richard shouted in a trembling voice. His voice echoed back and forth in the hall, and the echoes that repeatedly shocked him again.

"Who I am is not important, I will not appear again. Actually I am the part of you that is hidden in your heart" said the voice.

“Cannot be!” Little Richard shouted flatly, Mother once said that his mind was very pure, and there would be no no-no, after a short conversation with that voice, his fear gradually died down, and his fear gradually died down, the children in the mountains were very brave, they were afraid just because they did not know what was going on, and were just surprised.

But the voice was completely unaffected by Richard, and said in a constant tone, "Now, go and choose what you want."

Right in front of Richard, the altar lit up again, three goddess statues reappeared! In addition to 'wisdom', there is also a very important 'element affinity' in the magic path, this ability can make it easier for magicians to communicate with outside elements, so as to cast magic with lower consumption. Intuitively speaking, a magician with the talent of 'element affinity' can have one to three more spell slots than any other ordinary magician despite being on the same level, this was a talent that was getting scarier if coupled with increasingly greater strength. The other ability is 'Nature Messenger', which can have a more intuitive and thorough understanding of nature, not only can it greatly improve the ability to hide and travel on complex terrain, but also all kinds of nature spells have a bonus of strength, while gaining a higher resistance to poison.

So far, the six enlightenment abilities were right in front of Richard.

"Th-this....." Richard had already opened his mouth wide, completely at a loss for words, his mind was a little muddled, he did not understand what was happening in front of him. The only plausible explanation was that everything he saw was an illusion, let alone what could happen? It's different from what his mother said.

Richard had not forgotten the purpose of this trip, so he reached out tremblingly and walked towards the goddess statue symbolizing 'wisdom'. In front of the goddess statue that was over ten meters tall, little Richard could only touch the goddess' feet. It is also part of the meaning of this ceremony, bent down to touch the goddess' feet, representing an attitude of humility. When Richard's hand touched the goddess statue, a crisp cracking sound suddenly rang out in his consciousness, and the entire world seemed to become more real and clear.

“Wisdom can make the person receiving this can see the world more clearly.” This was a sentence in the scriptures, and now Richard finally understood the meaning of this sentence.

When Richard touched the goddess of wisdom, all the goddesses disappeared at the same time. It makes sense that this would be the end of the Enlightenment ceremony, but the temple did not disappear.

Richard looked around with a blank look, and suddenly saw a new goddess statue appear in front of the altar, with both hands folded in front of the chest, the face slightly tilted to one side, and a focused expression, unlike other goddesses, this goddess had no texture in the slightest, and was more like made of shadows. Is this also an ability? Richard tried hard to remember, but could not remember what this goddess symbolized. Even in the scriptures, there is no record of the Moon Goddess having this shape, although this statue is indeed of the goddess Elusia.

“Do you not want other capabilities?” The voice sounded again.

“What capabilities?” Richard stopped and said loudly, “I don't want to let go of my wisdom.”

“Something else? What's it?” Richard asked curiously.

The voice was silent, and there was no answer.

Richard wanted to leave, he now knew that as long as he wanted to, he could just leave here completely and return to the real world. This temple was actually a world built with ritual power, its function was to let talented people see their own abilities and choose the path of the future. But on the other hand, this world was not completely empty, the temple floating in the starry sky was filled with the power of a goddess, and the acquisition of the six abilities was also inseparable from the care of Elusia.

But the voice that appeared in Richard's consciousness, and the seventh statue that was not recorded in the book, completely reversed Richard's cognition. Richard suddenly felt that this was like the temptation of the devil. But how could demonic powers appear in the sacred ceremonies of the moon goddess?

Looking at the seventh statue, Richard was completely doubtful, two different voices arguing fiercely in his consciousness, equal and not outranking each other, take it or not?

Richard hesitated, but walked towards the seventh statue step by step, “The world is balanced, and all profits are worth it.” Richard recalled the existence of such a teaching in the Scriptures, and balance was one of the core of Elucian teaching, so how much risk did he have to bear to gain a second ability?

Richard was confused and hesitant for the first time, but in the end, he still reached out toward the statue. His mother told him to choose according to his own thinking, and he was unwilling to give up this opportunity, so was ready to bear the risk. Little Richard is very brave, he is willing to fight for unexpected gains, he is also smart, and knows that his mother just wants to make him a hero, a big man who is very important.

At least a big man who surpassed Baron Tucker.

As his small hand touched the seventh statue, it suddenly turned into a shadow, and into Richard's body, Richard's head felt like it was on fire, and his brain was boiling, and his head was burning, the pain that directly affected the soul almost made him go crazy, but he should not faint, clumps of ice currents swimming all over his body, colliding with the invisible heat that enveloped his body, made Richard feel every inch of his body like it was cracking all!

Richard endured with force, the tenacity as well as the strength he had developed since childhood manifested at this moment, he actually managed to hold on until all the shadows entered his body. After absorbing the last remaining shadow, Richard finally loosened, his gaze became blurred, and the goddess temple also gradually faded away.

In a blurred vision, Richard saw his mother's beautiful and worried face, he was finally relieved and lost consciousness.

“I have two abilities, my mother will definitely be proud of me!” In the drifting darkness, that was what Richard was thinking unconsciously.

In the attic, a clear crack appeared on the altar of the Moon Goddess, this rare altar was damaged during the ceremony. Helen's face paled, there was a lump of blood flowing out from her lips, but she didn't notice it, she just frantically examined all parts of Richard's body to make sure Richard was okay before feeling relieved. When she saw a small shadow hovering between Richard's eyebrows, Helen's expression changed drastically again.

There were magic lights and moonlight in the attic, and Richard was lying on his back, there should be no light source that would cast a shadow on Richard's brows. The shadow was like fog and smoke, swimming slowly, but it did not disappear, this was a shadow that was completely indistinguishable by ordinary people, but Helen who still had the power of the fifth moon could see it. He shivered, reached out to touch it, a faintly piercing cold sensation coming from his fingertips, which was a feeling engendered by the conflict between the shadow energy and the sacred power of Elussia.

"Shadow creature?!" Shouted Helen. Helen gritted her teeth and placed her fingers into Richard's eyebrow shadow again, chanting a prayer that had become unfamiliar in her heart. It was a divine magic technique that Helen had never understood, but at this moment her heart was already in chaos, to her knowledge, only this divine magic technique could uncover the origin of the shadow between Richard's brows, no matter how thin his expectations were, he still had to give it a try.

Because he lost his status as a high priest, so he also lost the care of the goddess and all magic. At first it was just an act of panic in despair, but Helen did not expect this divine magic technique to actually work.

A pictorial scroll appeared before Helen's eyes, its contents were endless void and darkness. There was only chaotic energy, no moon or stars at all. In the chaos, the huge shadows slowly swam, and their seemingly disorganized trajectory turned out to end up on a path that pointed directly to the obvious final destination, which was to little Richard!

The pictorial scroll disappeared in an instant, and the brief foresight had exhausted all of its strength. Helen wasn't even energetic to move her fingers. Despite being full of energy though, everything he saw still made him feel desperate again.

Shadow was different from darkness, shadow was a kind of energy that had no physical existence, and naturally had spatial attributes. Shadow creatures have innumerable species, mostly wandering aimlessly between planes, the chaotic energy between planes is their natural sustenance. They are cunning, dangerous, and powerful, a species both favored and feared by witches. Shadow Summoning was already an extremely mature spell, one that could be upgraded from level 6 to level 9. But this spell had a small chance of failure, that the summoned shadow creatures would lose control, and the magicians filled with spiritual power were one of the tastiest foods in their eyes. Therefore, every year on the continent there would be several incidents of witches being swallowed by summoned shadow creatures.