Chapter 600: Golden Shield
A moment later, Charles found himself standing in front of the tall gigantic golden statue of Abium.
"Oops, I forgot to ask about Anangu." He clicked his tongue and soon looked at the crimson badge in his hand. A radiant sun symbol was proudly displayed at the center of the badge. The sun was meticulously designed with elaborate rays extending outward, representing brilliance and warmth.
Charles quietly turned towards the left side, walked towards the front pew, and took a seat.
After that, he closed his eyes and used his 'wisdom power' to probe the Crimson Badge.
A second later, he found his consciousness hovering in space. No, he saw a unique golden shield of pure fire and realized that this must be Abium's gift.
'A Lawful Fire Spell, huh?' Even though it appeared more like a knight's shield, Charles felt millions of essence streaks arranged in order like bees. Each of those streaks contained thousands of Fire Rules and looked much more complicated.
As he looked deep into the unique shield spell, he felt that a mini world was hiding deep inside the shield and appeared to have some mysterious power.
'This spell seems plain but has a mysterious power and appear much strong. When I was in Rebirth Star to heal my soul, I only managed to comprehend around 1300 Rebirth Fire Essence Streaks. Even that took me more than four years. Although I increased my Fire affinity to Divine Rank now, I can't comprehend all the millions of Essence Streaks in a short time. If my guess is right, it will take around 20 to 30 years.' But he would be invincible among the same Rank once he completely comprehended this spell.
Shaking his head, he retracted his gaze from the Shield Spell and looked around.
'This badge looks more like a small storage ring. But I can also feel the power of Present Time inside.'
As he glanced around, he soon saw two blue-covered books hovering a few feet away from him.
With a simple leap, he arrived before the two books and picked up the one on his right side.
"Domains of Explored Universe and Unexplored Universe."
While muttering the title, he quickly flipped the pages and read the labels first.
"Explored Universe-
Split into seven Domains.
Origin Domain (Lawful Good Domain)- Elder Plane, High Worlds inhabited by normal people, and other worlds...
Underworld Domain (Lawful Evil Domain)- Underworld Plane and other undead planes...
Watchers Domain (True Neutral Domain)- Four supreme Elemental Planes and other normal elemental planes...
Abyssal Domain (Chaotic Evil Domain)- Abyss and the worlds conquered by chaotic beings during the Ancient and planar wars...
Hell Domain (Chaotic Good Domain)- Hell Plane and the planes conquered by the devils...
Cluster of Mystery (Unknown)- Location unknown.
Blood Domain (Chaotic Neutral)- River of Eternal Life, Blood River, and its surrounding planes..."
After reading the titles, he skimmed through the book and decided to read them in detail later.
Charles also glanced at pages related to the unexplored domains and started to understand a small amount of information about it.
After that, he picked up the other book and soon read the title out loud.
"Fire Pathway."
Unlike the other book, the information about the Fire Mage pathway appeared to be specifically written for him.
Abium also mentioned how the ancient mage path spell model helped mages comprehend the secrets of rules and even explained them in detail.
"Moreover, Flame Rules are the basic foundation for every spell. As long as one manages to turn any flame 'Rules' into an 'Essence Streak,' they will have a higher chance of entering the Realm of Legendary. But if you want to improve further and become a Rank-7 [Ember Archwizard], all seven spell models must have more than one or more Fire Law. Otherwise, you will be stuck in this Realm for ages. On average, each Fire Law has a minimum of 1000 Flame Essence Streaks and is hard to master. That's why most of the Ancient Mages are stuck in this Rank and never get the chance to become a Rank-7 Existence."
'Oh? Does that mean the 'Red Tear' was a single Fire Law? Now that I think about it, my [Rebirth Domain] spell contains more than 4000 Flame Essence Streaks now. Does that mean I have already mastered more than 3 Rebirth Fire Laws?' While thinking, he suddenly turned his gaze toward the Sun-like Shield and started thinking.
'Unlike my Rebirth Spell, this one has more than a millions of Essence Streaks. If I fully comprehend this spell, it will have more than 10,000 Fire Laws! This shield spell is too powerful and precious!'
He hurriedly turned his attention towards the 'Fire Pathway' book and started to read further.
"If you manage to enter the Realm of [Ember Archwizard], your next step should be to create a unique Realm with the help of Fire Laws. A single Realm contains more than thousands of Fire Laws. Only by creating each Realm of all spell models, you can advance further and become a Rank-8 [Inferno Archon]. In this Realm, you will be able to use 'Inner World Descend' ability and make the Inner realms into reality for a period of time. The red moons in the Edhen World's surface are actually a part of the peak level being's 'Inner World Descend' ability."
As he read these words, he subconsciously thought of Anangu.
'Wow! Does that mean she is actually a Rank-8 existence?'
He quickly turned his attention toward the following paragraph and continued to read.
"To further advance and become one of the peak existences of the universe, you must create thousands of realms by comprehending all kinds of fires and create countless realms of each fire in your Inner World. It will be like you need to comprehend hundreds of thousands of Fire Laws and make them as a part of your soul. When you become Rank-9 [Crimson Paragon], you'll turn all the imaginary worlds into reality just with a single thought and even maintain them for endless amount of time."
But the words didn't end there.
"Although I don't know how to break past this realm, I vaguely suspect that the fusion of all spell models into one and form a 'Domain Expansion Universe' will be worth a try. It's basically like your whole self will become a separate universe, and you'll be the creator of that universe. Well, this is how I perceive how a Sovereign Realm Being will feel like."
As Charles finished reading the last like, he couldn't help but take a deep breath.
'Abium is not an ordinary being. He even knew the end path of the Sovereign Realm and appears too mysterious. Is he also a peak-level Existence? If so, why is he running away from Udnir?' He slowly withdrew his consciousness from the crimson badge and opened his eyes.
"Currently, I'm not even equal to a speck of dust compared to Paragon-like Existences. Not to mention, Sovereign realm beings." He shook his head and slowly stood up from his seat.
After that, he stayed no longer in the Sun Church and quietly walked out.
Just as he moved out, he saw the silk-curtained luxury carriage standing ten meters from the Sun Church entrance and appeared to be waiting for him.
As he walked closer, the coachman, who was puffing out a mouthful of smoke, suddenly noticed his arrival, threw the cigar towards the roadside, and bowed his head.
"Drive the carriage to Central Borough." Charles waved his hand and spoke while walking closer to the carriage door.
"Do you want to return to Mermaid's Inn, My Lord?" Coachman asked.
Charles suddenly noticed something was wrong with his question and halted his footsteps.
"Is there a problem?"
"N-No, My Lord. It's just... Nothing, My Lord. I'll start the carriage." The coachman said in a stutter and hurriedly moved towards the driver's seat.
On the other hand, Charles opened the carriage door and entered.
Although Anna still sat in the same position as before, she appeared more composed than earlier and gave him a stiff look.
"I still don't trust your words." She said, breaking the silence.
On the other hand, Charles put his fingers on his lips to keep her voice low and released his wisdom power to cover the surroundings.
After blocking any sound from leaving the cart, he quietly sat on the opposite seat and spoke.
"It's okay to speak now. As for whether you trust me or not, I don't really care. I told you about your parents' death and your unique soul simply out of pity, nothing more."
A strange silence appeared in the carriage.
"So what should I do now? You must have some sort of plan, right?"
"Humph, if I want, I can simply capture Archbishop Michael and force him to spill everything before you." Charles paused for a moment and continued with a mischievous smile.
"But what's the fun in that?"
'Damn it! He is toying with me. But if what he said is truth, I have no choice but to seek his help.'
At that moment, Anna suddenly thought of something and asked stiffly.
"Are you the one the whole Empire is after?" If she hadn't guessed that, even after all this time, she knew she would be a literal idiot.
"Well, I can say that I'm about to bring some disaster to this place. But don't worry. I'm planning on stopping it myself." Charles said calmly and hurriedly added.
"But before that, I want you to kill me. To be precise, I want your help with faking my death. Can you do it?" Although she didn't understand what Charles was scheming, she reluctantly agreed.
What was strange was that she seemed to have gotten a peculiar trust in Charles!
