Yarn said to Lavaatha: ‘Her will is not her own. She is bound by Blood, shaped by Blood, and so are you. Let your delusion of power fade, for you have never been free—you have always been a slave. Your traditions, your rightful birthright, are all empty Delusion. Who lurks behind your tyrannical and hegemonic mask? What remains after only truth is left?’
This was the end of Gase’s third phase; ‘The Fall and Rebirth of Lavaatha’.
As the prayer incantation finished, the next was the fourth phase; Sacrifice.
Kladaxi roared internally, wanting to reach out and touch the pentagram pendant on her neck, which contained the 【Drive Command】 for BIO-202.
“Ms. Kladaxi Weddell, do you need help?”
Xia Xiu appeared beside Kladaxi at some unknown point. He extended his index finger to touch Kladaxi’s throat, and his index finger slowly slid down to rest on the pendant’s chain, then rotated, wrapping the chain around his index finger.
Kladaxi stared at the golden-haired youth, who was smiling with narrowed eyes, with an expression of grief and despair. She couldn't understand how a BIO-202 could defy her.
“Oh, I forgot you can’t speak. Beautiful lady, would you dance with me?”
Kladaxi glared angrily, but Xia Xiu had already taken her right hand, lowered his head to lightly kiss the Yarn's Mark on the back of her hand, then intertwined his fingers with hers, placed her left hand on his shoulder, and rested his left hand on her slender waist.
“Come, let us offer a dance to Yarn.”
Xia Xiu led the stiff Kladaxi in a dance in the hall. The dance looked exceptionally awkward, yet Xia Xiu seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself. He dragged Kladaxi around for a full ten minutes before stopping the ridiculous dance.
“Ah, lady, thank you for the dance, and…”
After dancing, Xia Xiu deliberately stepped back a few paces, maintaining a sufficient distance from Kladaxi, then bowed gracefully in thanks. Kladaxi found she could move. She violently tore off her pendant, her eyes blazing red.
“You scum! I’ll—ugh—”
Just as Kladaxi was about to activate the spell on the pendant, she found her hair beginning to fall out, her skin sinking, followed by her fingers, her nose bridge…
Kladaxi transformed into a mass of flesh at an astonishing speed. Like a fleshy jelly, she struggled to reach out to the golden-haired youth who was smiling with narrowed eyes in front of her. Her two eyeballs shifted with the redundancy of her flesh; one eye was now in her mouth, and the other on top of her head.
“Thank you for your hospitality.”
“Equivalent Exchange: Human Body.”
The golden-haired, golden-eyed youth placed his index finger on his mouth and said this to Kladaxi. Red patterns began to appear on the back of his hand, and the number below his eye socket disappeared.
“Next is the sacrifice, Great Sorcerer Yarn!
I offer you the most interesting sacrifice, a foolish Soul,
and, a bit of the Bloodline of Heaven.”
Phase Four: Sacrifice – Complete.
Hidden Condition: Excellent Performance – Complete.
The magic circle began to light up. Kladaxi, now a mass of flesh, struggled frantically. On the other side, another golden-haired youth, just like Xia Xiu, also began to slowly become redundant.
The statue of Lavaatha revealed an eerily terrifying smile. The statue began to emit a strange chewing sound, and each time the chewing sound rang out, a portion of the flesh mass would disappear into thin air.
As the chewing sounds grew faster and faster, the entire magic circle soon had only Xia Xiu remaining. The Lavaatha statue turned its gaze towards Xia Xiu, who grinned and said:
“Enjoy your meal, lady.”
The corners of the statue's mouth began to curve towards its eyes, an eerily terrifying smile appearing before Xia Xiu.
It seems she's in a good mood.
At this moment, the patterns on the back of Xia Xiu’s hand had fully formed: a bright red circle, with a vortex-like pattern around it.
Ritual Effect: 【Yarn's Mark: Vortex】
“Om—”
Xia Xiu only felt a tremendous ringing in his ears. His Soul was drawn out of his Body at this moment. This was the sublimation of the Soul, and at this moment, his Soul would project into the Ether Ocean.
Upside down, bizarre and colorful.
One could see the vast starry sky, and also the inverted ocean, floating Ether Spirits, burning demons…
“Dong—”
“Return of Three!!!”
A tremendous sound broke through the hazy consciousness. Xia Xiu awoke in the Ether Ocean, then quickly stabilized his floating spiritual body. This was a critical moment.
The sublimation of spirituality, the Awakening of the extraordinary, the time to link with the Lineage.
“Olin!”
Xia Xiu quickly recited the linking word for the Flesh Desire Lineage. An ancient parchment appeared before Xia Xiu’s eyes. He quickly placed his hand on it, and soon his name appeared on it. The archaic parchment automatically revealed a circle of ancient Terra script.
【Authorization Granted】
An ordinary person who attempts to link to a Lineage without authorization would die a terrible death.
At the moment the link was completed, Xia Xiu briefly glimpsed the boundless Body of 【Its Overturning Infinity】 in the Ether Ocean. It was a monster so vast its boundaries were unknown, its form constantly twisting and changing. Xia Xiu knew that It would be his Anchor in the Ether Ocean from then on.
Xia Xiu also officially became a part of the Flesh Desire Lineage. He was now both an observer of the Ether Ocean and a component of the Ether Ocean.
Ether Ocean: It is a barrier layer between the positive matter space and antimatter space of existence, a world composed of concepts, and the source of extraordinary essence.
Terra’s extraordinary System is based on the Ether Ocean. This System is collectively referred to as — Thaumaturgy.
The essence of Thaumaturgy is — the alteration of concepts.
Lineage is an aggregate of concepts. It also has another name — STC (Standard Template Construct) System Technology.
【Ding—】
【Lineage linked, template generating—】
【Welcome, my dear Olin】
【Xia Xiu】
【Class: Olin】
++ Lineage: 【Sin-Eating Church (Cult of Carnal Delight)】
++ arad field: None
++ Profession: Return of Three (Patron of Resurrection, Transformation, and Child Protection)
++ Phase One: Measurer
++ eve particles Content: 100 Spirit
++ Loudness: 10dB (decibels)
++ Timbre: Non-constant wave
++ Frequency: 164~698Hz (Hertz)
++ Distortion Field: 100 (Normal)
++ entry: 【Flesh Shaping Art】, 【Yarn's Mark】
No doubt, this was a personal template. In Terra, almost every “NPC” with a Lineage had one.
terra chronicles, this game had an absurd setting in the early stages: the game System and player templates were also Terra’s Lineages. This meant they could be seen; fellow Lineage holders could see other Lineage holders’ templates, after all, everyone used the same server.
Confused players looked at the NPCs’ personal templates, which were more ornate than their own (the initial game personal template was equivalent to a basic skin), and for a moment didn’t know how to play the game.
Terra’s natives quickly taught the players how to play. Players were jointly hunted down by Terra’s major forces. They chased players from the first expansion pack until the second. The reason they stopped later was that they discovered players could perform a Lineage conversion without cost, and could not arbitrarily jump after that, which made them slightly restrain themselves.
What Fourth Calamity? It was all fake. Players were almost directly chopped into the Fourth Calamity Paste.
If it weren't for this game being the first full-consciousness virtual immersion game on Blue Star, and its currency System having an exchange relationship with Blue Star’s currency System, no dog would play this masochistic game.