Above The Sky
Chapter 617 - 617 586 The Number of Embrace Light Increased!

617: Chapter 586 The Number of Embrace Light Increased!

(1/3) 617: Chapter 586 The Number of Embrace Light Increased!

(1/3) Hum——

The air vibrated slowly with an inexplicable force at an extremely low frequency.

From beyond the horizon, outside the diorama, streaks of visible Spirit Energy Radiance converged and entered Ian’s body, eventually flooding in like a reverse surge, causing him to slowly rise to his feet and float mid-air.

The scars and greyish, dead-like areas on the Mountaineer Mercenary’s body all began to heal and regenerate, turning rosy once again.

And the Inscription Circuits that were originally engraved all over his body shimmered with a pure white fluorescence before slowly fading into his body.

This scene lasted a few seconds before Lubeck’s body fell from mid-air, and the white Spirit Energy Halo in his eyes gradually receded, revealing his original green pupils.

“This is…”

Lubeck had come back to life, and he looked around somewhat confused, clearly not quite clear about the current situation—although he had not died, he was close to death, but the Embrace Light Ritual had actually brought him back to life!

“Good!”

“The ritual was a success!”

“Now we have one more Cleric…and even more hope of completing the mission!”

“Well done, Lubeck, you actually did it!”

Lubeck knew everyone in the rescue team, and they cheered with joy.

Upon reflection, it made sense; the Red-haired Mountaineer was originally a mercenary who sold himself to the Huai Guang Church and after his true conversion, he even assisted many tasks of the Huai Guang Church in Nanling Province as a logistician.

Although he had not fought for a long time, this time, to prevent the Beast Kings in Bison Mountain Range from wreaking havoc in South Ridge and the Western Territory due to the Fiery Flame Land madness and to stop this ‘man-made disaster’, he resolutely returned to his homeland in his personal capacity, to his tribe that worshipped the Dragon God, to try to cooperate with the Dragon Worship Cult and stop all this.

Even when faced with the risk of death, he never regretted his decision.

At this moment, as the Spirit Energy Fluctuation spread, Ian somehow knew why Lubeck was acknowledged by Embrace Light—this was recognition, the recognition of Embrace Light.

He finally realized why the other party had suddenly joined forces with Sio to strike at the Fiery Flame Land base.

Although Lubeck failed, his spirit could certainly be described as ‘enlightened’; no wonder Redemption Light had acknowledged him.

“I…came back to life?”

Lubeck, who had landed on the ground, expressed astonishment; like Sio, he had been captured and confined within the Soul Binding Pillar.

Apart from some blurred perceptions, his thoughts seemed to have stalled.

But upon waking, he had become an official Holder of the Huai Guang Office.

Although initially very confused, Lubeck’s expression soon became composed.

He smiled and greeted the Glorious Sword, Yingguang, and Redemption Light, then greeted other old and new friends from the rescue team.

“Hello…strange Knight?”

Lastly, Lubeck turned to face Ian, who on the surface was unchanged but whose heart had been set turmoil.

He smiled and greeted the knight, “In the upcoming missions, we are likely to join forces…My name is Lubeck, but you can also call me Red Blade, a codename I used to go by and probably will continue to use in the future.”

“…You can call me You Gu (Secluded Valley).”

At this moment, Ian gazed at the ‘acquaintance’ before him.

He was one hundred percent certain that this person was Lubeck.

But…

he was not entirely the Lubeck he knew.

At least, the Lubeck of the past, even after spending seven or eight years with the Huai Guang Church, would absolutely not have been able to extend such a greeting…

one so characteristic of the Embrace Light style!

A moment ago, Ian even thought he was being addressed by Glorious Sword, or perhaps the Bishop of White Mist.

Praise be to Embrace Light, that tone and friendly flavor, although expressing clear goodwill, was all too familiar, far too familiar…

He…

was no longer the simple Lubeck of the past!

The mountaineer mercenary of today, was now ‘Lubeck of Embrace Light’!

“Is it thought assimilation, or sharing?

No…

judging by the previous ritual…

it is almost as if it were the ‘Rebirth in Death’ that I personally performed for Brother Alan while in the Path of the Dao within the Worm Nest!”

Shaking hands with Lubeck, waves churned within Ian’s heart.

If it had been an ordinary person, they might just marvel at the divine power of Embrace Light, which could call back someone at the brink of death, resurrect them, and elevate them to being a cleric.

But for Ian, who could discern the underlying reasons behind it all, what he saw, what he distinguished, could only make him feel a chill run down his spine, and a sudden realization.

If the method by which Embrace Light creates clerics, is to perform Rebirth in Death on the dying who meet the acceptance criteria of the Huai Guang doctrine, granting them a soul, and assimilating them into oneness with themselves.

Then, the fact that clerics of Embrace Light can share spirit energy would be explained!

Because they are, at their core, beings who share parts of their personality, bits of their body, and even exist within the same Spirit Energy Network through the same ‘ritual’!

However, Ian also heard a key word.

Within Lubeck’s body, there were preparations made previously by the Bishop of White Mist…

perhaps something similar to an ‘Artificial Soul Attachment Brain’.

Assistance in creating a soul at the time of death?

Without such preparations, the likelihood of Lubeck awakening as a cleric might not be high; not to mention, being at the First Energy Level, he wouldn’t have a soul.

Moreover, the ritual of Embrace Light is clearly not always successful, as evidenced by the joy exhibited by the other members of the rescue team.

——An organ specially prepared for this purpose, the special dedication of another cleric of Embrace Light, specially concocted potions, inscription rituals, and the one performing the ritual must also be highly aligned with the doctrine of Embrace Light in spirit, and even a particular kind of condition needs to be satisfied, like near-death…

Given that, it is quite normal for the number of clerics of Embrace Light to be scarce.

Ian watched as the rescue team clothed Lubeck, armored him, and furnished him with weapons.

In less than ten minutes, a mountaineer on death’s door was formalized as an official cleric of Embrace Light.

“What in the world is Embrace Light?”

His mind teemed with myriad thoughts, but ultimately, he summed it up with one phrase: “The world never lacks surprises—so be it.

At least they really are good people, even if they are a bunch of oddities, they are a good kind of oddities.”

Maybe it’s because the influence of his Fairy Bloodline or perhaps Ian’s own broadmindedness, he even started to rationalize it himself as he moved aside: “Yes, ultimately, how are they different from fairies?

Fairies are strange too, but they are good strange fairies.”

In any case, both Lubeck and Sio were rescued, and while the fairy souls on the other side were too fragmentary to communicate like Sio, they just need to be taken back to the Fairy Homeland, and the unique reincarnation system of the fairies will piece them back together.

However, the souls of the humans had all been taken by Viscount Avak.

What remained…

were the souls of wild beasts, insects, birds, fungi, and plants.

These souls weren’t really salvageable, but Ian thought, since he wasn’t burdened by carrying them, he took all the Crystal Prisms storing the souls with him.

And he also roughly figured out the purpose of the nine Soul Binding Pillars.

Each of the nine pillars corresponded to nearly every major sentient creature classification on the Terra Continent (including Great Magical Beasts)…

In other words, whether it’s the Demon Lord’s plan’s ‘Terror Entities’ or some other Deceased Monarch, Savior, and River of Death, it likely had something to do with them.

In other words, this place was probably the Central Storage Chamber of Avak’s Central Research Laboratory.

If it hadn’t been for Viscount Avak drawing away the Phantasms and Magical Beasts from this place, they might have had to endure a terrifyingly tough fight.