Chapter 826 - 811: Ark Core

Chapter 826: Chapter 811: Ark Core

After leaving the room related to the former Hero Link, Lin Jun continued forward along the blank corridor.

After viewing two more failed salvation projects, unless he encountered a door that interested him, Lin Jun no longer examined them thoroughly, quickly grasping the gist before moving on.

After all, Oath City was still in the heat of battle, and since entering this place, he had lost perception of the outside world, making it impossible to leisurely take his time to examine the past.

As he continued forward and compared the records of each project, Lin Jun discovered a few interesting points.

Firstly, the number of worlds.

The world Lin Jun was currently in was clearly the Fourth World, and according to the records, there seemed to be a total of five worlds. However, the project records rarely detailed the worlds’ appearances, so Lin Jun could only roughly deduce that the five worlds should each be different.

Given this, the world he traversed from might be one of the five worlds.

Of course, it might also be fake memories implanted by a God, much like with Link.

He couldn’t recall specific memories from before his traversal, nor could he clearly remember his own appearance, suggesting the vast possibility that his past memories were fake...

If that’s true, it would really be quite disheartening.

Another point was that the projects on either side of this blank corridor seemed to be arranged sequentially.

Besides the project numbers, the most obvious evidence was the project contents.

Initially, Lin Jun saw various salvation projects, including the types of Divine Artifacts he was already familiar with.

But later on, the project contents gradually shifted to creating new races, expanding world territories, and strengthening the world’s foundations, many of which seemed to have succeeded.

During this process, Lin Jun delved into several projects that caught his interest.

[Ether Compression Technology], which transfers the ether absorbed by one soul onto another soul. During this process, the ether is compressed to allow a limited soul to absorb more ether.

The word "adsorption" reminded Lin Jun of the gray fog on souls observed through [Inspiration], which is the skills.

Lin Jun used [Greed] to consume these attachments on the soul surfaces, thereby enhancing his skill proficiency.

So, this thing is ether?

This made Lin Jun think of the sacrificial rituals of Death God’s followers and his own [Greed], both seemingly aligning with the act of "transfer and compression."

Additionally, this information block also mentioned the final outcome of compression—where the soul becomes completely covered by ether, totally abandoned, sinking into the Abyss.

No wonder Old Deng of the Death God stated, "Those who sacrifice others shall fall eternally into the Abyss, those who sacrifice themselves shall be reborn." So that’s what it meant!

In that case, was he courting death by decomposing so many corpses?

After some thought, he felt it couldn’t be phrased that way; without decomposing corpses for skills, he would have already fallen prey to a Slime.

However, as for the future...

Fortunately, Lin Jun recalled the appearance of his own soul and realized that it was far from being "completely covered."

Apart from this, Lin Jun also viewed projects such as [Ancient Dragon], [Hero and Demon King], and [Divine Wood] related to him.

Finally, Lin Jun reached the end of this blank corridor.

In the fifth-to-last door, Lin Jun discovered a project he was familiar with—[Dream Synchronization].

After Chis’s unexpected death, the informational block released from its corpse mentioned this Dream Synchronization.

But since it appeared at the end of the corridor, it should be a very early project.

After carefully reading, Lin Jun roughly understood what this project was about.

In simple terms, Dream Synchronization is a tool used to assist gods, or Ark managers, in managing souls.

The principle involves extracting a strand from all souls and merging them into a massive soul backend, allowing gods to influence any soul to a certain extent through this backend...

This project may have been initiated for a period, but the last record in the information block was "discontinued."

Inside the room, there was a crystal ball-like storage device. Several other "discontinued" or "abandoned" project rooms also contained similar crystal balls, storing the project contents.

However, this crystal ball was empty.

Just as Lin Jun was pondering this, he suddenly sensed a somewhat familiar awareness.

Exiting the door, he couldn’t find a target.

But this didn’t deter Lin Jun.

Quickly contemplating in his mind where to search for the other, indeed, a door appeared in front of Lin Jun!

Upon entering, Lin Jun heard an incredibly evil voice.

"So you came too, [Spiritual] sure is convenient," said the Demon King, slowly turning around in front of an intricately designed tall door.

His appearance was identical to what was seen outside, and behind him, beyond that door, was a massive pipeline. The nearly transparent walls revealed countless souls flowing inside, densely packed, layer upon layer, somewhat nauseating.

The Demon King, turning around and seeing Lin Jun’s striking appearance, paused briefly.

Lin Jun then rushed forward, forming his hand into a knife, and lunged at the Demon King’s head with lightning speed.

Then... passed through.

After a brief silence, the Demon King said, "We’re just pure consciousness here, we can’t determine a victor."

"Just trying to scare you, seems like you’ve got some guts." Lin Jun casually withdrew the hand blade, and the mushroom cap moved closer to the featureless face, "You appearing here suggests this is related to you, right? What is this place exactly?"

The Demon King slightly tilted his head, avoiding the overlapping mushroom cap with his own head, "Your title says it all, Pilot’s Seat."

"Pilot’s Seat?" Lin Jun rotated the mushroom cap and looked around, "Isn’t that the place where the Gods reside? Where are the Gods?"

"The Gods are on a higher level," the Demon King said, and a spiral staircase appeared not far away, "But we’re not Gods yet, we can’t go up."

Curious, Lin Jun tried it and surprisingly encountered the familiar air wall!

Lin Jun quickly realized a blind spot, "Wait, I got here through ’Spiritual,’ how did you get here?"

"Someone wants to extract a soul from here," the Demon King raised his hand pointing towards the giant pipe behind the door, "I caught the opportunity when the Pilot’s Seat connected with our world and slipped in."

Extract a soul? Lin Jun thought of the strange soul fluctuation inside Oath City.

The Demon King is ’Honesty,’ he wouldn’t lie, but Lin Jun also knew, things aren’t as simple as he says.

The Demon King didn’t seem to intend to elaborate, and Lin Jun was too lazy to dwell on it; so, he asked the question he most wanted to know, "What do you plan to do here?"

"Record the coordinates here for convenience for next time," the Demon King placed his hand on the door, and Lin Jun rarely sensed a hint of disdain in his tone, "Behind this, is the core of the Ark maintained by countless souls. Opening it is the first step to controlling this world."

"You’re quite active in introducing..." Lin Jun slightly tilted the mushroom cap.

"No need to hide it." The Demon King withdrew his hand, his tone flat, "There will eventually be a showdown between me and you, the God’s agent. The victor will gain authority, the loser will lose everything. Saying or not saying doesn’t change this fact."

The Demon King’s point is valid, but Lin Jun still felt it doesn’t justify him actively explaining, after all, not talking doesn’t harm the Demon King.

Does he have any advantage by actively introducing himself?

Besides, there’s also one more thing...

"When did I become an agent of those riddle Gods? Are you labeling me?"

"I know you don’t think you are," the Demon King replied nonchalantly, "Just like I once did, or like that Link, thinking fate is in our hands, heh."

"A story?" This concerns himself, Lin Jun was genuinely interested in knowing.

Yet, the Demon King, who always had answers, chose to be silent like a slime, turned around, and opened the door that appeared beside him, disappearing behind the door.

Lin Jun recognized the door’s design, it was the exit’s door.

"Showing off and keeping people in suspense without telling, huh? Wait for me Old Deng No.3!" Lin Jun took a final look at the Pilot’s Seat, especially the spiral staircase leading to where the Gods reside, and then pushed the door to leave.

Consciousness returned to the green mushroom, and the view through the fungal mat instantly restored. For a moment, Lin Jun felt so comfortable he almost wanted to hum.

After all, some things are only appreciated once lost.

After a brief contemplation, Lin Jun immediately turned his view back to Oath City, but once again sensed the soul fluctuation from the Relic Association!

Having taken a round and returned, the humans still hadn’t completed their plan?

No way... Lin Jun quickly observed Oath City’s situation, surprised to find that not much time had passed!

Does the Pilot’s Seat have a different time flow?

As Lin Jun was amazed to finally witness time ability, a soul fluctuation far surpassing the previous one suddenly emanated from the direction of the Relic Association, then subsided into calmness.

...

Inside the chamber of the Relic Association.

The old chairman was kneeling on the ground with his head hung low, already silent.

But Vice President Seren had yet to pass away, he stared intently at the coffin in the center of the chamber, nervously awaiting the result.

Thump—thump—bang—!

The coffin lid was kicked off and landed on the ground.

A hand grabbed the edge of the coffin, didn’t exert much force, yet the metal edge was squeezed and deformed.

The figure slowly propped itself up, sitting upright from within the coffin.

Seren weakly called out the other’s name, "Link, you..."

In the last moments of his life, Seren desperately wanted to know, had the resurrection rite removed the unknown curse causing Link’s madness in historical records.

Then he met Link’s eyes, those blazing eyes filled with... questions?

"I almost died from holding it in." Link looked down at the coffin beneath him, then up at the chamber’s dome, "What’s this? A coffin?"

"Where is this place? Who are you? Huh? There’s a panel!?"

In Seren’s dazed gaze, Link clumsily felt himself, seemingly checking if he was injured, but his movements grew slower.

"Wait... who am I again?"