Forbidden Nightmare

Chapter 10 Trait 'Breath of the Lake'

Li Nanke then asked, "Sir, is there any possibility for us to get in touch with the church?"

The man was silent for a long time, then took out a metal object and threw it to him.

Li Nanke took it and looked at it. What he got was a strange device the size of a palm, wrapped with densely packed magnetic coils. The light bead on the top of the device had already gone out.

This is an electromagnetic communicator equipped by the armed monks. However, the town of Abes is more than a hundred miles away from the nearest church electromagnetic tower, and the communicator here is no different from scrap metal.

After the armed monks entered the town, they were attacked by a large number of indigenous monsters.

Reinhold ignored the monk apprentices and focused on guarding the steam carriage, while Liliana tried her best to protect the monk apprentices, resulting in both teams being separated and lost by monsters.

The reason why he cared so much about the steam carriage was that there was a large radio transceiver on it.

In the event that the electromagnetic communicator fails, the only way to contact the church is to use a radio transceiver.

After the heretic monster seized the carriage, it seemed to use it as a sacrifice and took the carriage directly to the port on the south side of the town.

Reinhold tried to take back the carriage, but there were countless monsters lurking in the port. He was surrounded and finally broke through at the cost of a broken calf and a damaged arc spray gun.

After breaking out, he tried to escape from the town, but the road leading into the town mysteriously disappeared, and no matter how he walked, he could not get out of the town.

Finally, he had to hide in the church and wait for Liliana's support.

As a result, Liliana was ambushed by a high-level Sea-Follower and suffered an even worse fate than him.

"It seems that this black dream has completely locked down the town. There is no way to escape without completing a series of key nodes..."

After Li Nanke sorted out all the existing information, he looked around the church.

The aisles of the prayer hall are carpeted, with benches neatly arranged on both sides. In the depths of the hall, on the left is the mass altar, on the right is the confessional, and in the center is the main altar with the tabernacle.

The tabernacle is a ritual utensil used to place the white host during the mass. The tabernacle here is a large box with a gold border and intricate patterns engraved on it.

The box is printed with the same 'Septent' symbol as the previous statue.

The tabernacle actually emitted a faint fluorescence in Li Nanke's eyes, but Reinhold seemed unaware of it.

He suddenly realized: Is the so-called node reward awarded and received in this way?
Li Nanke did not go straight to the tabernacle, but pretended to search the mass platform and confessional booth first: "Sir, how much do you know about the heretics in this town? Does the church have any documents recording the evil beliefs of those heretics?"

The man sitting in the corner of the church lowered his head and did not answer for a long time.

When he opened the tabernacle, a hoarse voice came from a distance: "I have searched all these places, and there is nothing."

The tabernacle was opened, and there was nothing in the big box except some dried blood.

Li Nanke tilted his head and thought about it. As if he was guided by some kind of mysterious power, he grabbed the tabernacle fixed on the altar and twisted it in a circle with both hands.

The sound of the gear mechanism turning was heard.

The ground shook slightly, and the floor on one side of the main altar split apart, revealing a dark corridor leading to an underground secret room.

Li Nanke pretended to be surprised and said "eh", not afraid of any traps, and went straight down the stairs.

The underground chamber was narrow and could only accommodate one identical main altar.

However, what is enshrined on the altar is no longer a tabernacle, but a thick black book.

The cover of the book was printed with the 'septent' symbol and ancient cuneiform cipher. There were more than a dozen ancient cipher courses in the church monastery. William happened to have chosen this one, but he didn't learn it very well and could only barely translate the general meaning of the text.

The cuneiform code translates to...the Book of the Black Sea.

Li Nanke's ears twitched, and he was about to open the book pretending to be unaware, when a strong hand pressed down on his wrist.

Reinhold came to his side without him noticing when. Even though he had a broken leg, his movements were not only swift but also stealthy and silent.

"Don't move. This book contains some kind of rune power."

The burly man frowned, calmed down his emotions, leaned on his cane and pointed at the seven-pronged symbol on the cover of the book, and warned: "This is a secret ancient rune. Even the church's Rune Overview Bible has no relevant records."

Runes are a blessing bestowed by gods and a concrete way of expressing the extraordinary.

Monk apprentices must undergo long-term spiritual training, and only when their willpower is strong enough can they absorb the runes bestowed by the church, master extraordinary powers that are unattainable by mortals, and become true armed monks.

Reinhold suspected that the natives of the town might have forcibly absorbed the power of the runes, which caused their bodies to become deformed and completely lose themselves.

Another possibility is that this unknown rune came from an evil god and contained an extremely evil power. No matter how strong the heretic's will was, it could not resist the pollution and erosion.

Compared with the two, the latter is more likely.

Runes, characteristics...may be the different expressions of the same thing by different power systems, Li Nanke thought to himself.

Supernatural powers are not uncommon in artificial dreams. In the past few years, there was even a craze about supernatural dreams.

By entering this kind of dream, users can learn and master supernatural powers, such as magic, fighting spirit, witchcraft, divine arts, vampires, werewolves, etc.

However, although those theories and systems of supernatural powers seem to be designed in a very realistic way, they are not real after all. They are all man-made products based on fantasy and assumptions. Users will find that they are too fake and inconsistent when they actually use such powers.

Moreover, unlike realistic dreams, no matter how hard users try when they return to reality, they cannot restore the supernatural powers in the dreams.

It’s like being a magician who can cast earth-shattering forbidden spells in a dream, but when you return to reality you can’t even make a small fireball. The sense of disparity is huge.

Once the novelty wears off, the popularity of this type of fantasy dream will gradually fade.

Because of his illness, although Li Nanke is very proficient in various combat skills, he is unable to fully display his actual combat power.

If you can master the supernatural power granted by the reward, even if it can only be used in this dark dream, it can greatly improve your survival rate.

As for whether there are risks posed by the supernatural power in this dark dream… considering my current tuberculosis-ridden state, I may not even survive this dark dream, so why should I care about the risk!

Li Nanke raised his head, looked directly into the man's eyes and asked, "Then you can read this book?"

Reinhold shook his head slowly. "I don't understand the ancient code in the book. What I mean is that it's best not to get close to this book if you are not afraid of death or turning into a heretic monster."

Li Nanke chuckled and turned a deaf ear to the armed monk's warning: "Sir, we don't have enough information yet, and this book is obviously the scripture of the heretics in this town." "If we can't thoroughly understand these heretics, understand their beliefs, and know the secrets here, even if we can retrieve the teacher's body, we won't be able to leave this town."

"I have never lacked the courage to live... Since Your Excellency dares not read the heretical scriptures, I will do it!"

He broke free from the man's grip and reached out to touch the tome, but Reinhold stretched out his hand but ultimately did not stop him.

Just at the moment Li Nanke touched the book.

Countless tiny whispers echoed in my mind, some hysterical, some insane, some sharp and piercing, some hoarse and confusing...

Li Nanke's vision was affected, and the objects in the secret room were gradually dyed with unreal and colorful light and shadow, overlapping and hazy, as if countless dyes were thrown into a water tank and stirred, or like the strong hallucination produced after eating poisonous mushrooms.

In his daze, he seemed to have fallen into a bottomless lake, and the large amount of lake water instantly surrounded and swallowed him.

At first, the afterglow of the sun could be vaguely seen in the shallow water, but as we continued to sink, the light gradually faded...

In the inky black lake, everything was swallowed up by the endless darkness.

Despair and fear grew and spread in his heart until it boiled over and was followed by an intense feeling of suffocation. He was unable to struggle and could only let his body sink to the bottom of the lake.

In a trance, Li Nanke realized that there seemed to be some terrifying creature at the bottom of the lake.

That horrifying creature was an existence completely beyond all cognition. Just by catching a glimpse of a small part of its huge form, Li Nanke lost all reason and sank into crazy screams.

It was also at this moment that countless complex and complicated knowledge flooded into the mind, and a large amount of evil and obscure power eroded the spirit.

All kinds of unknown knowledge and power turned into thin lines, gradually outlining a mysterious symbol.

That was not the 'Septent' that I had seen before, but a simplified version of a symbol, shaped like a 'Trident'...

[You have received the node reward: trait 'Breath of the Lake'! ]

As the synchronized prompt sound rang, Li Nanke suddenly woke up!

He bent down and breathed greedily in big gulps, like a drowning man who had just been rescued.

Li Nanke could feel that the mysterious rune power on the spiritual level was extremely clear and real, completely different from the false supernatural power in previous man-made dreams. It was so real that it gave him an illusion - this extraordinary power has always existed in the world, but people in the world have been blinded and cannot truly come into contact with the extraordinary.

Is it an illusion of immersion caused by too high a synchronization rate? No! It is definitely not that simple...

He came back to his senses and felt a large hand pressing on his shoulder.

Reinhold looked serious and alert.

Li Nanke believed that if he had been lost in that kind of despair and fear just now, these hands would probably not have pressed on his shoulders, but would have twisted his neck.

"It seems that my guess was wrong. The fact that you can successfully absorb the rune using your own will shows that the power in the rune is not evil." Reinhold put down his hand.

No, you guessed it right, this rune must be an extremely evil power. I can absorb it not because of my strong will, but because it is a 'reward'.

Li Nanke thought to himself calmly and quickly regained his composure.

His willingness to take risks seemed to improve Reinhold's attitude toward him.

The armed monk took the "Book of the Black Sea" that had lost its rune power, flipped through two pages and threw it back. It was obvious that he really could not understand the ancient cuneiform code contained in it.

The man warned: "The runes contain knowledge and power granted by the gods. Even if the gods themselves have no ill intentions, as mortals, if you peek at something you shouldn't see, you will pay a heavy price."

"The mark of the rune has been deeply engraved in your soul. Whether you actively master it or passively absorb it, that kind of spiritual erosion will follow you for the rest of your life and will become stronger and stronger."

"All you can do is keep moving forward on this extraordinary road until you get lost or reach the end."

"The road to transcendence is a road that is destined to be irreversible..."

Li Nanke thought to himself that if he didn't improve his strength quickly, it would be unknown whether he could survive this dark dream. As for mental erosion... screw it!
If he really only showed the strength of a "burden", then after squeezing out his usefulness, Reinhold would definitely say some hypocritical and righteous words when necessary, and then abandon him without hesitation.

Li Nanke followed Reinhold's guidance and felt the power brought by the Breath of the Lake rune, or the power brought by the Breath of the Lake's characteristics.

From the moment the characteristics were engraved in his mind, five more symbolic marks appeared in his spiritual world, arranged in the directions of up, down, left, right and center.

These five symbol marks seemed to be innate, but they did not exist at all in the rune power system known by apprentices and armed monks. They seemed to be an additional power system independent of the black dream world.

You can get information by putting your thoughts into the five symbolic marks, which are "animality", "humanity", "spirituality" and "divinity", each connected to the "self" in the center by an invisible thread.

The symbol mark called "Beastly" is connected to the smaller trident rune, which is the "Breath of the Lake" trait, by an invisible thread.

He concentrated his mind on observing the 'Breath of the Lake', and soon a line of bloody words appeared before his eyes.

[Trait: Breath of the Lake]

[Subordinate: Animality]

[Rank: 0th rank]

[Level: 0/10]

[Details: This trait can strengthen parts of the respiratory system, such as the trachea, bronchi, lung lobes, alveoli and other respiratory organs. It can also fine-tune and control each respiratory organ through the mind, increase lung capacity and blood oxygen content, thereby improving athletic ability. It can also completely stop breathing for a certain period of time when necessary without suffering from hypoxia. ]

[As the level of this trait increases, your respiratory system will continue to improve. While strengthening your respiratory organs, you can cure and become immune to respiratory diseases, and even gain the ability to breathe underwater...]

[Note: Do you want to become a mermaid? Which is better, a fish head and a human body, or a human head and a fish body...]

Animal nature, enhanced respiratory system, upgradeable enhancement level, underwater breathing...

At this moment, Li Nanke suddenly realized that the symptoms of lung infection that had tormented him for a long time had been greatly alleviated.

Given the condition of his lung infection, the feeling of suffocation brought about by the previous hallucination was enough to make him cough continuously and even cough up blood.

However, after waking up with a start, apart from breathing heavily, he did not feel any strong sense of suffocation, and there was even a slight chill in his lungs.

Although the weakened muscle strength due to limb numbness cannot be solved for the time being, the most troublesome lung infection problem at present has been greatly improved.

This is when the characteristics of Breath of Lake have not been enhanced. This extraordinary power is tailor-made for Li Nanke!
But the so-called underwater breathing...could it be turning into a 'mermaid' like the indigenous monsters?
(End of this chapter)