Build an ancient-level power in the nightmare world

Inside the Torchbearer's Hall, bright lights illuminated every corner of the room.

Benjamin and Vivian stood facing each other, both with solemn expressions on their faces.

As soon as Benjamin asked his question, the hall fell silent.

Vivian's last shred of hope vanished completely.

The spirit world... a familiar yet unfamiliar term.

Like Vivian, the extraordinary people living in this era have only heard of the spirit world in myths, legends, and epic tales.

Because in their time, the spirit world no longer existed.

That extraordinary dimension, once on par with the Astral Plane, is now known as the "Dark Realm."

She didn't know what exactly happened during that time.

The vast majority of extraordinary individuals are unaware of this.

Regarding the truth about the anomalies in the spirit world, apart from this final outcome presented to all extraordinary beings, not a single word has been left in the records.

Perhaps only the Holy Spirit, and those extraordinary beings of saintly rank who serve by the Holy Spirit, know the secrets of the spiritual anomalies of that time.

In reality, if Benjamin heard that she wanted to use the spiritual echo device, he would never ask her if she wanted to enter the spirit world.

If it was just speculation before...

But now, Vivian is 100% certain that she is in some dark space.

In the Dark Realm, all statements and records related to the Dark Realm are distorted into the words "Spirit Realm".

No one knows the reason behind this, but it is an indisputable fact in the results of the Empire's official research on the Dark Domain.

A moment later, Vivian broke the silence.

Instead of answering Benjamin's question directly, she changed the subject.

She looked at Benjamin, her slightly dry lips moved, and she asked, "Captain, would you be willing to help me?"

Upon hearing this, Benjamin's chest heaved several times, then he looked at Vivian with a serious expression and said, "I need to know why."

Vivian shook her head and continued, "Captain, you said you would believe me."

"My time is running out," Vivian added, her expression still serious.

Just now, in the silent chamber, Vivian met the guardian of the Revelation level.

This made her heart sink.

At that time, she had a pretty good idea that she had probably fallen into some kind of dark space.

Her initial reason for entering the Silent Chamber and contacting the Revelation-level Watcher was simply to confirm one thing.

What depth of the dark space am I currently in?

There are no afterimages of reality in the surface dark domain; she is now at least in the first depth of the dark domain space.

In the deepest part of the Dark Domain, at most only extraordinary individuals and extraordinary items at the Spirit Envoy level will appear.

Once an extraordinary power exceeding this level appears, the area will inevitably experience significant distortion, and the very existence of this power will accelerate the collapse of this dark space.

When Vivian saw the Revelation-level Watcher in the Silent Chamber and found that everything around him was perfectly normal, she instantly understood.

He entered at least the second-deepest dark space.

This put her mind at ease; there was no point in worrying anymore.

If it were the first depth of the Dark Domain, she could still try to save herself by relying on the power of the Sacred Path of the Weaving Shuttle of Fate that she had mastered.

But this is the second deepest dark space.

She has no chance of escaping from here on her own, let alone returning to reality.

She needs help.

But all the other people and things in the Dark Realm are merely remnants of reality.

In this dark space, some people may be normal, but others only appear to be normal.

As a torchbearer, Vivian certainly knew how to survive more safely in the Dark Realm.

There is specialized training available for this.

The first rule for survival in the Dark Realm is to play your role well.

Those who stray into the deep dark realm will accelerate its collapse if they exhibit abnormal behavior.

Once the Dark Realm collapses, those inside will fall into the true Dark Realm. It is said that there is nothing there, and those who enter will quickly become lost. If they cannot leave in time, they will become a part of the Dark Realm forever.

Moreover, once one's abnormality is exposed, it may attract the attention of those strange creatures lurking in the dark space.

Therefore, Vivian dared not rashly ask others in this dark space for help.

However, given the current situation, she has no choice but to take the risk.

The Dark Realm Survival Guidelines state that if you encounter an emergency where you cannot escape and can clearly sense that the Dark Realm is about to collapse, you can seek help from those "people" in the Dark Realm who might be able to help you.

These "people" are all remnants of reality, with behavior and logic basically the same as the real people, and even possessing similar memories and extraordinary abilities.

Although doing so might still accelerate the collapse of the Dark Domain and even attract the attention of Dark Domain creatures, it was her last resort to save herself.

In this area where she could move around.

Vivian chose the person she trusted most, and who should also trust her.

Benjamin, the veteran captain of the Torchbearer team.

Seeing Vivian's serious expression, Benjamin's doubts deepened. His gaze began to wander, and an inexplicable feeling suddenly welled up in his heart.

As an extraordinary being walking the sacred path of the Echo Wall, Benjamin suddenly realized that there seemed to be something wrong with his memory.

There was an invisible barrier that restricted his control over his own sea of ​​memories.

Some memories that should have come back to him immediately are now like fleeting illusions in his mind, impossible to grasp.

Benjamin suddenly realized something.

He looked at Vivian, his expression quickly returning to normal. At the same time, he cleared his mind of all distractions and tried his best to appear as if nothing had happened and everything was normal.

"It's been a long time since I've used the spiritual echo device. It's good to take it out and test it out once in a while," Benjamin said to himself, turning and walking towards his private room.

Upon seeing this, Vivian's eyes widened instantly, a glint of light flashing within them.

A moment later, Benjamin emerged from the room carrying a large black suitcase, his steps steady.

He slowly and deliberately dialed the combination lock on the suitcase, and with a soft click, the lock opened.

Benjamin opened the box, revealing a complex mechanical device that folded into a flat, square shape.

Seeing this, Vivian tried her best to suppress her excitement and make herself appear normal.

"Do you remember how to unfold it?" Benjamin turned to look at Vivian and asked.

His tone and demeanor were completely normal; he was acting exactly like a captain testing his team members.

Upon hearing this, Vivian nodded quickly.

"Then you can do it." With that, Benjamin got up and walked towards the storage room next door, muttering to himself, "I remember, communicating with the spirit world requires some materials."

Vivian quickly finished setting up the spiritual echo device.

The fully extended spiritual echo console has a circular disc at the top, angled to one side at a 45-degree angle.

There are three evenly spaced concentric circles on the surface of the plate, and between the concentric circles, many abstract runes are engraved with fine lines.

In addition to the three concentric circles, the disc is also engraved with several special patterns of different sizes.

The distribution of these patterns appears to be irregular, and the engravings are shallower and the lines are finer than the runes.

At first glance, these abstract patterns seem to be on a different level from runes and concentric circles, giving the entire disc a more three-dimensional feel.

Below the disc is a support frame made of black metal strips of varying lengths and thicknesses.

The frame is narrow in the middle, slightly wider at the top, and widest at the bottom.

On the support, one can also vaguely see some shallowly engraved twisted lines, and a few special runes are dotted in a very few places.

Just as Vivian had fully activated the spiritual echo device, Benjamin slowly walked out of the storage room carrying a small black bag.

His gaze naturally fell on the spiritual echo chamber that had already been set up.

After carefully examining the area and confirming that everything was in order, he looked away from Vivian and said calmly, "Let's begin."

Immediately afterwards, the two people in the Torchbearer Hall began to set up the runic array to communicate with the spirit world, making final preparations for the rituals to be performed.

Neither Benjamin nor Vivian noticed that a dark shadow had suddenly appeared in a corner of the hall.

Even under direct sunlight, these shadows remained unaffected and slowly spread toward the center of the hall.

……

At 10 p.m., there wasn't a single pedestrian to be seen on Enclave Street.

The buildings on both sides of the street had almost all their lights turned off.

Only the streetlights on both sides of the road remained, still shining quietly.

To save electricity, even on Enclave Street, two-thirds of the streetlights are off by 10 p.m.

There's only one streetlight every forty or fifty meters.

Between every two streetlights, there is always a nearly completely dark area.

A figure wearing a cloak was hurrying along the deserted street.

It was Chris who came from the funeral home.

Even with the cloak protecting him, the palpitation in his heart was now just as intense as when he hadn't worn the cloak at the beginning.

As soon as he stepped out of the funeral parlor, he felt a sense of being watched from the darkness around him.

Perhaps because of the cloak, these spying sensations didn't target him, but only occasionally swept over him.

It's like a ferocious beast lurking in the darkness, waiting for its chance to hunt, constantly scanning the bushes ahead.

Chris was the one hiding in the bushes, running swiftly.

The closer he got to Madison Asset Management, the stronger the sense of being watched from all around him became.

He also noticed that the feeling of being watched lingered on him for longer and longer each time it swept over him.

This made him feel somewhat nervous.

This cloak, named "The Hidden Fate," has the effect of blocking all investigative and divination methods used by those who reveal the truth.

But it seems impossible to completely block out the feeling of being watched from the darkness.

Chris had a vague feeling that if he stayed in the darkness any longer, that gaze in the darkness might just lock onto him.

Whether the thing in the darkness is getting stronger over time or the cloak's effect is gradually weakening, the situation is not optimistic.

He needs to speed things up.

Suddenly, a brightly lit building came into Chris's view.

He looked at the building not far away, a hint of excitement flashing in his eyes.

Madison Asset Management, finally here.

……

At the Immorales Funeral Parlor, in the torchbearers' temporary outpost.

In the empty duty room, the communication array in the center of the room suddenly began to flicker more violently. The runes on the array began to distort, and even the arrangement of the runes seemed to have changed.

Immediately afterwards, the air above the formation began to distort.

In the distorted air, a black phantom suddenly appeared.

A moment later, the communication array returned to normal.

The distorted air returned to normal.

But in the center of the duty room, there was a figure dressed in a black suit.

The figure stood silently in place, the monocle in its left eye reflecting a bright white light.