Nightmare's Call

At that point, Auldmandiller had already reached the part about the basic flow of dark power.

“No matter what school it is, the core principle is to sculpt a spiritual conjuration of your soul.

“Only after you manage to amplify, modulate, and activate your dark powers will you be able to start sculpting.” Auldmandiller kept the explanation simple.

“Different schools will create different types of soul conjurations. For us Soul Fortress, based on the Crystal Legacy training method, the soul conjuration is...”

Auldmandiller gently pointed towards an empty spot beside him, and suddenly a massive warrior covered in black crystal slowly appeared.

The warrior’s armor was made out of crystal, and wore a full-face helmet, not showing any skin at all.

The students could only see it wielding a massive greatsword. Its chest did not heave, indicating that it was not a living thing.

“The Crystal Warrior. This is the Soul Fortress’ unique crystal training method and the result of our toil,” Auldmandiller said with much pride.

“At the same time, the Crystal Warrior is also a rare, independent superior conjuration.”

“Then, sir, the strength of the Crystal Warrior...” an apprentice could not help but ask.

“In the dark power system, the strength of one’s conjuration is equal to the Darksider’s strength,” Auldmandiller explained.

“Most of the spiritual conjurations cannot help their masters to fight their foes head-on. Most can only provide supporting buffs, but the Crystal Warrior of the Soul Fortress is different, and that’s why my Soul Fortress could rank the highest in Baine University,” Auldmandiller proclaimed proudly.

Lin Sheng nodded. While he had no idea what kind of strength the professor possessed, but the Crystal Warrior, just by standing there exuded the same aura and pressure as the professor.

That clearly meant his strength was quite something.

He then lowered his head as he started taking notes. Half of the class was Auldmandiller boasting and another half was him doing extravagant presentations, and very quickly the class ended.

The professor had freely thought everyone the basic crystal training method of the Soul Fortress. And on this note, the treatment Lin Sheng received was no different than other students.

After class, Auldmandiller took a phone call and left the fortress in a hurry. So Lin Sheng went alone to the canteen for dinner, and by the time he got back, the other students had already left. Only he and the Unseen Servants were left.

Out of boredom, Lin Sheng went back to his room and flipped through the study materials he had gotten.

On them were some basic information on Baine University and the problems that Darksiders of all levels would encounter.

The sculpting of one’s spiritual conjuration was mentioned as well.

Lin Sheng then copied the information down onto his notebook as reference.

The study materials, too, had mentioned another way to aid with the training of dark powers. To consume Illusory Potions!

Lin Sheng did not look into detail yet, but the theories inside the books pointed straight into the biggest disadvantage of a Darksider. That was their purported cruelty and the survival of the fittest mentality.

“The dark powers originate from the soul, and stress, threats, and fear can all increase the level of dark powers. In a sense, the more negative emotions one have, the stronger their dark powers is.”

Lin Sheng was aghast. “So, the saying was indeed true. The higher the stress, the faster the improvement to one’s dark powers will be.”

After getting an idea about the periphery details about dark powers, Lin Sheng renewed his study of Auldmandiller’s crystal training method.

“So, it’s the first three steps first before one can start sculpting their spiritual conjuration... Based on the normal progress rate, I’ll be able to complete the mastery of the three initial steps within three months.

Lin Sheng looked at the study materials before him as a thought struck him.

A strand of green dark power appeared before him.

“The first phase, amplification.”

Lin Sheng controlled the dark power to attack onto his finger.

Not long after, all five fingers were roiling with some power as his skin and flesh started trembling as they heated up, a sensation to move welled within him.

Lin Sheng then gently lifted his finger and pressed against the metal cup on the table. The silver cup slowly but surely crumpled.

“The strength increase is not much, or maybe my dark power’s too little. Or probably due to my physical strength, the effect of this shred of dark powers is too minuscule.”

Lin Sheng guessed.

“But isn’t it rather easy?”

After counterchecking, he was sure that his work matched up with the details within the study materials.

“Then, the second phase, modulation.”

The dark power on his finger slowly left him as it reformed into green light and floated around Lin Sheng’s palm.

“A pencil.”

*Hiss.*

The dark power turned into a pencil.

“A wine glass.”

*Hiss.*

The dark power transformed into a wine glass in a flash.

“A cellphone.”

This time around, there was no sound as the dark power silently transformed into the shape of the cellphone that Lin Sheng always used. The only difference was its green color.

Lin Sheng then tested one after another. Most people would need a month to get to the second phase, but for him, it seemed like it was smooth sailing altogether.

And that small dark power orb was like a play dough before him, what he wanted to make, it will transform into it in a blink of an eye.

“So, the third phase, temporary activation.”

An image appeared in Lin Sheng’s mind and the dark power before him turned into a sparrow.

The sparrow simply just stood there unmoving, just like a statue.

“Based on the activation theory...” Lin Sheng pondered for a bit and followed the steps for temporary activation as a tiny sliver of his will separated and entered perfectly into the sparrow’s body.

With his will controlling the dark power, blood, organs, muscle, and tissues rapidly formed within the sparrow.

Soon, the glow of dark powers on the little sparrow dimmed as it flapped its wings and easily made circles around Lin Sheng before landing on his shoulder.

“And that’s it. Temporary activation, simple.”

Lin Sheng smiled. All of the three initial steps were as easy as breathing to him.

As he controlled the sparrow, Lin Sheng could clearly feel that his dark powers were growing rapidly.

The activation of the sparrow was like embers to firewood, and the moment it was completed, his soul and consciousness started rapidly producing a large number of dark powers, and these dark powers surged into his body as it tried to remold him.

As the dark powers grew, Lin Sheng could feel that the sacred power within his abdomen was warming up as well.

The two powers reacted just like milk being poured into coffee, and the originally pure white holy light now took a faint shade of gray.

The two powers did not merge together, though, as they simply kept to their own. The only thing that happened was that they were now compressed together in the same place without any resistance.

Lin Sheng then held his hand out as he tried to draw the dark power out.

And soon, from the cluster of grey powers, the dark power separated and quickly materialized in his hand, all without affecting the sacred power around it.

A surge of dark power flooded into the sacred power, and this lasted for a good half an hour before it stopped.

“My total dark power has increased by threefold!” Lin Sheng was shocked. He then flipped open the study material before him.

“Upon completing the temporary activation, one’s dark powers will be stimulated and will enter a preparatory period, and see an increase in the total capacity of one’s dark powers. A normal rate of increase is between 10% and 140%.”

As he read the notes on the book, Lin Sheng experienced the sensation of the three-fold increase of dark power inside his body.

He knew that this was probably due to him absorbing too many soul fragments.

However, what surprised him was that the moment the growth of the dark power stopped, his sacred power seemed to be stimulated as well and started growing at an alarming rate.

The surge of sacred power was as if it was free and flooded across his entire body, and the rate and speed were the same as the dark power from before.

Half an hour later...

Lin Sheng sensed that his body’s sacred power had also increased threefold, and he fell into deep thought.