After crossing the fence gate, you have officially entered the interior of the relic.
The concentration of the whispering element was very different inside and outside the fence gate. Of course, it was not as unbearable as the fishbone pirate ship, but the unique range of influence of the location-type relics still made Shade feel very uncomfortable.
It wasn't the severe headache or nausea, nor the whispers that kept bothering him. He felt a desire, and his own messy thoughts were very easy to stand out here. Even at this moment, Xia De actually thought of retreating, and this idea of running away would never occur to him.
"Oh, I need to concentrate."
With his back to the fence, Shade closed his eyes and patted his head a few times. Good memories and thoughts can drive away those distracting thoughts, but the problem is that good memories can also inspire more wrong thoughts. For example, when thinking of Mia the cat, I thought it was better to be cautious and turn around and leave, and when thinking of Luvia, in addition to the sweetness of the relationship, there is also...
As Shade realized the unusualness of these chaotic thoughts, he stood inside the fence gate and felt that the sky around him had become dim. Dark clouds surrounded the clearing in the forest, followed by a dark lightning flashing through the sky, and a rumbling sound was heard a few seconds later.
The building, which had originally looked clean and tidy under the autumn sun, became eerie as the light faded. Large patches of shadows enveloped the building's outer walls like a creeping monster, and strange figures appeared at the glass windows. In the courtyard within the fence, the golden fallen leaves rotted into mud, and the tree with the swing in the courtyard also lost all its leaves in two seconds. The trunk and branches seemed to have completely lost their vitality in an instant, and the withered appearance was like a gray giant hand reaching out from deep underground.
There was a rustling sound behind him. He turned around and saw the black iron fence door. The black metal was crawling like a snake, connecting with each other until it completely blocked the door, like a spider web. The common feature of location-type relics is that you can't leave without meeting certain conditions. This was proven on the fishbone pirate ship that Shade had experienced.
The light was dim, and a cold wind with a rancid smell blew through Shad. Everything around him was in ruins. When the relic fully revealed its inner self, Shad finally felt a headache and a strong sense of discomfort. The whispering element affects any entity or non-entity. This element is the enemy of civilization.
"Although it's very uncomfortable, I can still bear it. It seems that my sins are not particularly serious."
Xia De frowned and pressed his head. He now felt like he was in an alley full of garbage and feces, taking ten deep breaths and then turning around twenty times.
But in addition to the uncomfortable feeling, he also felt his strength increase. All creatures that entered the Mansion of Sin would gain strength based on their own sins. This could be considered the unique "field effect" of this location-based relic.
"This feeling right now is no less than wearing those witch jewelry. Are my sins so great?"
He was very confused, but shook his head:
"Let's get out of here quickly. I hope Grandma Cassandra's information is correct."
After taking a look at the broken swing under the dead tree, Shade walked to the door of the building that looked like a haunted house, and then reached out and knocked on the black door. This was not a metal door, but a hardwood door. However, the surface of the wood had not been carefully processed, so that the texture of the bark was still clear.
But if you look closely, those twisted lines are clearly a language that can be translated. However, when Xia De tried to decipher the words on the door, a severe headache almost made him lose his balance.
After holding onto the wall for a long time, he finally felt better. He realized that the power of the words on this door was no less than most of the words he had ever come across in this world.
Without hearing any footsteps, the door in front of me opened silently. An old man with a hunched back and gray skin appeared in the door, holding a lantern.
He looked at Shade with drooped eyelids, and Shade felt a stronger whispering element from him.
"Are you a lost traveler?"
The other party spoke in Draerion, and his voice was unusually hoarse.
"No, I am a guest here for business."
Shad said according to the information provided by Mother-in-law Cassandra.
The Sin Mansion itself was a mountain mansion that belonged to an unknown noble in the Third or Fourth Epoch. Later, a very terrible thing happened here. The limited information in the Witch Council showed that it was the owner of the mansion who studied the knowledge of original sin, which led to the fire of sin that burned everything and formed the terrible ruins of the Sin Mansion.
Once outsiders are identified as lost travelers, they will be permanently imprisoned by the mansion itself as prey. Only guests who claim to be traders can enjoy courtesy. From experience, as long as they do not show hostility to the sin mansion itself, the relics will not easily show malice to traders who enter.
"Come in."
The old man holding the lantern said in a hoarse voice, making way for Xia De to come in. Xia De, who entered the hallway, noticed that the faint light on the wall of the hallway actually came from a gas lamp, and there was even a gas pipe on the wall.
"This was a gift from a guest more than 20 years ago. We used his soul to decorate this place."
The old man chuckled and led Xia De into the building.
Outside the window was a terrifying sky with black lightning flashing from time to time, and the dilapidated courtyard easily reminded people of the plot of a horror story. Although there were dim gas lamps as light sources in the room, the atmosphere here was still extremely terrifying.
The light from the worn-out glass lantern in the old man's hand was slightly brighter. Xia De, who was following behind him, looked at the crack-like marks on the wall and tried to ask:
"Excuse me, are you selling this lamp?"
If this lamp is taken to the outside world, it can be regarded as a relic in itself.
"Sell, three whole souls, or bear the sin of one moment's killing for me."
The old man said in a hoarse voice, then suddenly stopped and looked back at Xia De:
"Guest, don't be too anxious. The trader will have everything you want. I can see that you have plenty of sins."
The two of them came to the deepest part of the hallway, from here they could choose to walk to the left or right corridors, or take the stairs to the second floor. But the old man stopped again:
"Customer, according to the rules, we need to verify the amount of your sins before the transaction."
"no problem."
Xia De nodded, followed the old man to the right corridor, and entered the first room on the left. This room was very empty, and there was only a dim gas lamp at the deepest part of the room.
There was a table under the gas lamp, and behind the table sat a man with a blank face and a feather pen in his hand. He was dressed like an old-fashioned nobleman, but the workmanship of his red coat was not good, which made people wonder if he had fallen into poverty long ago.
The old man stood at the door and motioned Xia De to come over, so Xia De stepped over the threshold, and the discomfort he felt was even worse than before.
Walking through the dim room to the table, the man holding the quill began to speak in a very dull voice:
“Press your palms onto the paper.”
There was only a piece of parchment on the table that looked like it had been burned, and Shade pressed his hand over it. A few seconds later, the man behind the table suddenly grabbed the quill and was about to stab Shade's wrist, but Shade dodged it swiftly.
The other party glared at Shade, took the parchment back, pierced his wrist with a feather pen, and then wrote on the parchment with a bloody pen. After writing, he threw the paper to Shade, without any intention of communicating with Shade.
On the parchment, the words twisted like earthworms recorded the "financial resources" that Shade possessed:
Complete Soul (Powerful, Flawless, Holy, Balanced, Dark)
Gluttony (rare) 10.5 ticks
Greed (Perfect) 9.9 ticks
Lie (Normal) 8.9 ticks
Amorous (Normal) 2.6 ticks
seyu (normal) 1.3 ticks
Bloodlust (defect) 0.7 ticks
Desecration (defect) 0.6 ticks
Disloyalty (defect) 0.1 tick
Chains of Sin
"Hiss, my sins are greater than I thought."
The eyes paused for a moment on the two middle lines, then looked to the end:
"The chains of mortal sins also count?"
Shade was a little surprised, but the other items were recorded in Mother-in-law Cassandra's information.
Everyone has a soul, and those descriptors describe the characteristics of the soul. Among them, strong and flawless represent the quality of Shad's soul, and balanced darkness represents the characteristics of the soul. This is probably related to Shad's participation in the Chosen Ceremony and the fulfillment of the requirements of the ceremony.
Holiness, on the other hand, was quite beyond Shad's expectations, because it was said that only the most devout believers, who had done good deeds throughout their lives, could receive such a description.
"Maybe my 'life' is too short. I've stepped on fewer ants than other people. Also, although I'm not a good person in the standard sense, I haven't done many bad things either."
He thought to himself with amusement, and the sins listed after the soul's description were just those with more obvious characteristics, rather than listing all of them. A normal person would not have more than 10 sins worth listing, otherwise that person would have to go to a mental hospital or prison to rest.
"Engraved" here is an evaluation of the quantity of sins, while "flawed", "ordinary", "perfect" and "treasure" are evaluations of quality.
Although Shade possesses both the "Gluttony" and "Greed" spiritual runes, the former was drawn from the divinity of the Lord of the Blood Feast twice, so it is normal for the former to reach the highest quality "treasure" evaluation.
"Besides gluttony and greed, lies are unavoidable. Seyu is something that normal people with healthy bodies and minds have. Bloodlust is just a flaw and you don't need to worry about it. Blasphemy is understandable. Disloyalty probably refers to the fact that I completed the task of delivering intelligence to the enemy country for money."
Xia De summarized his "physical examination report". The parchment in his hand should be everyone's deepest secret. After leaving here, he will not tell anyone the result.
The only thing you didn't analyze is "promiscuity".
There was a whispering sound in his ears. Xia De pursed his lips and lowered his eyelids slightly:
"This is indeed my sin."
She just chuckled and didn't comment any further.
So Shad returned to the red-carpeted, gold-wallpapered corridor with the parchment and showed it to the old man with the lantern.
The latter looked at the parchment in the dim light, and finally showed some emotion on his gray face, which looked like a mummy:
"10.3 minutes of rare food gluttony? How do you maintain your current body shape?"
He was extremely surprised.
"It's 10.5 minutes. I can understand this kind of writing."
Shade reminded him, but the latter did not show any embarrassment. He stuffed the parchment back into Shade's hands and suddenly moved closer. He raised the lantern in his withered right hand, and his cloudy eyes carefully looked at the young man holding the sword in front of him from a very close distance:
"You can understand? Are you... a scholar of the Original Sin?"