"Ugh, 'Lunar Divinity'? It makes me feel incredibly uncomfortable. Just call me when you're ready to leave this place or if you actually need me for something," Melchior grumbled with a distinct edge of physical revulsion.
Dark-affinity beings like Vampires are naturally incompatible with 'Holy' Affinity or 'Divinity', as the two forces repel each other like oil and boiling water. I simply nodded in understanding as he stayed inside the ring, leaving me to walk further into the silent, echoing halls of the temple with Leonhart.
"Woah, this place is massive! I can feel some kind of weird energy humming from the walls!" Leonhart shouted excitedly as his voice bounced off the ancient stone. Before I could even respond, he started running off to explore the darkened corridors on his own. "I've been stuck on these Frozen Plains for years and I really thought I'd explored every inch of this floor!"
Despite his rough exterior and his past, he was still a teenager at heart, and his curiosity was getting the better of him. I let him go, simply shouting a warning for him to be careful and stay within the boundaries of the barrier I had erected outside.
After a few minutes of walking through the chilling atmosphere, I reached the center of the three towering obsidian pillars. Each one was heavily engraved with intricate runes and celestial symbols, most of them dedicated to the [Moon Goddess {Selene}].
"[Activating 'Fire Element' Lvl 3!]"
"[Activating 'Glacial Dominion' Lvl 2!]"
"[Activating 3-Star Barrier, 'Revelation of Dusk'!]"
"[Activating 'Moon Imprint' Lvl 1!]"
"[Notice: Your 'Barrier' Skills have been greatly enhanced!]"
I activated a rapid-fire sequence of skills, weaving a second, more complex barrier directly between the three obsidian pillars. The runes I traced in the air began to resonate with the ancient carvings on the temple walls, humming with a vibrant, light-green hue. Once the foundation was set, I called Melchior to materialize.
"Stand in the center of the second barrier," I instructed.
"[Activating The Exclusive Skill, 'Blood Authority: Blood Roar' Lvl 1!]"
"[Activating The Exclusive Skill, 'Blessings of the Stars: Spiritual Manifestation' Lvl 1!]"
I unleashed my opposing energies simultaneously. While I had achieved a state of internal 'Harmony' that prevented these forces from tearing me apart, their outward elemental effects remained as volatile as ever. The gold light of the stars clashed with the crimson weight of the blood authority, swirling into the runic magic of the barrier and the lunar divinity of the temple to create a high-pressure magical reaction.
"[Warning! The 'Status' of opposing energies has been detected!]"
The system flared with red warnings, but I ignored them, looking directly at Melchior. "Use your [Blood Absorption] magic! Now!"
Melchior gave me a look that questioned how I could possibly know the intricacies of his specific vampire Skills, but seeing as I was currently wielding his own [Blood Authority], he shoved his suspicions aside and obeyed.
"[Activating 'Blood Absorption' Lvl ???!]"
[Blood Absorption] allowed a Vampire to take in various types of external energy and convert it into their own specific essence. As Melchior began to draw in the chaotic mixture of energies I had "cooked" for him, the pressure in the room reached a fever pitch. After several minutes of intense absorption, the light died down, and Melchior stood firm. The sheer intensity of the energy had shredded his clothes, leaving him standing there with nothing but his own skin in the center of the pillars.
"[Congratulations! One of the Thirteen Seals, the 'Seal of the Moon' binding 'Melchior Von Crimson' has been successfully removed!]"
"[Notice: A tiny portion of 'Melchior Von Crimson's' true power has been restored!]"
Blood began to materialize from the very ground, swirling upward to coat his body and transforming into his signature black-coat attire. In this unlocked state, he no longer looked like a child, but a young man roughly my own age.
"Huh... I can actually feel a portion of my power returning," he said, looking at his hands with a look of genuine surprise. "You really are an interesting guy, Arthur."
"I told you I'd help you, Mel. This is just the beginning of our journey," I said with a grin.
Melchior nodded, though he quickly reverted to his child form, noting that the smaller body saved both his and my mana reserves before vanishing back into the ring.
I turned to call for Leonhart so we could head out, but something caught my eye, something that shouldn't have been there. In all my 104 accounts and thousands of visits to this temple, I had never seen this. On the side of the central obsidian pillar, there was a sentence written in a language I didn't recognize.
I was a master of every dialect in the Tower, from the common tongue to the ancient 'Dragon Language' which was said to be the origin of words itself. Yet, this script was entirely alien to me.
The sentence on the pillar read, "[◽◽◽◽◽◽◽◽◽]"
Suddenly, a system notification appeared, one that was entirely new.
"[Congratulations! You have discovered a fragment of the 'Lost Language'!]"
"[Notice: 5000 Coins have been sponsored!]"
"[Notice: The 'Lost Language' is exclusively for the Class 'Barrier'.]"
"[Notice: Hidden Class Advancement Quest has been unlocked!]"
"[Notice: Find the rest of the fragments of the 'Lost Language' to unlock more of the 'Barrier' Class!]"
My heart began to beat like crazy. Even after 104 lives, the Tower still had secrets that were hidden even from me.