NOVEL WEB Chapter 194: Holy City Of Eternity
[ You have successfully cleared Phase One of the Second Floor ]
[ Phase Two: Prevent all hostile attacks against the followers of the Eternity Faith until the Prophet's Ascension ]
'So that's the next phase,' Daniel thought, then closed the system notifications. He had hoped to get a peaceful night of rest, but it didn't seem like that would happen.
More importantly, he had assumed that the second floor would end with the Prophet's ascension—but clearly, he had been wrong. If there really are three phases, then something must happen after the ascension too.
'Could it be related to the succession?' That was the only guess that came to mind.
"Kid, where are you staying tonight? We're all heading to one of the well-known inns in the city. Wanna join us?" Aurest looked at Daniel and asked.
"Sure, no problem." Daniel nodded. He needed to strengthen himself if he was going to handle both the second and third phases, and for that, he had to go through his Fallen's panels.
They headed to an inn called Jiaz Inn. The name was strange, but then again, everything in this city seemed to have weird names.
After renting a room for himself, Daniel joined the others for lunch.
Fortunately, the ritual that prohibited eating during the journey except at night was now over, and while they were in the Holy City, they could eat whenever they wanted.
Following the others' recommendation, Daniel ordered grilled Azure Fish. Once his food arrived and he started eating, he had to admit—it was really delicious.
'Local dishes from the Gulf of Sumer are all amazing. I should definitely visit there when I get the chance in the Celestial Domain,' he thought.
After lunch, he said goodbye to the others and went up to his room.
He collapsed onto the bed and opened the panels of the five demons he had turned into Fallen yesterday.
Their stats were decent for rank B, but most of their skills were ranked B or C—nothing really impressive.
However, one thing caught his attention.
"Why can I get Exp from these demons but not from Malrik?" After all, both were from the past, right? Their power systems should be outdated compared to now.
If he couldn't get Exp from one, shouldn't the same apply to the others?
[ The demons' power system has not changed from the past to the present. It is humans who have evolved their power system over time. ]
[ You can obtain ten percent of their Exp. ]
Daniel nodded. That explanation made sense. After thinking about it for a bit, he decided to collect their Exp.
[ Confirmed ]
[ You have received 21,809 Exp ]
Daniel instantly felt himself move from early rank C to mid rank C. If he kept going like this, he might reach rank B by the end of this floor.
He was really curious—how strong would his combat power be at that point? Would he be able to challenge rank A Awakened?
After that, he opened Malrik's panel. As expected, his stats were equivalent to a high-rank B Awakened—actually, slightly stronger.
He browsed through his skills, and they were all insane.
"Two rank S skills and one rank SS," Daniel muttered, thinking carefully about which one to copy.
The two offensive skills Malrik had used in their fight were especially tempting:
[ Name: Spear That Burns Eternity ]
[ Rank: S ]
[ Description: A strike that uses the power of the Law of Eternity to attack. ]
[ Name: Destructive Strike of Eternity ]
[ Rank: S ]
[ Description: A strike that uses the energy of Eternity to attack. ]
One used the Law, and the other used the energy. Clearly, the "Spear That Burns Eternity" was much stronger.
That was the one that nearly killed him, after all.
But there was also Malrik's only SS-rank skill—a defensive one:
[ Name: Eternal Shield ]
[ Rank: SS ]
[ Description: A defensive layer formed using the Law of Eternity that covers the entire body. ]
Daniel didn't have many good defensive skills, and he really needed one. On the other hand, the Spear skill was incredibly tempting.
"Which one should I pick?" He closed his eyes, trying to think about which would be more useful in the future.
In the end, he chose the Spear That Burns Eternity.
Thanks to his innate talent, even if he died, he would be fine. But if he didn't have strong offensive skills, how was he supposed to defeat enemies stronger than him?
Such a skill could help him tremendously in future battles.
[ You have successfully copied the skill "Spear That Burns Eternity." ]
Daniel closed Malrik's panel and stared at the ceiling. He wanted to sleep, but couldn't.
He had to stay alert. Unfortunately, there were a lot of powerful people in this city, and he couldn't just summon his Fallen freely.
He got up and went for a short walk outside, strolling through the city streets and admiring the architecture.
Most of the buildings were white and luxurious—exactly what he expected from a place called the Holy City of Eternity.
Shops were mostly open, and the city was in a sort of celebration. Understandable, considering pilgrims had gathered here from all over the world.
He kept walking until he reached the city center—a restricted area.
"So that's the Church of Eternity," he thought to himself as he gazed at the tall, holy, and majestic building.
It was the most beautiful building he had ever seen in his life—four golden domes, a massive white cube-like structure adorned with sacred carvings.
It was obvious a lot of time and effort had gone into building it.
"Entry prohibited until the day after tomorrow." He read the sign beside it. Looks like the church was closed.
After admiring the structure a little more, he turned and left—unaware that people were watching him from the shadows.
"There's no sign of this city existing in my timeline. What happened here?" Daniel couldn't help but think.
How did such a grand city disappear? What exactly happened? Could it have been attacked by other religions?
His instincts told him it wasn't that simple. No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't find any answers.
He sighed and, after some more wandering, returned to the inn.
Now he had to figure out what to do until the Prophet's speech.
He doubted anything would go smoothly—and for the first time, he actually wanted something to happen.
"Why is there nothing to do here?" He was getting bored. Never thought he'd reach a day where he didn't enjoy peace.
He went to the window and looked outside. The moon was shining beautifully in the sky.
Strangely, it looked very close.
But he knew why. That was one of the traits of this place—one of the reasons it was called the Holy City in the first place.
"Hm? What's that?" Daniel suddenly spotted something on the rooftop across from him. Looked like… a bird?
"That's not a bird. That shape... it must be a person." He frowned and stood up.
If he wasn't mistaken, someone had just jumped from one building to another.
"They're heading this way." He watched as the white-cloaked figure leapt across the rooftops and landed on theirs.
He instantly activated his spiritual sense—and what he saw surprised him.
The person was trying to enter one of the rooms through a window.
"Who the hell is that?"