With Constance leading the way, the group left the liege's castle, and took a lift hidden deep within the mountain to reach the mountainside of Snowfrost City.
Their destination was the 'old palace'.
"Here?" Seeing the building that had become a historical landmark, Vivian had a surprised look on her face. "This is the place where the Knights of the Ebon Blade undergo the ritual?"
"Strictly speaking, it's underground." Constance smiled. "And it's the place where the ritual 'used' to take place."
Hao Ren suddenly thought of his discovery. Under the old palace, there was a weak energy source that was constantly emitting pulses.
He had originally planned to find a chance to explore the old palace today, to find out what secrets were hidden beneath it, but he did not expect that before he could even do anything, he would have the chance to enter the building. Plans really could not keep up with the changes.
With Constance leading the way, the group easily entered the old palace, and as they passed through the ancient and ornate front porch, Constance began to talk about the palace. "Snowfrost City was the capital of the Dragon Empire a few thousand years ago, and to the average human, that was hundreds of generations of change. So even the most knowledgeable scholars did not know much about the oldest parts of the city.
"People only know that there is an old palace in the old capital, but few know that the Knights of the Ebon Blade's first Sacred Armory is also in this city, and it's hidden beneath the old palace."
Hao Ren's ears twitched when he heard the words' Sacred Armory '. "As far as I know, all the black chainswords come from the Sacred Armory, and they are forged and stored here. So to the Knights of the Ebon Blade, the Sacred Armory is their true barracks and headquarters."
"That's right, and I would like to add that the Sacred Armory is not only used for forging and storing chainswords, it is also a … sacred tomb."
Constance said solemnly, and before her stood two fully-armed Knights of the Broken Blade, and the two Knights of the Broken Blade were guarding a gate that looked no different from any other place in the old palace.
However, Hao Ren could sense that there was an energy pulse emitting source behind the door.
Constance was now using someone else's body, but the Knights of the Broken Blades seemed to have a special connection with their master. The two knights at the door immediately stood up and bowed, "Your Highness!"
"Open the door." Constance nodded. "I will be bringing a few esteemed guests to the Sacred Armory."
The knights immediately executed the order without hesitation. They simultaneously activated the magical devices on both sides of the door, and the heavy door that could be described as an ancient relic let out a series of mechanical screeches and slowly moved to the sides.
The entrance to the Sacred Armory appeared in front of everyone.
It was a cylindrical hall, and the ring-shaped walls of the hall were inlaid with countless neatly arranged metal prisms. In the center of the hall was a metal platform more than ten centimeters above the ground. As Constance stepped into the hall, the sensor lights in the hall lit up, and with a soft sound of magic being injected, the magic lamps placed all over the hall lit up, and soon the hall became as bright as day.
Even though the place had been abandoned for thousands of years, the interior was still as clean as new. This meant two things: first, the place was cleaned regularly, and second, the building's materials and construction technology were far ahead of the current era.
"The real Sacred Armory was moved to the south when the capital was moved, along with all the mechanical swords and most of the casting, charging, storage, calculation, and conversion equipment. All that's left is an empty shell and some old equipment that is difficult to remove," Constance said as she walked to the round platform in the center of the room, and the door was closed from the outside by the two Knights of the Broken Blade. "Even so, the old Sacred Armory still has many things that can be used. In addition, the inheritor passed on knowledge, not material wealth. So, as long as we have enough time, we can rebuild many things from a blank foundation. I used that knowledge to build some new equipment here, and after connecting it with the old database … it can be used. "
Constance walked up to the platform, and a gentle female voice rang in the room. "External connection detected … Administrator authentication approved. All systems are on standby, ready to receive orders. "
Constance waved at Hao Ren and the rest. "Come, I'll bring you to see what our heritage looks like."
The group stepped onto the platform, and with a slight tremble, it began to sink into the ground.
Lily's eyes widened as she let out her trademark gasp. "Wow …"
After sinking for a short distance, an extremely vast underground space appeared before everyone's eyes. Hao Ren saw that beyond the transparent shaft was a cavern that looked like an upside-down bowl. Part of the cavern's walls were covered in thick alloy, but there were some areas where rocks were exposed. In the underground space, there were many layers, and all sorts of unknown equipment were installed in the various areas, forming a complete … production line.
It was like an ancient factory filled with the scent of an alien planet.
"That is the old foundry." Constance pointed at one of the areas, and in that area, there were several large, intricate equipment installed on a pedestal, and behind the pedestal was a conveyor belt and a large number of pipes and cables. "The chainsword was forged there, but truth be told, the forging of the chainsword itself is the simplest part here … While it uses some special materials, it is still a mass produced product."
"So what limits the number of mechanical swords is not the technical difficulty, nor is it the limited materials," Hao Ren immediately thought of this point. "Then what determines the number of '770,000' … is probably the souls."
After gathering enough information, and seeing Duke Owen's situation and his plan to turn himself into an Ebon Blade, Hao Ren had a pretty good idea of the nature of the Ebon Blade, and his casual words touched upon the truth.
"Yes, souls." Constance nodded as she pointed at another area below. "770,000 immortal souls … They were once sleeping there, waiting to be infused into the Ebon Blade's psionic core."
Hao Ren followed the direction of her finger, and saw dozens of neatly arranged black cubes. Those black cubes were placed on alloy platforms, and around them were countless glowing cables, and there was a faint light flickering on each cube.
In the wider area around the cubes, there were empty platforms and disconnected lines. Obviously, the cubes below were only a small part of the once huge number. Most of them had been moved away.
"There used to be 770 servers here, but most of them have been moved to the new Sacred Armory in the south. The rest are servers that have malfunctioned after a long period of operation and have lost their value. The souls inside have been moved out, and the machines are in standby mode. I've fixed a few of them, but to be honest, they are no longer useful. "
Vivian frowned. "Because there are no souls to use, right?"
"Where did those souls come from?" Hao Ren asked. "If I'm not wrong, it's from the last era …"
"That's right, the warriors of the last era." Constance nodded. "During the last Turn of the Era, my father led his army to defeat the monstrous heroes of the previous generation, and the warriors who followed him to the end were the 770,000. Almost 90% of them were not inheritors, but they were able to use the power of the scepter to transcend the Turn of the Era and retain the memories of their first reincarnation. When the old era ended, the world was once again destroyed and reshaped, and the 770,000 souls followed my father to this new world. After many years, my father completed the soul infusion and transformation technique, allowing them to reappear in the world as the Ebon Blade Knights. "
Lily frowned as she thought hard before coming to a realization. "So, you chose the strongest and best soldiers to train into the Ebon Blades, and you actually used their bodies as vessels, right? Then did you wipe out their original souls?!"
As Lily said that, Hao Ren, Vivian, and Rheia all looked at Constance solemnly. This was a serious matter.
"Of course not." Constance naturally knew that they would have such questions, and immediately shook her head with a smile. "It's a contract."
"Contract?" Hao Ren asked.
"To control a body, the original soul is always the most suitable, and so the Ebon Blades need to retain their original souls. The most important part of the infusion ritual is a soul taming contract: an ancient soul from the last era, and an original soul from the present. The two souls communicate to control the body and weapon together, and the ancient soul is responsible for providing knowledge, skills, and experience, while the modern soul is responsible for the control and thought process. After a complicated fusion and adaptation, the two souls will be extracted and infused into the chainsword, becoming a composite AI, and that is how the Ebon Blades were born. "Constance explained the process." Of course, not everyone will succeed, and not everyone will accept it. The conversion ritual of the Ebon Blades has a high mortality rate, and there are a number of apprentice knights who are resistant to the contract after learning about it. Since even the slightest resistance will greatly increase the chances of failure, those who are unwilling will have their memories wiped out, and then fired for various reasons. The usual explanation is … failure of the trial. "
Hao Ren raised an eyebrow. "You guys sure are humane in this regard."
"Humane? No, we just chose the most effective method, "Constance said plainly." It is only because the fusion of the two souls has a higher efficiency of control and is more robust that we chose this method. If there was no need to keep the original souls, we would not hesitate to wipe out those souls. "
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