In the dim underground corridors of Withered Tree Fortress, General Sost led the way, holding a torch, followed by High Priest Kent, Zara, and Charles.
After traveling through the underground passage for quite so ti, General Sost finally stopped.
He raised his torch high to illuminate an old, worn-down Bronze Division door not far ahead.
"You'd better focus on the torch in my hand for a while. This will help protect your eyes from harm," General Sost said with a smile.
The three of them—Charles, Zara, and Kent—didn't ask why. They simply followed his advice.
Charles guessed that behind the Bronze Division door lay the energy source. It was highly likely that the energy source was constantly emitting sunlight. This would explain why General Sost had given such a warning.
A mont later, General Sost pushed open the Bronze Division door.
As the door swung open, a brilliant light burst forth.
The once dim corridor was instantly illuminated, and at the sa ti, the temperature began to rise rapidly.
"Quickly, co inside!" General Sost urged them to enter through the Bronze Division door.
He was deeply concerned that the light and heat emanating from the energy source might affect Withered Tree Fortress.
Under his urging, everyone quickly entered the Bronze Division door.
As the heavy door slamd shut behind them, the corridor outside was once again enveloped in darkness.
Inside, they were now being intensely scorched by the light and heat.
Though Charles and the others had prepared before entering, the energy source's light and heat still exceeded their expectations.
Zara and High Priest Kent could only take shelter behind General Sost.
Charles imdiately summoned Mousie.
The energy source's powerful stimulation caused Mousie to generate a large shadow around its body. Charles took advantage of this shadow to shield himself from the intense light and heat radiating from the energy source.
Only General Sost seed unaffected.
He squinted his eyes as he gazed at the energy source, which was emitting a constant stream of blinding light, a faint smile appearing on his face.
"Aren't you worried about looking directly at the energy source?" Charles asked bluntly.
General Sost shook his head.
"Of course, I'm not worried. The light and heat from the energy source won't harm . My spirit has long rged with the energy source."
Charles was deeply shocked by these words.
In Charles' view, if General Sost was not lying, it would an that the energy source wasn't actually as powerful as they had assud. After all, General Sost hadn't been able to defeat Aldany in their battle.
Although Aldany had used so underhanded tactics, this still implied that General Sost's strength was not much greater than Aldany's.
Charles had many questions he wanted to ask. However, before he could speak, the stern voice of High Priest Kent suddenly broke the silence.
"How can you do this? All Serpents should worship the great ancestors, and all Serpents' spirits should submit to Her Majesty the Queen! If you have rged your spirit with the energy source, does that not an you have already betrayed the Queen?"
As a high priest, Kent was extrely concerned with matters of the spirit.
In response to Kent's accusation, General Sost sneered.
"If I hadn't rged my spirit with the energy source, I would never have had enough power to resist the Stellar Empire's attacks. If I had remained blindly loyal to the Queen as you suggest, the Withered Tree Fortress would have already fallen to the Stellar Empire. The Serpent Empire would have been completely destroyed!"
General Sost's words were blunt and unrelenting.
This only angered High Priest Kent further.
At this point, Zara quickly intervened.
"This is not the ti for argunts! The Stellar Empire is our greatest threat. We must unite to face their imminent attack. Other matters can be discussed later."
Her diation temporarily halted the conflict between General Sost and High Priest Kent.
Charles, who had been watching silently, then asked, "Are you really sure that your spirit has rged with the energy source?"
His question deeply displeased General Sost.
With a cold expression, General Sost shot back, "What do you an by that? You're not a high priest, and you're not even a Serpent! Are you really that concerned with matters of the spirit?"
Charles smiled upon hearing this.
"You misunderstand! I don't oppose you rging your spirit with the energy source. I ask because I don't believe your spirit has actually rged with it. I think you've only borrowed a part of its power. You haven't gained the main power of the energy source."
His words provoked a furious response from General Sost.
He roared in anger.
"How is this possible?! I can always clearly feel the light and heat emitted by the energy source, and I can even use these light and heat to heal my wounds during battle! This all proves that I have completely harnessed the power of the energy source, and I can rely on it to know everything happening inside the Withered Tree Fortress at any ti."
The more General Sost spoke, the angrier he beca.
As his emotions escalated, he eventually realized that his anger seed a little unusual.
He had no reason to be this angry because of Charles' words.
"Have you noticed that your emotions are a bit strange?" Charles suddenly asked.
Though General Sost was still angry, he suppressed the rage inside himself and nodded.
"That's right! So of the light and heat emitted by the energy source has indeed been used by you, and such use isn't without consequence. These light and heat have seeped into your soul, thereby affecting your emotions."
At this point, Charles suddenly stopped speaking.
He felt that he needed to give everyone enough ti to think.
The first to react was High Priest Kent.
As the Serpent high priest, he imdiately realized that the effect of the energy source on General Sost was almost identical to the effect that curses have on intelligent life.
"So you're saying that it's not General Sost who controls the energy source, but the energy source that controls General Sost?" High Priest Kent asked incredulously.
Charles slowly nodded.
"That's exactly what I an!"
Just as their conversation ended, General Sost once again roared in fury.
"This is absolutely impossible! The energy source is not alive, it can't have any ntal activity! How could it possibly control ?!"
Facing the almost completely out-of-control General Sost, Charles answered calmly.
"Up until now, the energy source indeed isn't alive. But as ti goes on, its control over you will deepen. When your soul is completely under its control, it will co to life."
"And I must remind you, the energy source is actually a Gem of Light. Any Gem of Light will continuously try to manipulate the minds of surrounding intelligent beings."
Charles had noticed that the energy source and the Gem of Light were very similar the mont he entered through the Bronze Division door.
After hearing General Sost's explanation, he was almost completely certain that the energy source was, in fact, a Gem of Light.
The Gem of Light is a pure manifestation of light energy.
It constantly radiates powerful light and heat outward, and it also attempts to attract intelligent life to draw near and guide them to worship it. When an intelligent being fully believes in the Gem of Light, the Gem of Light can infiltrate their mind and soul.
As this infiltration deepens, the affected intelligent life will completely embrace the light. In the final stages, the soul of the intelligent life is completely corrupted by the light energy, and the Gem of Light directly transforms their soul into its own.
The outward manifestation of this process is that the Gem of Light cos to life.
A living Gem of Light is terrifying. It acts as a ssenger of light. Wherever it passes, it leaves behind powerful light energy, which brings a fearso purification.
All intelligent beings bearing curses, dark attributes, poison attributes, ice attributes, or wind attributes will be killed by this terrifying purification.
Even those intelligent beings without these negative attributes will be strongly affected. They will unwittingly beco followers of the light and will begin to follow the Gem of Light.
Since the awakening of the Gem of Light brings such catastrophic consequences, and because the Gem of Light's power can significantly enhance the abilities of light attribute Beast Masters, every faction is searching for information related to the Gem of Light.
Charles never expected that he would find a Gem of Light deep beneath the Withered Tree Fortress. And even more surprisingly, this Gem of Light possessed such trendous power.
After Charles finished speaking, General Sost finally cald down completely.
He carefully recalled his actions after discovering the energy source. He had to admit that his behavior had indeed beco increasingly odd. Moreover, during battle, he had grown more and more dependent on the power provided by the energy source.
"So, what do you think we should do? Should we destroy the energy source?" Zara asked Charles, breaking the silence.
Charles quickly shook his head and said, "We absolutely cannot destroy the Gem of Light. If we destroy it, its light energy will be fully released. Not only would the Serpent Empire be devastated by the purification, but the Atacama Desert could also be wiped out, transford into a dead zone by this destructive purification."
"What we need to do is make good use of the Gem of Light. I already have a complete plan!" His face bore a determined expression. "I will make the Stellar Empire pay a heavy price!"
Upon hearing this, General Sost, High Priest Kent, and Zara all believed that Charles had everything under control. As a result, they decided to follow Charles' plan to the letter.
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