Free Web NovelChapter 20: Chapter 20- Third Chamber, Guardian’s Trial.
After clearing the chamber, at the far end, a new corridor opened, its walls wreathed in amber light.
Leo looked at Shen. "Let’s move?"
Shen touched talismans under his robes and nodded. "Let’s move forward."
A similar corridor came across their view. The glowing torches lit the way forward, guiding them. The air grew warmer with every step they took, carrying the familiar mineral tang of ancient fire and stone.
The corridor opened into a CHAMBER that was different from the others.
The first had been a sealed vault, the second a classroom. This third one was a SANCTUARY. Circular walls carved with layered warding seals, spiraling patterns that wrapped from floor to ceiling. A stone pedestal stood at the center, waist-high, its surface covered in ancient patterns.
Leo scanned the place.
[FORGE-SIGHT (ACTIVE) — SCANNING]
[Chamber: Unknown — Guardian’s Rest]
[Ambient Signature: Talisman residue — ancient, depleted]
[Active Wards: None. All seals expired.]
[Structural Note: 7 skeletal remains. Dried ink on all warding surfaces.]
Leo found seven skeletons with his scan. He walked towards them with Shen.
When they got close, they could see the skeletons were clutching brushes that had long rotted to dust.
"It’s like they died while trying to complete some inscriptions." Shen added.
Leo looked around and it truly seemed like it.
"Are the seven skeletons placed in some kind of formation?" Leo asked, noticing that they were arranged in a loose semicircle around the central pedestal.
Shen stepped towards the pedestal.
Just as he took a step forward, his pendant blazed.
The blazing light flickered as if signifying something urgent.
Shen’s eyes widened as he seemed to realize the pendant was trying to tell him something. It was pointing towards one of the skeleton.
He walked past the six flanking skeletons, directly towards the center. The skeleton at the center sat upright before the pedestal. Its fingers curled around a brush that had yet to rot away completely like those of the others.
Around its neck, suspended by a silver chain, hung a pendant. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
Identical to Shen’s.
Shen froze upon seeing the familiar pendant.
....
Slowly he reached out with his fingers.
When his fingers touched the pendant, the world seemed to stop.
A pause.....
Then Shen’s pendant blazed with white-green light and the pendant on the skeleton’s chest flickered in response.
It flickered faintly, then the intensity increased, until....
It shattered.
Streams of white energy arched from the broken pendant into Shen’s own pendant, merging with it.
Shen staggered back, his hands at his chest.
"Shen?" Leo called out.
But no reply came.
His eyes were closed.
.....
Shen saw something else.
A forge. Gold light. A hearth blazing in its cradle. Above the hearth, the ceiling of the forge was inscribed with numerous inscriptions — the same type he had seen previously in the second chamber.
He could hear echoes of hammers striking metal, anvils ringing, laughter echoing through the forge.
Then he saw a man. Tall, broad-shouldered, hands stained with decades of ink and metal dust. He stood before the forge with a similar pendant hanging from his neck. Shen guessed it was the same man whose skeleton lay before the pedestal in the third chamber.
Then the vision shifted.
All of a sudden —
Alarms rang through the forge. Screams followed. The gold light in the forge dimmed.
The man turned to face the door.
"Seal Elder, Ward Elder — take your positions."
Three figures moved to his left and three to his right.
"The Lord has commanded us to seal the forge. The forge is already sealing itself. We hold this position until it is done." He touched his pendant.
"We fight. Inscribe the best talisman inscription you have ever made in your life and stop the enemy. Not a soul shall pass through here while we live."
"Yes, sir. We shall hold the ground." The six elders roared.
...
Shen’s eyes snapped open.
"He was the last guardian." Shen muttered. "The head of the Guardian Council, with six elders."
He looked at the skeletons on the ground.
It seemed something had been invading this place and they had given up their lives trying to protect it.
He noticed the incomplete inscriptions. But it seemed they had not been able to complete the last inscription of their lives.
"They never got to complete the final seal. But they never stopped trying." Shen said.
"You could complete it for them," Leo appeared beside him and whispered.
Shen shook his head. "I’m not familiar with these runes, and the ink is dead, the seals have faded away. I’d need to re-carve every line from scratch.... That would take hours, if not days."
But just as he finished speaking —
[Ding!]
[Third Chamber’s trial initiated]
[Restore and complete the inscription: 0/7]
Shen had black lines over his face. "You jinxed it..."
Leo just whistled, looking away to avoid his gaze.
Shen sighed and bent down to check the inscriptions.
The nearest skeleton on the left flank from the center — the Seal Elder — had died mid-stroke, brush still raised. Shen took out his brush and traced the completed inscriptions. He felt it.
The elder’s intent. What the stroke had signified before his death.
"I see it," Shen muttered.
The final stroke... I can now see what he was aiming for, but he seems to have run out of time...
Shen walked into the circle and pressed his palm flat against the carved line, eyes closed.
The pendant blazed, shades of green intertwining together.
Green-white light flooded the pattern, following the carved channels, tracing the old shapes. Shen took out his brush and followed the light, guiding it, and completed the final stroke the elder couldn’t.
The ward inscription ignited. Green-white fire raced along the circle.
The Seal Elder’s skeleton, which had seemed to stubbornly hold on, started disappearing, crumbling away — as if it had finally been released.
Then he moved to the second circle and repeated the same. Another skeleton disappeared.
He moved down the edge of the right flank and released the final Ward Elder from this place.
Then he moved down the left flank. Three Seal Elders, one by one. Shen studied each for almost two hours, as they were more intricate, layered, and demanding of great knowledge.
Shen continued in the same way as before, completing the strokes and rekindling the dimmed inscriptions.
Leo watched everything taking place in awe.
....
Shen had completed the six elders’ inscriptions. Six circles flickered with light.
Now only a single skeleton remained in front of the stone pedestal.
This one was also incomplete and had clearer signs of being interrupted. The final strokes were half-formed. It seemed the man had been partway through closing the line when the invaders successfully broke into this place and massacred everyone.
Shen was more familiar with this inscription than the other six. This one had many similarities to the one he had seen on the ceiling of the second chamber.
Shen studied it for a long while. He was shocked by what he found.
If this talisman had been completed, this place would have been unbreakable — all invaders would have been repelled. This formation had a similar architecture to the one on the ceiling, but its core and purpose were different. It played with the rules of space and time.
It was meant to seal this place away from space and time such that no one would be able to find it, and even if they did, the spatial turbulence around the barrier would have shredded everything to pieces.
Shen drew a cold breath. freewebnoveℓ.com
The pendant glowed fervently, as if recognizing its master’s work. The formation started to light up on its own.
Honestly, Shen had no confidence he could revitalize this formation. But thankfully, the pendant did most of the work.
The only thing remaining was the half-complete final stroke.
Shen placed the brush above the incomplete stroke.
But the moment it touched, a heavy pressure bore down. Even moving the brush by a millimeter felt like pushing against a mountain.
Shen took a deep breath. He focused all his will into the last stroke. The pendant blazed and resonated with his will.
He completed the final stroke on will alone. He had no understanding of space and time, yet he still completed the stroke.
Green-white fire ran along the carved surface the moment the final stroke was completed. The entire chamber hummed — a deep, resonant chord that shook the dust from the walls and set the amber light pulsing in rhythm.
[Ding!]
[THIRD CHAMBER: GUARDIAN’S TRIAL COMPLETE]
[Seals Restored: 7/7]
[Inheritance Recognized: Guardian Council — confirmed.]
Shen read the completion notification and finally relaxed.
The pendant dimmed to a warm glow, no longer urgent.
He touched the Head Guardian’s skeleton, but it crumbled away, vanishing.
"I shall inherit your teachings and will." He said softly.
Then the system notification appeared again.
[REWARDS UNLOCKED:]
— Skill Upgraded: [Warden’s Pact (Active)]
— Transform any warding talisman into a territory ward.
— Duration scales with active seals in range.
— Bonus: +1 seal per completed Guardian trial.
— Class Branch Unlocked: [Seal Warden]
— Talisman durability +25%.
Warding seal cooldown -15%.
— Blueprint Acquired:
[Warden’s Guard - Tower Shield]
— Tier: Uncommon
— A shield designed to anchor territory wards.
— Recipe includes Guardian Council seal pattern.
— Inheritance Echo: [Kaelen’s Intent]
— A fragment of the Head Guardian’s will, merged into your pendant. When completing an interrupted seal, you may channel the Echo to restore the creator’s original intent.
+10% seal restoration speed.
— +80 XP (shared) —
Chamber 3: Guardian’s Rest
— Cleared.
— Spiritual Integrity: 100% (No change.)
Shen read the notification in silence, then checked the details.
[Warden’s Pact (Active)]
A Guardian ability that has evolved through lineage recognition. Once a simple talisman-enhancing technique, the pact now allows you to anchor a warding talisman to a physical location, transforming it into a territory ward — a bounded zone that repels Inverse-aligned energy and alerts you to breaches.
Duration of the territory ward scales with the number of active Guardian seals within range. The more seals you restore, the longer your wards hold.
Bonus: +1 concurrent seal per completed Guardian trial. Current maximum: 1 seal.
[CLASS BRANCH UNLOCKED: Seal Warden]
Your [Talisman Warrior] class has recognized a specialized path. The Seal Warden branch focuses on territorial defense and seal restoration rather than single-target inscription.
Passive Bonuses:
— Talisman durability +25% (equipment lasts longer before decay)
— Warding seal cooldown -15% (defensive seals recharge faster)
This branch does not replace your base class. It is a parallel specialization that grows as you complete future Guardian trials.
[BLUEPRINT ACQUIRED:]
[Warden’s Guard - Tower Shield]
Tier: Uncommon
Type: Shield (Forgeable)
A heavy tower shield designed for a single purpose: to anchor a territory ward in open terrain. When planted into the ground and activated with a warding talisman, the shield becomes the physical heart of the ward — stabilizing it against disruption and extending its effective radius by 40%.
Recipe Requirements:
— Steel ingot x4
— Guardian Council seal pattern (inscribed by a Seal Warden)
— Spiritual resonance infusion
Note: This blueprint requires collaboration. The seal pattern must be carved by the ward-keeper. The forging must be done by the smith. Neither can complete it alone.
[INHERITANCE ECHO: Kaelen’s Intent]
A fragment of the Head Guardian’s will has merged into your pendant. It is not a skill nor a spell — it is a remnant of a man who refused to stop inscribing until the very last moment.
Passive Effect: — Seal restoration speed +10%
Active Effect (Once per long rest): — Memory-Drawing: When you touch the remains or remnants of a seal creator, you may channel the Echo to perceive the creator’s original intent. This reveals the intended final stroke of any interrupted seal, allowing you to complete it exactly as they would have.
Lore Note: Kaelen was the last Head Guardian of the Forge Council. He held this chamber with six elders while the forge sealed itself. His pendant chose you. Carry it forward.
There were too many details to remember. He just scrolled past them, thinking he would read them in detail later.
He sighed.....
"I’ve been running this questline from the first Guardian Pact rune all the way here." Shen reminisced. "I didn’t realize it was this man — Kaelen — who led me here." He looked at the place where the skeleton had crumbled away.
Leo walked over. He carefully observed the surroundings. "Six elders and a Head Guardian."
"They held a line against the invaders and protected the forge. They deserve our respect." He bowed towards them. Shen joined in and bowed to the seven.
A new passage appeared before them.
Leo could feel the Eternal Flame surging with excitement.
"Shall we proceed to the next chamber?" Leo said, and walked towards the passageway, with Shen following behind.
