Chapter 53: The Tribunal

“A fanatical, evil organization that worships destruction. As long as they appear, they will inevitably bring disaster and ominousness.”

“That serious?”

“You haven’t seen them. Although the members of the Dusk Society are very few, every one of them is a lunatic.” Han Meng recalled the situation where he had been played in the palm of 【Plum Blossom 8】’s hand, and the cold light in his eyes intensified.

“Did they also cause the incidents in District 3 and Districts 5 and 6 this time?” Chen Ling began to probe indirectly.

“……That shouldn’t be it.” Han Meng shook his head, “They aren’t capable of actively summoning the Gray Realm to descend; that is the method of the Jiangtian Sect…”

“Then what kind of disasters and ominousness have they brought to the Aurora Domain?”

Chen Ling tried to make his tone sound purely foolish… not enough to make Han Meng feel he was probing for more information about the Dusk Society, but Han Meng was smart, and he caught that trace of anomaly.

He stared at Chen Ling for a long time without answering his question, but said seriously:

“Chen Ling, you had best not develop any curiosity about this organization, and even more so, do not have any form of contact with them… They are very dangerous and are experts at brainwashing. You only need to know that once you encounter a member of the Dusk Society, the further away you stay, the better. Understand?”

Unfortunately, a newly promoted member of the Dusk Society was sitting right in front of him.

Seeing that Han Meng had spoken to this extent, Chen Ling couldn’t ask any more and nodded calmly.

“In short, the damage in Districts 5 and 6 is extremely heavy. According to incomplete statistics, over three thousand people have lost their lives in this disaster. Coupled with the total annihilation of the Arbiters, these two major districts are considered finished… Even if Aurora City urgently transfers Arbiters to fill the vacancies, there still aren’t enough hands.”

“So they moved up the opening time of the Armory Vault to recover quickly?”

“Correct.”

Arbiters have one chance to enter the Armory Vault three years after being confirmed, with a probability of being chosen by the Divine Path to become an Arbiter… Opening the vault early meant being able to obtain a batch of new Arbiters in a short time, although they would only be First-Order.

“This time, the Arbiters sent by the seven major districts, plus those sent from within Aurora City, total seventy people… You need to take a boat across the Frozen Sea to reach the very edge of the Aurora Domain, where the Armory Vault is located.

At the same time, three Arbiters from Aurora City will lead the team and be responsible for protecting your safety.”

“What is it like inside the Armory Vault?”

“The Armory Vault is very large, but the area for your trial only occupies a small part. You’ll know the specifics when you get there.”

Han Meng checked the time and said blandly:

“It’s not early, get some rest, and save up some energy…

Also, if you encounter some… things in the vault, don’t be too timid. You are an Arbiter of our District 3. Even if you poke a hornet’s nest, I’ll be there to back you up…

Don’t embarrass our District 3.”

Hearing this, Chen Ling was stunned. Before he could ask anything, Han Meng turned and left.

Chen Ling carefully savored Han Meng’s last sentence. Was it implying something? Perhaps… this was the purpose of his special visit today?

Chen Ling pondered for a moment, then shook his head, turned, and lay on the bed, his consciousness gradually sinking into a dream.

……

“Damn it… can’t you just let me have a proper dream?”

Chen Ling opened his eyes, saw the spotlight overhead, and sighed in his heart.

After last night’s dream, Chen Ling almost thought he might not have to “report” to the theater every night and could get a good night’s sleep… He didn’t expect to be back.

Chen Ling climbed off the stage and walked straight to the screen, clicking the treasure chest button in the corner.

After completing the first act last time, there was still a designated character draw opportunity that hadn’t been used. Now that he was about to set off for the Armory Vault, having an extra skill for self-defense was always good.

As the stirring music played, Chen Ling turned and walked to the table. As countless cards danced, they finally all landed face down on the table.

“Please write the name of the character you want to draw on the paper.”

A line of small characters appeared on the paper.

Chen Ling held the white paper in his hand, hesitated for a moment, and finally wrote two characters:

Han Meng.

Since it was a designated character, Chen Ling naturally had to choose the one with the highest ceiling, and he only had two Divine Path possessors around him, Chu Muyun and Han Meng. Compared to the 【Medical Divine Path】, the 【Armory Divine Path】 was definitely better at combat… at least that’s what he thought.

What’s more, Chen Ling already had the 【Killing Waltz】. Getting another Armory Divine Path skill would make the two a better match… If possible, Chen Ling even wanted to replicate an entire 【Judgment】 path.

In this way, he could be considered a dual cultivator of the Theater Divine Path and the Armory Divine Path?

As the characters “Han Meng” appeared on the paper, all the cards on the table disappeared, leaving only twelve cards lined up. These were all the skills Han Meng possessed, and one of the cards was gray and could not be selected.

As far as Chen Ling knew, Han Meng was a four-stripe Arbiter, which corresponded to the Fourth-Order of the Armory Divine Path…

Among these twelve cards, only four were blue Divine Path skill cards; the others were likely ordinary skills like “Cooking” or “Tracking.” As for the one that couldn’t be selected, it should be the 【Killing Waltz】 that Chen Ling already had.

A three-in-eleven probability… No, the screen said that it would be boosted based on the total audience expectation value from the previous act.

Chen Ling rubbed his hands, hesitated for a moment, and finally chose one of the cards.

“Skill: 【Tribunal】”

“Affiliation: Armory Divine Path, 【Judgment】 path, Fourth-Order;”

“Character: Han Meng.”

Here it comes!

Seeing this skill, the image of Han Meng fighting the red-paper monster that day and shattering its body with three shots immediately appeared in Chen Ling’s mind.

If nothing went wrong, this was one of the core skills of the 【Judgment】 path.

As Chen Ling absorbed the card, all the information about this skill appeared in his mind. Unlike the 【Killing Waltz】, this was a domain-type skill that consumed the user’s mental energy when released…

Come to think of it, Chen Ling had no burden when using either 【Formless】 or 【Secret Eye】. But the 【Killing Waltz】 would leave him extremely exhausted after using it for just over ten seconds.

“Skills from First to Third Order are based on physical fitness, while Fourth-Order and above consume mental energy…” Chen Ling thought thoughtfully.

He wondered if his current First-Order mental energy could support him in using the 【Tribunal】 once?