Chapter 1167 Black Knight

Constance frowned at Duke Owen's sudden words, and looked at the old man lying on the bed, weakened from his recent healing, "Duke Owen, you don't need to use the word 'request' in front of me."

"But this matter is no ordinary thing," Duke Owen chuckled, though his face lacked color, his tone was unusually light, "After all, even with our friendship, getting you to activate the Sacred Armory isn't so easy, is it?"

The expression on Constance's face changed at once, "Activate the Sacred Armory? What do you want to do?"

"What else can I do?" Duke Owen raised his arm and waved it, "Let this old bone rattle around for another two years. Even that Nehem of the South has gone to the battlefield, this Duke of the North is not willing to keep lying here."

Constance stared seriously at Duke Owen, "Do you know what you're saying? If you really use the power of the Sacred Armory on yourself, you'll no longer be a true human being—you need to think clearly, you've only just returned from the hands of death, there's no need to take that risk again. And you heard just now, your current weakness is only temporary, as long as you rest peacefully, you can live like a normal person."

"But only live like a normal person, isn't it?" the old duke said softly, "Even less than a normal person... Damaged soul, thoughts, memories, personality, limbs, all will be weakened, I will become a trembling old man, maybe even become muddleheaded and weak, this way of living... I can't adapt to it."

Hao Ren, who had been listening in confusion, felt he had to speak, "Ahem, wait a minute, what are you talking about?"

"...It's normal that you don't know," Constance looked up at Hao Ren, "This was our previous plan—after all treatment methods failed, Duke Owen was originally going to use the Black Knight transformation ritual as a last resort."

Hao Ren's eyebrows immediately shot up, "Transform into a Black Knight?"

"That's a method that can theoretically cure 'Corruption'," Constance said frankly, "Through a complete reshaping of flesh and soul, to allow Duke Owen to undergo a 'rebirth'. Since we can't filter out the pollutants in his soul and body, then we'll simply create a new individual, and then transfer his remaining healthy consciousness into it."

Hao Ren was somewhat puzzled, "Haven't the Black Knights already been corrupted and mutated? And they're all controlled by Emperor Bolentin... Won't your transformation ritual have problems because of this?"

"Of course not," Constance replied, "What happened to my father's knights was corruption, but not the Black Knight transformation technology itself—the technology itself is fine, as long as it's controlled properly, we can also create our own Black Knights."

At this point, she shook her head again, "But this plan has already been abandoned by me... You successfully healed Duke Owen's corruption, even without the transformation ritual he can survive..."

"But he obviously doesn't want to live that way," Vivian interrupted, "To be honest, I quite understand him—if it was just a physical disability it would be fine, at least the mind can still do something, but soul damage will cause the thinking to have problems, which is indeed difficult for someone like the old duke to accept."

When Duke Owen heard someone agreeing with him, a happy expression appeared on his face, but it was still difficult to hide the weariness in his eyes.

Before, the power of the Madness was eroding his body, the corrupted flesh and soul were still entangled with the healthy parts, this kind of completeness at least allowed him to barely maintain a superficial vitality, but now that the corrupted part had been completely purified, his sense of weakness was highlighted because it had lost its support.

And Vivian, after expressing her support for Duke Owen, changed the subject, "However, I really don't recommend that he undergo that Black Knight transformation ritual."

"Why?" Duke Owen was very strange, "Do you know a lot about Black Knights?"

"I probably know some, but that's not the reason," Vivian shrugged, "The real reason is that I don't think that transformation ritual is the best plan—maybe we have a better way to continue to heal you, and avoid the various drawbacks of the transformation ritual."

Constance was immediately surprised, "You have a better plan? Even one that can heal the wounds of the soul?"

"To be honest, soul trauma is indeed a rather troublesome problem," Hao Ren stroked his chin, and looked at Leah beside him without showing any emotion, "But compared to soul annihilation, it at least has some room for maneuver. Leah, are you confident?"

"Wait a minute," Leah said, waving her hand, and lowered her head, mumbling as if she was quickly reciting something, only vaguely able to hear words like "key points", "first step", "common problems", "practical skills", after a full half a minute, she raised her head, "Don't worry, I can heal this degree of soul damage..."

Duke Owen blinked, "But you seemed to be just now..."

"I didn't understand your situation just now," Leah tried to puff out her chest, "But I am different now!"

Lili nudged Vivian's arm, and muttered, "Damn, I wasn't this good when I was bumming around at Peking University..."

Vivian, "So she is the Creation Goddess, she can create a God Realm with her hands without going to school, and you graduated from Peking University four times just to eat in the cafeteria."

Hao Ren felt that he really couldn't watch or listen anymore, and coughed extra hard to cover up his embarrassment, "Ahem, please believe in the strength of the World Tree Temple, Duke Owen, we are more or less 'Inheritors' who have specially inherited knowledge. Of course, before formulating a specific treatment plan, I want to know what your Black Knight transformation ritual is like, so that we can compare it with our treatment plan—can this be shown to outsiders?"

Although Constance was a little curious about what was going on with the strange behavior of these people just now, the Inheritors were more or less neurotic due to the excessive memory and mental fissures they carried, so she did not pursue it. After hearing Hao Ren's words, she smiled slightly, "The Black Knight transformation ritual and the essence of the Black Knight are both imperial secrets—but that is only for ordinary people. For you who are also Inheritors... Knowledge inherited from previous eras like this is naturally open."

"That would be best," Hao Ren also laughed, "So where is the Black Knight transformation ritual performed? What is the specific process?"

"I'll take you to a place, seeing is better than hearing," Constance replied, "But before that, what is your understanding of the Black Knight?"

Hao Ren talked about the information he had, "I don't know much about Black Knights, but as far as I know, the total number of them from their appearance to the present is only 770,000, although they have experienced countless wars, the number has always remained the same, and the secret lies in the fact that the main bodies of the Black Knights are those mechanical swords, and the number of mechanical swords is constant—and the headquarters of the Black Knights, or rather the base, is located near the Imperial City's 'Sacred Armory', all the mechanical swords come from there, but according to what Duke Owen said just now, could it be... you also have a Sacred Armory?"

"...It seems that you have very little knowledge inherited in this area," Constance said softly, "Come on, I'll tell you the origin of the Black Knights there. Duke Owen, you don't have to come along, just rest here in peace."

Duke Owen complained a little, but at this moment the "transformation plan" had been completely rejected, and Hao Ren and his party had promised a more advanced treatment plan, so he did not insist on anything, but obediently lay back on the bed.

After leaving the room, Constance said softly, "If you really have a solution to heal the soul, please do it as soon as possible."

Lili casually asked, "What's wrong?"

"His personality has begun to change, and his will is also regressing," Constance said, "Haywood is a stubborn and strong person, if he was normal, even if I asked him to rest just now, he would have insisted on going with us, and no one could stop him, but just now he grumbled and shrank back into the quilt, and didn't even realize it."

Lili blinked, "You seem to know him very well?"

"Of course I know him," Constance smiled, "I taught him his swordsmanship, fighting and imperial history. Don't be surprised, I have personally cultivated many people, not just Haywood Owen, there is a count named Nehem in the south who is also my proud disciple."

"Uh..." Hao Ren opened his mouth but didn't know what to say, he did know that Constance was immortal like the Dragon Soul Emperor, but he didn't expect that the relationship between this princess and the Duke of the North was actually a teacher-student relationship... And he hadn't seen it at all before!

But thinking about it carefully, this is normal, long-lived races and short-lived races live together, the occurrence of this situation can be said to be inevitable.

And after sighing, he noticed another thing, "Wait, so... Duke Owen is not an Inheritor?"

"The memories of the Inheritor come from the depths of the soul, those are the things that have continued to this day through countless eras, even if the shorter-lived Inheritors die and are reincarnated many times in an era, their soul memories will not dissipate, so an Inheritor does not need to learn to acquire knowledge, at least does not need to rely on learning to acquire knowledge such as history."

Since Constance is Duke Owen's teacher, it means that Duke Owen's soul is an ordinary person?

"That's right, he is not an Inheritor," Constance admitted very simply, "Everyone I teach is not an Inheritor—their knowledge about the alternation of eras and ancient technology is all taught by me personally."

Vivian frowned, "Because the number of Inheritors is small?"

"That's one reason," Constance nodded slightly, "Another reason is... the eternal souls of the Inheritors are dissipating, and the dissipation in this era is particularly serious, some Inheritors have even been completely 'washed' into ordinary people by the last apocalypse, and there is not even a trace of ancient memory in their souls. If I'm not mistaken, Charlemagne and Ivana are examples of this. So I must find a way to 'manufacture' new Inheritors. I don't know exactly how to do it, and I don't know how the first generation of Inheritors was born, but I know that the first Inheritors were those who held ancient knowledge and survived to the end of the final battlefield of the era..."

"So you cultivated a large number of ordinary people, told them about the alternation of eras, let them study like brainwashing, and the ultimate goal is to let them strive to survive in that final battle, in the hope that they can produce a transformation and become new Inheritors?"

Lili muttered a word, "Refresh."

"I don't know if this will succeed, but you always have to try something," Constance's tone was very indifferent, "There are not many souls left over from ancient times, and there are fewer and fewer memories, if even we forget who we are... then we always have to leave a few new people to remember our history, right?"