Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

A few days later, Cainphas' injuries saw a reversal as his wounds started to heal.

 However, he did not immediately approve the Holy Sanctum's request to study the weaponry, so Lin Sheng was not able to disguise himself as a normal Holy Sanctum member to pick the weapons from the school's a.r.s.enal.

 The official reason was just to let someone rest inside the a.r.s.enal for a few days without taking out any of the weapons. Apparently it was for a high-level Holy Sanctum member that was a weapon nut.

 But no one would buy that reasoning.

 Cainphas knew the dark power weaponry inside the a.r.s.enals were extremely destructive, and if it did get smuggled out, large casualties would be inevitable. So he did not believe the Holy Sanctum's motives were pure.

 So, he delayed and delayed.

 Yet, the effect of the holy power was greater than he had imagined.

 Not too long after, Lin Sheng had gotten news from Margaret as accepted new Darksiders who had joined the Holy Sanctum.

 The lady did not go home and instead roamed around the nearby cities as she secretly recruited potential members to join the Holy Sanctum.

 The Holy Sanctum's training of one's holy power greatly stimulates the dark power and as the two co-exist, they could see a multiple-fold increase to their powers after training.

 For the Darksiders among the civilians, that was unimaginable. So any Darksider who had the opportunity to come over had gladly joined.

 Time soon pa.s.sed.

 Very quickly, it was the time for the first Holy Sanctum congregation for the imparting of the Ashen Seal.

 Madillan, Margaret, even Melissa, and a few other Darksiders from other places all came to the congregation as everyone put down whatever they were doing and headed to the point.

 The meeting point of the temporary Holy Sanctum was inside one of Madillan's private estate chosen by Lin Sheng.

 The estate was outside the city and had a wide underground bas.e.m.e.nt.

 The 7th of December, noon.

 The weather was good, and it was a clear, cloudless day.

 Inside the hall of Blackplum manor.

 Crimson-armor warriors stood in line on both sides, and these normal soldiers, while low-level Transcendents had impeccable discipline, and that left an impression with the guests.

 There were at least twenty-odd people in the hall at a glance, and the weakest of the lot were at least at a Two-wing level.

 “This is Miga, powerful, complicated, yet free.”

 Lin Sheng stood together with Margaret, Madillan, and Cainphas together inside a room with a one-way mirror on the second floor as they looked down at the boisterous scene below.

 “There's not much freedom to speak of.” Margaret shook her head. “Many of the freemen are being pressured by Carta Blache, and they are almost an extinct breed now.”

 “Being able to get to this level by self-study is already very commendable.” Madillan smiled.

 “That aside, the Holy Sanctum and Baine have mutual interests, and in this respect, I hope that the Holy Sanctum could openly cooperate with us to suppress the spread of the Blacktide.” Cainphas had made a good recovery as the holy power within his body had clearly broken through Level 3.

 The moment he brought up the Blacktide, he could not help but look at Lin Sheng.

 Lin Sheng was clad in his white armor as he wore a green crystal mask. His frame was large and continuously releasing powerful holy aura.

 “Suppressing the Blacktide is our calling, but our manpower in the Migan Holy Sanctum is just too low. We need to take in a few more people and that will increase the conversion through training and stimulate mutual growth. That will allow the holy power to complete its initial acc.u.mulation.” Lin Sheng said calmly. His voice had been distorted using a voice distortion technique to hide his original voice.

 He did not wish to have his true ident.i.ty seen Cainphas, the wily old fox. He was not afraid of being discovered, but he was allergic to potential problems.

 “The Sevenlocks Tower's raid had damaged the seal in parts of the city and the academy, unleas.h.i.+ng a large amount of Blactide aura. We need to quickly suppress that.” Cainphas rumbled.

 “There's such a thing?”

 “Forget it. Let's see how it goes then.” Cainphas suddenly sighed and said nothing else.

 After the wily old dean stopped talking, Margaret went up to speak to Lin Sheng to report what she had accomplished after she left—recruitment, investigation, formulating the development plans for the Holy Sanctum, and paying people to spread rumors about the holy light being the only thing that was able to combat the Blacktide.

 The moment he heard Margaret's report, he felt that she was much more suited than him to run the sanctum.

 “If nothing goes wrong, we will officially set up a branch here,” Lin Sheng gave Margaret a special a.s.surance. “When that happens you'll come over here to run the daily operations.”

 “I'll do my best!” Margaret nodded.

 She was not born in a small family, rather she was part of one of Olro's main n.o.ble families. With her established familial background, she had learned a lot of things since young, so she had a good grasp on how to run things.

 After making contact with the Holy Sanctum, she quickly realized what sort of hidden potential this organization had.

 After a short conversion later, all of the new Holy Sanctum recruits had arrived.

 There was a total of 28 Darksiders.

 This was a terrifying number, as Darksiders were different from the common folk.

 After joining the Holy Sanctum and started training, the growth from the mutual stimulation of dark and holy powers was much more exponential.

 That was to say, the 28 people there would greatly surpa.s.s their peers in the future not too far away as they build up their own careers.

 Once all had arrived, the crimson armor warriors closed the door and started taking attendance. The Holy Sanctum was not some cult, rather it was a secretive sect, so they had a members.h.i.+p list.

 While their attendance was being taken, the crowd too started measuring their fellow attendees. Perhaps not long later, they would be able to form a mutually-beneficial grouping. The Holy Sanctum had provided them the network, stronger abilities, and also faith.

 Hence, Lin Sheng gave them a little bit of time to themselves.

 About half an hour later, he slowly got up and walked towards the barricade on the second floor and down to the most eye-catching spot on the first floor.

 There was a small microphone being set up there.

 Lin Sheng stood before the microphone as his gaze swept past the crowd as he waited for them to quiet down.

 The cacophony of chatter soon gave way to silence as all of the Darksiders here today knew why they had all gathered at this place.

 The Ashen Seal.

 That was the first thing the Holy Sanctum had informed everyone. This was something that would allow them to gain powerful abilities aside from the dark powers, and to also increase the rate of training of one's holy power.

 Besides, everyone present was curious as well. Perhaps the man in white armor was the manager of the Holy Sanctum there?

 What would he be saying? The Holy Sanctum was definitely not a charity that gave and did not take, so when they were all called there, they had made preparations for the price they needed to pay.

 Lin Sheng smiled slightly beneath the mask as he stood before the microphone and spoke.

 “I'm very glad to be able to stand here today, and talk to everyone about the problem of the Blacktide.”

 “I am Taros Seagal, an orphan saved from the hollows of poverty by the Holy Sanctum,” he started to wax lyrical.