The Devouring Knight-Chapter 370 - 369: The Forgotten One

"Lumberling, are you okay?" Aurelya stepped quickly beside him, worry clear in her eyes.

He let out a slow breath, shook his head once, and offered her a small smile. "I'm fine."

"You crazy bastard," Aurelya said, poking his chest. "Don't do something that reckless again."

Lumberling chuckled lightly, then turned to Skitz. "When we go out, show me where you found that coffin. I need to see it for myself."

Liraeth stepped closer. "Did you discover something?"

"They're called vampires," Lumberling said. "Undead creatures that drink blood. The memories matched everything I saw in the lizardman's mind." He glanced at the elves. "Do any of you know about them?"

Thessalia nodded at him. "I've read about them in an old book. Their race existed thousands of years ago. They were incredibly strong that even a single one of them could be said to have the strength of Knight three once they reach maturity through aging alone. They lived and thrived, and very few dared to challenge them. But… a great war broke out, and their entire race was wiped from the world."

"A great war? Who fought them?" Lumberling asked, frowning.

She shook her head. "I don't know. The book didn't explain it. And I never found other records about that war."

"Then that book was wrong," Lumberling said, his voice heavy. "They're not gone. And I'm sure there's more of them out there, not just the one Skitz and his group found. If they've lived for thousands of years, growing stronger all the while… then their power now could be unimaginable now." 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

The room fell silent. No one spoke.

Lumberling's gaze swept over them. "I have a strong feeling something big is coming. And this time… the empire might not survive."

"You want to find them?" Thessalia asked quietly.

"I want to absorb their memories," Lumberling said with a nod. "See how they survived and what they're planning. It might help us understand everything that's happening."

"I'm in," Thessalia said immediately.

Lumberling raised a hand. "Not now. We'll go soon, but we need to prepare first."

Thessalia didn't argue. Instead, she crouched beside the small container holding the vampire's ashes, studying them with careful eyes.

Before she could say anything more, Gobo2 suddenly raised his hand. "Boss!" he called out, eyes bright with excitement. "So that means… it's safe to absorb the lizardmen's essence now, right?"

"Yes," Lumberling said. "There shouldn't be any problems."

Gobo2 pumped his fist. "Good! I call dibs. I go first!"

"Yeah, yeah," Lumberling said with a small smile. "Line up, everyone."

He then called his captains and vice-captains forward, placing them in order as he prepared to guide the essence into them.

.....

Late at night, Lumberling sat alone in his room, legs crossed, breathing steady. The room was quiet, lit only by a small lamp. He slipped into the familiar rhythm of the Imperial Mindseal Meditation, letting his thoughts settle one layer at a time.

He had been practicing this technique for months, but constant battles and travel made it hard to give it the time it needed. And now, after absorbing so many high-level essences, the memories inside his mind were starting to pile up, pressing on him like a heavy weight.

'From today on, I need to focus on this more,' he thought. 'I'll train my other skills when I have time, but strengthening my mind has to come first.'

It was the only method he had to strengthen his mind. He needed this focus now more than ever.

After a few minutes of calming his breathing, he opened his status window. He hadn't checked it in a long while.

….

Name: Lumberling

Race: Human

Age: 28

Level: 14

Essence Point: (25,389/51,500)

Power: 26,369 (Skills: 23,756 | Level: 2,613)

Fragment of Divine Blessing: Qi Adaptation

Fragment of Divine Blessing: Blessing of the Undying Flame

Fragment of Naxxiriss' Blessing: Blessing of the Pale Dream

Cultivation Realm: Body Tempering Realm

Beginner Imperial Mindseal Meditation Level 3 (933/1000)

Beginner Ironblood Tempering Scripture Level 3 (811/1000)

Beginner Stone Step Art Lv.0 (1/1000)

Knight Stage: Knight One

Active Skills

Beginner Sprint Lv3 (58/1000)

Beginner Spearheart Thrust Lv. 4 (326/1000)

Beginner Thundering Lunge Lv.2 (851/1000)

Beginner Triple Fang Lv. 2 (650/1000)

Beginner Hammer Shock Lv1 (900/1000)

Beginner Phantom Step Lv. 1 (1/1000))

Beginner Steel Tempest Lvl 1 (1/1000)

Beginner Circle of Eternity Lv.0 (842/1000)

Beginner Vortex Thrust Lvl 0 (1/1000)

Beginner Executioner's Gale Lv. 0 (1/1000)

Beginner Dominion Strike Lv. 0 (1/1000)

Beginner Stonewall Guard Lvl 0 (1/1000)

Beginner Stone Shield Lvl 0 (1/1000)

Beginner Essence Weave Lv1 (782/1000)

Passive Skills

Essence Devour

Low Level Spearheart Doctrine Lv8 (861/1000)

Low Level Shadow Glide Lv1 (158/1000)

Low Level Flowing Edge Lv1 (1/1000)

Beginner Shield Bash Lv5 (1/1000)

Beginner Dual Wielding Axe Lv4 (79/1000)

Beginner Bonecrush Method Lv4 (42/1000)

Beginner Bowmanship Lv3 (2/1000)

Beginner Dagger Fang Lv. 1 (46/1000)

Resistances

Beginner Poison Resistance Lv2 (886/1000)

Beginner Cold Resistance has been learned Lv. 0 (647/1000)

Arcane Stage: Unranked

Thunder Element Lv.2 (985/1000)

Earth Element Lv.0 (652/1000)

Chaos Element Lv.0 (421/1000)

Fire Element Lv.0 (385/1000)

Element of Gravity. Lv. 0 (258/1000)

Einherjar Stage: Unranked

(Thor's Blessing Lv.3 (251/1000)

(Odin's Blessing Lv.2 (1/1000))

(Týr's Blessing Lv.1 (501/1000))

(Ullr's Blessing Lv.1 (251/1000))

Oracle Stage: Apprentice Lv. 0 (1/1000)

Unique Skill: Luck Analyze

Unique Skill: Fate Glimpsed

.....

Looking at his power, Lumberling let out a slow breath. At this point, his physical strength alone was already close to a Knight Three early stage. If a normal knight reached this level through years of training, he had jumped there by force, devouring essence after essence.

"I got so many active skills from the True Knights I absorbed," he muttered to himself. "But now there's too many. I can't even use most of them. Feels like a waste just letting them sit there.

He looked up in his ceiling.

"There has to be a way to make use of all of them…"

Suddenly, as if answering his thoughts, something stirred inside his chest.

The sprout deep within his heart suddenly pulsed. It beat once, twice, then faster, like a small living heart waking up.

"What…?"

Before he could react, his mind began to drift, slipping into darkness.

When he opened his eyes again, everything around him was pitch black. No walls, no light, no sound. Just endless darkness stretching forever.

"Hello?" he called out.

No one answered.

The place was eerily silent, but strangely, he didn't feel fear or discomfort. Instead, he felt… warm and safe. Like this darkness was something he belonged to, a place that was truly his own.