89: Chapter 89 The First Residual Instrument

After the Old City East Station incident ended, the remnant echo of the black bronze bell was sent into the Sealing Corridor.

It was not sent in complete.

It was more like a charred, blackened bell bone, wrapped in Purifying Flame, suspended deep within a sealing cell. It still vibrated gently, and with every vibration, the surrounding fire patterns tightened by a fraction.

Lu Chen stood in front of the Sealing Corridor, his face somewhat pale.

The consumption from forcibly test-ringing the Fate-Illuminating Bronze Bell, remnant was higher than he had estimated. It wasn't just a simple consumption of source essence, but rather the Core of the Torch enduring a backlash from the old law in a short period. It felt as if someone had struck his chest from a great distance away; it didn't hurt, but it made him feel very uncomfortable.

After exiting the hall, he drank half a cup of cold water before returning.

Zero did not express concern for his state, merely dutifully popping up the settlement.

[ Remnant echo of the black bronze bell has been sealed. ]

[ High-level old law fragment analysis completion: 31%. ]

[ Law Artifact directory temporarily opened. ]

[ Remnant Law Artifact: Fate-Illuminating Bronze Bell, remnant. ]

Lu Chen looked at those few lines of text without immediately opening the directory.

Law Artifacts are different from ordinary equipment.

spirit sight talismans can be used up, black rust protective plates can be damaged, and evil-breaking short staffs can be replaced with new ones. Law Artifacts are different; they come from old law fragments, and even if purified and reshaped by Torch, they still carry the shadows of their original rules.

Things like this cannot be listed casually, and certainly cannot be given to whoever has the money.

He wrote three conditions into the directory: authority, contribution, and compatibility.

There was no threshold for mission count, nor any flowery descriptions.

True change does not need to be written in the prompts; the holder will feel it themselves in actual combat.

When Shen Qinghe was called into the Xinhuo Hall, her eyes were still bloodshot.

She had used Pure Flame Vision at the Old City East Station last night and had also endured the feedback from the temporary test-ringing; even now, there was a buzzing in her ears. The first thing Zhao Ye said when he saw her was: "You look like you've been pulling all-nighters for three days."

Shen Qinghe glanced at him: "You haven't changed your shoes yet."

Zhao Ye looked down.

The crack in the sole of his shoe was even bigger.

Bai Ya, sitting nearby, leisurely added: "The Xinhuo Council is poor, quite evenly."

Shen Qinghe didn't have the energy to argue with them and looked directly at the stone stele.

[ Law Artifact Directory ]

[ Currently available for exchange: Fate-Illuminating Bronze Bell, remnant ]

[ Uniqueness: Yes ]

[ Exchange conditions: Authority, contribution, and compatibility review ]

[ Adaptation focus: Investigation, sealing, and rule truncation ]

The directory had no further explanation.

Yet Shen Qinghe knew what it was.

That half-breath last night was the time this item forcibly snatched from the old law. Without that half-breath, the young boy would have been pinned to death by the passenger rules, and Lin Zhao might have been dragged in as well.

She looked at her own contribution point balance.

Then she fell silent.

Zhao Ye leaned over to take a look and couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"How much are you short?"

Shen Qinghe was expressionless: "You're laughing too early. There will come a time when you can't afford things either."

Bai Ya nodded with great experience: "Welcome to the true core gameplay of Torch: being poor."

Shen Qinghe took a deep breath and asked a question she would never have asked before.

"Can I buy it on credit?"

The hall was silent for a moment.

Lu Chen sat behind the firelight, almost failing to maintain the composure of a Fire Keeper.

He understood her.

He understood very well.

Back in the project, when players saw equipment they liked but were short on exchange Materials, this was the most common question they asked. The difference was that players could grind dungeons, while Shen Qinghe had just returned from a scene that nearly killed her.

But the rules cannot have exceptions.

Especially for the first Law Artifact.

Lu Chen had Zero provide a reply.

[ Credit is not allowed. ]

Shen Qinghe closed her eyes.

Zhao Ye coughed, and for once, did not continue laughing.

The text on the stone stele subsequently changed.

[ Adapter Shen Qinghe, temporary test-ringing completed. ]

[ Temporary binding test authority can be opened. ]

[ During the test period, the Law Artifact is regulated by the Core of the Torch and is not counted as official possession. ]

[ Official binding requires making up the contribution and passing the compatibility observation. ]

Shen Qinghe opened her eyes.

This was not a discount, nor was it buying on credit.

It was more like a trial.

She accepted this arrangement.

"How long is the test period?"

Zero replied.

[ Determined by adaptation stability. ]

Bai Ya said in a low voice: "Let me translate: the organization doesn't know either."

Shen Qinghe looked at him.

Bai Ya immediately turned his head to look at the ceiling.

Lu Chen did not correct him.

Because in a sense, Bai Ya was right. The Fate-Illuminating Bronze Bell, remnant was the first remnant Law Artifact, and no one had complete experience with it. The Core of the Torch could regulate it, but it couldn't guarantee there would be no aftereffects.

Shen Qinghe raised her hand and touched the directory.

An extremely faint bell sound rang in her ears.

This time there was no pain, only a very strange dislocation. She felt as if she could hear certain invisible beats: the faint sound of pollution approaching, the pause before rules were about to close, and that instant before danger turned from fuzzy to certain.

She suddenly understood that the way she looked at anomalies in the future would be different.

It wasn't easier.

It was hearing danger sooner.

Seeing that she hadn't spoken for a long time, Zhao Ye asked: "How is it?"

Shen Qinghe pressed the side of her ear.

"Noisy."

"Is it strong?"

"Strong."

"Then is it worth it?"

Shen Qinghe looked at her still insufficient contribution points, her expression very cold.

"Expensive."

Next to the directory for the Fate-Illuminating Bronze Bell, remnant, there was another line of backend warning that only Lu Chen could see.

[ This Law Artifact is not fully formed. ]

[ Current status: Remnant. ]

[ Excessive use may lead to auditory pollution, beat confusion, and increased mental load. ]

Lu Chen did not throw these lines directly at Shen Qinghe.

It wasn't to hide the danger, but because he knew the System prompts were too cold. Shen Qinghe needed to know the cost, but she shouldn't be overwhelmed by a string of frightening words.

So he had Zero change it into a simpler explanation.

[ If persistent tinnitus, irregular heartbeat, or auditory hallucinations of bells occur during use, stop immediately. ]

Shen Qinghe finished reading and looked up.

"Will this thing turn me into a bell too?"

The mouthful of water Zhao Ye had just taken almost sprayed out.

Bai Ya thought seriously for a moment: "If it does, at least you won't need to remind us of the time during meetings in the future."

Shen Qinghe looked coldly at him.

Bai Ya immediately looked down: "I was wrong."

Lu Chen sat behind the firelight, suddenly feeling that this scene was better than he had expected.

The first Law Artifact had appeared; logically, it should have been solemn, shocking, like an epic node. But when it truly fell before the members, what it first brought was price, risk, a trial period, and a few punchable jokes.

This was actually more real.

Divine Artifacts also need people to use them.

People will be afraid, will think things are expensive, will ask if they can buy on credit, and will use jokes to suppress their nervousness.

The Xinhuo Council is not a temple for worshipping artifacts.

It is an organization that lets living people take these things and keep moving forward.

Just after the Fate-Illuminating Bronze Bell, remnant stabilized, the Core of the Torch did not immediately go silent.

Lu Chen had originally thought that the bell-type old law remnant had been completely dismantled, but deep within the Fire Keeper's authority, there was still a strand of a deeper, more ancient bell sound that had not dissipated.

That sound did not belong to the fate-illuminating bronze bell.

It had no complete form, leaving only a blurred bell shadow deep within the Core of the Torch. The edges of the bell shadow burned with a very faint Purifying Flame, like a bell that had not yet been cast, and also like a sun that had not yet risen.

Zero's prompt slowly appeared.

[ Suppression law structure detected. ]

[ Cannot be shaped at this time. ]

[ Categorized under Fire Keeper core authority. ]

Lu Chen looked at that bell shadow, realizing for the first time that the things opened to members in the Law Artifact directory might only be the fringes of Torch's true power.

Members can wield artifacts.

And what the Fire Keeper must master, perhaps, is the source of casting artifacts.