Enigma of Sin

As Kayn's mana core was now full of mana, he decided to use what he needed in order to finish healing any remaining injuries that he had sustained from using Wrath at his current maximum output.

He noticed that even though he had a smaller mana capacity than before he entered the temple of Zeus, it was far more potent and he performed the healing with less mana than he originally would have had to use.

Kayn was still on the fence about if this was a good thing or a bad thing. On one hand, he would be able to use less mana to cast the same spells. On the other hand, this meant that his progress towards the 5th stage had actually regressed.

However, the more he thought about it, the less he worried. Even if he ended up dropping down a stage due to his capacity dropping, if he could still perform just as well with the smaller amount of mana at his disposal, did it really matter?

It was also slightly exciting because if he somehow regressed to the first stage, he could go through all six stages again, but be far, far stronger than anyone else. It was the so-called stage hopping prowess. He even wondered if he would be able to toy with the Celestials that had come down by taking penalties to their own level if he regressed all the way and progressed again.

It would take him more time to get to the peak of the world represented by his core stage, but he would be more powerful than a 6th stage earlier on anyway. The more he thought about it, the more he hoped that visiting the other temples would further push him down this path.

Unfortunately, his body was quite badly damaged and it took about 40% of his mana capacity just to heal everything to tip top shape. It wouldn't have been that bad if it was just his fleshly tissues, but he had to heal his damaged mana system as well, which required his pure mana.

However, 60% mana was more than enough to do what he needed in this world. With his body feeling rejuvenated and his tissues brimming with energy, he extended his wings and launched into the air under the cover of night.

His destination should only be about 30 minutes away at a medium speed. He could probably make it in less than 5 if he used his mana and full strength, but as he had no way to replenish his mana other than to gamble on the temples, he decided not to risk it.

Just as he read, the entrance to the temple was completely black. It was like a light blocking curtain was hanging in front of the temple, only there was no such thing there.

As Kayn weaved his way through the various researchers while concealed, he became more excited as this temple was also full of mana, possibly even more than Zeus's.

Without any hesitation in his movements, he directly entered into the darkness. However, for him who had a very high affinity for the dark element, it felt like home. His eyesight quickly adjusted to the fact there was no light and even though he could normally see in dark environments, he still had to give his eyes a bit of a boost.

He tried to make a flame in his hand and even a ball of light, but neither of his external methods to light up the area worked. He ended up exploring the temple while his Demonic Dragon Heart greedily sucked in the mana.

Finally, he came upon what looked like an in ground hot tub, but instead of water it was filled with boiling tar. It wasn't really tar, but it was somehow even darker than the surroundings and was giving off audible pops every time one of the large bubbles rose to the surface.

Kayn's instincts screamed for him to immediately leap into the bath, but on the other hand, the rational side of his thinking warned of danger.

'No risk, no reward.' Kayn thought as he undressed until he was completely naked. He didn't want whatever the black substance was to taint his Garments or even his underwear.

He wanted to dip his toes in first to see what it was like, but the second his foot touched the boiling surface, he was pulled in and fully submerged into the bath. One second, he was standing next to the edge of the bath, the next there was no indication that anyone had been there aside from the pile of clothing sitting next to it.

Meanwhile, under the boiling concoction, Kayn was panicking as he wasn't sure what was happening and he was feeling pain all over his body, including deep under his skin.

It felt much like when he was experimenting on himself with the dark element during his younger years, just straight corruption and decay of his flesh. He couldn't help but think that maybe this would be his end and he had bitten off more than he could chew.

However, even though the pain continued, his mind started to feel oddly relaxed and he subconsciously started using the Void Star technique, quickly falling into a trance-like state.

…

Kayn emerged from his meditative state only to realize that it wasn't as dark as it had been and there was no more liquid in the bath that he was sitting stark naked at the bottom of. Much like the last time at Zeus's temple, all of the mana and anything related to it had vanished, but once again his reserves were full and his capacity decreased.

It was then that a voice reverberated inside of the chamber he was in, "Visit my father's temple if you have the chance, it would greatly benefit you."

"Who?!" Kayn began looking around for where the voice came from, but there was no one around. Even with his Mana Sense functioning at full throttle, he couldn't discover anything or anyone out of the ordinary inside of this small chamber.

Right on cue he began to hear footsteps and hushed whispers echoing throughout the hallways of the temple. He hurriedly stepped out of the empty bath and put his clothing back on before concealing himself and standing in one of the corners of the room to once again observe what these researchers would do.

Unlike the last time, the researchers were toting along much more powerful lights that revealed everything in the surroundings and left no area dark. There were hardly any shadows either as the researchers all had lights placed on their backs as well to light up behind them and help their companions to keep track of each other.

Kayn wasn't worried though, after this recent experience, he felt much more in tune with the darkness. With his ability to bend light and to be one with the shadows, plus the passive abilities from the Shadow Phoenix set, he would be able to stay hidden from these normal humans quite easily.

The only thing that drew his attention was a certain device that he recognized along with the woman who was holding it. This was the same woman as before that had followed him around the room, somehow tracking the mana.

"Any ideas Dr Elaine?" one of the group members asked that was following along with the woman. This man however was decked out in military gear and even holding whatever new gun they had invented in the last decade or two.

"None, it's just like at the other temple. One second, the readings are off the chart on this mysterious energy, then the next they vanish. This room reminds me of the previous secluded one last time at Zeus's temple though, so give me a minute to look around."

The military man nodded before taking a position at the entrance to the room and standing at the ready in the case something happened.

Kayn watched as the woman began to walk around the room while pointing the device here and there and not wanting to take any chances, he quickly exited out of the room.

The only problem was that Dr Elaine was pointing the device towards the entrance at the time of Kayn's exit and it momentarily blipped with a reading before going silent once more. She quickly ran to the room's entrance, startling her guard as he went on alert.

However, Dr Elaine only stood in the hallway, pointing her device here and there with a deep drown on her face.

'Just what's happening? Is something siphoning the energy away and it only finishes right as we gain entrance to the temple without it affecting us? Is the energy what's causing us harm?'

With several questions running through her head, she eyed the guard before speaking in a commanding tone, "We're leaving, let's head to the next one immediately."

The guard gave her a funny look before replying, "I'm not a researcher, but wouldn't it be better to stay and study the place that has just opened up for us to look for clues?"

"No, we're leaving. That's final." Dr Elaine spoke as she started walking out while still pointing the device around as she walked. As the other archeologists and various other researchers stayed behind, the duo left without another word.

…

"That woman and whatever technology she has are quite interesting. Maybe if we continue to come across one another, I'll contact her as a fellow researcher." Kayn spoke to himself as he found a secluded area a few kilometers away from the temple.

If he could question the woman about what she was trying to find and what exactly her device tracked under the guise of a fellow researcher, he may be able to find a way to conceal himself from even that.

Rather than setting up the Wanderer's Villa, he simply sat down to examine his body and look for any changes that had occurred.

His core stage had once again regressed a bit as its capacity decreased. He was now at the very beginning of the 4th stage, but he didn't feel any weaker as the potency of his mana shot up once again.

He also had the feeling that his affinity for the dark element increased, so he began casting spells of the dark element in order to see if there was any difference. Unlike the fire element and lightning elements, Kayn was never able to manipulate the other elements at will once he cast a spell unless it was directing mana through himself or someone else by touching them.

However, upon casting a Dark Arrow spell, he was able to will it to move around to fly wherever he wanted it to. Not only could he control where it went, but also how fast and small or large it was. It was as if he gained the ability to be able to control the dark element just like how he did for fire as a 5th generation progenitor.

Kayn became elated at this discovery. These temples were really turning out to be worth his time. Speaking of time though, Kayn checked the date on a watch he purchased and noticed that it had been a whopping 34 days since he entered Nyx's temple.

He couldn't believe that he had been lost in meditation that entire time as it truly only felt like a few hours to him. However, that brought up his next question, who was Nyx's father that she spoke about and had they found his hidden temple yet?

Quickly pulling out his mobile hot spot and laptop, he discovered that mythology stated that a god named Chaos was her father, but he couldn't find anything about a temple related to Chaos being discovered.

Kayn sat in thought for a while, but as a few temples had been discovered during this last month, he had hope that they might find it eventually. For now, he wanted to focus on the other temples that were already in the open to increase his personal power.

He had already increased his lightning, wind, and dark elemental affinities, though wind was only a minor increase. Still, he decided to look for temples where the god was related to one of the other elements that he hadn't made progress on.

After looking through his list, he decided on his next destination. It wasn't the closest temple to his current location, but it was within a few hours of flight from him. The only issue was that it was situated inside of the current combat zone and was being fought over by two different sides.

But this mattered little to Kayn, so he extended his wings as the Shadow Phoenix's tunic had a spot for wings to extend from and flew off north.

His next destination, a temple dedicated to Baldr, a Germanic and Norse god of light.