Chapter 64 - Valkas's Curse
Medical Officer [222] was right.
The Blood Moon Tribunal was indeed the only chance for death row inmates to trade spirit techniques.
Looking at the three spirit techniques in his hand, Ashe could still see Valkas' grim and gaunt face.
The sword that pierced his throat contained five spirit techniques that Valkas had just dissolved the contract with.
If Ashe had been a little slower, if his consciousness had faded a little faster, all three of these spirit techniques would have fled at the fastest speed possible by now. Even though Ashe had moved as quickly as he could, two spirit techniques still managed to escape, who knows if they were currently riding Finger Sharks and enjoying surfing freedom in Shattered Lake.
As for why Valkas did this, there were far too many reasons.
Because Ashe had defeated him,
Because he wanted to get back at Professor Sylin,
Because he was grateful for Ashe's compassion at the end,
Or possibly just because he enjoyed causing trouble...
As a dying elf, there was nothing Valkas did that surprised Ashe, other than getting his throat pierced by Valkas - Ashe strongly suspected this was borne out of resentment and Valkas wanted to avenge having his throat slashed during their deathmatch.
However, this action by Valkas presented Ashe with a dilemma.
Although he hadn't been in this world for long, Ashe was acutely aware that he didn't belong here.
Yet, he also had no intention of assimilating.
He couldn't change the world of sorcerers, nor did he want the world of sorcerers to change him.
There was no family here, only strangers he would meet in the future.
Even though the powers of sorcerers were unpredictable and bizarre, it wasn't impossible that a spirit technique miracle could send Ashe home, but he didn't hold out much hope for that.
He wasn't the sort of person who needed hope just to survive.
Plus with the life-threatening Blood Moon Tribunal and the suffocating absolute control of Shattered Lake Prison, Ashe had always held a mentality of 'living one day at a time'.
After all, if he could cross over once, who's to say he couldn't cross over a second time? Arriving in the sorcerer's world this time, maybe next time he would end up in the technician's world - Ashe was blindly optimistic about his adventures across the heavens.
Precisely because of this optimistic mentality, possibly generated from suddenly not having to go to work anymore, Ashe held an 'observer' attitude towards everyone he met. He would sympathize with other people's plights, lament their life and death, but then forget about it immediately, as if he had just watched a movie.
Observer, this name was quite fitting for him.
Observing without acting, observing without speaking, observing without remembering.
He was like a drifting lone boat, going with the flow of the waves, intimidated by the sight of land.
And now, the boat had gained some baggage, his memories marked by an imprint.
Although sorcerers didn't need to sleep, Ashe felt that he would certainly dream of Valkas' final gaze when he had nightmares.
Of course he didn't think he needed to take any responsibility for Valkas' death, but Valkas' parting gift compelled Ashe to do something in return as gratitude.
He didn't like owing people, nor owing favors.
He had to escape from prison, he had to find Professor Sylin, he had to survive.
Otherwise, it would feel like he had failed Valkas' goodwill, failed the three spirit techniques he had bestowed.
Perhaps this was his true revenge?
Sacrificing his life as the ritual, using death as the ceremony, silence as the incantation, spirit techniques as the bait, Valkas exhausted everything, cursing Ashe to live on.
For them, the Shattered Lake death row inmates, there was no more vicious curse than 'to live'.
"He was a true swordsmage. "
After listening to Ashe's surreal Blood Moon Tribunal experience tonight, Sonya couldn't help but sigh, then added: "And a generous good elf."
"He was generous, but definitely not a good elf. He was locked up in Shattered Lake Prison for good reason after all," Ashe said: "But elves and humans alike, cannot be simply divided into 'good' and 'bad'. Only gods or devils can possess pure goodness or evil... The ones wavering in between, those are humans."
"So many sentiments, is this the first time you've seen a dead person since losing your memory?"
Losing his memory? That's right, former Ashe had personally caused many deaths... Ashe nodded: "You could say it's the first time I've seen someone die right in front of me."
"So you don't have any intelligence on the Heart Sword stance either?"
"Of course not."
"Damn it!" Sonya looked at the Heart Sword spirit technique in Ashe's hand resentfully: "Such a good spirit technique, wasted in your hands... But doesn't this mean you only need one more spirit technique for your Severing Miracle?"
"That's right, if we're lucky, we may be able to gather all the required spirit techniques tonight."
Ashe let out a soft sigh: "Only then is there a glimmer of hope for escape."
The Severing Miracle needed three types of spirit techniques, with multiple options for each type, not restricted to any specific spirit technique. Most miracles could achieve similar effects by substituting spirit techniques of the same category, with differences only in the strength and scope.
If spirit techniques were building blocks, then miracles were buildings of a certain appearance. As long as you could construct the building, whether with cubes, triangles or cones, it would count as achieving the miracle.
Heart Sword and Body Double were spirit techniques that met the criteria, with Body Double being average and Heart Sword overkill, the creators of the Severing Miracle probably never imagined someone would be extravagant enough to use one of the 'Peerless Hidden Swords Five Spirits' as a component spirit technique.
As long as they found the last type of spirit technique, Ashe would be able to use the Severing Miracle to purify the Chip on his neck.
"Escape..." Sonya murmured: "So your real body is in the prison of the Blood Moon Kingdom, under threat from the Blood Moon Tribunal, and without your former memories..."
Without his former memories? Hmm, it was true he didn't have Ashe's former memories.
Ashe looked at her strangely: "Didn't you already know? My real body was identified as the cult leader of the Four Pillars heresy, and captured by the hunters after holding an illegal gathering in the basement, though this frail body was clearly just a scapegoat."
That's right, the Observer had told her before that he was locked up in some prison, she had assumed it was some hidden mystical dungeon, she didn't expect it to be a prison in the Blood Moon Kingdom - although the Blood Moon Kingdom was also just a term that only existed in books, it was at least something she had heard of, giving Sonya a feeling of 'so much for that'.
"With your abilities, you can't even escape from a Blood Moon Kingdom prison?"
"What do you mean my abilities - don't you know I'm useless?"
"Haha, useless? A useless person who could force me to challenge Leone? What does that make me then, a pitiful thing controlled by a useless person? A toy that could be tricked to death by you anytime?"
Although she had learned the Moon Reflection miracle from that misfortune, Sonya was still furious.
Challenging Felix was one thing, after all the gap between Felix and her wasn't too big, she at least had a slim chance. But this time the gap between Leone and her was simply outrageous. If Leone hadn't deliberately shown mercy, Sonya wouldn't even have had the chance to use Moon Reflection.
She was lucky to meet Leone this time, but what about next time?
And the time after?
There were no shortage of ruthless experts among the sorcerer community. Student-level young sorcerers were still manageable, but many older sorcerers, after experiencing so much danger and death during their long and lonely explorations of the virtual world, had their conscience whittled into twisted shapes by the frigid winds of the sea of knowledge.
They gradually lost the ability to distinguish between reality and the virtual world. Facing enemies, they would subconsciously strike ruthlessly, as if killing the enemy would make loot burst out, and some even degenerated into "Lost Souls", treating reality as the virtual world and massacring everywhere.
Although Sonya objected to the forced training, she could at least convince herself it was for her own good and accept it, but now the Observer actually made her voluntarily participate in dangerous battles, at this point Sonya could only convince herself to at least refrain from smashing the Observer's head in first - because it seemed she might not beat him.
"Is it really that serious..." Ashe tried to equivocate.
"I'm the one fighting life and death battles, I'm the one getting injured, I'm the one facing death, so I'm the only one with the right to say how serious it is!" Sonya suppressed her anger as much as possible: "Are you going to wait until you see my corpse to sigh 'Looks like I misjudged'?"
Surely it wasn't that serious, it's not like you would actually die... Just as Ashe didn't take it too seriously, a thought popped up in his mind: would the Swordswoman really not die?
There were precedents of game characters dying and reviving when defeated in the mobile game, who's to say the company wouldn't implement this to try and milk players for revival coins or something.
Also, the Swordswoman had stated multiple times that she wasn't attached to Ashe's existence, she had her own life and university she attended, friends she knew - she existed in reality. And reality was the furthest thing from immortality.
Even if the Swordswoman could revive after dying in battle, would that revived Swordswoman still be the same person who had spent days getting to know him?
Ashe couldn't take the risk of losing the Swordswoman.
And not just because of her strength.
More because the Swordswoman was the only one he could trust and confide in.
Even the smallest boat would feel too spacious for one person.
"Alright, you make a good point, I apologize." Ashe carefully chose his words: "But you should know, I only want what's best for you. If not for my arrangements, you wouldn't have created the Moon Reflection miracle so quickly, right?"
"What does that have to do with your arrangements - "
"Because I knew that when you fought that, uh, Leone, you would enter an awakened state due to the overwhelming difference in strength, thus creating your own miracle, and you wouldn't be in any danger. Everything was within my plans."
"You clearly even got her name wrong!"
"That's not important - the key is that I was confident in letting you obtain great benefits by only paying a small price."
Seeing that the Swordswoman still looked uneasy, Ashe thought for a moment, then said: "How about this, in the future if I want to arrange for you to participate in battles that are higher risk, I'll discuss it with you beforehand, alright?"
Now that was more like it.
Seeing the Observer finally willing to compromise, Sonya was already very satisfied. In fact, even if the Observer insisted on messing with her, she was powerless against him. And since he had backed down once, there would certainly be a second time. Eventually Sonya would have the Observer completely obedient.
She was also at ease with the Observer's promise. Although the Observer was usually unreliable, he could be counted on when it mattered. Plus there was his alleged reincarnation background, his judgement and foresight should be decent.
If Sonya knew Ashe's method of judging danger levels was just reading the event card descriptions, and the duel with Leone was only rated medium danger, she probably would never feel at ease again.
"Speaking of which, how did you find me?" Sonya suddenly recalled this matter.
"I entered the virtual world through the Truth Gate you left behind, then traced you all the way here. "
Returning to his quarters, Ashe opened the light screen and as expected, the Swordswoman hadn't waited for him, her status showed 'Exploring Virtual World'.
Ashe had assumed he missed the ride, but fortunately there was still the 'Join Midway' option, although not appearing directly by the Swordswoman's side, instead starting from the location she had entered the virtual world from tonight.
Entering and leaving the virtual world had to be through Truth Gates, that was the rule. Without bonded connections, Ashe wouldn't have been able to pass through the Truth Gate left behind by the Swordswoman and sneak into the virtual world.
Sonya wasn't surprised that the Observer knew where she was, she just had one doubt: "But I wandered the virtual world for nearly two hours, how did you catch up so quickly?"
"Two hours? But you were only one region away from the starting point, I sailed over in just over a minute."
"How's that possible!?"
"Why would I lie to you? Wait, you said you wandered for two hours, could it be that you..." Ashe blinked, "Were going in circles around this area the whole time?"
Sonya blinked, calmly sat down, gazed at the distant fog sidewards and said: "I was just exploring the vicinity because I figured you wouldn't be absent for no reason."
I'd almost believe you if your ears weren't blushing red.
Ashe snorted, then opened up the virtual world map under Sonya's resentful stare.
With the Virtual World Telescope equipped, he could now observe information about the 24 surrounding grids, most were ""Don't Waste Your Effort", one was "Worth Checking Out", Ashe was in no hurry, leisurely sailing around taking in the sights.
"What about the miracle you used just now?" Sonya suddenly recalled, "Valkas gave you spirit techniques, but no miracle formula right?"
Ashe casually replied: "I saw him use it once before, just combined Ground Sword and Wind Barrier. But I'm not a dual-wing sorcerer, so the defensive power is far lower than his original version."
Saw it once, combined it a bit, and it worked?
Is creating a miracle really so simple?
Ground Sword was a sword technique and Wind Barrier was a wind technique. Cross-system miracles had always been very difficult...
Sonya felt something was off, at this time Ashe discovered a flashing golden legendary hint on the map - "Maelstrom".
"Do you know what Maelstrom means?"
Sonya was startled: "You found a Maelstrom?"
"Probably - "
"Go, hurry over there!" Sonya rushed up instantly, grabbed Ashe and shook him violently, excited as if she had found a winning lottery ticket in the toilet: "If we're lucky, we may be able to condense the Silver Wings tonight!"