Chapter 64

Chapter 64

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. The debut release of this chapter happened at Ñøv€l-B1n.

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. "

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!"