Chapter 409: The Future of the Tactile Sense

Blood Moon Kingdom, Kaimon City.

Freya, dressed in a white lab coat, pouted as she left Sivirin’s consultation room, quickly exiting the Biological Prosthesis Section with her head down. Along the way, other doctors and nurses whispered as they watched her, but no one greeted her, as if an invisible mental barrier separated them.

However, the Bewitcher didn’t mind. Compared to this, Sivirin’s scolding earlier had hurt her more deeply.

Even though she hadn’t graduated yet, she was already a trainee Healer at Kaimon Affiliated Hospital and a student of Sivirin. However, her study program wasn’t in the Mental Sect but in the Illusion Sect.

The Mental and Illusion Sects had been closely linked since their inception. However, in contrast to the almost-shielded Mental Sect in the Blood Moon Kingdom, the Illusion Sect was a highly sought-after Spellcasting Sect. Not to mention the huge demand for Illusion sorcerers in the TV drama industry, the increasingly popular virtual game world known as “the second world” within the veil was practically built by Illusion sorcerers. Their annual salaries kept rising, with the talent market unable to meet the demand.

Even Madara, the founder of the Mental Sect known as “Mind’s Eye,” probably never imagined that the Illusion Sect, originally developed as an auxiliary branch, would one day become more productive than the Mental Sect.

In the medical field, the status of the Illusion Sect has also been rising yearly, not for treating diseases but for involving greater interests and a brighter future.

Freya arrived at Selina’s ward, where a warning sign in black and red hung on the door:

“This ward is occupied by only one patient, Selina Bright, a girl with a height of 1.3 meters, long silver-white hair with a streak of wine red, wearing a blue and white striped hospital gown. When performing any tasks that require entering the ward, such as delivering meals, changing medicine, or cleaning, please adhere to the following rules—”

“1 Only one person may enter the ward at a time. If you see two people already inside, do not enter.”

“2 Remember the patient’s appearance. If her appearance does not match the description, leave immediately and notify Healer Sivirin.”

“3 If you open the ward door and see the patient outside wanting to enter with you, leave the hospital as quickly as possible (for example, by jumping out of a window).”

“4 If you feel someone pushing you into the ward when you open the door, jump out of the window immediately, regardless of who it is.”

“5 If you feel unwell or notice significant structural distortions inside the ward, leave immediately; if you cannot move, imagine yourself already standing outside the ward. When someone else opens the door, you can turn around and leave (do not imagine pushing others into the ward).”

“This hospital is very safe; any accidents are purely personal issues.”

Freya took a deep breath before cautiously opening the door.

The Bewitcher opened the door and glanced inside, seeing Selina lying on the bed reading a book. She immediately rushed over and hugged the doll girl. “Selina~”

“Freya!” Selina affectionately hugged the Bewitcher back, rubbing her cheek against Freya’s. She knew Freya loved this kind of intimacy. “Wait a minute!”

Freya looked at Selina curiously. Selina, with her hands on her hips, pretended to be serious and said, “Hello, Miss. Although I don’t know what you’ve been through, sadness is not allowed here. You look super cute today!”

“Huh?” The Bewitcher blinked. “I thought I hid it well.”

“When you’ve been in this room as long as I have, you can sense any change in the air.” Selina grabbed Freya’s hand and swung it back and forth. “The moment you came in, the air was filled with the scent of sadness.”

Yes, you read that right. Selina now had hands-but only within this ward.

After discovering that Selina never had limb neurons to begin with, Sivirin changed the treatment strategy. The currently popular biological prosthesis relies on the extension of neurons. Without neural connections, a prosthesis is just a pile of soulless scrap metal.

Therefore, the only prosthesis suitable for Selina was the latest project being researched and developed by the Four Great Institutes: the phantasm prosthesis.

If a biological prosthesis is like cutting off a person’s hand and replacing it with a universal multitool, then a phantasm prosthesis is like convincing someone that the universal multitool under their arm is their third hand, without removing any of their original organs.

This is a crazier but more promising project. After all, humans can only control their limbs, senses, and internal organs. No matter how much biological prostheses develop, there can only be twenty equipment slots, and no more souls can be recognized. However, if phantasm prostheses can be developed, humans could have three heads, six arms, a hundred eyes, and a thousand ears, undoubtedly marking another Spellcasting revolution—three heads mean three times the learning efficiency, even sorcerers would be envious!

But the progress of phantasm prostheses has always been slow, rooted in the word “phantasm”: how do you describe colors to a blind person, or let a deaf person hear thunder? How do you imagine controlling organs that never existed in the first place?

However, Selina’s rare case became Sivirin’s breakthrough point—it’s difficult for a normal person to imagine having a third hand, but what if a doll imagines having limbs?

Thus, this ward was set up as a miracle seam between reality and illusion, where Selina’s phantasms could become reality. Everything proceeded smoothly; Selina quickly imagined having hands, and it’s estimated that it wouldn’t be long before she imagines having legs. After that, a miracle surgery would fixate them, making Selina the first phantasm prosthesis user.

Leaving the ward, the Bewitcher thought she had to log into the Virtual Realm on time tonight. She could read the diary copy in the morning.

Logging into the Virtual Realm on time was good, as she could see the little bat.

Ever since she left the Whirlpool and ran into the little bat, the Bewitcher had encountered it every night in the Virtual Realm. The only exception was last night when she logged in two hours late.

Freya suspected she had triggered some virtual realm mechanics because the little bat not only followed her every night but also cast Miracles to help in battles.

Even if the little bat couldn’t help, Freya liked it a lot—having a pet to accompany her through the vast white mist of the Sea of Knowledge was wonderful.

Thinking of this, the Bewitcher grew even more annoyed with the Sword Princess—why her! Why not me! I want Ashe as a pet!

On the other side, after Freya left the ward, Selina’s smile faded. Her hands slowly disappeared, and she lay on the bed like a doll.

Receiving treatment was naturally a temporary measure; she would never allow herself to truly have limbs. “Loss” was an embodiment of Eternity. Once she was “polluted” by “possession,” she would completely lose the gaze of the Four Pillars.

The reason Selina blessed Freya just now was simple: Freya was already her designated chief cadre of the Four Pillars Cult.

That’s right, although Selina had not yet managed to convert the Bewitcher, this wasn’t her fault.

It was the Four Pillars’ fault.

Since arriving in the Blood Moon Kingdom, Selina had found herself constantly out of luck, even becoming a rare case under close observation at the hospital. It seemed like fate itself was obstructing her mission to spread faith and harvest souls. After some thought, she felt the root cause was that the Four Pillars were not providing enough support.

It was natural for Tactile Sense to be rejected by fate, much like how the body’s immune system automatically kills bacteria. But Tactile Sense had previously been able to hide her fate trajectory with the help of the Four Pillars, allowing her to expand her operations smoothly.

Selina was very sure that the Four Pillars were now definitely watching Ashe Heath’s live broadcast, forgetting to support her work in the Blood Moon Kingdom.

However, these days would soon be a thing of the past.

By her calculations, Eternity had been entangled with Ashe for a month now, which meant—

Ashe’s death was already part of the future.

How could someone who isn’t even Tactile Sense defy someone who is?

Once she witnessed Ashe’s death, the Four Pillars would naturally shift their gaze to the lovely Selina, and then the little Bewitcher would obediently become her chief cadre.

“Ranking of Schemes No. 1: Ashe’s Kingdom Resurrection Ritual.”

Lise instinctively gripped Ashe’s sleeve, and Annan and Qenna immediately turned to look at him.

Ashe himself, however, felt nothing.

According to the pattern of the previous nine schemes, the person named in the scheme title was already dead. However, Ashe had brushed shoulders with death many times. If there really was a Grim Reaper in charge of his case, that Reaper would definitely have shoulder impingement by now.

Not to mention, he was a foreigner. Could the death woven by your Gospel really slash the life of a Blood Moon native like him?

In comparison, he was more curious about who wanted to resurrect him.

However, unlike the previous nine schemes, the Kingdom Resurrection Ritual did not list the mastermind but directly presented video evidence—

“Great Rust Crow of the Abyss, Goodness follows you, evil admires you! Light yearns for you, darkness also desires you! You are an existence beyond all, the color bestowed upon all things by the gods!”

Ashe finally couldn’t hold it in anymore.