June 10, middle level Nabistin, Belldate Wonderland World.
“Wow, Ashe, look! From above, Azura looks just like a blooming flower!”
“Hey? This foggy clock tower of Vamora, these carvings, this structure, this appearance... It’s definitely the creation of a necromancer. It might even be personally overseen by that Six Heraldry legendary necromancer!”
“I actually had some expectations for your taste, Harvey. That was clearly my mistake.”
“Has Hemera become this beautiful? The last time I was here was thirty years ago...”
“Young Lady, don’t hold on to me so tightly! Are you afraid of heights?”
“Me? How could I be afraid of heights? And this is just an illusion created by an illusion spellcaster. How could I possibly—Ah! Don’t push me out! You jerk!”
As “Flying Gospel” ended, Annan furiously punched Ashe on the shoulder. “Did you really just scare me earlier!?”
Ashe couldn’t help but laugh. “Didn’t you used to live hundreds of meters up in the Inverted Skyscraper? You would usually drive a hovercar through the air too. How can you be afraid of heights now?”
Annabelle angrily pummeled Ashe’s arm relentlessly. “That’s different! I knew I was safe in those situations. But this illusion removed the cable car, and we were directly flying over the city. I haven’t specifically trained for flying with virtual wings, so of course, I’d feel a bit uneasy!”
“Little Ashe!”
Just then, Lise came over and pulled Ashe by the hand. “Let’s go to the next attraction! Our reservation is about to come up!”
“Alright, alright...”
Though they wore cloaks to conceal their identities, the Funeral party naturally blended into the crowd. Other travelers were also dressed in diverse styles. The ‘Extreme Cutting Carp Overlord Lord’ and ‘Red Hat Bunny Girl’ who just passed by were much more eye-catching than they were.
They even saw someone dressed as ‘Ashe Heath’. With so many impersonators around, no one would think Ashe was the real deal even if he didn’t disguise himself.
Looking for the Mermaid was an event from the night before last. Yesterday, they had to switch hotels because Helephes drowned from dehydration at the central square. Then, Annan unexpectedly showed a rare kindness and suggested that they relax a bit before “Assassinate the Princess” by having a team-building outing to Belldate Wonderland World in the middle level Nabistin.
Yes, even the underground city of Nabistin has entertainment venues, actually more than ordinary cities. After all, the lower and middle levels were once the Imperial Capital, and the original site of this Wonderland World was the old imperial palace. Furthermore, many of the transient population in the underground city are ‘underground Na-drifters’. Their emotional needs are extremely high, and they desperately require various forms of entertainment to fill their mental void.
By the way, Vamora has the fewest entertainment facilities because the physiological desires of the Six Heraldry clansmen are satisfied by white mist, and their spiritual needs are met by Family Dream. Hence, Vamora has always produced more than it consumed, even to the extent of unilaterally dumping goods to other regions. Qenna’s wealth is not without reason.
Some might wonder how the underground city can be so peaceful, given that ‘underground city’ conjures images of freedom and turmoil. Even before he came, Ashe thought it was an extremely chaotic slum where fresh flesh fed the Lala Fatty daily.
The underground city, though it doesn’t have Red Hat, has already established a certain order due to the supervision and intervention of various consortium families. Unregulated by law, it is even more prosperous than many surface cities.
The biggest difference between an underground city and a surface city is that battle spellcasters are the highest-paid T0 profession here. This is because conflicts of interest in the underground city are resolved directly through “Spellcasting Blood Battles.” The decision-making committee from the Nabistin lower level, mentioned by the Mermaid, is an organization responsible for hosting these “Spellcasting Blood Battles.”
As the only bloody competition in all of Gospel where there are no rules, most battle spellcasters participate in “Spellcasting Blood Battles” to gain combat experience. It can even be said that every ranked individual on the current Battle Sect ranking list spent their youth as ‘underground Na-drifters.’
Annan is so familiar with the underground city because she once fought in blood battles here for three months.
Ashe could somewhat understand their skepticism. For silver spellcasters, “flying” was an incredibly difficult feat to achieve. With such seemingly impossible goals, it wasn’t just a matter of them not believing-it was more that they refused to believe.
Wait a minute, following this logic, the method to find the Rainbow Tail should also be something completely unattainable for two-wings spellcasters...
“Little Ashe, come closer,” Lise suddenly called out. “And then close your eyes.”
Ashe complied, then felt his face being kissed rapidly four times.
“...Are you that happy?” Ashe wiped his face and cleared his throat. “While I’m glad you’re happy, let’s not do this outside. It’s a bit embarrassing for me... and I’d prefer not to, even at home. I’m not used to such affectionate gestures...”
“No, this is just what I owed you before. I’m just making up for it now,” Lise replied.
“Huh? When did I ever owe you?”
“In any case, you just did, Little Ashe,” Lise looked at him with eyes gleaming mysteriously, and then glanced down at the hand mirror showing her other four sisters.
Little Witch: “Ahhh, White Queen, give me back my body! I really want to play Virtual Realm Thriller too!”
White Queen: “Turns out, the Secret Toxin of the Golden Fish is real.”
Black Butler: “Observer and Sword Princess must have discovered the Golden Fish by holding hands and flying through the Sea of Knowledge like this.”
Scarlet Dead Apostles: “I’ve never doubted the authenticity of the Secret Toxin of the Golden Fish.”
Secret Princess: “Back then, it wasn’t that we didn’t believe in the Golden Fish Secret Toxin; rather, we couldn’t believe that there could be two spellcasters in this world who trust each other so deeply, willing to become each other’s wings and leave the lonely sea together...”
“But now...”
Lise looked at Ashe and reversed her hand to grasp his. Ashe glanced at her, relaxed his palm, and let her squeeze as she pleased.
“We’ve found the Golden Fish as well.”
Suddenly, a stream of information flowed into the minds of the witch sisters.
“Golden Fish Secret Toxin”
“Number of Secret Toxin Infections: 15”
“Secret Toxin Strength: 15%”
“Current Effects of the Secret Toxin: You can convert silver spellforce into golden spellforce at a ratio of 65:35. (Decreasing the strength to 10% provides significant enhancement; reaching 51% results in negative effects.)”
The Secret Toxin that the Observer and Sword Princess couldn’t infect with, no matter how many times they tried, was successfully contracted by the witch in an amusement facility in Wonderland World!