Watcher, You're Truly Rotten to the Core

Void Realm, Sea of Knowledge. "...Now everything is ready. Tomorrow is the day the plan goes into action." While checking the Void Realm Map and steering the boat, Yaxiu said, "If the prison break fails and the hunters capture me, then naturally it’s all over and everything stays the same. But if I successfully break out, I’ll have to remain on high alert at all times. Until I'm sure I'm safe, I won't be able to enter the Void Realm." Sonia nodded, completely understanding the Watcher's reasoning. Void Realm exploration lasted anywhere from four or five hours to eight or nine. Staying in prison with a regular routine, the Watcher had naturally been able to log into the Void Realm on time. But breaking out meant he would not only have to figure out a way to make a living, but also evade the hunters' pursuit as best he could. How could he possibly have more than four hours of safe, uninterrupted time to enter the Void Realm? She let out a sigh of relief. "You scared me to death. I thought..." Yaxiu raised an eyebrow. "Thought I was abandoning you?" Sonia knitted her delicate brows, feigning a pitiful and coquettish look. "Yes, I've realized I can't live without you anymore. The mere thought of not seeing you for the next few days makes me feel empty, lonely, cold, and so sad I could cry... Oh, right, since you won't have time, does that mean my training can stop too?" "Of course not. Training continues as usual. Even though I won't be around, I'll still supervise your training. Speaking of which, you got an hour of rest tonight, didn't you? That was a perk strictly for tonight. Tomorrow it goes back to normal." "Well, thank you so very much." "You're welcome." Sonia huffed, crossing her legs as she stared at the Watcher. "Then when are you coming back?" "Once I'm sure I'm safe," Yaxiu said. "Didn't we see during the Destiny Q&A that it's possible for me to leave the Blood Moon Country? After breaking out, I plan to look for a way out of the country." "So there's no set time..." "Yeah." Sonia tilted her head, watching wisps of white mist sweep past them, and asked softly, "Is there anything you need my help with?" "Didn't you say before that you wanted to become a songstress? Sing a song for me." "You—" "Haha, just kidding." Yaxiu chuckled. "Tonight, let's not hunt knowledge creatures. Let's focus on searching for sorcerer projections." Sonia understood immediately. "You want to find more clues about the Golden Fish by reading other sorcerers' handbooks?" Yaxiu nodded slowly. "At our current pace, even if hunting knowledge creatures drops an Experience Orb, it won't be enough for your swordsmanship to break through to the Golden rank. "Even if we get a rare sorcery spirit, it can't immediately integrate into my combat system, so the boost to our combat strength would be negligible. "We only have one night left. If we want a breakthrough, the Golden Fish is our only option." Although the two of them had hunted many knowledge creatures over these past days, most of the sorcery spirits were either exchanged for points by Yaxiu or sold by Sonia to earn some extra cash, with very few kept for their own use. The most important reason, of course, was that they simply weren't suitable. Though they had a grasp of four factions—swordsmanship, water sorcery, light sorcery, and mind—compared to the bizarre and vast sorcery spirit world of the Void Realm, what they had encountered wasn't even the tip of the iceberg, a single hair from nine oxen at most. It was entirely normal for their loot not to contain a single sorcery spirit from the factions they specialized in. Even if a sorcery spirit from their factions dropped, more often than not it was unusable. For instance, the swordsmanship faction's 'Vibrating Sword,' 'Consecutive Sword,' and 'Poison Sword' represented three entirely different directions: increasing destructive power through high-frequency vibrations, boosting attack speed for continuous slashes, or imbuing the blade with special attributes. Aside from swordsmanship, 'Vibrating Sword' required support from sound sorcery, 'Consecutive Sword' inevitably required branching into the ascetic faction to improve physical fitness, and 'Poison Sword' meant taking poison sorcery as a secondary study. No matter which minute direction one delved into, the time a sorcerer had to invest was immeasurable, often requiring them to venture into unfamiliar factions. If one's understanding of a sorcery spirit was merely superficial and they used it directly, the results would certainly fall short of a combat system thoroughly researched by the sorcerer. For example, the lethality of a single Ripping Wave Slash from Sonia could blow all three of those swordsmanship sorcery spirits out of the water. Therefore, although they had obtained quite a few sorcery spirits, none of them were indispensable. Rather than studying these new sorcery spirits, it was better to make good use of their old ones. As the saying went: clothes are best when new, but friends are best when old. Still, theirs was a happy problem. What ordinary Silver Sorcerer could harvest two or three sorcery spirits every single night? Not dying was already considered a blessing from the Void Realm, and gaining anything at all was cause for celebration. Not that they hadn't updated their equipment at all. For instance, Yaxiu had already rounded out the three basic swordsmanship sorcery spirits: Slash Sword, Thrust Sword, and Cut Sword. Ordinarily, a sword sorcerer needed to summon these three sorcery spirits personally to lay a solid foundation in the swordsmanship faction, which was why someone like Sonia would never ask for them. However, Yaxiu was an unlearned stowaway to begin with, so a foundation naturally didn't matter to him. And after Sonia sold her share of the spoils, she quickly gathered all the required sorcery spirits for the two miracles: Scabbard Concealing Light and Ten Years of Sword Sharpening, further enhancing her combat prowess. While hardly invincible, in a place like the Sea of Knowledge, this scoundrel duo could be said to possess the capital to run amok. Viewed from another angle, however, this also meant the Sea of Knowledge was yielding diminishing returns for them. They had obtained so much in the Void Realm that they needed to spend plenty of time slowly digesting and consolidating it all. Unless they could reach a higher stratum of the Void Realm. "If I can condense golden sorcery power, I'll be able to fully activate my Sword Body Barrier, boosting its defense by at least five times," Yaxiu explained the necessity of golden sorcery power for himself. Unlike the Sword Princess, he had the two-winged sorcery spirit Earth Sword gifted by Valkas, so advancing would instantly grant him a massive leap in combat strength. Sonia curled her lip. "Provided we can actually find the Golden Fish. You sound like someone planning how to spend the jackpot before even winning the lottery." "And how would you spend it if you won the jackpot?" "First, buy an estate in Jialesi, then pretend to be critically ill and encourage my mother to borrow money from our relatives and fellow villagers." "Why?" "Those unruly bumpkins who always bullied my mother and me will definitely refuse to lend a copper. When that happens, I'll rent a fleet of luxury cars to pick up my mother and blind their dog eyes. If anyone dares ask my mother for money later, I'll remind her of what happened and chop off their thieving paws." "Ugh, you really are..." "You got a problem with that?" "I think you should find an accomplice you're close with and have her lend money to your mother. When you return home in glory, you lavishly reward and thank that accomplice. Comparison is where the real pain comes from. That way, for just a tiny sum, you can make everyone else smash their heads against the wall in regret." "Wow, Watcher, you're truly rotten to the core." "If you flatter me like that, I'll blush." Amid their idle banter, Yaxiu noticed a light red area appear on the Void Realm Map marked "Extremely Challenging"—the most dangerous zone they could set foot in, and precisely what Yaxiu had been looking for. Yaxiu's smile faded, and he grew serious. "While it might not be a direct correlation, the stronger a sorcerer projection is, the higher the chance it has information on the Golden Fish. So from here on out tonight, it's going to be a tough fight." "Well, you won't be coming to the Void Realm after tonight anyway." A white-steel glow gleamed on Sonia's palm as she gently stroked the wooden sword in her hand. "I'll go crazy with you this once. Worst case, I'll just give you my first blood." Miracle: One Day of Sword Sharpening, activate. Strictly speaking, although Ten Years of Sword Sharpening was a two-winged miracle, it had a vast range of adjustability. Among time-type sorcery spirits, 'Year' was the rarest, 'Month' came next, and 'Day' was the most common. 'Ten Days' was a two-winged sorcery spirit, 'Hundred Days' was three-winged, and 'Thousand Days' was four-winged; 'Year' and 'Month' followed the same ranking. Thus, Ten Years of Sword Sharpening could become One Day, Ten Days, Hundred Days, Thousand Days, One Month, Ten Months of Sword Sharpening, and so forth. With the adjustment of the sorcery spirit's tier, the miracle's power would scale accordingly. The reason it was called Ten Years of Sword Sharpening was simply that 'Ten Years' was the consumable with the best cost-performance ratio. Indeed, activating this miracle directly consumed the time sorcery spirit, requiring a replacement to be bought afterward. As a result, Sonia only dared to use the cheapest 'Day' sorcery spirit. It was said that the higher-level and more complex potent miracles often consumed large quantities of sorcery spirits; thus, when a Legendary Sorcerer made a move, tens of thousands of jin of gold and rivers of silver were expended—enough cash in gold and silver coins to crush a crowd of people to death. Yet commensurate with the cost, such miracles yielded exceptional results. Sonia's wooden sword took on a shimmering gray gleam—the 'slash hue' produced by sword sharpening. From here on, all her attacks would receive the slash hue bonus, boosting their sharpness so that she could break through defense even against an ascetic sorcerer. Yaxiu drew a longsword from his tongue—the Honeyed Words and Daggered Heart he had pulled from the gacha. Then he summoned a Substitute and had it dive into the sea, circling around to reach the other side of the legacy islet. Preparations complete, the two cut through the white mist and reached the legacy islet. At the same time, the Substitute scrambled onto the islet from the other side, drawing the sorcerer projection's attention. Now! Yaxiu pointed his sword tip forward. The adorable one-winged sorcery spirit manifested at the point of his blade, and a streak of sword light shot toward the projection's neck like swift thunder! Sorcery Spirit: Heart Sword! Sonia kicked off the boat, leaping high as she drew her sword, a smile of anticipation gracing her lips. Like an elegant dancer leaping onto the islet, her spinning wave of evil light charged toward the sorcerer projection like a meat grinder! Miracle: Evil Light Ripping Wave Slash! The Substitute drew attention and sacrificed itself, Yaxiu attacked from range, and Sonia unleashed burst damage in melee. This was the invincible flanking ambush tactic that had never failed them!