"Deducted 15 points."
"Exploitable weaknesses to threaten Yaxiu Heath: Igola Bogin, Archibald Harvey, Lisi."
"...Huh?"
For a split second, Igola genuinely believed he held an extraordinarily significant place in Yaxiu's heart and nearly rejoiced—if he was so favored, wouldn't he be able to exploit and squeeze this washed-up cult leader with utter impunity from now on?
However, the moment his eyes landed on the name "Lisi," he instantly sobered up. He and Harvey were one thing; they were fellow countrymen and comrades who had shared life and death. But a little girl Yaxiu hadn't even known for a full day, who had almost ruined the rest of Yaxiu's life—how could she possibly serve as leverage to threaten him?
If Lisi were kidnapped and threatened with being burned alive unless a ransom was paid, judging by Yaxiu's disposition, he would probably be debating whether to supply the matches or the fuel.
It was impossible that Yaxiu would treat her with special affection just because she was a cute, white-haired little girl!
Igola was attractive too, and he ranked even higher than Lisi on the Beauty Board, yet hadn't he still been screwed over endlessly by Yaxiu?
Clearly, the Book of Gospel had made an error here. Igola, Harvey, and Lisi were currently the figures closest to Yaxiu and belonged to the same camp, so the Book of Gospel had mistakenly regarded them as an alliance of shared interests, thereby deducing that the three of them were Yaxiu's weaknesses.
If Igola guessed correctly, Harvey's weaknesses would undoubtedly be him, Yaxiu, and Lisi. But he couldn't be bothered to verify it—15 points were gone just like that. At present, his sole source of wealth relied on the young miss Annan keeping him, so he had to spend prudently!
So that was what the Revelation had meant: if he asked any questions regarding Yaxiu Heath, the Book of Gospel would inevitably produce incorrect answers.
It was all Yaxiu's fault!
Those 15 points—he would definitely make Yaxiu repay them a thousandfold!
* * *
Sitting opposite Igola, Yaxiu had no idea that he had unwittingly accrued yet another debt. At that moment, he was gazing at the Book of Gospel's reply, his brow slightly furrowed.
"Can an omnipotent wish send me back to my original world?"
"Deducted 1 point."
"An omnipotent wish can traverse time and space and cross worlds, but whether it can cross into a specific world requires case-by-case analysis based on concrete circumstances."
*Case-by-case analysis based on concrete circumstances...* The moment Yaxiu saw this kind of bureaucratic reply, he nearly suffered PTSD. He had heard such phrases far too often in corporate life; the subtext was simply, "This matter is technically doable, but I don't feel like exerting any effort for you."
On the other hand, this response also gave Yaxiu considerable confidence.
If the Book of Gospel had sworn on its life that it was "absolutely possible," Yaxiu would instead have suspected that this divine master was one of Igola's professional peers—no matter what world one was in, only charlatans guaranteed they could grant your every wish.
In other words, if I can obtain this omnipotent wish, will I be able to go home?
Upon realizing this glimmer of hope, Yaxiu didn't feel overly agitated. It wasn't that he didn't miss his mother's slow-cooked broth or his father's constant nagging, but just as he had told the Sword Princess in the Void Realm, he wasn't the kind of person who needed to depend on some grand wish just to keep living.
Presumptuously embracing hope only to presumptuously drown in despair was far too pathetic.
From the moment Yaxiu arrived in this world, he had never dared to harbor extravagant hopes of returning alive.
Therefore, if he obtained this omnipotent wish and successfully returned to face the pressures of forced marriage, mortgage payments, and supporting elderly parents, that would naturally be fantastic enough to warrant quitting his job, lying flat, and celebrating.
Yet if this omnipotent wish turned out to be not quite so omnipotent, Yaxiu wouldn't be overly disappointed either.
And if he failed to get it, Yaxiu would at most draw circles on the ground to curse the lucky bastard who did, then forget all about it soon after.
Having verified the viability of an omnipotent wish, Yaxiu suddenly felt he had nothing else to ask.
Which sorcery spirits to summon? Which sorcery faction suited him? His cultivation experience was entirely bloated fluff without a shred of substance; his current strength was completely derived from acting as the Sword Princess's accessory. He had neither the need nor the ability to engage in autonomous cultivation—diligence and focus were the foundation of every sorcerer, and Yaxiu had lost those two skills after finishing his senior year of high school.
There was no point in asking how to efficiently utilize his existing sorcery spirits either. As long as Yaxiu could explore the Void Realm, he would certainly replace his sorcery spirits soon enough. Aside from Heart Sword, Substitute, Earth Sword, and Wind Wall, the rest would definitely be swapped out, upgraded to higher-tier sorcery spirits, or banished straight to the cold palace.
Just as Freya wouldn't be picky about a mud worker she was only using for one night, Yaxiu had no interest in wasting thought on a batch of sorcery spirits that were soon to be replaced.
This developmental strategy could even be taken a step further—wasting resources on Yaxiu was pointless. An accessory had to possess the self-awareness of an accessory, rather than harbor delusions of surpassing the operators' talents through mere effort and resources!
Self-awareness was Yaxiu's greatest virtue!
With a thought, he opened Aurora's Sorcerer Handbook, and a notification immediately popped up.
"Dead Frenzy Sword Princess Growth Report: 4.26–5.2"
"Swordsmanship Faction: Silver → Silver"
"Light Sorcery Faction: Silver → Silver"
"Water Sorcery Faction: Silver → Silver"
"Mind Faction: Silver → Silver"
"Sorcery Power: Silver Full Wings → Gold Void Wings"
"Cultivation Evaluation: S!"
"Due to achieving an S-rank evaluation, the Dead Frenzy Sword Princess has received a class upgrade from the Sorcerer Handbook: Soulbreaker Silver Sorcerer → Wild Dancer!"
"Wild Dancer Class Trait: Attacking the same target increases attack speed by 2%, stacking up to 5 times. Transferring attack targets immediately cancels the effect."
"Due to the advancement of sorcery power, the Dead Frenzy Sword Princess's talent has strengthened!"
"Due to achieving an S-rank evaluation, the Dead Frenzy Sword Princess has received the class assessment mission: 'Wild Dance'!"
"Wild Dance: Within the next 7 days, perform 10,000 effective slashes. Upon completing the mission, the Wild Dancer class trait can be permanently solidified! Current progress: (0/10,000)."
Yaxiu had never expected the Sorcerer Handbook to come up with new tricks for him—why was it another personal perk for the Sword Princess? He wanted one too!
Permanently solidifying a class trait meant that even if she changed to a new class in the future, the Sword Princess would still retain the attack-speed-boosting "Wild Dance" trait, effectively granting her an extra passive skill.
Yaxiu naturally understood the immense power of this mechanism: if she could solidify the "Wild Dance" trait this time, what about next time? What about the time after that?
This was equivalent to providing operators like the Sword Princess with an enhancement system outside of sorcery spirits. That wasn't to say the Sword Princess could steamroll ordinary Two-Winged Sorcerers with this right away—in fact, under the current circumstances, ordinary Two-Winged Sorcerers could easily crush the two illegal immigrants who had sneaked into the Time Continent—but with long-term cultivation and more solidified class traits, the operators' combat prowess would eventually experience an explosive breakthrough through patient accumulation.
It was just like holding a regular job: even if your salary was identical, your coworker could collect rent on the side while working. Ten years later, you still hadn't gathered enough for a down payment, while your coworker was already taking out a loan to buy their second property.
The only problem was that this class assessment mission seemed somewhat tricky. In the past, it could have been completed casually, but right now, neither he nor the Sword Princess knew when their souls would fully recover. If they couldn't cut down monsters in the Void Realm, he would just have to ask the Sword Princess to take a part-time job at a slaughterhouse...
In addition, the Sword Princess's talent had grown stronger!
"Innate Talent: Sword Princess (Intermediate): Grants an additional 150% swordsmanship experience, with a low probability of granting 10,000% swordsmanship experience, and an extremely low probability of triggering the Phantom of the Resentment Resplendent Dragon (talent tier unlocks as strength advances)."
The Sword Princess's talent had also reached the intermediate tier, similar to the Witch's. But just as the Witch had a chance of triggering the Bronze Dragon's Favor, the Sword Princess had a chance of triggering the Phantom of the Resentment Resplendent Dragon. Yaxiu tapped it, but no detailed explanation appeared.
There wasn't much to say about the Sword Princess's training policy. Although the system was once again suggesting recreational time, Yaxiu still rejected the recommendation.
At worst, he would just tell the Sword Princess a few more cheesy jokes in the Void Realm; he was her recreational equipment!
When Yaxiu opened the Black and White Witch's interface, he discovered that after only a single day, an enormous change had occurred—
"Class: Daughter of the Bronze Dragon"
"Class Trait: A maiden favored by the Bronze Dragon, currently afflicted with a special curse. Dispelling the curse grants the Blessing of the Bronze Dragon. While cursed, the Black and White Witch receives an effect of -75% learning efficiency across all factions, and +10 to luck checks."
"Curse Example: A maiden turns into an old crone, which can be dispelled by receiving true love's kiss, though she cannot disclose the curse's details to others."
"Curse of Knowledge: Bronze Dragon Secret Poison"
*This curse... looks pretty fairy-tale-like, doesn't it?*
No wonder the Witch hadn't allowed Yaxiu to inquire about her situation; she had a ball gag shoved in her mouth too, so asking would have been futile.
Then again, could the Witch's current real-world state be that of an old woman?
She might not even be human—maybe she had turned into a frog, a rabbit, or a Lalafell.
However, the debuff of this class was far too severe: -75% learning efficiency practically meant doing twice the work for half the result, while the benefit was merely +10 to luck checks. It was comparable to Yaxiu's previous class, "Cult Leader," but aside from turning Yaxiu into a pariah whom everyone crossed the street to avoid, Cult Leader hadn't possessed such debilitating negative effects.
To put it simply, this class currently offered purely negative returns, much like Yaxiu's Everlasting Walker.
Nevertheless, according to the sorcerer world's principle of "greater risk brings greater reward," the Blessing of the Bronze Dragon that the Witch would obtain after dispelling the curse had to be extraordinarily powerful. Perhaps she would transform directly into a dragon—when that time came, why would Yaxiu bother riding an automobile in the Void Realm? He could become a dragon knight directly!
Additionally, the Witch had suddenly gained a Bronze Dragon Secret Poison, which had likely been acquired after triggering the Bronze Dragon's Favor. Yaxiu wanted to view the contents of this secret poison, but a prompt popped up:
"You do not know this secret poison."
*Nonsense! If you don't tell me, how am I supposed to know?!*
Yaxiu figured that secret poisons differed from other data; if the player didn't know about them, they wouldn't be displayed, thereby sparing the player from being fed garbage by their operators. Take a trash secret poison like Expulsion Secret Poison—Yaxiu would certainly rather not have known about it in the first place.
Just as he was about to arrange her training policy, Yaxiu found himself scratching his head. The Witch's talent undoubtedly belonged to the time faction, but her primary gold faction was the fist and claw faction. It was obvious that the Witch's primary offensive method relied on fists and claws as well, and Yaxiu happened to possess Training Gloves that granted +15% efficiency. Should her training focus be set on the fist and claw faction, or the time faction?
In the past, Yaxiu would have chosen randomly, but now that he had the Book of Gospel, he could just gospel it up directly!
"I have a friend..."
Chapter 201