In the end, Yaxiu consumed a third of the Sword Heart Stones while Sonia took two-thirds. Diya had wanted to show that she knew how to be accommodating too, but unfortunately Yaxiu had neither time nor fist-and-claw sorcery spirits.
Even after they finished those, a large pile of faction stones remained, such as fire sorcery, earth sorcery, and wind sorcery stones. They picked through them and fed on a bit more—for instance, Yaxiu's Earth Sword could consume Earth Collapse Stones, Wind Wall could consume Wind Wound Stones, Sonia's Killing Intent Sword could consume Necromancy Stones, and Diya's Finger Threads could consume Arrow Feather Stones...
Just as sorcerers often cultivated secondary factions, sorcery spirits themselves were influenced by minor factions alongside their primary one. Yaxiu's Earth Sword was the most obvious example: the ratio between its swordplay and earth sorcery influences was roughly 7:3, so Earth Collapse Stones had about a 30% catalytic effect on it.
Even after picking through them, half of the faction stones remained. These stones couldn't be taken along; after returning to reality, a sorcerer had no idea where they would appear the next time they entered the Time Continent. Carrying the stones away was completely pointless, so their only options were to absorb them all on the spot or leave them behind.
Sonia and Diya had anticipated this long ago. Only Yaxiu, who never let a single stray feather slip through his fingers, felt it was a pity, turning a faction stone over in his hand to study it. Sonia urged him, "Hurry up and feed the rest to your spirits, and then we need to keep chasing the White Ox."
"Yeah." Yaxiu nodded. Because he had voluntarily yielded the stones they needed to the Sword Princess and the Witch, both of them agreed to let him have all the remaining stones from unrelated factions.
When Yaxiu summoned his Substitute sorcery spirit to absorb the stone, the spirit was visibly reluctant, like someone who loved sweet jellied tofu being forced to eat the savory kind. Unfortunately, under the tyrannical thumb of its sorcerer, it had no choice but to force it down.
Amused by the sight, Yaxiu reached for another stone and accidentally picked up an ordinary, lusterless rock underneath.
The game interface suddenly popped up.
[Upgrade and enhancement resource required for the Aurora Autonomous Vehicle detected. Absorb?]
......
...
"It's... actually this."
In the Blood Moon Country, on the third floor of an apartment building constructed in the forties, Room 302, the Veela college student gazed at the sorcery spirit in her hand, momentarily dazed.
Xiaoxian the fold-eared cat hopped onto the table and poked at it curiously with her paw pad, only to find her paw passing right through the sorcery spirit. Startled, she reared back onto her hind legs, warily eyeing the unidentified glowing object.
The sorcery spirit took the form of a long-haired girl playing a flute. It looked like a sound sorcery spirit, and indeed, it was closely tied to sound.
Its name was "Echo."
This was a rare sorcery spirit that possessed traits of both the mind and sound factions. Not only could it scout surrounding environments through sound, but it could also use sound to make residual traces tangible—for example, materializing anyone who had come into contact with a certain area or item, as well as everything that had occurred there, as if reenacting the past.
Of course, because the past was simply too vast, the spirit would only manifest things the sorcerer was already acquainted with, tailored to their own understanding.
In short, with this sorcery spirit alone, Freya could easily secure a position in the Sin Hunting Hall—and not in the combat-oriented Blood Frenzy Sequence, but in the more relaxed, higher-paying Sin Hunting Sequence.
Yet Freya had never actually intended to summon this spirit. How could she have dared to dream of summoning such a rarity? Her initial goal had been "Suggestion"; later, feeling that Suggestion didn't quite suit her style, she switched to "Charm."
Because materials on the mind faction were exceedingly scarce in the Blood Moon Country, Freya could only piece together a "potentially useful" study method from various materials gathered at university, while also volunteering as a psychological counselor, steadily improving her faction mastery step by step.
Tonight, after watching a film titled Flower of Silt, the surge of emotion triggered a resonance with the Void Realm. The knowledge she had long since accumulated promptly birthed her first legacy that could accompany her to the grave—the Echo sorcery spirit.
Although summoning a sorcery spirit at any time was perfectly normal once one's faction mastery met the standard, Freya felt she would remember the notion that "watching films increases the chance of summoning a sorcery spirit" for the rest of her life. Not only would she watch twice as many films from now on, but she would also record it in her sorcerer manual after she died.
Even though she had read an introduction to the Echo sorcery spirit some days ago, she hadn't known its summoning requirements at all, nor had she intended to summon it. Yet somehow, she had summoned it anyway.
...She had an ominous premonition.
Looking at the spirit, an ordinary novice sorcerer who had just obtained a new sorcery spirit would immediately test its powers. The Veela, however, had no such thought.
Because this was her home.
The only traces preserved in this apartment belonged to a certain wicked man, a certain mischievous animal, a certain adorable being, along with herself and Xiaoxian.
The Veela drew back the curtains, letting the magnificent Blood Moon bathe the bedroom in sweet hues. Then she lay down on her bed, seeking the Gate of Truth within the sorcery spirit to prepare for her very first journey into the Void Realm.
She had completed all preparatory knowledge required before entering the Void Realm long ago, and the Blood Moon shone brightly tonight. The "Blood Moon's Protection" would fortify her soul, reducing the consumption of soul energy when treating wounds in the Void Realm.
The Gate of Truth, connecting to the Void Realm, sinking into the mist...
Unlike those foolish rumors in the Curtain, and unlike the idle chatter at university, entering the Void Realm brought neither the suffocating discomfort of being shoved into a rubber tube nor the liberating relief of shedding bodily shackles. If she had to describe it, Freya would say—nudity.
Unfettered, yet still retaining one's self. If being naked was facing the world with complete candor, then entering the Void Realm was a sorcerer facing knowledge without any concealment.
Dropping into the sea just as expected, even with all her prior practice, the Veela still felt an instinctive panic—aside from merman sorcerers, every land-dwelling creature reacted this way when suddenly engulfed by seawater. But she recovered quickly, gently treading water with her feet to keep her balance, and opened her eyes to face this unfamiliar world.
White mist, dark sea, silence. Monotonous colors formed a vast prison, and boundless solitude rushed over her. Yet for residents of the Blood Moon, this degree of loneliness was tolerable enough; after all, they had been trained to resist loneliness from the starting line.
While volunteering as a psychological counselor, Freya had seen sorcerers overcome with fear due to the isolation and danger of the Void Realm. Most of them were humans, with a few goblins and beastmen, while she had seen almost no ogres. Aside from ogre sorcerers being relatively rare, more importantly, ogres could simply consume moon sugar to banish fear without needing a therapist's assistance.
When it came to treating psychological and mental ailments, moon sugar was a panacea.
Besides ogres, Veela sorcerers also rarely needed psychological counseling. Because Veelas could heal their minds by venting their desires, mental illnesses were exceedingly rare among them—something of a racial talent for Veelas.
Freya had mentally prepared herself before entering the Void Realm, summoning her courage to face the unknown just as she would upon walking into a newly opened mud cafe.
However, when she turned her head, an incongruous sight abruptly barged into her view.
A boat.
The Veela stared blankly for several seconds before her mind started working again—why was there a boat here?
Hesitating for a moment and remembering that death in the Void Realm was not true death, she climbed onto the boat to investigate.
There was nothing remarkable about it: just an ordinary boat without oars, floating forlornly on the Sea of Knowledge like a pet abandoned by its master.
Sitting in the boat, she looked up at the boundless white mist, feeling much of the tension in her heart dissipate.
Right at that moment, her body stiffened as she unearthed a forgotten gem from the deepest recesses of her memory.
"Help! Help! I'm being ambushed by a Veela at night! I'm going to be killed..."
"Hey, if you don't want to die, hand over your Void Realm experience. I heard you have to swim in the Sea of Knowledge—what stroke do you use? Backstroke? Butterfly? Freestyle?"
"Huh? I've never swum in the Sea of Knowledge. I ride a boat."
"You could at least make an effort to bluff me! How dare you treat me like a fool? Where would anyone get a boat in the Sea of Knowledge! You forced my hand—"
"No, you're going too far! I'm really going to die... Sword Body Barrier!"
Could it be...?
Freya summoned the Echo sorcery spirit. She stared at it for a good while, so intently that the spirit's scalp began to tingle with unease, before finally activating it.
A clear, ringing sound washed over the small boat, vibrating the air into concrete shapes. He had stood here, sat there, lain here, sprawled there—densely packed, over and over again. The Veela looked all around; the entire boat was covered with his traces.
Freya dismissed the spirit's effect and stared at the small boat for a long time, thoughts swirling in her mind, until—
"Die!"
"Die, die, die, die, die!"
"(╯>д<)╯⁽˙³˙⁾ Die, die!"
Because she kicked so violently, the boat lost its balance and capsized. However, as if equipped with a built-in gyroscopic stabilization system, the boat righted itself and continued to float upon the sea, leaving behind a drenched Veela soaking in the water.
She climbed back onto the boat, lay down on it, and stared blankly at the mist-shrouded sky.
"I was supposed to soak in the sea, but you just had to row over, pull me out, and then row away all on your own. Just when I finally braced myself to keep soaking in the sea, why did you have to leave the boat for me?"
"A wicked man like you should be locked in a basement so I can have you once in the morning, once in the afternoon, and three times at night."
"Still..."
Freya sat up and stretched lazily.
"There's no reason for a Veela to refuse a gift from the opposite sex. Demanding everything while giving nothing in return is our divine duty anyway, so I'll accept this boat with a clear conscience. But without oars, how do I steer it?"
She searched the boat thoroughly once more, and finally found a tuft of fur between the deck planks. Pulling it triggered a mechanism: a steering wheel rose from the center of the boat, allowing direct control over its movement.
The Veela examined the fur in her hand, thinking it looked like fur shed by her own Xiaoxian.
"Well then..." Freya took the steering wheel and drove the boat forward, parting the thick white mist. "Just you wait—I'm coming after you!"
Chapter 216