Rapidly integrating sorcery spirits into one's tactical system, developing miracles tailored to oneself, enhancing one's strength, and then acquiring even more sorcery spirits... The Witch was a textbook sorcerer of the adventure faction. Gradual, step-by-step progress was never suited for her; sustaining war through war was the only way to play to their strengths!
"Even though my sisters can help me formulate miracles, their thoughts don't come out of thin air. It consumes my spiritual energy. At most, they can only do eight hours of intense thinking a day before they have to stop, or else it makes my physical body exhausted."
Diya explained, "Spiritual energy can be broadly divided into three types: thoughts, will, and emotions. Each type has its own suitable application. For example, thoughts are best used for pondering, while will is better suited for buffing oneself. But in the end, it's all spiritual energy. With this 'Keen Determination' sorcery spirit, I can generate keen determination for my sisters, allowing them to think for longer periods."
Yaxiu blinked. Wait—your sisters already work eight hours a day for you, and now with this Keen Determination sorcery spirit, they can work even longer?
Mom and Dad were right: there was a very good reason never to go into business with family and friends!
Who would have guessed the Witch was this kind of person... Damn it, when would his Substitute develop the intellect to perform creative labor for him?
The Substitute's manual labor could no longer satisfy his ever-growing demands!
No wonder the Witch called them her sisters. If his Substitute could help him construct miracles and formulate tactical systems, he would gladly call him big brother too!
While Yaxiu was despairing over his Substitute's lack of promise—cursing that iron couldn't become steel and shit couldn't turn into rice—Diya successfully brought the two sorcery spirits under her control. Although Lisi's sorcery power was sealed in reality and could not activate sorcery spirits, as long as she found a way to trigger Void Realm Resonance, it was still possible to unleash the Keen Determination sorcery spirit.
In truth, compared to the Keen Determination sorcery spirit, Diya cared much more about the United Hearts sorcery spirit.
Or rather, she needed the passive effect of United Hearts: making it easier for others to empathize with the sorcerer.
Leaving aside how effectively this effect could boost Lisi's popularity with outsiders, Diya herself needed it desperately. Perhaps because they now had an even younger sister, or perhaps because of the brush with death on the night of the white mist anomaly, Diya had noticed that the White Queen and the others indulged her less and treated her with more strictness. These past few days, she had even been forced to participate in the miracle-crafting work herself.
It was already outrageous enough that Lisi was spoiled by Yaxiu; she couldn't let Lisi steal away the favoritism of the White Queen and the others too!
White Queen: "You're thinking too loudly. We can all hear you..."
Black Butler: "Going so far as to vie for favor with a little girl just to slack off—you really have no shame."
Diya: "I was just having casual thoughts! Am I not even allowed to think now? Don't I have the freedom of thought? You're all ganging up on me! You don't love me anymore!"
Black Butler: "Really? You're not just trying to slack off?"
"I'm not!"
"Then say 'sisters don't lie to sisters.'"
"I'm angry now—the kind of angry where I won't get better unless you coax me!"
"Then say 'sisters don't lie to sisters.'"
"Sister White, look! Black Butler is still picking on me!"
"You won't even say the words!"
"Black, calm down," Red Apostle intervened to smooth things over. "Diya just wants to keep being our sister. What did she do wrong?"
Diya huffed. She didn't care about her sisters' teasing, because this was an open scheme, and they were bound to yield. Although in theory empathy meant mutual compromise, Diya was the most willful little sister, so they had to be the ones to indulge her.
And precisely because Diya was the most willful sister, she still hoped her sisters could understand her feelings. She hoped they could... trust her once again.
***
After looting the resource point clean, Yaxiu held out a hand to stop Sonia and Diya from getting into the car.
"Wait a moment."
Sonia blinked in surprise, then suddenly glanced back toward the mine. "Right, this is a gem mine, which means..."
"We've finally gathered all the materials!" Yaxiu opened the sports car's upgrade and modification blueprint. "Upgrade: Alchemical Throne!"
The seats of the sports car began to split, restructure, and transform. Before long, the ordinary leather seats shifted into dazzling rose-gold thrones. At the top of each seat sat a single drop of golden blood. The surrounding reverse golden rain seemed to be drawn to it, turning into a golden ribbon that connected directly to the golden blood at the crest of the seats!
'Alchemical Throne · Level 1: Increases the absorption rate of golden sorcery power by 30%.'
Yaxiu depleted all his current essences to push the Alchemical Throne straight to Level 4. The only change to the sports car was that the top of the seats now bore four drops of golden blood.
'Alchemical Throne · Level 4: Increases the absorption rate of golden sorcery power by 60%. Required for next level: Gem Essence, Crystal Essence, Mercury Essence, Wood Essence, Ore Essence, Gold Essence: 600 each.'
As the sports car's most important peripheral accessory, the Alchemical Throne required far too many types of essence, and gem mines were especially hard to come by. Twenty days on the Time Continent, with the Ox of the Sky Carriage already having run two full laps, and Yaxiu had finally unlocked the switch to accelerate their cultivation.
Still, it was all worth it. The initial boost was 30%, with each level adding another 10%. The sports car peripheral could be upgraded up to Level 18, reaching an astonishing 210% bonus!
Although Level 18 was still a long way off, one couldn't forget that Yaxiu's resource-gathering had only been so slow before because they lacked a map.
There were several rare resource points within the Star Hall territory. As long as Yaxiu swept through them one by one, the Alchemical Throne would level up in no time!
The sorcerers climbed into the sports car and immediately felt the difference between an entry-level luxury sports car and a pay-to-win supercar. It was pouring in—golden sorcery power was rushing in!
A 60% bonus meant over half as much again compared to before. A noticeable difference even for sensitive skin; the kids absolutely loved it!
Just as the sorcerers were cruising along and soaking up sorcery power, the driver suddenly slammed on the brakes.
"There are some thousand-feather bird-dragons up ahead." Yaxiu's words instantly set the operators on edge.
As large knowledge creatures, thousand-feather bird-dragons only ever appeared alone in the wild. If they appeared in a cluster, there was only one possibility—they were the escort troops of a Heroic Spirit Legion!
There was an unknown Heroic Spirit Legion up ahead!
Even though the distance was still great, Sonia instinctively lowered her voice. "Are you sure this isn't the Spider Tower territory?"
"All I can say is, the White Ox will have to walk for at least another day before reaching the cabin of lost memories."
In truth, this wasn't all that surprising. Heroic Spirit Commanders were scattered all over the Time Continent; normal sorcerers ran into them just walking around, let alone when driving a car.
The surrounding terrain was wide open, and the Empress's Heroic Spirit had exerted immense pressure on them before, so none of them entertained any reckless ideas. They intended to simply skirt around it.
Once Yaxiu drew closer, the Void Realm Map refreshed with a 'worth visiting' zone—right in the area surrounded by the escort troops!
Did the Void Realm Map rename itself to Wicked Maps? Recommending that a ragtag guerrilla unit like them march straight into a regular army's encirclement?
However, when Yaxiu focused his gaze, he realized someone was already in that zone—two yellow cursors just like Yaxiu and his companions!
That meant there were two sorcerers inside!
Aside from the two sorcerers, there was also a red cursor representing a knowledge creature, as well as a black cursor representing an 'unknown entity.' On the Time Continent, an unknown entity was either a sorcerer projection or a Heroic Spirit Commander, which meant...
"Sorcerers are actually trying to slay a Heroic Spirit Commander?" Yaxiu said in shock. "Are they insane?"
Sonia reached out and patted Yaxiu's head. "I won't allow you to insult yourself like that."
Chapter 378