Is This What a Bond Is?

Mortal power is finite; truth is boundless. In a world where knowledge can summon sorcery spirits and sorcery spirits can birth miracles, a sorcerer's pursuit of knowledge is an instinct etched deep into the soul. Yet as wave after wave of sorcerers throw themselves into this pursuit, an insurmountable chasm bars their way—learning efficiency. Regardless of race or realm, every sorcerer learns the same way: memorize, comprehend, master. Different races have distinct advantages: the Skyfolk with their naturally keen sight excel at memorization; the elves with their powerful souls excel at comprehension; and the beastmen with their sharp intuition excel at mastery. Though far from equal, every race holds the potential to become a sorcerer. Yet the moment sorcerers set foot in the Void Realm, they discover how laughable their racial advantages truly are before that immeasurable expanse of knowledge. No matter how brilliant their natural gifts, their efficiency in acquiring knowledge is like drinking the Sea of Knowledge through a straw—the only difference being the straw's thickness. Sorcerers have devised countless methods to counter this: inventing efficiency-boosting miracles such as 'Photographic Memory', 'Mind Acceleration', and 'Instant Comprehension', or extending their lifespans to compensate for their slow learning with sheer time. The ever-growing hunger for knowledge versus backward learning efficiency was a fundamental existential contradiction sorcerers could never resolve. Yet the Void Realm had prepared a solution for them long ago. "This is an Experience Orb of the light faction." Sonia gently cupped the bright, translucent sphere. Her voice was soft, as though afraid speaking too loudly might damage it. "As long as one absorbs it, even someone who knows nothing about the light faction will instantly gain silver-rank light knowledge and become a light-specialized sorcerer. "Once back in reality, with just a bit of study and organization, one could even summon a light sorcery spirit through sheer ability. That's because it provides a sorcerer not just with 'illusory' knowledge, but also with 'practical' experience—the very experience the Foxlight Dragon possessed. "If sorcery spirits are merely unobtainable on the open market, then an Experience Orb is truly beyond price." Sonia's eyes were filled with endless fascination. "No matter how impoverished, no sorcerer would ever sell an Experience Orb; no matter how generous, every sorcerer covets one. While an Experience Orb can be brought out of the Void Realm, almost no sorcerer ever does—the moment they obtain one, they absorb it right on the spot." Nearly every Legendary Sorcerer had absorbed vast numbers of Experience Orbs. It was precisely because of these orbs that sorcerers could master multiple factions simultaneously, innovate upon existing knowledge, create new miracles, summon new sorcery spirits, and even pioneer entirely new factions. The Experience Orb deserved immense credit for sorcerer civilization reaching the heights it enjoyed today. Yaxiu could appreciate how miraculous the Experience Orb was, but he couldn't quite share Sonia's level of excitement. "You make it sound so extraordinarily rare, but didn't we just get one pretty easily?" Sonia took a deep breath. Only after chanting *The Watcher is a brainless loudmouth* three times in her head did she calmly explain, "It's true that theoretically, Experience Orbs aren't impossible to come by. Any slain knowledge creature has a chance to drop one. "However, setting aside the fact that knowledge creatures usually possess the combat prowess to defeat sorcerers of the same rank, suppose you actually find one you can beat. What often happens is—just as you're about to win, it runs away." "They can run away?" "They're living creatures. Naturally, they have the instinct to seek advantage and avoid harm. Why wouldn't they run?" Sonia retorted. "Could a knowledge creature capable of birthing sorcery spirits possibly be an idiot that doesn't even possess common sense?" Yaxiu had the distinct feeling the Sword Princess was insulting him, but he lacked proof. "Doesn't that mean the sorcerer takes a massive loss?" "Not necessarily. Knowledge creatures understand the principle of shedding a tail to save their lives. When trying to escape, they will deliberately toss out a sorcery spirit to divert the sorcerer's attention. As long as they defeat the knowledge creature, a sorcerer will at least walk away with a sorcery spirit." "Then that's not so bad. At least winning guarantees a profit." "Sometimes winning hurts even worse—because when a sorcerer kills a knowledge creature, there's a chance they destroy the Experience Orb in the process." "Huh?" "An Experience Orb isn't generated after the knowledge creature dies; it already exists inside its body," Sonia explained. "Because knowledge creatures dissipate upon death, to this day no one knows which part of the body the Experience Orb forms in. Different knowledge creatures even cultivate orbs in completely different places. "If a sorcerer isn't careful with their attack, it's extremely likely they'll destroy the Experience Orb. "Killing a knowledge creature and receiving no orb is something every sorcerer experiences. They have no way of knowing whether the creature simply lacked an orb to begin with, or if they accidentally destroyed it. "Now do you understand how lucky we were to get this orb?" Sonia looked toward the spot where the Foxlight Dragon had vanished. "If the Foxlight Dragon hadn't been asleep, if we hadn't concentrated our attacks on its head, if the Experience Orb had happened to be in its head, if the dragon had possessed the strength to drag out the fight... Had any single one of those 'ifs' been true, this orb would have been virtually impossible to get our hands on." At this point, Sonia couldn't help casting an astonished glance at the Watcher. His hesitation earlier had unquestionably been to wait for the Foxlight Dragon to fall asleep. Such an unheard-of, underhanded tactic was truly... magnificent! "Fair point." Yaxiu nodded, his eyes fixed on the Experience Orb. Sonia gripped the orb tightly, her body trembling slightly. But soon, she exhaled, holding the orb out to Yaxiu. "Here." "You're giving it to me?" "Aren't you in a dangerous situation and in dire need of items to boost your strength?" Sonia feigned nonchalance. "I'm not in any rush. You can have this orb. Next time we find a swordsmanship orb, don't you dare fight me for it!" "Deal!" Yaxiu reached out to take the orb, but it wouldn't budge. "Let go!" "I am, I am! But my fingers aren't listening to me!" Yaxiu had no choice but to pry her fingers open one by one, finally securing the orb under Sonia's reluctant gaze. As a warm current seeped into his palm, a prompt appeared on the light screen: [Light Orb] [The essence of truth left behind by a Foxlight Dragon, containing secret knowledge unattainable by ordinary sorcerers through standard channels. Absorbing it grants a vast amount of light experience.] ['Moonlight is a leaping fox; a fox is walking moonlight.'] The moment he touched the orb, Yaxiu felt a tremor in his soul. An indescribable thirst spread from his core throughout his entire body. It was the first time Yaxiu had ever experienced such a sensation—an intense thirst for knowledge actually overpowering his reason. It was an indescribable feeling: fiercer than the craving to read on when a web novel goes on hiatus at a cliffhanger, more frantic than frantically searching for exam answers only to find half the sheet missing, and more thrilling than an erotic picture freezing right as the good part loaded. Every fold and pore across his entire being seemed to urge Yaxiu to absorb the orb. Prison, danger, survival—in that moment, all of it was cast thousands of miles away. Knowledge was Yaxiu's only desire. Just as Yaxiu was on the verge of absorbing the orb, a spark of reason flashed in his mind— *Wait, I smell surplus value.* Yaxiu took a close look at the description of the Light Orb. It clearly stated, *Absorbing it grants a vast amount of light experience.* In other words... "Sword Princess, you absorb it." Seeing the orb tossed her way, the agile Sonia suddenly scrambled in panic, catching the Light Orb with utmost care. She looked at Yaxiu with a mixture of anger and shock. "Has your light faction realm already reached silver rank or higher?" "No, I know nothing about the light faction." "I get it. Does the light faction conflict with knowledge you've already mastered? Like the Dark Abyss faction...?" "No, not at all. I don't know a thing, as you well know." "Then why aren't you absorbing it?" "Because a bond exists between us," Yaxiu said as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "When you become stronger, I become stronger." This wasn't the first time Sonia had heard the Watcher say 'a bond exists between us', but she had always assumed it was just a polite euphemism for coercion and blackmail—a way of saying *I have a way to control you*. Only at this very moment did she find herself sighing inwardly: *Is this what a bond is?* As for the Watcher's claim that 'When you become stronger, I become stronger', Sonia simply treated it as polite rhetoric, roughly equivalent to corporate platitudes like 'When you succeed, we all succeed.' Without further hesitation, Sonia crushed the Experience Orb directly. Her body trembled faintly, a flush rising to her cheeks as she let out a lingering, soft sigh. Though the sight was undeniably alluring, Yaxiu had no time to appreciate it, as he found himself in much the same state. Rather than 'absorbing knowledge', the sensation felt more like 'memories flooding the mind'. It was like encountering a difficult math problem and suddenly recalling what a teacher had taught; Yaxiu naturally and effortlessly mastered a wealth of relevant knowledge. From a complete novice who knew nothing of the light faction, he leaped straight to a specialized sorcerer of light. *It really worked!* Thirty percent of the light faction experience the Sword Princess absorbed from the Experience Orb was shared with Yaxiu! This was precisely why Yaxiu had yielded the orb to her: absorbing it himself would yield a one-hundred-percent return, but giving it to the Sword Princess yielded a one-hundred-and-thirty-percent return! Furthermore, as long as the Sword Princess continued to advance in the light faction in the future, Yaxiu would reap endless long-term benefits. Wouldn't the surplus value generated this way far exceed hoarding it all for himself? That was why Yaxiu hadn't let the temptation of the Experience Orb blind him. An Experience Orb was merely a tool, no different from a hoe; no matter how fancy the hoe, it had to be put in the hands of someone who knew how to farm for it to serve its proper purpose. For someone with little talent like Yaxiu, waiting around to eat the harvested rice was more than enough. Recovering from the lingering afterglow of being filled with knowledge, Sonia looked at Yaxiu, her face filled with gratitude. "Thank you!" "Then don't let down my expectations. Study the knowledge of the light faction thoroughly, and don't slack off on your swordsmanship training either!" "Right!"