Even though two hours had passed, Sonia, having descended into the Void Realm, still had not recovered from the shock.
Now all of Jialesi... no, the entire Starry Country was chanting Dimi's name!
Every citizen watching the league broadcast had witnessed with their own eyes the birth of another Starry Sword Saint!
What did being a Sanctuary Sorcerer even mean?
Even her teacher, Professor Trozan, was only a Sanctuary Sorcerer!
Sword Flower University only had four Sanctuary professors, yet apart from Truth University, Sword Flower possessed the most Sanctuary Sorcerers among all the universities. Other universities generally had two Sanctuaries, or even just one. That said, Sword Flower was actually a target of public denunciation from the other schools in this regard, because Sword Flower's treatment of Sanctuary Sorcerers was "lots of pay, little work." Someone like Trozan was always allowed to research sorceries entirely on her own, only taking on two students this year on a whim. How was that any different from keeping a Sanctuary Sorcerer on the payroll for doing nothing?!
A price war! Unfair competition! Disrupting market balance!
Yet Sword Flower University was simply loaded with cash—curse all you want, we'll keep pampering ours. But that was enough to show just how precious a Sanctuary Sorcerer was. If Sonia became a Sanctuary Sorcerer, Sword Flower would certainly be thrilled to splash out huge sums every year for her to squander!
In a mundane world where Legends never appeared, Sanctuary Sorcerers were the pinnacle of combat power that ordinary people could ever behold: incarnations of miracles, representatives of sorcery itself!
Though it might seem as if all they had to do was find a rainbow fish to become a Sanctuary Sorcerer, Sonia knew well in her heart that even if they got lucky and smuggled themselves into the Distant Sky Realm, she would only be a counterfeit Sanctuary—a pile of scrap metal with a colorful coat of paint.
If Silver was talent and Gold was genius, then Sanctuary was the theoretical limit that exhausted innate talent, diligence, and resources combined. As for Legends, just as the name implied, they were inimitable legends.
Although the country girl's swordsmanship faction was currently at Gold rank and appeared only a sliver away from Sanctuary, it was precisely this "sliver" of an impassable chasm that trapped countless swordsmanship geniuses on the Time Continent forever, robbing them of any hope of ever beholding the vistas of spatial swordsmanship in their lifetimes.
To take a simple example: the faculty ranking system at Sword Flower University was divided into teaching assistant, lecturer, associate professor, and professor. The basic requirement for a teaching assistant was the full condensation of Golden Wings—that is, an official Two Wings sorcerer. Aside from outliers like Sonia, an ordinary sorcerer took an average of two to three years just to condense their Golden Wings, during which time they could generally cultivate their primary faction to the limit of Gold rank.
A teaching assistant was already quite close to Sanctuary, yet there were still three ranks above them, with each rank representing a step closer to Sanctuary. Even this "sliver" of a chasm had been carved into four distinct tiers by Two Wings sorcerers, showing just how idle sorcerers were, and how deeply unwilling they were to accept their limits.
Even though Sonia practiced swordsmanship diligently by day and was fed Experience Orbs and Commander Manuals by the Watcher by night, she did not dare guarantee that she could advance to Sanctuary within three years.
For Sanctuary seeds like Sonia, Leonie, and Negs, even if they had spent less than four years completing both the Silver Sea Route and the Golden Land Route, everyone's expectation of them was to advance to Sanctuary within twenty years. According to statistics, the "germination rate" of Sanctuary seeds was less than thirty percent. In other words, if even one of the three—Sonia, Leonie, or Negs—managed to step into the Distant Sky Realm, it would already count as a massive success for Sword Flower University's educational endeavors.
It was difficult to describe the gap between Sanctuary and Gold intuitively, but an analogy could be drawn using the color of void wings: Golden void wings had only a golden hue, whereas Sanctuary void wings displayed a shifting rainbow gradient. Leaving aside the infinite derivations between different colors, the rainbow's seven colors alone meant that the volume of knowledge required for the Sanctuary realm was seven times that of the Gold realm. What was more, that knowledge had to be mastered and integrated until it was as ever-changing as a rainbow to even meet the passing grade.
Most geniuses spent three years elevating a faction's realm to the peak of Gold. Seven times that was twenty-one years. Seen in this light, expecting a Sanctuary seed to develop for twenty years was remarkably sound.
Of course, society was unlike school; "effort" was not necessarily tied to "results." Compared to realm, one's choice of sorcery faction had a far greater impact on personal destiny. Combat sorcerers could only chase monster droppings down in the Abyss, while creation sorcerers could rake in fortunes every day while sitting in bright, cozy workshops. As for supreme factions like prophecy, even someone with only Silver Wings held a status far above those possessing both gold and silver wings.
Sanctuary Sorcerers, however, harbored no such worries, because every single one of them was proficient in a tier-0 sorcery: the space faction!
The Distant Sky Realm was different from the Time Continent. On the Time Continent, sorcerers merely had an "opportunity" to step through the doorway into the time faction, but the vast majority of sorcerers could not understand time in the slightest. Had Sonia not encountered a stroke of luck at the cabin of lost memories, she could have bathed in the Flowing Gold River forever and still never gained entry to the time faction. "Using the Flowing Gold River to comprehend time" was a classic tradition among Two Wings sorcerers; if you had not drowned in the Flowing Gold River at least ten times, you could not even claim you had studied the time faction in earnest.
In the Distant Sky Realm, however, every sorcerer was required to step through the doorway of the space faction; otherwise, they could not possibly unfurl a Sanctuary to explore the Void Realm! The so-called Sanctuary was essentially the physical manifestation of a sorcerer's space faction knowledge!
Not to mention the combat advantages of the space faction. In terms of production and creation, every Sanctuary Sorcerer, after minimal study, could manufacture basic spatial items, and spatial items were forever in short supply. They were essentially tactical weapons who held high-end means of production in their hands.
Before meeting the Watcher, Sonia's aspiration had been to be a universally beloved Two Wings water sorcerer. Only after meeting the Watcher did she dare dream a little bolder, yearning to become a Starry Sword Saint revered by all living beings.
As for Legend... it was not that she doubted the Watcher's ability to take her to the fourth floor of the Void Realm, but did reaching the fourth floor and possessing legendary sorcery power mean one could become a Legendary Sorcerer?
She knew her own limit was Sanctuary.
Or rather, once she reached Sanctuary, she would stop working hard.
Her life was not made of swordsmanship alone. Sanctuary was enough to guarantee her financial freedom, an elevated social class, and a carefree life. When that time came, she could pursue whatever she fancied: screen maiden and song maiden careers, romance, a family, or... researching ways to travel to other countries.
Or researching a miracle that would allow someone else to cross over into the Starry Country.
Ah! I want so badly to reach Sanctuary! Why did an aristocrat born with a silver spoon in his mouth, living high above everyone else day in and day out, get to become a Sanctuary Sorcerer? Shouldn't he be indulging in sensual pleasures all day, sucked dry into a walking skeleton by swarms of dissolute beauties, and squandering away his family fortune?!
How was anyone supposed to fight him in the Meteor Tribulation?! There ought to be a law banning Sanctuary Sorcerers from competing in the Intercollegiate League!
The country girl could no longer conceal her envy, jealousy, and indignation.
She glanced at the situation inside the sports car. Mmh, today the Watcher and the Witch weren't piled on top of each other. Sonia felt her mood improve slightly and couldn't resist pouring out her feelings: "You will never guess what happened to me tonight..."
"...And that's how it was! I worked so hard to defeat an earth sorcerer, yet our school still suffered a crushing defeat in the Star Palace Tribulation. On top of that, in the Meteor Tribulation down the line, I'll have to face an opponent who also specializes in Wave Sword, but has higher sorcery power than me, a higher realm than me, and miracles that utterly crush mine! It's so unfair!"
Sonia grabbed the Witch's hands and swung them back and forth as she spoke, sighing, "It looks like there's no way I'll win the Meteor Tribulation this time..."
A moment later, Sonia suddenly sensed an intense strangeness.
It was so quiet.
The sports car was dead quiet.
In the past, the Witch would use her awkward conversational skills to hum along with her, tossing out words like "mm-hmm," "really?" and "that's amazing" to keep the topic going. Besides, the Witch was genuinely interested in campus life and the Intercollegiate League; it was precisely because she had such a faithful listener that Sonia enjoyed chatting.
Due to the division of their personas, the Watcher usually didn't chime in, but the moment he noticed the atmosphere stalling, he would take the initiative to break the deadlock, allowing her to take a jab or two at him in return and maintain the team's equilibrium.
Yet Sonia had brought up a topic, and neither of them gave the slightest reaction?
It felt just like sending a massive paragraph into a group chat only to get zero replies, leaving the country girl so embarrassed her toes curled.
She looked toward the Witch and found her resting her chin on her left hand, staring coldly out at the reverse golden rain outside, biting her lower lip with a despondent expression. The Watcher, too, was staring blankly ahead, as though his soul had remained behind in reality.
"Witch? Witch!"
Only after being nudged did the Witch snap back from her thoughts. "Huh? What is it?"
Sonia: "Do you know what I was just talking about?"
Diya: "I... I'm sorry, I spaced out just now. I didn't hear what you said."
"Are you in a bad mood?"
"You can tell?"
"Of course. Your eyebrows are practically spelling out 'I'm upset.' How could I not tell?"
"Really?!"
"Of course not. Are you okay?" Sonia asked. "You don't look well at all."
"I'm just a little perturbed..."
"Is it something in reality?" Sonia probed gently. "Maybe we can offer some advice. Talking about it might make you feel better."
Diya wore a deeply conflicted expression, her lips pressed tight, before she slowly shook her head. "No, I... I can't say it."
"But this state isn't very suitable for exploring. How about swapping in another sister for tonight's rotation?"
Sonia had originally meant to use reverse psychology—after all, the Secret Princess persona was always competitive and couldn't bear to be looked down on. Yet Diya hesitated for a moment and then meekly nodded. "All right. I feel like I need to calm down, too. Let Sister White take my place for tonight."
With that, the Witch's attire shifted from black to white, transforming in the blink of an eye into the dignified and poised White Queen. Among the Witch's four personas, the White Queen had the highest emotional intelligence and intellect, perfectly courteous and proper. Though she wasn't as silly and gullible as the Secret Princess, she was delightful to be around.
After exchanging greetings, the country girl called out to their driver to get moving. "Watcher, what are we doing tonight?"
Yaxiu's posture went instantly rigid. "Nothing! I didn't do anything tonight!"
Chapter 467