After Igola, with a look of pure disgust, won three rounds of rock-paper-scissors in a row, Yaxiu opened "Supplies Procurement" and purchased "A Box of Source Crystals," priced at 328 points!
Obtained 66 source crystals!
First-recharge bonus triggered—obtained another 66 source crystals!
Adding the 32 source crystals accumulated from daily check-ins over the past few days, the total came to 164 source crystals! Enough for 54 pulls in all!
If only he could roll on this limited banner back in Gospel. Yaxiu would be able to pray for the Gospel Blessing "Strengthen Heart's Will." He firmly believed that with his intense desire, he could pull at least the outfits for Sword Princess and the Witch! If it were the "Bridal" series, his heartfelt desire might even bend the odds of the Seeking System!
Now, his only option was to stockpile luck by repeatedly losing to Igola in rock-paper-scissors, praying that the Seeking System would show mercy.
Still, with a full 54 pulls, it was impossible to come away empty-handed, right? Surely no one could do five ten-pulls and fail to get what they wanted?
"Confirm spending 162 source crystals to perform 54 seeks?"
"Confirm!"
First came thirty flashes of white light cluttering the pool: Energy Potions, Experience Potions, Elementary Combat Cards, and Career Potions!
Then came eighteen flashes of purple light: eight bottles of Sorcery Spirit Delight Potion, seven bottles of Pure Spiritual Light Special Drink, one High-Grade Trial Card, one new item—"Aurora's Wicked In-Car Navigation System"—and two bottles of a new potion, "Lightless Sanctuary Potion"!
And finally, six flashes of golden light!
"Death Frenzy Sword Princess's Silver Coin"!
"Black and White Witch's Magic Mirror Shard"!
"Aurora's Dream Vault"!
"Youlanweise"!
"Rain Empress · Witch"!
"Moon Star Swimsuit · Sword Princess"!
Yaxiu froze. He couldn't help rubbing his eyes and taking a closer look at the rewards he had pulled...
A moment later, Igola, who had been resting his eyes against the padded wall, opened them to see Yaxiu crawling over in front of him. In an exasperated tone, he asked, "You want to play rock-paper-scissors again?—"
The Swindler's words cut off abruptly as Yaxiu lunged forward and hugged him with all his might. By the time Igola gathered his wits, Yaxiu had already moved over to sling an arm around Harvey's shoulders, shaking Harvey so hard the man's head looked ready to snap off. Not one to take a loss lying down, the necromancer reached out and pulled the cult leader's cheeks wide to both sides.
After their bout of horsing around, Yaxiu retreated into a corner of the room with his back to them, waving a hand. "Nothing! It's nothing at all, just ignore me!"
You can't even hold back the laughter in your voice, you know that...? How could Igola and Harvey not realize something wonderful had happened to Yaxiu? But they were stuck in this psychiatric seclusion room without any way to contact the outside world, and they were even captives of the Four Pillar Cult. Just where could Yaxiu have stumbled across good fortune?
A breakthrough in his cultivation rank or faction? Summoned a new sorcery spirit?
Igola glanced at Harvey. Harvey checked his pockets for his cat grass cigarettes and Snow White candies, then shook his head. None of his smoke or sweets was missing; Yaxiu definitely wasn't high.
If you stumble into something good, fine, but you refuse to speak of it, can't stop laughing, and still insist on dragging us in to share your delight—is your joy meant for three people or something?
The Swindler and the necromancer exchanged a glance, each seeing helplessness and bewilderment in the other's eyes, yet the corners of their own mouths curled upward unconsciously.
After venting his excitement, Yaxiu finally managed to calm his racing heart.
He had pulled them!
He had actually pulled the outfits for Sword Princess and the Witch!
He could finally give them gifts for once! And there was something for everyone!
Just pulling these two outfits made the whole thing worthwhile!
Yaxiu took a deep breath, clutching his pounding chest, and looked over the other items he had just drawn.
First was the new white-tier item.
"Career Potion": When an operator manages their career and daily life, they will more readily burst with inspiration, showcase their talents, and enjoy life. Lasts seven days.
Unlike Energy Potions and Experience Potions, this newly introduced white-tier item could not be used for training activities. In other words, it had zero effect on an operator's combat strength, and might even have a negative impact. Pursuing a career and cultivating sorcery often ran counter to each other; when an operator devoted their attention to a career, they would inevitably slack off on their sorcery progress. It was just like work and video games—when you spent most of your day working, it was easy to suffer from gaming fatigue and lose all desire to play major titles.
In the past, when Yaxiu had been solely focused on exploiting his operators' combat potential, he definitely would have tossed the Career Potions into storage to rot. Neither Sword Princess nor the Witch was fond of cultivating to begin with: Sword Princess dreamed of being a screen maiden and song maiden, while the Witch simply had her sisters cultivate on her behalf. If he fed them these potions, their hearts would only wander further afield.
Yaxiu guessed that Career Potions were probably intended for operators who proclaimed, "I'm going to become the Sorcerer King," allowing those hyper-focused overachievers to squeeze out their potential even outside training activities.
Now, however, Yaxiu no longer thought that way.
Perhaps from listening to Sword Princess boast about her achievements all day, Yaxiu couldn't help but feel curious about her daily life. He wanted to watch the film where she played the second female lead, listen to the album she was preparing to release, and... Right, right now was the finals of the Meteor Calamity, wasn't it? He really wanted to sit in the audience and admire Sword Princess's dazzling, magnificent grace. Win or lose, Yaxiu would definitely stand up and applaud her.
Although the Witch rarely spoke of her real life, whenever she fell into danger and her hair grew dull and mottled, the ones who pulled her from fear were never him or Sword Princess, but the Witch's family. Sword Princess only had to ask, "Is someone waiting for you to come home?" and the Witch would instantly fill with courage, her hair regaining its vibrant, distinct strands.
Whether in the Void Realm or in their daily lives, they were fighting with all their might.
Besides, Sword Princess's Golden Blessing "Radiant Star" and the Witch's Golden Blessing "Rebellious" were both tied to their careers and lives. Giving them Career Potions would indirectly enhance their combat power.
Yet even without the Golden Blessings, Yaxiu still hoped to hear Sword Princess and the Witch boast more about their daily lives in the Void Realm. He hoped Sword Princess would become the radiant star she dreamed of being, and he hoped the Witch could act spoiled every day around the people she loved.
The bond between them seemed not only to let Yaxiu share their sorcery experience, but also to partake in their happiness.
As long as he saw the bright smiles on their faces, Yaxiu's heart felt warm.
There were eight Career Potions in total. Yaxiu refined them all using the "Alchemist's Refining Bottle." Failing once, he obtained three bottles of "High-Grade Career Potion."
"High-Grade Career Potion": When an operator manages their career and daily life, they will achieve the finest results in peak condition, faintly gaining the favor of destiny. Lasts seven days.
Next were the newly obtained purple-tier items.
"High-Grade Trial Card": Grants an operator a high-difficulty trial, yielding a massive amount of experience, slightly increasing operator bond, and making the operator more obedient to your commands. Each operator can only use this once per week.
"Aurora's Wicked In-Car Navigation System": A navigation system designed for the Aurora autonomous vehicle. It charts the optimal route based on the owner's chosen exploration objective, and automatically rams and kills any targets along the way that can be finished in a single strike.
"Lightless Sanctuary Potion": Instantly completes Sanctuary construction, or accelerates Sanctuary tuning progress. Note: A sorcerer who completes Sanctuary construction will automatically resist the Wind, Flower, Snow, and Moon Tuning Forbidden Rite, substantially weakening the spatial insights gained from the rite. Use with caution.
There wasn't much to say about the High-Grade Trial Card, though the line "making the operator more obedient to your commands" struck Yaxiu as rather odd. Did it beat the operator half to death until she learned to listen?
The navigation system was naturally exceptional. Even with Yaxiu's Void Realm map, its utility wasn't diminished in the slightest. After all, the location of the Flowing Gold River on the Time Continent wasn't fixed; Yaxiu had run into situations where he followed the map only to find the river blocking his path several times. On top of that, this navigation system was viciously wicked, automatically mowing down sorcerer projections, Fishcleaver Dragons, and other ordinary Void Realm creatures. It was truly an essential tool for bloodshed and mayhem.
The problem was that Yaxiu was no longer on the Time Continent.
There was obviously no place to drive a sports car in the Distant Sky Realm. This was just like buying the gaming console your parents forbade at age thirteen after landing a job at twenty-five—it was fantastic, but you had no use for it anymore.
The only purple-tier item truly worth noting was the "Lightless Sanctuary Potion."
Instantly completing Sanctuary construction would undoubtedly trigger a qualitative leap in combat power for Yaxiu and the others, and on their next foray into the Void Realm, they wouldn't need to endure the ordeal of the Wind, Flower, Snow, and Moon Tuning Forbidden Rite. Yet the problem lay right there as well: the rite was both a trial and a reward, through which all sorcerers rapidly advanced their spatial faction realm.
Completing Sanctuary construction early was equivalent to forfeiting that beginner gift pack.
From a long-term perspective, it seemed he shouldn't consume this potion. However, Yaxiu and his companions were different. Because of their bond, Yaxiu could acquire the sorcery experience of the other operators. In other words, even if he drank the Lightless Sanctuary Potion, it wouldn't matter—Sword Princess and the Witch would naturally pull up his spatial faction realm for him.
Even so, Yaxiu felt he didn't need this potion to construct a Sanctuary.
This wasn't arrogance. While he had taken the form of "Yayin," he had clashed with dozens of Sanctuary sorcerers in the rain, shattering more Sanctuary barriers than an ordinary person had broken glass windows. Furthermore, Yayin's omniscience and omnipotence had rapidly raised his spatial faction realm. Yaxiu faintly sensed that he was only a hair's breadth away from Sanctuary.
In that case, could these two potions be saved for Sword Princess and the Witch? At worst, he could feed them spatial orbs later to make up for it...
Yaxiu set the matter aside for the moment and turned his gaze toward the thrilling gold-tier items.
"Death Frenzy Sword Princess's Silver Coin" and "Black and White Witch's Magic Mirror Shard"! Yaxiu was one step closer to maxing out their duplicates and potential!
After using these two items, new changes appeared in the profiles of Sword Princess and the Witch—
"Death Frenzy Sword Princess"
"Human · Female · 18 years old"
"Bond Level: 4 (75% Experience Sharing)"
"Bond Resonance: Insatiable Greed: When journeying together, chance to obtain superior battle spoils."
"Bond Resonance: Steadfast Devotion: When journeying together, Sword Princess more easily obtains Experience Orbs."
"Black and White Witch"
"Human · Female · 19 years old"
"Bond Level: 4 (75% Experience Sharing)"
"Bond Resonance: Toying with Hearts: Even without relevant mind sorcery spirits, you and the Witch possess the supernatural ability to influence human hearts."
"Bond Resonance: Promise of the Future: Even without relevant fate sorcery spirits, you and the Witch possess the supernatural ability to influence destiny through promises."
Unbelievable. The initial Bond Resonances had all been villainous descriptors like "Insatiable Greed" and "Toying with Hearts," but now the secondary resonances had turned into positive phrases like "Steadfast Devotion" and "Promise of the Future." Was this the degradation of morals or the twist of human nature?
Still, "Steadfast Devotion" was quite good. Yielding more Experience Orbs was an absolute godsend for them, given how severely their faction realms lagged behind. Yaxiu also understood the origin of this resonance: it probably stemmed from Sword Princess's unyielding pursuit of glory, status, and her career.
"Promise of the Future," on the other hand, left him baffled. It sounded impressive enough, but how did it actually influence destiny? Did it mean that no matter what promise he made, the entire world would conspire to help him fulfill it?
Compared to that, Yaxiu only now realized that the Witch's Bond Level had quietly reached Level 4 as well, leaving him somewhat perplexed. Wait, hadn't Sword Princess been speaking ill of him to the Witch the entire time? Why was the Witch's favorability toward him rising so quickly, even reaching the exact same level as Sword Princess's?
Could he have misjudged Sword Princess? Or were the Witch's eyes simply discerning?
Next came a new item that struck Yaxiu as rather extraordinary—
"Aurora's Dream Vault": When you enter a Dream Bubble, you may draw three relics from the vault. Once you clear a designated number of Dream Bubbles, you may draw another relic from the vault. Relics take effect only within Dream Bubbles, cannot be carried over to the next expedition, and have no effect on reality.
The following is a partial list of relics:
"Prismatic Relic · Hand of Countless Splendors: Each effective attack restores 2% of maximum sorcery power."
"Golden Relic · All-Knowing Curtain: Within your field of vision, you may enhance or weaken any sorcery you understand (friend or foe alike), up to 50% enhancement or 100% weakening (the limit scales with your degree of understanding). Can only take effect on one sorcery at a time."
"Silver Relic · Blood Saint's Deathguard: For every unit slain (including but not limited to sorcerer projections, Void Realm creatures, and inhabitants of Dream Bubbles), gain 1 stack of a damage amplification blessing, lasting 30 seconds, up to a maximum of 10 stacks."
Dream Bubbles were a scene mechanic unique to the Distant Sky Realm, which meant this was an item specifically designed to aid in exploring that realm.
Back when they were ascending to the Distant Sky Realm, Yaxiu had already realized how different it was from the first two layers of the Void Realm. In the Sea of Knowledge and the Time Continent, sorcerers were still in a nascent state, so the "ten thousand miles of sea" and "ten thousand miles of road" served as exceptional tempering for them, allowing almost every sorcerer to transform into an independent seeker of truth. Someone like Yaxiu, who rode others' coattails, was practically a disgrace to sorcerers.
Once they reached the Distant Sky Realm, the "journey" could no longer exert any pressure on sorcerers, so the Void Realm generously opened spatial pathways for them, doing away with the pattern of "two hours of travel for five minutes of fighting." According to the law of conservation of pressure, Sanctuary sorcerers who no longer needed to spend effort on movement naturally had to face far more intense battles.
Yet this was the first time Yaxiu had seen an item that so blatantly amplified combat power. Even if it only applied within the Void Realm, it was exceptionally rare, fully deserving of its golden rarity.
Not to mention the staggering effects of these relics. The Hand of Countless Splendors, for instance, restored 2% of sorcery power with every attack... Sword Princess's Blood Blossom Water Moon unleashed far more than fifty slashes! If this relic could be equipped on her, she would have virtually infinite sorcery power!
It was just that the names of these relics sounded rather familiar—Countless Splendors, All-Knowing, Blood Saint... It almost felt as if the Sorcerer's Handbook, seeing how weak Yaxiu was, had raided the godheads' vaults in the dead of night to steal them.
And then came the third new operator—"Youlanweise"!
Chapter 524