Prismatic Collectible

"A sorcerer who has only newly constructed their Sanctuary can get through about two dream bubbles a night. Even a veteran Sanctuary sorcerer like me, who has mastered an upper Radiant Chromatic miracle, can cross at most ten dream bubbles in one night—usually six." "Eh? Why? Sister Trozan, you're so amazing and can stay in the Void Realm for at least five hours. Doesn't that mean it takes half an hour just to pass one dream bubble?" "Yes. Battles in dream bubbles are unlike any battle you have ever experienced before. Even though I have a Sanctuary and the Blade of the Hidden Hand, I still have to spend over thirty minutes gathering intelligence. If a bubble is exceptionally dangerous, I might even skip it entirely and move on to the next dream." "What makes a bubble dangerous?" "Any bubble where you cannot find clues to the affixes is dangerous." * Even though she knew all too well that "every warning a sorcerer gives is the sum of countless deaths," Sonia had still underestimated the enemy. When they failed to find any affix clues for the sixth bubble, she still agreed with the Witch and the others on their idea of "breaking all techniques with a single sword slash." In truth, it was hardly surprising. After all, they had cleared the first five bubbles with ease; regardless of whether they had clues, after ten or so minutes they would immediately start demolishing things to trigger a fight. Moreover, the first five bubbles each possessed only a single affix: "Froth" (extremely easy to slip and fall), "Resonance" (doubling all sorcery spirit effects), and "Megalophobia" (all attributes growing exponentially with body size). Although tricky, under the protection of their Sanctuaries, Yaxiu and the others were still able to quickly grasp the general nature of the affixes, even guessing their true meaning ahead of time to skip the fight. Indeed, as long as one could deduce every affix, one could clear a dream bubble without needing to fight to the end. Overall, while dream bubbles were difficult, they still fell within a manageable scope. Furthermore, after passing the fourth bubble, Yaxiu had drawn a fourth collectible from the Dream Vault—and it was a prismatic collectible, no less! "Prismatic Collectible: Inspiration Spectacles: The wearer receives 50% additional damage. All units within the wearer's line of sight have a chance to trigger a 'Flash of Inspiration' during battle. The unit's wisdom surges instantly, and one of three rewards will trigger: faction experience (90%), summoning a new sorcery spirit (9%), or inventing a new miracle (1%). Each time a unit triggers this successfully, the wearer also triggers a 'Flash of Inspiration.'" This prismatic collectible had zero impact on their current combat power, yet Yaxiu and the others wished they could keep it permanently—it was practically a divine artifact for farming experience! Sorcery spirits and miracles aside, the biggest weakness of these stowaways was faction experience, yet faction experience was precisely the hardest to increase. Yaxiu could at least share everyone's experience through bonds, and Diya could occasionally have bursts of inspiration courtesy of the Gospel god, but Sonia had no such shortcut; she could only rely on her own talent alongside Yaxiu's forced-growth boosts. However, because of the negative effect of 50% amplified damage taken, neither the Witch nor the Sword Princess could wear them. It had to be chosen between the backline members, Yaxiu and Weise. But for Yaxiu to wear them would be a waste—due to bond experience sharing, from the perspective of the whole party, Yaxiu wearing them provided 100% yield, whereas Weise wearing them provided 130% yield. Weise gladly accepted the collectible, promising that all three of them would definitely remain within her field of view. And indeed, it proved true. In the battle of the fifth bubble, all three in Yaxiu's group triggered a Flash of Inspiration; the fiercely fighting Sword Princess and Witch even triggered it three times. To that end, they had even slowed their combat pace, thoroughly savoring their time pummeling the Blast-Scaled Ragecleaver Dragon, until the beast, unable to bear the humiliation, self-destructed and cut short their abuse. Everyone realized that their goal for tonight's Void Realm exploration had changed: it was no longer merely to cross dream bubbles, but to fight as much as possible. Thus, when Yaxiu said, "The combat difficulty of the next dream bubble might be a bit high," no one felt fear—only greed. According to the description of the Inspiration Spectacles, the harder the battle, the higher the probability of triggering a Flash of Inspiration. The sixth bubble was a space resembling an underground metropolis. After spending ten-odd minutes testing for affixes to no avail, they resolutely sparked a battle. And then, they finally experienced the true difficulty of the Void Realm. *Crack.* As Yaxiu fled to a rooftop, the orc Sanctuary sorcerer behind him suddenly let out a sinister cackle and pointed toward him. Though nothing seemed to happen on the surface, the space indicated by that fingertip had already torn open! Meanwhile, the Gloom-Haze Dragon in the sky gave a chilling, low growl, its pupils—resembling huge frog eyes—locking onto Yaxiu. Countless dark, self-destructive impulses instantly welled up in Yaxiu's mind, so overwhelmingly that he failed to raise his Sanctuary in time, leaving himself completely at their mercy! Sonia and Diya immediately rushed over to block the blow, and Weise also activated the miracle 'Nothing Happened' to snap Yaxiu out of his mind-controlled state! Though they had scraped past this combined assault by the skin of their teeth, not a trace of joy appeared on Yaxiu's face—this was already not the first time he had been saved. Looking back at the Void Realm creatures pursuing them, he sighed and said, "To think that on our very first night exploring the Distant Sky Realm, we're going to fall halfway to our grave." "This is disgusting!" Diya complained. "We can only take hits without hitting back! What kind of battle is this?!" As soon as the fight started, the sorcerers had quickly discovered a problem: their attacks automatically reflected! Any attack unleashed would immediately reflect back upon oneself! But no matter—the Witch had 'Witness', and the Sword Princess had the 'Blade of the Hidden Hand', both attacks capable of bypassing distance. Surely those could hurt the enemy, right? Then the sorcerers discovered that the Void Realm creature, the Gloom-Haze Dragon, and the orc sorcerer here were completely invincible! They were immune to all damage, and the attacks from the Witch and the Sword Princess still reflected back onto themselves! Not only that, the attacks of the orc sorcerer and the Gloom-Haze Dragon actually took effect! For the first time in a long while, Yaxiu even heard the Sword Princess curse 'little trumpet'. How were they supposed to fight this? If the enemies were merely invincible, they could demolish the terrain to create deep pits and restrict the enemies' movement. If attacks were merely reflected, then everyone's attacks would reflect; they could just chalk it up to bad luck and call an end to tonight's exploration. After all, once combat broke out in a bubble, all spatial gates ceased functioning, and sorcerers could not leave the bubble until the battle ended. Therefore, sorcerers either didn't start a fight, or they had to kill the other side or be killed. Yet now the enemies were invincible, Yaxiu and company had their attacks reflected, while the enemies' attacks were not reflected. Even the most shameless sadomasochistic author wouldn't dare use such an outrageous setup! Any solo sorcerer would have been insta-killed by this combination from the orc sorcerer and Gloom-Haze Dragon long ago. Fortunately, they were fighting as a team and could still manage to patch each other up. Even so, Yaxiu and his companions had all taken severe wounds; if the enemy caught another opening, they would likely all perish. Yaxiu and the others understood the importance of a Sanctuary more and more: a Sanctuary not only allowed them to pass through spatial gates, but more importantly, it granted them a margin of error against first-encounter lethal mechanics! No wonder a Sanctuary was said to be a necessity in the Distant Sky Realm: without Sanctuary protection, sorcerers wouldn't even have reaction time, being instantly slain by enemies empowered by various world affixes! As they sprinted for their lives through the underground metropolis, Sonia swung backward without warning, silently activating the 'Blade of the Hidden Hand'. Yet the orc sorcerer behind them doubled over with laughter, whereas her own Sanctuary was automatically triggered, absorbing the reflected strike. Seizing this opportunity, the Gloom-Haze Dragon locked its gaze onto her. Sonia froze on the spot, and Yaxiu scooped her up directly into his arms and bolted. Without needing Weise's treatment, Yaxiu cast the miracle 'Severing Self' on her, and Sonia instantly snapped out of it. Fortunately, both Yaxiu and Weise possessed miracles to cleanse abnormal statuses; otherwise, their entire party would have been wiped out long ago. Once she regained her senses, the country girl remained unwilling to concede. She activated the 'Blade of the Hidden Hand' twice more, only for Yaxiu's Sanctuary to take two reflected hits, while she herself became thoroughly exhausted from draining her sorcery power and could only cling limply to Yaxiu. "There's no other way," Yaxiu said. "Let's carry out the ultimate plan." "No!" the Witch and the Sword Princess refused in unison. The so-called ultimate plan was suicide. Ending things with one's own hands would result in far less soul damage, after all. Yet however light the damage, for a Sanctuary sorcerer it would still require at least ten days to a half-month of recuperation. How could Sonia and Diya possibly be willing? "As long as we figure out the affixes, we can clear this bubble!" Sonia bit her fingernail and said. "Let's find a way from there!" Diya asked, "Sword Princess, have you recovered yet?" Yaxiu: "There are at least two affixes here. The first affix is attack reflection, and the second affix is invincibility." Weise: "Furthermore, not all attacks are reflected, nor is everyone invincible. Both attack reflection and invincibility have triggering conditions." Sonia: "What exactly is different between them and us?" Diya grew a little anxious. "Sword Princess, if you've recovered, walk on your own! The Watcher's hands are full holding you." "No rush. I need to observe how they trigger the affixes." "Then let me—" Suddenly, the orc sorcerer let out another wicked cackle and pointed toward Diya. Space showed no visible motion, yet it was already tearing inch by inch. The Gloom-Haze Dragon also gave a low roar, glaring at Diya and unleashing a mental shock. Yet nothing happened. Diya, who was running away, naturally evaded the entire combo without even noticing she was being attacked. "Eh?" Yaxiu and Weise were slightly startled, and then both of them triggered a 'Flash of Inspiration' at the exact same moment. "I get it," Yaxiu said. "The trigger for invincibility is 'theatrics'. As long as one makes oneself appear dramatic through words and actions, invincibility is triggered." "Attack reflection is tied to the attack itself," Weise said. "Any attack with tangible form triggers reflection, whereas mental shocks and spatial attacks do not reflect. Sword Princess, your spatial attack produced a faint shadow, which is why it triggered this affix." The moment their words fell, two streams of information flowed into their minds: "The Play Begins: The stage is sacred, and the actors upon it are divine and holy! All actors ignore all damage." "Affix Identification Reward: Small amount of destiny faction experience, small amount of sorcery power." "Limited Affix Privilege: You may actively trigger The Play Begins once, lasting 5 seconds." / "Civilized Audience: No throwing things at the actors! All tangible attacks will be reflected back at the attacker, and all intangible attacks cannot be blocked." "Affix Identification Reward: Small amount of destiny faction experience, small amount of sorcery power." "Limited Affix Privilege: The next attack aimed at you will be reflected back to the attacker." The group paused. Seeing that the bubble had not frozen into stasis, they realized there was still a third affix. "It's fine," Yaxiu said. "As long as we enter 'The Play Begins' state, we can become immune to damage, and then we can find a way to exit the Void Realm—" "No need." Weise said, "Since intangible attacks work, this bubble can be cleared." "But your space faction—" "Intangible attacks aren't limited to the space faction." "They are currently in The Play Begins state—" "Then let's take them out of their acting state." Weise suddenly halted. The 'Thousand Mechanisms' sorcery spirit within her soul transformed into a brand-new sound sorcery spirit—'Soundwave'! Using 'Illusion' and 'Soundwave' as the primary sorcery spirits, she composed a new miracle: 'Silent Tremor'! As the inaudible, intangible soundwaves swept past, the building beneath the orc sorcerer collapsed directly. Unable to maintain his sinister cackle, he plummeted down and was pulverized by the soundwaves. Then Weise shifted Thousand Mechanisms into a wind sorcery spirit, 'Gale', blowing dust high into the sky to blind the Gloom-Haze Dragon. The moment the Gloom-Haze Dragon showed confusion and broke off its low growl, the gale swept away its body like autumn leaves. In a matter of breaths, the ferocious enemies that had pursued them for over half an hour were wiped out! The sorcerers stared blankly at the scene. Diya was the first to snap back to her senses, hurriedly pulling the Sword Princess down from the Watcher's embrace.