The Aftereffects of Death

"Ugh..." Inside the quiet meditation chamber, Felix groaned. Clutching his belly with one arm and covering his nose with the other, bright red blood dripped uncontrollably through his fingers, cold sweat drenching his brow. His abdomen was filled with the sensation of death. It wasn't pain, but emptiness. It was as though a gap had suddenly opened between his upper and lower body. Even as he held his stomach, it felt like holding a slab of pork, entirely devoid of the physical sensation of touching his own flesh. These were the aftereffects of dying in the Void Realm—severe trauma to the soul, to the point of losing physical sensations in reality. With a faint, mournful wail, the ruby on Felix's necklace shattered into pieces, and a one-winged spirit composed of radiant light dissipated into the air. This was the artifact spirit Dragon's Belly Scale. Its effect was to transfer all lethal damage suffered in the Void Realm entirely to the abdomen, and it was the secret behind the Voslodar clan's enduring prosperity. When a sorcerer died in the Void Realm, the trauma of the fatal blow fed back into their soul, causing a loss of soul energy. An incomplete soul could not pass through the Gate of Truth. Therefore, until their soul energy recovered, sorcerers were naturally unable to enter the Void Realm. Furthermore, the soul was inextricably linked to the physical body. Regardless of which portion of soul energy was lost, it would inflict a temporary "soul disability" upon the sorcerer. Simply put, if the soul sustained damage to the chest, the heart would beat at an abnormally low rate for an extended period, preventing the sorcerer from engaging in any physical exertion; if the limbs of the soul were injured, the sorcerer would likely lose control over their hands and feet; and if the head of the soul were damaged, the sorcerer would fall directly into a coma. Only once soul energy was fully restored would bodily functions return to normal. Thus, the seemingly manageable goal of sailing ten thousand li across the Sea of Knowledge was, for many sorcerers, a horizon they could never reach. Not every sorcerer could cultivate full-time; life wasn't just about distant aspirations—one still had to contend with the immediate grinds of survival, and every death in the Void Realm inflicted immense losses. Though death was inevitable and soul trauma guaranteed, sorcerers had devised numerous methods to minimize their losses as much as possible. Such as directing the damage from every death to a relatively nonessential part of the body. Dragon's Belly Scale was a secret legacy miracle of the Voslodar clan. Clan sorcerers extracted the miracle's effect and infused it into gems through complex rituals to form temporary artifact spirits. When a clan sorcerer died in the Void Realm, the artifact spirit within the gem would activate, redirecting all lethal damage to the abdomen. Apart from a drastic reduction in gastrointestinal digestive capability requiring a few days on a liquid diet, the sorcerer paid almost no price. In addition, the Voslodar clan possessed another miracle called Dragon's Banquet, which accelerated the recovery of abdominal soul energy through eating, thereby shortening the cooldown before re-entering the Void Realm. With these two miracles, the Voslodar clan's sorcerers could reduce Void Realm death penalties to an absolute minimum and dramatically boost their exploration efficiency. This vastly increased their odds of producing Golden Two-Winged Sorcerers and Sanctuary Three-Winged Sorcerers, serving as the very foundation of the Voslodars' centuries of enduring prominence. The other ducal houses had similar means. A superior sorcerer development system was practically standard for any century-old noble house; otherwise, a single generational gap in talent could spell the downfall of a once-illustrious Starry aristocratic family. Before the Void Realm, all sorcerers were equal—yet some could secure more equality than others. However, minimizing the cost of death was the limit; unavoidable losses would still occur. Felix examined his internal sorcery spirits, and his vision immediately went dark, nearly making him faint. The Killing Intent Sword sorcery spirit was gone! When a sorcerer died in the Void Realm, there was a high probability of losing a sorcery spirit. Because sorcery spirits resided within the soul, when a portion of soul energy was lost to death, that portion might happen to contain a sorcery spirit, which was swept away and lost along with it. The more sorcery spirits one had, the higher the chance of losing them, and the greater the number lost! Even though Felix had mentally prepared himself for the possibility of losing a sorcery spirit, he never expected that his very first death would cost him his most important one—Killing Intent Sword! That was an heirloom left behind by his mother, one of the legendary Twenty-One Secret Sword Spirits! Sorcery spirits of that caliber were virtually impossible to buy. Even if one hit the market, an unfavored noble scion like Felix could never afford it! Moreover, he hadn't fully grasped the knowledge behind Killing Intent Sword, meaning he couldn't summon another one on his own! The only small consolation for Felix was that his Silver Wings were already half condensed, shaving off well over a year of cultivation time. He hadn't imagined that within just a few days of entering the Void Realm, he would actually encounter that natural wonder: a Vortex. No sorcerer would pass up such an opportunity, least of all an avenger hungry for power like Felix. Yet after stepping through the Vortex and traversing thousands of li, what appeared before his eyes was a juvenile-stage Fishcleaver Dragon! In the Knowledge Creature Compendium, the Fishcleaver Dragon was already ranked in the higher tiers of combat power—to say nothing of one in its juvenile stage! Knowledge creatures were categorized into stages: infant, juvenile, mature, and ultimate. In the outer waters of the Sea of Knowledge, basically only infant-stage creatures appeared; only in the inner waters did juvenile-stage creatures emerge, while the core waters held a chance of encountering mature-stage ones. As for the ultimate stage, they would never appear in the Sea of Knowledge. Knowing death was certain, Felix had pulled out every stop in a desperate, life-and-death struggle, hoping to kill the Fishcleaver Dragon first. In the end, however, with too few sorcery spirits and an insufficient arsenal, Felix only managed to severely wound the creature before dying in regret beneath its razor-sharp tail fin. "Lost Killing Intent Sword, but condensed half of my Silver Wings..." Felix sighed, unable to judge whether this was a net loss or gain. Sorcery power was undoubtedly vital to a sorcerer, but for his current predicament, Killing Intent Sword was a crucial lifeline—without its aid, he wouldn't have survived multiple assassination attempts. "Still, this way, I'll be able to inherit more of Mother's legacy." Felix's face darkened as he clenched his fists. "Just wait, Bessel. One day, I will make you kneel and apologize to Mother..." Because her body was weak and she hadn't moved all night, her chest felt constricted and her breathing ragged. Since she was the only one in the meditation chamber anyway, she unfastened her chest binder, letting her breasts spring free to breathe the open air, and she relaxed completely, resting against the wall for a long while. Half an hour later, Felix finished dressing, exited the Meditation Building, and stepped into the sunlight cast down by the radiant stars. Yet having just suffered his first death, Felix suddenly felt he had lost control of his lower body as he walked. Stumbling forward, he almost fell, hurriedly bracing himself with his sword bag. "Heh, why is Young Master Voslodar in such a foul mood first thing in the morning, taking his temper out on the pavement?" A hand reached out from behind to grasp Felix's shoulder, steadying him. Felix looked back and said calmly, "You seem to be in high spirits. Good harvest?" Looking completely refreshed, Sonia strolled past him and raised an eyebrow. "You could say that. You'll find out this afternoon in Professor Trozan's office." Small-minded and gloating over a little triumph. Though Sonia's swordsmanship talent was truly one in ten thousand, Felix had long seen through her character flaws: vain, insecure yet arrogant, possessing petty cleverness but lacking true wisdom... Without her swordsmanship talent, Sonia would be no different from the vulgar female sorcerers he had met before. And right now, she was at most a vulgar country bumpkin who happened to possess talent in swordsmanship. How thoroughly... enviable. Others might have thought Felix was a swordsmanship prodigy as well, but he knew full well that had it not been for the Mutual Affinity sorcery spirit left by his mother, he could never have trained Wave Stance to the point of summoning a sorcery spirit so quickly. He had paid no small price for it, too. At that time, lacking sorcery power to activate Mutual Affinity, he could only evoke the spirit's resonance by constantly changing girlfriends—leading to the disgraceful reputation he bore today, practically becoming the shame of the Voslodars. But now things were different. After passing through the Vortex, he had left Sonia far behind; she was no longer qualified to be his rival. His sights should be set on the Orange Dancer, Leonie, and those monsters at Truth University— "Hm?" Felix suddenly sensed a familiar current. He looked up and noticed quite a few students stealing glances at Sonia. The news of Leonie being "defeated" by Sonia had spread across all the sorcerer universities in Jialesi yesterday. Sonia had undeniably become the most sensational student of the hour, and she seemed to thoroughly relish the spotlight, putting on an airy, understated front as she leisurely walked away. Yet Felix sensed that Sonia appeared to be drawing a kind of energy from that attention—one he was intimately familiar with! Blindsight sorcery spirit, activate! Felix closed his eyes. In an instant, the visible world vanished, and within the pitch-black void, he saw wisp after wisp of blood-red smoke flowing toward Sonia's position! That was killing intent! And the passive effect of Killing Intent Sword was precisely absorbing the killing intent others directed at oneself! Though there were plenty of sorcery spirits capable of absorbing killing intent, Felix felt an inexplicable, absolute certainty that Sonia had just obtained a brand-new Killing Intent Sword! Could the Killing Intent Sword she acquired be the very one taken from me by the Fishcleaver Dragon? Felix dismissed the thought the moment it surfaced—how could there be such a coincidence? Besides, the place where Felix fought the Fishcleaver Dragon was near the Vortex. If it truly were that coincidental, wouldn't that mean Sonia had also traversed the Vortex? But before he died, he had clearly seen that the Vortex had shrunk to the point of near disappearance. Sonia had probably just gotten lucky and acquired a wild Killing Intent Sword. Felix grew so envious that hunger pangs hit him—this was one of the side effects of soul trauma; any emotional fluctuation fed straight back into his abdominal organs. A good mood brought a feeling of fullness, while a bad mood made him ravenously hungry. On top of that, he couldn't feast on heavy, greasy meals, or he would be left dealing with severe bowel obstruction and constipation. Once he calmed down, Felix considered whether there was any way to obtain the Killing Intent Sword in Sonia's hands. But he quickly shook his head. If he tried to seize it by force, Professor Trozan stood behind Sonia; if he tried to buy it, countless people wanted Killing Intent Sword, and he lacked the capital to compete. Yet Killing Intent Sword was critical to him. If there were no hope at all, he could let it go, but right before his eyes was a chance to recover his loss... Gritting his teeth, Felix opened his eyes and shouted after Sonia, who hadn't walked far: "Sonia!"