Rainbow Blessing

After concluding their exchange of sorcery spirits, the inventory of their gains arrived at its most thrilling moment. "Even though we fell asleep the moment we entered heaven..." Yaxiu opened Aurora's Sorcerer Handbook, "the Void Realm didn't shortchange us on our blessings." [Dead Frenzy Sword Princess] [Human Female · 18 years old] [Bond Level: 4 (75% Exp Sharing)] [Silver Blessing · Revelry / Tyranny: Each time an enemy is defeated, increases critical strike rate and critical strike damage. Different traits can be triggered depending on the operator's development path.] [Golden Blessing · Radiant Star / Moon Star: Each time a battle takes place, increases insight, willpower, and charisma. Different traits can be triggered depending on the operator's development path.] [Rainbow Blessing · Tranquility / Tumult: Each time a victory is achieved, enhances the sorcery technique of Sword Flash.] [Extra Blessing Trait · Tranquility: The Sword Princess wishes to guard a modest happiness, lead a quiet life, and become a doted-upon young girl. This path triggers the 'Tranquility' special effect, enhancing the trigger rate of Sword Flash. The more peaceful her daily life, the greater the enhancement, reaching up to a 100% trigger rate (capable of flash-countering any attack not exceeding her own limits).] [Extra Curse Trait · Tumult: The Sword Princess cannot endure a placid existence, craving a tempestuous life of adventure and becoming a partner entrusted with one's back. This path triggers the 'Tumult' special effect, raising the maximum cap on Sword Flash's power. The more perilous the adventurous life, the higher the cap, reaching up to Defying Divine Decree (capable of flash-countering divine miracles).] [Knowledge Curses: Vortex secret poison, Expulsion secret poison, Golden Fish secret poison, Bronze Dragon secret poison, Concept secret poison, Seven-Colored Tail secret poison, Faded Dream secret poison.] When Yaxiu finished reading the Sword Princess's new blessings and looked up, he found her already leaning close, staring at him with wide eyes. "What is it?" "I'm waiting for you to tell me what my blessings do," Sonia said as though it went without saying. "After all, you understand my blessings better than I do." Yaxiu blinked, feeling a touch of hesitation. "Do you know Sword Flash?" "Huh? How did you know I just mastered Sword Flash?" The Paw-Extending Sword Saint looked somewhat astonished. "That's an advanced technique only Sword Saints might master—without relying on any sorcery spirits, purely through the sword and sorcery power enhancement, one can dismantle any sorcery spirit miracle and even reflect the miracle's might back through their own swordsmanship. "I only managed to pull it off once not long ago, and I'm still a long way from mastering it. Unlike Professor Trozan, who can already easily flash-counter a portion of Two-Wing miracles... Your swordsmanship faction is close to the Sanctuary tier too, right? I can teach you!" *So that's how it is...* Yaxiu glanced back at the Sword Princess's Rainbow Blessing. Without question, the Tranquility path was vastly superior to the Tumult path. The former could reach a 100% flash-counter rate, whereas the latter, despite being able to counter divine miracles, was subject to probability. More importantly, having to flash-counter a divine miracle implied being attacked by an enemy at or above the demigod level. Once attacked by a demigod, what difference would countering one or two divine miracles make? Seen this way, the enhancements of the different paths were carefully designed. On the Tranquility path, the Sword Princess was unlikely to encounter major trouble, and any minor trouble could be resolved by Sword Flash alone. On the Tumult path, once she ran into trouble, it would be catastrophic; if she truly were attacked by a demigod, Sword Flash would merely afford her the leisure to raise a middle finger, allowing her optimistic attitude to be passed down to future generations through the Sorcerer Handbook. Whether in terms of cost-effectiveness or his own personal feelings, Yaxiu hoped the Sword Princess would take the Tranquility path. After all, she was already a legendary sorcerer standing at the peak of her life—just months ago, she hadn't dared to even dream of Sanctuary. What she needed to do next was not push past her limits, but safeguard this advantage and enjoy her life. To put it bluntly, even if she chose to loaf around like an idle parasite from now on, she would still be a legendary parasite standing atop the world. Yet Yaxiu could not help but wonder: did the Sword Princess truly crave a calm, luxurious life? If it were the Sword Princess from months ago, there would be no doubt about the answer, just as Yaxiu months ago would not have hesitated in the slightest. Now, however, they had scaled Ruby Mountain and inherited the Thousand Wishes Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed with countless strokes of fortune, even Yaxiu, who treated retirement as his ultimate goal in life, could not help wondering whether he ought to strive a little further—much like someone watching an investment fund surge and wanting to add more capital. Pushing for more and never feeling satisfied was human nature, and even more so a common flaw among sorcerers. While lost in thought, Yaxiu noticed the Sword Princess looking at him in confusion. For some reason, the words slipped out: "Sword Princess, I'm sorry." "Hmm?" Everyone—including the little fox spirit, who was still listening to the earth's wails—immediately turned to look at Yaxiu. Yaxiu was surprised by his own reaction, but since it had come to this, he no longer hid anything. "Actually, I've never told you the real blessings..." He truthfully relayed the details of the Silver, Golden, and Rainbow blessings to her. "Out of my own considerations, I only told you one path each time. Looking back now, what I did was indeed wrong." Weise said, "Watcher, you didn't mean to harm her. You were just helping her make better choices—" "It really was wrong." On this matter, Diya unexpectedly did not take Yaxiu's side, saying earnestly, "Watcher certainly bore no ill intent, but the choice should be left to the Sword Princess, rather than offering her only one path and concealing important information she ought to know." For the first dozen years of her life, Diya had lived in a state of ignorant deception, imprisoned within the high tower and knowing nothing. Had she not accidentally overheard the secret of Armored Sanctification and conceived the idea of escaping, she would already be Her Majesty Diyin by now. Because of this, she was exceedingly sensitive to concealment and utterly detested the notion of having someone else arrange another person's life. Even though Yaxiu had confessed on his own initiative and displayed a sincere attitude, she still felt a sliver of annoyance toward him—one that would take at least a few days to fade. Instead, the person involved, the Country Girl, fell into deep contemplation. After a moment, she asked, "The Tyranny path is similar to the Revelry path. You only told me about Revelry because..." "I didn't want you to be in a bad mood," Yaxiu said. "And I didn't want to explore alongside an unhappy companion." "But the Moon Star path is clearly stronger than Radiant Star," Sonia asked. "Why did you only tell me about Radiant Star? And wouldn't the Moon Star path have been more... beneficial to you?" "Because I thought it would be better for you," Yaxiu answered frankly. "You said you longed to shine brilliantly, to be admired by thousands, to be loved by everyone... Compared to being a moon star revolving around someone else, becoming a radiant star clearly allows you to realize your life's worth." "For my own good," Sonia narrowed her eyes slightly, "so you decided for me?" "I'm sorry," Yaxiu apologized with utmost sincerity. "Then why didn't you make the choice for me this time, and even brought up the past?" Sonia asked. "As long as you kept quiet, I would never have known." Yaxiu remained silent for a long while before slowly speaking. "I don't know either. "If I had to put it into words, perhaps it's because subconsciously, I felt obligated to protect you. "Not just you, but the Witch and Weise as well. I could conjure a boat upon the Sea of Knowledge, drive a sports car across the Time Continent, summon the Dream Treasury in the Distant Sky Realm, and bring all of you together... I was too important. Even if your combat strength surpassed mine, I still felt like your guardian. I organized you, led you, and had to protect you. "Choosing blessing paths for you was what I considered a form of protection." Weise gazed at Yaxiu, vaguely sensing that whatever came next might be something she did not want to hear, yet she still asked, "So your confession now means you've abandoned that idea of protection?" "Yes," Yaxiu said. "In the Dream Kingdom of Heaven, we couldn't communicate normally. We were separated to carry out different missions, facing the imminent threat of death... While I played an important role in that adventure, your achievements were no less significant than mine. That made me realize completely that whether in strength, willpower, or resolve, none of you are inferior to me—in fact, you far surpass me. In truth, you were already the ones protecting me. "Though it might sound arrogant to say it this way, it seems to be the only phrasing that accurately expresses how I feel," Yaxiu said. "You've earned my respect." The flow of the air shifted. Weise kept her head down, looking at the ground. She could sense a subtle change in the atmosphere of the team. Although their overall combat power would not increase because of this, everyone's feelings had transformed. Previously, the relationship between the Sword Princess, the Witch, and Yaxiu was largely half romance and half friendship, where trust was intertwined with reliance. Now, a sentiment distinct from both romance and friendship—one capable of connecting everyone and binding the team tightly into a single cord—was quietly taking root, destined to swiftly sprout and grow into a towering tree. That was also the very emotion Weise had always yearned for. It was a stirring she could never attain in reality. "I'll let it slide for now," Sonia crossed her arms over her chest. "If I catch you hiding anything from me next time... hmph." "Oh, right." Diya suddenly thought of something. "So which path is the Sword Princess on right now—Radiant Star?" The expressions on both Yaxiu and Sonia's faces instantly turned very strange.