Chapter 1660 The Long Journey of Day and Night <TOC> Chapter 1662 Distress Signal
Translator: SumTLMan
During the day, he served as a consoling priest in the theological school, lending a sympathetic ear to the sorrows of the faithful. Yet, as night descended, he would metamorphose into a malevolent executioner.
At least four to five individuals would fall victim to his clandestine verdict each year. By the time he penned the novel —The Long Journey of Day and Night—, he had dispatched over a hundred souls.
When writing this novel, he did not perceive his actions as erroneous.
Those he dispatched were the very devotees who sought his consolation, uttering tales of the most nefarious of villains.
By day, he listened intently to the misfortunes of his congregation; by night, he donned the mantle of the executioner, delivering judgment on their behalf. This dual existence meant that no parishioner ever reported him, allowing him to lead a serene life till its very end. In the eyes of the faithful, the author was their savior.
Were it not for this book, the realities of the departed souls would remain shrouded in mystery. He penned this account as he felt the sands of time dwindling, hoping to reminisce about life and inform the world that, despite his dual nature — contrasting as day and night — he reveled in his nocturnal escapades, making him cherish the beauty of the day even more.
“Only by indulging in the depths of darkness and depravity can one truly savor the beauty of the light?” Upon hearing Angel’s recount, Farina seemed to have an epiphany. “Onassis mentioned something similar. Could he have seen himself as the protagonist of this tale?”
Angel mused, “Perhaps.”
“If that’s indeed the case, the transformations observed in his physique might indeed echo that of the protagonist in —The Long Journey of Day and Night—, a manifestation of a split personality,” realized Farina. If it’s a case of dual personalities, it does provide a plausible explanation.
Other judges present had been keenly following the exchange between Farina and Angel. Hearing this, one murmured, “I’ve heard that individuals with split personalities often possess a secondary persona starkly contrasting their primary. The primary personality, burdened by the many suppressions of reality, gives birth to the secondary in its shadow, an uninhibited reflection, resulting in extreme character traits.”
“It sounds like a decent idea. On the path of a wizard, self-repression is inherently an obstacle blocking progress, yet one can’t avoid repressing their emotions and desires. If one had an alternate personality, it might easily overcome this challenge,” one voice observed.
Another responded skeptically, “That being said, who’s to say an alternate personality would heed your commands? Besides, cases of dual personalities are rare.”
Angel, having overheard the conversation, was tempted to tell them that there’s actually a Mysterious Object in the world that can induce a dual personality.
For example, Frost’s “Dark Sonata.”
However, he held back, thinking that Frost’s affairs were confidential, and such Mysterious Objects are beyond the grasp of ordinary wizards. There was no need to reveal such information.
“If Onassis truly has a dual personality, his actions might be explained. But where does his power come from? It feels as though his strength has multiplied many times over since we first met him. It can’t be that a mere personality change would bring about such a surge in power, can it?” someone queried.
Many echoed this sentiment, pondering the source of Onassis’ newfound might. His power level was nearly approaching that of a formal wizard. Could a change in personality really alter one’s strength?
As the murmurs of debate grew louder, the skull on the far right of Hydra opened its eyes.
This was the first time it had done so, and the sensation was distinct from when the central skull looked on. When this skull peered out, there was an uncanny feeling of being wholly perceived — as if one’s deepest secrets were laid bare for all to see.
This feeling of stark vulnerability was profoundly unsettling.
A collective sense of caution reflected in everyone’s eyes.
To the right skull of Hydra, everyone appeared as open books — their secrets transparent. Only a few, the formal wizards who employed special protective spells, remained slightly obscured. Among them, the most exceptional was… Angel.
Angel did not employ any spells, but Hydra still couldn’t get a clear view of him. It seemed as if he was enveloped by a green rune, warding him from view. Every attempt at scrutiny was kept at bay by this green rune.
Hydra felt a tinge of regret; he had initially intended to use his Right Eye to discern Angel’s true nature, but the surprise observation failed. However, the disappointment was fleeting. While he was somewhat intrigued by Angel, it was merely out of curiosity and not an absolute necessity to investigate further.
Hydra slowly shifted his gaze back, and noticing the puzzled expressions around, he elucidated, “My Right Eye can trace energy patterns.”
“The matter you all are debating, I can address it through my Right Eye,” Hydra shared, explaining his reason for activating his Right Eye. Though some felt affronted, given Hydra’s realm and position, no one dared to voice their reservations.
“The source of the power you all dispute about in Onassis, the answer is simple: it’s innate to him. He’s always possessed this power, but it wasn’t evident at first,” Hydra said, extending his scaly hand to point at his Right Eye, “My eye told me so.”
“So, you mean he was concealing his strength initially?” Farina inquired.
“Perhaps he was hiding his power, or maybe this power can only be manifested by another personality within him. Regardless, there’s certainly such a force within him, but even now, I haven’t discerned its origin,” a curious glint flashed in Hydra’s vertical pupils.
Everyone then realized why Hydra was so engrossed in Onassis’s competition; this might be the reason.
Having understood Hydra’s exposition, someone exclaimed, “In that case, Onassis’s championship is truly well-deserved.”
“The younger generation of this era is truly extraordinary, each one more outstanding than the last,” the speaker remarked. Though he seemed to be talking about Onassis, he couldn’t help but steal a glance at Angel.
“I am now eager to know what demands he, the champion, would make.”
This Novastar Competition, while ostensibly held to select a Supernova, is, in reality, a remedy for the damage done to the reputation of Sky Mechanical City by the earlier Purification Garden. Hence, the Rewards for the Novastar Competition are incredibly lavish. Even those who just qualify for the competition have a chance to enter the “Endless Corridor.” Naturally, the rewards for the champion of this competition are unparalleled.
Beyond gaining access to the Endless Corridor, Onassis would also reap other abundant rewards, such as the chance to raid the resource vault of Infinite Battle Tower and select its treasures. Though it might be a far cry from the Magic Material Library of the Research Institute, it’s still a significant bounty for an apprentice.
Furthermore, he gets the privilege of a custom alchemy session and the chance to make a request to the event organizers.
While there are no set boundaries for this request, it’s a one-time offer. Of course, if the request is too outrageous, Infinite Battle Tower would surely decline, and the chance would be forfeited. Hence, competitors would naturally weigh their demands cautiously.
Having already clinched the championship, everyone is anticipating: what request will Onassis make to the organizers?
Chapter 1660 The Long Journey of Day and Night <TOC> Chapter 1662 Distress Signal
I’ve been thinking about Onassis’ power.
It is targeted at one being, but the changes it brings in oneself are not limited to the target in impact. The conveyance of information as the medium and the impact to consciousness most experience makes the power resemble a specialized form of heart illusion, but the only case of illusion truly manifesting into reality that we’ve seen has been through nightmare physiques and nightmare domains. Onassis probably doesn’t have a connection to the nightmare plane, but he might have a link to another special reflection of reality: something resembling the platonic realm of ideals where ideas make up the basis of law. He probably has a special physique that allows his body to act similarly to nightmare domains, governed by a mixture of both plane’s laws.
The targeted nature of the ability is interesting because I suspect the main target is automatically brought in to the mixed-law space, which is more complicated than something that solely impacts oneself. The nature is literally a philosophy debate where Onassis decides the arena but both parties are otherwise probably on even footing based on their understanding of the source material. When engaged, the philosopher scholar almost managed to copy Onassis into an immaterial state. On the other hand, Trom was able to resist being pulled into the clash of ideas and contended solely in the material realm. Other than his power, Trom likely lacks any troublesome obsessions or heart demons for Onassis to target.
Even if I were right about the Ideal plane/subplane, the most basic use of such a power would to channel a more basic ideal to emulate its properties. Saying steel to become as steel or water to become as water. Onassis has a much more complex usage. He uses passages from well known pieces of literature to summon the idea of the entire work of literature, the passage merely being the lens it is viewed from. A sort of hyperlink, where a small snippet of information connects to a much larger body of information. It’s probably important that it’s a well known piece of literature. A powerful work that was never published probably can’t be linked to in this way, because the link between people and the plane of ideals should be its place in the collective consciousness. If I’m at all right in my guesses, then Onassis went very far to turn his dream of using philosophy as power into reality, to the extent that he may reach the realm of truth immediately upon his ascension. Or he’s just hosting a mysterious object, I guess. But yeah. The foundation is a rare physique and a variant of heart illusion, the source is an unknown or little known plane similar to the world of dreams but based on ideas instead of fantasy, and the medium is some sort of Akashic library type entity that records the ideas of our collective consciousness, which only sounds believable without specific hints due to the nature of the world’s will, and the information he accesses being classified as mere mundane knowledge.
The novel has referenced before the concept of a personality of perfect darkness being able to control a much larger amount of power than a normal consciousness. That’s probably all that’s behind his induced dark personality being able to control so much more power, but it doesn’t answer where that power came from in the first place. The first possibility is that he mirrors Angel more than expected and is connected to a powerful being like Shava, but I’m not a huge fan of that. I prefer the idea that he’s a filthy cheater that can strengthen the power of the idea he invokes for every additional person the information he conveys reaches, although the target is still special in some way. He turned the colosseum into his personal public forum to field his debates. Without an audience, his maximum power output would be much lower. It’s also possible that the idea realm is strengthened even more in proportion to the strength of the audience.
So yeah. That is my best guess right now, but it’s up in the air enough that I would be very surprised to even be mostly right.