Chapter 2132 Tracing the Shadows Again <TOC> Chapter 2134 Marisa's Influence
Translator: SumTLMan
“We are, after all, are merely souls of the dead, different from the living. The power of our souls, naturally imbued with the aura of death, grows within us.”
“Without a body to regulate it, and constantly in a cold, negative environment, an excess of soul power means the aura of death deeply roots and thrives in our soul bodies. In such cases, this Death Aura gradually starts to influence our subconscious.”
“The most obvious change is the control of emotions, which becomes significantly harder than before. While it doesn’t lead to complete emotional breakdown, it does make us prone to emotional responses when fixated on certain issues.”
At this point, Freud sighed: “Recently, a team from Fire Hill Academy, exploiting Alda’s kindness in the orphanage’s illusion trial, mocked him. Alda’s naturally gentle nature meant the Death Aura didn’t affect him much, so he wasn’t very angry. But Sunny… she was furious to the point of nearly losing control and killing them.”
“Fortunately, I noticed Sunny’s abnormal state in time and stopped her. Since Sunny was playing the role of a butcher in the illusion, and the guide from Fire Hill Academy didn’t realize the seriousness of the issue, no further problems arose.”
“But that’s not all. In a conversation with Nisi, I realized my emotions were also more agitated than usual. After careful study, I found it was due to the excessive soul power and the contamination of the Death Aura.”
“However, I was once a transcendent being with thorough knowledge of the soul, so I can suppress the Death Aura to some extent. But Sunny and Alda, they can’t.”
“After this incident, I’ve kept Sunny and Alda in the Wilderness of Dreams. Here, their consciousness isn’t affected by external Death Aura, allowing their emotions to fluctuate normally. However, they can’t live in the Wilderness of Dreams forever; they’ll need to leave someday.”
“If I continue to suppress the Death Aura without an outlet, it will eventually backfire on me. So, I urgently need to solve this problem.”
After listening to Freud, Angel understood his request.
——To solve the issue of the Death Aura.
Freud, in his lifetime, was an apprentice in the dream school and had not studied the soul school. Therefore, his only source of help now was Angel.
Angel naturally wouldn’t refuse Freud’s request. Freud had sworn an Oath of Luo to him, and as his proxy, he managed the Wilderness of Dreams well. For these reasons, Angel would help him.
However, Angel himself had not researched the issue of Death Aura on the soul.
After pondering for a moment, Angel whispered, “To solve the problem of the Death Aura, we still need the help of a specialist… I’ll ask Wizard Nisi for you. He is currently in the Wilderness of Dreams.”
A while later, the figure of a gray-haired old man appeared in the magical cottage.
“You made me return to reality and then re-enter just to bring me here?” Nisi looked around in confusion, then peered out the window: “Eh, Liana is here too?”
Realizing something, Nisi turned back to Angel in horror: “I get it, this is the New Cty’s address. Did Liana ask you to do this, wanting me to work for free?”
“No, no, no, Liana didn’t ask me to call you, and Lord Rhine has already decided to issue a mission for others to build the New City,” Angel quickly interjected.
Hearing this, Nisi’s figure gradually solidified from its ethereal state: “If it’s not Liana looking for me, then why did you call me here?”
Angel replied, “There are some matters I’d like to consult you on.”
“Consult with me? Is it about the soul?” Seeing Angel nod, Nisi walked over and sat on the sofa: “Alright, for the sake of the login device, I’ll help you for free this time.”
Angel didn’t waste words and directly spoke about Freud’s situation.
Nisi, aware of the relationship between Freud, Angel, and the Wilderness of Dreams, didn’t treat him as an outsider, saying: “Death Aura is inevitably present in souls, and when it’s too abundant, it can lead to abnormal behavior. Although it’s not as extreme as negative emotions, it can still cause a fall into becoming a ghost. Thus, if one wishes to remain conscious, it’s indeed necessary to quickly resolve the Death Aura issue.”
“Speaking of solutions, it’s actually not that difficult.”
“Considering Freud’s situation, I have three methods,” Nisi said, raising his index finger: “First, the simplest method is to deplete the soul power.”
“Because the emotional amplification caused by Freud, along with Sunny and Alda, isn’t due to years of Death Aura contamination, but rather due to an overflow of soul power, depleting this power should essentially lead to recovery.”
“However, there are drawbacks to this method. Firstly, depleting soul power significantly reduces one’s strength, and without strength, you know the consequences; secondly, this method is only suitable for your current state. Over time, more Death Aura will accumulate in your soul, unrelated to soul power. Even if you deplete the soul power then, it will still affect your consciousness.”
In short, Nisi’s first method, while simplest, is a temporary solution, not addressing the root cause.
Nisi: “The second method is to stay in a place without Death Aura. For example, set up a magic formation that eliminates Death Aura. My Soul Valley has such a formation, and as long as it’s active, those souls won’t be contaminated with external Death Aura.”
Angel shook his head at this method, realizing it wasn’t a permanent solution. While it could temporarily solve the Death Aura issue, it essentially meant losing freedom.
Nisi, seeing Angel’s expression, understood his thoughts and raised three fingers: “The third method can fundamentally and completely solve Freud’s problem.”
Angel’s eyes lit up: “What method?”
Nisi didn’t hold back and slowly explained: “Death Aura is a very unique existence; it’s not necessarily useless to oneself. It even has some peculiar effects. If you can use it, it can even become a means to enhance yourself.”
“Lord Nisi, what is this method called?” Freud couldn’t hold back any longer. The first two methods, although good, had their limits. If there’s a way to completely solve the issue and even use it to one’s advantage, how could Freud not be tempted?
Nisi: “This method, we soul wizards call it——Soul Trickery.”
“Soul Trickery combines soul power with Death Aura, encompassing multiple abilities like possession, Soul Deception, Death Aura Materialization, Soul Interference, Soul Corruption… etc. It’s like magic tricks, adaptable to many environments, but its effects and strength far surpass those of simple tricks.”
Hearing Nisi’s description of Soul Trickery, Angel’s first reaction wasn’t about the strength of Soul Trickery but the effects mentioned by Nisi… Angel found them familiar.
Previously, in the forest outside Black Castle, Angel encountered ghosts with illusion-like abilities, some reckless ghosts attempting possession, and some unrotted corpses suddenly vomiting a lot of hair… Aren’t these abilities part of Soul Trickery, like Possession, Deception, and Death Aura Materialization?
But aren’t these ghost abilities?
Angel voiced his doubts, and Nisi smiled: “You’re right, some of the techniques in Soul Trickery are used by long-existing ghosts. This ability is learned from ghosts.”
“Ghosts, having enough Death Aura and with the passage of time, will exhibit similar effects even without teaching, due to the sheer wastefulness of Death Aura, just focusing on different effects.”
“Soul Trickery, on the other hand, is a set of abilities summarized by soul system predecessors from ghosts. Therefore, compared to the abilities of ghosts, it’s more comprehensive and stronger.”
Angel suddenly realized, no wonder the abilities of ghosts are so similar to Soul Trickery; they are fundamentally of the same origin.
However, this raised another question in Angel’s mind: “Do you mean this is the ability of a soul wizard? Can Freud learn it?”
Nisi: “Although this is an ability integrated by the predecessors of the soul school, it is not a spell and doesn’t require a mental model. Therefore, as long as it is a soul and has a certain amount of Death Aura, it can be learned.”
“You know how to use it too?”
Nisi nodded naturally: “Of course, soul wizards originally have the ability to store Death Aura in the Land of the Soul. So, I naturally know Soul Trickery… But after all, I am still a living person, and it’s definitely not as smooth as it would be for a soul to use it.”
Hearing this, Angel was inclined to let Freud learn this Soul Trickery. However, Nisi had so far only mentioned the good aspects of Soul Trickery. If it was so easy to learn, he wouldn’t have listed it as the third method.
Angel: “Are there any restrictions or dangers in learning Soul Trickery?”
Nisi: “There are indeed dangers for living people to learn Soul Trickery. But for souls, the danger is small, at worst they just fall into being ghosts…”
“Learning this ability might lead to becoming a ghost?” Angel was stunned for a moment.
Nisi nodded: “Yes, after all, learning Soul Trickery requires a long time in an environment of Death Aura, to sense it, merge with it, understand it, and finally control it. During this process, a large amount of Death Aura entering the soul body could possibly lead to falling.”
“Is there a way to avoid falling?”
“Yes, as long as a wizard is watching and stops them immediately once they can’t hold on, they can largely avoid falling.” Nisi said this with a slight sense of emotion: “Speaking of which, when I was practicing Soul Trickery, my mentor was also there to protect me.”
After emphasizing a few points to pay attention to, Nisi let Angel send him back to Initial Heart City.
As he left, Nisi said: “If you decide to let him learn Soul Trickery, you can come to find me, or go to High Cloud Library to find the methods of practicing Soul Trickery. However, the books about Soul Trickery in High Cloud Library are very expensive; I suggest you come to me, I’m much cheaper.”
Angel just smiled without saying a word. Lord Rhine had already given him unrestricted resource support. Although this “unrestricted” was not truly without limits, but relatively speaking, using this opportunity to go to High Cloud Library to get some books was absolutely no problem.
After sending Nisi off, Angel returned to the magical cottage and looked at the silent Freud.
Freud was frowning, his expression somewhat hesitant.
“What are you struggling with? Struggling with which method to choose?” Angel: “Isn’t it obvious, it must be learning Soul Trickery. Although it sounds difficult, even if you really fall into being a ghost, don’t forget I still have the Prelude of Reincarnation, and it’s no problem to bring you back.”
Freud hesitated for a while: “But I remember that you are currently in retreat. Choosing Soul Trickery now seems inappropriate… I personally prefer to use the first method first, consuming the power of the soul, and when you are done with your self reflection and have time, I will then practice Soul Trickery.”
Angel: “What Nisi said about consuming the power of the soul is not just about consuming the current power of the soul, but also means cutting off a certain limit of the soul power’s endurance. It’s a pity to consume it after you’ve just raised the limit to saturation.”
Angel paused: “Moreover, it’s the same wherever I cultivate. I’m not far from your place now, I can just open a planar passage and I’ll be there. In fact, let Tulas also practice Soul Trickery at that time.”
Angel’s tone was very determined, he still planned to go to Freud’s place to support them in practicing Soul Trickery.
This choice was not made rashly by him.
Originally, he had not planned to leave the Savage Grottoes during this period. However, Freud’s matter was a starting point, and coupled with earlier information from Sanders about the appearance of Bud followers from the outer domains near Sky Mechanical City, he decided to temporarily avoid the area. Although there had been no sightings near the Savage Grottoes, it was better to be cautious.
Another reason was that, not long ago, he saw the name of the Magic Painter Wizard in the —Culuoli Chronicles—, which reminded him of the map of the Tidal Realm drawn by the Magic Painter Wizard.
If nothing unexpected happened, the Tidal Realm should be located in the Old Land Continent.
His visit to Freud this time could also be an opportunity to return to the Old Land Continent and explore the Tidal Realm. According to the map, there should be many elemental creatures there, and he was in need of finding an elemental creature that matched him.
Hearing Angel say this, Freud no longer insisted and thanked him: “Then… thank you very much, my lord.”
Angel replied, “I will leave in a few days. You, in the meantime, go back to Initial Heart City for me and keep an eye on Leon. If he comes in, tell him I’m planning to return to the Old Land Continent and ask if he wants to come along.”
Freud nodded in agreement: “Okay.”
After giving these instructions, Angel took Freud back to Initial Heart City. Freud went to Azure Tower to handle affairs while keeping an eye on Leon, and Angel prepared to seek out Lord Rhine.
Chapter 2132 Tracing the Shadows Again <TOC> Chapter 2134 Marisa's Influence