Chapter 2159 Qwest World <TOC> Chapter 2161 Lady Sheila’s Second Special Ability
Translator: SumTLMan
Upon returning to reality, Angel’s first action was to take out the Dream Conch again, dragging the symbols on the ground back into the dream, positioning them before Nisi.
Watching Angel complete this, Freud, with a puzzled expression, asked, “Lord, why use the Dream Conch again?”
Angel replied impatiently, “The previous one was ruined by Nisi’s experiments.”
Seeing Freud’s continued confusion, Angel decided to start from the beginning, retelling his conversation in Ocean Theatre with Nisi and Iron Armor Granny.
After listening to the whole story, Freud was stunned for a long time before murmuring, “So, the Death Aura here comes from Qwest World.”
“What? You know about Qwest World?”
Freud nodded: “A soul wizard once took on a Guide Mission and brought a group of talented people to the orphanage for trials. He mentioned that all wandering souls ultimately end up in Qwest World.”
“The ultimate destination of souls,” Angel repeated softly.
“Yes, for souls, it’s a haven for wanderers, a silent land for the unwilling, and the final destination for all souls,” Freud said. “As long as one exists in a soul form, whether a ghost or a common departed soul, they may eventually head to that place.”
“So, you’re saying, without interference, you, Alda, and Sunny will eventually go to Qwest World?”
Freud nodded again.
“How exactly do souls reach Qwest World?”
Freud explained, “It’s hard to say. According to that soul wizard, Qwest World can be seen as a higher-dimensional existence or a flowing band of light. When this light intersects with the Southern Region, souls there might just turn a corner and find themselves in Qwest World.”
“But predicting when this band of light will intersect with the Southern Region is difficult. It could be soon, or it might not happen for hundreds or thousands of years.”
After speaking, Freud noticed Angel’s hesitant look. Although Angel didn’t speak, Freud understood his implication.
“Lord need not worry. Even if the light does intersect with the Southern Region, as dead spirits, it’s not hard for us to stay in the original world. Since we have conscious will, as long as we have an obsession or a place for our soul to reside, we can resist the pull of Qwest World.”
“However, for ghosts, who are chaotic and unconscious, it’s easy to be attracted to Qwest World. That’s why most areas in Qwest World are overrun with ghosts. This acts as a friendly mechanism for other worlds, periodically clearing away ghosts. For the souls living in Qwest World, though, it’s a disaster. However, Qwest World is vast and continually expanding. There are many safe zones for souls, so there’s no need to worry about ghosts compressing the living space of departed souls.”
Angel showed a look of realization. Initially, when Old Pat died, he had wondered if souls after death, like in the Earth mythological stories Angel had heard, had a destination.
Now it seems there really is one. Qwest World is such a place for souls.
So, could Old Pat and his mother, Hypatia, also be there?
Angel’s thought had just arisen when he shook his head in denial. To enter Qwest World, at the very least, one must be a soul. And the probability of a common person forming a complete soul after death is extremely low.
After Freud finished talking about Qwest World, he found Angel lost in thought. It took a while before the light returned to Angel’s eyes.
“What is the Lord thinking about?” Freud asked curiously.
Angel said, “Nothing much, I was just pondering something.”
After a pause, Angel slowly said, “I was wondering if souls can dream.”
Freud originally thought Angel was pondering about the Qwest World, but didn’t expect such a tangential answer.
Freud pondered, “Even if a soul is in slumber, its consciousness stops fluctuating. Hence, souls don’t actively dream.”
Angel’s eyes lit up: “If souls don’t dream… then the interstitial space between Qwest World and the Dream Realm should not have powerful creatures of the Dream Realm wandering, right?”
“Are you thinking of…” Freud paused, not finishing his sentence, but softly mentioned a term: “Wilderness of Dreams?”
Angel nodded: “Yes, I want to try and create a new Wilderness of Dreams in Qwest World.”
Initially, he had experimented and managed to create a Wilderness of Dreams in the Abyss, but… just as the new Wilderness of Dreams was born, it was torn apart by ferocious creatures of the Dream Realm.
The current Wilderness of Dreams, attached to the Southern Region of the Wizarding World, was only peacefully born due to Shava’s appearance, who killed the coveting creatures of the Dream Realm.
Shava couldn’t appear every time. For Angel to establish a Wilderness of Dreams in other worlds, his primary task was to devise a way to kill those coveting creatures of the Dream Realm.
However, Angel hadn’t yet figured out how to kill these Dream Realm predators. In the Dream Realm, almost without natural enemies, predators grow stronger by consuming dreams… The Dream Realm predator killed by Shava, which Angel once saw from the godly perspective, was as large as a continent.
Such a giant creature of the Dream Realm was too difficult to kill.
Nonetheless, Angel thought, the existence of these giant beasts must require a massive amount of dreams to sustain. Since Qwest World is mostly souls, and souls don’t actively dream, if he creates a Wilderness of Dreams there, perhaps there wouldn’t be such colossal beings?
After hearing Angel’s idea, Freud responded, “We can try, but since souls hardly dream, whether we can create a Wilderness of Dreams in Qwest World is also a question.”
Angel pondered, “You make sense. Anyway, this isn’t an urgent matter, and we haven’t even found a way to Qwest World yet. Even if we want to try, it would be a matter for later.”
After discussing Angel’s brainstorm, they refocused on the altar.
“The person who presided over the sacrifice ritual has left, so there should be no danger here,” Angel paused, looking at Freud, “This place is rich in Death Aura, you might as well cultivate your Soul Trickery here.”
Freud nodded without hesitation, as the Death Aura here was even denser than in Star Lake Castle, making it an excellent place for cultivation.
After confirming the cultivation site, Angel and Freud returned to Star Lake Castle to inform Alda and Little Seim of the situation. Then Freud went alone to Saint Seim City to inform Eniya of Lady Sheila’s death. After all this, Freud returned to the underground cave.
…
“Has it started?” Angel floated in mid-air, looking at Freud standing in the center of the altar.
Freud took a deep breath, laid a layer of Soul Stones on the ground of the altar, and then arranged a circle of End Soul Flowers emitting a faint blue light around the Soul Stones. ——This was a preparation to prevent falling while cultivating Soul Trickery.
After setting up various soul-stabilizing materials, Freud recalled the cultivation method of Soul Trickery and simulated it once in his mind to ensure no errors in the process. Only then did he nod to Angel, indicating, “We can begin.”
Angel softly wished him, “Good luck.”
As the voice fell, the mental power barrier covering Freud’s surroundings instantly vanished, and a massive wave of Death Aura rushed towards him like a tide.
Enveloped by the Death Aura, Freud momentarily lost his bearings, hearing faint, sorrowful whispers. Numerous pale hands emerged from the ground, tugging at Freud, attempting to drag him into the dark swamp.
At this moment, the End Soul Flowers around him shone with a startling blue light, gathering into blue flames that floated around Freud.
Freud’s eyes, which had turned pale, gradually returned to normal.
However, at the moment of recovery, more Death Aura surged towards him.
The burning blue flames of the End Soul Flowers flickered uncertainly, as if they would extinguish at any second. Despite this crisis, Freud remained calm, following the practices of Soul Trickery to open a fissure at the center of his soul’s forehead.
This fissure, like a third eye, instantly absorbed the surging Death Aura around him as if it were a floodgate.
As the Death Aura entered Freud’s body, signs of corruption appeared on him.
Pale ghostly eyes, pitch-black ghostly hands, and a malevolent ghostly aura…
However, under the dual protection of the End Soul Flowers and Soul Soothing Stones, Freud managed to keep the corruption within a certain range, avoiding complete degradation.
The influx of Death Aura continued for a full minute.
From Angel’s perspective, Freud maintained a calm and steady rhythm, seemingly effortless. However, Angel knew from the scrolls describing the practice of Soul Trickery that absorbing Death Aura was extremely difficult… a prelude to corruption.
The mind would waver repeatedly, and various temptations of corruption would constantly assault Freud’s psychological defenses.
This stage was similar to a succubus casting a charm spell on a lecherous man. Maintaining one’s original intention and resisting temptation required immense willpower.
For Alda and Sunny, with their simple thoughts and limited susceptibility to temptation, this might have been an easier challenge. But for Freud, an adult with complex desires and thoughts, it was remarkably challenging not to allow the Death Aura to exploit any psychological weakness.
Fortunately, Freud successfully completed the first step.
After closing the split on his forehead, Freud did not succumb to corruption. Even the corrupt traits of his soul began to revert to normal.
Angel once again constructed a mental power barrier around Freud, helping him suppress the tumultuous Death Aura within.
Without external interference, Freud began to struggle against the internal Death Aura.
Overnight, the corrupt traits on Freud’s body disappeared completely, reverting to normal. However, this did not mean Freud was truly normal yet. The core of his soul’s power was like an overinflating balloon, at risk of exploding at any moment and causing the Death Aura to backlash, bypassing the process of corruption and turning him directly into a ghost.
Freud’s task now was to truly practice Soul Trickery, using training to slowly assimilate and diminish the massively inflated Death Aura in his core.
This training lasted for two full days.
After two days, at a certain moment, Freud opened his eyes, having digested the Death Aura to an extreme degree. If he continued, he would start learning his first Soul Trickery.
But at this crucial point, Freud halted.
He took out the soul bottle containing Lady Sheila.
He was not prepared to follow the conventional learning path, but instead planned to absorb Lady Sheila’s Soul Trickery by devouring her power!
This step was even more difficult than the previous one of connecting to Death Aura.
The risk of Falling into Corruption was ever-present.
However, this was also a tremendous opportunity; if he could endure it, he would possess a Soul Trickery originating from a special ghost!
For him, this would further strengthen his power, even potentially matching his combat abilities when he was alive, in a short period of time!
“Anyway, with the Prelude of Reincarnation at hand, it’s worth a shot starting over,” Freud decided firmly, no longer hesitating. He twisted open the soul bottle and inhaled sharply. Lady Sheila’s form turned into a dim light and entered Freud’s soul.
The moment Lady Sheila entered Freud, Freud’s appearance began to transform towards corruption.
His eyes turned white again, veins started to appear on his face, and his nails began to blacken, spreading towards his arms… Although everything was progressing slowly, there was no sign of stopping.
As time trickled by, about three hours later, nearly 80% of Freud’s body had succumbed to corruption.
Seeing this, Angel started to get alarmed. A light flashed on his bracelet, and the Prelude of Reincarnation, with its dark silver gun form, appeared in his hand.
If Freud completely fell into corruption, he would immediately fire.
Another half-hour passed, and the transformation continued unabated, with 90% already overrun, leaving only the core of the soul located in the center of the chest as the last stand.
Given the rate of this invasion, Angel had little hope that Freud could hold this last position.
The energy of a normal ghost is like a cup of clear water. The negative energy of a ghost, however, is like a drop of extremely dense ink, which when mixed with clear water, quickly contaminates it.
Moreover, since Lady Sheila was a special ghost, more than just a drop of ink fell into the clear water.
Freud had to use the method of practicing Soul Trickery to digest Lady Sheila’s negative energy and turn it into his own skill, making the now-turbid water clear again.
This was an extremely difficult task.
The erosion continued without pause, reaching 93%, 94%… The transformation relentlessly surged towards 100%.
Angel sighed internally, thinking Freud probably couldn’t make it.
Just as Angel was caressing the silver pattern on the handle of the gun, ready to fire at any moment to save the fallen soul…
The transformation suddenly stopped at 96%.
Then, in the next second, in Angel’s almost data-like vision, the number 96% slightly dropped.
95%.
Chapter 2159 Qwest World <TOC> Chapter 2161 Lady Sheila’s Second Special Ability