Chapter 2692 Fury From Embarrassment <TOC> Chapter 2694 Stay or Leave
Translator: SumTLMan
“It’s not that I brought it out; it came out on its own…” Angel was in the middle of speaking when he suddenly noticed a slender figure darting past his side. On instinct, he turned his head to look, indeed, the Wood Spirit had run off again.
But because Angel had already blocked the door of the Hanging Prison Stairs, the Wood Spirit had no way to return. Combined with the Earth Rampart the Black Count had created, it also couldn’t quickly break away, so it could only circle around the outer edge.
As it ran, the Wood Spirit kept shouting: “Aaah! There’s a monster! The nose, the nose is talking!”
The Black Count: “…”
There was no doubt the Wood Spirit had been frightened by the Black Count.
Ordinary people who saw only the Black Count’s nose would probably jump in alarm, but very few would be so scared that they’d run around in a panic.
Moreover, if ordinary people truly witnessed the current scene, they likely wouldn’t be frightened by the Black Count at all, instead, they’d be terrified by the Wood Spirit. From a distance, it really did look like a scarecrow that wasn’t wearing any clothes. Scarecrows, because they resemble humans in form, often evoke an uncanny sense of strangeness. They’re also a trope that playwrights especially enjoy depicting as eerie and foreboding.
If you think about it, the Wood Spirit’s appearance is actually more frightening than the Black Count’s nose.
The Black Count: “…But I clearly went in there just now.”
Angel: “I asked the Wood Spirit earlier. It’s been hiding in the crossroads the entire time. When you went in, it sensed your presence but didn’t come out to look.”
It wasn’t until Angel went in, at which point he obtained that piece of wood from the painting, that the Wood Spirit sensed its own avatar being moved. Summoning its courage, it then snuck out for a peek.
Because of that, the Wood Spirit saw the “staff,” and the rest followed.
If Angel had not obtained that piece of wood, had not found the staff’s ornament, and had not seen the original staff form mentioned by Butler Goode, the outcome would undoubtedly have changed. The Wood Spirit would not have appeared, would not have trusted Angel, and certainly would not have followed him out.
In other words, everything was linked in a sequence. Remove even one link, and none of this would have happened.
“How do we handle it now? Should we force it back in?” the Black Count asked. He did not bother to ask where exactly the crossroads was or how the Hanging Prison Stairs were laid out, he had no interest. His sole reason for breaking into the conversation was to prevent Angel from continuing down the deadly path of discussing the glasses issue.
“Or should I shrink my Earth Rampart to limit its movement?”
Angel shook his head: “No need. As long as it doesn’t go back inside, there’s no problem. Besides…”
Angel trailed off and raised the staff he held, giving it a slight wave.
Following his movement, the Black Count subconsciously looked at the staff, only to be struck dumb at what he saw: at some point, a thin vine with a sprout had tied itself to the staff’s end.
The vine was firmly attached where it gripped the staff, but the length of it swayed up and down, because… it was connected to the frantically fleeing Wood Spirit.
“When did that get tied on?” the Black Count asked in confusion. He’d been beside Angel the entire time but had not noticed this at all.
Angel: “It was there from the beginning.”
The Black Count was even more perplexed. Everyone else within earshot looked equally bewildered. None of them had noticed the vine before; they only spotted it when Angel lifted the staff just now.
Perhaps guessing the Black Count’s thoughts, Angel explained: “It’s probably one of its abilities, something that reduces its presence.”
Angel was no stranger to that kind of presence-dimming ability; one type of alchemy magic formation he knew, ‘Boundless Silence,’ had a similar effect. It was precisely that formation’s design that he had engraved upon his bracelet.
However, Boundless Silence and the Wood Spirit’s gift still differed somewhat: Boundless Silence was geared more toward diminishing one’s presence in physical sight, while its resistance to mental power observation was relatively weaker. The Wood Spirit’s power, by contrast, targeted an energy-based perspective, reducing its presence to energy perception.
That was why the Black Count hadn’t immediately sensed the Wood Spirit’s vine. At the moment, he was merely a nose. While he did possess normal sight, his visual range was not large; more importantly, he was in the habit of perceiving the world from an energy-based viewpoint, and that was precisely where the Wood Spirit’s talent shone.
As for why no one else had noticed it at first, the reason was simple: their attention had been scattered. With the Sovereign of Wisdom’s sudden change of mood, the Wood Spirit racing around and screaming, so many external factors had distracted them, leaving the vine overlooked. Only when Angel shook the staff and drew their focus did they become aware of it, which also showed that the Wood Spirit’s presence-reduction talent wasn’t too strong against normal eyesight.
Still, that did not mean that the Wood Spirit’s talent was ordinary.
Keep in mind that the Wood Spirit hadn’t actively used this talent since leaving the Hanging Prison Stairs. Its presence-dimming then had been purely passive.
The moment the Wood Spirit actively triggered that talent, however, discovering it would become extremely difficult.
Earlier, on the second level of the Hanging Prison Stairs, the Wood Spirit vanished right before everyone’s eyes, that was it actively using this gift. At that time, nobody present, not even Angel nor the Sovereign of Wisdom who was observing through a magic formation, could detect the Wood Spirit’s location. That demonstrated just how formidable the Wood Spirit’s talent was.
Such a power is practically a dream come true for any wizard who loves adventuring and traveling. Yet ironically, it belongs to a super homebody spirit that panics at the slightest disturbance.
Seeing the Wood Spirit gripping the vine tied tightly to the staff, the Black Count could guess that it probably wasn’t going to escape. Knowing that, he no longer concerned himself with the Wood Spirit. He moved the stone slab upward, pointing his nostrils toward the area beyond the Earth Rampart.
At that moment, the Sovereign of Wisdom had arrived at the edge of the Earth Rampart. He did not destroy it; instead, from behind the pale yellow glow, he merely watched the fleeing Wood Spirit in silence.
Sensing the Black Count’s “gaze,” the Sovereign of Wisdom turned his head to look in this direction, though he did not actually regard the Black Count. Instead, his focus fell on Angel.
The Black Count used the stone slab to nudge Angel lightly.
Reminded by the Black Count, Angel looked over at the Sovereign of Wisdom in the distance.
“Come out here so we can talk,” the Sovereign of Wisdom mouthed without speaking aloud.
Angel thought about it, then decided not to refuse. Though staying within the Earth Rampart felt safer, they couldn’t remain inside forever. If they still planned to head to the ruin site, they would ultimately need to meet the Sovereign of Wisdom face-to-face.
Besides, if the Sovereign of Wisdom truly meant to harm them, he’d had plenty of opportunities inside the Hanging Prison Stairs. Yet he hadn’t. At least for now, it suggested that the Sovereign of Wisdom harbored no immediate intent to kill them.
Most importantly, and what finally convinced Angel to go out and speak with the Sovereign of Wisdom, was Totoro’s prophecy.
——“The Wise One is Not a Fool.”
Though the exact meaning of this prophecy was still unclear, it did suggest that on this journey, they would not be able to avoid encountering the Sovereign of Wisdom.
Angel’s decision relieved the Black Count. Although Angel had hinted before that he would not give up on the ruin site, the Black Count had worried Angel might change his mind at the last moment and leave, because, to Angel, the ruin site was “not important.”
Now that Angel had chosen to face the Sovereign of Wisdom head-on, it clarified his intentions.
“Don’t worry about danger; he won’t make a move against you for the time being. I’ll go with you. If a fight does break out, I can at least get you out safely,” the Black Count said in a sincere tone, the latter half especially resolute.
For someone of the Black Count’s standing, any promise he made would never be broken.
Even though this form was merely a disembodied nose, the Black Count still possessed numerous methods. If he truly had to force Angel out, he could manage it. Of course, that would likely mean being unable to protect everyone else.
But if he had to choose just one person to protect among them all, the Black Count would still choose Angel. The single factor of Angel being a member of the Research Institute was already reason enough.
Angel himself wasn’t particularly worried; as long as the Sovereign of Wisdom didn’t randomly attack, he had ways to respond. Nonetheless, he nodded in gratitude to the Black Count for his kindness.
“By the way, don’t mention anything about the glasses,” the Black Count finally reminded Angel about that matter.
Although the Sovereign of Wisdom’s anger had subsided, there was no telling whether bringing up that “unhealed wound” might provoke him again.
Angel had no idea why the Black Count specifically mentioned glasses, but he nodded anyway.
Next, Angel and the Black Count stepped out of the Earth Rampart together.
At the moment they exited, two dark shadows slipped out from inside the barrier as well, one was the Wood Spirit; the other was Eremy.
The Wood Spirit and Eremy brushed past each other. The Wood Spirit glanced at Eremy in puzzlement, and then a second later its expression turned alarmed.
Before it could be frightened into running again, Angel reached out and grabbed its hand: “All right, calm down. That’s my shadow. If you’re going to be afraid of even a shadow, how do you expect to go outside?”
As Angel spoke, Eremy once again merged into his shadow. Seeing Eremy vanish, the Wood Spirit let out a relieved sigh.
Still, it was clearly on edge, especially whenever it caught sight of the Black Count floating nearby; it kept wanting to shake off Angel’s grip and hide somewhere secluded.
However, Angel, having witnessed the Wood Spirit escape once, wasn’t about to loosen his hold easily.
After struggling for a bit, the Wood Spirit gave up, seeking refuge behind Angel instead.
“Nose is scary, eyes are scary, so scary…” the Wood Spirit hid behind Angel’s back, trembling. But the words it muttered made everyone pause for a moment.
“Nose is scary” obviously referred to the Black Count.
As for “eyes are scary,” that was far more intriguing. The Black Count had no eyes; Angel’s eyes weren’t what the Wood Spirit was scared of, so the only possibility left was… the Sovereign of Wisdom.
“Sigh…” The Sovereign of Wisdom let out a sigh and gently touched his forehead. The extra eye on his brow vanished.
Only then did the Wood Spirit tentatively peek out and, in a voice barely louder than a mosquito’s buzz, say: “Mentor.”
The fact that the Wood Spirit addressed the Sovereign of Wisdom as “mentor” was not surprising; he had explained from the start that the Wood Spirit was his disciple.
What did surprise them a bit was that the Wood Spirit seemed quite afraid of the Sovereign of Wisdom’s three eyes, yet once he changed back to having only two, much of its fear disappeared.
This suggested that the Wood Spirit wasn’t fearful of the Sovereign of Wisdom himself but rather of that third eye. Perhaps there was some hidden peculiarity to the third eye?
While everyone was caught up in their own speculations, the Sovereign of Wisdom spoke: “It’s sensitive toward any form that isn’t purely human. In front of a human form, its fear is reduced somewhat… That’s probably just a common trait among spirits.”
The birth of a spirit generally hinges on two conditions: first, that the object in question has been imbued with a significant amount of meaning; second, that it has long been in an environment saturated by energies that align with it.
There are exceptions, of course, but using inductive reasoning, objects that fulfill these two conditions stand a much higher chance of birthing a spirit.
This so-called “significant meaning” is nothing more than the heartfelt intentions or emotional bonds of intelligent life, bonds of the heart.
In Jon’s words: “If something lingers in your thoughts day and night, eventually there will be an echo.”
That implies that the birth of a spirit is intimately connected to intelligent life. In the Wizarding World of the Southern Region, where non-human intelligent life is suppressed by the Extreme Sect, most spirits indeed arise in connection with humans.
Therefore, from the Sovereign of Wisdom’s viewpoint, it was entirely normal for the Wood Spirit to find human forms more comforting.
The Wood Spirit, however, magnified this “Bond of the Heart.” Not only did it feel an affinity for human forms, but the slightest differences from a human appearance made it enormously fearful. Hence it was terrified whenever it encountered beings that did not look exactly human.
Which meant that, until now, the Wood Spirit remained deeply frightened by the Sovereign of Wisdom’s true form.
Prior to encountering the Wood Spirit, the Sovereign of Wisdom had always maintained the original form of a “Three-Eyed Blue Demon”, burly, with dark-blue skin and frightening tusks, plus three fierce eyes.
But as he grew closer to the Wood Spirit, the Sovereign of Wisdom gradually shifted his appearance.
The youthful countenance he now wore was the result of that change.
Despite this, he still couldn’t permanently keep the third eye closed, as it served as the axis for the majority of his body’s power. Shutting it would disable many of his abilities.
And the Wood Spirit refused to accept a mere illusion as cover, because it could see through illusions.
So the only way the Wood Spirit would see him as “human” was if the Sovereign of Wisdom truly closed his third eye. Even so, the Wood Spirit still shrank from meeting him, because it was fully aware that he was no human. Closing the eye only made him look more comfortable; recalling his real form still made the Wood Spirit quiver.
For now, the Sovereign of Wisdom set aside his feelings and cast a glance at those who remained behind in the Earth Rampart, then turned his gaze to Angel, who stood nearby.
“Shall we talk here, or would you prefer to come to my dwelling?” he asked.
“Didn’t you say the bonus conditions needed to be met inside the Hanging Prison Stairs? Isn’t the primary condition also to be done here?” Angel inquired.
Previously, the Sovereign of Wisdom hadn’t mentioned any so-called “primary condition,” but now, after a moment of silence, he finally spoke: “The primary condition… is in the ruin site.”
Chapter 2692 Fury From Embarrassment <TOC> Chapter 2694 Stay or Leave