Chapter 2774 Time Bodies and Gift-Words <TOC> Chapter 2776 The Remnant Soul’s Obsession
Translator: SumTLMan
Daus was still pondering what the silver-haired girl’s Gift-Words to Vai were supposed to mean, and to his surprise, she suddenly turned her head and looked at him.
Daus glanced around, then pointed at his own nose, using his actions to express: Ah, is it my turn?
The silver-haired girl ignored Daus’ little performance and said calmly:「A hunter who single-mindedly pursues treasure, in the end will he sink into the traps of the treasure, or be cast away beyond the starfield? It would do you no harm to constantly look back over your shoulder.」
At this moment, Daus no longer needed to doubt; without question, her so-called Gift-Words were indeed meant for him this time.
Previously that bard Luigi’s Form of Address for Daus was exactly 「the treasure-seeking hunter」, and now that the silver-haired girl once again continued this form of address, it was certainly referring to Daus.
However, although Daus clearly heard what she said, the content of the words was obscure and mysterious; she circled around and around, seeming to touch on the key point, yet immediately stopped at a mere taste. This way of speaking was practically cut from the same cloth as those prophecy wizards.
These so-called Gift-Words are just prophecy, right? Aren’t they?
After all, one of the silver-haired girl’s previous time-bodies had been an astrologer, which without doubt was related to prophecy.
While Daus was thinking along these lines, Angel was also listening to the silver-haired girl’s Gift-Words.
Whether it was prophecy or not, Angel did not know…… and even if it was prophecy, he did not care. Behind him stood a 「great prophet」; though not yet fully grown, that prophetic ability was already beginning to show its sharp edge. With such a reliable backing, why should he care about anyone else’s prophecies?
Moreover, even Witch Maya had said that prophecy is not something to take too much to heart, it is only one possibility, not an absolute. So just listening was enough.
What Angel cared about more, instead, was the silver-haired girl’s forms of address for them.
Angel had already noticed before that, whether it was the Poet Luigi or the Astrologer Gleipnir, their forms of address for Daus and the Black Count were all summarizing short phrases, rather than simple personal pronouns.
It was just that, at that time, that rabbit girl had not given Angel any definition at all, so Angel had once again overlooked this point.
Now, with the appearance of the silver-haired girl, she not only began to define the formal wizards, even the apprentices now had summarizing forms of address; this pulled Angel’s attention back to it again.
Daus’ form of address was: treasure-seeking hunter.
Carefully savoring it, it seemed somewhat accurate, yet not entirely so. Daus did indeed have a pursuit for treasure, but he was not that kind of treasure hunter who would disregard everything for treasure.
Just like in Princess Town, after Daus learned some hidden secrets of the Guman Kingdom, he did show an intention of wanting to get involved and skim off a profit. But later, when he saw the surging undercurrents of the Guman Kingdom, he very sensibly withdrew with keen self-awareness.
This was not the attitude a 「treasure hunter」 should have.
Furthermore, if Daus truly had the heart to be a treasure hunter, he would not have been running a tavern in the Sandworm Market, day after day, in the same way for decades.
So, this form of address the silver-haired girl gave Daus could only be called one-sided. It summarized one of Daus’ facets, but Daus had many more facets that could be discussed.
If what she summarized was his most important side, then it could barely be considered a 「conclusion」 about Daus. But Angel did not think Daus’ most important facet was treasure-seeking.
Perhaps 「freedom-on-the-brain-ist」 was more suitable as a summary for Daus.
Next came the astrologer Gleipnir’s form of address for the Black Count: 「the overreacher who delusionally seeks to ascend to high rank.」
This was actually a relatively neutral, slightly derogatory summary; depending on the speaker’s tone and attitude, one could determine whether it was mockery or merely a statement.
And when the astrologer Gleipnir had muttered this form of address earlier, there had been more calmness than mockery. In the atmosphere at that time, it could not be clearly said that she was ridiculing the Black Count.
At the same time, the degree to which this form of address was accepted also depended on the attitude of the person concerned. The Black Count did not refute this form of address; although one could not say he agreed with its content, at least he did not oppose it.
As for the meaning of this form of address, it was in fact simple and clear: it said that the Black Count was coveting high rank.
From the Black Count’s point of view, the so-called high rank should refer to the legendary realm.
The Black Count, as one of the few third-level true knowledge wizards standing at the apex of the Wizarding World’s Southern Region pyramid, wanting to break through the great barrier of the legendary realm was the most normal thing in the world.
Lord Mengke had spent vast resources and, while wielding the grand momentum of the Frost Moon Alliance’s arrangements in the Abyss, demanded the cooperation of various organizations to capture the descendant of a Demon God, was that not also for the sake of breaking through to legend by an unconventional method?
It could be said that, once one stood at that position, who would not long to advance one step further?
Overreaching? No, this was a kind of transcendence of the self. There was no one lofty and aloof overlooking from on high, there were only seekers tirelessly pursuing progress.
However, purely from the form of address itself, it still could be considered as summarizing some of the Black Count’s traits.
Most importantly, just this one form of address basically exposed the Black Count’s identity.
The Black Count’s avatar at most possessed true knowledge-level strength, and before this, although the Sovereign of Wisdom had already guessed it, he had not spoken it out loud. But now, the words of the Astrologer had almost completely laid bare the Black Count’s identity.
「The overreacher who delusionally seeks to ascend to high rank」 was not something an ordinary person could bear.
If the Sovereign of Wisdom had not told the silver-haired girl any information about the Black Count, and this was simply her own summary, then from this, the silver-haired girl did have some substance.
Aside from the Black Count and Daus, the third to be defined was Vai.
「O lonely one hidden in the crowd.」
This form of address was simply and directly describing: the crowd represented bustling liveliness, and loneliness was just loneliness. Interpreted, it was the lonely one hidden within the bustle.
At first hearing, there was a somewhat pretentious air of solitary self-appreciation. But if combined with Vai’s actual circumstances, it was not wrong.
In bustling Mesomiya, in an inconspicuous divination shop, a solitary shopkeeper foretold death for every customer. Taken together, it had just that sort of flavor.
Moreover, in the Gift-Words the silver-haired girl had given Vai, she had once said the line 「shedding the shelter of the deep night」; setting aside for the moment what this sentence meant, the 「deep night」 within it struck right at Vai.
Vai’s divination shop generally only opened deep in the night.
Vai called himself the 「Midnight Poet」. It was just that his poems were not what ordinary people imagined; they were not songs of praise, but odes to death.
So, in this form of address, the silver-haired girl could also be said to have prophesied Vai accurately. But just like the earlier case with Daus, it was one side of Vai, not the whole of him.
As Angel pondered up to this point, he suddenly became a little curious: what definition would the silver-haired girl give himself?
On the other side, after the silver-haired girl finished speaking her Gift-Words to Daus, her gaze slowly moved.
Then, her eyes fixed on the Black Count floating beside Daus; without a doubt, she should now be giving Gift-Words to the Black Count.
In this way, everyone more or less formed a concept of the order in which the silver-haired girl was delivering her Gift-Words.
At first they had thought the silver-haired girl would arrange them one by one according to strength, but now it seemed she was simply following their positions.
Vai stood at the very edge, so she started with him. Beside him was Daus, so Daus was second. Floating beside Daus was the Black Count, so the Black Count was third.
Following this sequence, the next should be Angel’s turn.
……
After quietly gazing at the Black Count for a moment, the silver-haired girl said softly:「Overreacher who delusionally seeks to ascend to high rank, your Gift-Words have already been delivered to you earlier through the star-sign message of my Time Body Gleipnir, so I will not say more.」
When she finished speaking, the silver-haired girl was about to turn her head to look at the next person.
At this moment, the Black Count suddenly said:「The Evil God Abyss, will it be good or bad for me.」
The silver-haired girl paused for a moment and looked at the Black Count. In her eyes there was none of that earlier lofty contempt-for-dust feeling; she merely looked at him steadily and calmly:「You should be clearer than I am; all I can interpret is a segment of the reflection of the heart.」
Interpreting the reflection of the heart? So that was the truth of the Gift-Words?
But what exactly was this reflection of the heart? Another way of saying prophecy? Or was it that the Gift-Words were actually not prophecy?
While everyone was still puzzled, the Black Count asked again:「Is this choice right?」
As for what choice, the Black Count did not explain, and the others did not understand; but the silver-haired girl seemed to grasp what he meant. After pondering for a moment, she said:「You already have the answer in your heart, do not ask me.」
After a brief pause, the silver-haired girl still added a line:「Perhaps the Source World holds the answer you are searching for.」
「The cost of going to the Source World is too high.」the Black Count said directly.
The cost the Black Count spoke of was not resources, but the cost in time. With no shortcuts, to reach the Source World one could almost only travel through the boundless void, and the time cost involved here was calculated in units of centuries.
In this process, one did not even dare to be distracted doing other things. Because spatial rifts, spatial collapses, or even void storms…… could appear in the void at any time. Even if there were no natural disasters, one might encounter void monsters; if the void monsters were too powerful, the time it took to detour around them was another cost.
What was more, the Black Count was the clan head of the Noah family, and the Noah family did not lack enemies; before there was a successor who could shoulder great responsibility, he could not very well go too far from the Southern Region.
So even knowing that the Source World was an option, he would not put it at the top of his list.
The silver-haired girl did not comment on the Black Count’s words; this was not something she needed to consider, but the Black Count’s own choice.
The Black Count did not continue to press the issue, and the silver-haired girl’s gaze smoothly moved on to the next person.
Mm, that’s right, it was…… Kael.
The silver-haired girl directly skipped over Angel and looked instead at Kael on the other side.
As if Angel did not exist at all.
Angel was a little dazed, and the others were a bit puzzled as well; they too had seen that the silver-haired girl was arranging the order according to positions, so why had she suddenly skipped over Angel?
「Don’t tell me she wants to have Angel close the show? Hey hey hey, that’s way too unfair!」Daus’ protesting voice was already ringing in the mental connection.
But no one paid him any mind, because the silver-haired girl had already begun her Gift-Words to Kael.
As for why she would skip Angel, there would be an explanation later; it was not urgent in that moment.
The silver-haired girl’s Gift-Words to Kael could be said to be the simplest of all, even briefer than those to the Black Count, who had already received the Astrologer’s star-message.
「Seeker who traces back the past, this is not where you belong.」
Kael was stunned. What did that mean?
Not only Kael was stunned, everyone wore dumbfounded expressions…… that was it? Did that not amount to directly telling Kael to leave?
Angel had originally just wanted to know what Kael’s form of address would be, but what he had not expected was that, with this line of Gift-Words from the silver-haired girl, the latter half of the sentence basically needed no explanation. So not only Angel, but everyone focused their attention on her form of address for Kael.
Seeker who traces back the past? Did that fit Kael?
Angel thought it over carefully: Kael was indeed extremely interested in various ruins and also researched ruins from different periods of history, but that could only be considered archaeology, not 「seeking the past」, right?
Kael was still so young, what past was he seeking?
Kael himself was also very puzzled:「I have not sought the past, I just…… I just……」
Perhaps because those heterochromatic eyes of the silver-haired girl were fixed on him, Kael’s heart suddenly became a little flustered and he did not know what he ought to say.
The silver-haired girl:「You have not, but your obsession has.」
My obsession? Kael was taken aback, seemingly thinking of something:「My obsession is, is it that remnant soul on me?」
Kael’s words also made everyone recall that silhouette outline hidden behind Kael’s back that they had seen previously in the illusion of the True Word Book.
The one pursuing the past was not Kael, but this remnant soul?
The silver-haired girl:「Yes. The underground sewer where the Wise One resides is not the place he is searching for.」
The silver-haired girl very rarely directly explained the Gift-Words in one go, clearly stating that the remnant soul on Kael was an obsession, and that this obsession had influenced Kael’s intense pursuit of ruins, while at the same time telling Kael that the underground sewer was not the ruin that remnant soul was looking for.
The entire explanation could be said to be the clearest of all so far.
It was just that, as to who exactly the remnant soul on Kael was and why it wanted to seek ruins, on this point the silver-haired girl did not speak.
Daus glanced at Kael and saw that he was in a state of total absent-mindedness; he probably could not say anything at all. So Daus simply opened his own mouth and helped Kael ask:「Who is the remnant soul on him? What meaning does it have for this remnant soul to seek ruins, and what effect does it have on him?」
The silver-haired girl seemed also a bit interested in the remnant soul on Kael; she did not show any displeasure at Daus speaking up on his behalf, but instead thought seriously for a moment and said:「Who the remnant soul is, I do not know, but he was once a powerful fellow.」
When she said this, the silver-haired girl cast a sidelong glance at the Black Count:「Perhaps about the same as him, or maybe a little weaker, or a little stronger.」
In other words, the remnant soul on Kael had originally been at least a second-level true knowledge wizard, and the probability that he was a third-level true knowledge wizard was extremely high. There was also a tiny possibility…… that he had surpassed the legendary realm.
This conclusion left everyone a little shocked. They could see that the remnant soul had likely been a transcendent lifeform in life, after all, an ordinary person might die without even leaving a soul behind, directly turning into light of consciousness and being absorbed by the tide of souls; the chances of a remnant soul attaching to someone were vanishingly small. Only if one had been a transcendent in life was there that slight possibility.
But what they had not expected was that this remnant soul had actually been such a powerful wizard in life.
Still, on careful thought, it also made some sense.
If he had not been powerful, how could even a remnant soul have managed to affect Vai?
The silver-haired girl continued:「As for what this remnant soul’s obsession is, and what meaning there is in doing this……」
Chapter 2774 Time Bodies and Gift-Words <TOC> Chapter 2776 The Remnant Soul’s Obsession