Chapter 2775 Forms of Address <TOC> Chapter 2777 Answer
Translator: SumTLMan
「I don’t know.」
The silver-haired girl gave an answer everyone had expected, but what was rare was that, after clearly saying she didn’t know, she then offered some of her own opinions.
「However, an obsession is just an obsession, the purpose of a remnant soul is precisely to fulfill that obsession. As for what exactly the obsession is, does it have any meaning for you?」
The silver-haired girl quietly fixed her gaze on Kael.
Yet if someone were to observe carefully from within the mirror, they would discover that what was reflected in those heterochromatic pupils of hers was not Kael, but a strange human silhouette. That shadowy figure clung to Kael, eyes tightly shut, as though in a deep sleep. His face was riddled everywhere with broken holes, and from those holes there continuously gushed out pure soul power, flowing toward Kael.
Heh, the obsession is truly strong.
The silver-haired girl lowered her head and drew her brows together, let out a soft sigh in her mind, and only then spoke again: 「Compared to these things, what you should pay more attention to is the choices of the future. To fulfill his obsession, or to restrain the impulse in your heart and defy that obsession.」
After the silver-haired girl finished these words, her gaze still remained on Kael. It could be said that the time she had spent on Kael already surpassed that on everyone else…… of course, Angel was temporarily an exception.
Moreover, what she had just said had in fact already somewhat exceeded the bounds.
In Jon’s words, this was 「do not speak deeply when acquaintance is shallow.」
Kael was also very bewildered now; before coming to the underground sewer, he had never thought that his love of exploring ruins was influenced by another, and had always believed it to be his own hobby. And although the remnant soul’s shadow of the True Word Book had previously made him somewhat suspicious, it had, after all, never been confirmed.
But now, the silver-haired girl’s words truly dragged Kael, in a solid and tangible way, out from the bubble of beautiful fantasy back into reality.
No matter how much of his ruin-exploring came from personal fondness and how much from the influence of the remnant soul, in the end, there was a portion that did not arise from his own true heart.
Under such circumstances, should he still continue his journey of exploring ruins?
Was he to begin as a 「traveler」 and end as a 「traveler」 as well?
Kael had no idea at all how he should choose, and with a face full of confusion he looked toward Daus.
Daus was the person present who knew him best, and the only one he could rely on and pin his hopes upon was also Daus.
Daus also saw the turmoil in Kael’s heart; he thought for a moment, then said: 「This is not something you have to choose on the spot right now; the future is still long, even if you make a decision ten years from now, or a hundred years from now, it still won’t be too late.」
As soon as Daus’ words fell, before Kael could react, the silver-haired girl’s voice drifted out: 「No, his time is already running short.」
「What do you mean?」 Daus looked toward the silver-haired girl in puzzlement.
「A remnant soul cannot exist forever; as the parasitized host grows ever stronger, the time it can remain will also grow ever shorter. So wanting to make the choice ten years, a hundred years from now is almost impossible. Unless he stops cultivating starting from today.」
What the silver-haired girl said here was indeed fact; previously, even though everyone knew that there was a remnant soul on Kael, they had basically not paid it much attention. Because a remnant soul could not affect Kael, who possessed a complete extraordinary soul, and would ultimately dissipate.
Once it had dissipated, to then speak again of the remnant soul’s obsession would already be meaningless by that time.
However, once they clearly knew that the remnant soul would vanish, and then savored the silver-haired girl’s words, they discovered that in her narration she apparently was not being objective.
Angel: 「You seem more inclined to hope that he chooses to fulfill the remnant soul’s obsession?」
When giving her 「Gift-Words」 to the others, the silver-haired girl had spoken entirely from an objective standpoint, but in Kael’s case she now had her own subjective opinion.
Whether this was good or bad was hard to say. Because they did not know what stance the silver-haired girl held, it was best to puncture this layer directly now and see how the silver-haired girl would respond: why was she paying attention to this matter? What position was she taking?
Every time Angel asked a question, the silver-haired girl would fall silent for a long while. This time was no different; she stared at Angel for a long time before finally saying softly: 「Because…… of the link.」
「The link again? What does ‘link’ mean?」 Angel asked in confusion.
This was the second time Angel had asked 「what is the link」. The first time, her answer had been, 「the Time Body is the link」.
But this time, there was no Time Body on Kael; why would a link appear again?
What exactly did 「link」 mean to her?
The silver-haired girl seemed unwilling to answer and tried to turn her head away several times, but every time she made a move, subtle changes would appear in Angel’s expression.
She knew very clearly that Angel was reading her behavior.
Just as she herself interpreted the actions of others through the reflection of the heart.
After hesitating for quite a while, she finally opened her mouth: 「A link is a kind of connection. Anything you do will generate ties with what is around you, connecting to people, connecting to things, connecting to space, connecting to time…… everything and anything, so long as you have actions, there will be connections.」
「Whatever you gain, you will pay a corresponding price.」
「Whatever you have consumed, you will compensate for from another side.」
「All these various things require links, and such links also maintain…… fairness.」
It was rare for the silver-haired girl to say so many words at once, but all of them were very obscure, and among those present, not many truly understood.
Angel, however, did understand, because the world-view cognition the silver-haired girl was speaking of was something he happened to have heard Jon mention before.
Moreover, Jon had mentioned this kind of cognitive concept very frequently, namely: cause and effect, or karmic connection.
Whatever cause you sow, that fruit you will reap. This is the most straightforward explanation of cause and effect; in a certain sense, it indeed counts as a conceptual kind of 「link」.
If one interprets it according to the theory of cause and effect, then what the silver-haired girl meant was: between Kael and the remnant soul there is a connection of cause and effect.
To go a step further, she had previously given an example: whatever you obtain, you will pay a price for.
This seemed to be implying that since Kael had gained benefits, he now had to pay the price for them.
Angel more or less understood the silver-haired girl’s position: she was probably a devotee of this kind of cause-and-effect cognitive view, so when she saw Kael’s situation, she naturally stood on the standpoint that cause and effect must circulate when she spoke of things.
However, to bring the topic back again: leaving Kael’s situation aside for the moment, what relationship did the Time Body have with the link, or rather with cause and effect?
Her three Time Bodies corresponded to Daus, the Black Count, and Angel…… could it be that she was using the Time Bodies to establish links?
And the things the Time Bodies had done, having them answer questions in such a baffling way?
According to this so-called link logic, could this be precisely in order to forcibly entangle them and the Time Bodies together in cause and effect?
And the Time Bodies were also the silver-haired girl’s 「avatars」, which meant that they had thereby established a causal connection with the silver-haired girl?
Angel did not know whether his guess was correct; just as he was about to ask, the Black Count beside him spoke up first.
「What you mean is that Kael has received benefits from the remnant soul?」
From the Black Count’s question it could be seen that he too had understood that extremely obscure speech of the silver-haired girl’s.
The silver-haired girl’s ideas were not any sort of mainstream in the Wizarding World; such notions were more suited to societies where the rules of order were far more stringent. Even so, the Black Count’s breadth of experience was what it was: even if the silver-haired girl deliberately spoke in a vague and murky way, he still extracted the truth from all those superfluous words.
「Of course, for a remnant soul to want to influence the will of the parasitized host is not so easy.」 The silver-haired girl nodded in acknowledgment: 「For many years, day in and day out, he has been sending his already not-very-abundant soul power to the host. This is the price he has paid; by means of the scant will contained within that soul power, he gradually influences the host’s outlook.」
Daus: 「If you put it that way, then when Kael obtained soul power, wasn’t his willpower also being influenced? That should count as being evened out, right?」
The silver-haired girl shook her head: 「That’s not how you tally it. The fact that he could become an extraordinary being may also have some credit due to the remnant soul.」
Daus furrowed his brows: 「Do you have any proof of that?」
The silver-haired girl fell silent again, unwilling to bother with Daus. She had more or less seen through Daus’ style: so long as he wished to exonerate someone, he could dig out every little detail and use it to argue; all he needed to do was open his mouth and talk, while the evidence had to be produced by others, the costs consumed were simply not the same.
Although the silver-haired girl merely touched on things and stopped, Angel had more or less summed up the situation.
Whether Kael’s becoming a talent was the remnant soul’s doing or not could be put aside for the moment. But that the remnant soul had, up to now, still been sending soul power over was probably true.
And she had clearly said before that the stronger Kael became, the faster the remnant soul would disappear.
Yet even so, the remnant soul was still sparing no effort to help Kael grow stronger and to fulfill its own obsession, even if it meant completely dispersing in the end.
From this angle, Kael had indeed taken a bit of advantage of the remnant soul.
And in the silver-haired girl’s view, since Kael had received this benefit, he ought to pay a price for it.
Whether this line of logic was right or wrong was not something to be commented on, for it belonged to her personal system of ideas, and it was hard to distinguish clearly between right and wrong.
At this moment, the silver-haired girl looked at the seemingly even more at-a-loss Kael and spoke again: 「As to how you choose, that is for you yourself to decide. However, what I want to remind you of is this: can his will truly and completely dictate your thoughts? It would not hurt to think about it.」
Once she finished speaking, the silver-haired girl no longer looked at Kael.
And after hearing that final remark from the silver-haired girl, Kael lowered his head and fell into a long period of deep contemplation……
At this moment, the silver-haired girl finally turned her gaze toward Angel.
For a time, no one spoke; the air, for once, became so still and silent.
Although Kael’s matter was quite interesting, it was, after all, only Kael’s personal affair; compared to this, they still cared more about what Gift-Words the silver-haired girl would give to Angel.
One had to know that earlier the silver-haired girl had directly skipped over Angel!
Moreover, previously, the silver-haired girl’s Time Body, the rabbit girl Laplace, had also not given Angel any trial, but had simply tossed the mask out directly.
And there was also that abnormal degree of attention the silver-haired girl paid to Angel.
All these various details hooked everyone’s curiosity. They truly wondered why Angel was being treated with such grave respect by the silver-haired girl.
Yes, with grave respect. Not only did Daus think so; the others could also see that when the silver-haired girl dealt with Angel, she was clearly far more solemn than she was with anyone else.
What exactly was the reason for this?
Just as everyone cranked their curiosity straight to the limit and waited for the silver-haired girl’s Gift-Words, the silver-haired girl instead let out a deep sigh.
This was the first time they had seen such a large reaction of expression on her face.
「I failed.」
Everyone, Angel: 「？？？」
The silver-haired girl: 「Laplace is unable to establish a link with you.」
When she said this, the silver-haired girl once again took out the mask made from old stone; she lowered her head to look at the mask and shook her head: 「The mask has indeed formed a fate-bridge with you, but it has not reflected any Gift-Words in my heart.」
「So, I have failed. I am unable, by any means, to observe you. This also means that the request the Wise One made of me is something I cannot fulfill.」
At this point, everyone also understood why she had been skipping over Angel all along: it was not that she was unwilling to analyze Angel, but that she was fundamentally unable to analyze him.
It was like, in a book of analytical problems filled with runes, a recipe from a gourmet cuisine suddenly popped out instead: you could understand the wording of the question on the surface, but could not comprehend the inner substance.
The silver-haired girl raised her head and fixed her gaze on Angel: 「So, could you tell me why?」
Angel did not answer immediately, because he was also digesting what the other party had said.
Unable to establish a link? In other words, unable to establish cause and effect? Did he really have such an ability?
One had to remember that, according to the silver-haired girl’s account, even the Black Count had established a link; why was he himself unable to establish one?
To say that it was the Green Rune stirring up trouble, Angel felt…… it should not go that far.
Could it be that he truly had such a talent? Or was there something on his body that was veiling the links of which the other side spoke?
Angel thought it over carefully and in the end barely managed to sum up a few possibilities.
He ranked them in order from least likely to most likely.
First of all, he still had to mention the Green Rune, for the Green Rune had its own irreplaceable special qualities.
But from beginning to end Angel had not sensed any movement from the Green Rune, so in his view this possibility was the smallest.
Next came the Source Fire.
The special nature of the Source Fire went without saying, so there was a slight possibility. But if it really was because of the Source Fire, then wouldn’t that mean the silver-haired girl should be unable to see the links of all Laudsourcians? Because once the Source Fire is ignited, all Laudsourcians can sense it and receive its protection.
And there were far too many matters related to Laudsourcians in this underground sewer; if it truly had to do with the Source Fire, the silver-haired girl ought to have been able to perceive it.
Aside from the Source Fire, Angel also thought of Blood Night Sanctuary.
This was a cloak for preventing being prophesied upon, and into it had been fused a small gift from the Time Thief: it could withstand the gaze of legendary wizards.
Although it was only single-use, it still caused Blood Night Sanctuary’s counter-scrying ability to reach an unprecedented level.
Therefore, Blood Night Sanctuary was also a possibility, of course, on the premise that the silver-haired girl’s so-called 「reflection of the heart」 ability was related to prophecy.
Next after that was the Wilderness of Dreams.
The core authority of the Wilderness of Dreams resided within his Mental Space; in a certain sense, he was also the lord of a small realm. In such an identity, perhaps he could resist the connections of links?
The above were Angel’s rough guesses.
Aside from these possibilities, Angel thought of one more, namely: the Heavenly Eye.
However, the Heavenly Eye was far too low-key; apart from revealing its peculiarity during planar fusion, at other times it was basically no different from an ordinary mundane object.
So the Heavenly Eye could only count as a backup option.
If there truly was some ability or item capable of resisting links, he would most likely still have to start with the Green Rune, the Source Fire, Blood Night Sanctuary, and the Wilderness of Dreams.