Translator: SumTLMan
Babaya was assigned the last part to sing. She looked a little nervous, constantly taking deep breaths after stepping on stage, and her hands didn’t seem to know where to place themselves, sometimes resting on her waist and other times on the hem of her skirt.
Angel chuckled, not expecting this girl, who was so good at acting in front of them, to have such a nervous side.
“Do you know Babaya, Lord?” the High Priest asked.
Angel nodded: “This girl has quite good acting skills.”
Acting? The High Priest was confused.
Shadow, however, said: “You call her a little girl, but you might be younger than her.”
Speaking of age, the High Priest looked at Angel. When talking to him, he had only noticed his mature tone and had never considered his age. Upon closer inspection, he seemed to be quite young, with a delicate face that still retained a hint of childishness.
The High Priest thought for a moment: “Babaya seems to be seventeen years old this year.”
Angel paused, a barely perceptible blush crossing his face. She was indeed one year older than him! Sometimes it was difficult to change a fixed impression; he saw Babaya as a thumb-sized girl, naturally equating her small stature with her young age.
“See, I told you, didn’t I? I think you are probably not even seventeen yet.” Shadow seemed to be teasing, but his eyes were filled with envy that he couldn’t hide. Angel’s achievements at such a young age completely shattered his confidence and pride built up over nearly thirty years, making it hard for him to bear.
Angel tried to remain calm, sneering in response to Shadow’s questioning.
Shadow’s eyes twitched; he was certain Angel was embarrassed, but with such an expression, it seemed like anything he said now would be inappropriate. He could only curse in his heart: “Prideful soul.”
The first three singers quickly finished their parts, and the disc-shaped mysterious object remained unresponsive, just as before, showing that none of these three were part of the 3%.
Finally, it was Babaya’s turn. She took a deep breath, quickly adjusting her greenish dress and stepping into place.
Her right palm rested on her chest, ready to start singing.
However, her very first note seemed to drift away into the sky. Perhaps due to her nerves, Babaya’s voice cracked, and she froze on the spot, looking utterly lost.
The priests looked at each other, while the singers below covered their mouths, snickering secretly.
Tears welled up in Babaya’s eyes.
Just when Babaya thought she was too embarrassed, she suddenly felt a cool sensation in the center of her eyebrows and a calming force emanating from her brow.
For a moment, all the surrounding sounds quieted down.
“Sing.” said Fiona in a gentle, melodious female voice. However, for some reason, the image of another person flashed through Babaya’s mind, a human with a clear and elegant male voice.
Babaya looked around and found that everyone had become silent. Apart from the faint sound of the wind, there were no other noises in her ears.
A refreshing sensation came from Babaya’s brow again, and she seemed to see a green meadow, a moonlit tree, and her beloved grandmother.
“The….” Babaya began to sing, and this time her syllables were no longer drifting but accurately hit the musical scale: “The fourth hero, accompanied by a sacred hymn, opened the door in the sky…”
Babaya’s singing finally returned to a normal level, clear and melodious.
“I didn’t expect you to be quite a gentleman.” Shadow conveyed mentally, Angel played a significant role in Babaya’s ability to sing again. Even that sentence of Fiona’s “sing” was spoken by Angel. However, a little illusion magic was used so that others could not tell.
“It’s just a small effort.” Angel responded noncommittally.
“You’re too lenient on mortals, which could become a weakness for your enemies to exploit.” Shadow suddenly said.
“So, are you going to hinder me with mortals?”
Shadow gave a sheepish smile: “I’m not your enemy, and besides, haven’t we already reconciled?”
Angel laughed and did not continue the conversation further.
After Babaya finished singing, she took a deep breath, joined the other three, and walked to the front of the stage to face the High Priest.
The High Priest looked at the untouched treasure on the other side and shook his head: “Step down, next group.”
They looked somewhat disheartened, and a touch of sadness flashed in Babaya’s eyes. One could only compete once in a lifetime, and she missed this opportunity to join the Sky Choir, never to have another chance. Thinking of the villagers in the Woodbud Village who had high hopes for her, she couldn’t help but let her tears flow.
The other unsuccessful singers also cried, but under the expulsion of the priests, they could only silently leave the Centennial Hall.
“Poor things, if they knew that the Sky Choir selection isn’t about their singing talent, they would probably be devastated.” Shadow said as he watched a group of crying girls, with the word “poor” on his lips but a tone full of schadenfreude.
Shadow’s words made the High Priest lower his head. Angel glanced at him but said nothing.
After this group of singers left, there were not many singers left in the Centennial Hall.
“What should we do if there are no qualified singers this year?” Angel asked.
The High Priest glanced at Fiona: “If no suitable singers are selected, this descendant will personally search for them, and in the end, they will definitely be found.”
The High Priest implied that Black Castle had a special method for finding people.
However, now that Fiona was controlled by Shadow, even if there were special ways to find people, they could not be used. They could only pray that there would be a suitable songstress later.
Their luck wasn’t too bad.
After two more groups, a bloodline holder finally appeared in the new batch of people.
This was a songstress with a black birthmark on her face. As soon as she started singing, the High Priest exclaimed in surprise.
Because the disc-shaped Mysterious Object suddenly emitted a bright light. Moreover, it contracted and expanded as if it were a living, breathing organism.
“You, stay on stage. The rest of you, leave.” The High Priest pointed at the girl with the black birthmark.
The girl was startled, revealing an ecstatic expression, while the others reluctantly left the Centennial Hall.
“Starting today, you are a member of the Sky Choir.” The High Priest recalled the girl’s name: “Your name is Yelena, right?”
Still in a state of excitement, the girl nodded her head.
“Yelena, once you have calmed down, start your performance. This solo is the key to joining the Sky Choir. Be sure not to make any mistakes.” The High Priest said solemnly, stating that in order to activate the Mysterious Object, every lyric had to be sung correctly; otherwise, not only would it fail to activate, it would also enter a cooldown period of 300 days.
Yelena also understood the gravity of this matter and tried her best to calm her emotions while standing on stage.
“Do you think she’ll make a mistake like Babaya?” Shadow curiously asked while looking at Yelena, whose chest heaved with every breath.
“Don’t jinx it.” Angel replied irritably.
Although it was unlikely that what Shadow said would happen, since the —Fairy Epic— was not long and these songstresses had been reciting it since they were young, they should not make fundamental mistakes. However, sometimes it is better to be safe than sorry.
Angel thought for a moment and set up an illusion near Yelena.
From mountain forests and streams to vast snowfields; from continents in the clouds to starry nights. Angel set up illusions while observing Yelena’s reaction.
Her reaction was mainly curiosity, without much emotion.
It wasn’t until Angel created a stage with thousands of people and dazzling lights that Yelena’s emotions began to rise, and her eyes clearly showed excitement and enthusiasm.
It seemed that she was someone who longed for attention and desired the grand stage. Angel thought for a moment and placed Yelena in the center of the crowd, with the spotlight focused on her, basking in the glorious attention.
At the same time, Angel also released a row of Teacup musicians. In the past, their music had been hard to listen to, but after the last collaboration with Babaya, Angel realized that it wasn’t that the Teacup Band couldn’t play good music; it was probably because the creatures in the Nightmare Plane had a different taste in music.
Indeed, under the enhancement of the Illusory Stage and the performance of the Teacup Band, Yelena displayed her best state.
As she sang, she didn’t make any mistakes in every syllable and even reached a peak state. As a result, the treasured disc began to constantly shine with a clear light.
The High Priest gently waved the disc, letting it float in mid-air.
“Both of you, as long as you are under the light’s brilliance, can purify your souls.” the High Priest said, letting the disc stay above their heads.
With Yelena’s singing, the clear light descended, and Angel felt as if his soul had entered a clear spring, with a mysterious power cleansing the impurities within his soul.
However, Angel’s soul was pure, so under the clear light, he only felt warm and relaxed, without too many impurities escaping.
On the other hand, Shadow constantly moaned in pleasure, as a large amount of black mist emerged from its soul, showing that it had more impurities than Angel.
The clear light grew stronger, and under its radiance, Angel felt soft and wanted to sleep deeply.
But at this moment, the clear light suddenly touched the gray mist in his soul… This gray mist was the embodiment of Gravity Lines. For the soul, it could be considered an impurity, but it also seemed beneficial. So the clear light lingered around the gray mist for a long time, as if considering what to do with it.
Angel’s mood also rose with the clear light, remembering that the High Priest had once pointed out the gray mist in his soul, and the clear light seemed useful.
But how it was useful, the High Priest didn’t say.
The clear light hovered outside the gray mist for a long time, eventually extending, slowly enveloping the gray mist like a thin film, and then gradually contracting…
In the end, the gray mist that permeated the depths of the soul contracted into a sphere, gathering the source of the gray mist and all the spreading gray mist together.
Then the clear light dissipated.
Angel was full of questions, simply gathering the gray mist together, not spreading it anymore, was that it? What about the purification they had talked about?
At the same time, the clear light of the disc treasure dissipated, returned to the High Priest’s hand, shrinking smaller and smaller until it disappeared.
As Angel was confused, Shadow stretched lazily, saying: “This trip was not in vain. I’ve removed nearly half of the impurities in my soul, and my chances of becoming an official wizard have increased.”
After that, Shadow looked at Angel: “I noticed earlier that your soul has very few impurities. Have you purified your soul before?”
Angel didn’t respond to Shadow but looked at the High Priest, wondering if what he meant by “the gray mist in your soul needs the next rain” was this?
The High Priest, however, whispered: “Lord, the lines in your body are not impurities, but if they spread throughout the soul, they may still cause problems. Now that they are gathered together, it’s a good thing.”