Chapter 430 Gloria's Decision <TOC> Chapter 432 Silent Hill
Translator: SumTLMan
Amidst the clear and translucent sky, veiled by a mist, a delicate and dreamy little boat leisurely sailed from the end of the clouds.
With the sky as the ocean, ripples and patterns formed beneath the boat, similar to the water ripples when sailing on the sea. White foam trailed behind, creating a carefree scene. However, the boat’s speed far exceeded one’s imagination. In one moment, it would be above the endless mountain range, and the next, over boundless grasslands.
The boat’s ends were curved upwards, resembling a crescent moon.
Carvings of the sun, moon, and stars adorned the bow and stern, accompanied by a semi-transparent stardust veil covering the “moon.” Fluttering in the wind, it seemed even more dreamlike.
Four people were seated in the boat, three men and one woman. One of the men, with a naive face, was fast asleep in a small compartment at the rear of the boat. The other three were all in the front area.
A handsome yet mischievous man was despondently lying on the central mechanism table, looking utterly disheartened and sighing repeatedly.
“You have your own flying vehicle, so why bother hitching a ride on my Gondola?” Angel, initially lying on a reclining chair with his eyes closed as if napping, couldn’t bear the constant sighs from Shadow any longer and spoke up.
Shadow looked pitifully at Angel, “I’m already like this, and you still want to see me make a fool of myself. Besides, your flying boat…”
“Gondola,” Angel corrected.
“Alright, and your Gondola is quite spacious and faster than my battle steed cloak. Anyway, whether you’re alone or with two people, adding one more person doesn’t really matter.” As Shadow spoke, he caressed the exquisite runes on the Gondola’s walls and gazed at the dreamy starry veil covering the entire boat, his eyes filled with envy and jealousy. Such a stylish and cool vehicle, with a speed nearly reaching that of a mid-tier flying vehicle, would probably cost several thousand magic crystals at an auction. Yet Angel casually crafted it, truly a detestable alchemist!
Angel just rolled his eyes. A battle steed cloak? More like a noblewoman’s cloak.
As for having an extra person and a magic puppet on board, Angel didn’t really mind. As Shadow said, whether one or four people were on the boat, the same amount of magic crystals would be consumed, so it didn’t matter if more passengers were on board.
“I don’t mind having you on board, but can you please sigh less? It’s just returning the shadows; what’s there to be heartbroken about?” Angel said helplessly.
The reason Shadow kept sighing was that over a hundred shadows he had collected in Watthelmgrass over the years were forced to be returned.
The story started yesterday. The news of him and Shadow returning to Watthelmgrass soon reached Leonrique’s ears.
Upon thinking about his daughter’s growing weakness and his wife’s tear-stained face every night, Leonrique contemplated for a long time before writing a will. With the last glimmer of hope and the determination to face possible death, he visited Angel’s villa in the Bay Area late at night.
Fortunately, Angel had lifted the illusions outside the villa, knowing he would be leaving Watthelmgrass the next day. Leonrique’s knock on the door happened to be answered by Grandma Dushana, and with Angel’s silent approval, he finally entered the room and spoke face to face with Shadow.
Leonrique knelt before Shadow, praying for it to return the shadows to the people and his daughter.
Shadow sneered at this request, as if it would ever agree to it. Angel didn’t interject either.
However, in the end, Shadow did agree. The reason was… Naga was jealous after learning the truth!
Once Naga became jealous, Shadow really couldn’t resist. Comparing the value of Naga and the shadows of ordinary people, Shadow reluctantly returned its collection of shadows to Leonrique.
Because of this, Leonrique had been wearing a mournful expression for a whole day.
“It was my collection for all these years!” Shadow wailed incessantly until the three Gami brothers came out to console it.
Angel glanced at Naga, who was rolling her eyes across from Shadow. Although Shadow was her master, she didn’t want to use force, especially since she was the cause of the situation. Naga could only hold in her anger.
Seeing Angel looking over, Naga’s eyes brightened, and she made a gesture: sew his mouth shut!
Angel had wanted to take action against Shadow for a while, but he didn’t dare act rashly with Naga present. However, since Naga was now encouraging him, he smirked evilly and gently pointed at the shadow.
A breath imbued with the Nightmare Illusion effect landed on Shadow’s brow.
Shadow had no defenses against Angel and was caught off guard, succumbing to the spell.
Shadow turned in surprise, trying to speak for a long time, but could only open its mouth, unable to utter a single word. It pointed at Angel, looking as if he had betrayed it.
Angel appeared nonchalant, as if it was none of his business.
Shadow turned its pitiful gaze to Naga, hoping she would help him. However, Naga “misunderstood” his intention, pulled him into her embrace, and tightly hugged him, rendering him immobile.
Finally, silence!
Angel gave Naga a thumbs up, then closed his eyes, feigning sleep.
Although pretending to sleep, Angel was actually recalling the notebook his mentor had given him, which contained almost all the tricks of the Illusion School of magic.
Having essentially mastered the basics, Angel began to focus his attention on advanced illusions.
His application of illusions was still limited; although he had arranged the Nightmare Domain well, he was not skilled in attack-oriented illusion spells. Moreover, he was about to face the selection of disciplines, and he was still a bit confused about it. These required learning illusion spells gradually to make judgments.
Angel recalled all the records in his notebook, and his attention gradually focused on the first-level spell, Fear.
The Fear Spell, a first-level mental illusion spell, works by manipulating desires to evoke fear in others.
In fact, Angel had used a similar effect on Tyrell, one of the two great national doctors of Watthelmgrass. At that time, he used nightmare aura to create the illusion of ghosts to frighten him.
However, the Fear Spell is different from simply scaring others.
Everyone has different standards for fear; some are afraid of ghosts, some of beasts, while others simply fear certain past events, people, or environments. In such cases, it is not easy to truly scare someone, until the birth of the Fear Spell.
After studying it for a long time, Angel basically had a concept of the Fear Spell.
Upon understanding the whole concept, Angel wondered if using the nightmare aura as a foundation for the Fear Spell would turn the fear thoughts into reality.
Angel calculated and found that it seemed to be a possibility.
With this in mind, Angel decided to temporarily prioritize learning the Fear Spell.
Moreover, the Fear Spell is a mental illusion spell. Mental illusion is a branch under the large framework of illusion spells. It is a discipline that combines the understanding of human emotions, the interpretation of details, and the combination of desires, thoughts, and emotions.
Angel just planned to learn a little of each illusion branch discipline’s spells and then use this to determine his future direction in illusion spells.
…
Night had fallen, and the stars were shining.
Under the backdrop of the starry night, the Gondola seemed even more ethereal and magnificent.
In the originally quiet cabin, a rumbling sound suddenly came from the small partition in the back.
Angel opened his eyes.
At the same time, Shadow sitting opposite him also opened its eyes and looked at Angel.
“Your little pet seems to be hungry?” Shadow said with a smile.
Angel glanced at Shadow, not knowing when it had removed the silence effect. Looking at the nightmare aura entwined around Nagas’ fingers, he suddenly understood.
Angel ignored Shadow’s joke and whispered “Totoro.” From the partition behind him, a low squeak was heard.
Angel flipped over and walked into the partition.
Seeing Angel come in, Totoro showed a face of affection and joy. Angel sat down opposite him, took out some food and water from his bracelet, and Totoro shyly covered his stomach.
“Go ahead and eat.” At Angel’s prompting, Totoro shyly picked up the food and ate it slowly.
Angel propped his chin on his hand, watching Totoro. His eating was very graceful, and he didn’t know if it was the good teaching of Granny Du or an innate habit.
Angel remembered Granny Du’s words when he left last night: “After these days of teaching, Totoro can basically understand common language. However… he seems a bit too introverted.”
“He can actually have basic conversations with people, but as soon as there are outsiders, he hides in a shell and won’t say a word.”
Angel didn’t feel this way initially because Totoro was always affectionate and enthusiastic towards him. But since getting on the Gondola, Totoro had indeed become as Granny Du said, not saying a word and being very nervous, not knowing where to put his hands and feet.
Angel had no choice but to put him in a separate partition. He couldn’t do anything about this introverted and timid personality for now, and he could only wait and see if it could be improved later.
When Totoro had filled his stomach, Angel suddenly remembered something: “Where is your… bowl?”
He asked half of the question and then paused. Shadow was still outside, and it was inappropriate to ask about the “bowl” rashly. Moreover, Angel could feel that Shadow seemed to be very interested in Hippocrates’s Akeso.
Angel thought for a moment, and when Totoro left, he seemed to have brought a cloth bag with him, containing some change of clothes, and threw the bag into his bracelet.
Angel sent his mental energy into the bracelet and quickly found Totoro’s cloth bag.
In the bag, Angel saw that bowl.
Since the bowl was still there, he also felt relieved.
Just as he was about to detach his mental energy from the bracelet, he suddenly saw that on the square of the building model on the other side, the Kulakuka people were busy planting vegetables, and some were enthusiastically transplanting the saplings of fruit trees brought by the hummingbird knights.
Everyone was busy preparing for their future lives, even the children were watering the fields. Only Grandma Babaya was sitting on the building’s steps, with her freshly made cheese and moon fruit wraps placed beside her, occasionally calling people over to eat.
Her legs were inconvenient for labor, and everyone understood. However, Grandma Babaya felt a little guilty and could only contribute what little she could.
After everyone had finished their work, Grandma Babaya would call the children to her side, take out a storybook, and read it to them slowly.
“Can you read?” Angel’s voice reached Babaya’s ears.
Grandma Babaya was startled for a moment and, seeing that no one around her reacted, realized that the Lord was speaking to her.
“Yes, I can read,” Grandma Babaya replied somewhat nervously.
Angel thought for a moment. He didn’t have time to teach Totoro, and he didn’t know how long he would be on the road this time. If Totoro were to become lazy due to not studying for an extended period, it would be a problem.
Angel initially didn’t plan to disturb the lives of the Kulakuka tribe, but since Grandma Babaya seemed to be idle, this would be an opportunity to teach Totoro.
He also hoped that through interacting with Grandma Babaya, Totoro could open up.
With this in mind, Angel said, “Alright, then I have a task for you.”