novelraw Chapter 347: Dagon's Divine Authority
Chapter 347: Dagon's Divine Authority
"Really? It sounds like there are truly many interesting things at the university. Then where did you live back then? Did you live together with classmates?"
"I suppose you could call him a classmate, although he wasn't in the same academy as me. He studied commerce. At the time, that was a new and popular academy, and many wealthy families hoped their children would study there... I majored in magic, occasionally studying a bit of philosophy and humanities."
After finishing viewing that massive Colorful-Winged Whale, Valentiina and Fisher took a stroll along the seaside together. Perhaps it was because her only way of knowing the Northern Ocean was through the photographs her mother gave her, the scenery of the adjacent ocean continuously repeated itself, much like a repeated playback formed by infinitely overlapping a single segment of imagery. This caused Fisher to keep his gaze fixed on Valentiina, who was walking not far ahead with her hands behind her back.
She was no longer running, chatting with Fisher about some things from the past—about him. Following Fisher's gaze from behind, one would discover her fair cheeks and ears were dyed crimson. This was exactly why she didn't walk shoulder-to-shoulder with Fisher.
Young and inexperienced Valentiina—in front of that bustling peerless scenery just now, perhaps because of a certain sentence from Fisher's mouth, or perhaps seeing his handsome side profile, pushed by emotions, she suddenly and impulsively kissed Fisher, towards whom she harbored considerable affection.
Clearly, there had never been such intimate behavior before, and clearly they hadn't even held hands. Yet, she went too far and made such an impulsive action. She had probably already reached the point of dying from shyness the moment she kissed him, so she didn't even dare to listen to Fisher calling her name, deeply afraid that her extremely flustered appearance would be discovered by him.
But after all, impulsiveness is a privilege of the young. Being driven by emotions to act without thinking might either be criticized by some or sung praises of by others. Back when he hadn't yet graduated, Fisher dared to hurl vicious curses at Dami'an, who was handing him his degree certificate during the graduation ceremony; even the infallible Elizabeth tasted the forbidden fruit of kissing Fisher due to impulsiveness during her student days...
Therefore, Fisher, who didn't suffer the slightest disadvantage but merely enjoyed it, decided not to make any comments. He just pretended not to know that Valentiina was currently so shy she didn't dare to look at him, quietly following behind her and chatting casually.
"Magic Academy, huh... So you also met Empress Elizabeth during your university days? Did she study magic too?"
"...No, she studied in the Military Academy.""Oh, I didn't expect you could end up together even while not being in the same academy. Impressive, impressive."
"..."
Fisher, whose expression had been quite relaxed just a moment ago, slowed down a bit. Clearly, he hadn't expected Valentiina to suddenly bring up Elizabeth.
It made sense. Back when people from Naris came, she probably already realized that his relationship with Elizabeth wasn't ordinary. Only, out of respect for him back then, she didn't get to the bottom of the matter. Now that their relationship had taken a step further and she was completely honest with him, she naturally hoped to know more about Fisher as well.
Hearing that the Fisher behind her wasn't responding, Valentiina, who was kicking at ice blocks on the ground with her hands behind her back, reproachfully turned her head around. Looking at the expression he wore as he gazed at her, she sighed, smiled, and said,
"Why the silence? I... I don't care who you had relationships with before. Even if you had them, they're gone now anyway. I'm just asking. After all, I've never attended school, so I'm somewhat envious of the feeling of studying while being in a romance at a university. I know that whether for you or for her, it is a precious memory. Even though things remain but people change now, you wouldn't easily throw it away, right? Rest assured, I won't take these things to heart."
"...Thank you."
Due to Fisher's invisible yet highly considerate care, and after this brief period of casual chatting, the extremely conspicuous crimson blush on her face finally faded a little. Yet hearing Valentiina's gentle words, Fisher didn't feel relaxed in the slightest. On the contrary, he found it even harder to speak.
Valentiina seemed to think that he had only ever had a relationship with Elizabeth.
Hiding it on his face, Fisher caught up to her pace, quickly arriving by her side. Normally, even if Eimhart were constantly blabbering and ruining the mood, it wouldn't matter, not to mention that right now it was just the two of them alone. Valentiina didn't detect Fisher's inner thoughts at all, only carefully adapting her pace to gradually match that of the Fisher beside her.
They quietly walked another stretch of distance, until right as Fisher was about to say something, he suddenly heard a sound. It was the crisp noise of glass continuously shattering, coming from an unknown origin.
"Crack! Crack! Crack!"
Fisher and Valentiina's footsteps stopped simultaneously. Except, unlike Fisher looking around left and right, Valentiina appeared very calm. She gently patted Fisher's shoulder to draw his attention back to her, then pointed at the sky and said,
"The magic is about to lose its effect, Fisher. Be a bit careful in a moment. Relax, don't stand up all at once and knock my tent down."
Before Fisher even had time to reply, he felt the surrounding scenery collapsing and shattering bit by bit. The next second, he immediately felt the surrounding temperature plummet drastically, returning from the warmth under the sunlight to the coldness of Mya's night. His vision was once again filled with darkness, with only the sound of Valentiina's panting beside him remaining constant.
"Valentiina?"
In the darkness, he spoke softly.
"Mm, I'm here. Are you alright? When we entered the magic just now, you dazed out for a long time. The magic Mother gave me is indeed very strange to use at first."
The bed inside the tent was simple and crude. The robust Fisher lying together with the petite Valentiina made it seem a bit crowded. Since they hadn't pulled the covers over themselves earlier, Fisher, worried she might feel cold, didn't act rashly to get up, but merely replied,
"I'm fine..."
Hearing Fisher's voice, Valentiina smiled faintly. Lying straight on the bed, she hesitated for a moment before gently reaching her icy hand out towards Fisher beside her, placing it on his lower abdomen.
"That's good... When I was young, what I loved most was going in there to play. Every day I absolutely had to stay until the released magical energy was exhausted before coming out. As I grew older, the time I spent inside grew shorter and shorter, until eventually I stopped going in entirely. If I hadn't wanted to take you to see the scenery in my heart, Fisher, I probably wouldn't have used this magic ever again."
Fisher turned his head to look at the magic pendant she gripped in her hand. Radiating a faint pink glow, the pendant appeared extremely warm. But he quickly noticed that the permanent magic crest upon it had already grown very faint. He estimated it would be rendered useless after a few more uses, reducing to ashes and smoke just like his magic wand in the Southern Continent. Hence, he asked inquiringly,
"Is it because the crest is about to lose its effectiveness? If you'd like, you can let me study it, and I can carve another one for you later."
Hearing this, however, Valentiina shook her head.
"No. It's not because the magic is about to lose its effectiveness, but because, you see... in the magic's dream, I am a complete person. I can experience the feeling of running wantonly and moving freely; these are the things I've always yearned for even in my dreams. But since it is a sweet dream, there definitely comes a time to wake up, just like right now..."
"People often say that if you don't give someone light, they won't know what darkness is. Having experienced such wonderful sensations only to return to ice-cold reality—that sense of disparity is enough to drive a person mad. I've heard there are many addicts in the West Continent addicted to illegal drugs. Isn't that also exactly how they fall into the abyss of destruction?"
Her voice became calm once more. Except, Fisher, possessing night vision, clearly noticed her gaze remained fixed on her legs the entire time. There, down there, she felt nothing at all right now. It was as if they had been severed clean in twain by a blade, occasionally only transmitting unbearable phantom pain, as if trying to embed her into the wheelchair.
"So, since a long time ago, I rarely entered the dream. Because this would present me with an option... when I truly couldn't endure the torment of the Genetic Disease, or when the pressure from other things made it impossible to breathe, I'm afraid I would really stay in the dream, never wanting to wake up forever... But if things were like that, it would make me betray the kindness others have shown me. I don't wish for that."
"Valentiina..."
"I know, I know. You're going to bring up the words you said earlier, right?"
Valentiina seemingly wanted to turn sideways towards Fisher beside her, just like in the dream. But when her lower half, unmoving like iron, failed to shift, she dazedly froze for a second, her upper body returning to a flat, lying posture.
"I understand. Don't misunderstand... the things I did in the dream weren't just to repay you for being good to me. I... I'm just very happy because you are still by my side. So when you asked me if there was any desire I could give my all for, all I thought was: How wonderful it would be if I could truly run and frolic with you in reality like that."
"I see..."
As she spoke, Fisher, beside her, suddenly sat up from the bed, scaring Valentiina into suddenly reaching out and covering her body, deeply afraid that the Fisher next to her would violently rise and fulfill the prophecy she saw in the True Ice...
However, Fisher didn't do this. He simply turned his head to look at Valentiina, extending a hand towards her.
"Since that is the case, I will definitely bring you to the Sycamore Tree. However, this journey won't be easy. There's a terrifying enemy waiting for me to deal with. It's highly probable that both of us could lose our lives in the process..."
"Is it the Naris people chasing you, or that curse of some sort?"
"Neither. You don't need to worry about those things; just leave them to me."
Fisher was speaking of the Lord of Life named "Erwind." Originally, he thought that if his Life Rank roughly caught up to Erwind, he could fight against him. Yet previously, even just one of his creations required him to use many high-ring spells to deal with. Although there were other interfering factors, up until now, Erwind's main body had never yet fought with his full strength...
And he was just a single step away from the Mythic Rank.
To this day, Fisher had never truly witnessed a Mythic Rank battle. When Eliog appeared, she only had a Fourteenth-Tier soul. Xuan Can had also just had a brief, single encounter with him. Naturally, he also couldn't genuinely comprehend the methods of high-rank creatures that appeared in the ancient era and could be hailed as "Mythic" by humans. Fisher could only prepare for the worst-case scenario to deal with Erwind.
Right now, he didn't have many Magic Materials left to prepare magic. Ahead lay the curse of the Sycamore Tree, behind were the pursuers from Elizabeth and the Turan Family. He had to take the disabled Valentiina along while confronting Erwind lying in ambush in the dark, and furthermore, he had to climb the completely unbroken, endless forbidden life zone—the Sema Mountains—without carrying any equipment...
"It's already late now, get a good rest. We'll have to be fully focused starting tomorrow morning... Goodnight, Valentiina."
Sitting on Valentiina's bed, the pressure bearing down upon Fisher was unprecedentedly heavy, yet the tone he used to converse with Valentiina was as relaxed as possible. Following this, he stood up, preparing to leave Valentiina's tent to rest.
The conditions here were simply too crude; the soundproofing effect was equal to zero. If they were to actually even officially begin, they would probably have Heidelin—who lived right next door to Valentiina—charging in and violently beating him up... Moreover, Valentiina had already done excellently today. He didn't want to defile the feelings that radiant girl in the dream held for him just to vent his desires, not even at this very moment.
"Wait, this is for you..."
Fisher turned to look, only to see Valentiina handing him the necklace inscribed with the "Sweet Dream" magic. The pinkish glow swirling upon it instantly caught Fisher's attention.
"Are you sure? Isn't this what your mother left for you?"
Valentiina didn't retract her hand, merely smiling as she said,
"It's fine. It couldn't be used many more times anyway. My mother left me many things, and I have kept all of them safely preserved... Besides, I have already found something far more beautiful than 'Sweet Dream'..."
Fisher stood slightly dumbfounded in the darkness, subsequently letting out a chuckle as well. He reached out and took the pendant—still tainted with her body warmth—from her hand.
"Then it is better to obey than to defer respectfully. Thank you."
"Goodnight, Fisher."
Fisher didn't speak further. He simply draped the Snow Fox-kin blanket from beside over her. It seemed to be made from the fur of some kind of animal, so it was quite thick and heavy. Covering her with it was just right, leaving only her small head exposed, which should be sufficient to keep her warm throughout the night.
Immediately after, Fisher turned around and left her tent, walking quietly and soundlessly back to his own tent. On his bed, Eimhart—who had been sleeping soundly—wasn't snoring. Upon hearing the sounds at the door, he hurriedly sat up. After catching sight of Fisher's figure, he lay back down again, muttering,
"You convinced that little girl from the Turan family to go back to sleep? Why'd it take so long? Don't tell me you did some bad things over at her place... Oh, that's not right. Between us, I know exactly what you do. How could you return without putting in at least a few hours..."
"Shut up and sleep."
"Yes, yes, yes... Oh my, even grabbing something she gifted you to come back and sleep with. Let me see what kind of thing it is... A pendant? Yo, a token of love, hm? Wait until I move her name slightly up on the list. I think... Ouch!"
Fisher lay down beside Eimhart. Listening to his incessantly chattering drake-like voice was truly annoying, so Fisher shoved his body under the blanket to keep him from talking any further.
However, he really didn't feel sleepy at this moment either. The young girl's appearance, and the various dangers impending the next day, made it somewhat difficult for him to fall asleep. Simply not bothering to sleep anymore, he devoted himself entirely to studying the strange magic Valentiina had just given him in his hand.
He rotated the bizarre magic crest upon it. While recalling the details of entering that strange state with Valentiina earlier, he rested his gaze on the starting position of the magic.
That was an extremely strange Magic Circle Head, composed of two parts—an upper and a lower. The upper part was an inverted figure-eight symbol, like a weird graphic with only one surface formed by twisting a strip of paper 180 degrees and joining the ends together. As for the regular symbol below it, he recognized it—it was the [Reality] Circle Head, a high-ring Circle Head with relatively few applications.
And that faint pinkish glow burst forth precisely from between the upper and lower symbols. It seemed the parts that truly took effect were formed by the respective sides of the upper and lower components. Combining this with the experience of his soul entering the dream just now, Fisher suddenly understood the meaning of this Circle Head.
When he entered Valentiina's dreamscape earlier, he found it immensely miraculous, because back when he left Saint-Nazareth, he had also entered that place. Only, back then he and those demons had entered with their physical bodies, so he didn't experience the properties there in the slightest...
Yes, that was the Crevice between the Spirit World and Reality.
Recall that previously, when Fisher was studying the Soul Completion Handbook, he felt quite curious about this Crevice with bizarre properties, not knowing its specific function. Yet now, Fisher could roughly arrive at a preliminary conclusion.
The Spirit World housed turbid and unclear souls. Aside from a few distinct "stars," they were all chaotic and impossible to streamline and order. But in the physical world, everyone's consciousness was clear and independent. These were two extreme states; this transformation wasn't achieved overnight, but rather required a transitional buffer zone.
According to Caleb Uz's doctrine, the territory within the Spirit World was a forbidden zone untouched by the interference of any deity. Therefore, Dagon's duty was actually not limited to merely acting as [The Gate]. The Crevice between the world and the Spirit World was the Rule he created—a tool for translating the chaos of the Spirit World. And as manifested specifically in consciousness, it was somewhat similar to [Subconscious] or [Dream]—states of consciousness situated between wakefulness and chaos.
And the strange Circle Head created by Valentiina's mother leverged the World's Echo, allowing the targeted subjects' souls to temporarily sever from their physical bodies and enter this intermediate state. And based on the translation Rules established by Dagon, the things he and Valentiina constructed using their souls in the dream were also situated between the two.
They possessed the appearance and properties of the physical world, yet could only exert effects upon souls. If a soul were strong enough, it could even create incredibly, incredibly complex creations out of thin air within the Crevice... But the amount of mana consumed by that would simply be far too colossal, and it would also cause extremely severe damage to the soul. No wonder Valentiina warned him not to construct living creatures. Because that meant you had to use your soul to construct another conscious soul; that might require leveraging the consciousness within the Spirit World...
Fisher drew a sharp breath of cold air. Peronally, his impression of the god Dagon previously was entirely limited to the singular feeling of "the gatekeeper." Compared to Ramastia or several other deities Caleb Uz mentioned in the handbook, he seemed very low-level. It wasn't until now that he discovered Dagon's Divine Authority was exceptionally exaggerated.
The sensation of discovering knowledge made Fisher feel immensely invigorated deep in the night. Deeply enamored, he continuously studied every structure on this magic, unwilling to miss even a single detail. It wasn't until the very end that he poetically bestowed the name [Dream] upon this Circle Head, serving to commemorate the wonderful journey he experienced together with Valentiina tonight.
As for Eimhart beside him, he originally wanted to wait for him to sleep together. However, seeing him completely engrossed in studying the magic, finding it unbearably sleepy, Eimhart could only sigh and silently burrow into his embrace, falling asleep all by himself.
Fisher looked down at him with an involuntary smile. Though he helplessly patted the book's body, he ultimately didn't push him away.
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(End of this chapter)