novelraw Chapter 463: Ideal State
Chapter 463: Ideal State
"Asuka, look at the flashlight... yes, exactly, just like that. Hm, very good... Mr. Karasawa, based on the observations and tests from the previous few times, Asuka is recovering very well. You've been very diligent and attentive in your care."
"Namo Amitabha, thank you, doctor. You flatter me, it's all due to your and Asuka's hard work; I merely provided a little advice."
"I see... it seems this is also the Buddha's grace. Asuka, your bipolar disorder is showing signs of full recovery. If there are no more episodes for the next period, you'll be able to return to school..."
"Namo Amitabha... It's just that Asuka hasn't been to school for a long time since she's been recuperating at home. I wonder if going to school will aggravate her condition?"
"...Hmm, that's indeed a possibility, but Asuka can't stay in the temple forever, right? So, Asuka, you need to work hard. Mr. Karasawa is very worried about you. You can do this, don't let the Buddha down."
The beam of the flashlight gradually shrank and darkened, but the doctor in the white coat and her father in the kasaya did not appear before Asuka Karasawa's eyes. Instead, she continued to hazily perceive the tatami-matted bedroom she inhabited.
"Thud... thud... thud... thud..."
The only difference was that the little television in front of her, which was originally broadcasting TV Tokyo's "Neon Genesis Evangelion," now seemed to have lost its signal. The screen was filled only with static snow and the noisy "hissing" sound of no signal.
As before, the homework she had to finish today was spread open on the small table in front of her, and beneath it seemed to lie the Buddhist scriptures she had been too lazy to copy down.
Like a doll, she stared blankly at the small television flickering with static. Yet, by her ears echoed the fine, rhythmic sound of a wooden fish being struck outside the bedroom, resembling a machine."All conditioned phenomena are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, and shadows."
"Like dew and like lightning; one should view them as such."
This is...
The Diamond Prajna Paramita Sutra.
Asuka Karasawa blankly turned her head to look at the closed sliding door. Tilting her head, she once again saw her father's figure, seemingly wearing a kasaya outside the door, as if he were simply kneeling there outside.
"...Dad?"
She blankly spoke thus, then slowly reached out toward the closed door. But just as she reached halfway, her father's shadow outside the door swayed slightly. Subsequently, her father's gentle voice came.
"Asuka..."
"Don't open the door."
"Haha..."
"Teacher Fisher!"
Panting and covered in cold sweat, Asuka Karasawa sat up. The memories in her mind ultimately froze on the image of Fisher, his entire body blooming with peach blossoms, wearing a ferocious expression as he tried to throw her and Mr. Mikhail out.
For some reason, as she thought about it, her eye sockets grew moist. Two streams of clear tears trickled down her cheeks, pooling at her chin.
"Are you okay?"
Asuka Karasawa rubbed her eyes and looked ahead, only to see the expressionless Nekelia looking at her. Asuka Karasawa immediately grasped the other party's hand and hurriedly pressed with questions.
"Ms. Nekelia, where is Teacher Fisher?! Weren't we just caught by some Lord Tao? Where are we now? Is Teacher Fisher okay? And Mr. Mikhail's head... where did Mr. Gou Wen and Angel Helaire go?"
This rapid-fire string of questions caused Nekelia's brain to crash instantly. The words reached her mouth, but she couldn't answer the questions in perfect order one by one. She seemed frightened by Asuka Karasawa, who was so agitated.
But fortunately, right when Asuka Karasawa excitedly wanted to continue questioning, a white robe was suddenly thrown over from behind, completely covering Asuka Karasawa's head.
"Mmh... who is it?"
"It's me, Fisher."
"Teacher Fisher?!"
Stunned, Asuka Karasawa pulled off the cloth thrown onto her head and turned to look behind. Naturally, she saw a living, breathing Fisher standing there with his arms crossed.
"You... you're okay? Waaahhh..."
"Mm, we successfully escaped and have already successfully returned to the Sanctuary. It's just that Helaire and Mikhail suffered very heavy injuries. Helaire's halo is broken; she needs to recuperate in the Second Heaven for a period. As for Mikhail..."
Fisher started talking about what happened when he and Gou Wen sent the two patients up to the other Heaven just now. His expression couldn't help but become somewhat strange.
"Mikhail's situation is somewhat peculiar. Raphael didn't like the implants inside his body and wanted to pull them all out before treating him. But Gou Wen felt those things were already deeply connected to him and couldn't be pulled out... and then the two of them started arguing."
"Eh?"
Before going up, Gou Wen kept claiming he was going up to secretly learn Archangel Raphael's healing arts. Yet, before staying for even fifteen minutes, he started arguing with him. Who knew what kind of learning this was? Though, of course, it was also possible their medical skills were growing through the clash?
"Then hasn't Mr. Mikhail still not been cured yet?"
"Not exactly..." Fisher sat on the edge of the Moon-Treading Ark, curled his lips, and said, "While they were treating him, that Michael came and brought Mikhail from the Second Heaven back to the Fifth Heaven without a word. Gou Wen also went up with Mikhail now; he should be able to treat him... By the way, aren't you going to put your clothes on? You're only wearing bear underwear right now."
Hearing this, Asuka Karasawa's face flushed red. She hurriedly used the white robe Fisher threw over just now to cover her body, pouting and complaining to Fisher.
"Teacher Fisher, you ecchi!"
"...What does that mean?"
Even though he was using a translation Relic, the meaning of that last letter wasn't accurately translated, leaving Fisher completely baffled.
"No, it's nothing!"
Asuka Karasawa hurriedly shook her head, quickly putting on the white robe. While putting it on, she also discovered she was bruised black and blue all over. Not having undergone systematic training, her skin was rather tender. Even though she hadn't directly suffered any attacks, she seemed heavily injured; she could feel obvious pain even just standing up.
Her face twitched in pain, but she still stepped off the Moon-Treading Ark as if she were perfectly fine, asking Fisher.
"Then what should we do next, Teacher Fisher? Oh right, have we figured out where the Tear of the World Tree went? Can we go tell Angel Pandora about this now? She said she could tell me the way home!"
Fisher meticulously noticed her mouth twitching due to pain. He crooked his finger at the thoroughly confused Asuka Karasawa, signaling her to come over. But in passing, he also thought about how everyone in the Creator's Society ultimately failed to leave this world. He couldn't help but remind her.
"Be wary of everything and don't hold too much hope. That way, even if the wish ultimately falls through, you won't be too disappointed. Perhaps you might even reap something else... Come here. Your body also suffered injuries. Although they aren't that serious, you are too frail. You can't even walk smoothly like this. I'll carve a bit of healing magic for you, consider it a lesson while we're at it."
Asuka Karasawa obediently walked over. She didn't quite understand why Fisher would suddenly tell her not to hold too much hope...
Could it be that Teacher Fisher doesn't want me to go back?
Deeply poisoned by shoujo manga, Asuka Karasawa's mind was already wandering with wild imagination. The keywords for the plot were roughly "Taboo Love Between the Ascetic Iceberg Magic Teacher and His Idiot Magic Student." More specifically, it was probably something like, "Being bad with words, he wanted her to stay but had no way, so he poured cold water on the idiot student expressionlessly. Even though in his heart he wanted to be close to her so badly, he awkwardly acted in the exact opposite manner..."
Hmph, hmph, you're really tsundere, Teacher Fisher. But to an experienced modern person like me, these awkward tropes of yours are outdated. Just let a new era Japanese JK easily handle you... ah, it hurts, hurts, hurts!
Fisher saw her standing beside him continually giggling silly "hehehe"s. He thought she had knocked her head silly, so he knocked on her head expressionlessly like a modern person fixing a television, snapping her out of her own little world, saying expressionlessly.
"Were you beaten silly? Why do you keep smiling? Watch carefully how I carve magic, especially healing magic."
"Oh... sorry, Teacher Fisher."
Asuka Karasawa awkwardly covered her head and lowered it, concentrating on watching Fisher carve the magic. While at it, she also asked about the situation after she fainted, and how they ultimately returned safely to the Sanctuary.
Nekelia, on the other hand, had absolutely no desire to participate in this class that sounded like an incomprehensible heavenly book. She flapped her wings alone and went into the clouds, gazing distantly at the slaves still working diligently in the sea of clouds city below, not knowing what exactly she was thinking about.
"Teacher Fisher, I wanted to say this earlier. Magic seems very omnipotent! Magic can be considered for any use... be it healing, tracking traces earlier, or combat... If we develop and glorify magic, wouldn't we not even need doctors?"
Fisher responded while carving the magic.
"Magic is not an omnipotent tool. In this world, there is rarely any omnipotent thing where understanding one means understanding all. Just like the healing magic I'm carving right now... its working principle is actually to promote blood circulation, remove blood stasis, and increase the self-healing capability of the human body's functions. It's not like the blessings of gods, or completely restoring a person's life capacity numerically... The person who created it was both a great doctor and an exquisitely skilled magician, which is why this magic came into the world."
"You must remember, no matter how convenient something is, you absolutely must consider its negative side. If you casually abandon foundational research because of its convenience, that is essentially neglecting the root and pursuing the branches, and it also goes against the basic principles of rigorous magic construction. Therefore, no matter what magic you study or use in the future, you must firmly grasp the boundary between [use] and [abuse]. Once this point becomes blurred and confused, originally convenient tools will turn into terrifying demons in the blink of an eye."
Fisher suddenly thought of the "panacea potion" he had seen in Erwind's memories, and also saw the demons birthed from the abuse of the panacea potion, which was why he specifically reminded Asuka Karasawa of this point.
In his youth, he also broke away from reality and solely researched the profound mysteries of magic to achieve the beautiful vision of an omnipotent tool. But looking back later, most magicians who harbored such thoughts ended up poorly.
Asuka Karasawa nodded half-understandingly, focusing intently on watching Fisher finish carving the healing magic. Then Fisher expressionlessly stuck the leaf onto Asuka Karasawa's forehead.
Then she froze for a second, after which she stood up her two hands straight and hopped around on the spot.
Fisher patted her head again, saying expressionlessly.
"I suspect you might really have been beaten silly by Lord Tao, you've been acting crazy ever since you woke up..."
"I didn't! I didn't! This is a Jiangshi! The Chinese Jiangshi I saw on TV before! I didn't turn stupid!"
Covering her head, she felt so wronged she wanted to cry. It seemed her train of thought couldn't align at all with this teacher from another world; she merely felt Teacher Fisher had pasted a talisman on a Jiangshi.
But it was also at this moment that she surprisingly discovered that the injuries on her body were almost fully healed; at least it didn't hurt anymore when she was imitating a Jiangshi just now.
"Hey, it's really healed, it doesn't hurt at all now... Teacher Fisher, then are we going to wait here for Helaire and Mr. Gou Wen to return next?"
"No, we're going to see Pandora first. She's in the First Heaven right now; you're going with me."
Fisher stood up, looking in a direction Remiel had pointed out to him before leaving, speaking thus.
Nekelia remained behind to keep an eye on their Moon-Treading Ark, while Fisher and Asuka Karasawa followed the clouds in the sky all the way down, heading toward the place Remiel mentioned earlier.
The clouds here were soft, possessing an appearance like cotton candy while also being bouncy. This made Fisher very curious as to why an Angel like Remiel would think of designing such a thing and placing it inside the First Heaven.
The further down they went, the heavier the traces of the mortal world became. Everywhere were slaves transporting magic materials. Guided by higher-level slaves, they worked in coordinated groups, completing their respective tasks with clear discipline. Naturally, there were also Angels overseeing them, but the Angels in the mortal world were all rotated down from the other Heavens. If not for this system, that group of Angels obsessed with forging would never want to come down and interact with other lifeforms.
Of course, coming down to select materials for forging was something they were quite willing to do.
Fisher and Asuka Karasawa passed through that group of strenuously working slaves, eventually spotting a massive lighthouse wrapped in clouds at the edge of the First Heaven.
There were no clouds around that lighthouse. From there, one could easily see the boundless ocean below, and of course, the profound universe above.
Pandora was waiting for them there.
Leading the somewhat frightened Asuka Karasawa, Fisher followed the cloud staircase spiraling around the lighthouse all the way up. When they arrived at the door at the top of the lighthouse, Pandora's voice drifted out leisurely from within.
"Could you help me pass the materials at the door to me?"
Asuka Karasawa seemingly harbored an innate fear of Pandora. Ever since coming up, she had hidden behind Fisher, letting him lead her into that spacious lighthouse, seeing the Angel Pandora whose eyes were covered by a cloth.
She stood before a pile of magic materials, seemingly searching for forging items she might use. But after picking and choosing for a long time, she ultimately hadn't kept any material sufficient for use. Fisher glanced at the door and found a wooden basket resting there, containing several broken sections of peach branches. The mere sight of those peach branches made Fisher nauseous, because Lord Tao's power was clearly still attached to them.
Fisher frowned, picked up the basket, came to Pandora's side, and handed the basket to her. Surprisingly, she very approachably said a word of "thank you," and only after touching the peach branches in the basket did she say.
"I have no eyes. Although I can see through others' desires, for the most part, I am a blind person, so there are many things I need others' help with... Remiel brought this to me. I wanted to verify that Holy Artifacts with the Tear of the World Tree added will blossom consciousness, so I found branches containing the racial power of the World Tree, which encompasses all the power of destiny. But from the Elf-kin's power, I haven't seen the key to blossoming consciousness..."
She didn't turn around. Her sightless eyes naturally didn't need to specifically look at the Fisher behind her either. Yet it brought Fisher a blazing inferno born of suspicion. But closely following, that oppressive feeling vanished. Surprisingly, Pandora turned her head, smiled, and said.
"Don't be nervous. I didn't suspect you. I know you're speaking the truth—that only by adding the Tear of the World Tree can a conscious Holy Artifact be forged. I'm merely considering its specific principles... Speaking of which, I heard from Remiel that playing outside this time, Helaire not only proactively chose a gender, but also blocked Lord Tao's attack for you at a critical moment. Because of this, she was severely injured and is currently receiving treatment in the Second Heaven. Honestly speaking, this astonishes me greatly. Because with Helaire's nasty disposition, she rarely does this..."
The Asuka Karasawa behind him looked at him. After a moment of silence, Fisher didn't express his true thoughts within his heart. Instead, he stubbornly replied.
"At the time, there were two other people beside me. She blocked it for us. Perhaps not for me."
"Hehe, you aren't wrong to think that... Then, tell me about it. Regarding the intelligence on the Tear of the World Tree."
Hearing Pandora pressing the issue, Fisher told Pandora the information he had obtained inside Jianmu Palace, especially that what was stolen wasn't just the Tear of the World Tree, but also the Loom of Fate.
Upon hearing this, Pandora paused for a moment but suddenly said.
"Margaret... I've heard this name."
"You've heard it?"
"Mm, I often walk around the mortal world under the pseudonym 'Pandora' to gather high-quality forging materials... Several months ago, I encountered a newly risen settlement in the southernmost part of the Dragon Continent, where many Demi-humans and humans of different races lived. There are no slaves nor hierarchies there, and it has taken in many weak races... You must know, in a savage land where the weak are the prey of the strong like the Dragon Continent, this is extremely rare."
"Back then I was just passing by in a hurry and thought it was a fleeting dream illusion... after all, even the name of the place is [Ideal State]. I merely heard the name 'Margaret' from the desires of the residents there."
Fisher hadn't expected that the Transferred Person who stole the Loom of Fate hadn't hidden herself completely out of sight. Rather, she had the audacity to run all the way from the Tree Continent to the southern tip of the Dragon Continent and establish a brand new nation.
"Ideal State, huh..."