The Drama Poet collected his smile, looked at the two of them, and shook his head helplessly.
He took a box of cards from his bag and said, "Rules are rules, I can’t break them. You can’t gain anything here without effort, you must pay a price."
"You draw a Prophetic Card that can reduce the difficulty of your trial to so extent. But rember, the more the difficulty decreases, the more brutal the content of the Prophetic Card might be, and it can cause you to stumble. Sotis not seeing the future is actually a form of protection for humans."
"You possess the Thought Power of the Dazzling Star Maiden, so you can influence to so extent the result of the card draw, and the Prophetic Card will respond to your thoughts."
The Drama Poet placed the Prophetic Cards in front of Ash: "Go ahead, it doesn’t matter which one you draw."
But when Ash reached out to uncover the top card, the Drama Poet pressed his thumb against the edge of the card and said earnestly, "I hope you don’t draw. The Prophetic Faction has a very charming feature ’Self-fulfilling Prophecy’, aning if you don’t know the prophecy, your future is unknown. But once you know the prophecy, your future will collapse toward it, and even so unconscious actions might beco hints of fulfilling the prophecy."
Ash looked at the Drama Poet with a gentle smile: "Thank you."
He uncovered the top Prophetic Card, which depicted a figure falling into a sea of fire. The Drama Poet picked up the card, clear as the lake, and his eyes stirred with ripples.
"If your total difficulty is 40 points of damage, this card can offset 5 points." He said, "It is also the limit of my interference in the Void Realm Trial."
Ash asked, "What did the card prophecy?"
The Drama Poet put the card back into the deck and calmly said, "The person you like will sacrifice themselves in front of you."
Vishi was startled and glanced sideways at Ash. Ash lowered his head thoughtfully, falling into silence for a mont. Vishi hesitated a little, gently clasping his fingers with hers.
"Do you regret uncovering the Prophetic Card?" The Drama Poet sighed: "I really hope you’re not affected by the Prophetic Card. A wonderful drama shouldn’t have a script."
"No, I’m actually pondering a question." Ash’s tone was complex: "The person I like will sacrifice in front of ... Who does it refer to?"
The Drama Poet: "..."
Vishi: "..."
"Don’t worry, if I were resigned to fate, I should still be retiring at Shattered Lake—or maybe I’ve already fed the fish." Ash shrugged: "Is the Prophetic Card an inevitable destiny?"
"Mostly it is." The Drama Poet said: "But miracles that change fate might also occur."
"Then I’m relieved." Ash laughed: "After all, my life up to now is just a series of consecutive miracles."
He reached out to the Drama Poet: "Nice to et you, Drama Poet. Also, I’m not called Final Observer, I’m Ash Heath."
The Drama Poet paused, then smiled broadly, extending his hand to shake his.
"Nice to et you, Ash Heath."
He winked at Ash, "Clearly, this is our first eting, but for so reason, I have a feeling of familiarity, as if we’re half-brothers from different fathers and mothers, dear friends..."
Ash imdiately opened his palm: "Co on, sothing practical."
"No problem, let see what else I can do for you... Hey, Dazzling Star, you actually ca!?"
Ash and Vishi were surprised, imdiately turning to look in the direction indicated by the Drama Poet, seeing a ginger cat hiding under the eaves from the rain not far away. What, Dazzling Star turned into a cat appearing on earth... Wait!
When they looked back, sure enough, the Drama Poet had already disappeared, as if he had never been there. If not for the snack wrappers left on the ground by him, Ash could hardly believe the conversation just now wasn’t an illusion—the Drama Poet still littering.
Ash blew a breeze, sending the trash on the ground into the convenience store’s trash bin, asking, "How do you feel?"
"No abnormalities for now." Vishi examined her soul body seriously: "Also not sure how the trial will proceed... Why didn’t you ask him for specifics about the trial?"
"I asked for help several tis, yet he didn’t voluntarily ntion the trial content, clearly not wanting to say it." Ash said: "I don’t know if it’s an illusion, but I feel he seems to have quite an affinity for mages, setting up many special facilities in the fourth layer of the Void Realm to assist young mages, and guiding Secret Realm demigods advancing to Divine Lords..."
"Isn’t that quite normal?" Vishi said: "Source Angels are willing to guard Ruby Mountain for millions of years, such peculiar existences can’t be judged by our values."
"No, I just think that generally, affinity should target individuals, at least groups, usually with certain selection conditions. For example, I have an affinity for you, for elves who are beautiful, gentle, and love life, that’s normal thinking." Ash said: "But the Drama Poet gives a feeling, no matter if it’s for pudgy mages or ogre mages, whether kind or evil, as long as they’re mages, he seems to like them, almost like... unconditional love?"
"At least for us, it’s good." Vishi said: "Moreover, I advise you not to count on subtle suggestions to work, that’s a trick I’ve worn out. A ghost-loving life doesn’t exist on any world line, but a gentle maid can be commanded by force."
Ash, whose little thoughts were exposed, said unchanged: "Let’s go back."
"Hmm."
Vishi actively held Ash’s hand, with a gentle tug, she removed his Miracle Bracelet, then quickly tapped into the gallery with a flurry of operations, when Ash took it back, the gallery only left a picture of skeletal war tattoos belonging to a Necromancer—how to describe it, it’s as if through outfit coordination, he constructed a scene of maggot flies art level filled with necromantic aesthetic. If there’s still a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, Harvey would definitely be its most suitable controller.
"Weren’t you wanting to see a 3-point photo of a Necromancer? There, I’ve deleted the excess photos for you, no need to thank ." The maid steps lightly into the Rain Curtain, with hands behind her back, glanced back at him, "You really thought I didn’t notice your eye exchange with the Drama Poet?"
Ash, feeling gloomy, followed behind, "Do you have to guard so strictly, I just have so curiosity about your previous photos..."
"Nothing interesting to look at."
"It’s not a matter of interesting or not, just like how I also want to see the Sword Witch’s photos when she was young." Ash said: "There’s a sense of witnessing across ti your past life."
"Then I’ll find so of my killing..." Vishi said before suddenly stopping, but Ash continued what she said: "Your Soul Refining photos I also want to see, I’m not foolish enough to ignore your past. Rather, you’ve almost made forget who you really are; your murderous record just serves to strengthen my correct understanding of you."
"Sure." Vishi said calmly: "I’ll find them for you to see, guaranteed to open your eyes."
Ash walking beside her glanced at her, with a mischievous look in his eyes: "Though earlier when you noticed you might make angry, you stopped talking, I still appreciate your improvent. Not easy, you’ve finally realized the need to consider my feelings... Keep it up!"
Vishi turned red as he spoke, twitching at the corner of her mouth. She glared at Ash hatefully, gritting her teeth: "I’ll definitely show you my most cruel side."
Ash didn’t mind, they walked a while, then Vishi suddenly asked: "You really want to see it?"
"You saved them?"
"No." Vishi turned her head and looked elsewhere, "But I rember that dress style, if I have ti..."
With the suggestion reaching its limit for the Ghost Prophet, Ash didn’t bully her anymore, reaching out to hold the maid’s hand to walk the last short section of the Rain Curtain.
"I thought you would ask why I was holding the Drama Poet’s wrist but still didn’t take action."
"Why didn’t you take action then?"
"I absolutely lacked confidence; I felt like I was holding not a hand, but the whole world."
"If you had confidence, would you take action?"
Ash hesitated a bit, not answering imdiately. Vishi chuckled, teasing: "For soone appearing to strive to help you, you’re actually hesitating whether to lay a killing hand on him? Tsk tsk, Ash Heath, you’ve learned bad things."
"Who do you think I learned it from?" Ash said irritably, seemingly recognizing he was an and greedy, bowed his head to reflect deeply and purify his mind.
Vishi blinked, charm flowing at her eyebrows, her lips curled into a smile: "But that little hesitation you had, I still appreciate your improvent... Keep it up!"
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