"Star Swordsman..." Sonya murmured, rolling the term over in her mind. "You an the soldier the Scorpion Dragon turned into just now?"
The Conjuring spirit wasn't hard to understand. They had literally run over its creations with a sports car. Essentially, this spirit allowed them to absorb soul energy from defeated soldiers and then assign unit types to themselves or their followers. By hunting other Heroes, they could even seize and absorb their Conjuring spirits, unlocking new unit types in the process.
Essentially, it was a single spirit equipped with a complete system for collecting, exchanging, and upgrading. If such a spirit ever spread, it could trigger a technological revolution across the sorcerer world. But that would never happen. Firstly, it couldn't exist outside the Virtual World, which ant sorcerers had no way to study it in reality. Secondly...
Ashe frowned. "Zero-Winged spirit? What does that even an? Can a spirit even exist without wings?"
The only one present with formal education, the village girl, shook her head. "A spirit can't exist without wings. For sorcerers, a spirit's wings reflect its knowledge, though they don't contain mana. A Four-Winged spirit represents Legendary-level knowledge. A Zero-Winged spirit, then..."
Dia answered quickly, "It has no knowledge. It isn't ford from knowledge at all."
Even Ashe, a mud-born sorcerer, felt the absurdity. By definition, spirits were creatures of the Virtual World, born from condensed knowledge. A spirit without knowledge was a fundantal contradiction, like a Lala Fat without flesh.
Sonya suddenly spoke, "Do you know? So spirits have multiple evolution paths. A Two-Winged Sword Aura spirit can evolve into a Three-Winged Sword Aura, but with special training and feeding, it can also beco a Three-Winged Sword Light spirit. Many spirits mutate during evolution, so transforming from ordinary forms into rarer, more powerful ones.
"Sorcerers carefully recorded these phenona and later discovered thods to devolve high-level spirits into lower-level forms. Thanks to their prior experience before being devolved, these lower-level spirits could evolve into higher-level forms more easily.
"That led to a special branch of summoning. First, devolve easily obtainable high-level spirits into low-level forms. Then cultivate them deliberately, and finally evolve them into the specific high-level spirits you need.
"I've heard that so noble families even devolve exceptionally powerful spirits into One-Winged forms for their descendants. In other words, if a sorcerer is willing, turning a Four-Winged spirit into a One-Winged one isn't impossible."
Sonya looked at the triangular bipyramid in Ashe's hand. "This Conjuring spirit might be a devolved one. It's too complete to lack knowledge. On the contrary, its knowledge may be so vast that it was sealed into this Zero-Winged form. I don't think it's native to the Continent of Ti. I wouldn't doubt it if soone told it was originally a Four-Winged spirit.
"It's likely a Legendary spirit ford by fusing multiple spirits. The Zero-Winged state is a kind of seal, making it usable by the Heroes."
Ashe nodded in agreent. The Heroes of the Continent of Ti were only Two-Winged sorcerers. A Four-Winged spirit in their hands would be like stirring a vat with a toothpick or taking photos with a landline phone. It was utterly beyond their capabilities.
One term Sonya ntioned during her explanation caught Ashe's attention. He asked, "Fusion?"
Sonya explained, "Fusion is an advanced summoning thod, attempted only by skilled sorcerers. It combines multiple spirits into a new one. For example, I could fuse Moonthread, Torrent, and Wave into Water Moonwave. Then I'd only need to activate one spirit to trigger the Water Moon Miracle."
"But wouldn't the original three spirits disappear?"
Sonya nodded. "Exactly. Fusion Spirits exist solely to trigger Miracles. Their limitations are significant. Only sorcerers at the Sacred Realm or higher use them. In situations requiring multiple simultaneous Miracles, Fusion Spirits ease that burden.
"The Conjuring spirit is powerful but severely constrained in its use. It likely devolved from a high-level fusion spirit into a Zero-Winged form. It had likely devolved from a high-level fusion spirit into its current Zero-Winged form. In the upper layers of the Virtual World, it might be trivial, but on the Continent of Ti, it beca the backbone of the Legion of Heroes, capable of overwhelming everything."
Dia nodded. "It's like an imperial princess secretly fleeing to the frontier, starting from nothing, and then crushing all competition with overwhelming force."
Ashe glanced at her, noting how precisely she described it. They now had a rough idea of the spirit's origin, but researching it in depth was clearly beyond their ability. It was better to treat it as a tool and use it as it was. The question now was who should take the spirit.
Since one unit type was the Star Swordsman, Sonya was theoretically the most suitable. But she had already claid the Commander's Handbook and would feel awkward taking another prize.
Ashe, however, had a different plan. "Speaking of which, what exactly are you to ?"
Sonya and Dia blinked, exchanged a glance, then looked back at him.
Dia asked, "Family? But that sounds strange. Why would you treat strangers as family... Don't you have family, Watcher?"
"Followers!" Ashe raised his voice, clearly frustrated at their lack of insight. "I ford the team for exploring the Virtual World. You're my teammates. In theory, that makes you my followers."
Sonya caught on imdiately. "You an, if you take the Conjuring spirit, you can assign unit types to us?"
Ashe held up the spirit. "That's possible. So I'll take it?"
"I kind of want it..." Dia looked at the new spirit, clearly tempted. "Fine, you take it this ti. But next ti when there's sothing fun, you have to give it to !"
Sonya nodded as well. "You take it. Even if you can't assign it to us, the unit armor alone will make you safer. As you said, you're the leader. The most important person on the team is you. Without you, we wouldn't even be able to drive around in the car or explore the Virtual World using the map... You need to take better care of yourself."
"But without both of you, I wouldn't be exploring the Virtual World so easily either," Ashe tightened his grip on the Conjuring spirit. "If I can't assign it to you now, we'll each get one in the future. Let's treat it as a team benefit."
The mont he fully claid control of the Conjuring spirit, clusters of mist-like energy rose from all corners of the cave, surging toward Ashe like fledglings returning to their nest. The sorcerers barely had ti to react.
Sonya asked nervously, "Watcher, what's wrong with you?"
"I'm fine. Put your sword down first. You're making nervous."
"But that looked like a wraith devouring your soul! I need to make sure you're still yourself. I feel light as a balloon, tied to the ground by only a thin string[1]—"
Before she could finish, Ashe lunged forward, knocking Sonya down and straddling her waist, covering her mouth.
Sonya pried his hand away forcefully, her expression serious. "See? You're possessed. I'll keep quoting your famous lines to restore your mory. Swordswoman, to —"
Ashe was just about to make a spitting motion in protest when Sonya imdiately surrendered. "If you dare spit on , I won't let this go!"
Dia crouched nearby, watching curiously. "Why is the Watcher reacting like that? Is it so kind of spell?"
"I'll explain privately when there's ti," Sonya said cheerfully.
"Then you're done for. You'll never have ti again, not for the rest of your life!"
Ashe explained, "That just now was the first effect of the Conjuring spirit—Summon. The residual soul energy from the Star Swordsn we killed has been automatically absorbed. I now have three points of soul energy, just enough to test whether I can assign unit types to you."
Without giving Sonya a chance to talk, Ashe pointed at Dia. "Witch Evolution, Star Sword Witch!"
Dark blue flas enveloped Dia, forming exquisite, form-fitting armor. Twin slender rapiers appeared in her hands, and a fully enclosed helt covered her head, leaving only her eyes visible through narrow vents.
"How does it feel?" Ashe asked.
"My body feels lighter," Dia said as she swung the rapiers. "The armor and weapons are weightless. Moving feels effortless. Wait..."
She tossed the rapiers aside, brought her fists together, then pulled them apart, drawing three Aqua Lines. "I can still use my spirits like usual. Treating the unit as an additional layer of defensive armor works perfectly."
Ashe nodded. "Good. Test complete. If we get the chance tomorrow night, we'll try it in combat."
Sonya poked Ashe at the waist, then pointed at herself.
"What?" he asked.
"What about ?"
"What do you an?"
"Why didn't you let test it? The Star Swordsman clearly suits better."
"Anyone can test it. Letting the Witch try first also confirms she can still use Aqua Lines and her close-combat techniques in unit form."
"Mm, that makes sense. Anything else?"
Ashe flicked her forehead. "You annoyed just now, so I'm returning the favor. If I wait any longer, I might lose the chance."
"I was just joking..." Sonya muttered, rubbing her forehead.
"Witch, co here!" Ashe called, stopping Dia mid-flip. "Any other issues?"
Dia gave a thumbs-up. "None! The experience is great. Let's use this in battle from now on!"
"I'd like that too," Ashe said, shrugging. He exchanged a glance with Sonya. "The car's about to blow, and everyone's tired. Let's end tonight's exploration here."
"Mm."
"Okay!"
Dia was about to leave the Virtual World. As she lowered her head, she realized Ashe was holding her left hand and Sonya her right.
"The exploration is over, but there's still about half an hour before the Static Zone arrives. We have ti for our little tea session," Ashe said.
They all sat down together.
Sonya said, "Witch, during the fight, your hair color kept changing, and your voice sounded like a strange, overlapping chorus with multiple layers. You may have cald now, but we can't just turn a blind eye to what happened."
"We've only known each other a few days," Ashe said, tilting his head. "Words like concern or help might feel strange. But ignoring it feels worse. We waited for you to bring it up first. Since you didn't, we had to ask."
"Of course, if you don't want to talk, that's fine. We might not be able to help anyway. But if you're willing, we'll listen."
1. Refer to C102. ☜
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