Originheart City, second floor of the library.
Angel sat by the window, letting the brilliant sunshine drape over him. In his hands was a thick-bound book titled "Architecture and Art," which he was leafing through slowly.
About a third of the way through, the gray-haired old man sitting opposite Angel let out a regretful "Oh dear" sound.
Angel looked up, and the first thing he saw was a wisp of dust floating leisurely in the air, followed by Nis’s helplessly grim expression.
"I chose the wrong activation path at the forty-eighth node of the third wandering," Nis sighed, casually sweeping the debris and dust on the table into the waste bin below.
—These fragnts and dust were from a stone slab that bore so representative symbol of the Quest World. Because of the failed decoding, the slab would shatter.
At this point, the trash bin was already filled with sand and stone.
Nis picked up a handbook filled with data information from nearby, which recorded every failed decoding pathway to avoid repeating mistakes. The handbook had used up ten pages, each brimming with notes, indicating the nurous tis he had failed over the past few days.
After recording his failure once again, Nis looked up at the other side, rubbing his hands and sheepishly saying, "Angel, you see... I failed again."
Though Nis didn’t express any demands in his words, his eyes and expression were filled with intense hope.
Angel paused for a mont, set down the thick book authored by Jon, and slowly said, "This is your fourth failure today, and when you add the failures from the past few days, it’s already over twenty tis. Are you planning to fail at each node once?"
Nis, with a sour face, denied it: "Of course not, I calculated the correct nodes seriously. For those nodes whose pathways were hard to determine, I only started activating when I had compressed the margin of error to a bare minimum of two choices. If I really failed at every node, I would have failed nearly four hundred tis already."
Nis, for the past five days, had only failed around twenty tis in total, and he personally thought that was a very reasonable figure.
But he wasn’t one to boast, especially not in front of Angel. —Angel had practically been living at the underground altar recently, frequently entering and exiting the Wilderness of Dreams, and delivering a complete stone slab to him periodically. If Nis had to do this job, he’d find it quite irritating himself, so he dared not lose his temper, fearing that Angel might get fed up and quit.
Seeing Nis’s pitiful look, Angel remained silent for a mont, ultimately resigning himself to reality and used the Dream Conch to pull another stone slab with symbols into the Wilderness of Dreams. After all, he had already promised Nis, and he himself hoped Nis could find the Quest World’s coordinates through the constancy contained within the symbols.
When Angel returned to the Wilderness of Dreams, Nis had already started delving into the new slab with his research.
Angel gently tapped the tabletop with his finger, and only then did Nis raise his head in confusion.
"Don’t rush with the research yet, there are so things I want to discuss," Angel said.
Though Nis was concerned about his decoding strategy, he dared not ignore Angel when he took the initiative to speak. He quickly put down the stone slab, signaling Angel to go ahead and speak.
"I’m planning to leave the Revelation Continent."
Nis let out a "huh": "You’re planning to return to the Barbarian Cave?"
Angel shook his head: "No, I need to make a trip to the Old Earth Continent to handle so things I couldn’t do before."
Things he couldn’t do before but can do now? Nis wondered quietly in his heart, but didn’t inquire further, instead asking: "And then?"
"So I can’t keep staying at the underground altar. If I want to continue helping you pull the slabs, I’ll need to pry up the stone slab ground on the altar and take it away." Angel inquired, "I want to know if that will have any effect?"
Nis pondered: "You’ve brought the slabs here these past few days without damaging the symbols, so it seems there wouldn’t be any impact from prying the symbols off the slabs."
After getting the answer, Angel nodded and signaled Nis to continue his research, while he returned to reality.
After Angel left, just as Nis was about to pick up a slab for further research, he heard the sound of footsteps coming from outside the typically quiet construction hall.
A visitor ca in.
When Nis saw the visitor, his eyes lit up; she was a beautiful lady.
Given Nis’s usual nature, he would have approached for a chat, but he currently prioritized the slab research, so he rely glanced before bowing his head to proceed with his work.
But right then, the lady walked over to him.
"Excuse , sir, I just saw a young man sitting opposite you from the library below through the open window," the lady asked politely. "Do you know where he went?"
anwhile, after Angel returned to reality, he remained near the underground altar.
However, he wasn’t alone; Frode and... Tullas were also there.
Tullas was sitting at the center of the altar, voraciously absorbing the dense death energy around him, while Frode was standing outside the altar, wide-eyed, blankly staring at Tullas in disbelief.
"How’s it going?" Angel approached Frode.
Frode had yet to co to his senses and instinctively replied: "Sir, what did you say?"
"I’m asking, how’s the progress of Adar, Shanni, and Tullas?" Angel inquired.
Frode took a while to sober up, sowhat embarrassed as he responded: "Adar and Shanni have already started to understand the Soul Tricks, but since it’s their first exposure to such specific skill training, it might take so ti before they can formally begin. As for Tullas..."
Frode glanced at Tullas on the altar: "From what you can see, sir, Tullas has been absorbing the death energy here for three solid days without hitting his limit, which is beyond the range of ordinary undead!"
Angel was quite calm: "Tullas was, after all, once an undead that existed for thousands of years, and a very special one at that. It’s normal for him to have a high limit for absorbing death energy."
Though Frode was aware of Tullas’s background, as a fellow undead, he was too familiar with the soul’s capacity limits, and Tullas seed entirely on a different level compared to them. This stark contrast was what shocked Frode.
Frode said, "An hour ago, Tullas woke up once. Based on what he said, he should reach the peak of his death energy absorption today. However, perhaps due to his cheerful nature, like Adar, he has an extrely high tolerance for death energy, showing no emotional fluctuations; despite reaching the death energy peak, I doubt any signs of deterioration will appear."
"Though it is advised, sir, to let him practice Soul Tricks later on, even if he reaches the peak capacity of death energy, he should ideally familiarize himself for another month or two to start safely..."
Angel had brought Tullas to reality with the intent to have him practice the Soul Tricks.
However, seeing Frode’s suggestion, Angel was willing to consider. Practicing sooner or later made little difference to Tullas.
"That works; during this ti, Tullas can stay with and act as a ssenger between and Nis, preventing the need to continually co and go just for the slabs."
Angel made his decision and waited for Tullas to wake up.
Watching the swirling death energy being voraciously swallowed by Tullas, Frode, after a period of silence, remarked: "I feel making Tullas practice ordinary Soul Tricks is sowhat underwhelming for him. Sir, you might want to consider—if there were special undead for him to absorb, it might further enhance his abilities... Tullas is more suited to absorb special undead than I am."
In the case of Adar and Shanni, Frode wouldn’t suggest this, as he didn’t think they could absorb special undead. But Tullas was different—having been a special undead himself, he had experience utilizing special abilities, and with his cheerful disposition, it had taken him quite a while to fall in the enclosed space on Silver Palm Island; now, even if he absorbed special undead, he might finish without any degeneration.
Tullas was definitely fit for better Soul Tricks.
Facing Frode’s suggestion, Angel pondered for a mont: "Special undead aren’t easy to find... but, I’ll keep it in mind."
As ti ticked by, Tullas’s devouring gradually slowed, reaching the limit of his capacity.
Previously, Frode thought that the death energy in the cave might take decades to deplete, but now it’s visibly thinned significantly. This showcased just how voracious Tullas had been in absorbing death energy this ti.
After Tullas stopped absorbing the death energy, he opened his eyes.
Just as Frode had guessed, even when Tullas let the death energy in his body reach its peak, he didn’t show any negative emotions. He remained as naive and sweet as ever, even inspecting his body for any changes before looking at Frode with a puzzled expression and asking, "Why do you have that expression? Is there sothing wrong with ?"
Frode shook his head: "No problem, it’s just unexpected how you can absorb so much death energy."
Tullas lifted his head, showing a proud expression that was completely mismatched with his muscular physique beneath the Bullhorn Helm: "Naturally, I am the man who killed the legendary pirate Redbeard!"
Angel said quietly: "When you dominated the extre east sea, Redbeard was only five or six years old, it would have been impossible for you two to battle."
Tullas completely disbelieved him, maintaining his pride: "You can’t fool . It’s clearly recorded in ’The Sound of The Tide on Magic Night’..."
Angel took a long sigh, not wanting to repeat again that it was a fictional novel written by a later author. He’s said it many tis already, and saying it again wouldn’t change Tullas’s mind.
Tullas just believed that since he’s the one who killed the legendary pirate Redbeard in the novel, he’s even more formidable.
Frode also knew Tullas’s character and rubbed his temples helplessly, not arguing with Tullas. He really found it hard to imagine that the historically famous "Tyrant King" would be Tullas, "Feather-brained King" would be more fitting.
Angel and Frode didn’t argue with Tullas, so naturally, Tullas felt even prouder as he descended the altar with a swagger of disdain for others.
"Sir, I can’t absorb any more death energy now, can I practice the soul tricks you ntioned?" Tullas blinked his eyes and looked towards Angel.
Angel: "Get familiar with it for a month or two."
"Another one or two months?" Tullas wasn’t bothered by the ti, nodding: "Then I’ll go back to Originheart City first. I’m the sheriff, haven’t been there for days, can’t imagine the chaos there now?"
Frode said silently: "It’s actually more stable when you’re not there."
Tullas snorted, completely disbelieving.
Angel took out the Dead’s Church to lodge Tullas. But before Tullas entered the Dead’s Church, he handed out a task to him.
"Keep stationed in the library?" Tullas pouted, "Can I not?"
"No." Angel: "Rember, once Nis’s stone slab breaks, return to reality and inform ."
Even though Tullas didn’t want to stay in the library the whole ti, it was one of the rare tasks given by Angel, so he sulkily accepted it.
After Tullas returned to the Dead’s Church, Angel inford Frode about his plan to go to the Old Earth Continent.
Frode nodded. He knew earlier that Angel was going to the Old Earth Continent, just didn’t know the purpose. Likely for dealing with family affairs, so Frode didn’t ask further.
After putting the Dead’s Church into the bracelet, Angel took out a revolver from the bracelet — Samsara Overture, and handed it to Frode.
"You hold onto this first, it still has a complete White Light Bullet inside. If one White Light Bullet isn’t enough, I’ll find a way to replenish ammunition from the Sea of Ghosts later."
Frode didn’t refuse because Adar and Shanni would later practice soul tricks. Adar might not need it, but Shanni was very likely to fall in the death energy. With Samsara Overture, there’s at least a chance to redeem her.
After finishing all this, Angel went up to the altar, cut the stone slab inscribed with symbols to carry with him.
Just as Angel lifted the stone slab, a sudden "crackling" sound ca to his ears.
Looking down, the once complete altar bore deep cracks.
Frode saw the cracks, thought for a mont, and said: "The altar’s construction materials were ordinary stones. With the protection of these symbols before, they were not eroded by death energy. But now the symbols have been taken away by Sir, naturally, they cracked... However, why are they cracking so fast?"
Frode didn’t think much of it. He thought it might be because Lady Cilla had stayed here for years and her presence had corrupted the altar, which was why signs of cracks appeared so early.
Angel checked the cracked altar to ensure there were no missing items or dangers, didn’t pay further attention, carried the stone slab, and left the cave with Frode.
...
Tullas returned to the location of Originheart City, which was in the library hall. He had t Angel here before, so this was where he entered.
"Sir said the Wizard Nis is in the architecture hall on the second floor, architecture... tsk tsk, there’s even a library dedicated to architecture." Tullas said, but still accepted and walked to the second floor.
When passing the fiction hall, he paused, took a few novels. For the forthcoming period, he’d be with Wizard Nis, so finding so novels helped while away the boredom.
Holding a stack of novels, Tullas arrived at the architecture hall.
As he stepped into the architecture hall, he saw Wizard Nis sitting by the window, and the back of a... lady.
Looked sowhat familiar. Tullas thought quietly, walking forward.
Just as Tullas approached, the lady turned around. When she saw Tullas, her expression froze slightly, so indescribable emotions surfaced in her eyes, but were quickly suppressed.
Tullas cheerfully waved: "Hey, little Haila~ why are you here~"
"My na is Mandhela, without a surna. Don’t just change my na." Mandhela said solemnly.
"Okay, little Haila."
Mandhela rolled her eyes, stayed silent, seemingly accepting Tullas’s way of calling her.
"You haven’t answered yet. Did you co here for sothing?"
"Her na is Mandhela, huh?" Nis spoke up: "She ca looking for Angel. Asked what she wanted, she wouldn’t say."
"Looking for Lord Pat? The lord isn’t here, should I go back and ask for you?" Tullas kindly offered.
Mandhela remained silent for a mont, then shook her head: "No need. I no longer have anything to ask him."
Saying that, Mandhela walked towards the exit.
Tullas muttered: "How co one mont there’s a matter, the next there’s none. Oh well, I’m not thinking about it anymore."
Tullas sat facing Wizard Nis, hugging the stack of novels.
Mandhela hesitated halfway to the exit, looking at Tullas with confusion. Usually, he’s the one to follow , but why isn’t he moving today?
"Why aren’t you leaving?" Mandhela asked, as if unintentionally.
Tullas: "I got a task from the lord to stay here."
Mandhela’s lips moved, trying to say sothing, but eventually said nothing and sighed, quickly leaving the architecture hall.
Tullas was confused, while Nis took up the already cold tea on the table, smiling as he took a sip.
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