Chapter 790
This System Relies on Bugs to Run
A person who is determined to die, even in a state of firm mind and spirit and spiritual stability, often appears gentle and free-spirited.
When Miss Alistair first met the two of them, she could clearly feel a strange sense of alienation—that peculiar sense of incongruity was difficult to describe, like a stage actor dressed in character but speaking to you in an everyday tone.
Because he hadprepared “to die,” he spoke whatever he could without reservation, as if delivering his last words. There was no need for intrigue or exchange of information—whatever Miss Alistair wanted to know, they would tell her.
That kind of mindset is like a player who has decided to AFK (long-term or permanent departure from the game). If they encounter other players in trouble or need help, they will do their best to give them whatever they have to solve the problem.
It was an attitude of “not caring too much about these things anymore.” Even if the person being helped was not very familiar with the game, they could always clearly feel that “the other person seems to be quitting.”
Adolf was clearly planning to quit too.
However, the game he intended to quit was “life.”
Mathias sighed slowly, “Why bother…”
From the tone of the first generation Black Phase (黒相), Miss Alistair read quite complex meanings.
It was evident that Mathias did not approve of Adolf’s undead transformation.
But he was also helpless. As the strongest being in this world, he was still unable to stop his students from one after another stepping onto the wrong path. After all, he himself was walking this path, and he could not offer his students a new one.
Just as a Demon Scholar must ascend to become a Demon Avatar—there was no path ahead, this was the only way.
Once the undead transformation was complete, one might immediately gain great power, but it also meant ceasing to be an Extraordinary and becoming a Phantom Demon.
Unlike demons who could still serve the Fallen Heavenly Envoy, continuing to transcend by contracting and devouring souls, becoming an undead meant losing the possibility of further advancement. Unless favored by a Pillar God or a Heavenly Envoy and appointed as a Disciple, that was basically it.
Take the King of the Wild Hunt, for example—he was already that powerful when he became the King of the Wild Hunt. Even after hundreds or thousands of years, he would still be that powerful. Earthbound Spirit Alice was the same—they would only weaken due to various accidents or gain slight buffs from environments with heavy yin energy, but their core selves would not become stronger.
And once one became undead, emotions would inevitably become indifferent.
Even if one’s corpse was perfectly preserved and they became “a person who is dead yet their remains exist,” at least adaptability to four Paths would be stripped away. Excluding the Twilight Path, it was equivalent to having only half the emotions and thoughts of a living person.
However, Adolf merely shook his head, “As you know… for us to reach this point, we must pursue eternal tranquility.
Whether it’s becoming an undead in the Material Realm, or being sent to the Amber Forest, or becoming a remnant memory imprinted by the Amber Heavenly Envoy… there isn’t much difference. The former at least means I can protect the Spirit Tower for some time, doesn’t it?”
“Could it be that the other generations of Black Phases were also…”
Hearing this, Miss Alistair realized, “So they all disappeared, is that right?”
Theoretically speaking, Extraordinarys of the Twilight Path had the longest lifespans—as far as she knew, there was even a Twilight Path Extraordinary who had lived for over five thousand years and was still alive. Yet, the replacement frequency of the Spirit Tower’s Black Phases was several times faster than that of the Red Phases (紅相), typically changing every twenty to thirty years. However, the number of Fifth Tier Extraordinarys in Star Antinomy had not increased much.
Miss Alistair had originally thought that these Black Phases had died accidentally, or had fed their souls to the Spirit Tower, or perhaps they had all hidden themselves, becoming the hidden power of the Spirit Tower. But this could not explain why the Spirit Tower had remained silent after the Fallen Heavenly Envoy descended.
The first generation Black Phase could be said to have fallen into an unwakeable slumber again—but what about the previous Black Phases?
They were not Liches, so they did not need “dragon slumber.”
“Your guess is correct.”
Adolf nodded readily, “For us, this is a kind of fate. The shackles called ‘Paths’ will drive people mad.
But becoming undead… means that we will eventually gradually forget everything from our past lives, and eventually leave the Spirit Tower to go to a more tranquil and desolate place. Because by then, the Spirit Tower will seem too noisy for them… Such departures have happened more than once. I will not be the last.”
The original Eivass might not have been able to understand what kind of power “Path Impulse” was.
But the current Miss Alistair understood their choice very well.
After all, the influence and control she endured from the Path of Love was no less, and likely more, than that of the Spirit Tower’s Black Phases.
The High-Tier Extraordinarys in this world might not fare much better than the Low-Tier Extraordinarys. Although their strength increased and their circles became more advanced, they would immediately encounter difficulties and enemies of the same level. It was rare for a Fourth Tier Extraordinary to be able to suppress those below the Fourth Tier and act arrogantly—after all, there were many Fifth Tier powerhouses above them.
Only by becoming strong enough among the Fifth Tier powerhouses could one be considered to have barely transcended the shackles. But even then, they would be supervised by the Church. From this perspective, although this world was full of crises, it was also somewhat orderly.
Conversely, once an Extraordinary Profession advanced to the Fourth Tier, the influence of the Path on personality and psychology would immediately become apparent. A moment’s carelessness could lead to loss of control and madness due to the influence of the Path.
“…I recall that the ‘Firstborn’s Calamity’ during the Hrasal Empire was also like this.”
Miss Alistair thought of this perplexing condition from the Hrasal Empire period: “If one reached the limit of their energy level but refused to enter the Ascension Ritual and no longer advanced, the accumulated Path Impulse would drive them mad. They had to have children to divert some of their own Path Impulse to maintain their sanity.”
He occasionally suspected that those crazy Children of the Moon had gone mad because they were stuck at the limit of their respective Paths for too long and could not become stronger.
“…This explanation is not precise enough. It comes from the summary of geniuses’ troubles or the survival experience of overly cautious cowards,” Adolf sighed with some regret. “Because not everyone’s talent is enough to ‘reach the limit.’
For example, myself—although I am already a Fifth Tier Extraordinary, I haven’t even walked a third of the way within the Fifth Tier. However, I can clearly perceive that I have reached my limit. The Path Power my soul can bear has reached its limit, like a lake filled with water.
But the ‘desire to become stronger’ from the Path Impulse is like heavy rain. It continues to bring me new rainwater; it cannot make me stronger, it only makes me feel increasingly pressured. The larger the surface area of the lake, the greater the pressure it bears.
I know I cannot reach the end, but that doesn’t matter.
‘Our fate is merely to climb; reaching the summit is the task of the next generation.’
…So that’s how it is.
Miss Alistair suddenly understood, finally filling the last piece of the puzzle of her doubts.
Even if one does not reach the limit of the Path, as long as one reaches the limit of their talent… or rather, as long as one cannot improve for a long time, the Path Impulse will gradually accumulate to a maddening degree. That is why many people, despite living for a long time, have not been able to reach Fifth or even Fourth Tier in their Extraordinary Abilities, because their talent has already capped their upper limit. Unless some major event causes a drastic change in their mind and personality, their potential might be exhausted after more than twenty years as an Extraordinary.
From this perspective, this might also be a potential “lifespan lock.”
Although the Giants of the past also had long lifespans, their mental states were clearly not very good—basically, everyone was somewhat crazy.
…Wait?
Thinking of this, Miss Alistair froze for a moment.
Could it be that Amber Compaction Syndrome is also due to this reason…?
To make the Path Impulse less obvious, one can suppress and neutralize it with another Path Impulse. Just as Miss Alistair herself is trying to suppress the impulse of the Path of Love with the impulse of the Transcendent Path.
But if that’s the case…
…Doesn’t that mean that Amber Compaction itself is the elves’ guarantee of longevity?
This line of reasoning is based on the premise that all elves become Extraordinarys. It is precisely due to the influence of Amber Compaction Syndrome that these elves who become Extraordinarys can live so long without going mad as easily as short-lived races with extended lifespans.
After all, the slow lifestyle of long-lived races is indeed an important factor in maintaining psychological health; it makes the mind age very slowly. Like wealthy people with money and leisure, who focus on physical and mental health, always appear much younger than unfortunate laborers—being carefree can indeed make one appear younger.
But the Path Impulse that accumulates over time will not weaken just because elves are long-lived. The concept of time belongs to the Path of Balance, and its characteristic is equality. Therefore, all races should, in principle, accumulate the same amount of Path Impulse.
And another reason is perhaps precisely because of the blessings bestowed by the Amber Heavenly Envoy, elves will always develop a stronger tendency for Amber Compaction as they age.
This essentially reduces the nine possibilities of losing control to one, allowing the Path Impulse of other Paths to counteract and cancel out the Path Impulse of the Twilight Path. Only when the Path Impulse of the Twilight Path completely overwhelms their original Path Impulse will Amber Compaction occur… Therefore, only elves whose thoughts have become twilight-like experience Amber Compaction, and there are basically no reports of elves from other Paths losing control.
No wonder various strange problems appeared in the Church after the Amber Heavenly Envoy was brought down.
This is not even as simple as the blessing becoming ineffective…
—So the principle of “this system relies on bugs to run, do not try to modify any bug” sounds so reasonable!
But in that case, the Amber Heavenly Envoy’s position…?
Miss Alistair frowned deeply.
However, she suddenly remembered something else, “You just said… creating a Sixth Tier undead? Is this really… something that can be accomplished in two years?”
Putting aside the fact that Lily might not have two years—and where did this somewhat precise timeframe come from?
“To this day, it can already be disclosed…”
Adolf glanced at the skeletal frame and then explained to Miss Alistair, “The reason why I so easily accept what you say… is because we had already made up our minds to leave the Amber Heavenly Envoy’s path.”
“—Winter Maiden?”
Miss Alistair blurted out.
She remembered that the resurrection and rebirth of undead originally belonged to the Amber Heavenly Envoy’s authority—and later, the Winter Maiden took this authority and went independent. From then on, necromancy was no longer under the Amber Heavenly Envoy but became the ability of the Winter Envoy.
Old Master Adolf was greatly surprised, “You know even this?”
“I only know what I know,” Miss Alistair shrugged and smiled charmingly, “You can consider it as astrology.”
However, she also knew… compared to the Amber Heavenly Envoy, the Winter Envoy was somewhat lacking. The undead were a domain actively cut off by the Amber Heavenly Envoy, and she herself was not strong enough. This directly led to the Winter Envoy being brought down less than a year after becoming a Heavenly Envoy.
Under such circumstances, she might not be able to support a Sixth Tier in the Material Realm…
…The Spirit Tower in the original timeline remained silent during the Ouroboros Ring ritual; could it have been busy brewing its “Sixth Tier undead” then?
However, speaking of Sixth Tier undead…
She seemed to have another method.
Miss Alistair paused and confirmed, “You want this Sixth Tier undead… how do you plan to use it? Will you harm or destroy it?”
“To contain the soul of a Grey Heavenly Envoy, a Sixth Tier undead is needed as a vessel to prevent it from escaping,” the Lich replied calmly. “Please forgive me, Miss Alistair—my friendship with Cyril in the past was not so deep that I would need to consume a Sixth Tier undead.”
“In that case… if I can find a way to get a Sixth Tier undead, can the ritual start immediately?”
Miss Alistair confirmed.
“Naturally,” Mathias said with great certainty. “And I will express my sincere gratitude to you—if I have the opportunity to come into contact with Sixth Tier Twilight Power, perhaps… I can also get closer to that realm.”
“All right then,” Miss Alistair nodded. “Wait for me here, I’ll be back soon.”
“How long?”
Since Miss Alistair had said this, Mathias, who was knowledgeable, was not surprised, and merely asked in return.
“Two days, at most three.”
Miss Alistair thought for a moment and gave a more conservative answer:
“—In three days, I will return with the King of the Wild Hunt.”
(End of this chapter)
