Chapter 437: 54. The Fool
“Dad?”
In her dream, Tang Zeming Asuka tilted her head, looking at the sliding door in front of her that was tightly closed. Outside, she heard her father’s iconic voice chanting Buddhist scriptures. Hearing this made her feel a tightening in her eyes, and she wanted to cry. It was as if leaving Japan for this unfamiliar world made her forget whether her father was worried about her.
Dazed, she approached the sliding door and through the hollow door covered with a layer of white paper, she vaguely saw her father’s shadow sitting outside.
The Pure Land Sect, to which Tang Zeming Asuka’s family belonged, did not require shaving heads; monks could drink, eat meat, and even marry and have children, and that’s how she came to be. The monks here advocated “chanting the name of Buddha, relying on the strength of others’ vows,” believing that becoming a Buddha required the help of Buddha, which effectively lowered the threshold for ordinary people to chant and cultivate good karma. This was very popular in Tang Zeming Asuka’s Japanese society, so it garnered many followers.
“Asuka!”
Her father’s gentle voice came slowly from outside, and Tang Zeming Asuka stood there dazed in front of the sliding door, separated from the father she missed by just a door.
“Dad! I… I’m not in Japan anymore! I’m in another world now! I’m okay, although I’m still not used to everything here, but many people are taking care of me. I didn’t do well in Japan, but Teacher Fisher said I have a talent for magic. I’m learning magic now. Teacher Fisher is a very kind person I met in this world, and magic is…”
Tang Zeming Asuka hurried to the sliding door and reached out to try to open it. But after exerting force, she found that the seemingly ununlockable sliding door felt as heavy as a mountain, remaining completely immovable no matter how hard she pushed.
“Why can’t I open it?”
Tang Zeming Asuka panickedly tugged at the door. The scent of Buddhist incense from the Thousand-Hand Temple gradually wafted in, along with the ethereal sound of the wooden fish, yet for some reason, the more she maintained her attempt to open the door, the more restless her mind became. So, she began to pull harder.
“Dad! Dad! Dad! Open the door! I’m inside, woo woo woo.”
Outside, her father’s shadow became clearer, and his gentle voice finally stopped chanting scriptures.
He looked at Tang Zeming Asuka inside, the shadow moving slightly closer, and he said,
“Asuka.”
“Don’t open the door!”
In the midst of dense trees, Tang Zeming Asuka suddenly opened her eyes, her breath seeming to have stopped for a moment, and it was only after she fully awakened that she felt relieved.
“Tang Zeming, you’re awake?”
“Teacher Fisher?”
Tang Zeming Asuka was drenched in cold sweat and, feeling a bit exhausted, looked at Fischer, who had been squatting beside her, carefully examining her condition.
“It seems you also fell victim to the previous illusion. The human body is too fragile, and your condition is not good. How do you feel now?”
“I think I had a dream.”
“A dream about what?”
Tang Zeming Asuka opened her mouth, thought for a long while, and slowly shook her head in reply.
“I seem to have forgotten.”
“It’s also possible that you fainted before being affected by the illusion. But as long as you’re okay, can you get up now?”
“Mm.”
Tang Zeming Asuka held her head, and it was only after she sat up that her condition gradually warmed up. Suddenly, she remembered how she had been brought out by the impulsive angel Hela and how irresponsibly she had been left here.
“Right! Angel Hela! That bad guy! She left me here all alone, saying that children shouldn’t get involved in adult fights and let me play with flowers here by myself. How annoying! I don’t even know why she brought me out here?!”
Fisher chuckled at the girl who had come back to her senses, whose mouth was filled with “bakka.” He didn’t interrupt her, letting her vent for a moment, and said with a smile,
“It does sound like something she would do. Can you walk now? We’re not far from the phoenix race’s residence, so it’s best to head back quickly.”
“Ah, I can walk now.”
Tang Zeming Asuka was unhurt, though she had been affected by the previous illusion aimed at Fischer. Now she bounced up energetically, feeling spirited.
As she followed Fischer back, she was not sure whether it was something she dreamt about that sparked her curiosity, but she asked Fischer more questions along the way.
For beginners, mastering one or two core rings is best because, among all parts of a magic spell, core rings are the most varied and can easily catch a beginner’s attention, leading them to overlook the importance of the main ring and auxiliary ring, which are the most troublesome issues for mages.
“So, it’s best for you to practice a magic spell using one core ring first. Understand the concepts of the main ring, auxiliary ring, and the structure of the magic. Wind magic is a good choice. Later, I’ll get you a few example spells to practice with, and you’ll improve quickly.”
“Mm. I’m just a bit curious about core rings. You see, Teacher Fisher, the [Wind] core ring seems to be directly referable, and the same should apply to stones and water streams. Other concepts also seem to have referable terms, but I find this concept a bit difficult. Do you know how to specifically refer to these concepts, Teacher Fisher?”
As they walked, Fischer paused slightly. This was also a question he was considering, but perhaps he had received a bit of inspiration from what Hela said earlier.
She mentioned that magic is indeed a “dual nature,” which implies that magic definitely possesses characteristics of two kinds.
Then, could the things referred to by core rings be explained using theories of order?
“There are currently five deities, namely Ouyun, who constructs material rules; Anebatos, who constructs rules of fate; Dalasgon, who constructs rules of crevices and souls; Ramastia, who constructs rules of life; and Heya, who constructs rules of death and is unconscious. The most commonly used core rings by mages are applied to Ouyun’s material rules, followed by Ramastia’s life rules, and the others…”
As Fischer spoke, he realized that the soul core ring magic he had discovered was, to some extent, based on the rules established by Dalasgon, while soul magic had never been discovered by mages.
Suddenly, he was inspired by Tang Zeming Asuka, creating a whole new train of thought. If magical concepts of souls, materials, and life had already been touched upon, then what about magic pertaining to death and fate?
Renee once said that fate is “based on the rules of time and space.” Both of these core rings exist in magic, but there seems to be no magic that specifically refers to fate. Could it be that fate is impossible to refer to as a singular concept, thus divided into two?
He stroked his chin, unable to think of specific answers or thoughts, but might the magic relating to the “death” core ring be something he could attempt to create?
“Tang Zeming, you truly are a born mage; your sensitivity to magic exceeds my expectations.”
Feeling his thoughts expand, Fischer couldn’t help but be surprised by Tang Zeming Asuka’s incredible sensitivity to magic. He sighed, somewhat feeling the sentiment of “the new generation pushing the old forward,” but sincerely praised her.
Oh, wait! Based on time, Tang Zeming Asuka’s appearance predates his by thousands of years. But she is still just a child, so saying this isn’t too out of place, right?
Fischer no longer dwelled on this meaningless time paradox and instead bestowed upon Tang Zeming Asuka the praise he received from Heilson the first time they talked.
Upon hearing this, Tang Zeming Asuka pressed her lips together, her eyes immediately lighting up. She secretly pinched the hem of her dress, suppressing her increasingly light-footed steps, and touched her head again, smiling shyly.
“I’m not that great, haha! This is the first time I’ve been praised by a teacher.”
“How did your previous teachers evaluate you?”
Tang Zeming Asuka’s happy expression flickered, then she coughed lightly, striking a pose as if mimicking someone with a big belly, and squeezed out her voice to say,
“I don’t know if you’re doing math problems or English problems. Why don’t you invent a new subject? Maybe you could break the tradition of the Nobel Prize not having a math category?”
“…”
After she finished speaking, Tang Zeming Asuka looked at Fischer beside her with a smile, only to find him expressionless, showing no signs of being amused, as he completely didn’t understand what she was saying.
This made her feel so embarrassed that she curled her toes, her face flushing as she shrank back, chuckling awkwardly,
“Haha, why should I use my humor with people from another world? Hahaha.”
“We’re almost there.”
Fischer silently moved on from the topic, which allowed her to avoid sinking into the ground.
Before long, they traversed through the forest again and returned to the place where Gouwen and the envoys from the royal capital had previously clashed. However, after experiencing an earthquake, Fischer didn’t recognize what this place originally looked like.
But because there were many people here—Neceria, her brother, and little Nefiramui were all present, while the poor royal envoys huddled in the corner, watching as the phoenixes took away all their slaves obtained from other elven lords, unable to express their anger, especially since their boss’s clothes had just been blown away by a single leaf from Fischer.
Seeing those tall phoenixes, Fischer recalled the method Hela told him about entering the mythical rank.
He needed to reach the top of the Fourteenth Rank first and then leverage the mark Renee gave him that makes the Holy Grail infinitely generate desire to enter the mythical rank.
Thus, without need to think, to enter the Fourteenth Rank, he would either read Erwind’s Life Completion Manual or continue to study sub-humans.
Fischer chose the middle route between the two, doing both together; single out one was either too risky or yielded too little results, and he found it hard to accept.
After settling on this decision, Fischer once again apologized to Renee in his heart and shifted his focus back to the tall and beautiful Neceria.
The phoenix race was a race of the Apocalypse Prophecy and also a royal selection, and the rewards gained were much higher than those of other ordinary subhuman races. Previously, Valentina had hardly transformed into a phoenix, so he missed the opportunity to study. Now it seemed like a good chance.
Wait, if he uses Neceria to increase the research progress of the phoenix race that originally belonged to Valentina, shouldn’t he be apologizing to Valentina instead of Renee?
“Mikhail! Mikhail! Hold on! Hey!”
Just as Fischer aimed to bind Neceria first and try to make up for the research progress of the phoenix race, in the chaotic scene, he keenly heard Gouwen’s anxious voice. Beside him, Tang Zeming Asuka seemed to also hear it and hurriedly patted Fischer’s shoulder, pointing in a direction to remind him,
“Teacher Fischer! Gouwen and Mr. Mikhail are over there, and Angel Hela is there too!”
Fischer looked in that direction, and the first thing that caught his eye was Hela’s back, followed by Mikhail lying on the ground, twitching non-stop, and Gouwen squatting beside him, seemingly administering treatment.
Seeing that the situation over there was off, Fischer and Tang Zeming Asuka ran over, and as they got closer, they realized that Mikhail wasn’t twitching but was actually being tightly bound by Hela’s Morning Circle. He had been struggling, which made it look particularly like he was twitching from a distance.
At this moment, Mikhail’s eyes were continuously rolling inside his orbs, irregularly swaying. His gaze was scattered and empty, yet his expression maintained a naive smile as if he had seen something beautiful. He kept mumbling in his native tongue,
“Snow, Mom, come look, it’s snowing!”
Tang Zeming Asuka pressed her lips together. After all, it sounded very jarring for a middle-aged man like Mikhail, who had a frost-lined mature face, to say such things. This sort of disharmony was a direct horror experienced by someone witnessing a mental illness, and she couldn’t help but hide behind Fischer, hesitant to look at Mikhail twitching on the ground.
Fischer squinted his eyes. He looked at Mikhail’s implanted eye and the right arm that still radiated dangerous light. He turned his head to look at Hela, only to find her arms crossed, her expression still relaxed.
“This is what he mentioned…”
“Cyber-mental illness? Sort of, but he’s doing much better than when he first arrived. Lord Michael previously provided a universal treatment method; as long as he doesn’t keep using those embedded prosthetics, he won’t have any issues. This illness Gouwen can’t help him with; he can only wait for him to stabilize. Right now we can’t crudely remove his prosthetics either. They have already tightly linked to his nerves, and only Lord Michael would dare to directly operate such a procedure successfully.”
Fischer didn’t speak further, only watching Mikhail continue to have his episode on the ground, slightly blocking Tang Zeming Asuka’s view from behind him.
Meanwhile, Hela seemed to have suddenly thought of something amusing, turning her head to look at Fischer and Tang Zeming Asuka, and whispered,
“Speaking of this, you guys don’t know, when he first came to the Holy Realm, he went completely mad, just like how he is now, not knowing what he saw. At that time, Lord Michael brought him back to the forging room, and he seemed to have treated Lord Michael as his wife.”
“Hey hey hey hey hey!”
Fischer was taken aback for a moment, not yet processing the information, while Tang Zeming Asuka had already curiously peered out, her gossip flames ignited as she hurriedly asked Hela,
“What happened next? What happened next?”
Hela shrugged, chuckling and shaking her head,
“Who knows what happened next? At that time, he was brought back by Lord Michael alone on the Fifth Day. I only heard about it when Lord Michael left, and I even saw him touching Lord Michael’s face. Although he was stopped when he had just touched Mikhail’s right hand, who can say for certain? Lord Michael is a completely neutral angel. Anything can happen. Of course, it’s also possible that nothing happened between them, and Lord Michael was just a bit interested in his technology, after all, Lord Michael’s temperament is very strange.”
Fischer didn’t comment; perhaps he really didn’t care what to say, just not having had the opportunity to share his view yet.
For some reason, it seemed that just as they were discussing Michael, Mikhail over there suddenly kicked his legs and lost consciousness, falling completely quiet.
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万分感谢支持！
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(The End of This Chapter)
