Chapter 577: 55. Blank
“Are you sure you can do this?”
In Fisher’s room, Emhart, floating in mid-air, stared at Fisher with dead fish eyes and asked this question.
“What do you mean by ‘can I do this’?”
At this moment, Fisher was raising his hands, each holding a piece of paper engraved with various ring heads, while the other hand held the invisible Soul Supplement Handbook that Emhart couldn’t see. He was reading the contents of the handbook while researching the secrets of the ring heads mentioned earlier by Pisces.
“You are looking at some forbidden knowledge, right? You won’t lose control like last time, will you?”
“No, this can actually speed up efficiency. Also, I didn’t lose control last time; I just encountered knowledge about life for the first time, and it changed my form. My consciousness wasn’t lost; I even spoke with Erwind, who should have been dead.”
“Erwind, that madman?”
“Yeah.”
Fisher no longer spoke to Emhart, focusing entirely on the handbook.
The forbidden knowledge within began to flow into his mind bit by bit as he read, and at the same time, the magical circuits on his body lit up again. Unlike the previous indication when his mythical rank brought his magical circuits to brightness before merging with his soul, Fisher now emitted a twisted fluorescent glow from his entire body, as if small light bulbs were hidden within him, astonishing Emhart.
He quickly noticed that a part of the glow around Fisher’s waist was missing, seemingly blasted away by immense power during the return process, leaving a gap.
But from living with Raphael, he had not been affected by it at all.
Fisher, however, no longer had time to notice these changes. His whole being began to wander along with the contents of the Soul Supplement Handbook.
“The soul does not perish; every living being that thinks is bursting with the heat of the soul. They carry the entire story of a life, a nation, a civilization. However, on a macro level, the souls of all beings continuously cycle and alternate.
“You may not realize it, but the soul within you once came from a dark satellite tens of thousands of light years away. In your past life, during a time of bloodshed, you were killed by your kin; the next moment, you had your everything washed away and were reborn in a hospital room in London where warm wind blew.
“This transformation is intangible outside the world, existing in the dark with all the gods of this world completely unaware. But in this world, the tangible soul allows the rules that govern its operation to manifest.
“After entering the Creation Society, I learned that many predecessors (including the president) had tried to leave this world through the Spirit Realm, but all, without exception, failed. Thus, I began to consider whether their methods were correct and started to form a hypothesis.
“In this world, the more powerful beings are called mythical beings; their souls intertwine with their bodies, possessing a deep understanding of the rules of this world. Initially, biological characteristics similar to ‘authority’ begin to erupt within them.
“However, the Spirit Realm, which likewise exists in substance, is not restricted by the rules of the gods of this world. There exist deeper powers to decide, such as the mighty master of souls. Therefore, I speculate that if one were to traverse the Spirit Realm using a power more aligned with its rules, might there be a greater possibility of leaving this place?
“Without a doubt, the power of the soul is one of those means. Thus, I want to try to make my soul strong enough to abandon its physical body, so that perhaps I might pass through the ultimate and leave this world. But once deprived of the supply of flesh, the trial of soul power becomes critical.
“Enhancing the power of the soul has always had only two paths: one is to start from others and seize the soul power they possess; the other path is to start from oneself, training it to increase its quality and strength. However, the progress of the second path inevitably becomes exceedingly slow. Here, I will provide a shortcut I have discovered to help you enhance your soul faster.”
Fisher’s gaze fell on this part and the contents that followed, then he murmured,
“Past life.”
Yes, Jahl Uzz this shortcut is very crude and truly lives up to the title of “chaos.”
He proposed that since all souls have gone through countless reincarnations and condensations, many races in the universe must have realized the existence of the soul, similar to the gods of Ramastia in this world. Even if they are unaware that the soul has a master, it does not obstruct those civilizations, such as the mages in this world, from training their souls.
When a being reincarnates, its once-powerful soul reverts to its most primitive form, and some energy is lost somewhere. But through Jahl Uzz’s method, he can restore all those scattered soul energies through breaking the rules of the soul, thus enhancing his own soul.
However, this process will also impose a disproportionately strong shock on the user’s mind. Those who employ this method will instantly experience thousands and tens of thousands of years; everything they hold dear will become trivial under such a terrifying shock because every life has its own cherished values.
If the goals and everything of this life fall short, then everything held onto now will turn to nothing, replaced instead by the most valued goal in comparison.
Thus, if one were to use this method, it would be best to draw energy from one life at a time, allowing sufficient time to adjust one’s rationality.
Jahl Uzz has also attempted this method; he did not dare to restore all the memories and powers of his past lives, thus struggling to restore several lifetimes to draw on power. Even so, he was frightened by the alien landscapes he saw from his past lives.
Fortunately, one of the powerful races in Jahl Uzz’s past life, the Wendigo (translated as per the notes from the supplement handbook), resembled upright starfish, capable of not only surviving directly in the universe but also absorbing the power of stars to train their souls.
They built numerous colonies in the universe, and Jahl Uzz inherited the soul power of that Wendigo, greatly enhancing his soul strength.
That method of rapidly augmenting power made Jahl Uzz both joyful and fearful, worried that such a method might anger the master of his soul. However, after observing for half a year without incident, Jahl Uzz finally felt secure enough to begin drawing from the strengths of his past lives one by one to dilute the risk.
Fisher narrowed his eyes, clearly interested in this method.
Such a quick method to enhance power was undoubtedly what he needed to confront those two eighteenth-rank demons, and even an extra lifetime could add some assurance to his current plans.
He looked at his palm, where the distorted soul seemed to be eager to try, then he turned to look at the specific method recorded above in the book.
Pray to the gods beyond this world, let them respond to your past, but do not recite their full names; instead, use the few titles they left behind to pry open your previous life.
At this moment, absorbed entirely in the Soul Supplement Handbook, Fisher did not realize that a faint blue-gold light, like a rainbow scattering, flashed in his eyes, reflecting the text of the handbook like a mirror.
The drowsy Emhart did not perceive Fisher’s current abnormalities; he only instinctively felt a familiar chill.
But deep within Fisher’s heart, that title slowly unfolded.
[Ocean]
In Jahl Uzz’s annotations, there was a long chant behind, but somehow, when Fisher silently recited this word in his mind, an indescribable feeling suddenly bloomed around him.
His vision instantly whitened, as if surging waves were about to sweep over such a tiny being as him from the void.
Even having entered the mythical realm, in that moment, the uncontainable panic flooded his heart.
He watched helplessly as that terrifying sensation approached him. When he prepared himself to welcome that frightful feeling, the next moment, he felt as if something soft had brushed against his lips.
Fisher’s rigid body stiffened, and his mind, flooded with chaotic knowledge, instantly transformed into a blank slate.
Just now…
Did something just touch him?
But the feeling came and went so quickly that even Fisher doubted whether it was a figment of his imagination caused by reading the handbook.
As he pondered this, he soon experienced the feeling of falling and tracing back as described by Jahl Uzz.
In that instant, it seemed to him that the past lined up before his eyes, just like in the northern region’s dream magic, every moment his encompassing soul had experienced began to present itself as exquisite three-dimensional walls.
He saw how he crossed into the Southern Continent, saw all he did in the past, saw every night he spent gently with each lady, saw how he met every lady.
And even earlier, everything, all of it; he returned to that church school that was neither too big nor small, seeing that gentle and kind nun.
“Teresa.”
Time rolled back on her face, making her youthful and innocent, until she became a baby requiring care for every need.
He felt the familiar bond between them slowly grow dim until one sunny afternoon when she took him from the wooden basket, carrying him out that great door of the church academy.
Fisher’s breath quickened; at that moment, how he became an orphan, where his biological parents from Cardu and Nali had gone, and why he had been abandoned would all be revealed before him.
He watched Teresa pick him up and then set him down, stepping back through the door, leaving the baby in the wooden basket.
Then, he suddenly saw a hand reaching out from the edge of his vision, slender yet rough, looking like a woman’s hand. The nails were undone and looked long and sharp.
Was this his mother?
But it felt nothing like it because the way she carried his basket seemed… a bit ungraceful.
Not even looking at him, it was as though she tossed a parcel at the church school and walked away.
Could it be that his parents didn’t find him here but in some other place, and this kind person just brought him here?
Just as Fisher’s questions arose, that woman carrying him seemed to rewind time, raising her hand toward his face in the blanket.
Through the gap in her sleeve, Fisher clearly saw a healed but still hideous scar on her arm, shaped like a split crab, obviously left long, long ago.
This scar…
Then it seemed he heard the woman’s voice, sounding like a madwoman, muffled and unclear, speaking in a language Fisher had never heard before but was oddly articulate and rhythmic.
“%￥@！#”
What language is this?
She should be human, yet the language she spoke was neither Southern Continent language nor Northern Region language, nor Western Continent language at all…
Who on earth is this woman?
Then, his vision suddenly whitened, time rewinding into a blank void, as if his life commenced the moment that strange woman’s voice rang out!
In the endless fall of souls, at that moment, Fisher did not experience the sensation of entering past life memories described by Jahl Uzz; he only felt emptiness and blankness—nothing existed.
There were no biological parents from Nali and Cardu, no being abandoned and then picked up by a kind person and sent to the church school, no previous lives, not even a single one.
Yes, Fisher saw nothing, gained no power, except for that woman’s sharp nails, the strange language, and that bizarre scar resembling a crab’s protruding claws.
In reality, Fisher’s eyes suddenly turned red, and he painfully clutched his head, incredulously pulling himself out from that endless feeling of void.
Jahl Uzz sought claims from his past lives, hence experiencing a wildly inflated feeling from their memories. Fisher, on the contrary, saw nothing and only sensed endless emptiness and void—this feeling could also breed madness and suffering, compelling him to clutch his head and rest it on the table, his entire being radiating an even brighter fluorescent glow.
“Fisher! Fisher! Are you okay?”
The voice in his ear was not Emhart’s shouts. Perhaps he had shouted before, but Fisher had been too engrossed in exploring the past and his previous lives to notice.
At this moment, the voice he heard was Raphael’s anxious voice.
He came back to his senses from the endless sense of emptiness and the shock of having no previous life. The scattered blue-gold light in his eyes faded little by little, after which he turned to look at Raphael beside him, who was watching him with great concern.
“Raphael?”
Raphael gasped, and seeing Fisher regain his composure, she finally breathed a sigh of relief, warmly pulling Fisher into her familiar embrace.
“What happened to you? Don’t scare me.”
“I’m fine. I was just thinking about some issues.”
“You’re lying! What kind of problem would make you bang your head on the table? What are you doing, and what’s this method to defeat demons you mentioned? I don’t believe those demons are so strong that you can easily defeat them!”
After the worry, Raphael recalled her anger, quickly holding Fisher’s head to pull him back a little, and then questioned him like this.
Emhart could no longer stand by, hastily flying over to persuade Raphael.
“Hey, hey, he’s doing this for you. Don’t worry; I’m here keeping an eye on him; he won’t get into trouble.”
“Get lost! I didn’t ask you!”
“Oh.”
At this moment, Raphael resembled a fire-breathing Tyrannosaurus; despite being only of the Fourteenth Rank, her impact on Emhart was not to be underestimated.
He was just about to explain but got scared into submission by Raphael’s words and, shrinking his head, flew back to the bed to play dead.
To untie the bell, one must rely on the person who tied it; it’s better for Fisher to handle it personally.
Fisher blinked, forced a wry smile, and had to repeat Emhart’s words at length, saying,
“I really don’t have any issues. I was just studying magic. It’s normal to encounter problems when studying magic, especially such dangerous magic. Don’t you agree?”
As he spoke, he suddenly felt a strange fullness of energy surge within his soul, a sensation very similar to that described in Jahl Uzz’s handbook regarding gaining past life soul power.
But he clearly never had a past life; what in the world is this power…
The next moment, on his lips, which had the strength of a mythical rank, a mark resembling a pink strawberry, as if it had been fiercely sucked by some woman, appeared in front of Raphael, making her slightly stunned.
Then, she chuckled coldly and replied,
“Yes, this is indeed quite dangerous; otherwise, how did your mouth end up like this?”
“…”
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(End of Chapter)
