Chapter 636: 114. Blessing
“.”
“[The Hidden Azanros], we beseech your mercy and aid, ask you to form a barrier with unfathomable power, isolating all that has passed.”
In the boundless golden ocean, Fisher seemed to hear indistinguishable strange sounds, as if many mouths were simultaneously speaking, piecing together odd languages that felt like they could tear apart the very awareness of beings trying to comprehend them.
Yet for some reason, Fisher could understand the meaning of these sounds, but he felt more like a bystander, listening to a story that might have already transpired.
He even questioned whether it was truly a voice, as if it wasn’t coming from his own “ears,” or perhaps from his nose, or his mouth?
He did not know; his consciousness was gradually waking up, and he couldn’t help but feel curious about the source of that sound, wanting to explore it further. He opened his eyes and looked in the direction of the sound, the golden light gradually dimming, and soon, a dark abyss flooded with seawater suddenly pierced his sight.
“Gulp, gulp~”
At the bottom of that nameless darkness, it seemed something was slowly writhing, yet even with Fisher’s keen eyesight, he couldn’t penetrate its form.
At that moment, curiosity plagued his hazy consciousness, driving him to observe the existence at the bottom of the abyss further. But in the next second, countless bubbles surged forth, accompanied by the sigh of what seemed to be a cute girl, complaining,
“Fisher.”
“Ramastia?”
Fisher murmured, as countless bubbles suddenly surged up, wrapping his consciousness and everything about him, swirling upwards as he left the dark abyss for the “reality” above it, rising through reality back to the trench, from the trench’s Golden Palace to the surface of the ocean, ultimately returning to Nali, somewhere beneath the church.
“Gulp, gulp!!”
Fisher jolted upright, consciousness abruptly pulled from the darkness. It felt as if he were gasping for breath after being rescued from drowning, thick panting leading to seawater seeping from his nostrils and mouth, until at last, after coughing up everything from his lungs, he finally began to ease.
“Cough, cough, cough!!”
He incredulously touched his neck, but now there was nothing there, where before was the tentacle residing from the subhuman girl enthusiast.
Now, aside from his Adam’s apple, there was nothing, as if everything that had just happened had merely been a dream.
“Doo doo?”
But in the next second, a golden tentacle playfully emerged from his clothing, the smooth surface constantly swirling with golden whirlpools proving that everything that just transpired was no dream.
“?!”
Fisher initially thought that little Fisher had turned into that tentacle, scaring him with cold sweat, nearly making him jump, but upon closer inspection, he realized that this tentacle had actually been wrapped around him all along; he just hadn’t noticed for some reason earlier.
What on earth is this thing?
Fortunately, this time, the subhuman girl enthusiast finally did not leave Fisher guessing in a daze.
The nearby Supplement Handbook for Sub-Humans sparkled with golden light, flying back to Fisher’s side, and ghostly text floated before his eyes,
[Congratulations, you have gained the “Hidden Blessing of Azanros”]
[Contributor’s Note: The gods of creation made all preparations to create the world, even inadvertently committing the deadly sin of “theft.” Before formally beginning, they prayed for a blessing from a powerful hidden existence, asking it to protect the fragile new world about to be born, isolating its new existence from all that has passed. “The Ultimate” was thereby born, existing because of isolation. Now, the past beauty has perished with the shattering of the barrier, and the fearful past of the gods is about to return because of the sins they committed, leading everything to a conclusion of destruction.]
[Passive Activation: The hidden power will assist you in isolating the source of chaos when you finish reading a particular supplement manual, to prevent you from being directly affected by it.]
[Active Activation: Pronouncing a designated keyword to Azanros’s avatar will activate the hidden blessing; during the blessing’s duration, you will fall into a “specific secret” state, unable to be detected by chaos or the gods, unaffected by any power except for direct authority. As a price, during the hidden process, you will “return to ordinary,” unable to use any extraordinary powers including magic. This process will last a random duration, unable to be turned off proactively.]
[Tip 1: Hone your abilities and build a good relationship with the cute Azanros avatar; it will assist you in your active blessings.]
[Tip 2: Imagine what would happen when someone who has been watching you suddenly cannot see you?]
The golden light of the Supplement Handbook for Sub-Humans gradually dissipated, causing Fisher, who had finished reading all this, to let out a long breath.
This is truly an exceedingly powerful blessing.
He could hardly imagine how exaggerated a blessing would be that even the gods could not detect your existence. No wonder the subhuman girl enthusiast could remain so sprightly for thousands of years, and yet evidently had read various supplement manuals and knew the secrets of the Apocalypse Prophecy; those of the Creation Society knew nothing about her, all for this reason.
Previously, when he had fought against the chaos of souls, although he pretended to be calm before Hela, internally he was more aware than anyone else. If the source of the soul chaos had not attacked him, he could very well have died in the process of containing the soul chaos. But now, with the blessing of Azanros, he could face only the chaos that entered the world, not its source.
One must say, the things left by the subhuman girl enthusiast were indeed beyond his expectation and unconsciously alleviated some of the hesitation he felt about his responsibilities.
He blinked and then looked at the golden tentacle that was wrapped around him and staring at him blankly; for a moment, he and it gazed at each other, forgetting that it, in fact, had no eyes.
So, this is actually Azanros’s avatar?
Is this tentacle… really cute?
Has the subhuman girl enthusiast become obsessed with subhuman girls to such an extent that even tentacles are not spared?
“.”
“Doo doo!!”
Fisher hadn’t said a word, only thought this in his heart, but the golden tentacle before him seemed to suddenly understand his thoughts, puffing up its body in a huff, and even the swirling golden whirlpool above became restless, as dangerous as a rattlesnake.
“. It actually is a bit cute.”
Fisher opened his mouth and suddenly said this.
The trembling tentacle ceased its movement, instead tilting the end of its tentacle, looking at Fisher, while “doo doo” seemed to be saying,
“Really?”
“. Yes.”
Fisher steeled himself to say this, and he didn’t know if the tentacle was pleased or not. In any case, it wriggled its head and rewrapped itself around Fisher’s body, as though it were a delicate little cutie, only it appeared somewhat sticky when it coiled around him.
Soon, as it entered his clothing, that sticky feeling vanished instantly, because when he opened up again, he could no longer find its trace.
So, what was the keyword for that blessing?
Fisher stood up, puzzled, and took one last look around, but evidently, everything here had been taken away by him, and the subhuman girl enthusiast had left for quite some time, unsure whether she was dead or what.
Next, he would have to rely on himself.
He lifted his foot, preparing to leave this room, but as he reached the door, he suddenly remembered the easter egg from the Supplement Handbook for Sub-Humans.
Although he didn’t know what that so-called proverb was about, understanding it from the literal meaning of Nali would suggest that a dragon’s child is a dragon, and a phoenix’s child is a phoenix.
Then, what is a mouse’s child?
At that moment, it seemed he suddenly realized what the so-called keyword was.
So, he softly said,
“ma.”
In the next second, as the correct keyword was spoken, an eerie golden radiant light suddenly erupted from him, amid an extremely terrifying power’s surging, in the eyes of the gods and chaos, the presence known as “Fisher Benavides” instantaneously vanished.
“Ah, ah, ah, are you trying to scare me to death?! Where did you even come from?!”
Outside the church, Emhart, on Fisher’s shoulder, was anxiously bumping his head against him, and Fisher clearly found it somewhat amusing, only able to block his movement with his hand. But compared to the relaxed grace enhanced by mythical rank power, the physical strength required to deal with Emhart’s “rude rush” was indeed somewhat difficult.
No wonder when Erwind seized the death rune in the Parasol Tree, he fumbled before him.
“Were you so timid over there that you didn’t notice me come out?”
“Dude, I’ve been watching the whole time, okay? How could I not notice?”
Fisher smiled slightly, noncommittal, silently keeping the frazzled Emhart snug in his arms.
In reality, he was merely testing the blessing he had just obtained. The description said it was effective against the gods and chaos’ sources, but in reality, it also worked against other existences.
Just like since he left the church, at first, he was sneaking around, but because he couldn’t use extraordinary powers while in the hidden state, his senses were noticeably different than before, leading him to not notice the patrolling church officials at all.
Resulting in, even when Fisher walked right past them, they hadn’t realized anything was amiss.
However, Emhart noticed his presence just after a brief pause, which led Fisher to speculate whether the determination of this hidden state was based on his own relationship with the observer.
It’s like the bond he had with Emhart was so close that even when Fisher tried to sneak up to scare him, he still got discovered; conversely, the other Nali people seemed utterly oblivious, even when he waved his hand in front of them.
And this doesn’t appear to be related to rank; he had encountered quite a few higher-ranked subhumans from the Northern Region, especially the Cangniao Tribe of the Kingdom of Sardinia, and they seemed completely unaware of Fisher’s existence. It was quite interesting that he even, with a bit of mischief, attempted to trigger the frozen magic in the bakery display case by the roadside, only to feel nothing, as if he had an anti-magic constitution; the freezing magic didn’t even make him feel cold.
Really amusing.
But Emhart didn’t feel the same way; nestled in Fisher’s arms, he nervously swallowed a throatful of saliva, after going through all of this, a doubt even arose in his mind, causing Fisher to question,
“Fisher, you haven’t died in that underground tomb, have you? And what’s coming out now is actually your ghost, because you’re too damned obsessed, wanting to wander around, disturbing ladies and such, and I won’t become a ghost too, right? No way, I need to fly out and confirm if others can see me or not.”
“Have you lost your marbles? I just got a little help over there, okay? Look, I haven’t been discovered all this way; this helps me with the upcoming journey in Nali. Whether for searching manuals or over by Elizabeth. You don’t have such help; being hidden in my arms is what allows you to avoid detection, got it?”
Fisher sighed as he pressed the now escaping Emhart back into his embrace; this blessing couldn’t be shared. Earlier, when Emhart was bumping his head against him in the church, Fisher speculated that it was probably his flying collision noise that attracted the patrolling officials over.
“Oh dear, I feel like we’re like rats in the gutter… but when we get to your teacher’s funeral, at least you won’t have to worry about your legendary battle with Elizabeth making the funeral a complete mess.”
“. Hopefully.”
If Fisher’s previous theory were correct, aside from the gods, being closer to oneself made it easier to be discovered; Elizabeth would be likely able to see him at any moment.
But Emhart was right; at least at Teacher Heilson’s funeral, he did not wish for chaos to occur; that was the last moment before his teacher departed.
“So, shall we head out to your teacher’s hometown? That place… Chitel City.”
“Yeah, we’re leaving soon.”
“But it’s not in the direction of the station.”
“That is indeed true.”
Fisher walked along the streets with Emhart until they entered an area of low bungalows he was familiar with. It seemed there had not been too many changes since the past, apart from the flying mechanisms in the sky and newly built streetlights and other infrastructure.
He soon stopped in front of a small three-story house, quietly looking at the nameplate outside the fence,
“Lady Martha”
He did not enter because at this moment, even though he was wrapped in the hidden state and unable to use extraordinary powers, he still keenly sensed that some indistinct gazes on the surrounding streets were watching this way, seemingly waiting for someone to push open the door and go in to meet the elderly woman inside.
If it were Lady Martha, she would surely be able to see him.
But at this moment, it was afternoon, so at this time, she should be taking a nap as usual.
He gently climbed over the low fence, standing in the small yard of the house, peering through the glass window at the familiar structure inside; he soon saw Lady Martha resting in a rocking chair. He looked at her for a long time, then strolled to the other side of the yard, where she used to plant cabbages.
But now the soil here was all overgrown with weeds, only a few sparse roots of vegetables that hadn’t been harvested lay among them.
Fisher remained silent for a moment, walked over to that small field, picked up a sickle that had been left here for who knows how long, then took off his coat and bent down to start cutting the weeds that had grown inside. The area of the field was not large, and his movements were quick, so soon all the weeds within the edge were cut down and piled neatly.
Then, he gently tossed the hot sickle handle aside, took a deep breath, and picked up the coat that had fallen to the ground.
When leaving, he looked once more into the house; Lady Martha, who was nearly at her twilight years, was still dozing, enjoying her leisurely afternoon.
And Fisher, watching all this, only smiled lightly, donned his coat once again, and scaled the fence towards the direction of the station.
Please, vote, tip, and support; it means a lot to me!
Thank you greatly for your support!
()
(End of Chapter)
