Chapter 171: Shana, the Cat Slave, and the Soul-Simulating Bracelet
The Educational District, two blocks from the Capital of Mysticism’s Grand Library.
The Imperial Academy of Magic was situated not far from here, with academies for warriors, knights, thieves, rangers, and other professions beside it.
Coupled with tutoring institutions that guided youngsters into these “famous imperial schools,” along with their corresponding textbooks and teaching materials, the area possessed an exceptionally strong academic atmosphere.
And because there were so many young people, it also appeared particularly youthful and vibrant.
However, this was counterbalanced by a higher incidence of fights and brawls. Professionals who had just learned a few skills would inevitably feel invincible, thinking the world revolved around them, only to be taught a lesson by the city guard detachment stationed there.
Who wasn’t a prodigy in their youth? The city guards were quite cunning, sending those who were once prodigies themselves, both in skill and in the art of showing off. Combined with continuously upgraded equipment, they could easily defeat these young upstarts.
The troublemakers could endure the physical pain of being beaten by their seniors, but the mental damage of seeing their smug faces would leave even deeper scars, which, over time, made the area quiet and peaceful once more.
Shana lived in a small house in the Educational District. It wasn’t large, and the rent wasn’t expensive; after all, a single commission from the Adventurer’s Guild could earn her enough to pay rent for several years.
These rooms were arranged for those who failed their exams but were unwilling to accept it, preparing for next year’s tests. The environment was relatively clean and tidy, mostly occupied by young students, creating a very good atmosphere.
Shana spent her days studying at the Grand Library. Inheriting Nalineer’s wisdom, she could process vast amounts of information instantly. However, she abandoned that forceful method in favor of the slower, more traditional approach of a brilliant student reading at an exceptionally fast pace.
She believed this “leisurely” speed was also a way to enjoy life.
She would read late into the night before returning home to rest, occasionally putting effort into decorating her small room.
She bought many pretty little decorations, planted three pots of flowers, and even built a swing—she enjoyed sitting and spacing out.
As time went by, her clothing, her demeanor, and her aura became increasingly similar to those of the students in the area.
Coupled with her overwhelmingly beautiful appearance, even though she kept to herself and avoided contact with others, she still attracted a few admirers, hoping to spark a youthful romance.
But Shana’s response was always a Forgetfulness Charm, effortlessly shaking off their advances.
The first criterion for a Little Angel’s choice of partner was that the suitor must be able to defeat her. How could she even consider relationships if they lacked sufficient magic resistance?
Aside from the occasional buzzing flies, she was quite satisfied with her current life.
Although her so-called efforts were entirely disproportionate to her actual strength and current situation.
With her abilities, she could have instantly understood the most profound magic theories and spatial conjectures. Spending time reading poetry, prose, and novels was merely a way to self-soothe, a posture to prove she was still working hard and hadn’t given up. Dallying was Shana’s new normal.
Back then, in her extreme anger, she wanted to tear Roger to shreds, but now, that emotion felt very vague.
As time passed and she received more information, her obsession naturally began to wane.
Why bother getting angry with that scoundrel when she could enjoy life?
The only eternal thing was the fear of her true self finding her, that was etched into her soul.
As Nalineer’s projection, she was one of the few who truly understood Nalineer’s methods. She knew she was merely clinging to survival; if she were exposed to the Seven Gods’ faction, only death awaited her.
To prepare for this day, Shana secretly recorded a batch of information she believed would be a significant blow to the Seven Gods into a ring she crafted, then hid it in a place no one could find.
If she died one day, that ring would be sent to the Maple Spirit Moon Shadow Palace.
“Of course, perhaps by then this World will no longer exist, but I will have done my best!”
After completing this task, Shana completely let loose. She even considered enrolling in the Imperial Academy of Magic to become a top student for a while, satisfying her vanity…
Heaven knows how long she struggled before finally giving up this effortless opportunity to show off, not bullying the juniors in her eyes.
Thus, she lived in a daze, going back and forth between her residence and the Grand Library every day. In contrast to her past fulfilling life as an angel, she was actually wasting time.
Even exhaustively plotting revenge against Roger was a form of effort!
But at this moment, Shana felt that enjoying this idle life before death was the greatest happiness!
This lacked ambition and was different from what she originally wanted to do in this World.
But this was the life she wanted, the ordinary life she desired.
She liked it, what did it have to do with anyone else?
Shana’s heart was unclear whether she had grown or become childish.
She tried to find answers in books, but the books contained ten thousand principles, each very reasonable. After reading them, it was the same as if nothing had been said.
After reading for ten years, she still had no answers.
She walked through the prosperous world but never truly entered it, always with a sense of vigilance, observing the joys and sorrows of others.
She drifted through the years until the New Year arrived. Touched by the vast expanse of white snow, she found Afu, who had transformed into a black cat, and named him Little White.
Because of the reliance of that weak life, Shana temporarily found a purpose for her existence, gaining the motivation to raise him.
In that small house, she prepared a warm and comfortable nest for Little White, consulted various notes on cat care, bought the best kitten food, and various toys.
She had no childhood, so she especially wished for Little White to have a happy one.
Although Little White was played by Afu, as an Eris Demon Worm, he could easily control the soul of a cat. His portrayal of a kitten was flawless.
Moreover, Shana had never raised a cat before.
As long as the appearance was sufficiently cute, even if Afu accidentally revealed some habits of a cicada’s life, she wouldn’t suspect anything.
Because of Shana’s wholehearted and attentive care, Afu also developed strange emotions and became a little… obsessed with playing the role of a black cat.
Every Eris Demon Worm was lonely. The existence of the Mind Realm gave them self-preservation abilities and territorial awareness from birth, allowing them to venture alone into the Astral Plane to weave terrible traps, patiently awaiting prey.
Only after experiencing too many human emotions and understanding their relationships, watching and yearning for their interactions, did Afu begin to possess emotions.
Having witnessed too much joy and sorrow, and realizing his uniqueness, he gradually understood that he was a pioneer among Eris Demon Worms, the only one of his era.
The only one who had awakened intelligence and self-awareness, and no longer looked down on his own kind.
Correspondingly, he became a unique existence in the world, feeling an indescribable loneliness.
Empress of Eternal Night arranged for Afu to find Shana. Besides seeking an opportunity to draw Shana into the Anti-Azurevine Alliance, she also saw some similar traits in Afu and Shana.
In terms of age, they were two problem children who had just entered the world. However, they both possessed wisdom and knowledge far beyond ordinary adults.
This caused them to be unable to have normal growth periods and childhoods. How to nurture and guide them was a task the Empress of Eternal Night directly handed over to Roger.
But Roger had never raised a child either, especially Shana, who had entered her rebellious phase prematurely and was very difficult to handle.
By arranging for Afu to approach Shana in the form of a kitten, the Empress hoped they would interact, perhaps creating some chemical reaction that would promote mutual growth.
Like minds communicate better. On the surface, a celestial projection and an astral demon were worlds apart, but upon deeper consideration, perhaps they could understand each other?
After a period of interaction between human and cat, it turned out to be unexpectedly harmonious, just as Roger had predicted.
Shana needed Afu, which stimulated her inner tenderness and maternal instincts; Afu also needed Shana, this feeling of being cared for was peculiar.
They formed a mutually dependent relationship, as master and pet, and also as “friends.”
Shana was still a child; she had her willful and impulsive side, but also a simple and kind side.
Caring for a fragile young life, from clumsy to skilled, watching Little White grow day by day, activated her benevolent side.
And Afu, in this process, absorbed unprecedented warmth.
The Empress of Eternal Night was Afu’s nominal owner, but she had no hobby for keeping pets. Initially, she treated him as an experiment, and now she considered him a unique subordinate.
The imperial family was not to be trifled with, as the saying goes; Afu had to face being exploited to maximize his value.
Roger treated Afu on an equal footing as a friend, joking with him, deliberately enjoying his blushing appearance, and offering him some life advice.
But there was little more care; he understood Afu’s knowledge base and would find it ridiculous to treat him like a mere child.
These were the two people Afu could interact with emotionally on a daily basis. When interacting with others, he was forbidden from displaying humanized behavior.
When dealing with ordinary staff members of the Arcane Society, he had to pretend to be ignorant and unfeeling as before to ensure the stable operation of the magician’s camp.
Of course, Afu wasn’t just on vacation; he also had to guide Shana onto the path Roger expected.
“Little White, do you want this?”
“Meow~”
On the rather cold street, the black cat in Shana’s pocket poked its head out, using its paw to attract its owner’s attention. The large and small pair stopped.
They looked at a large advertising board. The Empress of Eternal Night wore a Soul-Simulating Bracelet with a two-inch crystal screen on her wrist, clad in a luxurious magic robe. Beside her, a slogan read, “This is a brand-new World you’ve never seen before.”
To attract the most users, Roger eventually had the Empress of Eternal Night embrace the spirit of “Eternal Night Fun,” filming promotional materials.
After all, it was the most catchy.
There were several more exaggerated print advertisements like this, along with numerous versions of dynamic magical projections being rolled out in more prosperous areas of the empire.
Shana looked somewhat confused, as did most of the citizens who saw the advertisements.
The Soul-Simulating Bracelet and the Fearless Space were completely unfamiliar concepts to them. What was it all about?
There were related introductions in the “Long Live the Empress Newspaper,” but not everyone read the newspaper, nor could everyone understand it.
The low literacy rate always caused trouble.
However, with the Empress herself appearing in various styles of beautiful pictures, it indeed achieved the widest coverage in the empire.
Even those who couldn’t read were drawn by curiosity to Amti Merchant Guild stores, inquiring about the Soul-Simulating Bracelet.
The specially trained store clerks would enthusiastically and warmly introduce their new product to all guests and invite them to try it.
Shana also mingled with the dense crowd. The selling price of one gold coin per piece was affordable for her, but she didn’t know what this thing did.
If Little White hadn’t been curious, she definitely wouldn’t have come to such a crowded store; she would have been comfortably reading a favorite book in the Grand Library.
Instead of listening to the sales clerks, enticed by high commission rates, chattering:
“Our bracelet is a masterpiece personally designed by Master Frankenstein of the Arcane Society, using a uniquely developed sentient magic core with four large and two small cores. It can create an extremely realistic World in your mind, allowing you to enjoy life with users worldwide.”
“Enjoy free services such as sending and receiving letters and long-distance communication! Just like the magicians’ camps, this is a life-changing product. Those who don’t play with the Soul-Simulating Bracelet will eventually be left behind!”
“We currently have a launch event. If you sign in for ninety consecutive days, your purchase price will be fully refunded, equivalent to getting a beautiful magic item for free.”
The salespeople were eloquent, introducing the simply designed yet fashionable Soul-Simulating Bracelet.
It didn’t have the large notch that still existed in the thirteenth generation of some products; the Soul-Simulating Bracelet used a complete piece of flexible crystal to create a true full-screen display, with a thickness of only an imperial silver coin.
Even without activating the Fearless Space, this bracelet could serve as a very beautiful wristwatch to display the time, at least much more fashionable than the pocket watches popular in the empire.
The rich selection of customized watch faces were designed by genuine art masters.
Coupled with the freedom to mix and match straps made of leather/metal/rubber/magic bone and other materials, along with rich customization functions, each Soul-Simulating Bracelet could be incomparably personalized.
As long as you were willing to pay extra, you could even have it inlaid with gems. High-level artisans were on-site at every Amti store for customization.
From an aesthetic perspective, the Soul-Simulating Bracelet surpassed most products of this era. For one gold coin, to obtain a magic item of such quality and workmanship was practically an all-time low price.
This was the price advantage brought by the industrialization of magic. Mass production would make the cost of the Soul-Simulating Bracelet increasingly cheaper.
It was not complicated at all; it merely required a small amount of magic power to connect to the modified Mind Realm, guiding the user’s soul into it.
Combined with a very simple illusion magic to form the watch face, this异界 (otherworld) bracelet was complete. A button-sized magic crystal could provide power for half a year.
Because the Mind Realm wasn’t the primary function of the Soul-Simulating Bracelet, it only acted as a locator and guide. The Fearless Space consumed the magic power of the Eris Demon Worms.
Little White used its small paws to cling to Shana’s clothes, its big eyes full of expectation.
There were also beast versions of the Soul-Simulating Bracelet, as many magical beasts also had entertainment needs.
Shana was already a cat slave and didn’t care about money. In the end, she bought one for herself and one for Little White.
“We wish you a happy time in the Fearless Space and success in earning back your purchase price.” The store manager personally presented Shana with beautifully packaged gift boxes after the sale.
Despite the large number of inquiries, very few actually made a purchase.
This was an era that had not yet accelerated; people’s acceptance of new things was low and required someone to lead the way before they would try.
As a result, Shana unintentionally became that “catalyst.”
Buying two at once strengthened the resolve of many hesitant buyers, as the full refund was guaranteed anyway.
“That remains to be seen with my son,” Shana said affectionately, stroking Little White’s head. She thought that with this cat’s patience, he would quickly get bored.
The unused toys at home were evidence of this.
Because she bought a new toy, she didn’t go to the Grand Library afterward but returned home to wear the Soul-Simulating Bracelet with Little White and log into the Fearless Space.
