Chapter 70: Can Self-Hypnosis Also Lead to Lying Flat?
Xiao Qiaoyi was very confused by Roger’s behavior.
His recent movements had been confined to three locations: the Ice Drinking Manor, Charles’s Mansion, and the Maple-Moon Shadow Palace.
It had only been ten days since the Oudu Blood Night, and each of these places had extremely high security levels.
The Maple-Moon Shadow Palace was even personally overseen by the Empress.
Under these circumstances, what mage would have the opportunity to use mind-reading on him? Wasn’t asking her to conduct this kind of examination a waste of time?
He had said that a brief separation makes the heart grow fonder, but now, upon meeting, he wanted her to play a female doctor first?
Wait, could this be some special form of foreplay for him?
Disguise, role-playing, and then…
It seemed like it could be fun too?
Roger waited for a long time, but instead of Xiao Qiaoyi showing embarrassment, he was completely bewildered.
Why was she blushing?
This examination was a very serious one!
But he didn’t dare to say that he suspected the Empress of Eternal Night.
He had absolutely no confidence that if he and the Empress of Eternal Night both fell into a river, Xiao Qiaoyi would save him first…
He was forced to become a riddle-man: “Good girl, I really can’t say more about this. You wouldn’t understand even if I told you. Just help me check, the most detailed check, leaving no stone unturned. You’re the only one I can trust right now!”
The words “You’re the only one” were incredibly potent against women.
Xiao Qiaoyi happened to be someone who fell for that kind of appeal. Feeling relied upon, she asked no further questions and readily agreed, obediently helping Roger check for any signs of being mind-read.
In the Eternal Night World, spells like mind-reading and memory retrieval were extremely difficult to master.
Moreover, they were all mental-type spells that forcefully invaded the soul, causing significant damage to the target’s ocean of consciousness.
They were usually used after subduing the target.
If the target had strong Mental Power and a tenacious will to resist, there was also a possibility of failure or even backlash.
However, the Empress of Eternal Night’s magical attainments were immeasurable, and Roger knew the vast difference in their strength.
If it were her, she might indeed be able to pull off a silent infiltration.
But no matter how magical, magic had to adhere to many basic principles.
This was also the basis for Roger’s confidence in introducing scientific thinking into the magical domain.
One such principle, called the “seesaw phenomenon” by mages, stated that strengthening one attribute through a single spell would inevitably cause other attributes to weaken.
Back then, Jostar had used a divine spell on Angelina, bypassing the detection of legendary powerhouses with maximum concealment.
The side effect was that the divine spell had a very limited effect on Angelina.
Logically, if the Empress of Eternal Night focused her efforts on concealing the mind-reading from the target’s detection, she would inevitably have to make compromises elsewhere.
Her extremely high magical attainments would certainly weaken the seesaw phenomenon, but even gods could not completely eliminate it and create a perfect spell.
This was why Roger believed that with Master Mage Xiao Qiaoyi’s skill, there was a very high probability of detecting signs of him being mind-read.
When a sky-high thief blows up the gate to rob a vault, facing the ruins, wouldn’t anyone, not just Sherlock Holmes, be able to say, “Wow, this place was robbed”?
As long as the Empress had acted, she would have left some trace.
Given enough time, Xiao Qiaoyi should be able to find some clues.
Ten minutes after the examination began.
Xiao Qiaoyi was extremely serious and meticulous, conducting a complete investigation of Roger’s ocean of consciousness.
She stated with great certainty: “President, there are no signs that you have been invaded by mind-reading or any other mental-type spell.”
“Check again.”
“As you command.”
This time, it took fifteen minutes.
“President, nothing was found.”
“Just in case, one more time.”
Twenty minutes later.
“President…”
“Again…”
“No, I really can’t anymore.”
Roger opened his eyes and realized that Xiao Qiaoyi’s face was pale, and she looked completely drained of energy.
This shouldn’t be happening. It was just a simple examination, how could it be so tiring?
Xiao Qiaoyi also looked wronged.
During the examination, she discovered something utterly preposterous: “Sir’s Mental Power is much higher than mine. Every time I entered, it was extremely difficult. Every movement in the ocean of consciousness caused me immense pain, consuming double the Magic Power and Mental Power. I really can’t hold on any longer.”
Seeing her pitiful state, as if she had been utterly worn out, Roger felt sympathetic and knew he couldn’t force her any further.
He pulled Xiao Qiaoyi into his arms and comforted her kindly: “It was my negligence. Next time you can’t take it, just say so earlier. There’s no need to push yourself like this.”
“It was to put your mind at ease…”
“Mm, I am reassured now. It should be enough to rule out the possibility of me being mind-read.”
“I’m glad you’re reassured. Can I sleep in your arms for a bit?”
She was truly exhausted, her voice as soft as a kitten’s, looking pitiful as she lightly traced patterns on Roger’s chest.
Roger couldn’t help but kiss her forehead: “Rest. You’ve worked very hard today.”
Xiao Qiaoyi smiled with satisfaction and rested her head on Roger’s chest, closing her eyes gently.
Taking advantage of the girl’s steady breathing, Roger fell into thought.
It was Xiao Qiaoyi’s reminder that made him recall that his Mental Power had been enhanced by the system’s treasure chest.
However, he didn’t know the standard for the “100 units” mentioned by the system, nor how strong it was.
Now, hearing Xiao Qiaoyi say that his Mental Power was even stronger than hers, a Master Mage?
This should be considered good news.
Strong Mental Power meant he was difficult to mind-read.
As long as he refused to cooperate and had sufficient willpower, even a legendary mage would not be able to successfully mind-read him, let alone do it stealthily.
With this level of Mental Power, even the Empress of Eternal Night couldn’t easily mind-read him, right?
Perhaps in the future, he could find an opportunity to further strengthen his Mental Power, to avoid being minded by powerful individuals and revealing his secret as a transmigrator.
“However, if it wasn’t mind-reading, then today I was purely crushed by intelligence? This… is even harder to accept!”
Roger put on a pained expression, as if to say, “I lost.”
Since proposing “New Arcana,” he had used the Empress of Eternal Night’s desire for the magazine to his advantage, always being one step ahead and directing the Empress to do many things.
He had a strong illusion that he had already gained control of this “wretched woman.”
However, the Empress of Eternal Night’s swift counterattack, predicting his moves several times and completely blocking his retreat, set a price that just hit his psychological bottom line, forcing him to start “Arcana Miscellany.”
Being forced to work like this was not a pleasant feeling.
Originally, he had planned to wait until “New Arcana” was fully established and the magazine had enough talent, so he could simply issue tasks and become a hands-off manager, and then start a weekly publication like this.
But due to the strong intervention of the Empress of Eternal Night, he was forced to start early.
This completely disrupted Roger’s rhythm.
He also realized that he had never controlled the Empress of Eternal Night; she had merely been “acting” cooperative before…
Damn it, the more beautiful the woman, the more deceptive she is!
The Empress, who seemed to be easily swayed in her desire for praise, was actually too greedy. He might end up being played to death…
Should he surrender to the Seven Gods instead?
Roger sighed, knowing that the idea was too late now.
His ties to the empire had grown too deep. From family to friends, everyone was completely loyal to the empire and would rather die than follow him to the other side…
Since he couldn’t change the environment, he would change himself!
Roger sighed helplessly.
During the ten days of preparing for “New Arcana,” he had earned random treasure chests, but he hadn’t obtained any useful items or skills.
The only remotely useful one was perhaps a Divine-level Chinese culinary skill, which would add many more dishes to the chefs at Charles’s Mansion.
In this instance, the system’s improvement to his combat power was less than that of the Scarce Wax’s Nest.
So, was this small round won by the Empress of Eternal Night’s counterattack?
Well, that wasn’t the main point.
The main point was that Roger had finally understood that the “Lying Flat System” was a purely idealistic thing.
As long as he was happy and lying flat, he would get rewards.
He had been working hard for “New Arcana” before, but in the end, he still managed to lie flat successfully, setting a new record for continuous treasure chest rewards.
Now that “New Arcana” was on track, and he had been forcibly assigned “Arcana Miscellany” by the Empress of Eternal Night, did she think she could disrupt his lying flat rhythm?
Too naive!
As long as he sincerely believed that “Arcana Miscellany” was something he wanted to do, he would still receive random treasure chests!
This move of his could be called the “Ah Q spirit”!
[“Arcana Miscellany” is Weibo, it’s my Douluo Continent server, it’s the land where I want to fight!]
[“Arcana Miscellany” can boost the sales of “New Arcana,” it’s a necessary link to perfect “New Arcana,” it’s the work I yearn for!]
[“Arcana Miscellany” will become my territory, I can ban whoever I want, and post whatever I want, the authority dog’s joy is endless!]
[The meaning of my transmigration is to create “Arcana Miscellany”!]
Roger continuously chanted the scriptures he had written in his mind, finally implanting them into his consciousness.
I, Roger, was born to compile “Arcana Miscellany”!
While this self-hypnosis might be considered cheating the system, as a disciple of the Fengling Yueying sect, he had no psychological burden to perform such an operation.
Cheating was not about whether one *wanted* to, but whether one *could*.
If online games allowed the use of cheats, who could resist giving themselves infinite Origin Stones and drawing all their waifus?
If you could directly cheat your way to a perfect ending, who would bother grinding?
At this moment, Xiao Qiaoyi was sleeping, and Roger was hypnotizing himself.
Everyone had a bright future.
…
…
In the void.
The silver-haired half-dragon princess Tasika stepped into a beautiful valley.
It was perpetually like early spring, with blooming flowers creating a stunning panorama that was unforgettable.
The phantom of a golden spear flickered in Tasika’s eyes, and the beautiful scenery before her shattered.
Each flower seemed to contain a world, and each leaf seemed to hold the birth and death of space.
Glaciers, volcanoes, deserts, the seabed, purgatory, star seas, and various other scenes successively appeared, merging and yet remaining distinct, ultimately forming this valley.
The true Tasika, deep within her ocean of consciousness, exclaimed in amazement: “Is this a Divine Kingdom?”
“Su the old man’s Ten Thousand Worlds Rift is different from other Divine Kingdoms. This is a mosaic of countless world fragments. Every step is a labyrinth, and every step is a story.”
Old Jostar, for the first time in a long while, offered an explanation.
Even more rare was that the always nonchalant and irresponsible old man, who showed little respect even to the Goddess of War, spoke solemnly about the Ten Thousand Worlds Rift.
As for “Su the old man” he mentioned, he was the leader of the Seven Gods, Su Alpha, the God of Knowledge.
When the God King slept, it was the God of Knowledge who commanded the Seven Gods.
However, this God of Knowledge was very Buddhist. After designating a general strategic direction, he left it to the gods to play freely, only intervening to correct them if they strayed too far.
Compared to the grandeur of other Divine Kingdoms, the Ten Thousand Worlds Rift was just a valley a few hundred meters long.
At the end of the valley, there were a few simple wooden huts.
Tasika approached the outermost one.
After knocking, she received no response for a long time.
She showed surprise: “No way, this shut-in actually decided to come out?”
Saying that, she unceremoniously sat on the ground, took out a thick stack of paper, and began to write rapidly, her thoughts flowing like a spring.
“To my most handsome little prince of the Bode tribe, it feels like ages since we parted yesterday…”
“Brave young master of the Rhine tribe, do you like the wine I brewed? If you have time, you could…”
“If there is anyone in this world most beautiful, it is naturally the pearl of our Elephant tribe…”
The words on these letters were direct and passionate, all love letters written to outstanding individuals among the children of Orc tribal chiefs.
The true Tasika was almost ashamed to death.
It was one thing that this old fellow was indiscriminate about gender, but he even went after married individuals!
Although she knew he was preparing for the future integration of the various Orc tribes, this act of selling himself to multiple parties was as daring as dancing on a sword.
If it were exposed, Princess Tequila would likely be branded a green tea bitch for five hundred years!
After an unknown amount of time.
Tasika had written hundreds of letters when she suddenly smelled an intensely strong scent of blood.
She looked up and saw a tall, beautiful figure staggering and appearing abruptly in the Ten Thousand Worlds Rift.
This was a young girl with classical beauty in her sculpted features, her long black hair tied into two waist-length high ponytails, her red trench coat open and draped over her.
Beneath it was a yellow top embroidered with the cross symbol of the Church of Knowledge, paired with a black mini-skirt, and further down, slender legs wrapped in stockings.
At this moment, she was covered in blood and exuding the signature sulfurous smell of the Abyssal Plane.
The black-haired girl slowed down, reached her slender hand into the void, and yanked hard at something.
She lowered her stance, exerted force, and actually pulled out an Abyssal creature radiating terrifying magical fluctuations!
This was an ancient eye demon that commanded multiple eye demon families and had reached the kingly rank.
However, it was disemboweled and already dead.
This fierce scene, however, created a strange sense of discord due to the girl’s calm, unwavering emerald eyes and expressionless small face.
The black-haired girl had a strong scholarly air, emanating the word “gentle.”
Even covered in blood, it seemed as if she hadn’t gone to battle, but rather to a distant foreign world to open a book called “Murder,” and was seeking truth within the internal structure of her enemy’s body.
“Your Highness, it’s a pleasure to see you again,” Tasika greeted enthusiastically.
The black-haired girl hesitated for a moment, then frowned: “Old Jostar? Your hobbies are becoming increasingly strange.”
“I don’t want to, but my Master arranged it,” Old Jostar replied with a wronged and helpless expression.
“But I see you’re quite happy being a woman.”
“Misunderstanding, it’s absolutely a misunderstanding…”
“Stop rambling. Why are you suddenly looking for me?”
Tasika chuckled and took out a thin booklet from her pocket, handing it over.
The black-haired girl took it and found it was a small book in Azurevine language, titled “Eternal Night Fables,” praising the great achievements of the Empress of Eternal Night with the simplest grammar and vocabulary.
“Just some vulgar flattery,” she said, handing it back and dragging the eye demon’s corpse towards her wooden hut.
Tasika said, “It is vulgar, but if the new generation of humans grows up reading such introductory textbooks, always praising the Empress of Eternal Night from childhood, will anyone still remember the existence of the Veronica Dynasty…”
The black-haired girl suddenly turned around, and a pillar of holy light descended from the sky.
The spot where Tasika stood was violently blasted into a huge crater connected to the void.
But in the crater, “Eternal Night Fables” floated quietly, as if telling a fact that would not change by the black-haired girl’s will…
“Your Highness, times have changed!”
Tasika’s laughter echoed, lingering for a long time.
Yes, it was now the third year of the Eternal Night calendar, not the 279th year of the Veronica calendar!
No matter how noble a princess of the previous dynasty was, she was merely a fugitive now.
The black-haired girl’s face was devoid of color, and she weakly knelt on one knee:
“My Lord, can you guide this lost lamb, and tell me when the dawn will break?”
