Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2775: Chapter 2776: The Obsession of the Remnant Soul

”I don’t know.”

The silver-haired girl gave the expected answer, yet, impressively, after clearly stating she didn’t know, she offered some personal opinions.

”However, obsession is just obsession, the purpose of a remnant soul is to fulfill that obsession. As for what the obsession actually is, does it hold any significance for you?”

The silver-haired girl quietly looked at Kaier.

But if someone were to observe closely through a mirror, they’d find that in her odd-colored pupils, the reflection is not of Kaier, but of a stranger’s silhouette. That silhouette clings to Kaier, eyes closed tightly, seemingly in a deep sleep. His face is riddled with shattered holes, from which refined Soul Force continuously gushes and flows toward Kaier.

Ha, the obsession is indeed strong.

The silver-haired girl lowered her gaze and furrowed her brow, letting out a soft sigh within her heart before speaking again: ”Rather than these matters, what you should focus on are your choices for the future. Whether to fulfill his obsession or to restrain the impulse within your heart, defying the obsession.”

After saying these words, the silver-haired girl continued to gaze at Kaier. It could be said that she had spent more time on Kaier than anyone else... except for Angel, temporarily.

Moreover, her words had somewhat exceeded the limits.

As Jon would put it, it’s inappropriate to speak deeply when the acquaintance is shallow.

Kaier was now perplexed too; before coming to the Underground Aqueduct, he never thought his passion for exploring ruins was influenced by others, always believing it was just a personal interest. Although the shadow of the remnant soul in the True Words Tome made him slightly doubtful before, there hadn’t been any confirmation.

The silver-haired girl’s words today truly dragged Kaier back from the bubble of beautiful fantasy to reality.

No matter how much of his ruin exploration was out of hobby, influenced by the remnant soul, ultimately, part of it was not from his heart.

In such circumstances, should he continue his journey of exploring ruins?

Should he begin as a ”Traveler,” and end as a ”Traveler”?

Kaier was completely unsure how to choose, looking at Dox with bewilderment.

Dox was the one he was most familiar with among those present; he could rely on and expect only Dox.

Dox also noticed Kaier’s inner conflict and said, ”This isn’t something that requires immediate decision now; the future is long; deciding in ten, a hundred years won’t be too late.”

Just as Dox finished speaking, before Kaier could respond, the silver-haired girl’s voice sounded: ”No, his time is already limited.”

”What do you mean?” Dox looked at the silver-haired girl with confusion.

”The remnant soul cannot exist indefinitely; as the parasitic host becomes stronger, the time of its existence becomes shorter and shorter. So, it’s nearly impossible to make a decision ten, a hundred years later. Unless he stops cultivating from today.”

What the silver-haired girl said was indeed a fact; previously, although everyone knew Kaier had a remnant soul, they didn’t pay much attention because it couldn’t influence Kaier, who had a complete Transcendent soul, and would ultimately dissipate.

Once it dissipates, talking about the obsession of the remnant soul would already be meaningless then.

However, having clearly known that the remnant soul would disappear, when pondering the silver-haired girl’s words, one would find she seemed not entirely objective in her narration.

Angel: ”Do you seem to be hoping he chooses to fulfill the remnant soul’s obsession?”

In her messages to others, the silver-haired girl wholly spoke from an objective perspective, yet with Kaier, she expressed a subjective opinion.

Whether it’s good or bad is hard to say. As they do not know the stance of the silver-haired girl, it might be best to directly point out this layer now, and see how the silver-haired girl would respond? Why is she so concerned about this matter? Which stance does she hold?

Whenever Angel would ask, the silver-haired girl would remain silent for quite a while. This time was no different; she gazed at Angel for a long time before softly saying: ”Because... of the bond.”

”The bond again? What does bond mean?” Angel asked in astonishment.

This was Angel’s second time questioning ”what the bond is.” The first time, her answer was ”Temporal Body is a bond.”

But this time, Kaier had no Temporal Body; why did the bond emerge again?

What does ”bond” mean to her?

The silver-haired girl seemed reluctant to answer, often turning her head, but each time she moved, Angel’s expression slightly changed.

She knew clearly that Angel was interpreting her actions.

Just like how she decoded others’ behaviors through Reflection of the Heart.

After hesitating for a while, she finally spoke: ”Bond is a type of connection. Whatever you do will create links with the surroundings, connecting people, objects, spaces, time... everything and everything, as long as you act, there is a connection.”

”Whatever you gain, you’ll pay a corresponding price.”

”Whatever you consume, you’ll compensate from another aspect.”

”All these things require bonds, and these bonds maintain... fairness.”

It was rare for the silver-haired girl to say so much at once, yet her words were cryptic, and few present understood.

Angel understood, for what the silver-haired girl spoke of was a kind of worldview, one that Jon had mentioned.

Additionally, Jon frequently referred to this conceptual worldview, known as: Karma, or Karmic Affinity.

What seed you sow, what result you reap. This is the simplest explanation of Karma; from a specific viewpoint, it does count as a ”bond” in concept.

By understanding through the lens of Karma, the silver-haired girl’s meaning implies: there’s a link of cause and effect between Kaier and the remnant soul.

Further, she previously presented an example: what you gain comes at a price.

This seems to suggest Kaier obtained benefits, so he must pay for it.

Angel somewhat understood the silver-haired girl’s stance; she was likely a proponent of this Karmic worldview, therefore naturally stood on the side where Karma needs to cycle when seeing Kaier’s situation.

But, that said, leaving Kaier’s situation aside for a moment, how is Temporal Body related to bond or Karma?

Her three Temporal Bodies corresponded to Dox, Black Earl, and Angel... could it be she’s using Temporal Body to establish bonds?

And the actions of the Temporal Body seemed rather strange—having them answer questions?

According to the so-called bond logic, could it be it’s all to forcibly connect them with the Temporal Body?

The Temporal Body is the ”avatar” of the silver-haired girl, meaning they established a Karma connection with her?

Angel wasn’t sure if his conjecture was correct; he intended to inquire, but the Black Earl beside him spoke first.

”Do you mean Kaier has gained benefits from the remnant soul?”

The question from the Black Earl revealed he also understood the silver-haired girl’s exceedingly cryptic words.

The worldview of the silver-haired girl wasn’t mainstream in the Wizards’ Realm; this view was more suitable for societies with stricter order and rules. However, with the Black Earl’s experience, even if the silver-haired girl deliberately kept her speech ambiguous, he extracted the truth from those verbose expressions.

”Of course, it isn’t that easy for a remnant soul to influence the will of a parasitic host.” The silver-haired girl nodded in acknowledgment: ”Year after year, day after day, channeling its already scarce Soul Force to the host. This is the price it pays, using a small portion of will within the Soul Force, gradually influencing the host’s ideology.”

Dox: ”If that’s the case, then when Kaier obtained the Soul Force, wasn’t his willpower also influenced? Isn’t that fair?”

The silver-haired girl shook her head: ”That’s not how it works. He might have become a Transcendent partially thanks to the residual souls.”

Dox frowned: ”Is there evidence for that?”

The silver-haired girl remained silent, unwilling to engage with Dox. She had probably figured out Dox’s approach: as long as he wants to make excuses, he can dig up every detail for discussion. He just needs to talk, while proof is demanded from others, which involves completely different costs.

Although the silver-haired girl only hinted at it, Angel had roughly summarized the situation.

Whether Kaier becoming a Talented One is due to the residual souls is yet to be discussed. But until now, the residual souls continue to provide Soul Force, which should be true.

Previously, she had clearly stated that the stronger Kaier becomes, the faster the residual souls disappear.

Even so, the residual souls are tirelessly helping Kaier to become stronger and fulfill their obsession, even if it means completely dissipating.

From this perspective, Kaier indeed gained some benefits from the residual souls.

And the silver-haired girl felt that since Kaier received this benefit, he should pay the price for it.

Whether this logic is correct or not is not evaluated, as this belongs to her personal opinion and it’s hard to say right or wrong.

The silver-haired girl then looked at the seemingly more bewildered Kaier and spoke again: ”It’s up to you to decide how to choose. However, I must remind you, can his will truly completely dominate your thoughts? It’s worth pondering.”

After speaking, the silver-haired girl no longer looked at Kaier.

Upon hearing the silver-haired girl’s last words, Kaier lowered his head, falling into prolonged contemplation...

At this moment, the silver-haired girl finally turned her gaze to Angel.

For a moment, no one spoke, and the air rarely became so silent.

Although Kaier’s matter was interesting, ultimately it was merely his personal affair. Compared to this, they were more concerned about the silver-haired girl’s words for Angel.

It should be noted that the silver-haired girl had previously skipped Angel!

Moreover, previously, the silver-haired girl’s Temporal Body—the Rabbit Girl Laplace, hadn’t put Angel through any trials and directly threw out the mask.

Not to mention the silver-haired girl’s unusually focused attention on Angel.

All these details piqued everyone’s curiosity. They were indeed very curious as to why Angel was treated so solemnly by the silver-haired girl?

Yes, solemnly. Not only Dox thought so, others also noticed that the silver-haired girl treated Angel with significantly more solemnity than others.

Why exactly is this?

When everyone’s curiosity was at its peak, waiting for the silver-haired girl’s words, she instead let out a deep sigh.

It was their first time seeing such a significant expression on her face.

”I failed.”

Everyone, Angel: ”???”

The silver-haired girl: ”Laplace cannot establish a bond with you.”

Speaking about this, the silver-haired girl once again took out the mask made from old stone, looking down at it and shaking her head: ”The mask has established a Bridge of Fate with you, but it hasn’t reflected any words in my heart.”

”So, I failed. I can’t use any method to observe you. This also means that the request from The Sage cannot be fulfilled.”

By now, everyone understood why she kept skipping Angel, not because she was unwilling to analyze him, but because she simply couldn’t.

It’s like suddenly coming across a culinary recipe in a book full of Magic Pattern analyses, you understand the surface, but not the inner essence.

The silver-haired girl lifted her head, gazing at Angel: ”So, can you tell me why?”

Angel didn’t immediately answer, as he was also digesting what she said.

Unable to establish a bond? In other words, unable to establish Karma? Does he possess such ability?

It’s important to know, according to the silver-haired girl’s account, even the Black Earl has established a bond, why can’t he?

If it’s the green Pattern causing trouble, Angel thinks... probably not.

Does he truly possess such talent? Or is there something on him that obscures the bond described by her?

Angel thought carefully, and finally managed to summarize a few possibilities.

He ranked them in order from least likely to most likely.

Firstly, still, the green Pattern. After all, the green Pattern has its irreplaceable uniqueness.

But Angel hadn’t felt any movement from the green Pattern from start to finish, thus, in his view, this possibility is the smallest.

Next is the Primeval Flame.

The special nature of the Primeval Flame is self-evident, so there’s a slight possibility. But if it really is due to the Primeval Flame, wouldn’t the silver-haired girl be unable to see the bond with all Baiyuanians? Because once the Primeval Flame is ignited, all Baiyuanians can perceive it and receive its protection.

And the Underground Aqueduct has too many matters related to Baiyuanians, if really related to the Primeval Flame, the silver-haired girl should be able to perceive it.

Besides the Primeval Flame, Angel also thought of the Blood Night Shelter.

This item is a cloak to prevent prophecy, and infuses with the Thief of Time’s little gift: can resist the gaze of a Legendary Wizard.

Although it’s only one-time, it has elevated Blood Night Shelter’s anti-probe capability to an unprecedented level.

Thus, Blood Night Shelter might be a possibility. Of course, that presumes the silver-haired girl’s so-called ”Reflection of the Heart” ability is related to prophecy.

Next, is the Wilderness of Dreams.

The core authority of the Wilderness of Dreams is within his Mind Space, in some sense, he is also a small world ruler. With this status, perhaps he can resist the bond association?

Above are Angel’s general guesses.

Aside from these possibilities, Angel also thought of one, which is: Eye of the Sky.

However, the Eye of the Sky is too low-key, except for revealing its specialness during plane fusion, other times it’s almost like an ordinary mundane object.

So, the Eye of the Sky is considered an alternative.

If there really is an ability or item that resists bond establishment, it still might have to be approached from the green Pattern, Primeval Flame, Blood Night Shelter, and Wilderness of Dreams.