Chapter 124

“The shadows of the past.”

Xia’er walked along the endless orbs of light, carefully discerning the changes in their colors.

So far, she had only entered two orbs dominated by white light; the sample size was insufficient, and she couldn’t yet distinguish what each color represented.

After approximately two hundred orbs, Xia’er encountered one with nearly 70% blue light.

But Xia’er did not choose to enter directly.

The total number of orbs was finite, and entering one caused others to vanish.

After walking for about five minutes without seeing any orbs disappear, Xia’er decided to record their positions and select which ones to enter selectively.

Running along the path of orbs, Xia’er began to jog, then transitioned to a brisk run.

She had memorized the coordinates of most of the single-colored orbs.

[‘Linguistics’] gave Xia’er the ability to remember things instantly, but it seemed applicable only to language itself.

However, it wasn’t entirely useless; Xia’er’s memory had indeed improved significantly. Previously, she wouldn’t have been able to remember specific orb coordinates while running quickly.

After nearly thirty minutes, Xia’er reached the end of the path and saw an almost pure blue orb.

This orb was nearly 80% blue, with the other two colors swirling around the central blue like planetary rings.

This was the second nearly pure-colored orb Xia’er had seen; the first was an orb with nearly 90% orange light.

Starting from here…

At the end of the path, Xia’er extended her right hand and touched the azure orb.

A blue light enveloped Xia’er, and the surrounding purple smoke vanished.

Soon, Xia’er regained her senses. The blue light faded, and a warm yellow light enveloped her.

Where am I?

In Xia’er’s vision, rows of bookshelves appeared. She was facing the ceiling, as if lying down.

A crystal chandelier composed of multiple floating crystal prisms hung above her, emitting a faint yellow glow.

The central circular crystal emitted warm light, while the surrounding prismatic crystals rotated uniformly around the central circle, reminiscent of…

An encased version of an operating lamp?

This blend of magic and technology surprised Xia’er; it was her first time seeing such a scene.

She was sure that Aivana had never seen such a beautiful crystal chandelier—had she seen it, she would have bought it.

Using a sealed object to make a lamp… What kind of family is this?

“****?”

A young female voice echoed in Xia’er’s ear.

Xia’er could sense her excitement, but the words were not in any language Xia’er recognized.

Xia’er tried to look in the direction of the voice, but she couldn’t control her body, passively accepting the information before her.

Soon, Xia’er felt a warm hand grasp her entire body, and her vision spun.

She was picked up.

When Xia’er’s body finally stabilized, she saw a woman with long golden hair holding her with both hands.

The woman’s eyes were filled with excitement. She twirled Xia’er several times before holding her close and running.

Slow down… Slow down…

The intense sensation of being carried made Xia’er slightly dizzy. Her mental state was already weakened after using “Reversal of Death,” and now she felt a strong urge to vomit.

Xia’er endured the dizziness and quickly observed her surroundings, not wanting to miss any details.

She saw where she had been lying—a silver platform with tools she had never seen before, looking both like a workbench and an operating table.

The area with bookshelves and books looked like a room, as Xia’er saw a wooden bed.

As the woman ran, Xia’er saw a corridor with deep red carpet, decorated in a way that puzzled her.

Golden lines, white walls, red gemstones embedded… The lavish decoration left Xia’er speechless.

Even Aivana’s home didn’t have such extravagant corridors.

However, these decorative patterns and lines did not match Xia’er’s known styles.

Is this… the Ancient Era?

While Xia’er was still trying to remember the patterns, she saw a mirror.

In the mirror, she saw herself as a black raven, with black feathers transitioning to a deep blue at the tips. Her feathers were glossy, and her neck was adorned with a golden necklace with a red gemstone at its center.

Bang—

The woman pushed open a door and placed the raven on a table. Xia’er’s perspective shifted to face an elderly man with a kind expression sitting behind the table.

“*****.”

The elderly man, dressed in luxurious dark purple robes, smiled and clapped his hands. He said something, then reached out to stroke the raven’s head.

The raven seemed to react, spreading its wings to fly away, but the elderly man held its wings down.

As the raven flapped its wings, a feather fell. The elderly man caught it with his hand.

A bright dark purple light burst from his hand. When Xia’er’s vision returned, the elderly man held a small, prismatic crystal.

The elderly man cheerfully handed the feather and crystal to a young woman, who gratefully accepted them and bowed repeatedly.

In Xia’er’s view, the woman inserted the crystal into the feather’s base and muttered something.

Then, a familiar scene appeared before Xia’er.

The black feather’s root oozed blood, enveloping the crystal. A long, slender crystal tube was embedded into the feather root near the prismatic crystal.

The woman took the newly crafted feather pen and approached Xia’er.

The woman spoke in an ancient language, and Xia’er’s body began to disintegrate. The feather pen acted like a vortex, drawing Xia’er inside.

Hum—

Another azure light enveloped Xia’er. When the blue light faded, she returned to the purple mist space.

What was that scene?

For some reason, that scene immediately reminded Xia’er of the “Inspector” ability.

Suturing.

Yet, there were subtle differences.

The “Inspector’s” suturing used a spider silk-like ability produced by their own bodies.

But the young woman Xia’er remembered clearly did not secrete anything resembling spider silk. The blood used for suturing came from elsewhere.

This touched upon Xia’er’s knowledge blind spot.

Xia’er’s understanding of Extraordinary abilities always stemmed from the concept of “Potions.”

By completing a replication ritual and combining it with a potion, Xia’er borrowed the power derived from the potion to use abilities based on her spirit body.

This Extraordinary system consumed her flesh, spirit, and spirit body.

None of these consumptions were observed by Xia’er during the process.

Which era is this?

Perhaps Xia’er should find books about the Ancient Era to determine the exact year.

And…

Was that scene creating a sealed object?

Can sealed objects be created?

Does the “Inspector” also possess such an ability?

The more Xia’er examined these memories, the more confused her thoughts became.

Every item Xia’er saw challenged her understanding of Extraordinary powers.

She admitted that her knowledge of Extraordinary beings was superficial, limited to basic concepts.

It seemed necessary to thoroughly study with Aivana after everything was settled, at least extracting all the knowledge from Aivana’s mind.

Additionally, Xia’er noticed a pattern:

After reviewing the memories, Xia’er might have grasped this pattern.

From the highlighted blue orb onwards, the subsequent orbs were mostly blue and white, with minimal orange.

But starting from the 90% orange orb, the orange percentage increased in subsequent orbs.

This was related to events involving sealed objects, a key node.

The raven’s perspective was sewn into the sealed object… thus granting it wisdom?

Is blue representing fear? Or becoming Extraordinary? Or… evolution?

Xia’er quickly ran back along the light path.

Compared to before, entering the blue orb greatly reduced the number of orbs, shortening Xia’er’s journey.

After running less than five minutes, Xia’er saw the orange orb she remembered.

Lucky it hadn’t disappeared…

Xia’er breathed a sigh of relief and reached out with her index finger to touch the orange orb.

Orange light enveloped Xia’er, and in the next moment, she felt intense heat.

Boom—

A massive tremor shattered the orange light before Xia’er.

In an instant, her vision turned into a sea of deep red flames.

“***!”

With a sudden shout, Xia’er’s perspective began to shake violently.

She gradually adapted to the new perspective, clearly seeing the situation.

She was now in the shape of a pen, held by an old woman.

The old woman had white hair.

But faint traces of golden hair could still be seen. Xia’er slowly aligned the features of the woman in front of her with those of the young woman she had previously encountered through the wrinkles on her face.

Could it be her?

The same young woman from before?

Considering her appearance, at least fifty or sixty years must have passed, right?

No… Considering the lifespan of Extraordinary Persons, it might not be just decades. It could be two or three hundred years.

At this moment, the woman was tightly gripping a quill pen as she ran through the ruins of a palace. Her objective was a black-blue vortex door fixed by unknown stones not far ahead.

This vortex door looked very much like the bloodline vortex Xia’er used when summoning with her spiritual energy, except that this black-blue door appeared gentler compared to the bloodline vortex.

Suddenly, she seemed to sense something and abruptly turned around, holding the quill pen tightly.

Behind her was something Xia’er found hard to describe.

The “thing” stood about the height of a normal person, but its entire body was shrouded in dense fog and fragmented characters, like someone whose image had been pixelated in memory.

Were all images blurred in memory?

What level of existence was this?

A distorted black light, as if it would devour everything, was flung out by the figure, directly wrapping around the old woman’s waist.

The countless branches within the black light directly pierced into the woman’s body, rapidly absorbing nutrients from her.

“**!”

The woman desperately shouted something, then with all her might, threw the quill pen and some object towards the vortex door.

Xia’er could feel her bones twisting in pain as they rapidly changed. She stretched her golden beak to grab the object, then spread her wings and dived into the black-blue vortex door.

After entering the vortex door, Xia’er’s vision turned dark, and she couldn’t even feel her own body.

Soon, the darkness broke, and Xia’er saw a fissure emitting a ghostly glow. As she flew towards the fissure, her vision returned, revealing a withered forest shrouded in mist.

Xia’er shifted her view to the back, where the previous firelight and vortex had disappeared. Then, Xia’er’s head drooped down.

In this perspective, Xia’er couldn’t see clearly what she was holding in her beak, but soon, the raven’s head tilted up, and Xia’er felt a foreign sensation in her throat. Her perception of the surroundings vanished completely.

At this moment, Xia’er’s body had detached from the raven, floating like a ghost in the air. Xia’er finally obtained a third-person perspective, looking down from about three meters above the raven.

On the ground, the once-decorative raven had folded its wings to protect its head, wailing in despair, as if its mind was suffering a tremendous impact.

Its feathers extended, broke, fell off, and regrew during its struggle. At this moment, it seemed unable to maintain its form and began to distort and deform.

With a flash of purple light, a blue-black quill pen floated in the air.

The original black feather roots appeared as if infected with some virus, with countless silver runes spreading over them, covering the black feather roots with silver until they stopped.

Was Xia’er not seeing the raven’s perspective because it had lost consciousness?

Xia’er looked at the quill pen that had fallen to the ground, speculating.

Xia’er maintained this position, immobile, watching the quill pen emit a faint silver glow.

After an indeterminate amount of time, Xia’er felt a pull, and her perspective was again drawn to the raven’s body.

But this time, the raven’s perspective had undergone a drastic change.

The withered forest instantly came back to life, only to wither again in less than half a second. In the next moment, all the branches turned into skeletal and fleshy limbs, and the mud on the ground seemed to turn into a bloody swamp formed from crushed bones and flesh.

Besides the distorted changes in her vision, Xia’er’s mind was flooded with chaotic mutterings, almost driving her already weakened spirit to collapse.

The scene only paused at the moment the raven spread its wings to fly. Xia’er’s consciousness had completely dissipated.

Until Xia’er smelled a strange fragrance, she gradually regained consciousness.

The familiar fatigue made it difficult for Xia’er to even open her eyes. When she managed to open them, she saw a finger in front of her.

At this moment, Xiao Zuo was perched on top of Xia’er’s head, holding a burning dark purple mud between its two fingers.

Once Xia’er regained consciousness, Xiao Zuo’s figure instantly shattered and disappeared, along with the burning mud.

At this point, the room no longer contained Xiao Zuo and the hunched mud monster. The blood-colored vortex had also disappeared, leaving behind only a dried blood sigil and the sealed object Xia’er held in her arms.

No… The simulation isn’t finished yet… There are still more than ten hours left…

Struggling against the urge to pass out, Xia’er spoke softly, calling out:

“Tara…”

Just saying her name drained Xia’er of her strength.

The effect of [Time Disruption] had long since faded, and Xia’er, in the “Assassin” Path, had lost all her strength, collapsing onto the blood-stained sofa.

At the same time, an acolyte using a sealed object to gather information inside the house looked up toward Tara’s direction and said:

“High Priestess Tara, Lord Charles inside called for you.”

Hearing this, Tara immediately perked up. Her figure quickly twisted and disappeared, leaving behind a phantom white shadow.

When she reappeared, Tara was already standing outside her home, pushing open the door and calling out:

“Lord Charles! Did you call for me?”

After saying this, Tara waited for a long time, but received no response from Xia’er.

Gathering her courage, she slowly raised her head to look in Xia’er’s direction. Seeing Xia’er unconscious on the sofa, Tara panicked.

“Lord Charles?”

Tara quickly closed the door and knelt beside the sofa, reaching out to feel Xia’er’s neck.

Her blood was still flowing, and her heart was beating…

Without hesitation, a white shadow emerged from Tara’s body, diving into the shadow between Xia’er and the sofa.

Strange… There was no pain?

Was it mental contamination?

Tara was anxious. She could only transfer physical pain, not mental contamination. Healing required a “Psychologist.”

Even a “Radiant Bishop” could only help bear some of the burden while the person was still conscious.

Now that Lord Charles was unconscious, where could she find a “Psychologist”?

Two white shadows emerged from Tara’s shadow, carefully lifting Xia’er and carrying her upstairs to a room.

Once Xia’er was settled in bed, Tara controlled the white shadows to rush out of the room, gathering her subordinates to bring a “Psychologist” as quickly as possible.

Even if they had to kidnap one, they had to get one.

After some time, everyone had tried every method, even searching nearby towns and villages, but still couldn’t find a “Psychologist.”

Just as Tara ordered part of her people to return to headquarters for aid, Gemma, dressed in noble attire, approached Tara who was pacing in the living room, saying:

“High Priestess… I didn’t find a ‘Psychologist,’ but…”

“Get to the point!”

Tara interrupted Gemma without hesitation.

Gemma dared not delay further and quickly said:

“I met Aviana from the Rossul Family once. She didn’t stay with the Rossul Family; instead, she went outside and took the ‘Listener’ potion… It’s likely she’s the only ‘Listener’ in all of Borough City.”

“A ‘Listener’ will do! Speed is essential. Bring people to fetch her. If she doesn’t come willingly, we’ll have to kidnap her!”

Tara swiftly gave orders.

“High Priestess Tara… The person has arrived,”

Gemma lowered his voice and said, “She didn’t want to come before, but after I mentioned Lord Charles’ name, she came voluntarily…”

Five minutes later.

Aviana sat on a stool beside the bed, looking at Xia’er, who was lying on the bed with a pained expression, feeling a mix of emotions.

Xia’er… The organization you talked about is the Arrival Sect, right?

Aviana took a deep breath, looking at the person she had missed for so long, and finally reached out, placing her hand on Xia’er’s forehead.

She needed to wait until Xia’er woke up to ask her clearly what had happened.

And the thing Xia’er was holding in her arms, the eyeball, Aviana knew exactly whose it was.

The presence of this eyeball in Xia’er’s arms indicated that Obold was most likely dead.

As Aviana softly hummed a lullaby, her brows furrowed slightly, and the eyeball began to show signs of blood vessels.

Meanwhile, Xia’er’s expression gradually eased.

…

[Save Character Archive?]

Xia’er opened her eyes to see a silver-white space.

Had she been unconscious the whole time?

Xia’er instinctively looked down and saw nothing in her arms except her own ethereal body.

Standing in front of Xia’er was naturally her “Assassin” self.

[Save Character Archive?]

The system’s prompt appeared again in front of Xia’er, but she ignored it, sinking into deep thought.

The quill pen sealed object had gone mad, at least partially so.

It had eaten something that caused a mental mutation.

This could explain why its emotions were so inconsistent.

And that world…

Is it from the Ancient Era?

Or the Old Days?

[Character archive saved automatically as No. 5, named: “Assassin” Xia’er]

A silver light enveloped Xia’er directly.

Really?!

No time given! So strict!

Xia’er could only manage to think this before her consciousness returned to reality.