Buzz
Buzz
The dark barrier trembled violently.
Seeing this, Mingge was overjoyed—his guess had been correct. This dark barrier indeed belonged to the realm of spiritual matter.
His innate ability, the Wail of the Soul, was highly effective against it!
His eyes gleamed with excitement as he imagined the moment of breaking through the obstacle, returning to claim his reward, and earning recognition and praise!
—Proving himself to the Great Lord was now his greatest desire!
After a brief rest to recover some strength, Mingge unleashed another Wail of the Soul.
His chest rose and fell before compressing again, sending out another wave of invisible energy!
Boom!
This time, the dark barrier shook even more violently, like a towering skyscraper on the verge of collapse.
However, Mingge's breath grew weaker, and the flapping of his wings slowed, but the fire in his eyes only burned brighter.
"Just a little more, and I can break through this barrier!" he told himself, licking his lips as he squeezed out the last bit of his energy.
Buzz
Another wave of Wail of the Soul spread out, and after completely exhausting himself, Mingge fainted.
In front of him, the dark barrier trembled under the assault, black dust falling from its surface, and deep cracks began to form on its shadowy surface.
As time passed, the cracks widened, covering the barrier like a web.
And through these cracks, faint traces of light began to shine through.
Mingge, now unconscious, had no idea what was happening next.
The dark barrier finally shattered, its fragments dispersing into clusters of dark matter, drifting aimlessly.
Meanwhile, in the outside world, flames flickered.
—Rhett and Rilai were practicing the Fireball Spell.
Now that the world had an additional fire origin, they could both sense that the fire element in the air had grown denser. Though it still wasn't enough for high-powered spells, casting basic magic like the Fireball Spell had become much easier.
Whoosh
A fireball shot through the gray mist like a brilliant meteor.
However, it was quickly intercepted by a beam of pure white battle energy, exploding into dazzling sparks like fireworks.
"Not bad, Tucker. Your precision with your battle techniques has improved. It seems the war with the orcs has helped you grow a lot," Rhett complimented, watching from a distance with a smile.
"Haha, it's all thanks to your excellent guidance, Father!" Tucker laughed proudly, rubbing the back of his head with one hand while the other glowed with pure white light.
Rilai stood calmly nearby, preparing to cast another Fireball Spell, when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He glanced left and saw the eyelids of the Level Three female knight twitching. His pupils shrank, and he quickly shouted:
"Huh? Father, look! The woman is moving!"
Hearing this, Rhett's expression changed instantly, his smile vanishing as he turned to look. Sure enough, the woman's eyelids were twitching, and there were faint signs of struggle on her face.
"Could she be waking up?" Tucker asked, eyes wide as he stared. The more he watched, the more convinced he became that this was a sign of awakening.
"It's very likely. I wonder what Mingge did to cause such quick results!" Rhett mused, rubbing his chin in satisfaction.
As soon as he finished speaking, a translucent figure emerged from the woman's forehead, its wings drooping and its body looking drained as it flew toward Rhett.
"Well done, Mingge!" Rhett gave him a thumbs-up, praising him without reservation.
Although Mingge had once been a servant of the Blood Demon, after being purified and separated from the Blood Demon's essence, his temperament seemed to have improved greatly. Rhett's impression of him had changed significantly. After all, Mingge appeared to have enormous potential!
Recruiting him as a subordinate had certainly paid off!
Mingge, still a bit dazed from Rhett's praise, was unsure of what had happened. Had he succeeded? What had happened after he fainted?
Turning to see the woman's struggling expression, Mingge's eyes lit up with joy, and he cheered, "She's actually waking up? Amazing! It looks like my efforts paid off after all!"
"What did you encounter inside her? What's her mental sea like?" Rhett asked.
Just then, Manu descended from the sky, having overheard the conversation from above.
Upon landing, he noticed the changes happening with the woman and curiously asked, "What just happened?"
Rilai and Tucker also turned their curious gazes toward Mingge.
For the first time, Mingge was in the spotlight, feeling honored to have caught the Great Lord's attention. Despite his exhaustion, he eagerly began to explain:
"Great Lord, I didn't manage to reach her mental sea. On the way, I encountered a thick dark barrier that seemed to completely block access to her mental sea. Fortunately, my Wail of the Soul worked well against it, and after three attempts, I broke through."
"Then I passed out from overexertion and was apparently ejected from her body..."
Rhett and Manu exchanged a glance, both deep in thought.
"A dark barrier? What kind of barrier? Have you ever seen anything like it before?" Manu asked, his voice thoughtful.
"I've never seen anything like it. It was completely unfamiliar," Mingge replied, now too exhausted to fly and standing on the ground. "The barrier seemed incredibly strong, but my unique ability just happened to be its weakness, allowing me to break it."
"Are you sure you didn't enter her mental sea?" Rhett frowned and asked.
"I'm sure. Before I fainted, I only sensed the dark barrier starting to collapse..." Mingge said awkwardly. "I've recovered a bit of strength now. Should I try going in again?"
"I think it's necessary," Manu said immediately, his instincts as a researcher kicking in. He could feel that they were getting closer to the truth.
Rhett nodded in agreement. "Please do, and thank you."
"Got it!" Mingge forced himself to perk up, flying back to the woman and preparing to replicate his previous attempt to enter her body.
In everyone's sight, Mingge's form suddenly vanished.
But in the next moment, a loud scream echoed as a transparent figure shot out of the woman's forehead like a cannonball, rolling across the ground several times.
And then… he stopped moving entirely…
All four of them stood in stunned silence.
Rhett stared at Mingge in shock. Mingge had completely lost all signs of life, becoming nothing more than a corpse!
A black fragment seemed lodged in his chest, likely the cause of his death.
Manu stepped forward, squinting as he examined the black fragment, reaching out to pick it up.
But the moment his fingers touched it, Manu's expression twisted in pain, and he quickly pulled back, retreating half a step and staring at the fragment with fear.
"What happened, Manu? Is there something wrong with that black fragment?" Rhett asked cautiously.
"I'm not sure, but the moment I touched it, I felt intense pain, as if the fragment has a powerful effect on the soul!" Manu replied, his face grim.
A fierce flame erupted from Manu's fingers, which he flicked at the fragment, causing the fire to engulf it.
The flame contained the mystery of heat, evaporating the air around it and sending waves of heat outwards.
They all stared at the fragment in the fire, but despite the intense flames, the black fragment remained unscathed.
However, as Mingge's body melted, a transparent liquid dripped onto the black fragment, causing both to dissolve together in a strange mutual destruction.
The black fragment was corroded by the liquid, and the liquid disappeared along with it.
Rhett exhaled heavily. "Manu, what's your take on this?"
Manu pondered for a moment before responding, "I think Mingge was right. The dark barrier was likely something tied to the soul, and only Mingge, with his unique abilities, could deal with it."
"What about you? Can you handle that black fragment?" Rhett asked, knowing that Manu was also a spiritual being.
"You saw it yourself—I had no resistance to the black fragment," Manu said with a self-deprecating smile. "In matters of the soul, it seems Mingge had us all beat."
"Wait, so he's just dead now? Isn't that a shame?" Tucker asked, mouth agape in disbelief.
Rilai shook his head and gave Tucker a look, "Didn't Father say earlier that we can revive in the real world after the simulation ends?"
"Oh, that's right. Good, good," Tucker sighed in relief, chuckling.
"Mmm… mmm…"
Suddenly, a weak female voice came from the ground.
It was a soft moan.
Everyone froze and turned to see the woman on the ground, her eyelids fluttering as she gradually opened her eyes.
Rhett and the others tensed, eager to see how she would react upon waking up.
Under their watchful gaze, the woman stood up, her arms hanging naturally at her sides. Her eyes were blank as she looked at Rhett and the others, then at the surrounding gray mist. She spoke:
"Who… am I? Who… are you?"
As her words fell, Rhett and the others grew serious.
—The reason was simple: the woman had spoken in their world's common language.
This meant that the native language of their world had been established long ago, without any evolution of words or language.
As the group's leader, Rhett carefully chose his words and said:
"We've only just awoken from a long sleep ourselves and don't know what's happened. Do you know what happened in the past?"
The blue-haired woman's expression remained hazy as she mumbled, "Memory… World Poison… Restore the glory…"
Rhett frowned and immediately asked, "What? What is this World Poison?"
"World Poison…"
"World Poison…"
The blue-haired woman kept repeating the words, her voice growing faster and more trembling, struggling.
By the end, tears welled up in her eyes.
Rhett and Manu exchanged another look, both sensing confusion and helplessness in each other's gaze.
At this moment, Rilai, after thinking for a while, asked, "Beautiful lady, you just mentioned restoring glory. Does that mean your original world suffered a disaster?"
"World Poison…"
The blue-haired woman ignored Rilai's question, continuing to repeat the phrase as two streams of tears ran down her face. It was as if her body had no control over her consciousness as she turned and began to walk away.
Rhett and the others quickly followed, trying to ask more questions.
Over the next half hour, they tried everything to communicate with her, but ultimately came to the same conclusion.
—The woman's mind and memory were damaged!
After exhausting their patience, they decided to observe her actions instead of asking more questions.
In any case, Rhett planned to stay in this simulation for a while.
After all, they had uncovered some secrets—how could they give up so easily?
Before they knew it, a month had passed.
Rhett and the others hadn't seen any other changes in the blue-haired woman, but they did encounter a new opportunity.
"Manu, are you sure? Another cluster of flowing fire is coming from the void?"
Standing on the ground, Rhett's expression was excited as he asked Manu for confirmation.
"Of course, my eyes aren't deceiving me. And this time, the cluster of flowing fire is twice as large as the previous one, with a slightly different hue. I suspect this new fire origin contains another set of laws, likely another fire-based mystery," Manu replied with joy.
"Really? That's fantastic! If that's true, we could master two fire mysteries!" Tucker cheered, raising his fist in the air.
Rilai's eyes also lit up with excitement, but he soon fell into thought. Looking up at the sky, he calmly analyzed, "Isn't it strange that this fire has appeared so frequently? Only a month has passed, and we've already seen two clusters of fire origin. I wonder… could they be coming from the same place?"
Manu glanced at Rilai, smiling warmly. "As expected of Rilai. Your father's praise of your wisdom was spot on. I think you might be right."
"It's hard to believe that two clusters of fire origin appearing so close together are unrelated. I'm more inclined to believe they came from the same source, and it's even harder to believe that they just 'appeared' in the void out of nowhere."
Rhett nodded in agreement, his thoughts suddenly racing. "Could it be… a Fire Elemental World?"
"It's possible, and I suspect that wherever these fire origins are coming from, that world may be in great danger," Manu said, narrowing his eyes.
"Let's hope so. If we ever do encounter such a world, we'll have to find a way to 'absorb' it," Rhett said, looking up at the gray mist above, a glimmer of hope in his eyes.
He added, "But that's all speculation for now. What we need to do is wait and see. Manu, go up and take another look. Find out where the fire is now. Without Mingge's help, will you be able to bring it all back?"