Chapter 875 - 4: The Long Ascent
Ashes.
Generally, it refers to the remnants after a corpse is burned by flames.
However, in the magical world of the Boundary Land, ashes are not something commonly seen. Once they appear, it often means that they have a special purpose, usually used to create combat puppets from souls that have not returned to the Returning Tree.
As somewhat cruel spell creations, their Effect is that the soul of Life will be imprisoned, residing in a catalyst made from ashes of its corporeal existence. When needed, the soul can be summoned back by the user, reappearing in this world without release.
Of course.
It is generally used for combat purposes...
—To be fair, this is indeed a very strong technique for creating summoning Spirit Puppets. Almost all the Power and fighting ability that the Spirit Body had in life can be temporarily reproduced by the ashes...
—And as long as the core of the "spell" is not destroyed, and its Life Force or Magic Power is sufficient, the ashes can be continuously reused for summoning. No matter how many times the Spirit Body is defeated, it can appear again and again...
Frankly speaking, if it weren’t for the era of the Golden Tree, when souls that could not return to the tree were very few, whether they were Heretical Species or illustrious ancient heroes, they were all so few. And if the Soul Summoning Bell itself were not so rare, hard to craft, and valuable...
Perhaps the era of necromancers dominating with endless undead armies ravaging the world—
Would have already arrived.
But now it’s not too late; the new era’s Faded should keep up with the times! Know that the strongest creatures in the Boundary Land are neither the Flying Dragons nor the Giants, but the entities known as the "Spirit-Calling Snails." They will continuously summon Spirit Bodies to battle. If they cannot be resolved quickly and decisively...
Then even the strongest Faded, who could tear apart Demigods and kick down Ancient Dragons, leaving the heroes of the Boundary Land afraid to show their heads, might still meet their downfall at the hands of these feeble snails.
"So, you see, being a Summoner is definitely the most promising path, after all, calling for help is a tactic that never goes out of style..."
Gu Mo tried very earnestly to persuade Miss Wooden Man. Even though he mischievously wanted to push her toward that path, his tactical advice was absolutely straightforward and without any ambiguity. He could wholeheartedly guarantee that this indeed was the case.
"What era do we live in? Still using traditional spells..."
"..."
"..."
Melina couldn’t help but raise her delicate eyebrows but ultimately shook her head, putting down the item that the curious merchant on the opposite side had praised so highly.
"Thank you, but I... don’t quite need it."
Although she was slightly moved in thought, such matters could not possibly lead to an immediate decision. At most, it triggered some associative thinking, just a bit of mind-wandering. To say one suddenly has an epiphany just because of a few words from others would be too far-fetched.
To be honest, even though she wasn’t actually a Finger Witch, she still subconsciously considered herself one.
Choosing the Faded and guiding them on the kingly path had always been her idea.
Even though she felt bewildered and aimless at the moment, she never planned to walk this path herself. Besides, the sudden enthusiasm of this person made her very cautious. Whether the other had motives or was just a sly merchant, she didn’t plan to heed such encouragement rashly.
"That’s indeed a pity..."
Sensing the cautious signal in the wavelength given off by the girl, Gu Mo sighed slightly with some regret, realizing that Miss Wooden Man indeed had her own ideas and wouldn’t be easily swayed.
But it’s fine; the path of igniting the fire is long and challenging.
He wasn’t in a hurry, smiling as he said, "Miss Melina, if you change your mind in the future, feel free to visit my Curiosity Shop anytime..."
"We’ll see about that..."
The one-eyed Miss Witch said calmly, putting away the Soul Summoning Bell, and continued to sit quietly next to the glow of the Blessing, though her gaze unintentionally drifted outside the church, observing Torret patiently waiting by the nearby entrance.
This was just a small interlude—
She didn’t believe she had truly encountered destiny.
Besides, even in the future, it’s uncertain if she will meet this person again... The Boundary Land is tremendously vast; even the smallest Crying Peninsula is frightfully broad. It would take days for Torret to cross the entire peninsula without rest, moving in a straight line.
So, whether she could encounter Witch Reina again in the future is uncertain, and it’s likely she won’t meet this person again.
She subconsciously thought of it this way.
She glanced again at the young man in white with black hair, noticing that he was no longer looking at the statue of Queen Marika but had also sat not far away, near the light of the Blessing, slowly packing away the goods he had just displayed, spread densely as if he had been setting up a small stall.
Ashes, war ash, oils for Enchantment, various small whetstone knives inscribed with secret Runes...
The spread was full, having all that one could desire.
This made the girl involuntarily twitch the corners of her mouth slightly and grew curious. How did this person manage to carry so many items? And unlike those wandering merchants scattered across the Boundary Land, he did not carry a mule or donkey to haul his goods.
Maybe it’s some special magic...
But it doesn’t feel like a genuine merchant...
On the other side, Gu Mo is indifferent to Miss Wooden Man’s mutterings, and just leisurely tidies up his things. He then holds the items he had been vigorously promoting just now, with a look of regret for not selling them at a good price... Well, in reality, he doesn’t care about getting a good price.
It’s simply pure mischief, wanting to push the wooden girl to ignite the flame instead.
If he could just create something to make her regret it for the rest of her life, that would be even better...
"?"
The girl opposite suddenly feels a chill for no apparent reason.
She holds her knees, lifts her head, and looks around with some confusion. But the night wind is just mildly cool, moreover, the Blessing’s light is very warm, making the body feel cozy, like soaking in a hot spring.
Is it... an illusion?
The night is extremely quiet, outside only insects chirping in the tranquil night, creating a cheerful feeling as if praising the progress of life, also showing the vitality of the Boundary Land is recovering, it has been a long time since such vibrant scenes occurred.
It should be an illusion; theoretically, in a safe zone like the Blessing Point, nothing bad should happen.
The girl thinks she might be overthinking.
The young man in white with black hair opposite is also silently pondering the items in his hand without saying anything, his face appearing calm in the golden light of the Blessing... He is observing the ashes of the imitation tear drops he collected from the Eternal City, just as his impression suggested.
They belong to the strongest class of combat puppets.
The original prototype is the tear drops in the king creation plan that were closest to success; those silver fluid metallic slimes lack any intelligence, acting purely on instinct... but the tear order summoned by these ashes, although also lacking intelligence, possesses a soul, which explains a lot.
Perhaps truly imitating to the limit, about to transform into a reborn king existence.
Unfortunately—
Ultimately fell short, just a little bit, leading to the failure of the king creation plan.
The Eternal City did not welcome their king, only leaving ashes with strong combat capabilities.
Still, it follows the combat mode of mimicking other life forms, lacking any intelligence, but the simulated stats and ability specialties have reached demigod levels, indicating pure mechanics have evolved to the utmost under normal circumstances.
But right, when Gu Mo uses it himself, this thing fails to perform, far from simulating changing into his form to fight...
——No reaction at all.
Probably even his clone’s limits far exceed what imitation tear drops can emulate, causing Gu Mo to feel slightly regretful...
However, thinking about it, if this thing could truly mimic game-like effects without limits, creating a monster with his panel, while health, defense, and damage reduction rate multiplied... thinking about it, it should be recognized as unrealistic, indeed way overpowered.
So such a tool is naturally unusable for Gu Mo now, ashes are more akin to toys for him.
Or should say, as position elevates step by step reaching this level, things effective for him become fewer and fewer, whether positive enhancements or negative debuffs alike. Even if effective, the potency becomes negligible.
Expecting like in games—
Insane trait, powerful attributes, terrifying effect, and completely undiscounted, of course, is unrealistic.
Like lacking a reset function, not knowing if "rebirth" with mere Great Rune power can’t reincarnate him, or something...
And the method of turning Rune into Power, he has tried, seems ineffective for himself...
Finally, Grek’s Great Rune or something, he also tried approaching, according to memories, its core trait is "all attributes +5", yet didn’t...
This is quite awkward; Gu Mo can only regretfully confirm, even now just a clone exceeds the existence of a Magic Ring. So Elden Ring’s power, and the powers derived from it, are somewhat too weak for him.
Especially the extraordinary transformation, constantly ongoing—
Every moment, his body’s every cell emits massive energy, transforming into heat energy for self-combustion, to bear his great Divine Spirit.
Of course, still unable to reach Chaos’s level, nor reproduce astronomical majesty in material layer... Even utilizing conceptual actualization, that’s quite unrealistic.
Manifesting a satellite unit like Moon is considered normal effort, but manifesting a planetary unit has reached the limit output of current Mind Power.
As for a stellar unit...
Hmm, using Sun as an example, its volume is 1.3 million times Earth’s planetary scale.
——The process from quantitative to qualitative change is rather lengthy...