Chapter 208: Baiyi Has Come
Chapter 208: Baiyi Has Come
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
If one would stack the powers the Third Walker possessed up like a lego tower, it would reach all the way to the ceiling. Nevertheless, a mighty being like it was still obsessed with 'self-cultivation' mainly because it wanted to obtain a set of all-new, all-different powers. It knew that the stuff in those novels were fictional, but it just absolutely adored the spiritual systems described in books. To the Third Walker, it was inspiring because of its novelty.
There was another minor reason behind its aspirations, of course. Well.. it was jealous of the dragons in those novels.
Those dragons enjoyed higher positions and were even more powerful than the Third Walker ever was—at least, as depicted in the books anyway. Additionally, in the fantasy book, dragons were imperial symbols—the sacred beasts worshiped for a few millennia by about ten billion people. The Third Walker could act mighty all it wanted, but it would always be treated as a dangerous monster by the humans here. It didn't want that!
Regardless of the reasons, Baiyi knew for sure that this lizard was not gonna succeed in its bid to become a Daoist deity. One would have to work their butts off without a wink of sleep in order to turn into one, while all the Third Walker did—whenever there wasn't much to do—was sleep!
Still… The Third Walker could still be considered an expert in the subject of dragonkins. After all, it was once a Divine Dragon. This was not an actual dragon species, but a rank or a position akin to the leader of the dragons, or the dragon king, or the dragons' protector.
A Divine Dragon commanded loyalty from all dragonkins. If that wasn't impressive enough, the Third Walker was of the Silver Naga subspecies— high-class elder dragons that could bend lightning and thunder as they willed.
"So, O Most Respected Dragon King, what do you think?" Baiyi probed in jest.
"Brother, I request for a change in the manner of address. I know my preferred title would be a 'funny' name that is given only to the least skilled of all henchmen—who wouldn't even be able to outwit a monkey, or perhaps given to a member of a Chinese mafia gang—but..." The Third Walker noted in a sharp tone, as it attempted to change the Fifth Walker's nickname for it, " Please call me names like Proud Dragon of Heavens, True Dragon Lord of the Truth 1 , or something similar. I love names with twangs like these."
Baiyi was about to give Mr. True Dragon Lord of the Truth another lesson by barring its consciousness in the Void again.
It relented. "Fine, fine! Let's move on! Er, the topic of the day! Yes, topic of the day."
What used to be the Divine Dragon had become a household lizard. This fate was an inevitable one whenever someone depended on another this heavily. Just as they say — a dragon that has accidentally waded into shallow water, is bound to be played by the land-dwellers .
"To be frank, my guess is not different with you humans," It said. "I don't think anyone could bewitch a dragon's mind, even if they were of the lower class. As a whole, our kind has an outstanding resistance to magic of that kind. That's why I agree with what that bag of stinky bones said; these dragons must have been motivated by fear."
The Third Walker had not hidden its scorn towards the Lich, yet "that bag of stinky bones" did not dare retort, so it could only mumble something under his breath in rage.
'Well, what can the Lich do when he is weaker than the commenter?'
"Well, what could possibly terrify you all to this extent? I always thought your kind to be the very definition of fearlessness," Baiyi asked.
"Between life and death lie much to be feared—no no no stop don't do that, Brother, I wasn't trying to act like any character! I was being serious!" The Third Walker said. "It might have been dangerous to go into a restricted zone, but at least they still had the hope of survival afterward, right? Unlike being outside? This is the only reason why they dared to breach in, acting as if they were crazy! Isn't this simple enough to be figured out? I don't believe for one that you people didn't think of this!"
"Are you messing with me?! Even a cottontail rabbit wouldn't leap into a burning furnace just because a wolf is chasing it relentlessly! The rabbit would still run around the furnace!" Baiyi retorted in displease.
"You know what this means? It means that there is no safer place than the furnace itself," The Third Walker uttered the dreaded words.
It was a plausible and simple conjecture, but the situation would have to be too ominous to get to that point, so no one would have jumped to such a conclusion immediately.
"That's not possible! If there is an impending Armageddon capable of destroying the entire realm, there will be signs! The wise and powerful ones in this realm, or even me, would have seen the signs already!" Baiyi's reply belied his disbelief.
"This would mean that the upcoming apocalyptic event lies outside the senses of humans, and the animals could only pick it up due to their acute senses of nature," The Third Walker concluded sternly.
"An Armageddon, huh…" Baiyi fell silent at the prospect. He turned his head to Aya in reality and asked, "Is… Is there gonna be an important festival coming right up?"
"Well, we were going to celebrate Harvest Day. There will be a lot of celebrations, but with what was going on right now, security has become a grievous issue," Aya replied gravely.
"Oh… I'm sorry," Baiyi started apologizing.
"Hmm? Why apologize?"
"Nothing," Baiyi shook his head, finishing his own sentence in his mind. The Voidwalkers really aren't meant to relax with festivals…
"More peculiarly, why did you think of coming to Gouve for a vacation?"
The Archmage, who had been silent for a while, suddenly spoke.
"Was it because the perilous environment here made it easier to connect with the children?"
"What? No! You don't think of me as someone this devious now, do you?" Baiyi rose to explain himself. "The children themselves wanted to play, and I just thought it was a good idea of a getaway to come over here! It's serene, and it's beautiful. It's normal to choose a location based on its marvelous nature, right?"
"That's what alerted me, my child," The Archmage's tone was solemn. "How did you even start building on the impression that Gouve is anywhere near perfect for a vacation? You did not even know such a realm existed. More importantly, next to you, none of us had considered this place a vacation destination. Most people would regard Gouve as a place too fickle in climates and seasons, and a place filled with threats of powerful wildlife and natural disasters. It's great for an adventure, yes, but not for a family vacation."
Baiyi froze.
Just as the Archmage had said, Baiyi was different from the other Voidwalkers in that he did not originate from this dimension. He was, essentially, a dimensional traveler. His knowledge of Gouve was not his own; it was a collection of the impressions and past experiences of the other Voidwalkers gained from their memory exchanges.
When Baiyi exchanged his memory with the others, he re-lived their lives through and gained their perspectives and judgment. Even after he removed all of those memories from his head—in fear that they would cause him to lose his identity—he still could not rid himself of certain thoughts and instincts completely. Case in point: his first impression of a certain object or event had always been made based on the instincts he gained from the other Voidwalkers, because Baiyi himself had never interacted with such a thing in his own life.
The first impressions that a person makes easily highlight their values, forming a base for the opinions of the world around him, and that was why Baiyi's basic view of the world was similar to the Archmage's because the First Walker had been the first to offer his memory to Baiyi. His mental modes were even more akin to a Rohlserlian sorcerer's than any of the others, while his general behavior was more lawful and neutral 2 purely because most of the Voidwalkers were lawful and neutral.
If the Void had been filled with the evil types like the Lich and the Devil, Baiyi might have become a different kind of person altogether.
This made Baiyi's idea of Gouve being a good vacation spot particularly alarming because no one in the Void shared those sentiments. There were many more realms that could boast of sceneries just as beautiful yet far less dangerous.
"So someone had planted the suggestion in my mind without me even noticing, is that it?" Baiyi concluded steely.
Subliminal messaging was quite similar to a common hypnosis, but it was not as miraculous as those performed on Earth. It had specific techniques to execute—something the Charlatan had been very good at. Unlike mind control or other kinds of psychic attacks, subliminal messaging was covert and hard to notice, yet at the same time, it was usually too weak to be of much use. Most of the time it was just to leave little impressions or opinion that the victim would not have formed otherwise; most aristocrats only use this technique to get some girls.
Yes, a technique like this would be way too incompetent. Anyone who has a slightly better psychic resistance would break the technique with ease, let alone someone with as much caliber as the Fifth Walker.
"That's preposterous! With your indomitable will and ungodly reservoir of psychic energy, who would still be able to do that to you? Some kind of god?" The Charlatan, who was the Voidwalker with the most expertise in such techniques in the Void, exclaimed incredulously.
"Maybe it was some kind of god," Baiyi muttered quietly.
"You mean…. The War God?" the Archmage chimed in. "That… is possible, yes. Your consciousness has met with his, so he could have planted that idea in your head at that time. Plus, as a god, he does have the necessary strength and ability to do so… While you had always been confident of your own capability, so you would never entertain the possibility of someone invading your mind. This created an opening."
"Hmph, that must be it. No wonder he has been relaxing the terms and conditions for using his stupid sword; he had already taken me as his pawn. Let me guess, it had been planned out ever since I've gotten Attie, huh?" Baiyi's tone was chilly. "You think that I should become your pawn just because I took in a maid and that poor excuse of a sword? What a pleasure doing business with you, War God."
In a flash, the Fifth Walker had scanned through every inch of his memory to see if he had done anything else that was unintentional. Luckily, it seemed that the subliminal message only painted a very good impression of Gouve.
"Looks like he just wanted me to go to Gouve. Is it because of this unknown apocalyptic event?" Baiyi resumed his train of thoughts. "Maybe something important is at stake in this event…"
"If that's the case, you can't withdraw yourself out from the game field, mate," the Thane chimed in to finish the thought.
"You're not half-wrong. I'm now very interested in seeing just what the fuck exactly would prompt Mr. War God to play such a risky game."
Baiyi turned his attention back to the reality again, thinking of getting more information from Aya.
But to his surprise, the dragon-lady had backed into a corner and had both hands covering her chest defensively. Her expression was one of intense alertness while her gaze, which was fixed on him, was complicated.
'What the hell are you doing? Why are you protecting your breasts? Are you trying to fend off the advance of a pervert? …Why would I be interested in a dragon's mammary glands?' Baiyi thought as he said out loud, "What's wrong?"
"Y-y-you… w-w-were terrifying…" Aya gulped as she whispered. "I t-thought you wanted to e-e-eat me…"
'E-e-eat? Of all the words you could use, you used that one word that may bring up some M-rated implication?'
Baiyi put up his hands apologetically. "Sorry about that. I was just pondering on some dire situations, and I guess I accidentally reacted to that."
When he finally noticed the War God's cheap manipulation, he was enraged. As a result, the Fifth Walker accidentally released his true aura, and the ever-sensitive elder dragon had detected it easily.
Ergo, it terrified her enough to back in a corner.