Chapter 440: Future Ashe Is Hiding Something

Ashe's listening experience was entirely different from Sonya's and Dia's.

If the girls' experience could be summed up as "What the hell are you even talking about?" then Ashe's was absurdly clear.

「o(*≧▽≦)ツ I'm here~~~ Let's take our time. Tonight will definitely be a night worth remembering.」

「Hey, wait, wait, wait! Everyone! Quiet!」

「Someone is listening in... could it be a Prophecy Class Angel? Or the Divine Lord? No, this feeling is purer... like the power of that one on Ruby Mountain... I remember now. It's the Destiny Quiz!」

「But that still doesn't make sense. How could the Destiny Quiz see the present me?」

「 Don't move, don't move! Someone is listening in on us. Be serious... hss!」

「 Hm? Don't talk. Write it in my palm... Right, I once held an Incarnation of Secrets. Those conceptual incarnations make the best anchors. No wonder Ruby Mountain can connect me to my past. And since the Incarnation of Secrets has concealment properties, Ruby Mountain didn't even realize I'd already caught them spying on us!」

「The answer is ③. I can't say anything more, or the Destiny Quiz will delete this recording.」

Perhaps out of pure survival instinct, or perhaps because he cared about his image, Ashe hid the first and fifth lines. But even the remaining monologue was enough to leave Sonya and Dia reeling.

Sonya's eyes widened. "Everyone? Based on that, you must have been with at least three other people, right?"

Dia looked at him intently. "Watcher, have you ever mentioned the Incarnation of Secrets in reality?"

"No. At least, not yet."

"But in this recording, someone reminds you about it by writing on your palm. That means the person must be either the Swordswoman or me."

Ashe quickly offered an alternative. "It could also be a new operator we recruit in the future!"

Sonya blinked. "Isn't that the same thing? They'd still be part of our team. So options one, two, and three refer to us, right? Is the quiz asking, 'Who among your teammates is closest to you?'"

Ashe shrugged helplessly. "It's not impossible. But it could also just mean I'll reveal the Incarnation of Secrets in the future—"

Sonya interrupted sharply. "Are you insane? The Incarnation of Secrets is a conceptual incarnation tied to an entire sorcery class. Revealing it would cause far more harm than good! Only the three of us can ever know about this. We shouldn't even tell new operators!"

"Alright, alright," Ashe said, eager to steer them away from his personal life. "What matters right now is that my future self actually realized he was inside the Destiny Quiz..."

"Watcher, what exactly were you doing with three teammates at the same time?" Dia asked curiously.

Ashe tried to sound indifferent. "Playing games or just chatting. What else could it be?"

The village girl shot the cult leader a skeptical look. "You're not hiding anything, are you?"

Ashe forcefully redirected the blame. "It's the future me who's hiding things! He clearly knew he'd become material for the Destiny Quiz's audio, but he didn't take the chance to pass me any useful information!"

He's definitely hiding something, both girls thought simultaneously.

However, Sonya caught Dia's eye and realized now wasn't the time to press him. Dropping the interrogation, she mused, "He did say that if he revealed too much, the Destiny Quiz would have deleted the recording. Still... your future self was surprised at being observed. Does that mean you've grown strong enough to block all prophetic surveillance? But Dia and I should be growing stronger alongside you. Why wouldn't we have that level of strength in the future?"

Ashe suggested, "Maybe it's a matter of timing. What you two heard might only be a few years into the future, while my audio could be from more than a decade down the line."

"And when you realized you were being watched, your first instinct was that an Angel or the Divine Lord was spying on you," Sonya murmured, processing the weight of it. "Does that mean that in ten years, you'll already be on par with Angels or the Divine Lords? And you mentioned Ruby Mountain... you must be at least a Legendary sorcerer by then!"

"What exactly is Ruby Mountain?" Ashe asked.

Sonya explained, "The fourth layer of the Virtual World. It's also known as the Mountain of Legends, the Half-Step Heaven, and the Forbidden Zone of Pseudo-Gods. Your future self is incredibly familiar with its power, and he even deduced he was being recorded by the Destiny Quiz... You're going to get really strong, Watcher."

Ashe corrected, "We are going to get strong. We'll climb the Virtual World together and witness the view from the peak side by side."

The village girl quickly suppressed her sudden wave of insecurity and nodded. "It must be that my future self became too powerful, which is why the Destiny Quiz couldn't detect me properly and could only capture a recording of me from when I was still weak!"

"Wait," Dia interjected, a sudden realization dawning on her. "Future Watcher said the Incarnation of Secrets has concealment properties and can reflect detection from the Virtual World. That means..."

"Exactly!" Ashe beamed, matching her excitement. "If the Destiny Quiz keeps pulling recordings from further into our futures, my future self will definitely keep helping us cheat!"

[Congratulations! You answered one question correctly. Would you like to continue?]

[The listening material for the second question begins.]

"Huh? It's already started?"

「After what happened last time, I remembered that there was indeed a Destiny Quiz session like this before. But it was too long ago, and I was in such a chaotic state back then... I just didn't recall it in time.」

「The Virtual World won't let you exploit it forever. The Destiny Quiz has likely noticed that something is wrong by now... The answer to this question is ①.」

「Different versions of the same self are not the same person. Therefore, I won't reveal anything about the future to you to avoid murdering your present self.」

「The Incarnation of Secrets is highly useful.」

[Multiple Choice Question: Watcher... Buzz, buzz!]

① Stockings

② Glasses

③ Battle suit

④ ???[1]

Ashe briefly described the second question, prompting Sonya to look at him with deep suspicion. "You could only hear noise for the question itself and the fourth option? Look, if you don't want to say it, we don't mind. We're not that invested in your privacy."

Dia nodded in agreement, asking in confusion, "But why would stockings, glasses, and a battle suit even be grouped together? What kind of question is that?"

Ashe shook his head. He simply chose the answer that his future self gave in the recording and moved on to the third question. However, he soon took off his headset again and turned to his teammates. "The third question was entirely static. The only word I could make out clearly was 'question.' Even the choices were completely scrambled. I just picked one at random and got it wrong."

Seeing that he didn't appear to be lying, both the Swordswoman and the Witch believed him. In truth, if Ashe could keep exploiting this loophole to churn out correct answers indefinitely, they would have felt even more uneasy.

Many sorcerers weren't particularly afraid of offending a Divine Lord, but they deeply feared the Virtual World. To put it simply, a Divine Lord was like a company CEO. They controlled your livelihood, but if you secretly embezzled a few company assets, they probably wouldn't notice or care too much. The Virtual World, however, was like a bank. Who would dare exploit a bank's security loophole?

Once the Destiny Quiz concluded, the session naturally transitioned into the questioning phase.

Originally, Ashe and the others had prepared their inquiries in advance. Just like their first Destiny Quiz session, they intended to ask about the location of the Rainbow Tail.

While their Gold Wings had not yet fully condensed, the absorption efficiency of the Alchemical Throne, combined with the passive boost the car provided, meant they could likely complete a year's worth of normal sorcerer training in less than a month.

However, forming the Gold Wing was merely the baseline requirement for advancing to the Three-Winged level. Countless sorcerers remained stuck at their respective sorcery class ranks for years, if not decades, unable to break through to the Sacred Realm. Even geniuses like the Swordswoman and the Witch would normally need months or a year to elevate their dominant class to the Sacred Realm level unless they could endlessly consume Experience Orbs every single night.

Even if that brute-force method were feasible, Ashe estimated they would have to completely wipe out the entire Fish-Slaying Dragon species across the continent just to feed the Swordswoman enough experience to reach the Sacred Realm.

Therefore, searching for the Rainbow Tail was undeniably worthwhile. Given their previous success with the Golden Fish, they naturally wanted to abuse that "smuggling" advantage once again.

However, in the audio material from the second question, Ashe's future self had dropped a blatant hint on how to exploit the quiz's rewards.

Sonya noted, "Your future self emphasized that the Incarnation of Secrets is incredibly important, yet our current utilization of it is practically zero. It's a conceptual incarnation and highly confidential. I don't even dare ask about it, and there are absolutely no records of it where I am from. This might be our only chance to understand how it actually works."

Ashe nodded. "We have two questions available right now. We can use one to ask about the Incarnation of Secrets, and the other to ask about the Rainbow Tail."

After a brief discussion, they decided that Dia, having answered one question correctly, would ask about the Rainbow Tail, while Ashe, with his two correct answers, would handle the Incarnation of Secrets. The Rainbow Tail fell under high-level confidential knowledge, meaning the Virtual World would likely give a vague response regardless of who asked. The Incarnation of Secrets, however, carried fewer restrictions, and Ashe's higher score would likely yield more detailed information.

Of course, they still needed to phrase the question carefully. Otherwise, the Virtual World might give a uselessly vague answer like, "The Incarnation of Secrets is best utilized by the commander of a Legion of Heroes," leaving them entirely empty-handed.

Ultimately, Ashe phrased it, "Given our current resources, how can we effectively develop the Incarnation of Secrets?"

The Virtual World responded with precise instructions.

[① Use Aqua Line to restrain the Conjuring spirit, then deploy Sword of Rage and Darklight Slash to target it. When the Incarnation of Secrets senses a lethal threat, it will unlock and share its first authority.]

[② Defeat a Spider Tower commander to unlock the Spider Tower units. Upon completion, the Incarnation of Secrets will share its second authority.]

1. Refers to random noise. ☜