Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2454: Chapter 2455: The Only Path

Number 01’s words successfully diverted Polo Ye’s attention.

If other wizards truly can’t hold on, those wizards could fill the gap needed for the Mysterious Fruit. And Number 01 could be used for experiments once the Mysterious Fruit truly goes out of order.

Polo Ye followed Number 01’s gaze and looked back.

He saw a figure not far behind the Observer, in a state of half-illusion, half-reality, flickering like a light that might extinguish at any moment.

"Interesting, using a semi-finished space to isolate, and employing a Body of Falsehood to counteract the pull." Polo Ye immediately recognized the state of this person: "However, though the idea is good, it doesn’t have matching heart calculus power. The gap between illusion and reality isn’t an easy place to be."

From the constantly flickering light and shadow of the other, Polo Ye was basically certain that Number 01 was right; he wouldn’t last much longer.

A minute at the most.

Polo Ye’s sapphire-like eyes glanced sideways at Number 01 with a soft, milky voice: "I’ll spare you this time, but don’t be too happy... You think you made the right choice, but maybe sacrificing now is the optimal solution."

Tossing Number 01 aside, Polo Ye lazily paid no attention to this dying person, his gaze fixed on the wizard using the Body of Falsehood in the distance, silently counting down his remaining life.

Polo Ye and Number 01’s conversation was not concealed; anyone present with a shred of sanity heard it.

Even Maguston himself heard it, but at this moment, Maguston was doing his best to maintain his heart calculus power and didn’t want to be distracted by Polo Ye’s words.

"Master Maguston, he probably can’t hold on, can he?" Rivetta said softly.

Neither Diescher nor Speaker Zhuguang responded but both sighed at the same time.

They weren’t optimistic about Maguston, just as Polo Ye said, the Body of Falsehood is an extremely powerful "divine hidden" ability; once you enter illusion, almost no power can harm you. But the more powerful the ability, the more conditions it is restrained by. The cost of using the Body of Falsehood is the near-maximum consumption of heart calculus power.

No wizard can use the Body of Falsehood for long, even if it was Speaker Zhuguang, he wouldn’t be able to maintain it for long. Let alone Maguston, whose level is far inferior.

Their sighs were not only for Maguston’s situation but also for lamenting this incident.

No one expected that the emergence of a Mysterious Object would lead to the fall of so many wizards, even the renowned Master Maguston in the Southern Domain, is on the brink of danger.

Even if they didn’t have a deep relationship with Maguston, empathy for their kind made them unwilling to see such a person die obscurely here.

Yet, no matter what, they couldn’t change reality.

They were just projections, with limited abilities.

On site, the only ones who could save Maguston were Polo Ye in the distance, and the Observer nearby. The former was waiting for Maguston to die and wouldn’t save him; the latter appeared to defend the Southern Domain’s interests but had never acted to save anyone, clearly making it difficult for him to labor over saving Maguston.

The outcome seemed already doomed.

Speaker Zhuguang wasn’t optimistic about Maguston, and truly, Maguston himself wasn’t optimistic about himself either.

His situation was clear to him. He knew he couldn’t hold on much longer; at most, he had half a minute left.

After half a minute, no matter what, he would die.

Was he regretful? A little bit. But not regretful for coming here, rather, for not paying more attention to heart calculus power in the past. If his heart calculus power were just a bit stronger, maybe Polo Ye would use Number 01 as a substitute for his death.

As long as Number 01 died first, perhaps he could witness the "fate choice" guiding him here, hoping to see the scene he envisioned.

Although he’s not sure what process is birthing these out-of-control things before him, he knew that merely witnessing this process would greatly benefit his Alchemy level.

Even knowing the end is death, he wanted to see that scene, to see what Alchemy impasse he’s been trapped in for hundreds of years.

But now, everything was over.

Not only unable to resolve his long-standing confusion, but his life would also end here.

Time ticked by, and everyone else silently awaited Maguston’s death, while Maguston himself counted down.

At the final ten seconds.

His eyes began to grow slightly hazy, everything in front of him started to blur, and his thoughts seemed covered by smearing ink, gradually losing self-control.

He vaguely saw, far away in the Void, a clock wheel of his own slowly dimming.

A tall figure sighed softly at his passing, then erased the clock wheel that was beginning to crack, turning and walking into the deep darkness.

"Thief of Time..." Maguston recognized the person’s identity, he was once marked by the Thief of Time... Has the Thief of Time abandoned him now?

Countdown: five seconds.

The last five seconds of life seemed both very brief and interminably long, as if the ruler of time suddenly opened up with mercy at this moment.

His somewhat muddled thoughts suddenly became clear again.

This was the last moment of life’s flashback reel, also known as the final reflection and enlightenment. Giving Maguston a gap to summarize his life.

He wasn’t a sentimental person, wouldn’t lament life’s brevity, nor find any deathbed peace.

At this last moment, he felt only intense unwillingness.

Unwilling that he didn’t persist a little longer, unwilling that his death seemed so devoid of value.

He still wanted to live, still wished to walk further along the path of Alchemy.

Yet, any cries of despair would now be in vain, wouldn’t they? In the solitary Mind Space, Maguston smiled bitterly, preparing himself to face life’s ultimate catastrophe.

However, just in the last three seconds, when Maguston was resignedly desperate, a soft whisper suddenly reached his ear.

In the final two seconds, while everyone else silently counted down, Maguston suddenly began to move.

He started walking forward, the allure of attraction forcing him to step forward.

"Did he give up early? Or is it that he really can’t hold on anymore?" Rivetta questioned.

No one responded; the answer didn’t matter, whether dying a moment sooner or later made no difference. The outcome was already determined. No chance of a comeback...huh?

When everyone thought Maguston had completely given up, they found that some unexpected changes occurred on the scene.

Maguston’s speed suddenly became rapid, racing forward. The direction he was heading was indeed towards where the Mysterious Fruit was, but it’s important to note, this direction had another presence.

A presence unseen by all, yet known by everyone.

That presence was the Transcendent being called the Observer by Polo Ye.

Speaker Zhuguang: "Is Maguston flying towards the Observer’s position, hoping the Observer will help him?"

Is this truly the direction things are heading? Will the Observer give Magustone a chance?

Everyone silently watched Magustone’s movements, and as he was about to pass by the Observer’s location, their eyes suddenly focused.

A faint green light had abruptly extended from that space, coiling around Magustone.

With the emergence of the green light, the Observer, whom no one had seen before, finally began to reveal his form.

Yet, to everyone’s surprise, the form revealed was not of one person but two.

One was a white-haired old man, the other a red-haired, golden-eyed youth.

Among the two, the white-haired old man was the one most worthy of attention, for his aura felt strange — there was no concealment nor mist, yet his face remained indistinct... or rather, even if one glimpsed it, the memory seemed to automatically format itself with a blink.

This is an existence whose aura exudes terror.

The red-haired, golden-eyed youth, however, did not have a terrifying force field around him. From the details of the surrounding energy counteractions, his strength did not seem formidable, or at least he did not appear to be a powerful figure.

With Zhuguang Chairman’s eye for skill, based on external force field manifestations, he was estimated to be at the level of an Official Wizard.

Yet, it was he who was releasing the green light coiling around Magustone.

"One of them must be the Observer, right? Who is it? The white-haired old man or the red-haired youth?" Zhuguang Chairman pondered silently.

He leaned more towards the white-haired old man being the Observer, as, judging by external strength, the old man’s methods had already surpassed Zhuguang Chairman’s imagination, possibly reaching a level above that of a Legend.

As for the red-haired youth... Zhuguang Chairman had never seen him, speculating he might be a younger generation of the Observer?

A young man suddenly releasing eerie green light towards Magustone, what was his intent?

Was he saving him or killing him?

At this moment, everyone was unable to determine the situation and could only turn their gaze to Magustone, hoping to see if any changes would happen to him under the green light’s embrace.

"It seems like there’s no change," Rivetta whispered.

In Rivetta’s view, Magustone paused slightly when surrounded by the green light, but for a brief moment, he resumed his previous speed, rushing towards the place where the Mysterious Fruit was.

There seemed to be no change, the green light appearing solely as a teasing beam?

"No, there is change," Diescher softly countered but didn’t specify what the change was, falling into contemplation instead.

"Editor, what change? Why can’t I notice it?"

"You can’t notice it because you’re foolish," Adelaide snorted coldly, her icy eyes looking towards the distant red-haired youth, vaguely sensing an old friend’s essence on him.

"Diescher’s indicational change is... a duplicate image, right?" Zhuguang Chairman spoke.

Rivetta: "A duplicate image? What duplicate image?"

"During Magustone’s pause when surrounded by the green light, a transient duplicate image seemed to appear on him but swiftly vanished," Diescher explained to Rivetta, then looked at Zhuguang Chairman, "Zhuguang, could that duplicate image be... that?"

What is that? Rivetta wondered with confusion.

Zhuguang Chairman nodded: "It should be."

Rivetta: ... What is it?

"Is this truly the case?" Diescher sighed lightly, "Yes, with Quest World currently enveloping the Southern Domain, choosing this method is indeed the most prudent. At least, the soul is not utterly annihilated."

"What do you mean?" Rivetta had caught onto something but felt as though she was separated by a thin veil, unable to see through.

"The duplicate image is Magustone’s soul, or rather, a dead soul," Diescher straightforwardly revealed what he had deduced.

"The green light encircling Magustone should have a way to weaken or ward off the attraction. As the green light enveloped Magustone, he regained a sliver of rationality."

"Taking advantage of this momentary rationality, Magustone made a decisive and resolute choice."

"Soul detachment, transforming from a living soul into a dead soul."

"Coincidentally, the Southern Domain is now covered by Quest World, and a dead soul can acutely feel the summoning from Quest World. By accepting the summoning, one can instantly enter Quest World."

So, everything makes sense; the transient duplicate image seen earlier was an external indication of Magustone’s soul detaching.

As soon as the soul detached, Magustone unhesitatingly chose to return home — Quest World.

Thus, the duplicate image appeared briefly and vanished, for the soul body had drifted into another world.

As for the flesh, still active, drawn by the traction, it continued to move towards the Mysterious Fruit.

However, Magustone’s actual consciousness had already escaped.

"Using this method to escape, Magustone is indeed decisive," Rivetta praised. Although only the dead soul escaped, as long as it doesn’t fall, there remains a sliver of consciousness that might continue accumulating strength in Quest World, living on in another form. This is undoubtedly better than complete extinction.

"Decisive? No, I think this might be compassion from that person," Diescher’s gaze shifted to the distant red-haired youth.

Obviously, everything had been calculated by the red-haired youth.

For Magustone to make an immediate judgment in that instant and detach his soul required two prerequisites: prior preparation and someone aiding him in temporarily escaping the Mysterious Fruit’s attraction.

Only the red-haired youth could achieve this.

In other words, all assistance came from the red-haired youth, including guiding Magustone to use the soul-entry-home method for escape; only he could provide such help.

Yet, what was the identity of the red-haired youth? Why was he helping Magustone?

These were their puzzles.

Soon, this puzzle was untangled, as Polo Ye spoke.

"Observer, you interfered too... Xura?" Polo Ye’s soft voice hauntingly echoed in everyone’s ears.

The white-haired old man replied lightly, "He is he, and I am I. The Observer doesn’t partake in Southern Domain events unless related to disordered objects, and I have adhered to this."

"He, on the other hand, is a native of the Southern Domain; whatever actions he takes are his freedom."

Polo Ye squinted and glanced at the Observer, then at Angel nearby: "As long as the soulless body can patch up this final gap, I accept this reason. However, if it fails, Xura Xura, I will act against them then, don’t stop me."

The Observer did not reply, for at this moment, Magustone’s soulless body had already arrived near the Mysterious Fruit.