Chapter 811: Chapter 392: Behavioral Patterns
"Isn’t it because they’re being kind?" Zoe said, her mouth stuffed full, words muffled.
"Kind... that’s not exactly wrong."
Those Purgatory Spirits looked vividly alive, and the way they moved really didn’t match their name very well.
Watching them now, prowling around the ruins of the city as if everything were back to how it used to be, they looked more like a projection of the city from decades ago than like the Firelight Spirits of the present.
Li Ang felt these fire-folk were a bit like nosy young girls, guiding unfamiliar visitors who’d come to see a friend and leading them all the way to that friend’s doorstep.
From that angle, calling them "kind" wasn’t wrong.
That brought up two questions:
What exactly is their relationship?
What is the "ecology" of the Purgatory Spirits and the timid Young Girl? Namely, after the former gained this self-preserving, self-aware state due to being shaped by Star Soul Power, why do they linger on instead of dispersing, and how does the latter live here and form a connection with them?
After Li Ang finished sharing his thoughts, Zoe blinked her big eyes and said, "Li Ang, you’re amazing, I never would’ve thought of any of that."
"You’ll learn, slowly."
Once they were back at the table eating, Li Ang continued pointing out the oddities.
Among the Undead, Ghosts are formed because the obsession of the deceased keeps the Spirit running, which in turn draws in Magic Power. They repeat some of what they did in life and don’t possess true autonomy.
In abandoned villages and ruined cities, such Ghosts can persist longer than a normal person’s lifespan, but even they lose their Spirit over time and eventually disperse.
Only the extremely powerful resentful spirits in relic sites can survive the passage of long ages.
The Purgatory Spirits here don’t follow the rules that Ghosts do; one can assume it’s because of the involvement of a Star Soul.
"They feel a bit like our subordinates," Anna said.
The golden little girl lifted her small hand, sand and dust swirling in her palm as she condensed a miniature Divine Rock Guard.
It scanned its surroundings; having just been shaped by the Light of the Star Soul, it hadn’t yet grasped its environment or what its Master required.
Sensing the Magic Power fluctuations inside it, Li Ang nodded. "Indeed."
"So that means, if the Star Soul is undying, they’re undying as well?" Andasu said.
"That’s how I see it." Anna nodded.
"How are they undying? I put them out with a single mouthful of Water." the boisterous Livi said.
Most of the others had gone ashore to explore, and the Little Sea Dragon, who hated volcanoes, felt lonely again, so she took a strong disliking to everything here.
"Could they have come out of those empty shells?" Dorothy suddenly thought aloud.
"It’s possible." Li Ang recalled how charred bones burned inside the Flame bodies of the Purgatory Spirits. Without the stabilization of the Light of the Star Soul, those Skeletons would have crumbled at a touch, and the Flame outside could never have condensed into something as solid as skin, allowing them to take on human form.
"Why weren’t they standing guard around the Star Soul, and instead followed the Mort Family’s child to fight against the Star Soul?" Farina pointed out the crux of Li Ang’s earlier words.
"Because they’re friends?" Zoe said.
"The problem is how they became friends. It’s not as simple as just getting along or playing together," Li Ang said.
As if to illustrate Li Ang’s point, Anna twirled her finger, directing the tiny Divine Rock Guard to fly around them, then, according to her will, made it return to her palm and crushed it in one squeeze, letting it revert to Light of the Star Soul and scattered sand.
Her control over the Earth Element was extremely precise—she didn’t let a single grain of dust get onto the food.
"Any being with such a deep connection to a Star Soul should be unable to escape the Star Soul’s dominion. It’s a... sort of innate Attribute."
Anna said that whether it was what formed the main body of the Star Soul, or the guards constructed around its Power, all of them were hard-pressed to escape its command; this was part of what made a Star Soul so formidable as an ultimate weapon.
"That child must be special," Farina said with a smile. "Even without meeting her, we can basically infer that much."
To be able to live alone on Purgatory Island—calling her "special" was hardly an exaggeration. But the conclusion they’d reached now was that she wasn’t just special in that sense: she possessed the ability to keep the Purgatory Spirits out from under the control of the Molten Mountain Star Soul.
"Did you notice? From just now, they’ve been staring at the Eternal Summer," Li Ang said.
"I did," Andasu said.
White Wolf had been in charge of everything from steering to docking, and she’d noticed this while dropping anchor.
"I feel like their focus isn’t on us outsiders. When we went looking for that timid Young Girl, they didn’t show up at all. As Spiritual Bodies, if they want to hide, it’s very hard for us, with flesh and blood, to find them."
"Li Ang, you mean they wanted us to find that girl?" Zoe asked.
"That’s the feeling I get."
"Why? They want her to make living friends? Hmm, that sounds right."
The chestnut-haired girl scratched her head, paused, then nodded to herself, clearly quite convinced by her own idea.
"But what if it’s the other way around?" Meimei said. "Because she stopped the Star Soul from controlling the Purgatory Spirits, they’re still influenced by the Star Soul and hope we’ll take her away, so they can go back to following the Star Soul."
She had the habit of assuming the worst, yet this time it was hard to refute her immediately, because Purgatory Spirits were a unique entity born of the Star Soul, and past experience didn’t apply.
Judging by the Divine Rock Guard, what she said was actually a bit more convincing.
"Can’t we ask them?"
"I already tried; we can’t communicate."
Li Ang shook his head. He’d anticipated that, but still tried to seek out those little fire-people. They were neither Ghosts nor living beings and couldn’t produce any sound at all. The channel they used to communicate with each other was some kind of shared perception formed through the linkage of the Light of the Star Soul. The gestures they made with their hands weren’t sign language, just simple, innocent body language.
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