Four Split Personalities

Chapter 2608: Chapter 1233: Deadly Game · Continuation (IX) - The Path to Survival

[Blank Tome 2: Path of Survival: Distorted Creation]

Task Level: Unique Legendary Quest Chain

Task Difficulty: Flexible

Acceptance Requirement: Complete the prerequisite quest [Afterglow of the Setting Sun: Sword of Purge]

Acceptance Reward: Unlock [Faith Points], unlock Profession: [Fertility Priest] (profession unlock failed because the recipient possesses Talents [Unbeliever])

Task Content: Escape the [Bloodstained Maiden Arena] under the identity of ’Maeve Xiangluan’

Hidden Content: ???

Task Restriction: Maeve Xiangluan must not board the [Massacre Ship]

Task Progress: 59%

Base Reward: Access to the seventh level of the Restricted Section of the Academy City Integrated Library

Additional Rewards: If completion rate ＞125% when the quest ends, randomly obtain 10 Epic Tier spell theories; if completion rate ＞150% when the quest ends, Profession: [Fufa] will be upgraded to an Epic Tier profession, and all unlocked Specialization Levels +10; if completion rate ＞200% when the quest ends, obtain equipment of Unique Legendary Quality [Crown of Roina · Greedy Plunderer], Inherent Barrier [Dream of the Warthog], and Talents [Contrarian Song].

[Remark: Ha~]

...

Casting a lazy glance at her own quest progress, Maeve Xiangluan... or rather Double Leaf, covertly yawned, then let her slender fingertips lightly stroke across the Diamond Crystal floating before her, parsing its inner structure at a staggering speed and, at the same time, beginning to interfere with it. Her efficiency of speed and precision of operation were enough to make the vast majority of this world’s high-level mages die on the spot of cerebral hemorrhage.

Just as Motan had suspected, this so-called Female Priest named Maeve was precisely the role Double Leaf was playing in this "Path of Survival" instance, and all her previous behavior had, naturally, been an act meant to mislead everyone involved, Haru Kuttata included.

This wasn’t difficult for Double Leaf. Although outside the game she was indeed a hopelessly socially anxious mess, that symptom only manifested when she was "Mu You." Once she put on any of her other identities, "Double Leaf" included, her talent in the Domain of deception was by no means much inferior to Motan’s.

Like Haru Kuttata, Maeve had also recorded a great many things in her own Holy Scripture. The difference was, she hadn’t hidden this book anywhere at all, but instead placed it openly and brazenly in the very center of the room, because the words branded upon it through Divine Arts could not be seen by anyone—at least, not by anyone in a place like this.

Compared to the simple Haru Kuttata, the character Maeve Xiangluan was far more complicated. Her experiences, her mental state, and the things she wrote were all exceedingly complex, yet Double Leaf still took less than ten minutes to extract what she needed from it.

Just as Motan had previously guessed, Maeve Xiangluan was indeed a member of the Holy Church Union battle sequence. Strictly speaking, she should be considered a combat Priest of the Fertile Sect stationed in Dunbua City, and a small team leader at that. In the distant past, she had been a gentle-tempered Lady, and had even had a childhood sweetheart from the Justice Sect.

"I see him with a toothpick in his mouth, waving at me with his helmet tucked under his arm, a few friends at his side who always love to tease us. He’s holding candy he somehow conned off some kid, his boots caked with mud, the curve of his lips warm and bright, and in the left hand behind his back he’s pinching a bug he plans to use to scare me..."

In that tattered Holy Scripture, this passage appeared at least thirty times, and every time it showed up, it was accompanied by a large blotch of blurry, indistinct stains.

Double Leaf could see Maeve’s gradually warped Spirit between the lines, yet this one scene remained forever pristine and clear in her mind.

"I’m going back to find you, but you will never be able to wait for me."

This was the last sentence Maeve left in that notebook.

Aside from these still somewhat comprehensible entries, almost everything else Maeve had recorded was hazy and twisted; many passages were nothing more than strings of meaningless contorted symbols.

As for those scattered traces where logic still remained, they allowed Double Leaf to roughly piece together Maeve’s experiences.

There wasn’t much to say, really. Put simply, a few years ago, the squad under Maeve’s command was ambushed during a support mission, corralled into an encirclement by an elite unit of Gray Lizard Hunting. Though they fought bravely, they were still all but wiped out in the end.

At the final stage of the battle, the main force that was supposed to have been supported finally arrived and confronted the Gray Lizard Hunting elites. Maeve seized the opportunity, using the last sliver of Strength she had originally prepared for martyrdom to unleash the Divine technique [Annual Ring], forcibly detonating the remains of numerous treants to blast open a gap and create a chance.

The reinforcements, having accurately grasped the timing, rode the momentum and rescued the vast majority of the survivors trapped within the encirclement.

Yes, the vast majority—because right after Maeve finished casting that Divine technique, a Gray Lizard Hunting member closest to her rushed in and subdued her completely.

In the end, after a fierce and bitter fight, Maeve was never rescued. Instead, she was taken back to Duan Tou Cliff as a "war trophy."

What followed was a long, hopeless hell.

By the time Maeve came to her senses again, she’d already been sent to this place and turned into a Gladiator—a Gladiator whose hands were already stained with the fresh blood of dozens.