“A sorcerer starting to build an upper-tier sanctuary can typically pass through two dream phantoms each night; someone like me, who has mastered the upper-tier Miracle of Radiant Rainbow, can manage up to ten dream phantoms per night, but usually, I get through only six.”
“Huh? Why is that? Sister Trelozan, you’re so powerful, shouldn’t you be able to spend at least five hours in the Virtual Realm? That means it would take you half an hour to pass each dream phantom?”
“Yes, because the battles in dream phantoms are unlike any you’ve experienced before. Even though I have control over the Sanctuary and the invisible blade, I still need to spend over 30 minutes gathering Intelligence. If a phantom is particularly hazardous, I might skip it altogether and move on to the next dream.”
“What makes a phantom dangerous?”
“Any phantom where you can’t find an affix clue is dangerous.”
Although fully aware that ‘every warning from a sorcerer is a summary of countless deaths,’ Sonya still underestimated the challenge-she agreed with the Witches’ ‘one-sword-breaks-all’ approach even before finding the affix clue for the sixth phantom.
It’s understandable, given that they breezed through the first five phantoms, initiating combat within minutes regardless of the clues they had found.
The first five phantoms each had a single affix: “Slippery” (very easy to slip), “Resonance” (all spirit effects doubled), and “Fear of Giants” (all attributes exponentially increase with size). Despite their challenges, under the protection of the Sanctuary, Ashe and the others could quickly deduce the general nature of the affixes, and sometimes even guess the true meaning of the affixes to bypass them-that’s right, if all affixes are deduced, you can pass a dream phantom without needing to fight further.
Overall, while dream phantoms are difficult, they remain manageable.
Moreover, after passing through the fourth phantom, Ashe retrieved the fourth item from the Dream Treasure House-and it was a Colorful Collection!
“Colorful Collection – Inspiration Glasses: The wearer takes an additional 50% damage, and every unit within their line of sight has a chance to trigger ‘A Flash of Insight’ during battle. This grants the unit a temporary boost in wisdom, offering one of three rewards: sect experience (90%), summoning a new spirit (9%), or inventing a new Miracle (1%). Each successful trigger also grants the wearer ‘A Flash of Insight’.”
This Colorful Collection item had no immediate impact on their current combat strength, but Ashe and the others were eager to keep it permanently-it was essentially a perfect tool for farming experience!
While spirits and Miracles were significant, the biggest gap for these Stowaways was sect experience, which frustratingly was the hardest to improve. Ashe could share the group’s experience via Bond, and Deya could occasionally benefit from bursts of divine inspiration through her Gospel, but Sonya had to rely solely on her natural talent to synergize with Ashe’s nurturing boost.
However, due to the negative effect of taking 50% more damage, the Witch and sword Princess could not wear it. It had to be given to one of the backliners, Ashe or Vesser. With the Experience Sharing from Bonds, having Ashe wear it would yield a 100% gain for the team, whereas Vesser would deliver a 130% benefit.
Vesser gladly accepted the item, assuring that her field of vision would definitely include the three of them.
Indeed, during the battle in the fifth dream phantom, Ashe and the others all triggered A Flash of Insight, with the fiercely engaged sword Princess and Witch activating it three times. They even deliberately slowed down the fight to savor the experience of thoroughly defeating the Raging Slashing Dragon, which only exploded in self-destruction to end their spree of brutality.
Everyone realized that the goal of their virtual realm exploration for the night had shifted, focusing not on passing the dream phantoms but on engaging in as many battles as possible.
So when Ashe mentioned, “The next dream phantom might be a bit difficult,” everyone felt not fear but greed, knowing that according to the inspiration glasses’ description, the harder the battle, the higher the chance to trigger A Flash of Insight.
The sixth Phantom was a space resembling an underground city. After spending over ten minutes probing the affix to no avail, they decisively initiated the battle.
It was then that they finally understood the true difficulty of the virtual realm.
Crunch.
As Ashe fled to a rooftop, the orc Sanctuary behind him suddenly let out a sinister laugh and pointed at him. Though it seemed as if nothing had happened, the space at its fingertip began to tear!
Meanwhile, the Xiahui Dragon in the sky let out an eerie low growl, its eyes-resembling massive frog eyes-fixed intently on Ashe. Horrific thoughts of self-harm flooded his mind, and he couldn’t muster the strength to summon his Sanctuary, leaving him vulnerable!
Sonya and Deya rushed over to help fend off the attack, while Vesser cast the Miracle ‘Nothing Happens’ to free Ashe from the mind control!
Though they narrowly survived the combined assault, Ashe’s expression bore no relief. It wasn’t his first time being rescued.
Seeing the virtual realm creatures closing in, Ashe sighed and said, “I didn’t think our first night exploring the Distant Sky Domain would end in ruin.”
“This is disgusting!” Deya complained, “We can only take hits and can’t fight back-what kind of battle is this?”
Soon after the battle began, the sorcerers quickly discovered one major problem-their attacks automatically rebounded!
Every attack they launched reflected directly back at them!
No worries, the Witch has ‘Witness’ and the sword Princess has the ‘Invisible Blade,’ attacks that transcend distance-surely they could harm the enemy?
But then the sorcerers discovered that the virtual realm creatures, the Xiahui Dragon and the orc sorcerer, were invulnerable! They absorbed no damage whatsoever, and the attacks from the Witch and sword Princess still rebounded!
To make matters worse, the attacks from the orc sorcerer and the Xiahui Dragon worked perfectly fine!
Ashe even heard the sword Princess curse ‘Little Trumpet’ in frustration.
How were they supposed to fight this?
If the enemies were simply invulnerable, they could have attempted to destroy the environment and create pits to limit the enemies’ mobility;
If only the attacks rebounded, they would accept it as bad luck and call their exploration off for the night.
After all, when a battle occurs within a Phantom, all space gates become inactive, and no sorcerer can leave the Phantom until the battle concludes. So, either they don’t spark a fight or they have to kill the enemies or be killed.
But now, with invulnerable enemies, Ashe’s group facing attack rebound, and the enemies’ attacks not rebounding-no self-respecting novel with an abusive plot would dare use such an absurd setup.
If it had been any other individual sorcerer, they would have been instantly defeated by the orc sorcerer and Xiahui Dragon’s tactics. Fortunately, they operated as a team and were able to salvage the situation somewhat. Even so, Ashe and the others had all sustained severe wounds, and if the enemies found another opening, it could mean their demise.
Ashe and his companions were beginning to appreciate the importance of a Sanctuary-it not only allowed them to pass through the space gates but, more importantly, provided a margin for error in unexpected encounters!
No wonder the Sanctuary is considered essential in the Distant Sky Domain: without its protection, sorcerers would have no time to react and would be instantly annihilated by enemies empowered by various world affixes!
While desperately racing through the underground city, Sonya suddenly swung back, activating the ‘Invisible Blade’ without a sound. However, the orc sorcerer merely laughed, and it was her Sanctuary that was automatically triggered to take the rebound.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, the Xiahui Dragon targeted her with its gaze, leaving Sonya momentarily frozen until Ashe scooped her up and dashed away. There was no need for Vesser’s healing, as Ashe used the ‘Slash Me’ Miracle on her, allowing Sonya to recover immediately.
Thankfully, both Ashe and Vesser had Miracles to cleanse abnormal states; otherwise, they would have been wiped out long ago.
Once she regained her composure, the “village girl” remained unwilling to back down and attempted the ‘Invisible Blade’ twice more. Naturally, it was Ashe’s Sanctuary that bore the brunt of it, while she was left drained of spellforce, weakly clinging to Ashe.
“We have no other choice,” Ashe declared. “It’s time for the ultimate plan.”
“No way!” the Witch and sword Princess immediately protested.
The so-called ultimate plan was essentially a suicide. Since they would be inflicting the damage upon themselves, the soul damage would be much less.
But even the slightest damage requires at least ten days to half a month of recovery for sanctuary sorcerers. How could Sonya and Deya possibly agree to that?
“If we can figure out the affix, we can get through this Phantom!” Sonya bit her nails anxiously. “Let’s start by figuring it out from here!”
Deya asked, “Sword Princess, have you recovered yet?”
Ashe commented, “There are at least two affixes here. The first affix is attack rebound, and the second is invulnerability.”
Vesser added, “And not all attacks rebound, nor is everyone invulnerable. Both rebound and invulnerability have specific trigger conditions.”
Sonya pondered, “How are they different from us?”
Deya was getting impatient. “Sword Princess, if you’re good to go, then walk on your own. The Observer can’t move freely while carrying you.”
“No rush; I want to observe how they trigger the affixes.”
“Let me try-“
Suddenly, the orc sorcerer let out a sinister cackle and pointed at Deya. Though the space around her remained still, it began tearing apart at every corner. The Xiahui Dragon also growled menacingly, directing a mental assault at her.
Yet, nothing seemed to happen. Deya, while fleeing, naturally avoided their combination attack, not even realizing she’d been targeted.
“Huh?”
Ashe and Vesser were momentarily stunned before both experienced “A Flash of Insight.”
“I understand now,” Ashe declared. “The trigger condition for invulnerability is ‘theatricality.’ By making yourself seem theatrical through your words or actions, you activate invulnerability.”
“The attack rebound is linked to the nature of the attack,” Vesser explained. “All tangible attacks trigger rebound, so intangible attacks like mental shocks and spatial attacks don’t. Sword Princess, your spatial attack sometimes leaves faint shadows, which is why it triggers this affix.”
As soon as they finished speaking, two streams of information flowed into their minds:
“Theatre Performance: The stage is sacred, and any actor on stage is like a deity and invulnerable to all harm.”
“Affix Identification Reward: Small amount of fate sect experience, small amount of spellforce.”
“Limited Affix Privilege: You can actively trigger Theatre Performance, and the effect lasts for 5 seconds.”
/
“Civilized Audience: No throwing objects at the actors! All tangible attacks are rebounded back to the attacker, and intangible attacks are unstoppable.”
“Affix Identification Reward: Small amount of fate sect experience, small amount of spellforce.”
“Limited Affix Privilege: The next attack aimed at you will be rebounded back to the attacker.”
Everyone paused, realizing that the Phantom hadn’t dissipated yet, which meant there was a third affix to uncover.
“No worries,” Ashe said. “As long as we enter the Theatre Performance state, we can be immune to damage, and then we can figure out a way to escape the Virtual Realm-“
“That’s not necessary,” Vesser interrupted. “Since intangible attacks work, this Phantom can be cleared.”
“But your Spatial Sect-“
“Intangible attacks are not limited to the Spatial Sect.”
“They’re in a Theatre Performance state-“
“Then make them step off the stage.”
Updat𝓮d from freewēbnoveℓ.com.
Vesser halted abruptly, transforming the ‘Thousand Changes’ spirit within her soul into a new music spell spirit, ‘Sound Wave’!
Using ‘Delusion’ and ‘Sound Wave’ as the primary spirits, she created a new Miracle, ‘Silent Tremor’!
As the inaudible, intangible sound waves swept through, the building beneath the orc sorcerer collapsed, cutting off his sinister laugh as he tumbled down and was crushed by the sound waves. Vesser then transformed ‘Thousand Changes’ into the wind spell spirit ‘Gale,’ using it to blow dust into the sky and obscure the Xiahui Dragon.
As the Xiahui Dragon paused its growling, confused and detached, the gale scattered its body like fallen leaves.
Within seconds, the ferocious enemies that had pursued them for over half an hour were vanquished!
The sorcerers stared in disbelief at what had just unfolded, but Deya was the quickest to snap out of it, hastily helping the sword Princess out of the Observer’s arms.