"Alright, alright."
Inside his mind, Edmond stopped his breathless, hysterical laughter, his voice carrying a hint of forced seriousness.
"In all honesty, what did you see?"
Elias stood up from the ground with an expressionless face, brushing the dust off his pants.
He ignored the old ghost's questioning, instead cleaning up the bottles and jars on the ground with a dark expression.
"You laughed at me for ages, and now you think to ask?"
Elias snorted coldly, stuffing the remaining antique candle into his pocket.
"Do I have to answer everything you ask?"
"Die of curiosity, you old fossil!"
With that, he grabbed his things and headed toward the wooden hut without looking back.
After his previous repairs, the once-tottering wooden door was much more cooperative.
Though it still let in a slight draft, the hinges no longer made that ear-grating sound, opening and closing with a silky smooth motion.
This tiny improvement in quality of life was one of Elias's few comforts on this godforsaken island.
He slammed the door with a thud, trying to shut out the annoying old ghost's voice.
"Don't be like that!"
Seeing that the kid was genuinely angry, Edmond's tone softened immediately.
"My mistake, alright? I apologize!"
"The problem is that what you said was just too absurd. It's like telling me you went out to buy groceries and found the King running a street stall."
"Hey! Tell me! Quickly, tell me the details!"
The old ghost's curiosity was like a cat scratching at his soul.
"Just tell me!"
Elias wasn't buying it at all.
He tossed his things onto the table, kicked off his boots, and plopped down onto the only bed in the room. He lay back and pulled the blanket over his head.
"I need to sleep."
He closed his eyes, adopting a posture of total refusal to communicate.
"Otherwise, that damn dream demon might come to drain me again. I need to conserve my energy."
"That's only for ordinary people!"
Edmond grew anxious.
"You're a Scale One now, pal! You're already a transcendent!"
"Your spirituality has formed a circuit; it's no longer loose goods for others to take as they please!"
"So?"
Elias asked in a muffled voice from under the covers.
"Don't you have a lot of new spells in your head?"
"Among the spells you learned, is there one called 【Moonlight Enchantment】?"
Elias paused for a moment.
"I suppose there is."
Elias poked his head out from under the blanket.
"Then there's no problem!"
Edmond's voice immediately became excited.
"You can use that spell to empower the ammunition in your revolver!"
"Ordinary bullets can't hit a spiritual body, but enchanted bullets really can kill it!"
"You can take it out!"
Hearing this, Elias's eyes lit up.
It was the look of a hunter spotting its prey.
After being tormented by that invisible, untouchable thing for the past few days, he had been suppressing a belly full of rage.
"Then what are we waiting for? I'll do it right..."
"Don't get ahead of yourself, let me finish."
Edmond timely poured a bucket of cold water on his excitement.
"Even if you kill it, it's useless. The curse will still remain."
"Because a dream demon's curse never depends on its own life."
"Huh?"
Elias, who had just pulled out his gun, put it back down.
"The curse doesn't disappear if the caster dies? What kind of rogue logic is that?"
"I told you before, the dream demon primarily binds your soul to the lighthouse's spirit world coordinates."
Edmond explained.
"So it won't be invalidated just because the dream demon disappears."
"What a disgusting ability!"
Elias felt a massive headache coming on.
"Of course, there is good news."
Edmond consoled him.
"With your current Scale One spirituality, it's already far more massive than what I perceived before."
"Even if the dream demon sees you as a great delicacy, it won't approach you easily."
"A mosquito dares to suck human blood, but it definitely won't jump into a bonfire."
"I'm afraid it won't come to feed on you again."
"Its ability is a bit disgusting, but it isn't stupid."
"Bullying the weak and fearing the strong is a biological instinct, and spirit world creatures are no exception."
Elias nodded.
That was indeed good news.
At least he didn't have to worry about following in Edmond's footsteps.
But then, he realized something.
When Old Ed asked him about the spells earlier, his tone seemed to carry an "uncertain" probing quality.
"Based on what you're saying..."
Elias hesitated, his brow furrowing slightly.
"Can the spells learned vary from person to person?"
"Of course they can!"
Edmond said as if it were obvious.
"The Origin Web is vast, and the Moon Lord's authority is profound."
"Everyone's spiritual traits are different. Although the constructed Rational Circuits are broadly similar, they differ in a thousand ways in the details."
"It's like going to a library to borrow books; does everyone borrow the same one?"
"This depends on talent and affinity."
"Generally speaking, a novice who has just advanced to Scale One is considered qualified if they can intercept and solidify two to three spells from the Origin Web."
"Two or three?"
Elias blinked.
"Well, I learned nine."
The air suddenly went silent.
A full five seconds passed.
"Nine... nine... nine?!"
Edmond's voice suddenly exploded, no longer mocking, but filled with an emotion called "astonishment."
"Is that good talent or bad talent?"
Elias asked knowingly, the corners of his mouth already curling up uncontrollably.
"Are you sure it's nine?"
"I'm sure!"
Elias began to count them off on his fingers like a menu:
"【Darkvision】."
"【Moonlight Veil】."
"【Malice Perception】."
"【Moonlight Blessing】."
"【Interpretive Insight】."
"【Spirit Sensing】."
"【Hexfire】."
"【Moonlight Enchantment】."
"And 【Mental Message】."
With every name he listed, the dead silence in his mind deepened.
By the time all nine names were spoken.
The voice in his head fell into an utter stillness.
That silence was practically deafening.
Elias could swear that since he met Old Ed, this old chatterbox whose mouth was like a broken faucet had never been this quiet.
"Old Ed?"
Elias called out tentatively.
No response.
"Speak to me!"
After his relentless prompting, Old Ed's hollow voice finally echoed in his skull.
That voice sounded extremely complicated.
"How about... you tell me about the Audience with the Moon Lord again?"
"Heh."
Elias chuckled.
"Didn't you say you didn't believe it?"
"Didn't you say it was a joke? Why do you want to hear it now?"
"After hearing this... I'm starting to believe you..."
Edmond's voice sounded like he had swallowed a toad.
Awakening nine spells at once.
Was this guy even human?
Did you come in through the back door?!
"So that means my talent is exceptional, right?"
Elias pressed his advantage, showing no intention of letting the old ghost off the hook.
Having been mocked for so long, now was the time for payback.
"It's more than just exceptional..."
Edmond muttered.
"It's simply absurd."
"Let me ask you something."
Elias went for the jugular, the smile on his face so bright it made one want to punch him.
"Old Ed, as a senior, learned, and experienced old Firebearer."
"How many spells did you learn when you were at Scale One?"
Silence.
Another deathly silence.
Old Ed seemed to have been dealt a heavy blow.
After a long pause.
He finally squeezed out a few words from his mouth like toothpaste:
"Three... three."
"Hahahahahaha!"
Now it was Elias's turn to laugh.
The laughter was so loud that dust fell from the rafters of the wooden hut.
"Hahaha! Three? Only three?"
Old Ed was certain that this fellow was doing it on purpose!
This was absolute, blatant revenge!
This kid's heart was smaller than the eye of a needle!
"Stop laughing!"
The old man immediately tried to save face.
"Listen, you don't think people like you are common, do you?!"
"Three is the norm! Three is the limit for a normal person!"
Edmond said with a mix of shame and annoyance.
"You should know that when I was alive, the Ascetic Bishop of the Landon Diocese was a truly great figure!"
"When he was at Scale One, he only obtained five spells!"
"Even so, he was regarded as the cream of the crop among ascetics, designated as the successor by the previous bishop, who praised him as a genius kissed by the Moon Lord!"
"If he were still alive, he would likely have entered the Saint tier, which is the level of Scale Seven!"
"Five is a genius, and your nine..."
Edmond didn't continue.
Because nine had already exceeded his range of cognition; it belonged to the realm of monsters.
After hearing this, Elias immediately reined in his somewhat awkward laughter and said with a solemn face:
"Then it seems some people should show me a bit more respect in the future!"
Old Ed also felt his pride stinging.
Normally, he would have retorted sharply, saying the kid didn't know the heights of the heavens or the depths of the earth.
But the facts were right there.
Nine spells.
He couldn't argue.
This kid was not only tough and had a bizarre mind, but his talent was also a total freak of nature.
Could it be that fortune really favored the fool?
Although Edmond's mind was in turmoil, he absolutely couldn't admit defeat verbally.
In this awkward atmosphere, he had no choice but to immediately employ the legendary ultimate tactic—changing the subject.
"Ahem."
Old Ed cleared his throat and said in a voice that pretended to be natural:
"Anyway..."
"Let's talk about the Moon Lord you saw in the Audience!"
Rate on N.U.
