"What do you think?" Elias asked back.
"I'm someone who just stepped over the threshold of being a transcendent, and you're asking if I've heard of something like spiritual hijacking?"
Edmond seemed to realize this as well.
"Fine, that was my oversight."
"This is a rare spell I heard a fellow member mention during an internal meeting of the Ascetic Society back when I was alive."
"You must understand, the advancement ritual is not just a process of a transcendent establishing a connection with the Origin Web and the gods; it is also a moment where the soul is left completely open and defenseless."
"A caster can use this window to perform a spiritual hijacking on the transcendent undergoing advancement."
"By tampering with their senses and twisting their spiritual orientation, they can cause the other party to experience a completely different Audience."
Edmond paused, seemingly giving Elias time to digest the information.
"Originally, you should have seen images of the Moon Lord, such as an owl or a lunar disc, but under a hijacking, you might see a purgatory, or... a little girl."
"So?" Elias pressed.
"What's the point of experiencing a completely different Audience?"
"Failing the advancement and becoming a lunatic!" Edmond said as if it were obvious.
"The Audience is not just a ritual; it is the beacon for constructing the Rational Circuit."
"If the beacon is false, then the circuit you construct will collapse, and your spirituality will spiral out of control."
"At a low Scale, the best-case scenario is losing all your spirituality; at worst, you lose control on the spot and become a complete idiot in Landon Asylum."
After hearing this, Elias instinctively moved his fingers, feeling the smooth spirituality within him that moved as easily as his own limbs.
"Do I look like someone who failed their advancement?" he asked back again.
"Uh..." Edmond was at a loss for words.
This was indeed a massive logical flaw.
If this was truly intended to harm someone, the method was far too charitable.
Not only did it fail to cause harm, but it also delivered a bunch of powerful skills; this wasn't hijacking, it was practically targeted poverty alleviation.
"Old Ed, you're just talking nonsense," Elias couldn't help but criticize.
"You old fossil, you always love to play up a sense of tension that doesn't even exist."
"It's not exactly nonsense."
Edmond wasn't provoked by Elias's criticism; instead, after a brief silence, he seemed to have caught a key clue.
"Didn't you mention that the girl said something to you?"
"'Don't forget me,'" Elias repeated.
"Yes, 'Don't forget me.'"
Edmond chewed on these words and immediately followed up with a question:
"How exactly did she say it?"
"Just..."
Elias was about to mimic the pronunciation, but he suddenly froze.
He kept his mouth open, several blurred syllables escaping his throat, but he couldn't piece together that exact pronunciation no matter what.
It was a very bizarre feeling.
It was like the deja vu of clearly remembering the meaning of a certain word but being unable to write it down when trying to do so.
Elias's brow furrowed, and his gaze became somewhat solemn.
"Her pronunciation was very strange, I've never heard it before; perhaps it's a dialect from some region of Velen?"
He tried to explain it using the limited linguistic knowledge from his original body's memories.
"Then how do you know she said 'Don't forget me'?" Edmond keenly caught the point.
"If you've never heard it and don't understand this dialect, how did you understand its meaning the moment you heard it?"
True! Elias suddenly snapped to his senses.
Why did he know?
But in that moment, there was no thinking, no translation process.
The moment that voice rang out, the meaning appeared directly in his mind, as if... the meaning had always been there.
This wasn't scientific.
"So," Old Edmond concluded.
"Perhaps this spiritual hijacking was merely to deliver a message to you."
"It didn't affect your advancement."
"Even if the spell itself was originally created to interfere with the advancement of others."
A message? Elias fell into deep thought.
If the other party was truly some big shot, would they go through all this trouble just to tell him two things?
First, the offering was wrong.
Second, don't forget her.
What kind of message was that?
"And about the offering being wrong?" Elias asked, steering the conversation toward the point that bothered him the most.
"If I was hijacked, does it even matter if the offering was right?"
"That... I'm not sure either," Edmond answered honestly.
"Logically, if the offering were wrong, the ritual wouldn't even be able to start; you wouldn't have been able to enter the Audience state smoothly at all."
"The ritual is like a lock, and the offering is part of the key."
"Since you got in, it means the key was correct."
"But since she said it was wrong, and with such certainty..."
Old Ed paused, and then, as if thinking of some shocking possibility, his voice suddenly spiked:
"Could it be that you offered to another god behind my back?!"
"Get lost!" Elias cursed back without hesitation.
"Old Ed, I think fifty years of imprisonment has made your brain a bit abnormal."
"Is it possible that I caught this madness from you?" Edmond retorted.
"I'd say that while I'm saving you, I'm also making that decaying antique soul-brain of yours start working again," Elias followed up quickly.
Whether it was because Old Ed didn't know how to reply, the atmosphere suddenly fell silent.
There was only the sound of waves outside the window, rhythmically striking the rocks.
After a short while, Edmond spoke again:
"Did that little girl tell you her name?"
"She did tell me," Elias nodded, his brow relaxing slightly.
"What was it?" Edmond pressed.
"It was..." Elias opened his mouth.
The name was right on the tip of his tongue.
That pronunciation, that intonation, even the expression on the girl's face when she said her name—he remembered it all clearly.
Just a second ago, he was certain he remembered.
But when he tried to say it, tried to translate it into specific language, the name was like sand clutched in a hand, slipping away instantly.
No matter how hard he tried, the area of his brain regarding that name was a complete blank.
"What was it again?"
Elias's brow furrowed once more, tighter and tighter.
He tried desperately to recall the little girl's name, only to find he couldn't remember it at all.
"You forgot it just like that?" Edmond's voice sounded incredulous.
"Is your memory that of a troll?"
"No, she definitely told me, and it was a very simple name!" Elias grew a bit anxious.
"But I can't remember it at all!"
"It's right on the tip of my tongue, but I just can't say it!"
"Now let's see whose brain is more of an antique." Edmond let out a meaningful chuckle.
"..."
"?"
Hearing the old ghost's sarcastic tone, Elias's temper flared up instantly.
"You asked just to mock me?" He was stunned.
This old guy had no shame at all!
In such a serious moment, he actually had the mind to make personal attacks?
But this was indeed bizarre.
Logically, not much time had passed since his advancement, and it was such a profound memory, yet he couldn't remember a single bit of it.
It was as if this segment of memory had been precisely excised from a spiritual level.
"Not really, that was just a bonus."
Edmond's voice sounded a bit smug, as if winning a round had put him in a great mood.
"..." Elias rolled his eyes, deciding not to argue with this childish old man.
"Back to business."
"If you weren't allowed to remember the name, perhaps her existence level is too high," Edmond said, dropping his joking attitude and becoming serious again.
"In the supernatural world, a name is the shortest incantation."
"Like that one you shouted before..."
"Actually, let's not talk about it, and don't try to remember it either."
"It might be to prevent you from remembering and then getting yourself killed."
"So, I'm leaning more toward the second possibility—spiritual hijacking," Edmond concluded.
Listening to Old Ed's analysis, an odd feeling welled up in Elias's heart.
"Couldn't it be the first one?" he asked irritably.
"Everything you said about the existence level being too high to speak the name fits the first guess perfectly as well."
"And if it's the Moon Lord, it makes even more sense why she could appear in my advancement ritual."
"Don't forget, I got nine spells! Nine!"
Staring at the pitch-black ceiling, a mischievous grin played on Elias's lips.
"And you say 'you're leaning toward the second one'."
"Give it a rest, Old Ed."
"You're just trying to save face."
"I'm just too embarrassed to call you out!"
Rate on N.U.
