Edmond truly felt that sometimes the gap between people was greater than the gap between a human and a dog.
In an instant, he felt as if he had aged decades.
Of course, as an old ghost who had been stuck in a spirit world bracelet for fifty years, he didn't really have an age to speak of.
However, that sense of powerlessness rising from the depths of his soul still made him, a former transcendent, feel a deep sense of frustration.
Why was it like this?!
He couldn't figure it out.
He really couldn't.
If he had possessed talent like Elias's back then, even just half of it, perhaps he wouldn't have died like a joke on that stormy night, becoming a wandering ghost before even touching the threshold of Scale Three.
On the other hand, there was the current Elias.
The fellow was sitting by the reef, stowing his revolver with a smug look on his face, the smug curve of his lips practically begging to be punched.
Edmond suppressed the urge to stomp on that face and activated his spiritual perception.
Although he already knew Elias's spirituality was abnormally robust...
When Elias was just an ordinary person, that overflowing spirituality was like a campfire in the night, so bright it was blinding, even attracting flies like the dream demon that followed the scent.
But common sense told Edmond that no matter how robust an ordinary person's spirituality was, it couldn't compare to even a Scale One transcendent.
But this brat was truly different.
After becoming a transcendent, his spirituality had actually undergone another exponential surge!
Put it this way: if Elias's spirituality as an ordinary person was compared to a campfire on a beach...
Then now, his spirituality had reached the level of a searchlight!
In fact, Edmond had seen ordinary people with massive spirituality before.
In this world watched by the gods, there were always some unlucky souls born with extraordinary talent.
Because their spirituality was too high, these people often saw spiritual bodies in corners or strange shadows in their daily lives, leading those around them to view them as lunatics or freaks.
Eventually, they would be isolated and become withdrawn and gloomy.
Such people were the best candidates for the churches.
But without exception, after they drank the potion and became Scale One transcendents, the growth of their spirituality followed a predictable pattern.
They were simply more robust than ordinary Scale One transcendents, with a bit more endurance.
Such people were already called one-in-a-million geniuses, the kind of prize that various sects would fight over.
But what the hell was this kid?
As an ordinary person, his spirituality was already so robust he looked like a Scale One transcendent—which was why Edmond had misunderstood Elias's status at the beginning.
It seemed common sense simply didn't apply to this damned little brat.
Just when Edmond thought that after advancing to Scale One, the boy's spirituality would follow the law of conservation and fall into an "excellent but understandable" range like the high-spirituality ordinary people he'd seen before...
Reality gave him a resounding slap in the face.
This guy's current spirituality reserves actually reached the level of Scale Two!
Even in terms of purity, it was higher than his own back when he was at Scale Two!
One must know that at Scale One, because the Rational Circuit has just been constructed, it is like a newly dug canal—inevitably rough and narrow.
Using spells is by no means easy; every time spirituality is mobilized, it is accompanied by a mental burden.
Take 【Moonlight Enchantment】 for example.
This is a very practical tactical spell that allows ordinary weapons to harm spiritual bodies.
But its consumption is very real.
For a normal, formally trained Scale One transcendent, firing 20 rounds of enchanted ammunition is already the limit of their mental strength.
Any more, and they would feel a splitting headache.
And Elias?
This guy had crawled out of bed at six this morning and, like a hyperactive child with a new toy, played with his gun against floating objects on the sea for five whole hours!
Five hours!
Maintaining 【Moonlight Enchantment】 the entire time!
He even thought enchanting bullets was too much trouble and arrogantly performed a global enchantment on the revolver itself!
That silver-white moonlight coiled around the gun's body like a max-level special effect skin, sparkling in the sunlight.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The gunshots rose and fell in the silent morning, so startling that no fish dared to pass through these waters.
He had fired nearly fifty rounds!
Edmond's heart bled as he watched from the side.
What a spendthrift!
This was practically throwing gold away like it was stones!
How many rounds of ammunition did the supply ship bring each time?
When Edmond watched Elias organize the supplies, he happened to see that the supply list only specified two boxes of bullets.
Fifty rounds per box.
In one morning, this guy had used up almost an entire month's quota!
Of course, compared to the massive stockpile of ammunition left in the lighthouse basement by who-knows-how-many generations of dead or missing keepers, this was nothing.
Over the past few days, Elias had rummaged through every nook and cranny, scavenging several crates of bullets. Although some were damp, most were still usable.
But that wasn't the point!
The point was, why didn't this kid's mana bar have a bottom?!
After firing fifty rounds and maintaining high-intensity enchantment for five hours, this guy's current state—forget about fainting—he didn't even yawn!
He could even whistle while happily wiping his gun with a rag.
"This isn't scientific... and it's even less occult..."
Edmond muttered to himself, feeling his worldview collapsing and reconstructing.
Regarding Elias, Old Ed no longer knew how to describe such a talented freak.
Words like "freak," "monster," or "god-chosen" all seemed too pale.
Elias, on the other hand, had a good idea of what was going on.
While cooling down the hot barrel, he felt the remaining spirituality in his body.
Actually, back when Old Ed was marveling at his robust spirituality, he had guessed that this was surely the result of the fusion with the original body's soul.
It was easy to understand.
His knowledge of computer hardware from his previous life told him: could a single-core processor be the same as a dual-core one?
Others had one soul—that was single-channel memory.
He had two souls in his body—that was dual-channel memory, maybe even a RAID 0 disk array!
Double the spirituality, double the joy. Of course the mana bar would be massive!
And this "double" probably wasn't simple addition, but a qualitative change through multiplication.
His reasoning wasn't without merit.
After all, in his memories, the original Elias Rockland definitely didn't seem like someone with spirituality robust enough to see a dream demon.
What was reflected in the logs were only the various hallucinations seen after being cursed and that deep sense of powerlessness as a mortal.
So, the variable in all of this lay at the point of transmigration, in the arrival of "Jiang Huan."
The superposition of two souls not only allowed him to withstand the siren's song but also caused his total spirituality to break through the limits of an ordinary person.
Therefore, Elias found Old Ed's ghost-like shock—even though he was a ghost—to be quite gratifying.
Nothing was more pleasant than a bit of "subtle flexing" in front of a senior.
"Oh, tired already? I wanted to practice some moving targets."
Elias intentionally stretched and spoke loudly, his tone full of humble-bragging.
In his mind, Edmond directly cut the connection, entering a state of complete self-isolation.
...
And so, the days passed one by one amidst Edmond's intermittent self-isolation.
It lasted until the afternoon the supply ship arrived.
Perhaps he had truly been struck by the blow, as Old Ed didn't mock Elias much more over those few days.
When a transcendent could use spells as basic attacks, what could you possibly use to mock him?
The weather was nice.
The sea breeze was cool, carrying a hint of salt.
However, Elias had had enough of the food on the island over these past few days.
Even though the supplies included flour, he had no experience making dough in his previous life.
He had to scrape by on jerky.
Occasionally, he'd fish to improve his life, but how could ordinary grilled fish compare to the delicious cuisines of his previous life?
So, Elias made up his mind that the first thing he'd do upon returning to land was find a cookbook.
On the distant horizon, the silhouette of a schooner gradually became clear.
He stood on the dock with a simple bag at his feet.
Elias hadn't taken much with him.
He hadn't touched the old clothes or moldy books.
His bag contained only the revolver, a few boxes of bullets, and the diary recording his bizarre experiences.
And most importantly, the head armor he had knocked off the carapace husk.
And, of course, the bracelet containing Edmond.
He was already prepared.
Not just with his luggage.
But also with his explanation for the sly Captain Crowley.
Watching the approaching sailboat and the figure standing at the bow with a pipe in his mouth, Elias's gaze gradually sharpened.
He took a deep breath and mentally reviewed the questions he planned to ask Captain Crowley:
First, which lighthouse was he currently at, and was it as John said—that all other lighthouse keepers besides himself were dead?
Second, how to remove the dream demon curse.
Third, why were there so many monsters in the waters of Moon Bay?
These questions were the result of his careful consideration.
Regarding the curse, he certainly wouldn't pin all his hopes on John.
Even if John wasn't a complete liar, how much credit could a thief have?
To be safe, it was important to gather information from multiple sources.
Finally, fourth: to be determined.
He didn't think that old fellow Captain Crowley would have the patience to keep answering his questions.
Besides, that old man was likely a transcendent himself.
Rate on N.U.
