Chapter 21: Schism
“Are you saying that the deceased Alexander taught you the Undead Phantom Sword?” Asker asked in surprise back on Furnace Island.
Peggy nodded.
“From your description, this dungeon plot is quite interesting.” Asker stroked his chin. “To summarize, it’s actually divided into two parallel lines.”
“In the sea of subconsciousness is the story line. Your goal is to help Alexander resolve his inner conflict and make him willing to teach you Phantom Sword.”
“The trap here is that, in order to obtain Phantom Sword, people will subconsciously try to please and flatter Alexander. However, the real way to clear the stage is to point out his mistakes directly.”
“Outside the sea of subconsciousness is the battle line. You must prevent Alexander’s corpse, controlled by the undead demigod, from touching you.”
“Otherwise, if you haven’t completed the story line and the battle outside is lost, then the ghoul can use you to locate Alexander’s ‘superego’ through your mental body.”
“Once Alexander’s superego is forcibly fused with his id, naturally no one can teach you Phantom Sword, and the quest will fail.” Asker concluded. “Well, this dual-line quest is quite interesting, and the difficulty is also in line with the level of a Transcendental sword technique.”
Peggy only half understood, and after a while, she said:
“Although it’s in my mind, I tried to use it, but I can’t seem to use it at all.”
“That’s only natural.” Asker said. “The essence of a Transcendental sword technique is difficult to describe with words. According to what you said, he should have given you a seed of thought, parasitic in the superego of your mental body. This is the fastest way for you to learn Transcendental sword techniques, avoiding language distortion.”
“Even if you do nothing, one day you will fully comprehend it, it’s just a matter of time. Of course, if you study hard, you will comprehend it faster.”
“Then can I describe it to you, and you can try to help me understand it?” Peggy asked hopefully.
“Sure.” Asker said.
Although describing it with words would distort it, it was still better than knowing nothing at all.
So Peggy drew her short sword, stood in the open space, and said:
“The essence of Phantom Sword lies in the replication of the mental body.”
“Do you remember the Nightmare we encountered when we captured Furnace Island?”
“According to Alexander’s memory, Phantom Sword was invented by him after he conquered the Siris School of Dreams and studied the ‘Dream Puppet’ ability.”
“First, meditate on yourself in your mind.”
“Then, pull the ‘self’ you meditated on out of the sea of the subconscious.”
“The key here is how to open the sea of the subconscious.”
“Alexander’s Phantom Sword uses arcane power to calculate spatial dimensions; Hannibal’s Undead Phantom Sword uses necromancy to locate the superego of any deceased in the sea of the subconscious, and then finds the location of his mental body in reverse.”
“But I don’t know how I should open the sea of the subconscious, especially how to locate my own mind space.”
“Hmm…” Asker pondered.
In the previous life’s game, the bloodline path Peggy chose, “Lord of Impurity,” actually contained six sequences: “Flesh,” “Life Steal,” “Plague,” “Toxin,” “Rat,” and “Bat.” If there was any connection to the sea of the subconscious…
Asker slapped his head, he actually thought of an idea.
“Life Steal.” He pondered. “It is said that in the Second Age, the original name of this sequence was ‘Steal.’ In fact, it can steal not only life but also other things, such as spirituality, such as thoughts.”
“Of course, stealing spirituality and thoughts is generally useless because other people’s spirituality and thoughts are not compatible with your own, so Transcendents are more accustomed to using it to steal life force.”
“Of course, stealing your own thoughts is probably a bit difficult because you have to maintain meditation while activating the stealing ability.”
“You can try it first.”
Peggy nodded and began to meditate.
She tried to meditate on a Peggy in her mind and then activate the stealing ability on her own mental body.
However, as soon as her spirituality moved, the image in her mind blurred.
“It’s not working.” Peggy said tearfully. “I can’t multitask.”
“Practice a few more times, and you’ll succeed.” Asker said, “Do you know how I learned the Celestial Ninefold Strike?”
“How did you learn it?” Peggy asked curiously.
“Rote memorization.” Asker said. “Memorize all the formulas and possible outcomes, so you don’t have to calculate quickly in battle.”
Peggy: …
“Then I’ll try again.” Peggy said, “Asker, can’t you learn Undead Phantom Sword?”
“My current Transcendental abilities are all centered around Weapon Master and Celestial Ninefold Strike.” Asker said honestly.
It was obvious, the game company couldn’t leave this loophole, allowing a player to master multiple Transcendental sword techniques at the same time, that would be too overpowered.
The Celestial Ninefold Strike itself had very high requirements for Sequences. Just the Gladiator Sequence potion stack of “Sharp Weapon,” “Blunt Weapon,” “Projectile,” “Block,” and “Dodge” determined that he could no longer take other sequences like “Steal” or “Undead.”
Otherwise, even if he didn’t lose control on the spot, there would definitely be problems when he fused his bloodline at level 10.
However, Asker was very surprised that Peggy could directly obtain the knowledge of Undead Phantom Sword after completing the quest.
This was completely different from the Celestial Ninefold Strike. After obtaining the Celestial Ninefold Strike, the player’s memory of it was basically zero, and they had to start learning from scratch.
Well, it was all because the damn game designers nerfed Celestial Ninefold Strike.
With his rich professional experience, Asker gave Peggy some more pointers on how to use the stealing ability, and then let her practice on her own.
Then he turned around and looked at Medea, whose face was a little pale.
“I’ve seen you standing there for a long time.” Asker said, “Is something the matter?”
“Asker.” Medea said urgently, her anxiety evident. “We need to talk privately.”
…
“Split personality?” Asker asked in surprise in the small woods at the foot of the mountain.
“Yes.” Medea nodded.
“I initially suspected that it was because I witnessed Alexander’s ghoul using high-sequence Fire abilities that caused the Fire I ability in my body to mutate.”
“But as I examined my mental body, I discovered some previously overlooked signs.”
“Because of the loss of control, my Fire I potion has never been fully digested, it’s currently stored in my heart.”
“My androphobia has also been locked in the chest area of my mental body by my psychic abilities.”
“After this careful examination, I suddenly found that they have fused to a considerable extent.”
“The reason for this should be that every time I have negative feelings towards men, a part of my emotional consciousness flows from my mental body into the sealed androphobia, causing it to grow as a fragment of my mental body.”
“After so many years, it has formed a preliminary mental body, which is the prototype of another personality.”
“A sub-personality that has mastered my Fire I ability.”
“Then do you have any unusual symptoms now?” Asker asked cautiously. “For example, often suddenly finding yourself in an unfamiliar place, but not knowing why you’re there?”
“Or sudden, hysterical emotional ups and downs and outbursts? Signs of losing control of yourself during certain periods?”
“Who do you think I am?” Medea said irritably. “Of course not, I’m a Transcendental of the Mind Sequence, I’m more sensitive to mental abnormalities than anyone else!”
“This time, it was because I witnessed high-sequence Fire abilities, which greatly promoted this sub-personality’s digestion of Fire I, that I discovered the clues!”
“And judging from the current degree of fusion, this sub-personality is most likely fully mature. The reason I didn’t discover her before is because she was deliberately hiding herself! Do you understand? She already has intelligence!”
Medea tightly grabbed Asker’s arm through her clothes, her eyes filled with anxious pleading:
“Asker! You must have a way, right?”
“Let me think.” Asker pondered. “If she already has intelligence, then it’s not easy to solve.”
“Fortunately, your main personality is not in danger yet. I’m thinking, can you try to communicate with her first? If you can reach mutual understanding and consensus, then you can gradually complete the personality fusion. You are me, and I am you, wouldn’t that solve the problem?”
“But what if she doesn’t agree…” Medea hesitated.
“If she doesn’t agree, there are other ways to deal with it.” Asker said, “Do you want to call her out first, and I’ll talk to her?”
“My androphobia is all with her…”
“If she’s really as rational as you say, she won’t actively attack me.” Asker said, “Of course, maybe she wants to spar with me.”
Medea: …
Everyone knew that Asker’s so-called sparring was written as sparring, but read as “beatdown.”
“Then be gentle.” After hesitating for a long time, Medea whispered, “I’m afraid of pain.”
“I’m also afraid of being blown up.” Asker said.
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