Chapter 22: The Suffering Witch
At the northern foot of Furnace Island was a stretch of winding coastline.
Medea stood in the shallow sea, the fine white sand beneath her feet, the waves lapping against her fair calves.
In the cold seawater, even if her fire ability went berserk, it wouldn’t reach a dangerously high temperature in a short time.
Asker carefully touched her face and quickly retracted his hand like lightning.
Medea felt a buzzing in her head, as if endless negative emotions were surging up.
This time, her consciousness didn’t fall into a coma like before when she went berserk. It was just that some memories sealed deep in her consciousness returned to her mind.
“Do you understand now?” A female voice asked in her mind.
“So… that’s how it is.” Medea replied.
“Next, leave it to me.” The female voice said.
Before Asker’s eyes, Medea, standing in the seawater, began to burn.
Flames rose from her feet, and even the seawater couldn’t extinguish them.
The clash of water and fire emitted scorching white steam and smoke.
“Hehehe…” Medea, with her head lowered, let out a hysterical laugh.
“Are you?” Asker could already be sure that this wasn’t Medea herself.
It should be the sub-personality she mentioned.
“Medea.” She raised her head with a strange smile, brushed her hair aside, her eyes as if burning with a strange fire. “Look, I’m Medea.”
“I thought you would give yourself a new name after your personality became independent.” Asker said lightly.
“You’re wrong, I’m not her sub-personality.” The corners of her mouth curled up into a devilish grin. “I’m just her…”
“…dark side.”
“Dark side?” Asker asked.
The flames around Medea intensified, even the seawater seemed to boil. Asker was forced to retreat a few steps, standing on a reef.
“Do you know?” Medea tilted her head and looked at him. “For a normal Succubus bloodline, the main sequence should be Desire.”
“But me, from the moment I was born, my main sequence has always been Fire.”
“From the moment you were born.” Asker frowned. “You were already a Transcendental when you were born?”
“Yes.” Medea twirled her crimson hair with her fingers. “A Fire V Transcendental.”
“The highest level for any Sequence potion is only IV.” Asker said.
“No, it’s not a potion.” Medea sneered, seemingly bored. “So, even you, your understanding of power is only at this level?”
“I understand.” Asker said solemnly. “It’s Purgatory.”
“Your birth was tainted by the will of Purgatory.”
“Eh?” Medea stared at him. “You also know about the will of Purgatory? Then do you know what the origin of the will of Purgatory is?”
“Suffering.” Asker replied. “The origin of the Netherworld is sorrow, the origin of the Abyss is despair.”
“And the origin of Purgatory is suffering.”
“Ah…” Medea seemed to sigh. “Yes, among all the emotions, only the strongest negative emotions can sink to the bottom of the sea of the subconscious.”
“The Netherworld, Purgatory, and the Abyss are planes formed by the accumulation of massive negative emotions that have sunk to the bottom over time.”
Asker pondered.
The various settings of the three sub-planes had long been thoroughly researched by forum players. These planes were formed by negative emotions and occasionally collided and overlapped with the main plane.
For example, the descent of the Netherworld, which the Night’s Watch called an anomaly, and the players called a random story dungeon.
Of course, overlapping wouldn’t necessarily cause an anomaly.
Sometimes, the three sub-planes might just graze the main plane, leaking a tiny bit of their aura in.
This tiny bit of aura might gain sentience and transform into a strange and terrifying monster;
It might also become a cursed item, possessing special supernatural abilities and strong negative effects;
It might also possess a human, causing an increase in supernatural power and extreme personality changes.
In very rare cases, this aura would attach to a newborn NPC or a newly created player account. Players called this “contamination.”
Contamination had both advantages and disadvantages. The advantage was that contamination would grant a high-sequence Transcendental ability.
For example, before he transmigrated, he knew a professional player whose account was contaminated by the Abyss, becoming a “Child of the Abyss.” He was level 5 from birth, possessing the Shadow V ability, while normal consumption of Shadow potions could only reach level IV.
This guy’s character was nicknamed the Shadow King, incredibly strong in darkness where light was lacking, able to exert 300% of his combat power.
The side effect was that when exposed to direct sunlight, he would get a negative status called “Depression,” reducing his reaction speed by 60%.
As a result, the entire team’s strategy was built around him, creating dark environments artificially, earning them the nickname “Blind Team.”
Because when their matches were broadcast live, the screen would suddenly go dark from time to time, forcing the director to switch to night vision mode.
To counter this, the opposing team could only use flashbangs, Radiance Sequence abilities, etc. As a result, the screen would suddenly brighten in night vision mode, and the audience would be collectively blinded…
“The contamination of the will of Purgatory caused you to be born with the supernatural ability of Fire V.” Asker said in a deep voice. “What’s the side effect?”
“It’s me.” Medea said with a smile.
“The creation of a sub-personality?” Asker asked.
This didn’t seem like a side effect, right?
“No, it’s pain.” Medea’s smile was beautiful, but there was a hint of cruelty in it. “I can draw power from pain, and I can only draw power from pain.”
Asker understood what she meant: when the enemies around her were injured, she could gain some kind of buff. If there was no damage for a period of time, then her fire damage would be pitifully low.
“Then what about the androphobia?” Asker asked.
“That’s her nightmare, the source of her long-standing pain.” Medea smiled. “She was in constant pain because of her mother’s humiliation, and she just happened to have the instinct to absorb pain. This continuous pain kept increasing her fire ability, to the point where it far exceeded her spiritual capacity.”
“So she could only choose to seal this memory, lest she be burned to death by the fire of pain in her heart one day. And I am the personality fragment she actively split off, the part of her personality that is willing to endure and even enjoy pain, responsible for keeping this memory for her and controlling the flames.”
Asker: …
Willing to endure and even enjoy this pain? Isn’t that… that?!
So, Medea had split off the S&M part of her personality, along with her fear of men, and created a sub-personality, sealing it together with these memories.
Thus, the main personality didn’t have to endure the unbearable pain, while the sub-personality reveled in it, and by the way, could continuously draw energy from the pain…
Medea, you’re so twisted!
Such a clever approach was practically a textbook example for psychics.
No wonder this girl was so strong after she went berserk. In the Paradise Mountain dungeon, she killed all the way from the foot of the mountain to the top, her fire ability seemingly endless. God knows how much pain she had absorbed since childhood to grow to this level.
“In other words,” Asker nodded, “she doesn’t have to worry about the conflict between the main personality and the sub-personality, because this was all planned by her.”
“Yes.” Medea’s sub-personality said with a smile. “She also sealed the memories about me, so she doesn’t remember my existence now, but…”
“But what?” Asker asked.
“But I want to see you, Asker.” The sub-personality said eagerly, her eyes burning as if she wanted to brand him into her gaze. “Hehe… this is the first time she has been with a man for so long since she was a child…”
“If I remember correctly, you should be the part of her personality that extremely hates men.” Asker said cautiously.
“That’s right, your existence disgusts me.” The sub-personality grinned, her smile extremely ferocious. “Every time you speak, it grates on my nerves. Your breath makes me feel dirty, just you standing in front of me makes me feel almost unbearable pain…”
“And this pain, and you yourself…”
“Make me very happy…” A blush crept up her cheeks, and her eyes gradually became hazy.
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