Looking at little Weiser with her face all smeared with snot and tears of joy, Ash gently nodded and wiped her little face with his sleeve: "Vione didn’t lie to you, sooner or later, everyone will reunite in the Void Realm."
Ash understood very well why Vione would say such a thing. Tʜe sourcᴇ of thɪs content ɪs ɴovelfire.net
Birth, aging, sickness, and death are inherently unbearable pains in life, whether it be for oneself or the people around.
Ash has also reached the age where he has to face the separation of blood relatives. His mother’s health hasn’t been good, so thin that it’s puzzling how she raised the mischievous pair of brothers. During his college years, his father was hospitalized once due to a heart attack.
But it wasn’t until he returned home for the final exam period that his brother casually mentioned their parents’ health a couple of times. During the holidays, Ash gradually realized that his parents were starting to age.
Those memory-consuming junk apps on their phones, having to use QR codes to buy things, filling out forms with the residential committee using the phone, making appointments at the hospital through public accounts, selecting TV channels with the set-top box... even Ash found some steps annoying, occasionally encountering network lag and phone memory issues. His parents asked Ash many questions he found simple, and he taught them repeatedly.
But it was only during the holidays. Once the term started, Ash returned to school. After graduating from university, he chose to stay in the big city for work, away from his hometown, and distanced from his parents.
Hence, he is always grateful to his elder brother and sister-in-law. If parents are the buffer between children and death, then for Ash, his brother and sister-in-law are his buffer against bad news.
When Ash switched jobs back then, he actually had several job offers, some from companies with a laid-back pace suitable for retirement, but he ultimately chose a mobile game company where only "heart and performance can keep beating," merely for the sake of earning money.
Because all he could give back to his parents now was money.
However, since his nephew was born, his parents’ health had been improving, while Ash himself was the one who fell behind. The nephew would probably feel a little disappointed, after all, although the "mysterious uncle from the big city with an unknown job" was strict with him, the red envelopes he gave were genuine.
There seemed to be no change in his father; having been a soldier before, there was even a "Glory to the Family" plaque hanging at their door, with not a hint of superstition. But his mother was different. Since his grandmother’s death, she started believing in Buddhism, probably praying and chanting for his good fate in the next life.
Even in a world devoid of any Miracle, people need to seek elusive spiritual support, let alone in a mage world brimming with miracles. Most people aren’t strong enough to endure hardships, especially a little girl who hasn’t learned to take care of herself.
Besides, isn’t there a possibility, perhaps?
"So you have to draw well, that way, Vione will also be happy."
Although Ash’s words lacked logic, little Weiser’s intelligence wasn’t high at the moment either, and she joyfully responded, "Okay!"
Feeling relieved, Ash returned to his whiteboard to paint. He found painting with the soul to be quite difficult; while he could readily control the shades, line thickness, and strokes, a slight distraction would turn it into a mess, requiring complete focus without a fragment of inattention.
He glanced at the others, discovering that everyone was earnestly painting, even teary little Weiser wasn’t dragging her feet, affirming his thoughts that they were indeed genius mages.
After nearly an hour, everyone finished painting. That’s when Ash, viewing everyone’s artwork, was deeply moved.
First was the work of the little Sword Maiden; theoretically, her task should have been the easiest, as she only needed to draw two people. However, if Ash hadn’t known in advance that it was two people, he would have suspected it to be two Fish-Slicing Dragons—why were their faces so pointed!?
Yet, the little Sword Maiden wore a confident expression, with her hair antenna almost standing straight up, and eagerly awaited Ash’s feedback. Ash could only muster, "Very spirited!"
Then came the little witch’s drawing. Ash looked at the few stick figures on the whiteboard, and he couldn’t even tell their gender. Setting aside the technique, her attitude was very obvious.
Faced with Ash’s questioning gaze, the little witch thought for a moment and said, "Sorry, let me draw again."
She added a stroke to a stick person’s face, giving it a wickedly charming look, and said, "Does this look more like you?"
With no hope, Ash moved over to look at little Weiser’s work, and instead, his eyes lit up. Though it was still generally a doodle, at least he could make out the details; a female mage on the left, and on the right, chaos, darkness, ruin, and heavenly fire - just a few strokes vividly depicted the aura of destruction in the world. Based on this composition, the theme should be—
"Do you want to save the world?" Ash said in surprise.
Little Weiser seemed confused, sniffling, "Really?"
"Hey!" the little Sword Maiden called Ash over, pointing at his painting, saying, "Is this me?"
"And what about me?" the little witch was also curious, "Where am I?"
Compared to them, although Ash’s drawing wasn’t outstanding either, at least the physical characteristics and the perspective of distance were depicted, making it easy for the Sword Witch to identify herself. Little Weiser curiously leaned over, "Am I in it?"
Ash pointed at the girl reading a book while sitting on a stump, "You’re here."
Little Weiser looked at it for a while and suddenly said, "Thank you!"
"Because after I drew Vione, Vione also thanked me." Little Weiser said seriously, "So I should thank you too."
Before Ash could respond, suddenly the whiteboards started vibrating and turned into a mass of soul fog, squeezing into their souls.
Ash felt as if his soul had been loaded with a bunch of popping candy. Along with the continuous popping sounds, knowledge about the Soul Faction constantly exploded in his mind.
He suddenly had an insight—among the four of them, his gains might be the smallest.
The rewards from this stage had nothing to do with the completion of the drawing. As long as the trialist completed the action of ’serious drawing’, they could pass. What this stage aimed to train was the ’malleable soul’ of a mage in their childhood regression, in a state of ignorance.
Someone like Ash, who retained complete memories as a foul-smelling adult, naturally had poor malleability, with little effect. But the Sword Maiden and the other two successfully regressed to childhood, becoming innocent little sweethearts. After passing this test, their faction experience and soul talents would greatly increase!
However, Ash wasn’t at all regretful about this result; in fact, he was quite happy. After all, he didn’t practice cultivation, and growth in soul talents didn’t mean much to him. Besides, he was too rebellious as a child. If he fully regressed, he might not have been able to pass this stage.
A moment later, Ash opened his eyes, seeing that the Sword Maiden, Witch, and Weiser had all returned to their original forms, their childhood experience card officially ended.
Everyone’s expressions varied. Sonia tried hard to maintain a calm expression, but her eyes wandered to avoid Ash’s gaze; Diya was still dazed, seemingly discussing with her witch sisters what had just happened; while Weiser had a very peculiar expression, looking at Ash with a look that was hard to describe.
However, any reaction was understandable. After all, their clueless childhood sides were exposed, almost akin to social suicide. Ash didn’t dare tease them and pointed at the light ball, "This time the reward seems a bit special."
After passing 35 stages, the reward was still three options, but each was something unseen before.
The yellow light ball on the far left was astonishingly an "Opportunity for Return to Childhood". Meaning, if they don’t choose this, the next time they reach stage 35, it won’t be a return to childhood test, but replaced by something else.
Perhaps some might think this is better. But the four who experienced the Return to Childhood clearly knew how much they gained from this test—they perceived very clearly that their soul faction talent had risen significantly.
This test was also a reward.
The importance of talent needs no explanation. Without mentioning the top-notch magic talents of the Sword Maiden, Witch, and Weiser, ordinary people without talent could at best reach the Silver Level.
But technically speaking, even the best talent can only allow a mage to reach the Golden Level. The assessment at the Holy Domain realm no longer relies on talent but on whether a mage can extract extraordinary insights from life and the Void Realm, thereby breaking through the bottleneck of magic.
As for Legendary, don’t even mention them. They can’t be described just by talent, or rather, talent is of little significance to the Legendary. The term ’Legendary Mage’ doesn’t merely describe power but the mage themselves—to achieve a legendary status in magic, one must first achieve legendary status in themselves.
Only a legendary epic life can forge a transcendent enlightenment above all beings.
However, Soul Factions are exclusive magic possessed only by Elves, not to mention the Ghost Inheritance test of the Soul Faction. They would immensely benefit if they could have more opportunities for Return to Childhood to enhance their talents!
Suddenly, Diya pointed at the white light ball in the middle, "I want this!"
Ash and the others were somewhat surprised.
In their impression, this was the first time the witch had actively requested the rewards, so Ash immediately agreed, "Sure!"
The Sword Maiden and Weiser had no objections.
Out of these three rewards, without a doubt, the one of "Opportunity for Return to Childhood" held the most value. Theoretically, they could use this to infinitely boost their soul talents, and if they didn’t choose it now, they might never have another chance unless this reward appeared in other stages.
But if they truly had to become children again, they absolutely didn’t want to.
Weiser even secretly breathed a sigh of relief in her heart. She was just thinking about what excuse to use to prevent selecting this reward—she was the one who most couldn’t afford to become a child again, nearly exposing her secret just now.
However, they were not too surprised by the witch’s request, given that the white light ball in the middle contained a Technique Spirit inheritance called "Overcoming the Strong"!