“Don’t be nervous,” Sonya said. “The reason we can’t return to reality is that we’re not in the Distant Sky Domain; we’re in a ‘dream.’ Separated by a Dream Phantom barrier, we cannot directly return to reality.”
“As long as we leave the dream and return to the Distant Sky Domain, we can normally exit the Virtual Realm.”
Deya anxiously asked, “Then how do we leave?”
“Find the Dream Master, or simply fly up. The dream’s vertical height isn’t too high; flying a hundred or two hundred ters should be enough to escape,” Sonya said. “But the problem is, once we return to the Distant Sky Domain, we’ll imdiately die.”
Ashe was taken aback, “What?”
“The dream is actually a protective chanism for sorcerers. Once we lose the dream’s protection and are directly exposed in the Distant Sky Domain, we will encounter the ‘Ritual of Prohibited Synchronization of Wind, Flower, Snow, and Moon,’ and then die quickly,” Sonya explained. “Only by unfolding a Sanctuary can we resist the domain’s synchronization, but sorcerers can’t keep a Sanctuary unfolded indefinitely, so we have to hide in the dream and not expose ourselves to the domain constantly.”
“Wait,” Deya raised her hand. “Because we don’t have a Sanctuary, we can’t travel through the space gate; because we don’t have a Sanctuary, we can’t leave the dream; because we don’t have a Sanctuary, we can’t return to the Distant Sky Domain and can’t normally exit the Virtual Realm… We can’t leave, we can’t escape—are we dood then?”
“Yes, it’s a dead end,” the village girl nodded heavily. “This is why every three-wings sorcerer must master the Sanctuary.”
“You either die repeatedly until your soul is annihilated and you are delisted from the ranks of Sanctuary sorcerers, or you endure the tornt of ‘spatial teleportation’ and the ‘Ritual of Prohibited Synchronization of Wind, Flower, Snow, and Moon’ to enter the Spatial Sect and learn how to unfold a Sanctuary, officially becoming a Sanctuary sorcerer.”
“Without a Sanctuary, not only can you not move forward, but you are also not even qualified to survive in the Distant Sky Domain,” Sonya shrugged. “The Virtual Realm won’t give you a free Sanctuary; there’s no benefit like automatically mastering skills at higher levels. If you want to master the Ti Sect, go soak in the Golden Flow; if you want to enter the Spatial Sect, die a few dozen tis in the Distant Sky Domain—if you die a hundred tis, your soul might truly collapse utterly.”
Deya murmured, “So… does that an we’ll die soon?”
“So sorcerers with exceptional spatial talent can comprehend and unfold a Sanctuary during their first experience with the ‘Ritual of Prohibited Synchronization of Wind, Flower, Snow, and Moon,’” Sonya said. “But such spatial geniuses are often from the Orc race, which is rare among humans… Observer, how is our spatial talent?”
“Not exceptional enough to be seen by .”
“So, no matter what, we’re going to die at least once,” Sonya stretched lazily and said. “However, this kind of death shouldn’t cause significant damage to our souls, and with the soul-healing elixirs you have, Observer, we’ll recover quickly.”
“That ans we won’t see each other for the next few days…” Deya softly whispered, “Which might be for the best.”
Not see each other for a few days?
Ashe felt a bit disoriented. Compared to the perilous plan to infiltrate the Royal Palace in a few days, this news depressed him even more.
Noticing Ashe’s gaze, Sonya quietly watched him back. She didn’t say anything, just stared at him with flowing eyes, pursed lips, and a determined expression, as if waiting for him to speak.
Ashe was unnerved by her stare. He instinctively avoided her gaze and looked around at the surrounding shops and buildings. Grandia Boutique, Mirror Premium, Feing Painting Square, Snow White Candy Shop, Bukin and Bok’s Orphanage…
Deya sensed the awkward atmosphere in the air and tentatively asked, “Should I go scout around?”
“Do you know why the dream in the Distant Sky Domain is called the Dream Phantom?” Sonya suddenly asked, hugging her arms. “Because, compared to a dream, it’s more like a phantom. You never know when it will suddenly-“
Break.
The entire world suddenly shattered like a bubble, and everything around them instantly vanished into thin air.
Ashe looked up, and the true Distant Sky Domain was reflected in his eyes: an endless expanse in all directions. The whole world was bright, though the source of the light was unknown, giving the impression they had fallen into the sky itself. The expanse appeared empty, yet in any distant view they could see, tiny, rainbow-hued “bubbles” floated, utterly dwarfed by the vast space around them.
They seed to float in a vacuum, imbalanced but not falling.
The Cult Leader instinctively unfolded his golden and silver Twin Wings in an attempt to fly, but he saw the village girl shake her head, signaling that it was futile.
Sonya extended her arm towards him as far as she could, and Ashe reached out, trying to touch her fingertips in the final monts-
Whoosh.
A barely perceptible sound of wind pierced through his soul. He saw his fingertip and Sonya’s disintegrate into nothingness, and watched the terrified Witch collide with him, both of them dissolving into oblivion.
The wind effortlessly tore their souls apart, creating voids within each particle of their soul entities.
Ritual of Prohibited Synchronization of Wind, Flower, Snow, and Moon: Wind Formation.
Seconds later, their dispersed soul entities began to reassemble, fragnt by fragnt, then gathered and rged into their bodily forms. The reconstruction was as beautiful as flower petals reshaping their bodies, and within the voids of their soul entities, new, independent spaces ford, equaling the size of their originals.
Ritual of Prohibited Synchronization of Wind, Flower, Snow, and Moon: Flower Rebirth.
A few more seconds passed, and the roughly ford spaces within their bodies began to disintegrate again, fragnting from a whole into pieces and grains. This collapse was irreversible; from an external view, their bodies rapidly deteriorated and disintegrated like an avalanche, and the three of them watched as they dissolved into the air.
Ritual of Prohibited Synchronization of Wind, Flower, Snow, and Moon: Snowbreak.
In the end, there was nothing left of them. Their consciousnesses drifted alone in the domain, but under the attraction of their awareness and the pull of gravity, the scattered soul energy reford into new soul entities, now appearing as small, bubble-like spheres. Though weak and tiny, these new soul entities, after enduring the tornt of the previous steps, had stable spaces within them that could temporarily exist in the domain.
This is the embryonic form of a Sanctuary, they thought.
Ritual of Prohibited Synchronization of Wind, Flower, Snow, and Moon: Moon Void.
With an unheard farewell, the bubble burst, and consciousness returned.
Stars Kingdom.
Sonya stepped out of the ditation building, gazing at the star-studded night sky, montarily lost in thought.
Instead of returning to her dormitory, she walked to the school’s entrance. Just as she was about to unfold her Twin Wings and take flight, a familiar silver Advanced sedan drove up.
“How did you manage to get through the gate so late?”
“Within reasonable limits, I still have a few privileges,” Felix said. “Where to?”
Sonya pointed towards the distant White Tower. Despite Vlozrada’s second son’s curiosity, he didn’t press the issue. She originally wanted to discuss Dimy’s situation with the Stretch Paw Club President, but she astutely sensed that the Red-Haired Sword Princess’s thoughts were far away, so she held back her desire to talk.
A few minutes later, Sonya watched the silver sedan disappear into the distance. She then turned her gaze to the towering White Tower before her.
At the base of the White Tower was a grove of trees, though she didn’t know if they had been there before the Tower was built or if they were grown through a Miracle later. There were no guards in the grove, and a stone path led to the Tower, but no one could set foot on its steps due to an air barrier.
In the past, Sonya couldn’t even detect its existence, but now she could vaguely perceive the shape of the air barrier.
The top of the White Tower glowed with a clear blue light, which Sonya knew was maintained by the Star Prayers to keep the night sky stable.
After a mont of hesitation, Sonya once again checked to make sure there was no one else around. She went to the stone path in front of the Tower, knelt facing it, clasped her hands together, closed her eyes, and silently prayed.
The Church of the Stars Sovereign wasn’t open to the public, and only the nobility could beco disciples. Therefore, the only building where Sonya could get closest to the Stars Sovereign was this newly built Star White Tower.
After a while, Sonya opened her eyes and looked up at the sky, awaiting a response from the stars.
I secretly prayed to the stars for you. No one knows, only the Stars Sovereign knows.
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