Chapter 66 – The Aftereffects of Death

“Urgh…”

In the meditation chamber, Felix let out a muffled groan as he clutched his stomach and pinched his nose, with crimson blood flowing out ceaselessly and cold sweat covering his entire forehead.

His abdomen was filled with the feeling of death.

Yet it was not pain, but emptiness.

It was as if a gap had suddenly appeared between his upper and lower body. Even as he hugged his stomach, it felt like he was hugging a piece of pork, completely devoid of the sensation of touching his own body.

This was the aftereffect of death in the virtual world – severe damage to the soul, to the point of losing senses from reality.

With a faint wail, the red gemstone on Felix’s necklace shattered explosively, and a spirit entity composed of radiance and a single wing dissipated in the air.

This was the artifact spirit ‘Dragon Belly Scale’, whose effect was to transfer all death damage suffered in the virtual world to the abdomen. It was also the secret behind the enduring prosperity of the Vlozrada family.

When a sorcerer dies in the virtual world, the lethal blow they suffer feeds back onto their soul, causing loss of soul energy.

With an incomplete soul, it becomes impossible to cross the Gate of Truth. Naturally, the sorcerer would be unable to enter the virtual world until their soul energy recovers.

Moreover, the soul is intrinsically tied to the body. No matter which part of the soul energy is lost, it would cause the sorcerer to suffer temporary ‘disabilities of the soul’.

Simply put, if it was the chest region of the soul that was damaged, the sorcerer’s heart would maintain a low heart rate for an extended period, rendering them unable to engage in any physical exertion.

If it was the limbs that were damaged, the sorcerer would likely lose control over their hands and feet.

And if it was the head that was damaged, the sorcerer would directly lose consciousness.

Only when the soul energy recovers would the sorcerer’s bodily functions also recover to normal.

Thus, for many sorcerers, the seemingly unchallenging goal of sailing the Sea of Knowledge for thousands of miles is in fact an unreachable horizon – not every sorcerer can take time off for cultivation. Aside from worrying about the far future, they have to tend to the present trivialities of life too. Each death in the virtual world would result in massive losses for the sorcerer.

While death and soul damage are unavoidable, sorcerers still rack their brains to minimize the losses as much as possible.

For example, concentrating all death damage onto a non-critical body part each time.

The ‘Dragon Belly Scale’ was the Vlozrada family’s secret miraculous technique, allowing family sorcerers to extract the miraculous effect and seal it into a gemstone, forming a temporary ‘artifact spirit’. When a family sorcerer dies in the virtual world, the ‘artifact spirit’ in the gemstone would activate, transferring all death damage onto the abdomen.

Other than a sharp decline in gastrointestinal functions, forcing the sorcerer to subsist on liquid food for days, there would barely be any price to pay.

On top of that, the Vlozrada family also had another miracle called ‘Dragon’s Banquet’, which could swiftly recover soul energy in the abdomen through eating, reducing the cooldown before re-entering the virtual world.

With these two miracles, Vlozrada family sorcerers could minimize losses from virtual world deaths, greatly enhancing exploration efficiency and increasing the frequency of Gold Wing and Saint Realm Three Wings sorcerers. This was the foundation for the family’s enduring prosperity over hundreds of years.

The other duke families also had similar means – an excellent sorcerer nurturing system was practically a given for century-old noble families. Otherwise, just a single break in succession could spell the end of a once illustrious stellar noble family.

Before the virtual world, sorcerers were equal, but some sorcerers could fight for more equality.

Even so, reducing death penalties was the limit – unavoidable losses would still occur.

Felix took an inward look at his spirit and nearly fainted from shock.

The Murderous Sword spirit – gone!

When sorcerers die in the virtual world, they have a high chance of losing spirits. This is because spirits are hidden within the soul. When part of the soul energy is lost due to death, the missing portion might just contain a certain spirit, causing it to dissipate along with the energy.

The more spirits one has, the higher the chance and quantity of spirits lost!

Despite mentally preparing himself to lose spirits, Felix had not expected to lose his most important Murderous Sword spirit on his very first death!

That was the heirloom his mother left him, rumored to be one of the ‘Twenty-One Mysterious Swords’!

A spirit of this level was practically impossible to obtain through purchase. Even if it could be bought, there was no way the out-of-favor noble scion Felix could afford it!

Moreover, he had yet to fully grasp the knowledge within the Murderous Sword. In other words, he could not summon the Murderous Sword by himself!

The one thing that gave Felix some comfort was that his Silver Wings were already half-formed, shortening his cultivation time by over a year.

He also did not expect to encounter the natural wonder of the Maelstrom barely days after entering the virtual world.

No sorcerer would miss out on such an opportunity, let alone the power-hungry avenger Felix. But after traversing thousands of miles through the maelstrom, what appeared before Felix was an adolescent Swordfish Dragon!

In the Virtual Lifeform Compendium, Swordfish Dragons were already considered a stronger tier. Let alone an adolescent one!

Virtual lifeforms were divided into several stages like infancy, adolescence, maturity, prime, etc. In the outer seas of the Sea of Knowledge, usually only infant forms appear. Adolescent forms only show up in the inner seas, with mature forms having a chance to appear in the core seas. As for prime forms, they would not be found within the Sea of Knowledge.

Knowing that death was certain, Felix went all out in a life-or-death struggle to kill the Swordfish Dragon first. But in the end, with too few spirits and inadequate skills, Felix suffered a grievous loss under the sharp fins of the Swordfish Dragon despite inflicting heavy injuries on it.

“Lost the Murderous Sword, half-formed the Silver Wings…”

Felix sighed. It was hard to say if it was a gain or loss.

Arcane energy was naturally of utmost importance to sorcerers, but to Felix and his current predicament, the Murderous Sword was his lifeline – without its assistance, he would not have dodged so many assassination attempts.

“But this way, I can inherit more of my mother’s legacy.”

Felix’s expression darkened as he clenched his fists. “Just you wait, Bessel. One day, I’ll make you kneel before my mother and apologize…”

Due to physical frailty, in addition to not moving at all for the entire night, her chest felt a little uncomfortable and she was unable to breathe smoothly. Anyway, there was no one else in the meditation chamber, so she loosened her breast binder and let the two big white rabbits bounce out to breathe the fresh air. She completely relaxed and rested against the wall for a good while.

After half an hour, Felix left the meditation building and stepped into the dazzling sunlight.

However, having just gone through his first death, Felix suddenly lost control of his lower body after walking for a bit. He staggered and nearly fell, quickly using his sword case to support himself.

“Oh? Young master Vlozrada, why the foul mood so early in the morning, taking it out on the ground?”

A hand reached out from behind and pressed down on Felix’s shoulder, helping steady his stance.

Glancing back, Felix said calmly, “You seem to be in good spirits, reaped quite a harvest?”

Sonia walked briskly past him with her head held high and eyebrows raised. “I suppose you could say that. This afternoon at Professor Trotzam’s office, you’ll find out.”

Uppity bitch.

While Sonia’s swordsmanship talent was undoubtedly one in ten thousand, Felix could also see her character flaws – vain, insecure yet arrogant, clever but unwise… Without her talent in swordsmanship, Sonia would be no different from those vulgar female sorcerers he had met.

And now, she was at most a talented yet boorish country girl.

How very…enviable.

Others might think Felix was a genius at swordplay too, but he knew clearly that without the help of his mother’s ‘Emotional Resonance’ spirit, he would not have been able to cultivate the Vibration Frame stance to the level of summoning spirits so quickly.

He had paid a heavy price for it too – back then, with no arcane energy, just to catalyze the ‘Emotional Resonance’ spirit he could only keep changing girlfriends to stimulate the spirit’s resonance. As a result, he was notorious to the point of becoming an embarrassment to the Vlozradas.

But it was different now.

After traversing the maelstrom, Sonia had been left far behind and had no right to be his rival.

His goal should be the orange dancer Leone, and those monsters at Trinity College—

“Hm?”

Felix sensed a familiar flow.

He looked up and noticed many students secretly watching Sonia.

The news of Sonia ‘defeating’ Leone had spread through every sorcerer university in Cailleach yesterday. Without a doubt, Sonia had become the most attention-grabbing student, and she seemed to relish in the limelight too, maintaining a pretense of aloofness as she sauntered off unhurriedly.

Yet Felix felt that from such attention, Sonia seemed able to draw a kind of energy that was most familiar to him!

‘Blindsight’ spirit, activate!

Felix closed his eyes. In that instant, the world disappeared before him. Within the dark void, he saw wisps of blood-red mist flowing into Sonia’s location!

That was killing intent!

And the passive effect of the Murderous Sword was precisely absorbing killing intent directed at its wielder!

While there were many spirits that could absorb killing intent, Felix knew not why, but he was absolutely certain Sonia had just obtained a new Murderous Sword spirit!

Could it be that the Murderous Sword she got was the one taken from me by the Swordfish Dragon?

This thought had barely surfaced when Felix rejected it – how could it be such a coincidence?

Moreover, his battle against the Swordfish Dragon took place near the maelstrom. If it really was such a coincidence, wouldn’t it mean Sonia had traversed the maelstrom too? But Felix clearly saw the maelstrom shrink to the point of nearly vanishing before his death.

Sonia must have simply gotten lucky and obtained another wild Murderous Sword spirit.

Felix was so envious he felt hungry – that was another side effect of soul damage. Any fluctuation in his emotions would directly feedback onto his abdominal organs. Positive emotions sated his hunger while negative ones made him ravenous, yet he could not indulge in rich foods or risk constipation.

After calming down, Felix considered if there was a way to obtain Sonia’s Murderous Sword.

But he soon shook his head.

If stealing, Sonia had Professor Trotzam backing her.

If buying, there were countless others who wanted the Murderous Sword and he lacked the capital to compete.

Yet the Murderous Sword was of utmost importance to him. While having no hope was one thing, having a chance to salvage his loss before his eyes…

Felix gritted his teeth and opened his eyes, yelling loudly at Sonia who had not gone far,

“Sonia!”