Chapter 253

  Darkness (IV)

  "Words are... like desires," Rayce started off rather vaguely. "Practically anything can become a word. Of course, most never materialize into being useful. It's a trifold difficulty--strength of the desire, skill of the inscriber, and how far against the natural order of things it is trying to go. So, beginners can only do something as simple as inscribing the 'Word of Wind', where tearing it would produce a very small gust of wind.

  "True masters of Inscriptions, though, can summon sea-toppling squalls using practically the same word. When I'm writing," he pulled out a sheet of paper--or, well, a parchment. "I write with the tip of my finger; I press it into the parchment and try to imbue every trace into the thin fabrics of the parchment itself. It's not just energy that I pour, but also my intent as well as my understanding of the world." The tip of his finger began to emit a faint glow as he pressed it into paper.

  The latter almost seemed to hum for a moment before suddenly bursting into flames, consumed in the blink of an eye.

  "A-ah! What happened?!" Dai Xiu asked with an incredulous expression.

  "I failed," Rayce smiled.

  "It goes up in flames every time you fail?"

  "Not every time."

  "Oh."

  "Sometimes it explodes."

  "E-eh?"

  "Sometimes it melts. Other times it freezes. I've once had it turn into a spider that tried to bite me."

  "W-what?!" Dai Xiu, aren't you a damn cultivator?! Why are you afraid of spiders?! No, wait, I'm a cultivator, too, but if a random tarantula showed up, I'd probably give it all the personal space it needed.

  "Ha ha, it's not that scary," Rayce... has been laughing a lot more than before. That's not saying much since he never laughed, but it's like something in him either snapped or was resolved silently when we left the city. "You get used to it. I heard cultivators, when they're breaking through, also face a lot of dangers."

  "I mean, I guess? But there's never a threat of a random spider just appearing out of nowhere!"

  "Ho ho, that's not quite true," Lao Shun added from the side. "I read in ancient records that one of the Trials of the Body would transport your soul into a mirror realm where you'd have to face your deepest fears. All of them. And if you fear spiders, you'd have to face an army of spiders."

  "I heard that too," Wan Lan said, nodding faintly. "But Madame never went into detail about it. Apparently, you can't really fail that breakthrough, as you'll reach the next realm regardless."

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  "Indeed," Lao Shun nodded. "The three Trials--one of Body, one of Heart, and one of Mind--cannot be failed, not like other breakthroughs. If you attempt it, you will reach the Shedding Mortality Realm. The question is whether you'll reach anything beyond that. And in some particularly bad cases, I've read, cultivators' realms began regressing a little while after their breakthrough."

  "See?" Rayce turned toward Dai Xiu. "A small parchment becoming a spider doesn't sound so scary now, does it?"

  "Humph!" she pouted, crossing her arms and pulling away as the young boy smiled yet again.

  I still didn't really get it, but I suppose that was always going to be the case. Just as I tried to explain cultivation to him, there are certainly parts of it that he would never 'get'. Sometimes, a thing has to be lived to be fully understood.

  None of us slept, which wasn't odd. The only reason kids ever slept is because they were deathly tired, or they just emulated me. But even I wasn't really sleeping as much as I used to.

  I go at least three or four days without it, and even that is because I kind of force myself to fall asleep toward the end. Fewer and fewer of my 'mortal' habits were staying with me these days, and I was kind of wrestling with myself to keep them.

  Why?

  I really don't know. Just some psychobabble habit, I suppose.

  While we were resting, something I never liked seeing happened--Long Tao stood up and walked over toward me. The kids immediately dispersed, as though they'd practiced beforehand; Rayce and Lao Shun, though, stayed seated. Not for long, as Dai Xiu and Light came back quickly to drag them both away.

  Long Tao pretended not to see it, and so did I.

  "We're being watched," he said, and I immediately frowned. If he's saying it, it means it's probably not one of those wolf-life things, or even a pack of them, but rather something else.

  "By what, do you know?"

  "No," I really couldn't tell whether he was telling the truth, as his expression didn't so much as twitch. "But something about this place feels... unnatural."

  I mean, duh.

  "My sister once mentioned a peculiar little thing." Oh, it's his sister, which means that it's purely speculation at this point. "There are two states of being within perpetual darkness--enduring and suffering. Places like this forest, from what she said, are not naturally occurring."

  "... what? You think it's some kind of a massive array or something?"

  "...!" Hmm? Why does he look like a cartoon character that just had one of those 'lightbulb' moments?

  "Uh, Long Tao?"

  "Master."

  "Hm?"

  "You really are smarter than you let on, aren't you?"

  Umm.

  Is he praising me? Or shitting on me? I really can't tell. Regardless, I don't see how what I said was particularly smart.

  "Is it an array, then?"

  "Ah? No, of course not."

  "..."

  "Not anymore, at least." That grin. That damned, self-satisfied grin, as though it's his greatest joy that he pulled a fast one over me. "We should start moving toward the interior."

  "What if we get lost?" I probed, hoping that he'd offer a way to keep track of where we are.

  "We won't," he said as I sighed in relief. So, he really did have a way-- "I have a feeling nobody ever truly gets lost in this place. They are merely... guided where they need to go."

  And he left.

  Why? Why does he drop some vague nonsense as though it's the most profound thing ever and then just walk away? Does he think it makes him cool?!

  Whatever. Forget about him.

  My eyes inadvertently wandered toward where I thought the interior was. While vague, yes, the loose meaning was rather clear--there was something in this forest, likely artificial, that was like fire to the moths, except the latter weren't even aware of it.

  As though saying that no matter the road, there's only one destination.

  Maybe it really is the garden?

  I once again pulled up the quest window and stared at the information, battling with myself over whether to accept it or not.

  ... Dammit, I've been practically allergic to all risk for such a long time. Maybe this once I do something of my own will?

  [--quest accepted, 'Sunless Garden']

  [Difficulty: Legendary]

  [Context: Sunless Forest was dubbed...]

  [Hint: follow the maligned voice, for his sorrows deserve to be heard]