This Piano Is So Round

"Carida!"

Wilt called out the dead woman's name, then flashed forward in pursuit.

Rayne sped up for two steps, moved out from behind the house, and saw the Spirit Demon Eye atop the Wizard Tower.

Wilt halted and stopped beside the wall.

He could certainly catch up to Rayne, but the moment he attacked, any disturbance that was even slightly too loud would draw the Spirit Demon Eye's attention. As a follower of an evil god, he would never dare expose himself to its gaze. Once it locked onto him, he would be doomed.

Wilt crouched down to examine Carida and found that she was already dead. He looked at Rayne with hatred in his eyes and said in a deep voice, "You'll pay for this."

Rayne ignored him, quickly left the scene, and disappeared into the night.

Earlier, when Wilt's first sword strike had hit him, Rayne had already sensed a Shadow Dancer lurking around the corner of the wall, waiting for a chance to ambush him. He couldn't see the enemy while she was using Shadow Step, but he could hear her heartbeat. After pinpointing her position, he had deliberately pretended not to notice her.

Sure enough, the Shadow Dancer couldn't resist making her move and was caught off guard.

Shadow Dancers were masters of stealth and moved quickly, but their physical strength was lacking. What was more, her profession level wasn't high. Rayne had squeezed her to death with a single bear hug.

Her profession level was only one, and her soul provided two units of electricity.

Rayne quickly walked several hundred meters away, but he didn't give up using sonic detection to track Wilt. After changing direction twice, he hid in a corner by the street and prepared to follow him.

Wilt didn't linger by the house. He picked up Carida's corpse, and his footsteps rang out as he left in another direction.

Rayne hurried after him, only to discover that Wilt moved incredibly fast.

He had chased him for less than a minute when Wilt ran out of the range of his sonic detection, causing him to lose the trail.

"That's way too fast. I can't even catch him while he's carrying someone."

Rayne felt rather helpless. The Gale Sword Mage truly was renowned for speed. He was only level one, and his own speed was too slow, leaving him powerless to do much. He could only return to his apartment while considering that if he found a suitable Demon Soul in the future, he would definitely make up for this weakness in speed.

He took several detours along the way, even crossing the river by going around to another, more distant bridge. It wasn't until dawn was approaching that Rayne finally returned to his apartment.

As he washed the blood from his body and warhammer, Rayne examined his injuries.

The second sword wound had been shallow and was already completely healed.

The first sword wound was not healing nearly as quickly. The bleeding had stopped, but a horrifying bloodstain remained. It still throbbed faintly whenever he moved and would take at least several days to heal.

There was also a faint fist mark beneath his ribs, left by Hogan's punch. It wasn't serious.

Rayne felt a trace of exhaustion. Recovering from his injuries consumed his Soul Power. At that moment, the electricity in the interface was only at 12%, even after absorbing the souls of two Transcendents and gaining five units of electricity.

His Soul Power had increased by nearly half in a single night. That was his greatest harvest.

Rayne sat on the bed. After confirming that there was nothing seriously wrong with him, he began his first meditation.

The World Tree Meditation Method sounded complicated, but was actually quite simple: he had to continuously construct the World Tree within his soul and promote its growth.

The taller the World Tree, the stronger his Soul Power would be.

A wizard's Soul Power was the same as a mage's mana. It could be used for casting spells, as well as activating various Alchemical Items and runes.

Most importantly, Soul Power could also be used to enhance one's own elements.

If it was a Physique Element, the Soul Power used to strengthen it would merge into the body and become a tangible presence. It could no longer be used for spellcasting.

If it was an Arcane Element—in other words, a spell—Soul Power could raise the spell's level from the first circle to the ninth. The Soul Power invested in it could still be used for spellcasting and would not affect the upper limit of one's Soul Power.

Supernatural Elements, however, could not be enhanced through Soul Power. They could only improve with a certain probability during soul transformation.

Rayne was a Combat Wizard. At least some of his Soul Power had to be used to strengthen his body, so the Soul Power available for spellcasting was lower than that of wizards from the other two schools.

In simple terms, Combat Wizards had lower mana values.

Therefore, every Combat Wizard had to make choices and maintain a proper balance in the distribution of their Soul Power.

If they couldn't have the best of both worlds, they had to focus on one aspect: either excel in close combat or specialize in spellcasting.

Under normal circumstances, Combat Wizards avoided learning too many spells in order to reduce their Soul Power consumption.

There were even extreme Combat Wizards who raised only a handful of spells to their limits and used all their remaining Soul Power to strengthen themselves.

For example, the legendary Soul Saint Wizard, Master Oruoin, founder of the Combat School, was said to know only three spells. The one he was most proficient in was an extremely ordinary spell—Light Spell!

All this information came from the Soul Merging Seed itself. It was meant to remind future generations how to improve themselves and keep them from taking the wrong path.

Apart from that, there was no further information about Master Oruoin.

Rayne couldn't imagine how Light Spell could be used in combat.

He certainly wouldn't take things to such an extreme. He had undergone Perfect Soul Transformation, and his Soul Power was far greater than that of other wizards, so it should be enough to distribute. However, he didn't know a single spell yet, so for the time being, he could only use all his Soul Power to strengthen Strength or Body of Steel.

The Strength Element had already been enhanced once and was difficult to improve further, so he could only invest his Soul Power into the Body of Steel Element.

The battle last night had given Rayne a profound understanding of how powerful a Superb Element was. Body of Steel was what had kept him alive.

If he could strengthen Body of Steel one more time, it would be like gaining another life!

Time passed especially quickly during meditation.

When Rayne came out of meditation, he discovered that it was almost noon.

Spellcasters had to meditate every day, but they couldn't meditate for too long, or it would instead cause mental fatigue. Unless they used a potion to eliminate that fatigue, continuing to meditate would be pointless and would not increase their Soul Power.

After lunch, Rayne went to the Basil Inn.

The day before, he had arranged with Zoltan to borrow the iron blocks in his courtyard to train his physique and increase his strength. After finishing his workout, he would ask Zoltan for advice on making a Soul Gun and prepare to develop a firearm suited to himself.

If he had had a gun in his hand last night, Wilt could have stood on the balcony showing off all he wanted—one shot would have knocked him down.

Immersed in training and research, the day soon came to an end.

Rayne never saw Roger or Draelsra. The two of them stayed holed up in their room all day, inseparable. They had the inn staff bring in their food and wine, and had even stopped playing cards.

"There's never been a cow worked to death, only land plowed to ruin. I wonder if Master Roger can hold out?"

"As a Legendary Transcendent, he should last longer than an ordinary man..."

Rayne silently mocked them. He didn't return to his apartment, instead spending the night resting in his room at the Basil Inn.

At noon the next day, after meditating, Rayne went home to change into formal attire before heading to the Violet House. Ouvila's trade fair was that evening, and the two of them had arranged to meet half a day early.

When he arrived, the female attendant saw Rayne and, without making an announcement, took him straight upstairs.

As soon as Rayne stepped out of the elevator, he heard a burst of music coming from Viola's room. The sound was very faint, likely because the room was soundproofed. Unless someone was standing right outside the door, most people wouldn't be able to hear it.

The female attendant had just raised her hand to knock when Rayne stopped her.

"Wait a moment. I'll go in after this piece ends. You can go take care of your other business."

The female attendant glanced at Rayne. The owner had specifically instructed her that if Rayne arrived, she should bring him straight upstairs without announcing him. Clearly, the two of them were quite close—at the very least, they were friends.

So she left without worry.

Rayne listened intently to the music. The instrument resembled a piano, and people called it a keyboard organ. Its method of striking the strings and its tone were almost identical to those of a piano.

Viola's skill was exceptionally high. A cheerful melody poured from beneath her fingers as smoothly as flowing clouds and water. It sounded utterly beautiful and carried her emotions within it. The music infected Rayne with her mood, allowing him to sense how she felt at that moment. Like the unknown piece itself, she was joyful and delighted, filled with anticipation for beautiful things to come.

Before he knew it, the piece had ended, and the music faded away.

Rayne took a soft breath, composed himself, and knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Viola's voice came from inside. Rayne pushed open the door and saw her sitting before the keyboard organ. Her elegant, simple dress accentuated her lovely figure. She still seemed immersed in the music, her golden hair cascading like a waterfall and a smile spread across her breathtaking face.

Rayne froze at the sight. Even his breathing paused for half a beat.

For a moment, he didn't know how to praise her.

Was the piano really this round, or was the music really this white?

"Rayne, you're here."

Viola rose and walked over. Her lake-blue eyes settled on Rayne. When she saw his tall, straight figure and handsome features, a hint of admiration flashed through her eyes.

Rayne took two or three seconds to recover before asking with a smile, "I've been outside for quite a while. I waited until you finished playing before coming in. What piece were you playing?"

"Dance of the Lake. It's a piece I composed myself." Viola sat on the sofa and brewed tea for Rayne as she explained, "I really like music, especially the keyboard organ, and I have some talent in that area. Whenever I have free time, I play to soothe my mood. Did you like it?"

"It was beautiful!"

Rayne sat down across from her and applauded several times in praise. He said in surprise, "I didn't expect you to compose music too. It's a shame ordinary people don't have the chance to hear you play. Otherwise, you'd already be a famous musical master."

Viola smiled with pursed lips. "I don't want to be any kind of musical master. It's just a personal hobby."

"Then I can only express my sympathy for those who can't hear it." Rayne accepted the teacup and took a sip, feeling completely relaxed.

Viola nodded with a smile, then suddenly seemed to think of something. After a moment of hesitation, she said, "Although I don't like performing in front of outsiders, I hope to spread beautiful music to more people, so that they can experience the charm of music, appreciate the beauty of life, express their emotions, soothe their pain, reduce conflict, and add an artistic atmosphere to our world."

Rayne found her words rather strange. Why did Viola sound like she was preaching?