Shen Sui had truly wronged Alice.
After receiving the information Shen Sui had provided, Alice immediately set off for Anlud City with Anna.
Anlud City was a small city nestled against the mountains, not far from the commercial hub of Emerald City. After about three days of travel, the group arrived near Anlud City.
Shen Sui quickly skimmed through Alice's earlier information and found everything perfectly normal. Aside from her routine psychological counseling sessions with Anna at night, the journey even resembled a spring outing for young girls.
After Anna's analysis, Alice also came to her senses. The person who had ransacked Zelei Castle should not have been Harley.
After all, Harley was only a five-star magical beast and had never taken any magic potion. She could not possibly have disguised herself as Alice and ransacked Zelei Castle. There had to be something else going on.
Good! Seeing this, Shen Sui nodded in satisfaction. It seemed that Alice had matured considerably after the City of Sin incident. At the very least, she knew to use her brain before doing things.
Then, in the next instant.
They ran into a group of knights headed for Anlud City.
Alice, who had long been at odds with the Knights of the Lord of Thunder, immediately recognized their identity and decided to ambush them without hesitation.
And that led to the scene Shen Sui had seen earlier.
Fine, then. Alice's supposed growth had been nothing but Shen Sui's illusion.
She had grown up, at least enough to know she should only fight prepared battles. She had only dared to act because Anna, a Thirteenth-Order powerhouse, was by her side.
But she did not seem to have changed much. You were a Tier 3 Mage, and you went to rob a church knight order? Had you ever considered the consequences?!
Anna used her power, but she was immediately struck by backlash from the Sin Grail. Her sanity began to drift away, and a craving for sin surged through her heart. Her body began to emit an aura of sin, stirring up the malice of those around her.
The Thunder Knights, who had just been attacked, were affected by the power of the Sin Grail. Their desires were magnified. They began killing, began...
Fuck!
Shen Sui instinctively turned away. The words on the Duel Instrument were not something a person raised in a harmonious society should be reading.
Was the Sin Grail's power really that terrifying? There were not even members of the opposite sex around, yet it forcibly stirred up people's animal instincts?
Alice hugged Anna. Thanks to Vivian's Matchbox, Alice was unaffected by the Sin Grail's power.
Anna, whose humanity was anchored to Alice, regained a sliver of clarity.
In this world, power picked up for free always came with severe side effects.
The Sin Grail was not a charity. It would not allow someone to advance to the Thirteenth-Order for nothing. However much power it gave you, it would take back tenfold, a hundredfold.
Every past owner of the Grail had become lost in its immense power, gradually losing themselves and becoming part of the Sin Grail itself. Shen Sui knew that Anna's condition might become an opportunity for Alice to mature and pursue greater power.
Guiding Soul Cards had always been a hot topic in academia.
Some focused on psychology, using suggestion to guide Soul Card actions.
Others firmly believed that the heart that believed was the true magic, and that one should speak honestly with Soul Cards and cooperate in good faith.
You appeared and explained Anna's condition to Alice.
Alice looked at the sleeping Anna and asked you, "Is there any way to separate Anna from the Sin Grail?"
"If it is separated, Anna will become an ordinary person, and you will permanently lose a Thirteenth-Order powerhouse."
"I want to save Anna, not gain a bodyguard."
Separate the Sin Grail?
Shen Sui recalled the settings from the game in his previous life.
The Sin Grail was one of the Seven Great Sacred Artifacts in Dawn Link. As a collector, he had once held it in his hands and examined it, so he understood its properties somewhat. Removing the Sin Grail's binding was not particularly difficult—of course, that was only for him.
You told Alice about the legend of the Seven Great Sacred Artifacts. If they truly wanted to find a way to sever the connection between the Sin Grail and Anna, they might need the Athos Holy Sword. As one of the Seven Great Sacred Artifacts, the Athos Holy Sword possessed the power to cut off all connections in an event.
The Athos Holy Sword was Baris's weapon.
In the game, Baris had used the Athos Holy Sword to backstab Daylight, directly severing the connection between Daylight and His authority. Shen Sui had then controlled his character and killed Daylight alongside Baris. But that had been in the middle stage of the game. With a max-level character in the later stages, killing a Daylight did not take much effort.
The Athos Holy Sword was the Price Family's hereditary divine artifact.
Oshana's family? Alice made up her mind. After finding Harley, she would head to Price City.
Going there would be good. Shen Sui was also curious about what exactly was going on with Baris, and he could look for clues about Vivian while he was at it. The World Consciousness of the Dawn Continent was nothing more than a mascot. In his previous life, she had merely been a quest-and-reward clerk. Even in the real world, she was useless—the sort of adorable idiot who would not even realize the gods had stolen her authority.
Was a world's supreme existence really inversely proportional in power and intelligence?
Thinking of that blue-haired clerk girl from the game, Shen Sui fell into brief confusion.
Alice's embrace successfully pulled Anna out of the Grail state. But in those few short minutes, the Thunder Knights below had already been wiped out.
Some had died fighting desperately with their comrades, while others had also died fighting desperately with their comrades. It was all extremely indecent.
Alice felt sickened, and at the same time became even more awed by the Sin Grail's terror. She silently made up her mind that she could never let Anna know she was in danger again.
Even if it meant dying, she would not want to see Anna transform into a demon of this world.
Alice opened the chest the Thunder Knights had been escorting. Inside was a jet-black crystal and a parchment covered in mysterious symbols.
Ding! You obtained Spell Card: Sok Fatis's Contract Ding! You obtained Equipment Spell Card: Evil God's Eye
Evil God's Eye? Shen Sui instinctively thought it sounded like an item from some hypnosis manga. But on second thought, such an item really did seem to exist in the game.
The eye of the Great Evil God Sok Fatis, a necessary item for contracting and summoning Sok Fatis.
This was not part of the game's main storyline, but one insignificant branch among countless side quests, the kind placed alongside missions to unclog toilets.
But that did not mean Sok Fatis lacked prestige. In fact, countless players had been defeated by this guy, and people had even suspected that the developers had stitched Dark Souls elements into the game.
Of course, once players reached max level, this Evil God—one of the few god-level bosses that could be summoned repeatedly—was constantly summoned by inhuman players, beaten to death over and over for materials. He was practically the game's model worker.
Because of the possibility of promoting unhealthy values, the developers removed all content related to Sok Fatis in one update to avoid the iron fist of censorship. Along with it, they removed a large number of Evil God side quests.
Summoning Sok Fatis required three conditions in total.
First, possessing the Evil God's Eye.
Second, possessing Sok Fatis's Contract.
Third, sacrificing the lives of an entire city.
Shen Sui had once been among those farming materials, but in the game, he had found a special method that could bypass the third condition.
So, what were the Thunder Knights planning to do by escorting something so sensitive?
Shen Sui smelled the scent of a major event.
And major events often came with a huge harvest of cards.
Alice had to get involved!
Shen Sui had come here to farm cards in the first place. How could he possibly miss this opportunity? This time, even if Alice did not want to cause trouble, he would make her cause trouble.
Raise hell, Alice!
Shen Sui opened the input box.
Before you continue