The Void

"So this is the Void..."

Ash scooped up a handful of seawater, sniffed it, licked it, and found it surprisingly a little sweet.

Looking down, he saw that the sea surface was extremely blurry; he could not make out his own face at all.

Inspecting his clothes, he found himself wearing the same pitch-black trench coat as in his character portrait. It looked pretty handsome.

"It's exactly as the textbook described the Void."

Since there was no one else around, Sonia spoke freely as well. "This must be the Sea of Knowledge, also known as the Silver Sea, the Initial Sea... Whether genius or mediocrity, the legendary Six-Winged God Lord or a One-Winged Arcanist, the first stop for everyone entering the Void is inevitably this ocean."

"The only difference is this." Sonia tapped the little boat and looked around, noticing a book symbol at the bow and a sword symbol at the stern.

"The textbook says that spellcasters who first arrive here should all be naked..."

"Naked?" Ash looked at Sonia's black slip dress.

Sonia's face immediately darkened. She instinctively covered her chest. "Our forms in the Void are projections of our consciousness. Naked means we can't receive help from any external objects, such as bringing items in from reality... I heard that people entering the Void for the first time usually had to swim straight through the seawater. There shouldn't be a boat."

"I get it!" Ash suddenly clapped his hands.

"What do you get?"

"This boat is your true body, and you're just a soul phantom!"

"What?" Sonia froze.

"Your consciousness has split into two parts. One is your heavy soul, which became this boat to make sailing easier; the other is your agile mind, which became your current form." Ash spoke with absolute conviction. "The soul is the boat, consciousness is the person, and the boat carries the person toward the far shore. That has to be it!"

It did sound somewhat plausible, but...

"How do you prove it?" Sonia asked.

Instead of reflecting on himself, Ash said, "If you don't believe me, jump into the sea and try. If I'm right, you won't be able to leave this boat at all!"

True to her style, Sonia immediately dived into the sea. Fortunately, because of that Dream Realm Trial, although she had never learned to swim, she at least knew a little about handling water and would not sink like a weight.

Sonia quickly flipped herself back onto the boat and snorted. "You were wrong. I can leave the boat. This boat clearly isn't formed from my soul..."

Personally proving that the Watcher had been wrong felt like beating him once. Sonia had been a little pleased with herself, but when she turned around, she found the Watcher staring at her.

Though his features were still hidden by the dimness, Sonia could clearly sense his gaze. Looking down, she saw that her clothes had been soaked by the seawater, clinging wetly to her body and outlining her graceful curves.

"You—" Sonia angrily raised her Wooden Sword. Ignoring the difference in their strength, she summoned the Ripple Sword Spell Spirit and was about to slash at him when Ash hurriedly retreated in surrender. "Wait, where did that Wooden Sword come from?"

Huh?

Sonia looked at the Wooden Sword in her hand. She remembered not carrying a weapon just now. But seeing how irritating the Watcher was, she had instinctively wanted to hit him with a Wooden Sword...

"See? The Wooden Sword appeared when you wanted one. Clearly, this boat appeared because you didn't want to swim." Ash spread his hands. "I was only testing it just now. Doesn't this prove that the boat really was formed from thought?"

"So peeping at me was also part of your test? No, the Wooden Sword is the weapon I'm most familiar with, so I can materialize it easily! Just like how I can materialize clothes!"

"Don't slander me. When did I peep? I was obviously looking openly!"

After that little incident, the unfamiliarity and fear of first arriving in the Void had both been washed away.

And because they had each other's company, it felt as though someone would always be there to serve as the bottom corpse pile if anything happened. Both of them felt deeply reassured.

But just as Sonia did not know the difference between this "Watcher" and that "Watcher," Ash also did not know the difference between this "Sword Maiden" and that "Sword Maiden."

An hour earlier.

After finishing dinner and returning to the Prison Dormitory, the Sword Maiden brought up a very adult topic with Ash.

"There are two pieces of news. The good news is that you'll get to live in state-provided free housing for the rest of your life."

"There's such a good thing?"

"The bad news is that you could be dragged off for execution at any time."

Ash understood. "I can't Prison Break?"

Sitting on the bed with her legs crossed and arms folded, the Sword Maiden looked at Ash sideways. "You should know that spellcasters are the most powerful group in this world, right? As a mortal, you cannot contend with spellcasters."

"Even that Ascetic who turned his body into Diamond could only become a Diamond rat rolling around in a shithole after his connection to the Void was severed."

"And today's experience should have made you understand that as long as you wear the Neck Microchip, no matter where you are, you'll remain bound by endless shackles."

At that, Ash's expression changed slightly. He had originally thought the Miracle Microchip was equivalent to an implanted computer, but it turned out that the Microchip had turned him into a computer—and someone else remotely controlled his administrator privileges.

Whether he could hit someone, what content he could see, and what words he could say were all under the administrator's control. Today, the administrator could make him into a civilized young man who knew etiquette and followed rules. Tomorrow, the administrator could make him eat shit by the mouthful.

Before removing the Microchip, all his plans were like a computer infected with a virus—the administrator only needed to reinstall the system to instantly wipe out everything. If the administrator decided Ash could no longer be fixed, they could even directly recycle him as scrap and give Ash a Life Reset.

"Is there a way to remove the Microchip?" Ash asked through gritted teeth. "Like directly gouging out the back of my neck..."

"If it could be removed that easily, this Prison wouldn't be so lively."

The Sword Maiden sneered. "Though it's called a Microchip, during your growth, the Miracle Microchip gradually fused into your bone marrow. Every bone, every nerve, every muscle in your body now bears the Microchip's imprint. If you want to remove it, jumping into molten steel at a steel mill might do the trick."

"So ordinary methods can't remove the Microchip." Ash said, "What about a spellcaster's methods?"

"Spellcasters have plenty of methods." The Sword Maiden said, "And the one you're most likely to obtain is the Swordsmanship Miracle, Sever Self."

"Sever Self is a defensive Miracle for swordsmen, specifically used to purify abnormal conditions. Though it is only a Silver Miracle usable by a One-Winged Arcanist, it can directly purify most lingering damage caused by Two-Winged Art Spirits."

"The Miracle Microchip targets mortals and One-Winged Arcanists. It cannot resist the Two-Winged power of the Sever Self Miracle. As long as you use Sever Self, you can instantly clear every Miracle Microchip from your body. Only then will you have a chance to Prison Break."

"Then how do I obtain the Sever Self Miracle?"

"To cast Miracles, you must first possess Spell Spirits. And to obtain Spell Spirits, you have four paths." The Sword Maiden raised four fingers.

"First, learn knowledge and achieve Resonance with the Void, allowing knowledge from the Void to become Spell Spirits in reality."

"Second, search the Void for wild Spell Spirits."

"Third, kill spellcasters and seize the Spell Spirits on them."

"Fourth, Spell Spirit trading."

"First of all, the first path is closed to you." The Sword Maiden glanced at Ash. "The Miracle Microchip has long severed your connection to the Void. No matter how much knowledge you absorb, you cannot trigger Void Resonance."

Ash glanced at his true-body information on the Light Screen and indeed saw "Void Resonance Prohibited."

"As for the third path, it isn't as though mortals have never killed spellcasters. Most such cases happened when female pets or male pets took the chance to murder their masters while pleasing them..."

The Sword Maiden looked at Ash's face and shook her head. "That path isn't possible for you either."

"Do you have to deny it so completely?! There's at least a tiny possibility, right? Maybe I could make a living with my face too!?"

"As for the fourth path, there's even less to say. You have no capital to trade with anyone."

"In short," the Sword Maiden could not be bothered to keep arguing with Ash, "your only way to obtain Spell Spirits is to search for wild Spell Spirits in the Void."

Ash asked, "Then how do I enter the Void?"

The Sword Maiden replied, "The only way to enter the Void is to trigger the Gate of Truth within a Spell Spirit, allowing your consciousness to pass directly into the Void."

Ash blinked.

"So you mean that if I want to enter the Void, I need a Spell Spirit?"

"Exactly."

"And my purpose in entering the Void is to find Spell Spirits?"

"That's right."

"Wait, wait, wait..."

Ash held his forehead and backed away.

"Isn't this the same predicament University Students face after graduation, when every job requires three years of work experience?! I can't enter the Void without a Spell Spirit, but I have to enter the Void to find Spell Spirits. Isn't that an infinite loop?"

"Who told you that you must use your own Spell Spirit to enter the Void?"

"Huh?"

The Sword Maiden pointed at herself. "Did you forget? I already have a Ripple Sword Spell Spirit, so I'm qualified to enter the Void. Watcher, you formed a Soul Bond with me through the Sorcerer's Manual. We can even share experience, so naturally I can take you into the Void."

It had that function? Ash instinctively opened the Sorcerer's Manual, intending to look over his talents again, only to discover that the game had somehow gained another function module:

"Void Realm Exploration": Organize an Operator Squad to explore the Void.

However, when Ash clicked "Void Realm Exploration," selected "Doomsday Watcher" and "Death Maniac Sword Princess" to act together, and then clicked "Ready," nothing changed in reality—because "Death Maniac Sword Princess" was still "Preparing."

"I've already confirmed that I'm ready. Hurry up and confirm too," Ash urged.

"Then I'll go back and prepare. You can wait slowly."

Ash was dumbfounded. "What else do you need to prepare?"

"A lot, a lot. A virgin like you wouldn't understand."

"What the hell does you being a virgin have to do with proving that I am one—"

Watching the Sword Maiden curl her lips into a teasing smile and vanish into the air, Ash could only lie on the bed and wait. Perhaps the regenerative treatment had drained too much of his strength, or perhaps nights without a phone to scroll through were simply too boring. Ash soon grew sleepy and closed his eyes.

When he woke again, he saw the Sword Maiden sitting in the same boat as him, floating on an ocean filled with White Mist.

On the little boat in the Sea of Knowledge, Ash suddenly remembered something and silently called out, trying to summon the Light Screen.

He both failed and succeeded. He failed because although he had summoned the Light Screen, most of its functions had stopped working. The Void truly did not support physical cheats. He succeeded because the Sorcerer's Manual could still operate.

He opened Sorcerer's Manual—"Void Realm Exploration." A map suddenly appeared on the Light Screen, followed by a message:

"You have entered Void Realm Exploration mode. Please read the beginner tutorial..."

On the other side, Sonia noticed that Ash had fallen silent. She focused her attention on the Void as well, leaned over, and used her hands to stir the seawater, trying to push the boat forward.

"Wait, Sword Maiden, don't move around so impatiently. Let me do it."