The Unknowable Orb

The orb touched "Glimmer," erupting in an instant with an intensely brilliant light before vanishing without a trace. More and more light orbs burst into radiance across the square. No one found it strange; they merely watched these lucky people with envy.

"Sir, you have received the Child of the Ocean's blessing. May He watch over you. You should try to feel it carefully. I've heard that blessings can, to some extent, make a person's wishes come true."

Perrin spoke with a mixture of envy and respect. The Tzimali people considered the Blessed Ones to be favored by the Child of the Ocean, people worthy of reverence.

Ace nodded. He had already examined it with his spiritual perception.

There was nothing unusual about his body. The light orb seemed to have merged into "Glimmer." The rainbow-colored orb clung to the rune on the magic shortsword, much like the Soul Rune and secondary rune. Their positions overlapped, yet they seemed to occupy different spaces.

It was as though a layer of mist veiled Ace's perception, preventing him from "seeing" the structure of the rainbow orb clearly.

The moment his spiritual power brushed against it, the orb's structure suddenly stirred, actually trying to crawl up the spiritual power and onto Ace's body.

Ace hurriedly severed the connection. His face went slightly pale. Tearing away his spiritual power so abruptly was anything but pleasant.

Before he understood the orb's exact effects, he did not dare let something connected to a god enter his body. An orb of unknown nature might bring irreversible consequences.

For instance, it might make him a devout believer in the Child of the Ocean from that day onward. The very thought sent a shudder through his entire body. He could not allow such a thing to block his path to the extraordinary.

Amid the crowd's jubilant cheering and shoving, Ace arrived before the statue. Together with the other five Blessed Ones, he accepted a distinctive Tzimali celebration: everyone held a handful of fish scales and scattered them over the group.

The Tzimali people believed fish were gifts from the Child of the Ocean, and that their scales represented His protection. With fish scales piled atop his head, Ace wore a false smile while secretly memorizing the Blessed Ones who had stepped forward with him.

At midnight, reeking of fish and covered in scales, Ace returned to the inn with Perrin.

"This is one Silver Taler. Thank you for letting me experience the marvelous Tzimali Bonfire Festival." Ace tossed a Silver Taler to Perrin.

Perrin caught it with both hands and said happily, "I hope every day you spend in Tsimari City will be as wonderful as tonight. I'm stationed at this inn year-round, and I know every corner of Tsimari City. You can come find me anytime."

Ace waved him off, found the innkeeper, and asked him to prepare a bucket of hot water and send it to his room before heading upstairs.

After bathing, Ace caught the faint fishy scent still lingering on his body. He draped himself in a black robe and cautiously began studying "Glimmer."

Every researcher probably possessed an uncontrollable curiosity. Like a feast laid out before them, a true gourmand could never resist.

There were no obvious changes to Glimmer's internal structure. Ace attempted to communicate with the rune array inside it, and the blade became scorching hot as usual. It could still be used normally; there was no problem.

He probed the light orb bit by bit, but it did not react. When his spiritual power lightly touched it, the orb instantly stuck to it, forcing him to tear off that portion of his spiritual power once more.

This time, he simply took the initiative and separated off a small portion of spiritual power, feeding it into the orb.

The orb flashed, yet did not touch that portion of spiritual power. After several attempts, Ace concluded that the orb was interested only in conscious spiritual power. He did not dare test it on himself, so he could only secretly observe the other Blessed Ones.

"Perrin, tell me about the Blessed Ones." Ace handed Perrin a Silver Taler. His magic power stirred, and Beguile Creatures activated. A phantom lunged toward Perrin.

Looking at the Silver Taler offered to him, Perrin suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of closeness and trust toward Ace. Was this the unique charm of a Silver Taler?

"Of course. Blessed Ones are all legends in Tsimari City. No matter what they were like before, once blessed, they gain unimaginably good fortune. According to what people have pieced together from rumors, as long as a Blessed One intensely wishes to accomplish something, there's a strong chance they will achieve it—or at least achieve part of it."

"Thirty years ago, there was an exceptionally foolish man named Moor. His greatest wish was to become intelligent. After receiving a blessing, he truly became incredibly smart, and later even became a Tsimari government official."

"But there are strange rumors too. Whenever Blessed Ones grow old, they all suddenly disappear. Legend says Lord Pontos grants them His favor and takes them to His kingdom to enjoy eternal life."

Perrin had been beguiled by Ace. Limited by Perrin's status, what he said was not necessarily true, but it was far more credible than ordinary rumors.

Ace bought a merfolk mask, changed into local clothing, and beguiled several more people. What he learned was largely the same. He summarized several key points: first, one had to receive the light orb's blessing; second, one had to possess an intense wish; third, that wish could be fulfilled, either wholly or partially.

Did such a free lunch truly exist in this world? A wish could come true without paying any price at all? Ace thought that was highly unlikely. He could not rule it out, but it required further study.

He had memorized the characteristics of the Blessed Ones who had celebrated alongside him the day before. Activating the secondary spell Ultrasonic Perception, he watched the world turn black and white.

Ace himself became the source of the ultrasound. Spiritual-power-infused ultrasonic waves vibrated through a spherical space with a radius of five hundred meters around him, rendering every detail of the surroundings visible.

After sensing through one-third of Tsimari City, Ace found more than a dozen Blessed Ones. They were simply too distinctive. The world of Ultrasonic Perception was black and white, while they were entirely colored, making them exceptionally easy to identify.

Ace discovered that only items steeped in magic power for a long time also possessed color in his perception. Thus, he could confirm that the Blessed Ones bore a powerful magic-power accumulation effect.

He tracked one of them, a remarkably brawny Greatsword Warrior. Rather than beguiling the Blessed One himself, uncertain whether the attempt would succeed, Ace chose to beguile his family members.

The Greatsword Warrior was named Taggart. He had once been hardworking but mediocre in martial skill. Ever since receiving the Child of the Ocean's favor three years ago, his martial prowess had improved by the day, while his physique had become powerful and ferocious.

Based on Ace's distant surveillance over the past few days, Taggart's strength had already surpassed the limits of ordinary people, resembling that of an Unawakened Divine Inspired.

Taggart was in his courtyard, using a stone hammer to train his strength. Suddenly, he threw the hammer down. Bang! It smashed into the ground. Then he lunged forward, yanked the greatsword embedded in the courtyard free, and guarded the surroundings warily. Only after a long while did he lower the sword.

"I keep feeling like someone's watching me. Is it because I haven't slept well these past few days?" Taggart muttered to himself.

Ace withdrew the secondary spell Ultrasonic Perception. He had sensed within Taggart's body an accumulation of magic power unlike that of ordinary mortals. Taggart had been "tainted" by magic power. In a sense, he had already surpassed mortal limits, possessing extraordinary intuition—or rather, his spirit had gained a vague degree of perception.

Ace's ultrasonic waves carried his own spiritual power as well as magic power drawn in from nature, making it easy to arouse Taggart's vigilance. He controlled the frequency and range of his observation, keeping the ultrasonic waves from coming into direct contact with Taggart as much as possible.

After waiting like this for several days, people from the Guild Hall came to find Taggart. He then left the city with several companions.

Taggart was a renowned Merfolk Hunter in Tsimari City. Whenever small bands of merfolk attacked, they would go provide aid, then exchange the merfolk's ears at the Guild Hall for bounties.

Ace quietly trailed behind them, watching them kill more than a dozen merfolk that had come ashore to loot. Ordinary merfolk were no stronger than humans. In fact, due to their discomfort on land and their smaller stature, they were slightly inferior.

Ace quietly activated Illusion Gaze. Taggart and the others felt as though a pair of eyes glowing with ghostly light had flashed before them. Then they discovered that more and more merfolk were climbing ashore. They exchanged looks, turned, and ran for their lives, only wishing their parents had given them two more legs.

Ace watched the fleeing group with satisfaction. He casually tucked two merfolk corpses under his arms and followed from afar. When they reached a sparsely populated cluster of reefs, Ace triggered the secondary spell Dizzying Spell and knocked them unconscious.

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