Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 460 - Psychic Shockwave

"What do you think was going to happen?"

At five o'clock in the afternoon, the witch on the train asked Shard. They had been traveling for a while and were likely to return to Aphrola Manor before six-thirty in the evening.

At this point, Shard was holding an orange cat that had been slightly startled by the earthquake in the small town, although Shard thought it was probably faking it.

"Before we set out, I was worried that we would encounter Ivan Daknis in the town, or that Old Mrs. Ilal had not given up and was trying to sacrifice us to the deities,"

Shard responded.

"Daknis has been gone from Coldwater Port for a week; he couldn't possibly appear here. As for Ilal, she is only of the Second Ring; are you underestimating me?"

The witch asked with a smile, and Shard shook his head:

"I just didn't expect it to go this smoothly. I thought that acquiring every Spirit Rune would require a heart-pounding adventure."

"Most of the time it does, but not every time... How dangerous exactly is your life?"

Shard smiled sheepishly:

"However, when I touched the Divine Statue, I saw some illusions. It seems like that Old God was just a powerful and strange creature roaming underneath the earth in ancient times, but later it devoured... devoured the power of an Ancient God, and only then became a deity. So, what exactly are the Old Gods? If the Ancient Gods are the original deities, could it be that the Old Gods are beings that became divine after acquiring the power of Ancient Gods?"

Such discussions about the gods were not held even by Thirteen-Ring Sorcerers. But the witch was even more powerful; her audacity was evidently greater, as these women from the previous Era had such power systems.

Miss Aphrola looked serious:

"This question cannot be answered; the weight of knowledge cannot be disregarded, but since you've figured it out for yourself, I can share some of what I know. Yes, I have read the secret texts of the Worm Cult, and although it is not explicitly stated, the most secretive of information hints that the power of the [Earth-shaking Worm] comes from the Ancient God [Earth Mother Goddess] who governs the earth, the Four Elements, and the cornerstone. Yes, Shard, most of the power of the Old Gods comes from the distant Ancient Gods. Back in the distant past eras, they were already powerful and strange beings, who, for various reasons, acquired remnants of Ancient God Power and became deities. Of course, according to the Council's records, only some Old Gods were like this. There's even a theory that suggests that even the five True Gods..."

She suddenly closed her mouth, looking cautiously overhead as if she feared a lightning bolt might strike her down.

Shard was surprised to the point of forgetting to continue petting the dozing Mia; he had always been curious about the source of the Old Gods' power, and he hadn't expected that an offhand question would yield an answer.

The lady with brown long hair sat up straight, looking somewhat regretful about having said what she had to Shard:

"Let's change the subject. Ever since I saw that Divine Statue, I still feel like there are worms crawling on my arm. Let's not discuss deities any further. Shard, what is your view of this Order that is on the brink of extinction?"

Shard cooperated by not prying further, but he also knew that an organization like the [Witch Council] certainly still had a lot of information he needed:

"People will always leave, people will always return; the fall of anything is a part of the natural order. I just lament that the believers of the Evil God appeared quite righteous... only on the surface."

"What she did when she was young is enough for the law to have her executed ten times over."

The witch said, glancing at Shard who showed no reaction, then continued:

"I thought you would propose that we go back and kill her now."

"Madam, do you think I am like the stereotypical knight from a classical knight's tale?"

Shard asked while holding the cat, adding:

"There are so many bad people in this world, I would even bet that at least half of the officials in Tobesk City Hall have committed crimes, but would I go and judge them one by one?"

Miss Aphrola started to laugh.

"Am I wrong?"

Shard asked awkwardly.

"Half? Oh, you are probably too optimistic about the integrity of the City Hall."

The point of concern for the witch was entirely different from what Shard cared about.

In any case, the Second Ring Desecration Spirit Rune "Vibration" was perhaps the easiest Spirit Rune Shard had acquired to date. Moreover, he did not have to go through the trouble of finding a corresponding Arcane Technique to learn, as Old Mrs. Ilal directly gave him one related to it, and this Arcane Technique was very powerful.

"Psychic Shockwave," an exceedingly classic supernatural ability. According to Miss Aphrola, the prototype of this Arcane Technique could even be traced back to the Second or even the First Era.

The effect of the Arcane Technique was quite simple: cast a spell to induce vibrations in the enemy's soul, causing a brief disruption to their Arcane Technique and Sorcery spellcasting. For targets with weaker soul power, it could directly damage their souls. With proficiency in this ability, one could eventually learn the skill of memory erasure to some extent.

Of course, given the brutality of the Arcane Technique's effect, one should be prepared for the possibility of turning the target into a fool if "Psychic Shockwave" were used to erase memories.

This Arcane Technique could only be mastered with a Spirit Rune that corresponded to the "Soul" and "Vibration" conceptual derivations. Depending on the caster's level and the abundance of spirit, the effects could vary.

As an Arcane Technique that worked on a single target, when used at higher rings, a simple glance could turn an ordinary person into a madman or a fool. But for a Low Ring Sorcerer like Shard, disrupting and damaging the soul were the primary effects.

After all, this involved using spirit and elements to vibrate the opponent's soul, not using one's own soul to do so. Otherwise, Shard, with two drops of divinity in his soul, would even dare to directly challenge Ivan Daknis to a duel.

As an Arcane Technique mastered through self-study, spellcasting not only requires the use of fingers but also spellcasting materials. Since the Rune is "Vibration," the spellcasting materials needed to compensate for what was lacking in the "soul" aspect.

The spellcasting material mentioned in the knowledge provided by Old Mrs. Ilal was "Mind Crystal," an expensive and rare alchemical product created by Circle Sorcerers proficient in alchemy and psychology when they explored the worlds of others' dreams, turning nightmares or beautiful dreams into tangible reality.

Although expensive, this was not consumable spellcasting material. As long as Shard could find it, and let it touch his fingers each time he used the Arcane Technique, that would suffice.

Old Mrs. Ilal did not have such things, and Miss Aphrola also did not have any for the time being. If Shard wanted to find specialties from the New World, she could help, but precious materials from psychic alchemy required the witch to make arrangements to find them.

However, Shard did not ask the witch for further assistance; she had already offered enough help. He intended to ask Dr. Schneider for help since the doctor was proficient in this area, and even if he did not have it at hand, he would surely know how to obtain it.

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"However, I thought Old Mrs. Ilal would give me an Arcane Technique like 'Earthquake Spell' or something,"

Shard mused during the boredom of the train ride.

"If it's just causing small-scale ground vibrations, many Arcane Techniques can do that; they have no practical value. If you try to stomp the ground and cause a real earthquake, such an Arcane Technique cannot be learned until you reach the High Ring."

Miss Aphrola explained.

"Why does it have to be the High Ring?"

"Do you think an earthquake is just the transmission of vibrations below the ground to the surface? Although theoretically that is the case, nature and the world itself have their own strength, so, summoning wind and snow like a 'God Summoner' is simple, but truly altering a natural phenomenon in reality is very difficult. Guess how much time and Gold Pounds the mermen spent to summon that red sea?"

From this perspective, Shard still had much common knowledge to learn.

After returning to Coldwater Port, Miss Hevy Aurora invited Shard to join her for dinner at the manor before he set off back to Tobesk.

He did not disturb Dr. Schneider at night, and after reading for a while at home, Shard rested in the guest room on the first floor that had not yet been repainted. The brass-poster four-poster bed selected by Miss Tifa Servet and the style of the curtains were to Shard's liking, but he found the mattress too soft and uncomfortable to sleep on.

The orange cat, however, very much liked that kind of soft mattress.