Chapter 535: Heed My Command

"Divine treasure?"

Mercury Trojan Horse suddenly pulled out a small knife. When Tahmas glanced over, she sliced off her own wrist and tossed it into the campfire. The flesh melted into the flames like snow. As the tongues of fire rose higher, the advance of the night seemed to slow to a halt.

"More precisely, a Divine Spirit's treasure," she said calmly. "You have only been here for a day. What impression do you have of Myriad Continent?"

Harvey said, "A rotting mess crawling with life. To put it more kindly, dead wood somehow managing to sprout new buds."

Iger added, "The environment here is extremely harsh. You face threats from both within and without. At night, you have to contend with the danger of Twisting Green, while internal strife is just as severe, with different Grand Law ideologies constantly clashing."

Ashe mused, "This kingdom is nothing but a chaotic wasteland. From what I've heard, you once had a glorious age, so I cannot understand how things came to this. It is already the year 1668, yet you remain trapped in an era of endless warfare."

Mercury Trojan Horse nodded. "An extremely accurate assessment. On Myriad Continent, holy wars between sects are inevitable. The ideals embodied by the Grand Laws are often vast, sometimes extending to every person on the continent. Take the Fire Cat ideal of allowing ordinary people to wield spirits, for example. To realize such an ideal, a sect must first unify the Myriad Continent before it can gather everyone's strength to overcome the great obstacles ahead.

"The Myriad Continent once went through four Ages of Gods. Starting from the Fire Cat Age, sorcerers realized that holy war was an extremely brutal and inefficient form of competition. To solve this problem, they used the Silent Spiral to create an entirely new competitive system called Divine Fire.

"Under the Divine Fire system, they could determine the Grand Law of the next era while keeping conflict to a minimum. This allowed the Fire Cat Age to transition peacefully up to the Gray Fox Age. But then the Gray Fox Age encountered the Great Apocalypse, and the Divine Fire system shattered. With it gone, Myriad Continent regressed once more into an age of sectarian holy wars."

She paused. "The divine treasure the new Sense is searching for is none other than the Divine Fire system."

Ashe blinked. "Didn't you say the Divine Fire system was shattered?"

"Shattered does not mean impossible to restore. Many sects have been secretly gathering information about the Divine Fire system. Unfortunately, its technology is far too profound. Even when a sect manages to recover some of its components, they have no idea how to reconstruct the system. The Temple of Calamity Fire had gathered the most components. When the new Sense destroyed the Temple, she took those components with her.

"No matter how profound the system, it was still a creation of sorcerers. Why should later generations be inferior to those who came before? She believes that, with what she has inherited, she can recreate the Divine Fire system."

Iger countered, "But she is not a Grand Law... Even if she went so far as to sacrifice her life and become a Grand Law after reconstructing the Divine Fire system, what would she gain?"

"First of all, every Candle Lord values an ideal more than personal life. If they are certain their ideal can be realized after death, not a single Candle Lord will hesitate," said Mercury Trojan Horse. "Secondly... the Great Apocalypse of the Gray Fox Age is said to have been caused by a Grand Law."

Iger frowned. "The ideal of a Grand Law caused the Great Apocalypse?"

Mercury Trojan Horse shook her head. "No. The Grand Law itself caused it. The Grand Law alone."

Harvey frowned. "The Grand Law became self-aware?"

"Grand Laws have always possessed a degree of self-awareness. Otherwise, how could ideals exist in the first place?" Mercury Trojan Horse explained. "Ordinary Grand Laws possess little more than instinct. But the Grand Laws recognized through the Divine Fire system appear capable of retaining the memories and thoughts they possessed while alive. In other words, they retain a personality, or perhaps, more accurately, a divinity."

"So that woman wants to use the Divine Fire system to turn herself into a Grand Law while retaining her own personality?" Ashe asked. "Sure, seeing someone who caused so much misery rise to greatness would be infuriating, but that hardly threatens us. Other than raising my blood pressure, what does it actually matter?"

"Firstly, the moment a Grand Law receives recognition from the Divine Fire system, every other Grand Law on Myriad Continent will immediately perish," Mercury Trojan Horse said. "The sorcerers of the Fire Cat Age sealed an unknown number of destructive Miracles within the Virtual World."

She smiled. "Secondly... do you know what her ideal is?"

Ashe paused. "I doubt it could be worse than turning the entire world into undead."

Harvey interrupted calmly, "I have no interest in turning the entire world into undead either. Let me make this clear one last time. The goal of the Necromancy Class is not to spread death, but to make what the living cherish eternal."

Mercury Trojan Horse remarked. "It may be worse than that. Simply put, she believes every kingdom is nothing more than a dream of the Divine Lords. To her, what we call reality is merely an illusion we experience while imprisoned by them. The Virtual World is our true eternity."

A dream?

Ashe and the others stared at her in stunned silence. Even Tahmas turned to look at her. A moment later, he looked away again, though he kept his head slightly tilted, watching them from the corner of his eye.

"Her stated ideal is to shatter every dream, end all suffering, bring fate itself to an end, and free every 'prisoner,'" Mercury Trojan Horse continued. "She likely has a deeper ideal as well, but I don't know what it is."

Tahmas let out a cold snort. "I never expected to hear two different kinds of delusional nonsense from two different Evil Crows in a single night. Rotten minds really do produce nothing but filth."

Iger frowned. "Would the Divine Fire system really recognize an ideal that's doomed to fail?"

"Was the Fire Cat ideal of allowing ordinary people to wield spirits guaranteed to succeed? Was Circle Cicada's pursuit of eternal life? Or Chasing Light's dream of resurrecting the dead?" Mercury Trojan Horse asked. She paused before adding, "Besides... what if she succeeds?"

Mercury Trojan Horse met their gazes calmly. "Can any of you say with certainty that reality isn't just a dream?"

Iger replied, "For a claim like that, the burden of proof lies with the person challenging the consensus."

Mercury Trojan Horse responded with a series of questions. "Why are the kingdoms isolated from one another? Why can only our souls enter the Virtual World, while the Virtual Channels connect different kingdoms? Why do we remain in the Virtual World after death?"

She shrugged. "Those are just a few examples I came up with off the top of my head. If she can hold so firmly to her ideal, I imagine she's found far more compelling evidence."

Having already sliced off her wrist, she now cut off her forearm and tossed it into the campfire. "Regardless. Even if reality really is just a dream, that still is not a reason to destroy it. Just as you would not walk into the night to test whether you are really a Candle Lord, there is no point pinning your hopes on an eternity after death. Life contains no absolute distinction between truth and illusion. It holds only happiness and regret."

She looked at the three of them. "Even if her ideal ultimately fails, the moment every Grand Law dies, you will have no choice but to follow her if you want to survive on the Myriad Continent. If you refuse, every single local will turn into your enemy. Right now, you can still get away with ignoring the Grand Laws. But once the Age of Gods starts, anyone refusing to follow one gets branded an evil heretic."

She smiled faintly. "And if she truly becomes Sense, she'll gain control over the Four Pillars Cult. At that point, do you really think she'll help you solve the Blood Seed problem?"

Ashe couldn't help asking, "If you knew she was this dangerous, why didn't you eliminate her sooner?"

Mercury Trojan Horse revealed her mercury-coated neck. "The reason she defected from the Four Pillars Cult was because I sent people to assassinate her."

She tapped the twisted scar circling her neck. "This broken neck is the souvenir from that attempt. As for why I let her join in the first place... for one thing, we never met face-to-face. We always talked remotely. And for another—"

"Everyone has flaws," Iger interrupted calmly. "You only wanted her for her talents, and since you were confident you could keep her madness under control, you didn't concern yourself with the potential consequences. That's how management works. You simply miscalculated this time."

A sudden realization struck Ashe. "Wait. She is Sense, but she also happens to be a Grand Law?"

"There is no precedent for that, but I cannot rule out the possibility," Mercury Trojan Horse replied. "However, when the fifth Age of Gods arrives, the Four Pillars Cult will inevitably enter a period of dormancy."

Ashe grumbled inwardly. Sounds nice when you put it that way. How is that any different from a porn site getting shut down in an anti-porn campaign?

After hearing Mercury Trojan Horse's analysis, the trio finally understood the urgency of the three crises before them. The night was the most pressing. If they failed to resolve it, Harvey would soon come to hate Alice. Next was the Blood Seed, which, if left unchecked, would eventually drain them dry. Finally, there was the divine treasure. If they failed to shatter that woman's ideal, they would ultimately become sacrifices to it. But...

Ashe looked bewildered. "How does becoming Sense solve any of these crises? Can the Four Pillar Deities sense three wishes through me or something?"

Mercury Trojan Horse pointed toward the night outside. "The reason this camp was overrun by the night wasn't simply because everyone here died. It was also because the Four Pillar Deities had simply stopped paying this place any mind. Once you become Sense, the statues in the camp will activate again. Naturally, they'll be able to resist the night once more.

"As for the Blood Seed and the divine treasure, both problems ultimately stem from that woman. You don't need to solve the problems themselves. You only need to deal with her. Once you become Sense, you will not only be able to prevent her from taking control of the Four Pillars Cult, but you will also be able to command the cult to hunt her down.

"Sounds like a risk-free deal with guaranteed profits," Iger said. "But why choose an outsider like Ashe instead of passing the opportunity to one of your own relatives?"

"Not everyone can become Sense," Mercury Trojan Horse replied. "Counting the three of you, I've only encountered four suitable candidates so far."

"Then why—"

"Because if she becomes Sense, she'll definitely come after me. She's the type to hold grudges," Mercury Trojan Horse smiled. "But if it's one of you, at least I'll still have a chance to escape."

Her answer might well have been another lie, but at least all their pressing questions had been answered. The campfire fell silent as everyone sank into thought.

Iger was the first to break the silence. "I can't let an opportunity like this pass me by. Becoming Sense would not only grant me abilities bordering on Divine Miracles, but also put me in control of a sect that will soon rule this land. Ashe, you're not thinking of stealing this opportunity from me, are you?"

With just a few words, the fraudster had already declared the opportunity his, as though Ashe would automatically be in the wrong for even considering it.

Ashe mustered his strength to sit up and looked toward Tahmas, who was sitting with his back to them. "Tahmas, did you know her before she became Mercury Trojan Horse?"

"I did."

"What was she like?"

"An outgoing, confident girl. She loved playing pranks and loved to laugh."

"What happened after that?"

Tahmas turned around and met Ashe's eyes. "My mentor was stabbed through the throat by this blade."

He pointed to the blade embedded in his elbow. "And so many others... Anoi, Yeru, Kesh."

Tahmas fell silent for a moment. "I killed them all with my own hands. When I tried to assassinate Tahnom, she took control of my mentor, my friends, my comrades, and my juniors and sent them after me."

He turned back toward the campfire, his gaze fixed on the flames.

Mercury Trojan Horse showed no reaction to his accusations, as though she were merely listening to someone else's story.

"So becoming Sense can cause a person's personality to change drastically," Ashe said. "Iger, I can barely deal with you as you are now. If you became ten to a hundred times more evil, I wouldn't have any confidence in bringing you back. What about you, Harvey?"

Harvey answered, "I'll do my best to become ten to a hundred times more evil."

Ashe rubbed his forehead. "I forgot that you're not exactly a good person either. Still, if I became ten to a hundred times more evil, I should be pretty easy to deal with, right? Besides, Iger, you still have one wish you can make of me, and you're a Mind Class sorcerer. My future self will be counting on you two to keep me in check."

Iger tried to sit up, only for Ashe to gently push him back down.

"Which one of us is making the wish here?"

A sly smile curled across Ashe’s lips. "That’s my decision to make, dear fraudster."

He turned around, determination burning in his eyes. "Mercury Trojan Horse, I've made my decision. Let me do it."

Mercury Trojan Horse spoke languidly. "Since the very beginning, you have been the only viable choice. Becoming Sense isn't like taking an exam where simply passing is enough. It's a competitive position.

"If Iger is merely qualified, then you and that woman are exceptional. But each kingdom can have only one Sense. In other words, you and that woman will have to compete for the Four Pillar Deities' favor."

Ashe sighed. "That's a terrible way to put it."

Without hesitation, Ashe chose to shoulder the burden of becoming Sense. His decision was driven partly by his fearlessness, but even more by his desire to uncover the truth.

As much as he tried to play the fool, he was anything but an idiot. In every kingdom he visited, the first thing he encountered was the Four Pillars Cult. Aside from the influence of the Everlasting Wanderer, his strongest suspicions centered on Heath.

Ever since his transmigration, Heath's past had been tangled around him like a web. Becoming Sense might finally allow him to unravel that mystery. Running away wasn't a solution either. Before he officially met the Swordswoman, he hoped to resolve every problem connected to this body.

"What do I need to do?"

"It's simple. I'll awaken the potential within you. All you need to do is call upon the Four Pillar Deities," Mercury Trojan Horse said. "You know their names, don't you? Remember to use their honorific titles."

Ashe nodded. He clasped his hands together and began his chant. "O Supreme Lord of Infinite Light, Tranquil Lord of Wind, Rain, and Snow, Undying Heart of Eternal Flame, and Omnipresent Soul of Dreams and Freedom—

"Great Four Pillar Deities, please heed my command!"