Chapter 546: Rainbow Artifact

"A sorcerer who has only recently constructed their Sacred Realm can usually clear about two Mirage Bubbles a night. As for experienced Sacred Realm sorcerers like me, with an Upper-Glorious Rainbow Miracle at our disposal, six a night is pretty normal. Ten is about the most we can handle."

"Big Sis Trosan, you're amazing! If you can stay active in the Virtual World for at least five hours and clear ten Mirage Bubbles, doesn't that mean you're clearing one every half hour?"

"That's pretty much it. But there's one thing you need to keep in mind. The battles inside Mirage Bubbles are completely different from anything you've experienced before. Even with a Sacred Realm and the Hidden Hand Secret Blade, I still need at least thirty minutes to gather enough information. If a bubble is particularly dangerous, I might even skip it altogether and move on to the next dream."

"What kind of bubbles are dangerous?"

"Any bubble where you can't find any clues about its affixes."

***

Knowing full well that every warning a sorcerer gave was the summary of countless deaths, Sonya still underestimated the situation. When they failed to find any clues about the affix of the sixth bubble, she nonetheless agreed with the Witch and the others to just brute-force their way through.

It was understandable, really. They had breezed through the first five bubbles. Whether they had found the clues or not, they would simply spend a dozen minutes experimenting before tearing the place apart and forcing a battle.

Across those five bubbles, they had encountered three affixes in total, with each individual bubble featuring one: Bubbles, which made everything extremely slippery; Resonance, which doubled the effects of all spirits; and Megalophobia, which caused every attribute to increase exponentially with size. They were troublesome, but under the protection of their Sacred Realms, Ashe and the others could quickly work out the general nature of each affix. Sometimes, they could even deduce the true meaning of the affix in advance and skip the test.

As long as they could deduce all the affixes, they could clear the Mirage Bubble without having to continue fighting.

Overall, Mirage Bubbles were fairly difficult, yet still within a manageable range.

Moreover, after clearing the fourth bubble, Ashe obtained another treasure from Aurora's Dream Treasury. This time, it was a Rainbow artifact.

[Rainbow Artifact · Insight Glasses]

Description

- The wearer takes 50 percent additional damage. During combat, all units within the wearer's field of vision have a chance to trigger Hyper-Focus. When triggered, the unit's wisdom increases dramatically, and one of three rewards activates.

① Sorcery Class Experience (90%)

② Summon a New Spirit (9%)

③ Invent a New Miracle (1%)

Whenever a successful trigger occurs, the wearer also triggers Flash of Insight.

This Rainbow artifact had no effect on their current combat power, but Ashe and the others desperately wanted to keep it forever. It was practically an EXP farming machine.

Spirits and Miracles were one thing. The greatest weakness of the group of illegal immigrants was their lack of sorcery class experience, which also happened to be precisely the hardest thing to improve.

Ashe could still share everyone's experience through their Bond, while Dia could occasionally experience bursts of inspiration through the omniscience of the Divine Spirit, Gospel. Sonya, however, had no such shortcut. She could only rely on her own talent while Ashe desperately tried to force her progress forward.

Because of the 50 percent increased damage taken, neither the Witch nor the Swordswoman could wear the glasses. That left Ashe and Weiser to choose from.

Having Ashe wear them would be inefficient. Looking at the group as a whole, because of the shared experience from their Bond, Ashe wearing the glasses would only yield a 100 percent net return for the team, whereas Weiser wearing them would yield 130 percent.

Thus, Weiser readily accepted the treasure and promised to keep all three of them within her field of vision.

And she really did.

During the battle in the fifth bubble, all three of Ashe's group triggered Hyper-Focus. The Swordswoman and the Witch, fighting on the front lines, even triggered it three times each.

Because of this, they deliberately slowed down the battle, thoroughly enjoying themselves as they beat the Lava-Scaled Violent Slashing Dragon senseless. In the end, only when the Lava-Scaled Violent Slashing Dragon could not take the humiliation anymore and blew itself up did their brutal assault finally come to an end.

At that point, everyone realized their objective for tonight's Virtual World exploration had changed.

They were no longer trying to make it through the Mirage Bubbles. Instead, they wanted to fight as much as possible.

So when Ashe warned that the next Mirage Bubble might be a little difficult, nobody felt afraid.

There was only greed in their eyes.

According to the description of the Insight Glasses, the more difficult the battle, the higher the chance of triggering Flash of Insight.

The sixth bubble was a space resembling an underground city. After spending more than ten minutes probing it without finding any clues about its affix, they decisively started a battle.

And that was when they finally experienced the true difficulty of the Virtual World.

Slash!

After Ashe scrambled onto a rooftop, the Orc Sacred Realm sorcerer let out a sinister laugh and pointed straight at him. At first glance, nothing seemed to happen, but the space at the very tip of his finger had already been torn apart.

At the same time, the Duskveil Dragon in the sky let out an eerie growl, its enormous, frog-like pupils locking onto Ashe.

Countless dark, self-destructive thoughts instantly flooded his mind. He did not even have time to raise his Sacred Realm before he was left completely at their mercy.

Sonya and Dia immediately rushed over to shield him, while Weiser activated Nothing Happened, helping Ashe break free from the mind control.

Though they narrowly survived the combined assault, not the slightest hint of joy showed on Ashe's face.

This was not the first time he had needed to be rescued. Looking back at the Virtual World creatures pursuing them, he sighed. "I didn't expect our first night exploring the Distant Sky Domain to end in our premature demise."

"This is so disgusting!" Dia complained. "We're just taking hits and can't even fight back! What kind of battle is this?"

The moment they initiated the clash, the sorcerers quickly ran into a severe problem.

Their attacks bounced straight back. The instant any offensive spell was unleashed, it automatically reflected back onto its caster.

Well, that was fine. The Witch had Witness, and the Swordswoman the Hidden Hand Secret Blade, both of which allowed them to launch attacks across a distance. Surely those could still hit the enemies, right?

Then the sorcerers discovered the cruel truth: the Virtual World creatures here, the Duskveil Dragon and the Orc sorcerer, were completely invincible.

They remained utterly immune to all damage and effects. Even the attacks from the Witch and the Swordswoman simply reflected onto themselves. Worse still, the attacks from the Orc sorcerer and the Duskveil Dragon landed with full, devastating effect!

Ashe had even heard the Swordswoman mutter "Little Trumpet," something she hadn't done in a long time. The thought emerged in his mind. How are we supposed to fight this?

If the enemies were merely invincible, they could destroy the surroundings and create deep pits to restrict their movement.

If the only problem was reflected attacks, then everyone could simply attack and have their attacks reflected. They could accept their bad luck and call it a night.

After all, once a battle broke out inside a Mirage Bubble, all spatial gates would become ineffective. Sorcerers couldn't leave the bubble until the battle ended. So they either had to avoid initiating a fight in the first place, or kill the enemy, or be killed themselves.

But now, the enemies were invincible; Ashe and the others had their attacks reflected at them, while the enemies' attacks weren't reflected at all. Even the most shameless protagonist-torturing novel wouldn't dare come up with such an outrageous setup.

Any other solo sorcerer would have been killed instantly by this combination of the Orc sorcerer and Duskveil Dragon. Fortunately, they were fighting as a team, so there was still room to save each other.

Even so, Ashe and the others had all suffered serious injuries. If the enemies caught them off guard again, they would probably be dead.

Ashe and the others were beginning to understand the importance of a Sacred Realm more and more.

A Sacred Realm didn't just allow them to pass through spatial gates. More importantly, it gave them a margin for error against instant-kill attacks!

No wonder a Sacred Realm was considered essential for exploring the Distant Sky Domain. Without Sacred Realm protection, a sorcerer wouldn't have even a moment to react before being instantly killed by enemies enhanced by all kinds of world affixes!

As they desperately fled through the underground city, Sonya suddenly swung her hand backward. Hidden Hand Secret Blade activated silently, but the Orc sorcerer behind them burst into sinister laughter instead. Sonya's own Sacred Realm was automatically triggered, taking the reflected slash in her place.

Taking advantage of the opening, the Duskveil Dragon fixed its gaze on her.

Sonya immediately froze in place, only for Ashe to scoop her up and run.

Thankfully, both Ashe and Weiser had Miracles capable of cleansing abnormal conditions. Ashe used Slash Me on her, and Sonya quickly recovered, saving them from being wiped out long ago.

Even after regaining consciousness, the village girl refused to give up. She activated Hidden Hand Secret Blade twice more.

As expected, Ashe's Sacred Realm took two more slashes, while Sonya exhausted her mana and could only weakly cling to Ashe.

"We're out of options," Ashe said. "Let's execute the ultimate plan."

As one, the Witch and Swordswoman refused. "No!"

The so-called ultimate plan was suicide.

A self-inflicted death caused considerably lighter soul damage than being slain by enemies. Even so, the slightest soul damage would require a Sacred Realm sorcerer to recuperate for at least ten days to half a month. How could Sonya and Dia possibly agree to that?

"As long as we figure out the affixes, we can clear this bubble!" Sonya said through clenched teeth, biting her fingernail. "Let's find a way out of this!"

"Swordswoman, have you recovered?" Dia asked.

Ashe said, "There are at least two affixes here. The first is reflected attacks, and the second is invincibility."

Weiser said, "And not all attacks are reflected, nor is everyone invincible. Both the reflection and invincibility have specific activation conditions."

Sonya asked, "Then what exactly is different about them compared to us?"

Dia was starting to get anxious. "Swordswoman, if you've recovered, walk on your own. The Watcher can't fight properly while he's carrying you."

"Don't rush me. I want to observe exactly how they trigger the affixes."

"Then let me—"

Suddenly, the Orc sorcerer let out a sinister laugh and pointed straight at Dia. Before she could react, the space around her began tearing apart inch by inch.

At the same time, the Duskveil Dragon let out a low growl, locking its gaze onto her to unleash a mental assault.

Yet nothing happened.

Dia simply continued running and naturally dodged the entire combination, without even realizing that she had been attacked.

Ashe and Weiser were both slightly stunned. "Huh?"

Then, at the same time, they triggered Hyper-Focus.

"I understand now," Ashe said. "The condition for invincibility is drama. As long as you make yourself sufficiently dramatic through your words or actions, you become invincible."

"The reflected attack is related to the nature of the attack itself," Weiser said. "All attacks involving tangible objects trigger the reflection. So mental attacks and spatial attacks aren't reflected. Swordswoman, your spatial attack triggered the affix because it leaves behind a faint physical trace."

The moment they finished speaking, two streams of information flowed into their minds.

[Theater Begins: The stage is sacred, and the actors upon it are gods and saints! All actors become immune to all damage.]

[Affix Identification Reward: A small amount of Fate Class experience and a small amount of mana.]

[Limited Affix Privilege: You may voluntarily activate Theater Begins once. The effect lasts for 5 seconds.]

━━━━━━━━━━━━

[Civilized Audience: Do not throw things at the actors! All tangible attacks are reflected at the attacker, while all intangible attacks cannot be blocked.]

[Affix Identification Reward: A small amount of Fate Class experience and a small amount of mana.]

[Limited Affix Privilege: The next attack that targets you will be reflected at the attacker.]

Everyone paused.

The Mirage Bubble hadn't solidified, which meant there was still a third affix.

"It's fine," Ashe said. "As long as we enter the Theater Begins state, we'll be immune to damage. Then we just need to find a way to leave the Virtual World—"

"There's no need," Weiser said. "Since intangible attacks can take effect, we can clear this bubble."

"But your Space Class—"

"Space isn't the only sorcery class capable of intangible attacks."

"They're in the Theater Begins state—"

Weiser suddenly stopped. "Then we'll make them stop acting."

The Thousand Gears spirit within her soul transformed into a brand-new Sound Class spirit, Sound Wave.

Using Illusion and Sound Wave as her primary spirits, she formed a new Miracle, Silent Vibration.

As an inaudible wave swept through the area, the buildings beneath the Orc sorcerer suddenly collapsed.

Unable to maintain his sinister laughter, he fell with them, only to be crushed to death by the sound waves.

Weiser then transformed Thousand Gears into the Wind Class spirit Gale, sending a violent gust of wind into the sky and obscuring the Duskveil Dragon in a cloud of dust.

The moment the Duskveil Dragon revealed a confused expression and stopped its low growl, the gale swept across its body like fallen leaves.

Within a few breaths, the two vicious enemies that had pursued them for more than half an hour were dead.

The sorcerers stared blankly at the scene.

Only Dia recovered first, hurriedly helping Sonya down from the Watcher's arms.