Chapter 586 - Dreadline (V) (Patreon)

My mind got a bit all-too-consumed for the two hours the kids spent attacking Wan Lan while she tested out her newfound prowess. I barely caught the few sights of her rebuffing everyone with relative ease, until Long Tao seemed to get a bit too annoyed with her bragging and struck her so hard with the blunt edge of the blade that even I heard several ribs crack as she got flung good two hundred yards across the ground.

While the kids cheered, I sighed, looking at the tiny little thing in the palm of my hand.

It was a worn down, palm-sized bronze coin of sorts, about an inch thick. Along its edges there were strange, unfamiliar letters and even stranger ridges that seemed to have been carved both randomly but also in a pattern. They all rounded the central half-open eye with vein-like protrusions overcoming the upper lid whose color had slowly started to change to moss-green.

Try as I may, I couldn't actually feel anything from it--no Qi, Mana, or any other type of energy. By all accounts and appearances, it was just an ordinary, albeit eerie and strange, coin. The kind that'd have you do a double-take if you saw it in a museum or something, but not much past that.

But the system never lied.

Its function was to literally commune with a spirit.

... how nuts is that?

Rather, I may be the only one who's nuts right now. The moment I read that description, a face that had slowly begun to fade into the recesses of my memory sprung back to the front like a bolt of lightning.

It was stupid, I knew.

But that lasting 'what if' hung above my head. And thus I stared at the rough and aged coin as though it were my ticket to heaven. Realistically, I should probably just give it to Long Tao, or maybe Light. If there's anyone in our little group that could use it in any other way beyond sentimentality, it's those two.

... and yet, I hesitate.

"Your eyes are about to tear a hole in it," at some point, Long Tao had joined me, sitting on the ground across from me. "What is it?"

"A trinket," I said, flinging it over at him. He caught it rather easily and started inspecting it closely. "It allows for a one-time communion with a Soul."

"... huh?" he arched his eyebrows rather far up. I'll probably never get tired of his shocked expressions, to be honest. "Are you... sure?"

"Fairly sure. Why? Do you want it?" if he asks straight-up... I'll just give it to him.

"If I wanted to break your heart," he said with a grin, flinging the coin back at me. "I'd just leave and never come back."

"..."

"Why aren't you using it?"

"I'm scared."

"That it won't work?" he said. "Or that it will?"

"... both," I said, sighing. "Besides, it's a powerful thing. With how vast the lineage of your family extends, Tao'er, can't we use it for something far more beneficial?"

"Really?" he said, smiling faintly. "I'm fairly certain that if you asked any of those kids over there, they'd all proclaim boldly and loudly that there the most beneficial use for that thing would be for you to use it."

"... haah," I sighed yet again, rubbing my temples. It was stupid. I'm almost completely certain it won't work. And yet...

"Use it, Master," he said, his voice... oddly gentle. "We'll be waiting."

And thus he sauntered off, leaving me ever so slightly relieved. I didn't wait for long, however; I knew that if I did, what little conviction I've gathered would have gone up in flames. So, I close my eyes and pictured Yas' face completely. I remembered the exact day of her death. The exact hour. The exact minute. The exact second.

Her name.

Her face.

The way she'd stick out her tongue when looking at something interesting.

Every last detail I could think of, I poured it into my mind and waited.

One second. Two. Ten. A minute.

... there was nothing. No reaction. Even when I opened my eyes, hoping against hope to see something, there was nothing there. No visage, no projection, no familiar, sneering face to tell me what a stupid decision I've made. Just a window with a single message, floating around in front of me.

[--targeted Soul could not be found within the Cycle]

I knew it, deep down. Though I've no idea just how many years have passed since my death back on Earth, it has to have been billions if not trillions. Per that guy's account, there was nothing left in the entire cosmos besides those two black holes and the few planets here.

And though there was plenty of not-so-magical magic back on Earth, there was no Dao.

My hope was, well, me. Somehow, I've found my way to this time and place. And if I could, perhaps...

... haah. Perhaps she'd be flattered to know she was being mourned at least a few billion years after she died.

I sighed and looked up from the ground and at the expanse of clear, blue sky. Somewhere deep down, there was always a struggle between two beliefs. The blind faith that I could somehow, some way figure out how to either go back home, or at least meet with people there again.

And the less hopeful voice that knew it was impossible.

There's a bit of liberty in fully understanding it, I suppose.

The saving grace, at least, is that the coin's still here. I really, really though it'd go up in flames whether it could or couldn't find her.

Welp.

I stood up and stretched, my bones cracking slightly. I'd be lying if I said the knot wasn't there, but it's not as bad as I thought it'd be. Looking over, I saw that the kids were pretending to chatter, though not that convincingly; they must have noticed my quite brooding atmosphere and were worried. The comical sight of them trying to pretend to be doing something did make me laugh though, at least.

Time and people--at least the right people, I guess--truly do heal. Slowly and gently, yeah, but it's a process. Who I was during my last few years back on Earth and who I am today... honestly, I'm not even sure they're the same people.

"M-Master, is, is everything alright?" Xing Feng asked as I joined the kids, summoning the chariot.

"Everything's fine," I said, cracking a faint smile and tousling his hair. "Were you brats worried?"

"N-no, of course not!" Dai Xiu exclaimed. "We know Master can resolve anything and everything in the world!"

"... so, y-you really weren't worried about me? At all?" I put on a fine performance, if I may say so myself, considering that they all jolted in shock as though someone poured a bucket of ice water on top of their heads.

"X-Xiu misspoke, Master! We were terribly worried! So, so worried!" Rayce said, igniting the fire.

"Most worried, Master! I nearly wept from worry!" alright, Wan Lan, you're just taking a piss as per usual.

"Master, I nearly broke a thousand-year-pact with myself not to pray," Lao Shun, you little shit.

"Oh, wow. I didn't know you managed to double your age in the meantime," I said, glancing over at him as grinned. "And the rest of you, your acting skills have dulled! What if we have to resort to our ways from the beginning, and scam--I mean nicely ask people for stuff we need? No good, no good. It looks like I'll have to institute daily acting lessons. Zhao'er, you'll be in charge."

"Yes, Master! I will teach them how to best swindle--I mean nicely ask people for stuff we need in no time!"

"Alright, alright, let's get on, everyone," I ordered during the song of ruckus laughter. There's really nothing quite like having an entire army of brats worry about you, I suppose. Long Tao and I were left to last, and I simply tossed the coin at him.

"... I'm sorry, Master," he said, his voice... creepy. Oh God, hearing Long Tao be so genuinely distraught... it's so creepy.

"I'll forgive you if you never, ever use that voice in my presence ever again."

"Even if I'm using it to steal--I mean nicely ask people for their stuff?"

"... haah. Just get on, you little shit."

At least, beyond all else, I can probably have Lao Shun sell a few of those pills at the auction. Judging by his reaction, they'll probably fetch a nice little price. And boy, do I need some quick influx of cash.

It's like trying to fund a private freakin' military all by myself, I swear.