Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 1723 - 1722: The Demon’s Hint

The dialogue between the cat and the demon finally started to smell like gunpowder. Megan and the two brothers were ready for battle, but after the cat and demon looked at each other for a while, a hair was plucked out again.

After the cat’s hair rubbed against Megan’s clothes, a silver, rust-covered Crown of Thorns fell onto Megan’s shoulder. The dense Miracle Element made Megan and Audrey’s weakened souls almost see the descent of an angel for a moment, but it was all fake. What landed on their shoulders was just a Thorn Ring.

Shard didn’t say anything. The "Giant Spirit" was silent for a moment and nodded to indicate understanding:

"Since you’re so confident, let’s resolve this peacefully. However, unlike last time, when one wish got you out of here, my power is now stronger. You must make three wishes. They must still be wishes that neither alter reality, seek material, nor pursue change. Such wishes cost the least from you. Speaking of which, your sins are greater than last time."

It probably noticed the "indifference," but Shard didn’t continue this topic:

"What cost will you take?"

"You’re really cautious. Not your soul, but your sins, don’t you have plenty of those?"

Shard nodded and looked at the two brothers on the other side of the Giant Spirit:

"Do you have any questions?"

Shard just wanted some references, but the two brothers quickly shook their heads, firmly keeping their mouths shut to ensure they wouldn’t make any sound.

"Apoth..."

Intending to say "Miss Apothecary," but then remembered their current role-playing relationship: 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"Sister, do you have any questions?"

Even though Megan and Audrey were both older than him, he was unwilling to play the younger one.

Megan was indeed taken aback by this address, widening her eyes at the cat on her shoulder, but she still replied:

"I’ll listen to you."

"Alright, the first wish: I want to know if your appearance here has any connection to that island over there?"

The cat’s paw pointed in the direction of Central Island, the Giant Spirit nodded:

"There is a connection. A diviner on the island discovered me, then deliberately placed me here, luring the Earl who once owned this land to make a wish. This happened fifty years ago, and he had many reasons for doing so, but I can only tell you one: He knew that fifty years later his descendants would come here and that the descendants would meet me. I was deliberately waiting for you here."

That’s why Shard hated dealing with those High Ring Diviners. Luckily, this time it was the Chosen of Space rather than the Chosen One of Destiny.

The Edwards’s expressions varied, and Shard asked the next question:

"Tell us as much as possible about the diviner on the island."

The blue Giant Spirit clapped its hands and laughed:

"Such a greedy wish, but I appreciate this kind of greed. That diviner is very thoughtful, incredibly thoughtful, and very bold. He has many peculiar collaborators, he himself has even transcended the human form, and his true goal is actually very grand, perhaps he is on the side of justice... by human standards. That’s all I can tell you, but you can wish to continue asking."

The Giant Spirit suggested.

"Transcended the human form? I understand..."

Shard cautiously thought for a moment, still choosing not to continue asking about things already mentioned:

"The last question, who among your clan is on that island?"

The air seemed to freeze for a moment, Megan was the first to understand Shard’s meaning, while the twin brothers looked at him again with wide eyes in astonishment; they didn’t know their ancestor was collaborating with a demon of some sort.

Shard was quite clear that the demon on the island was definitely not the one in front of them. Although the blue Giant Spirit was also a demon, its essence had been transformed into a relic, and Shard could distinguish between curses released by relics and those released by evil spirit demons.

The Giant Spirit grinned and laughed again:

"You knew, I knew you would know. So interesting, so interesting. However, I can’t directly tell you the answer. Do you like riddles? I can give you three hints: the Curse of All Evils, a gigantic Maze, an unsolvable Path."

Shard couldn’t comprehend these hints, but maybe in the afternoon the doctor could understand some things, at least narrowing down the target range.

After three questions were asked, the blue Giant Spirit reached for the Shard Cat, and Shard immediately felt his soul lighten, as if something had been taken away.

"She" softly reminded:

[Outlander, you perceived the "Whisper."]

[Your "Greed (Perfect)" Sin decreased by 0.9 marks.]

If Shard remembers correctly, when he encountered the "Sin Mansion" in Sicarl Mountain last fall, his greed was at 9.9, only second to the Treasure Level "Gluttony." After half a year, his greed must have increased, as Shard desires more, so a reduction by 0.9 is not a concern at this point.

"Are you alright?"

Megan was quite anxious about the "price" paid to the Demon, but Shard shook his head, indicating he was fine.

"She" continued to prompt:

[Outlander, you have gained insight into "Redemption."]

"Do you want to know more? Like what exactly the diviner on the island did, why he brought you here, or perhaps what else exists on the island besides my clan. Do you want to know? Perhaps we can continue trading."

The blue Giant Spirit continued to look at Shard:

"Next, I don’t want your sin. Maybe you can help me collect souls. Yes, the obsessions, greed, desire for war, and pursuit of power of ordinary humans have gathered above this lake. Not to mention, the Great Ode of Destiny will play here, and many interesting souls will gather during this time. Help me collect souls, and I can tell you more."

The twin brothers instinctively closed their mouths but quietly shook their heads at Shard, signaling him not to trade with the demon. Megan was also concerned, but such concerns were unnecessary; Shard had no interest in dealing with a demon that couldn’t even be devoured by a doctor:

"You can tell me anything?"

"Yes, I am nearly omniscient."

The "Giant Spirit" said, followed by the silver cat asking:

"Is that so, regarding the legendary Demon King..."

The colorful mist instantly darted into the bottle, which then leaped towards the water next to the ice surface. But before the bottle touched the water, a slender black chain shot from the cat’s paw, tightly binding the bottle.

When Shard had four Great Sin Runes in the Great Sin Chains, he could completely restrain the demon of escalating desire - Vanny, even though the cat’s current state limited the spellcasting ability, the six Great Sin Runes were sufficient to restrain the demon sealed in the bottle.

"What else do you want to do? I don’t want to answer your questions anymore."

The mist in the bottle gathered into the face of the blue Giant Spirit, pressed against the bottle, looking at Shard, its face twisted, disgustingly ugly. The bottle kept shaking, trying to break free from the chains, but the chains were so filthy and heavy that the three present felt it wasn’t so easily loosened:

"If you can’t answer the previous question, I can ask another one."

The silver cat stared at the demon in the bottle:

"I know a mermaid, I..."

"Though I don’t know if the lady you’re referring to is her, for everyone’s sake, don’t mention that name, absolutely not."

The blue Giant Spirit desperately shook its face in the bottle, both humanoid relics, the suppression of the Unclassified Level [Desire] against its Sage-Level relic is complete, especially since both are related to "water," the principle of relic devouring makes [Desire] almost its nemesis:

"I’ll tell you one more thing, how about you let me go?"

"Of course you can."

With that, the burning cat paw drew a series of demon language runes in the air. This was knowledge Shard learned from the "Malbas Demon Book," a passage to ensure he would hold his promises.

"Once a descendant of the Edwards family encounters me, the prearranged ceremony will trigger. Don’t be fooled by the lack of apparent changes around us; this place has become a spatial anomaly. He pressures his descendants into further discovering and using their talents before the family reunion, digging into the power of their bloodline. Only then can one leave this abnormal area."

The voice of the blue Giant Spirit in the bottle rang clearly in everyone’s ears, and after speaking, it looked at the silver cat. Shard had many more questions, but he knew that one doesn’t really fear him; it’s unwise to have too much interaction with such beings:

"You are free, try not to run into me next time."

"You think I’d want to encounter you?"

The slender chain retracted, and with a thunk~, the bottle fell into the water. When they looked at the water again, the bottle appeared to have melted into the water, disappearing.

"It can move in the water, selectively allowing people to fish it out. Wish Demon, turns out it comes to the hook willingly..."

Thinking this, Shard looked at the brothers opposite him:

"Want to collaborate to leave this place?"

After the relic’s strong Whisper Element slowly dissipated, the spatial anomaly mentioned by the demon was clearly sensed by them. Shard had encountered many spatial anomalies before, but this one was unusually different.

With the naked eye, the lake surface approaching noon’s sun was quite calm, the sunlight reflecting off it was even somewhat glaring. Nothing seemed abnormal to the naked eye, but all three and the cat were Circle Sorcerers with unique spatial talents. When consciousness reached out to contact everything around, they immediately discovered that the space meant to be stable was fragile like glass, any slightest movement might result in a space crack.

This means that just moving nearby may cause effects similar to using "Lagre’s Leap" consecutively.