“No matter if the main city of the Garden Area is taken down by the Spider Tower and the Oasis, the Garden legion, which is already on high alert, is definitely concentrating its forces and wouldn’t dispatch a commander to retrieve resources. This is our opportunity…”

Ashe’s analysis was spot on. He followed the Garden map to scavenge resource points, which were filled with social creatures that hadn’t retreated and abundant resources.

Moreover, he noticed that the resource volume in the Garden Area was nearly two to three times that of other areas. There are two possibilities for this: either the resource harvesting cycle in the Garden is two to three times longer than other factions, causing a massive pile-up of resources, or the social creatures in the Garden Area are two to three times more efficient in gathering resources, allowing them to collect multiple times the resources within the same cycle.

After looting several resource points, the Truth balance gradually tilted towards the second possibility.

Compared to social creatures in other areas, those in the Garden Area may not have a significant increase in combat power, but their tactical insight and teamwork capability were far superior. When Ashe’s group tried to lure the social creatures into a narrow passageway to block and kill them, the creatures hid inside the mine cave and didn’t come out. They even gave Ashe a disdainful look, as if to say, “How naive are your deceptive tactics?”

Furthermore, Ashe discovered that the mine caves in the Garden Area were much more complex than those in other areas. The interiors had numerous interconnected tunnels, and a moment of carelessness could lead to ambushes from all directions.

Although they eventually emerged victorious, the danger level of these fights was several times higher than that of ordinary resource points. And keep in mind that they were three sorcerers, capable of defending all directions by standing back-to-back. For a lone sorcerer attempting to challenge such resource points, it would be an overwhelming task, likely resulting in being surrounded and killed, or worse, torn apart and consumed by the social creatures, with no hope of recovering their soul for at least half a year.

In the most dangerous encounter, after Ashe’s group scattered the monsters at the entrance and ventured into the mine cave’s passages, the other social creatures actually tried to collapse the mine cave to bury them alive. If it weren’t for the sword Princess unleashing a deadly “Blood Moon Shattered Lake” attack to blast through the rubble, they might indeed have met their demise inside.

These complex passageways were definitely not naturally formed. Upon closer inspection, Ashe and his team could see clear claw marks dug into the walls.

All signs indicated that the social creatures in the Garden Area had intelligence levels very close to that of sorcerers. This intelligence not only aided them in combat but also in production, naturally resulting in the Garden Area’s resource growth rate being several times that of other regions.

“…No wonder the books ‘Golden Rain Observer,’ ‘The Second Secret Record,’ and ‘Under the White Bull’ all mention the hypothesis of ‘Virtual Realm Civilization.’ They likely suffered significant losses to Garden Creatures, which strongly convinced them that virtual realm creatures possess the intelligence to establish civilizations…”

Sonya, while validating the correlation between virtual realm observations and real-world data, fed ‘Heartless Silver’ to the Sword of Killing Intent spirit. The Sword of Killing Intent is a spirit that belongs to both the Swordsmanship and Mental sects, roughly in a 6:4 ratio. Thus, feeding it advanced Mental material like ‘Heartless Silver’ was also effective.

The red-clad sorcerer spirit, who wields two swords, suddenly burped. A second blood-colored wing sprouted from its back, its red clothing acquired an additional black-gold mantle, and its twin swords transformed into more ferocious curved blades. The spirit’s appearance shifted from a gloomy male to an androgynous female.

“The Sword of Killing Intent has advanced to two-wings,” Sonya noted as she inspected the spirit in front of her, shaking her head. “Doesn’t quite resemble me. My eyes aren’t this cold.”

Generally speaking, any spirit humanoid summoned by a sorcerer would mirror the sorcerer’s gender (except in cases of gender identity discrepancies) and would also bear features of the summoner. External spirits, when advancing in the hands of a sorcerer, would also gradually align their appearance and gender with that of the sorcerer. If a spirit advanced consecutively under sorcerers of different genders, its gender might indeed change multiple times.

“Congratulations, Sword Princess!”

“Congrats.”

“Thank you,” Sonya replied, retracting the Sword of Killing Intent and giving them a bright smile. “I’ve collected all the necessary essences. I’ll head back to the vehicle and wait for you.”

Watching the Sword Princess leave, Ashe and Deya felt like adventurers who had just seen a terrifying evil dragon fall asleep; the tension they had been holding finally eased, and they couldn’t help but breathe a long sigh of relief.

They even felt a bit weak in the knees and had to lean against the wall, hiding in the shadows where they couldn’t be seen from the outside.

Deya couldn’t help but ask, “Observer, do you have any idea why the Sword Princess suddenly changed like that?”

“I’ve only met the sword Princess in the virtual realm, just like you. If you have any clues, then I have them too,” Ashe said, his eyes flickering.

Deya didn’t suspect anything. Although the sword Princess suddenly seemed very intimidating, it wasn’t specifically targeting the Observer. Moreover, as the Observer said, their interactions were limited to their time in the virtual realm. If the Observer had upset the sword Princess, wouldn’t there be some telltale signs? It’s unlikely that the Observer angered the sword Princess in the real world.

“So, do you have any solutions, Observer?”

“Not at the moment.”

“Well, I have a solution that requires your cooperation.”

“For real?” Ashe was excited and almost grabbed the Witch’s shoulders but stopped himself. “No problem, I’ll definitely cooperate!”

“Then there’s no problem,” Deya said. “Here’s my plan: First, I’ll sit in the front seat of the sports car.”

“Uh-huh, uh-huh!”

“Then, you’ll sit in the back seat with the sword Princess.”

“Uh-huh… huh?”

“Finally, we endure until tonight’s virtual realm exploration is over. If the sword Princess is still in a bad mood tomorrow night, we’ll repeat this process.” 𝙧α

“Uh… uh-huh??”

Ashe was dumbfounded. “How is this a solution? It still doesn’t resolve the sword Princess’s issue!”

“Well, my problem’s solved. If yours isn’t, that’s your issue.” Deya waved her fist threateningly. “You already agreed to cooperate, and breaking your word means swallowing a thousand needles… Besides, the sword Princess is your operator, so you need to take responsibility! Just don’t come to the front seat, or I’ll hit you!”

With that, the Witch darted away, not giving Ashe any chance to back out.

Although he felt tricked by the Witch, she had a point. If the sword Princess had a problem, Ashe was the one primarily responsible. The sword Princess was his operator, not the Witch’s. More importantly, Ashe knew deep down that he was the Source of Calamity causing the sword Princess’s sudden personality shift.

Although the ‘Treat with Sincerity’ Miracle couldn’t read thoughts, by observing the sword Princess’s expressions, Ashe knew she had already guessed most of what he was feeling based on his emotional fluctuations.

In this matter, Ashe didn’t dare underestimate a woman’s intuition. Back in middle school, his mom had instantly spotted his slight crush on his desk mate and squashed it promptly (since his grades had started slipping). Moreover, the sword Princess’s intuition was endorsed as a Personal Skill in Aurora’s Sorcerer Handbook: the Dark Insight.

Ashe knew he couldn’t hide his feelings. Just as he would flash back to the moment of color in the sword Princess’s eyes frozen in the black and white static domain when confessing to Annan, now his tongue still lingered on the blissful memory from a few hours ago.

He could effortlessly navigate between departments, masterfully deflect blame in reports, and even sincerely deceive project managers, but he couldn’t apply those same maneuvers to his emotional life. If his relationship skills were even ten percent of his work skills, his only nightlife wouldn’t be overtime, and he wouldn’t always watch movies alone.

What to do, what to do… Honestly, Ashe was panicking. He had never seen the sword Princess this angry before. Even when arranging a Summoning Ritual with sincerity, she hadn’t been this scary.

Usually, the sword Princess wouldn’t miss a chance to prevent him from being alone with the Witch. Yet earlier, she left without a backward glance, her resentful attitude making Ashe worry she’d explode at any moment.

Most unnerving of all was how the sword Princess behaved as though nothing had happened, continuing their adventures and battles, explaining the virtual realm, and even…

…even seeming more polite and responsible than before.

Once they had harvested the mercury from the resource point, Ashe glanced at the Witch and the sword Princess seated in the front and back seats, respectively. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves and carefully slid into the back seat.

The sword Princess shot him a glance, and Ashe felt a massive weight on his chest. If she showed any anger, he’d risk a beating from the Witch to sit in the front again. However, the sword Princess said nothing, merely looking ahead calmly. Ashe exhaled in relief and opened the virtual realm map to continue exploring the Garden Area.

“Captain.”

Both Ashe and the Witch were startled. Ashe quickly responded, “What is it?”

“We still owe ourselves two maps, one of which is the Oasis. Now that the Oasis and Spider Tower have allied, if we attack the Garden’s main city, the Oasis-Spider Tower legion will surely show up together. This will be our chance,” Sonya pondered aloud. “Compared to resources, isn’t the Oasis map and the commander’s handbook more important?”

Switching to the main topic, Ashe also became serious and explained, “We’re collecting maps to find the Rainbow Tail, but relying solely on the Rainbow Tail is really too risky. Moreover, gathering resources is crucial for upgrading the various peripherals of our sports car, ensuring that in future main city battles, we can navigate the battlefield more safely and confidently.”

“I see,” Sonya said, suddenly understanding. “If we can’t find the Rainbow Tail in the end, we can still take advantage of the sports car and soul summoning spirit to benefit from main city wars. So the sports car is indeed more important. Speaking of which, although the Starburst Warrior suits me very well, it doesn’t fit you all… Witch, if you were to design a troop, what would you want?”

Deya perked up at that topic. “First, I’d want enhanced melee damage. The armor doesn’t need to be thick, but I need two specific Troop Skills. One that recovers armor by killing other units, and another that boosts movement speed. My battle strategies differ greatly between duels and chaotic fights. During chaotic battles, I usually use the Water-born Thread to pull enemies together and create chaos, so speed becomes critical…”

Ashe, equally enthused, joined in the discussion. Ever since he learned about the troop system, he had fantasized about the ideal troop for himself, much like when you play a card game and can’t help but design your own cards. Surely, the balance might be terrible, but the reality doesn’t demand meticulous balance.

Cheerfully, they arrived at the next resource point. Deya, who was still brimming with ideas for her fourth troop, reluctantly got out of the car. At this moment, Ashe hesitated before saying, “Witch, you go in and try to lure the monsters out first.”

“No problem!”

After Deya disappeared into the mine cave, Ashe adjusted his mood and mustered the courage to speak to the sword Princess, “Sword Princess, I’m sorry.”

The atmosphere had been cheerful and lively on the way here, with the sword Princess chatting and laughing, not avoiding interaction with him. Ashe felt she might not be as angry anymore, so he seized the chance to clarify things with her.

He had prepared several plans, ready to respond whether the sword Princess was angry, displeased, or ready to lash out.

However, her response was still beyond Ashe’s expectations.

“Why are you apologizing to me?” Sonya asked with a smile.

Ashe was taken aback. “Be… because you seemed very upset. Actually, in reality, I’m—”

“What happens in your real life has nothing to do with me,” Sonya said, looking at the mine cave calmly. “I can neither see it nor hear it, and I certainly can’t interfere with it.”

“Besides, I should be the one apologizing. It wasn’t right for me to test you with a Miracle out of the blue.” She looked genuinely remorseful. “If I put myself in your shoes, if someone suddenly tested me like that, I would be very upset and angry. I’m really sorry.”

Ashe quickly responded, “I’m not mad at you.”

“But I still feel sad, just as sad as you felt when I tested you.” Sonya met Ashe’s gaze. “An apology only counts if the other person feels just as sad.”

“You don’t need to take such a solemn and formal attitude with me. After all, we’re just teammates in the Virtual Realm, partners in adventure. We don’t interfere in each other’s real lives; we only need to fulfill our responsibilities within the Virtual Realm.”

“Beyond that, we don’t have, and can’t have, any other relationship.” Sonya touched Ashe’s hand lightly. “See, I can’t even feel your body temperature.”

“The Witch is coming out. Looks like the knowledge creatures here are too clever to be lured out. Let’s end the chat here.”

“Let’s move on, Captain.”

Watching the sword Princess’s back, Ashe stood in silence for quite a while before catching up.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay