Above The Sky
Chapter 584 - 584 553 Ordinary People 33

584: Chapter 553 Ordinary People (3/3) 584: Chapter 553 Ordinary People (3/3) From the beginning, no one thought Ian was in any danger.

Not to mention that Ian was there outside the defense line intentionally to lure the enemy into attacking and capturing the target, having made all the preparations in advance.

His own swordsmanship was also considered excellent; if he had a sharp blade in hand, the attack of the phantom woman wouldn’t have injured him in the slightest, and she would have been cut to pieces in a few strokes.

Moreover, there were two Fae, one large and one small, protecting his safety, including one at the Second Energy Level.

Freeloading?

To freeload on the Fae, that was something many people dream of—besides, could Ian’s situation even be called freeloading?

That was mutual aid between Fae!

At least Ian didn’t feel the slightest bit ashamed.

After all, if it weren’t for him, those Fae would have long since played themselves to death.

Moreover…

freeloading is really tasty.jpg

Lifting his head, Ian looked to both sides.

The mechanically-modified Iron Claw Badger was strong, but not so much that they couldn’t be dealt with by the Spirit Energy User at the Second Energy Level.

Currently, Tres was simply observing the data of this modified Exobeast, and it would be considered a contribution to bring this creature back to camp.

On the other hand, the male phantasm holding a woodworker’s knife was now on the verge of dissipation—he was an aggressive type of Phantasm, originally meant to pair with the Iron Claw Badger, an assault type, to break through the enemy’s formation, while the assassin type, the phantom woman, would shatter the enemy’s counterattacks from the inside out.

Through the information fed back by the Silver Chip, Ian knew that all Phantasms had corresponding prototypes.

Once designed, the power of the Domain of Void would endow these ordinary beings with its force according to various emotions and feelings, transforming them into genuine weapons of war.

However, this design was not yet fully completed.

The technology of the Phantom Army had many flaws.

Ian estimated that they would probably need more than ten years to complete the first step of the plan, and even if Duke of Solin had reached an agreement with the Fiery Flame Land at the earliest opportunity, it had been only about seven years so far.

And there were already quite a few technologies under experimentation.

Such as the ‘Artificial Spirit User’ and ‘Raising the Dead’, which should be overseen by the Spirit Wisdom Institute.

Although the conditions were stringent, they were almost successful.

Another example was the ‘Phantom Army’, which Duke of Solin obtained from Inaga’s Legacy.

Although there were many stringent requirements that could not be normally sustained, many of the supporting technologies had already matured significantly.

But there were undoubtedly many more profound technologies still incomplete in the Avak Laboratory.

Naturally, they were also more dangerous.

Soon, all these vanguards, who were only there to probe, were annihilated, leaving only the phantom woman captured by Ian.

In fact, Ian had also noticed that the male phantasms had very strong emotions, but compared to the woman, they lacked a certain vivacity.

It was highly probable that they could activate the ability to ‘Retrace The Past’, but if Ian did not want to expose his Spirit Energy’s special qualities, he could only choose one.

At this moment, Tres was directing the squad to reorganize their formation and clear the corpses around the camp.

After Ian greeted him, he returned to the laboratory with the Hua’an Frost Butterfly, carrying the Spiritual Body of the restrained phantom woman.

“I want to use Spirit Energy Observation on this phantasm to see if I can find any clues,” he said.

“I might need someone to watch over me, as I’ll be fully focused on my Spirit Energy and oblivious to my surroundings.”

“If there’s an enemy attack, remember to call me.”

“OK.”

Hua’an and the Frost Butterfly had no reason to doubt him.

Ian’s powerful Observational Spirit Ability could indeed see many things invisible to others, and some even suspected that Ian’s Spirit Energy had a certain ‘True Sight’ effect—no form of invisibility, concealment, or even secretive whispers and secrets could escape Ian’s scrutiny.

It was this ability that allowed the young man to make rapid advances in the fields of Alchemy and Inscriptions.

After all, in a situation where many couldn’t even distinguish between fifteen similar shades of red in the Alchemy Matrix, Ian had already become familiar with these materials that seemed to have names labeled on them, and the various reactions that ordinary people had to ‘remember’ were for Ian merely ‘common knowledge’ he had known for a long time.

In fact, this speculation was not wrong.

Foresight View, combined with the Silver Chip, might actually be the effect of True Sight, or even stronger.

This time, Ian was going to use his ability under the pretext of observation.

“Let’s see…”

Inside the small alchemy chamber of the vehicle, Ian stared at the phantom woman sealed within the “Spirit-Sealing Restraints.”

She appeared gentle at first glance, and one could tell she was likely a woman of mild temperament, yet with considerable inner resolve—her projection had been transformed by the Phantom Army into a rather troublesome killer.

It was only because Ian’s true power was so overwhelming that he could easily use her as a sparring partner to hone his martial arts, while simultaneously stalling for time, waiting for Hua’an to cast the sealing spell.

Now, the light of water in Ian’s eyes began to flow.

Then, he saw it.

Hidden within this phantom, behind the soul projection of this mother, lay everything.

He saw what happened in Azure City, what happened to all the ‘ordinary people.’

Ian saw a lot.

[Miles, don’t carry me anymore, let Mom down…

If you carry me, you can’t run away!]

[Stop joking, I still have plenty of strength.

Just carrying you, how could that stop me from escaping?!]

[Please, Miles, Mom is already ill, even if she’s saved…

she probably won’t live much longer.

But if you die, what meaning is there for me to live?]

[Please, Miles, just go…

If not for Cynthia’s sake, Aunt Lydia has looked after us for so long, we can’t let her granddaughter fail to escape.]

[No…

surely…

*panting*…

surely there must be some way, to have the best of both worlds…]

The city was filled with the sounds of hacking, roaring, and sorrowful crying; the once tranquil Azure City was now shrouded in flames and the stench of blood.

On streets where children used to play, there lay the mutilated bodies of children, the spreading White Mist, and the continuously flowing scarlet blood.

A man was carrying his mother on his back, holding a little girl in his left arm, while his right hand wielded a sword, carving a bloody path through a mob of crazed lunatics and animated corpses.

He was ordinary, yet he was not.

He was the most ordinary of all.

He had a mother, family, loved ones who loved him and whom he also loved; he had friends and those he revered.

He had no grand dreams, only to make money and live a good life.

But now, neither the dreams nor the people he wished to repay in those dreams were anywhere to be seen; they had vanished completely.

He was not an ordinary person.

Because ordinary people do not relentlessly practice swordsmanship for nearly ten years out of a childhood dream, let alone actually possess the talent to develop a style of Swordsmanship to boast of among mercenaries.

Neither would an ordinary person have the strength to continue slaying over twenty man-eating lunatics and still have the energy to carry his mother, hold the girl, and charge out of the city, teeth clenched.

He both failed and succeeded.

The man didn’t have that much strength; indeed, he was talented, but without becoming a Sublimator, that talent could not be fully realized—in other words, he wasn’t that powerful.

He couldn’t have it all, taking everyone with him out of the city.

He had to give up one.

Fortunately, yet sadly,

He didn’t have to make the choice himself.

He didn’t make the choice himself.

He couldn’t make the choice himself.

His mother made the choice for him.