Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 940 - 57 The Call of Illusion

Chapter 940: Chapter 57 The Call of Illusion

"Would you change just because someone else’s perception of you changed?" Catheria gave Pannis an unimpressed look. "Once we are born, we are independent souls. How could we possibly change based on someone else’s perception? Think about those deities born from belief. Essentially, we are the same as them."

"After birth, do you become independent from belief?" Pannis said thoughtfully. "If that’s the case, then even if all the books carrying your legends were destroyed, or say, no one remembered you anymore, you would still, like those deities, only fall into weakness due to the direct attack on your essence, instead of ceasing to exist completely, right?"

"We wouldn’t even become weak," Catheria said. "Those deities become weak due to the cessation of belief because they can gain greater power from belief. When the belief ceases, their intrinsic power can’t sustain the consumption of their vast Divine Kingdom, so naturally they fall into weakness. We are different; the approval of the audience doesn’t bring us power. Since we don’t gain anything, logically, we won’t lose anything if the approval ceases, and of course, there is even less chance of ceasing to exist."

"Uh, then what the heck has Lina been frantically searching for you over these years for?" Pannis said with a wry smile. "I thought your books were out of print and that without the medium and the approval, you would deteriorate. But it turns out that’s not the case. Why didn’t you tell her that and spare her the worry each time?"

"We can’t take all the blame for that," Catheria said with an apologetic smile and explained, "The child is so worried, not because we would disappear, but because she can only communicate with us through books."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Pannis felt overwhelmed and asked in confusion, "Aren’t you residing in the library within her Psychic World? Then why communicate through books?"

"How do you know we live in the library? Oh, surely the child told you," Catheria sighed. "That’s actually a boundary set by the child herself, and we can’t change it. Although we are all temporarily residing deep within her heart and can communicate with her at any time, she believes that she can only see us and hear our psychic whispers when she holds books. She’s convinced of this so much that those friends of hers she has yet to recover could stand in front of her in her Psychic World, unseen and unheard by her."

"Even if you tell her, it won’t work?" Pannis stroked his chin with a question in mind, but then he immediately invalidated his own thought, "I’m afraid not. It’s a deeply ingrained belief; it’s probably hard to change."

"Yes, incredibly hard," Catheria nodded in agreement. "We tried before, but to no effect. In fact, it was an accident that we were able to communicate with her at all."

"An accident?" asked Pannis. "This is the first I’ve heard of this; Lina never talked about your past in detail."

"Heh, that’s probably because she doesn’t fully understand our existence," Catheria said with a smile. "After all, the knowledge of our existence is rare; her confusion is quite normal."

"Indeed, few people know about it; at least, I’ve never heard of such beings," Pannis nodded. "Where did you live before moving to Lina’s Psychic World? And those of your kind who were not recognized or accepted by Lina, they wouldn’t be able to move into her psychic space, right? So where are they?"

"I can’t give you an answer to that," Catheria shook her head. "Because it’s a world beyond your understanding, or to say, the current common language can’t describe that place. Hmm, you could imagine it as a world formed of the fantasies of all living beings from ancient times to present. All of our kind live in that world until resonance occurred between this child and us. Curiosity brought us to her side, and eventually, we moved into her Psychic World. Perhaps many years later, when she leaves this world, or when her heart is no longer pure and can no longer communicate with us, we will return to our original world and resume our former lives. Of course, there might be other possibilities in the future, but those will be decided when the time comes."

"Wait, a pure heart?" Pannis paused, pondering, then said, "That term seems to clarify something for me."

"Hehe, it looks like you’ve got it," Catheria covered her mouth with a light laugh. "Actually, our existence isn’t truly unknown; it’s often only those with a pure heart and simple thoughts who can sense us and communicate with us. But their relatives and friends can’t perceive us, so their descriptions of us are often treated as imagination, and they are regarded as being in a state of delusion, with everyone trying to change them, to bring them back to ’normal’. Over time, those who could communicate with us either succumb to the influence of their loved ones, resisting us from within and eventually closing the door of communication, or they maintain their beliefs, but end up ostracized and distanced by everyone, finally becoming truly abnormal due to inner turmoil. After such events happen often enough, we’re also reluctant to interact with gifted individuals; after all, being able to communicate with us means they truly like us, and how could we bear to let their affection bring them pain and loneliness?"

"Mm, indeed, Lina is special," Pannis nodded. "Not everyone is like Catherine, who can accept and embrace her seemingly insane and eccentric behaviors. But back then, you wouldn’t have known she would meet Catherine, right?"

"Of course not, but that time was special," Catheria explained. "Loneliness and solitude had started to make her truly abnormal; after all, besides her deities, she had no one else in that vast library. So, she fantasized daily, imaging life with us, as if we were always by her side, even imitating our actions and repeating every word we’d said."

"So, you really came because of that?" Pannis asked. "Called over by her fantasy?"

"Yes, her longing was too intense," Catheria sighed. "So intense that it made us curious to see what kind of person she was."(To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it at Qidian (qidian.com) with recommendation and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)