“Last Words.”
In his sleep, Xia De’s consciousness gradually returned with the repeated sounds.
In a daze, he realized that he was once again standing on the boundless field path, looking up at the huge silver Moon disc in the starry sky.
“Am I dreaming?”
At this moment, “she” spoke in the dream:
“Outsider, you have received a piece of information.”
“What?”
Xia De on the field path asked blankly, fully awake in the dream, looking around in surprise:
“How did I dream of this place again?”
“Through an unknown relic and method, communication has been established with you, and a piece of information has been transmitted to you.”
As the words fell, the voice that had echoed countless times before clearly resounded in the dream again:
“Xia De Hamilton, open your eyes quickly. I am Latt Augustus. These are my last words, sent to you from the world of the dead.”
“Priest Augustus?”
Xia De in the dream only felt his scalp tingle. He heard the words clearly, but couldn’t understand:
“Priest!”
He turned around, but there was no one on the field path under the Moonlight. Priest Augustus’s ethereal and hoarse voice was still repeating. Xia De looked around blankly, then suddenly looked up and raised his hand:
“Destiny Ring!”
As steam surged, the rapidly spinning Destiny Ring appeared behind Xia De. The Destiny Ring under the Moonlight seemed to be plated with a layer of silver, but this time there was no sound at all.
“Echo!”
The Ling Rune, imbued with the first drop of divinity, suddenly emitted a dazzling golden light. In this light, Xia De used a Miracle:
“Soul Echo!”
On the field path under the Moonlight, where only Xia De had been, a blurry figure gradually took shape.
“It really works.”
Xia De thought to himself.
The transparent body of Priest Augustus finally took shape under the illumination of the spiritual light. He stood in front of Xia De, looking around in surprise, then looked up at the sky:
“Xia De, where is this?”
“This is my dream.”
“This dream, why does it look so strange?”
The Priest looked even more surprised than Xia De.
“That’s not important, Priest, what exactly happened?”
Xia De asked in confusion. The Priest’s phantom stopped gazing at the Moonlight above his head, coughed, and looked into Xia De’s eyes.
The Outsider suddenly had a very bad premonition.
“Oh, Xia De, yes, time is short, let’s get straight to the point. I am very happy that you were able to let me see you one last time. This must be the blessing of my Lord. It’s like this, the matter is very simple, I am dead, and I am conveying my last words to you.”
“What?”
The expression on Xia De’s face froze.
“My time is short, do not ask questions.”
The Priest raised his hand to stop Xia De from speaking. His speech was very fast:
“I have already arrived in Middlesburg, and then for some reason, I crossed the boundary of death, and then I died. In short, you don’t need to think about saving me, there is no such possibility. It’s only because of the characteristics of the relic, my Miracle 【Last Words】, and that I once gave you my power, that I can contact you now. These are my last words, please remember them well.”
He coughed, giving Xia De no chance to ask questions:
“There’s no need to look for my body. Please supervise the donation of all my property to the Dawn Church Tobesk Diocese. My potion workshop is left to you, Xia De, you need this.
Also, the Level 0 relic I buried in the church, have Annette find a way to dig it out. Don't leave it in the church indefinitely.
Although there is no body, I hope to have a tomb in Tobesk. Just bury my clothes in it. I once discussed the location of the tomb with the doctor; just tell him directly.
Finally, I promised to donate some cotton quilts to the Sunshine Orphanage in Tobesk in winter. I hope you contact Bishop Owen and donate those quilts in your name.”
“Priest—”
Xia De reached out, but his hand passed through the Priest’s transparent body.
Priest Augustus looked at Xia De regretfully. Under the enormous silver Moon disc above his head, his body rapidly became more transparent:
“Xia De, I’m very sorry, I am truly dead. Please accept this fact.”
He smiled at Xia De, but his eyes were full of sorrow:
“Each of us can die, can’t we?”
Xia De couldn’t accept it. He opened his mouth, but found himself speechless, unable to utter a word.
“Don’t be sad for me. All mortals die, and all things come to an end. Xia De, I am already very content to have lived to this age. It was a pleasure to meet you, and also Schneider, Annette, and Louisa. You all made my later years so interesting. Xia De, seeing you at the end was something I never expected.
Farewell.”
A black hole silently appeared behind Priest Augustus. Countless transparent hands reached out, grabbed Priest Augustus’s body, and pulled the extremely faint figure into the darkness behind.
Those hands seemed to greatly fear the light of the huge silver Moon above, but even so, they still grabbed the Priest under the Moonlight.
“No!”
The Moonlight from his hand flew out, but it only passed through those arms, as if they were just phantoms.
Xia De reached out again, wanting to grab the Priest, but his hand passed through the Priest’s transparent body. Looking again at the hole from which countless arms extended, dark, desolate, death. Xia De in the dream actually shivered, as if he had truly seen the concept of death itself.
“Outsider, you have gained insight into “death.””
The Priest was pulled into the darkness by those hands. The Moonlight illuminated the hole, and then the hole disappeared, leaving only Xia De maintaining the posture of wanting to grab Priest Augustus. The Priest’s voice seemed to Echo in his mind.
“Priest Augustus, dead?”
He asked himself.
“No!”
He suddenly sat up from the bed, startling the cat beside his pillow.
“What just happened?”
He panted, asking in his mind, his eyes looking around his bedroom in the darkness, feeling his back already drenched. The curtains were tightly closed, but a faint morning light could be seen through the gaps in the curtains. A night had passed.
Mia stood up and patted Xia De’s hand on the bed with her small paw. She seemed to want to comfort him.
“The other party entered your dream. You made their soul briefly appear through “Echo.” You can sense the subject’s soul characteristics; it is your friend.”
“Priest Augustus? Is he really dead?”
In the dream, this fact felt somewhat illusory. After waking up and thinking about it, Xia De felt even more that the situation was absurd. He didn’t understand, completely didn’t understand. He had just won the “Big City Player 1853” championship, and Priest Augustus had only gone to Middlesburg on a business trip. Why did the Priest suddenly die?
“There is a subtle difference between a dead soul and a living soul. He is indeed not alive, but he is not yet dead.”
“What do you mean?”
Xia De noticed the meaning in the words.
“He is in a subtle state, between death and not yet dead.”
“Can he still be saved?”
“Cannot give an answer, but his distance to death is closer than a Ring術士’s distance to ‘another self.’”
Xia De got out of bed and pulled open the curtains. Faint morning light could already be seen outside. It was 6:10 AM:
“Dawn, death, Priest...”
He clenched his fists and looked at his reflection in the glass, wearing pajamas:
“Priest, if I don’t let you die, you can forget about dying! Next stop is Middlesburg!”
