Chapter 732 Tricks Are Not Necessarily Hostile
The cave looked dark and deep.
Roland had the three magic spiders crawl in.
Thanks to the dark vision of the magic spiders, Roland could see that the walls of the cave were also made of crystal.
However, due to the lack of light in the cave, the crystals weren’t as splendid as those on the surface.
The spiders soon crawled to the depths of the cave, and Roland was rather surprised to see what was inside.
Having played the game for years, he had seen most things in this world, including the gods. There were few things that could surprise him. However, what he saw now was still beyond his expectation.
This place was a spacious underground house, in which there was an assortment of experimental equipment. There was also some wooden furniture at the end of the simple room.
That wasn’t really surprising. What really surprised Roland was the person who lay on a simple bed at the end of the cave.
The person was none other than Jabezo.
Or rather, he was a man who almost looked identical to Jabezo.
As if he sensed Roland watching, the man sat up and glanced at the three spiders. He then stared at the middle one and smiled. “You’re finally here. I’ve been waiting.”
The sound and picture were transmitted back to Roland’s head almost at the same time.
He looked even colder.
The guy knew him. Was he really Jabezo? Also, the guy knew that he was coming? At this moment, Roland felt that he had been bound by the intangible thing that was fate. Last time he had such a feeling, it was when he met Mordenkainen in the branch of time.
After a while, as if he knew that Roland hadn’t moved, the man on the bed said, “Come on in. You are a Golden Son. I can’t kill you. There’s something I want to talk to you about.”
The man sounded quite sincere.
Roland was still considering.
It was true that he wasn’t scared of death as a Golden Son, but he was already level 13 and each death would mean a drop of one level. It would take him six months to one year to get back to this level.
That was a serious problem.
After a while, the man who was likely Jabezo coughed and said, “Come in. I really don’t want to hurt you. I’m losing control over the magic power crystals.”
Fine… Roland decided to take the risk.
That being said, Roland made the necessary preparations such as casting Magic Shield and other buffs on himself before he came in.
But he knew that it was barely meaningful, as even the most awesome buffs and magic equipment wouldn’t be useful against a guy who knew Grand Disjunction.
Unless the equipment was divine, such as the Life Goddess’s Button or the Nether God’s War Scythe.
Such equipment could only be destroyed by a Grand Disjunction that was boosted by divine power.
After all the preparations, Roland flew above the cave on a cloud and then crawled in.
The sea of magic power crystals disrupted the magic power in the area and made the flowing magic power invasive.
It was why the animals that stepped in the area were crystallized.
However, Mages were highly resistant to the invasion. However, controlling magic power was their strong suit.
In the cave, Roland set up a luminous ball and slowly moved forward with his hands on the smooth crystal wall. About ten minutes later, he reached the very end of the cave, and saw Jabezo pale and exhausted on the bed. In the spiders’ night vision mode, the picture was green, so it was hard for him to see other people’s color.
“Thank you for trusting me and coming in.” Jabezo smiled and tried to stand up, but then he fell back to his bed. He breathed heavily for a while and said weakly, “Sorry, but I don’t think I can properly greet you.”
Roland frowned. “You’re still alive? I clearly sensed that your soul was gone.”
“Yes, the other half of me was indeed gone, so I’m about to vanish too.”
Jabezo’s smile seemed rather helpless.
After a brief shock, Roland asked in surprise, “You cut your soul into two pieces?”
“Yes.” Jabezo nodded.
Roland felt a strong headache coming on.
While souls could be regenerated and strengthened, they were all unique.
It meant that there couldn’t be two identical souls in this world.
Even if one cut one’s soul into two halves, and the two halves grew back to the original size and strength, they wouldn’t really count as two souls, they would just be powerful half-souls.
If one of the souls died, the other wouldn’t be able to survive for long.
It was similar to quantum entanglement. The only exception was that they could repair and regenerate the half-soul like liches who knew soul spells well.
Roland clicked his tongue. “You can regenerate your soul. You used to be a Demigod. Don’t tell me you can’t do that.”
“I really can’t,” said Jabezo helplessly. “Because I’m only the soul of my secondary personality.”
Roland was truly shocked.
Up until just now, he had always thought that the Jabezo he killed was the secondary soul.
After all, it didn’t make sense at all that a Demigod would fall in love with an ordinary storm worshipper.
Even if he did, the best he would’ve done was to send a secondary soul to repay the favor.
However, if what Roland killed was the primary soul, it would explain why this soul was dying
“I don’t understand.” Roland’s eyebrows were furrowed. “Why is your main soul out in the world while your secondary soul practices magic here?”
“Because I did fall in love with that woman. I certainly had to let my main soul live with her.”
Roland shrugged. He didn’t say anything, but he wasn’t really convinced.
“I can tell that you don’t buy that.” Jabezo smiled miserably. “You’ve never seen the old lady when she was young, right? I’ll show it to you.”
After that, he raised both hands and waved them.
Roland subconsciously stepped back and waited warily.
But Jabezo didn’t cast any offensive spells. A mist appeared between them, and magic light beamed out. Very soon, a beautiful girl with pink hair appeared in the mist.
Projecting images with mental power… That was an advanced application of mental power. Roland wasn’t capable of doing that yet, mainly because his level wasn’t high enough.
It probably wouldn’t be a problem after he became a Legend.
Roland was still admiring the guy for his skills with mental power. But then he put on a weird expression.
It was because the girl who emerged in the mist was very familiar to Roland. She looked like the younger version of Mystra.
But she wasn’t. They were simply very similar. The only difference was probably the size of their breasts.
The breasts of the girl in the mist were clearly not spectacular enough.
Roland was even more confused.
“You loved Mystra?” Roland couldn’t help but ask curiously, “Then why did you stop her when she became a goddess?”
“I wouldn’t deserve her any longer after she became a goddess.” Jabezo chuckled. “I was too young and cocky back then. I loved her, but I was unwilling to confess my feelings to her.”
Roland knew that it was like when a little boy liked a little girl; he often pulled her ponytail instead of treating her nicely.
So… love education was very important.
“I was woken up by her in the sealed land fifty years ago. At first, I thought Mystra understood my feelings and came back for me,” Jabezo spoke gently, happiness all over his face. “Although I found that she wasn’t Mystra later on, I felt that she was even more likable than Mystra and my life with her was very happy. For her, I was willing to turn into an ordinary man, disguise my face, and grow old with her.”
Roland knew that because of the uniqueness of souls, the two parts of Jabezo could share memories and feelings even though they were far away from each other. “You’re dying. Why do you want me here? Don’t you hate me?” asked Roland in confusion. He had no interest in Jabezo’s love life.
“I didn’t ask you to come,” said Jabezo with a smile. “I didn’t even know you two months ago. It was the remaining power in your body that prompted you here.”
Roland was briefly stunned. A lot of information flashed in his head, and he asked slowly, “Grand Benediction?”
Jabezo put on a strange smile.
Seeing his reaction, Roland calmed down and examined his body and mind. He detected a subtle magic power that covered his body.
It could even partly block his senses.
He wouldn’t even have noticed it if Jabezo hadn’t pointed it out.
At this moment, only three people would have planted the power on Roland, namely the Life Goddess, Nia, and Mystra.
The Life Goddess and Nia wouldn’t do that, because they didn’t know Jabezo well and had no motive to kill him.
So, only Mystra had a reason to do that.
Back in the Realm of Gods, Mystra cast an obscure blessing on Roland. The Grand Benediction must’ve been mixed in with it.
However, Roland wasn’t infuriated.
Even if Mystra cast Grand Benediction on him, so what? She might not mean any harm.
Besides… only an idiot would trust what an enemy said and think that something was wrong with his friend.
Seeing that Roland behaved normally, Jabezo heaved a sigh. “Fine, it seems that you trust Mystra more, and you should.”
“All right, since you’re dying, tell me why you asked me to come here,” said Roland.
“Did you see the chaotic magic power crystals outside?”
Roland nodded.
“That’s a result of me losing control over the natural laws in my possession.” Jabezo vomited blood as he talked, but he wiped it away unconcernedly and continued, “Do you want that ability?”
After a moment of silence, Roland said casually, “I am interested.” “Then do me a favor,” Jabezo struggled to say. “Take my granddaughter away. You can adopt her or ask someone you trust to raise her. I want her to grow into a powerful Mage.”
“Take her away from her parents?” Roland quickly shook his head. “That’s too brutal.”
“I know my son very well. Truth be told, he is not my son at all.”
Roland looked at him in a weird way.
You are a Demigod Mage, yet you don’t feel humiliated at all after being cuckolded?
That was too much for any man to do. “If he’s not your son, then she isn’t your blood granddaughter. Why do you care about her?”
“What if she’s actually my daughter?” Jabezo smiled miserably. Roland understood everything and was quite frightened. “Your family is too wild.”
“My wife cheated on me once when she was young, but she still loved me; it was an accident. She didn’t want that. I held back after realizing that. But the longer I contained myself, the angrier I became.” Jabezo chuckled. “Although I forgave her, I was still angry, so I cheated on her two years ago as a rationalization, so that we would be even, right?” “I still think that your relationship is too complicated.” Roland shook his head.
“You don’t understand. If you want to live a good life, you have to keep an open mind.” Jabezo covered his chest. “Just tell me, will you help me or not?” Roland shook his head again. “Her nominal father is your son, and her blood mother is your daughter-in-law. Taking a child from their parents is too brutal.”
“I know the personality of the son I raised very well. He was born to be mean and selfish. He barely cares about his son, much less his daughter.” Jabezo sounded weaker and weaker. “My wife’s heart is probably half dead after I passed; she won’t care too much about family. My nominal granddaughter and actual daughter will live a miserable life.”
Roland was still reluctant.
“Then how about this.”
Jabezo concentrated a glittering ball with the last bit of his mental and magic power and pushed it to Roland.
The ball seemed warm and not damaging at all.
When it floated to him, Roland touched it with his finger, and the system instantly reacted.
“Unowned special perk detected. Do you want to absorb it?”
Absorb!
Roland instinctively clicked Yes.
He felt warmth all over his body. Then he found that he got a new perk.
Magic Power Crystallization: Your magic power will flow as liquid crystals in your body. Your magic power capacity and efficiency are significantly expanded. Magic Power Regeneration Speed +40%, Magic Power Upper Limit + Your current level*50. Roland was level 13, so his magic power capacity was increased by 650 points.
“Thank you for absorbing it. You can observe my family for a while. If they’re not nice to her…” Jabezo gradually closed his eyes. “You can always take her away.”
After breathing his last breath, Jabezo slowly collapsed on his bed.
He was dying to begin with, and he just gave up his Demigod perk. It was already impressive enough how long he had persisted.
At this moment, his soul was dispersing.
Most Mages would rather not be hung on the Wall of the Faithless, so they would destroy their souls when they died.
Roland was silent for a while. He helped clean the man’s clothes and cover the body with his quilt.
When he was about to leave the cave, he was taken to the Paradise of Magic by a familiar force.
Mystra, with her long pink hair, was looking at him happily.
“Great! You’ve finally killed that deceiving jerk Jabezo.”
Roland looked at her and asked with a smile, “What was the nature of the Grand Benediction you cast on me?”
