Sonia lay quietly on the bed with both hands on her chest and eyes shut tight. The sun shone on her long hair, reflecting a sorrowful, hazy luster. If one looked at her now, one would think that she was just in a slumber and would awake to anyone calling her. But the ghastly blood and wound on her chest clearly showed the truth: the young lady was dead.
Rhode strolled into the room and went up to Sonia, caressing her cheek gently. Sonia’s skin was soft and ice-cold. Rhode’s fingers slid across her cheek, her smooth, long hair, and stopped at the corner of her lips. If she were an ordinary human, her corpse would have stiffened within a few hours of death and begun to rot. But there weren’t many ordinary humans under him. He had gotten Alice to set Sonia in place to the moment before her death. History didn’t flow, but continued to pause in silence instead. It was as though the inked pen recording history was placed to the side before it was about to put a full stop. Due to this reason, Sonia’s corpse didn’t rot and decay. Her history was temporarily fixed to a point in time, so there was no way to continue creating the past. In this case, it naturally wouldn’t welcome the present nor future.
Rhode had complicated emotions gazing at Sonia. In fact, in terms of value, she was ranked behind Marlene, Lize, Anne, and the others. Rhode and Sonia didn’t have a proper, romantic relationship, to begin with. As she was an enemy from the start, Rhode wasn’t in the mood to treat her ‘gently’. To him, Sonia was only a useful chess piece and slave. He didn’t pay as much attention to Sonia as he did the others because she simply existed to watch Lilian grow and take his place in monitoring and protecting her.
It should have been this way. But now, things became a little different to him…
“Big Brother, you seem to be in a complicated mood.”
A crisp, bell-like sound rang in his ear. Upon hearing his younger sister’s words, Rhode shook his head slightly.
“You don’t understand; she’s unlike the rest. She’s…”
“I’m aware.”
“You are?”
Rhode was taken aback by the surprising answer. After the melodious voice let out a crisp chuckle, she continued to speak proudly: “That’s right, Big Brother. I’ve become one with your system; I can see every piece of information about you. Of course, that includes the things that you’ve done to her. I didn’t expect you to have this unpleasant side. I’m surprised, Big Brother.”
“Ugh…”
Rhode felt somewhat awkward. In fact, there were some things he didn’t want his younger sister to know. Even though he knew that his younger sister was a Void Dragon with more experience and such things wouldn’t be regarded highly by her, he couldn’t help but feel rather embarrassed. But his younger sister seemed to empathize with his feelings because shortly after, the pleasant chuckles turned into a warm, gentle response: “But don’t take it to heart, Big Brother. Be it Sonia, Canary, or anyone… Continue to treat them the way you used to. I’ve told you, Big Brother, I’m only a spirit fragment. If you pour too many emotions into me as if I’m my original self, it will become a burden to me instead. Even though I’m my original self, I’m also not my original self; I’m aware of this. So, Big Brother, please don’t value me as highly. Take Canary and Bubble, for instance. If you can’t forget about their original selves when you speak to them, how do you think they will feel about it? From a certain standpoint, they are the same as me.”
“This…”
Rhode was taken aback. Regarding this problem, he found it rather challenging since the start despite not showing it. Reasonably, he couldn’t possibly bring them to this world, not to mention whether or not he could achieve it. But even if he could, he wouldn’t. To a certain degree, he felt more relaxed that it was in fact Canary’s and Mini Bubble Gum’s avatars that arrived. After all, they had their own families and if he were to drag them into this world without any warning, he would have tremendous pressure on his shoulders as this meant that he had to bear many responsibilities that weren’t meant to be his. Besides, they were from two different worlds, after all. Bubble’s avatar would probably grumble about being bored from time to time for not having Internet access and games. Perhaps if he were to bring the real Bubble into this world, she would miss home in a few years.
And most importantly, no matter if it were Canary or Mini Bubble Gum, they knew that they were only avatars. Rhode didn’t know their thoughts about this, but according to his younger sister, they didn’t seem willing to be deemed as their true selves.
In this case, these avatars could lessen Rhode’s guilt, in the very least. Besides, no matter how he looked, they were the same as their original selves and there was no need to trouble himself over this problem. As for his younger sister…
Forget it. Now isn’t the time to consider this problem.
Rhode shook his head at this thought and threw these thoughts to the back of his head. Perhaps just as his younger sister mentioned, he should be more relaxed. But… he felt rather complicated to Sonia’s issue. Just as he said to his younger sister earlier, Sonia was like a useful chess piece. But after he learned that Sonia risked her life to bring Lilian back to the Void Territory, he realized that he might have the need to re-evaluate his relationship with her.
This was also why he didn’t resurrect Sonia immediately and had gotten Alice to temporarily ‘set her in place’. If he didn’t care about her at all, he could simply make Bubble or Lize cast a great resurrection spell on her. This way, he would be even with her. But now, he thought that perhaps he should make Sonia go one step higher?
What exact thoughts did she have to bring Lilian back to me?
Perhaps he wouldn’t figure out the answer for the rest of his life.
But he had to resurrect her. First, she was his subject and second, she was a very important person to Lilian. In Rhode’s plan, Sonia played an essential part to convince Lilian to not give up on the Light Mainland. The importance of Sonia exceeded Lydia, but Rhode had no intention of simply resurrecting her because her strength was too weak. Besides, there was a chance that the resurrected would die again right after resurrection. Once or twice was fine, but who could tolerate any more? In this case, the best solution was to ensure Sonia wouldn’t die again.
Of course, turning her into an undead creature was also one of the solutions. But considering the fact that Sonia had to stay by Lilian’s side, it might end up as a tragedy because even if Lilian didn’t mind, her attributes as the Light Dragon would unknowingly hurt Sonia as an undead. In this case, there was only one way left.
Summoning card.
After turning Sonia into a summoning spirit, she wouldn’t die again. She could live her life like a normal human and not only that, but a spiritual connection would be built between Rhode and her. In the future, if anything were to happen to Lilian, Rhode could be informed instantly, unlike earlier on when he couldn’t find it despite searching for half a day. There weren’t phones in this world. If he didn’t make Alice give Sonia the special necklace, perhaps he would have lost even more. Now that he thought about it, he felt like Sonia did great. She calmly led Lilian away from the parliament’s chase and escaped to the border region from Casabianca. Not anyone could achieve this.
Not only that, but after becoming a summoning spirit, she could possess her own abilities, which would come in handy during battles at the very least. Besides… she would stay closer to him.
Rhode knitted his brows at this thought. But eventually, he silently stroked Sonia’s cheek and raised his hand. A dazzling summoning ritual appeared instantly, enveloping him and the entire room. Rhode lowered his gaze to the young lady and softly summoned.
“Be awake… Sonia.”
Shortly after, a line of system prompt appeared before him.
[Spirit Language. Activate]
Along with Rhode’s summon, Sonia’s body gradually emanated a gentle, golden radiance that blended as one with the summoning ritual, slowly strengthening as light spots flickered in the air, transforming the room into a dreamy scene. Shortly after, Sonia’s body was completely surrounded by the light spots, before breaking down and vanishing into thin air entirely. The gentle radiance dimmed and a beautiful, green card appeared in Rhode’s hand.
