Where there's a will there's a way. After all, didn't Elizabeth overcome the limitations of the Void element, even if she had to sacrifice someone else's life to do so? If the Void Mage could find an immoral way, she could certainly also find an ethical way to mitigate the effects of life loss. Almuji had shown her what she could do;

Gwen pulled out a pendant from under her blouse.

"What can you tell me?"

Moyer's gaze turned away from the glowing jade.

"If you wear it, you're sure to have a safe home delivery. ”

Gwen pinched her father's thigh, causing him to scream.

"I'm serious!"

"You're going to have twins. ”

She pinched him again.

"Okay, okay! hey, hey, not the nose!" Maya deftly avoided Gwen's arm with both hands. Then he jerked and pressed them to her sides. Gwen was caught off guard by the speed of the execution, and for a moment, she felt like she saw a Morey she had never seen before.

Moyer held his vexatious daughter in front of him and looked her sternly into the eyes, making her tremble.

"Are you sure you want to know?"

Gwen swallowed nervously.

"Yes. ”

"Okay, stand up, step aside. Moyer let go of his arms and pointed to the side of the cabin.

Gwen obediently stood by the bed.

"Yes. Moyer took out a cigarette and hung it in his mouth. He dramatically lingered in the doorway for a while, no longer hindered by his daughter's blockade. "I need a cigarette. Wait here. I'll tell you everything. ”

Gwen nodded.

Moyer turned away and disappeared into the hallway.

It took five minutes for Gwen to realize that she had been tricked again. A cry of pain and anger echoed through the deep recesses of the inner bulkhead, and rumors began to circulate that a loose banshee might have come aboard.

Since then, Moyer has avoided his daughter and made excuses everywhere to avoid being trapped in a room alone with her. However, Gwen doesn't give up, and she uses every opportunity to push her father into a corner and blackmail him about his past stories, especially about her mother.

Meanwhile, her CQC training has begun in earnest, with Paul and Taj teaching her the basic physical skills of using touch spells, as well as how to dodge, parry, and retaliate against enemies because they get too close to her for their shields to show.

"So your normal python type is likely to go to fighting," Taj explained when the conversation shifted from human fighting to creatures. "You should know that it is better to encounter a python than a smaller, venomous python because their bite can bring all sorts of nasty surprises. ”

"What if we get bitten?"

"Hopefully Jonas is nearby, I think. Remember that you have the universal antidote syringe in your ring. As we get closer and closer to Singapore, I'll give you a tutorial on how to tell the difference between a normal snake and a venomous snake. ”

"Okay, are you ready to go again?" the Taj Mahal snapped his neck. "I'll try to crucify you, it's your job to get out of the way and get enough distance to catch you, okay?"

Gwen pulled her loose hair back until it was tightly pressed against her head, and tied a thick ponytail at the bottom of her head.

"Alright, let's do it. ”

Having dinner with the captain was an easy way for Gwen to tell the days to pass. Every evening, Captain Tully offered to eat with a serious group as the ship slowly sailed across the open sea.

For the first few days, Gwen had been checking out the scene from the side of the ship, but after three monotonous days, she gave up her trip on deck and instead chose to spend time meditating, harassing her father, and training with others.

"God! you're like your mother!" her father rebuked her with exaggerated rage. "I don't mean that very well. Give a man some peace and space, you made me get cabin heat. ”

On the contrary, the captain is a friendly man who loves to talk about his wife and daughter.

"She's about the same age as you and has actually just started college. ”

Gwen pursed her lips in amusement. "Which one, please?"

Shanghai Metropolitan University. The captain made several cuts in the meat pan on the plate and arranged them in a way that pleased him. "I wanted her to go to Fudan University, but alas, she lacked talent and I lacked connections. ”

"You live in Shanghai?"

The captain chuckled.

"No, no, if you have to know, I actually live on this ship. However, I was registered in Shanghai, which is a perk of my work on the waterway. My job makes me go back to the Metropolitan every three months for a vacation, which is also good. ”

"How's this city?" Gwen asked shyly, noticing that her voice sounded like an outback hillbilly asking what it was like to stand in Times Square.

"It's bigger than you think. "Captain Tully tried to paint a picture for Gwen in the air. "Imagine walking down the Yellow River, with buildings on both sides, as far as the eye can see, full of luminous objects, advertisements and posters of the latest magical objects, fashions and trends. ”

"Nanjing Road, the largest shopping street for the mage, stretches from the Bund to Jing'an Temple, which is 5 kilometers long. The avenue itself is 50 meters wide and shoulder to shoulder packed with people. Hawkers, artisans, famous shamans, all have shops here that sell their wares. Of course, if you have a hard drive management system and a CCs system, no matter what kind of magic item you want, no matter how high the spec or how rare, you can find it here. ”

The captain gave himself a little steak and tried to recall more vivid memories.

"At the top of each arcade is the dining room. OMG, Gwen, restaurants. The most incredible, rarest and greatest gift specimens of the wasteland are kept in stagnation. Some have rare cuts, cures, and exhibits, others are more blatantly offered, displaying their stagnant frozen corpses behind large windows. The greatest of these institutions even designed pens to keep these creatures alive, allowing their incomparable patrons to enjoy the freshest, most magical delicacies that power and money could afford. ”

"Sounds incredible," Gwen exclaimed with sincere anticipation as she sipped her water.

"Are you going there?" asked the captain. A girl guarded by two corps commanders and a major certainly could not be anyone.

"I'm not sure," Gwen admitted. "After we finish our mission in Singapore, I think we'll go back to Sydney. ”

The captain nodded. The fall of Sydney, a terrible thing.

Knowing that they were from Sydney, especially in a crisis like this, he told him that it was not okay to ask too many questions. Tully knew he would have to be silent for thirty years. Sometimes, a group of travelers are looking for a pass, and that is a group of travelers who want to get from one place to B.

"What do you think of the South Sea goldfish?" he said, gesturing to the white-fleshed steak.

"Exquisite. Gwen gave the captain a charming smile, which made the old man laugh. "Can you tell me more about the university there?"

The survival scenario is also handled by three high-level mages who pass on their expertise to Gwen so that if Gwen gets lost on the island, she won't be immediately helpless.

"Of course, if we're talking about a tropical climate, the most dangerous thing will hardly be a monitor lizard or a snake. "It's the little ones that fascinate you," Paul explained a few days after his trip. "Swarms of poisonous flies, ants, parasites, you name it. ”

Gwen felt creepy at the thought of this.

"Of course, we'll use insect repellent, but if you're really surrounded by a swarm, or we have to bypass the swarm, here are the basic ways to protect yourself. ”

"Bark!"

Due to the poor affinity in the air, Paul preferred the initial manifestation, which hardened the human skin and gave it a rough bark-like texture.

"I can put pressure on you too, but in case we get separated, it's best if you can. ”

"I don't understand spells. Gwen shook her head. "Both of my teams are very weak defensively. ”

"You don't use it to defend against slashing or stick weapons, just a lot of little bugs," Paul noted. ”。 "I discussed your condition with the Taj Mahal the other day, and we wanted to know what your Void has to do with defensive spells. ”

"It sucks. Gwen grimaced. "It drained my vitality to the point where I was out of health before I was hit. ”

"Uh......" Paul pursed his lips. "How's the lightning?"

"An offensive shield, but not like fire, my coverage is terrible. Not all of my shield's parts are energized, and these parts can be accidentally discharged, or even grounded. ”

"Has your summoning reached the 4th floor?"

Gwen shook her head.

"Not yet. ”

Unless she meets some evil summoner begging for a good meal for Kaliban, Gwen thought sickly. In this case, she may not be far from the corpse. Elizabeth felt that it was not her own right to take advantage of Calis's hypothetical abilities. As she thinks about it rationally, she inevitably has to have a fatal meeting with Elizabeth and whatever faction she works for. In the course of this endeavor, there will certainly be an opportunity to rapidly develop her power.

But whenever she thinks about the question, she is reminded of the moral slippage that the history of the old world has taught. She will start with the best intentions and enhance her abilities at the expense of her enemies. Then she will endanger herself, putting herself in a position where self-defense naturally leads to the enemy's gaining capabilities. Then she becomes a thrill-seeking adventurer, a boisterous figure who off others. She will challenge those who possess rare abilities and consume them when they inevitably fall into her heels.

Is this how Elizabeth overcame the limitations of her empty abilities?

"Okay. Paul wrote a word in his heart. "We'll get your skin clean. It's an easy spell to learn, a bit like a shield and magic missile. Quite important stuff. ”

"Great. Gwen pushed herself out of the cold iron on the galvanized floor. "Let's get started. ”

On the sixth day, their ship was close enough to the Indonesian archipelago to see land.

Captain Tully reminded them via megaphone that they were about to pass through the Banga Serratan Peninsula, informing them that if they were interested in seeing some unusual animals, it was time to go on deck.

The soldiers gave up the opportunity, but Gwen and her father keenly moved closer to Gonwales on the starboard side.

As they sailed past the sealed bulkheads, they immediately saw huge albatrosses, each almost 6 meters wide from wingtip to wingtip, taking advantage of the updrafts created by the ship as it passed. They floated through the air and kept up with the ship without much effort, and they looked comical, their necks retracted into their torsos, creating the illusion of dysplasia. However, their wings are huge and impressive, and they lift the bird with ease as if they were floating.

The scene was so thrilling that Gwen felt the urge to say an old favorite of the world behind her.

A good south wind blew from behind, and the albatross followed, and every day they came to the sailor's call for food or play!

"Look there!" Moyer pointed, his gaze far sharper than his daughter's wide-eyed astonishment.

A swarm of sea creatures are following the ship's flanks, jumping out of the water, spreading their glittering fins that look like insect wings. With each twist and turn, this serpentine must be about 2 to 3 meters in length, jumping up from the surface and dancing on the surface, leaving behind a milky white foamy water shallow.

"Flying rainbow fish. Her father grinned. Whether it's baked, grilled, or steamed, it's delicious. Wow!"

A plesiosaur burst out of the water and pounced on the flying fish. The glittering creatures scattered in all directions, but the plesiosaur's sinuous neck snapped off from the air and hooked one of the creatures before it could land.

With a cut of the knife turning the water white and blue, the primitive creature sank to the bottom of the sea and disappeared into the sea.

Maya looked at her daughter and was surprised to see that she was excited with wonder and awe.

Is this another side of her?, he thought to himself. A girl who is still innocent and finds joy in seeing the strange and interesting things that this world has to offer?

In the distance, there is also a group of islands, the mass of which is a dark blur on the bright horizon.

"That's Kaplan Liao," he told her, watching her face revert back to her late teenage cynicism. "Our destination. ”

"We're through?" Gwen asked her father. "Can we disembark while we pass by?"

Moyer snorted.

He smiled at her inexperience. "Remember the plan, what Captain Doon said. We need to get to Singapore first and then find a local boat that is willing to take us to the island. What good will it do us if we save your friend and don't have a boat back to the mainland?"

Gwen turned her gaze to the horizon with a sense of urgency that burned a hole in her thin surface of patience.

"How long do you think it will take?" asked Gwen eagerly. "I mean find a boat. ”

"Do you have a hard drive management system in that bag? a couple of hours, if you will. ”

Gwen nodded, figuring her storage ring, making sure the bag and the crystals she had hidden were inside.

They watched as Serlatac approached. At one point, they were so close to its land that it felt like it was almost within reach, though it was just a trick of scale and perspective.

Flocks of seabirds, small as birds, some as big as albatross they had seen before, roamed the island, wandering from coast to shore. Where they gathered, the sky was obscured by a black, speckled mist.

Moyer joked: "The stool on that cliff must be waist-deep, destroying the romanticism of the moment."

Gwen cast an unhappy glance at her father and turned to the birds again, marveling at the size and variety of animals on Earth, a planet where humans had not completely destroyed the biosphere and had not exhausted every ounce of resources.

"Daddy," Gwen said to his father in a tone that was both serious and sincere. "Can you tell me about your past, about the pendant, about your mother? I need to know. ”

Moyer was silent, listening to the cacophony of birds on the shore in the distance.

"I think I have the right to know about my birth, don't you think, Father?

Moyer sighed.

"It's going to complicate your life a lot more," Moyer said not to Gwen, but to the air of the ocean. "But that's your choice, I don't think it's mine. ”

"Then you're going to tell me?"

"I will, but promise me one thing. ”

"What is this?"

"When all this has been said and done, don't pull me into your world again. ”

Gwen bit her lip. She now knew the main truth behind the old saying, "You can put makeup on a dwarf, but it will still eat," said its companion, "A Lakshasa can't correct its claws." ”

"Okay," she said coldly. "I promise you'll have privacy. ”

"Don't do that," Moyer replied coldly. "You are still my daughter, I just want you to know that each of us has our own lives and ambitions, it is useless to drag me into your life, our paths are not the same. ”

"And what is your path, Pink Salt Savior?" Gwen asked her father suspiciously.

"Okay. "Moyer smiled beautifully, and was totally a savior. "Think of me as an esoteric monk who doesn't know what conflicts with the world are. I am a cultivator, I don't seek attachment, I don't seek things, I don't seek people, I don't seek a higher realm. I walk the path of freedom, the chains of freedom and the open space, the path of the senses. ”

Gwen snickered.

"The Path of Eros is more like it. ”

"Huh?"

"I'm down there. After dinner, I wanted to know all about everything, just as you promised - everything!"

Gwen stomped off the bulwark and returned to training.

Moyer turns to the bean-green waters. The wake of the ship streaked the calm sea into thousands of glittering debris. It's an apt metaphor for his own scattered memories, truths and lies piled up for almost 20 years. Sometimes, when a lie has been told enough, the liar himself begins to believe in its truth and live as if it had already happened.

"The truth," he didn't say to anyone. "I hope I remember the truth. ”