2.4 Night Talk and a Legend

"You came from Purple City, you say?" Sylvie asked, gently tapping her cheek with a slender finger, her expression thoughtful. "I think… I've heard merchants who occasionally pass through here, selling their wares, mention it before."

"They said that to the north of the Elven Forest, there is indeed a city called Purple City."

"Many merchant caravans choose to stop over there."

"North?" Lux keenly caught this word. "Then do you know where the 'City of Theater' is?"

"The City of Theater…" Sylvie frowned, searching hard in her memory. "It seems… it seems to be even further north of Purple City, much, much farther from our Elven Forest…"

"Hmm… is that so." Lux narrowed her eyes with a hint of helplessness.

This sense of direction… was truly despairing.

"Lux," Sylvie said, looking at Lux's expression, as if she herself had deduced a somewhat startling idea, "your original destination, could it possibly be…"

"No, no, it's not," Lux quickly denied. "I should be heading this way."

After all, that hand, like an illusion, had indeed pointed in the direction of this forest.

So her target direction should be here.

Probably… possibly… perhaps… right?

"Then why did you come here?" Sylvie asked, her azure eyes blinking curiously.

But she seemed to immediately realize that such persistent questioning might be somewhat impolite and quickly added, "Ah, I didn't mean to pry into your privacy! I just thought if I could understand your destination, Lux, perhaps I could help you with directions or something."

"Actually…" Lux hesitated for a moment, but finally decided to be a little more frank. "…I don't know where I'm going either."

"Eh? No destination?" Sylvie's eyes widened in surprise. "Could it be… could it be that you, Lux, are one of those legendary wandering minstrels? Chasing after the ethereal and distant 'poetry and far-off lands,' roaming the world like a footless bird?"

"Footless bird… what's that?" This time, it was Lux's turn to be curious.

"Legend has it, there's a kind of bird with no feet," Sylvie began to explain. "It's born to fly continuously, with no beginning and no end."

"If it gets tired of flying, it rests in the wind, and when it wakes up, it continues to fly aimlessly."

"And the moment the footless bird finally lands, that is also the moment its life ends."

"Is that so? How magical…" For Lux, who hadn't had much schooling, one of the good things about this world was that it was full of countless wonders she had never heard of.

"But… I'm not a wandering minstrel, nor am I some footless bird. I was just guided here," Lux tried to explain clearly.

"Isn't that just the tune of a minstrel pursuing destiny?" Sylvie became even more excited, her eyes sparkling. "Pulled by the threads of fate, searching for one's final destination, or perhaps… a grave, in the bewildering sea of life?"

"I think you might have misunderstood," Lux waved her hand helplessly. "It's like this… When Purple City was burning and destroyed, I escaped."

"Later, I met a heavily injured blue-skinned man, and then…"

"Purple City… was burned down?!" Sylvie's face showed incredulous shock upon hearing this news, and she even couldn't help but interrupt Lux. "When did this happen?"

"About… three months ago, I think," Lux replied.

"Three months ago?!" Sylvie seemed even more astonished, her beautiful azure eyes widening as she asked, "But… the distance from here to Purple City, it's only about a three-day walk!"

"Uh… this… this isn't the point!" Lux absolutely did not want to discuss how she had been trapped in this damned forest for a full three months, not at all.

"The key is that before that man died, he gave me a very strange crystal fragment and asked me to take it to the City of Theater."

"But later… I think I saw…" Lux struggled to organize her words, trying to explain that indescribable experience clearly, but in the end, she could only be vague. "…Anyway, a hand suddenly appeared, like an illusion."

"That hand pointed in a direction, which was this way."

"And then I walked over here."

"So, you're saying…" After listening to Lux's rambling, disjointed narrative, Sylvie showed an expression of sudden realization and summarized seriously, "…The poisonous smoke produced when Purple City burned was highly toxic, and you accidentally inhaled those toxic fumes, so you had hallucinations, right? Just like eating certain poisonous mushrooms?"

"I don't think so," Lux felt a deep sense of powerlessness; she found that explaining certain things clearly to Sylvie seemed more difficult than defeating two powerful enemies.

"Besides, my main goal now is also to find more crystal fragments like that one."

"Is that so… Then… can you show me that fragment you mentioned?" Sylvie asked curiously.

"Uh… that's not really possible. Because that fragment… has already…" Lux extended her finger and pointed to her own body. "…It's already been absorbed into my body."

"What?!" Sylvie clearly didn't understand the meaning of Lux's words, an even more worried expression appearing on her face. "Lux, you didn't really inhale poisonous smoke, did you? You can't be careless about that! I'll go find some antidote for you tomorrow! Some toxins can remain in the body for a very, very long time…"

"It's really not that!" Lux completely understood now.

Sylvie before her, although she looked very mature, reliable, and knowledgeable, had an unusual persistence on certain strange points.

"That's actually an ability of mine… or rather… an innate curse," Lux took a deep breath and finally decided to confess her biggest secret to this innocent and kind elven girl.

"Ability? …Could it be… it's—" Sylvie seemed to have instantly thought of something, her face showing incredulous shock.

"Yes." Lux nodded; she didn't know what would happen after she said this.

But she really couldn't bear to deceive such an innocent and kind elf like Sylvie any longer.

Even though it was already deep into the night, if Sylvie couldn't accept her identity, then at worst, she would just leave here overnight.

"I am a Cursed One." After Lux said this, she let out a long breath, as if a heavy burden had been lifted from her shoulders. "My ability is 'Devour'."

"That fragment has already been absorbed by me."

"Lux!" However, contrary to Lux's expectations, after she confessed her identity, Sylvie not only didn't show any fear or disgust but instead suddenly reached out and tightly gripped her hands.

Lux could even feel Sylvie's hands trembling slightly. She looked up and saw Sylvie's azure eyes—those eyes were so clear, so crystal-like, yet at this moment, they shimmered with a deep, incredibly genuine concern.

"Listen to me, Lux," Sylvie said, gazing into Lux's eyes with an extremely serious and earnest tone. "Here, absolutely! Absolutely do not mention this to anyone else! Absolutely! Do not let anyone, any other elf, know that you possess this ability!"

Her gaze was so sincere, so earnest.

"Moreover, Lux, you must remember, this isn't some curse of yours! This is just… just a special ability you were born with. It's not evil, nor is it shameful!"

"...Okay. Thank you, Sylvie." Lux was deeply moved by Sylvie's sudden, unreserved trust and protection.

A warm current instantly surged through her entire body, even making her feel somewhat ashamed—because she couldn't, and dared not, tell her the other, deeper secret about Mitty…

"It's alright." Seeing Lux nod, Sylvie finally loosened her tight grip, a gentle smile returning to her face. "So… regarding that crystal fragment you absorbed, do you remember any other information about it?"

"I remember that Grace Bather from the Wealth Cult who was chasing me before, he seemed to say… that fragment was related to some 'Resistance Army'," Lux tried hard to recall the thrilling fragments from three months ago.

"You… you actually escaped from a Grace Bather?" Sylvie's face showed surprise again upon hearing this.

Although the Grace Bathers of the Wealth Cult were indeed relatively weaker within the system of the seven orthodox cults' Grace Bathers, even so, for a girl who looked as young as Lux to successfully escape from a Grace Bather's pursuit (though Lux didn't mention the latter part where it was actually a Grace Bather and a magician duo, and not just an escape but both were counter-killed), in her eyes, was already very, very impressive.

"Mm." Lux vaguely acknowledged with a nod.

She didn't really want to show off her achievement of defeating a Grace Bather and a Demon Hunter duo at this time—alright, actually, there was a tiny part of her that wanted to show off, but she ultimately restrained herself.

"There's one more thing, Lux," Sylvie became serious again, reminding her, "Regarding the 'Resistance Army', you absolutely! Absolutely must not let anyone else know about it!"

She gently patted Lux's shoulder and said earnestly, "In Radiant Glade, or rather, in the entire God's Grace Continent, the 'Resistance Army' is an extremely sensitive and extremely dangerous topic."

"Those believers of the cults, especially those fanatical clergy members, they won't care at all whether you are truly a member of the Resistance Army."

"As long as they find out you have even the slightest connection to the Resistance Army, they will mercilessly arrest you, put you on trial, and even execute you directly!"

"So, this is also a very, very important matter, you must remember it firmly!" Sylvie urged again, still worried.

"Mm, I understand." Lux also nodded solemnly, firmly committing Sylvie's warning to memory.

"In that case… you can use magic, right?" Sylvie asked again. "What type of magic is it?"

"Regarding magic, you can relax a little. Radiant Glade, unlike some other cities where theocracy reigns supreme, doesn't completely prohibit non-divine types of magic."

"At most… there are just some restrictions."

"After all, there are still many jobs here that require magic, and we elves have to do them." Lux noticed that when Sylvie said this last sentence, her tone seemed to lower slightly.

"My magic… is obtained through 'Devour'," Lux replied.

"Obtained through Devour?" Sylvie was somewhat puzzled.

"Yes." Lux nodded, then with a thought, showed Sylvie the two main abilities she currently possessed—the [Shadow Cloak] and the [Dire Beast Bracelet].

When Sylvie saw the pitch-black shadows, like living creatures, instantly spread from beneath Lux's feet, and her entire body quickly covered by a layer of hideous and terrifying white bone armor, she couldn't help but let out a low gasp of surprise.

"So… so amazing!" Sylvie exclaimed. "But… Lux, these two types of magic of yours… their external manifestations are really too… too likely to attract others' attention and suspicion."

"Especially those Elven Magic Archers with extremely good eyesight, they would definitely be able to see the abnormality at a glance."

"And your two types of magic, how should I put it… they feel… not quite in line with our Radiant Glade's 'aesthetics'."

"If by any chance you encounter some Grace Bathers who already dislike humans, or those with more extreme views, perhaps… they might casually pin some crime on you like 'using evil magic'," Sylvie reminded her worriedly.

And Lux, after hearing this, also clearly realized that she indeed had a few too many things on her that could attract danger.

"I just don't know… how adaptable your magical power, Lux, is to our elven magic system…" Sylvie mused. "However, most elven magic can only be learned by those with elven blood."

"Perhaps you could try learning elven magical combat techniques? Those techniques focus more on integrating magical power into the body and weapons for combat, and the bloodline requirements are relatively lower."

She thought for a moment, then added with some regret, "But… I'm not very good at elven combat techniques, so I probably can't teach you much."

This topic about learning new abilities thus temporarily ended with regret.

Then, Sylvie and Lux once again discussed the matter of that mysterious crystal fragment.

"So… that fragment, it should be something very, very important, right?" Sylvie confirmed.

"I don't know what it is exactly, or what it's used for. But… it's now a part of my body, so to me, it's definitely very important," Lux replied.

She pinched her chin, trying hard to recall the blurry images she saw when devouring the fragment. "Right, when I was devouring that fragment, I think I saw some strange scenes."

"It was a… man. A golden-haired man, wearing red and white armor, holding a very large sword in his hand."

"And then… he seemed to be fighting something. But those things… were very blurry, like masses of light and shadow, I can't remember them very clearly," Lux tried to describe the brief and blurry scene she had witnessed to Sylvie.

"Purple City… burning… fragment… Resistance Army… golden hair… red and white armor… greatsword…" Sylvie connected all the clues Lux had mentioned before in her mind, pondering carefully.

Suddenly, as if she had thought of something extremely shocking, she froze, her body even trembling slightly.

After several seconds, she finally murmured in a dreamlike, incredulous tone, "I… I know now… So… so this is what happened…"

Although Lux didn't know what astounding conclusion Sylvie had drawn from these fragmented clues, seeing her shocked appearance at this moment at least proved one thing—Sylvie didn't think what Lux had said before were all hallucinations caused by inhaling poisonous gas.

This made Lux feel a little relieved.

"Lux…" Sylvie suddenly looked up at Lux.

Her voice was mixed with extremely complex emotions—shock, sadness, anger, fear… and even a hint of… awe?

Lux felt Sylvie's hands, which were holding hers, trembling slightly.

"Perhaps… in this world, there really exists… some kind of guidance from fate," Sylvie took a deep breath, seemingly trying hard to calm the turmoil in her heart. "Lux, next… I want to tell you something."

"Something very important."

"But, before that, please listen to a story from me first."

"Mm, go ahead," Lux said. Infected by Sylvie's extremely solemn mood at this moment, she immediately straightened her back, preparing to listen attentively.

"This is… a story about a person despised by the believers of all major cults, called the 'God-Reviler'—" Sylvie's voice became low and distant, as if chanting an ancient ballad, or narrating a piece of sealed history.

Her ethereal and beautiful voice, at this moment, seemed to be imbued with a magical power, intending to pull Lux's soul along into that distant time and space filled with tragic grandeur and struggle, to personally witness that unknown past.

"—At the same time, he was also revered by another group of people as… the 'Failed Hero'—the story of Roland."