034. The Four Great Authorities
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[“Precepts”]
[Word Spirit pathways unlocked]
[1. Forbidden Domain]
“Any word that defies fate shall be sealed within the realm of bronze.”
[2. Abyss of the Heart]
“Any heart consumed by madness shall be bound beneath the frozen sea.”
[3……]
[4……]
……
“Wait.”
Nan Yun Yuyue was utterly stunned.
“So the ‘Precepts’ can actually unlock so many pathways?”
Supporting Hatsune Misumi with one arm, he studied the detailed descriptions beneath the Word Spirit pathways.
[Forbidden Domain]
[Within the domain of the Precepts, the Word Spirits of dragons and hybrids will be forcibly sealed according to the user’s individual strength.]
[Current Level: LV1]
[Note: As the level increases, the effect will grow accordingly. It may eventually rival the ‘Supreme,’ or even surpass the ‘Supreme.’]
……
[Abyss of the Heart]
[Based on the strength of one’s bloodline, the emotions of all living beings within the domain may be guided or controlled to a certain extent, including calmness, fervor, recognition, trust, and so forth.]
[Current Level: Unlocked]
[Note: As the level increases, the effect will grow accordingly. It may eventually rival the ‘Supreme,’ or even surpass the ‘Supreme.’]
……
“Just these two abilities alone are already absurdly powerful.”
Nan Yun Yuyue marveled inwardly.
“And there are still two more authorities afterward.”
“As expected of a Word Spirit with a serial number above one hundred.”
He raised his head and realized that he was still on the move.
“Ah, wait—let’s turn in here.”
Supporting an unconscious girl as he walked, keeping a steady pace was actually rather difficult.
Fortunately, Nan Yun Yuyue was fairly familiar with the roads in this area. After turning down a narrow lane, he arrived at an old residential building.
The building stood within a tiny housing compound, with barely any room for the residents to move about. A single row of cars was parked in front, and the thick layer of dust covering them made one wonder whether their owners had long since forgotten that they even had cars parked there.
There was no courtyard behind the building, either. With the row of cars blocking the way in front, the already cramped passage was wide enough for only two people to walk side by side.
Supporting Hatsune Misumi, Nan Yun Yuyue turned into the innermost building.
Creeeak—
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He pushed open the entrance door, which had evidently gone untouched for a long time, then gently settled Hatsune Misumi against a relatively clean section of wall and let out a breath.
He lightly touched her forehead.
“She’s burning up.”
“Could it be because the Black Sun was forcibly suppressed instead of being released?”
“Then again, it may be because she just ignited her Word Spirit. The Black Sun is a high-ranking Word Spirit, after all. It wouldn’t be strange for something like this to happen.”
After making his conjecture, Nan Yun Yuyue looked around.
The surroundings were dim, and there were no lights in the stairwell.
After all, no one had come to this old building in a long time, and its facilities had fallen into disrepair.
Any residents with even a little money had moved into modern housing complexes. Who would still live in such an aged, dilapidated building?
Nan Yun Yuyue summoned the system panel again.
“My ‘Precepts’ has four entire pathways.”
“I wonder whether the Night Watchman of Cassel College has the same effect in his own Word Spirit.”
“Or are these four authorities unique to my ‘Precepts’?”
He turned his attention to the two remaining abilities he had not had time to examine.
[3. Candlelight]
“Any shadow that moves unseen shall be illuminated by the eyes of the Candle Dragon.”
[4. Rebirth Tracing]
“Anyone who has lost their trace shall pay for redemption with blood of equal value.”
“The descriptions certainly sound impressive.”
Nan Yun Yuyue opened the details of one of them.
[Candlelight]
[Continuously monitors the location and condition of every living creature within the domain, while concealing the user’s aura and reducing others’ perception of the user.]
[Current Level: Unlocked]
[Note: As the level increases, the effect will grow accordingly.]
“It’s actually an ability similar to domain detection.”
Nan Yun Yuyue was somewhat surprised.
This ability was quite useful, both in battle and in daily life.
The fact that it could detect only living creatures, however, was a limitation—small, but not insignificant.
“I wonder whether that will change as the Word Spirit’s level increases……”
He pondered this, then looked at the description of the final ability.
[Rebirth Tracing]
[Effect: Unknown]
[Current Level: Unlocked]
[Note: Follows the principle of ‘equivalent exchange.’]
“What kind of unknown authority is this?”
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“The description says ‘the one who has lost their trace’…… Could it be Odin?”
Nan Yun Yuyue suppressed the doubts rising within him.
“Even so, the abilities of the Precepts are far more comprehensive than I expected.”
He studied the contents of the authorities.
“Suppression of Word Spirits, emotional influence, positional detection, and Rebirth Tracing, which has yet to be unlocked. Still, judging from its name, it’s possible to make a rough guess at what it does……”
“This Word Spirit has a remarkably complete range of pathways……”
“Although the Precepts seem to lean more toward auxiliary abilities.”
Even so, the powers of these authorities were already formidable. With four full pathways, their potential applications were extremely broad.
“I wonder what Word Spirits Wakaba Mutsumi and Sakiko Togawa possess……”
Nan Yun Yuyue’s thoughts drifted.
“When I first met Mutsumi, she even lost consciousness for a while after I taught her how to play guitar.”
“Taking into account the dolls inside her, her Word Spirit should probably lean toward the mental domain.”
“As for Sakiko’s pathway, that one is rather mysterious……”
Nan Yun Yuyue recalled being tackled to the ground by Sakiko, which was how he had learned the words “the road to deification.”
“And then there was that bizarre ‘Don’t die’……”
He now felt that whatever was hidden within Sakiko’s bloodline was exceedingly strange.
“You have no idea how dark the Togawa family truly is……”
To break away from the Eight Great Families of Sheqi and obtain permission from a superpower composed of hybrids like them, the Togawa family must have gone through something extraordinary.
Though the Togawa family’s strength was now far inferior to that of the Eight Great Families of Sheqi, there was certainly a story behind it.
“As for Soyo Nagasaki, when she interacted with me this morning, she always gave me the vague impression that she knew something.”
“Could it be that her Word Spirit has already begun to ignite, while she herself still doesn’t understand its exact nature?”
Nan Yun Yuyue thought of Soyo Nagasaki’s mother, who had transformed into a workaholic after her divorce.
The economy was in decline, and nearly every opportunity to make money had long since been divided up.
Yet after beginning to live alone with her daughter, Soyo’s mother had somehow managed to earn an enormous amount of money, even crossing social classes to some extent.
After all, anyone capable of sending her daughter to Tsukinomori Academy had to possess considerable wealth.
“And besides……”
Nan Yun Yuyue glanced at Hatsune Misumi, still unconscious against the corner of the wall.
“There’s also a hybrid who awakened a high-risk Word Spirit like the Black Sun.”
This further confirmed his earlier conjecture.
“I knew it. As a live-in son-in-law of his generation, Teiji Togawa had to be a hybrid. Otherwise, he could never have married into the Togawa family.”
“And anyone who can serve as the caretaker of a villa in a hybrid family must also be a hybrid.”
“I simply never expected the child born from their union to possess such a high-ranking Word Spirit as well.”
At that thought, Nan Yun Yuyue suddenly considered another question.
“Since Hatsune Misumi is a hybrid, what about her half-sister on her mother’s side, Uika Misumi?”
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