Chapter 380: Chapter 322 Star Cluster Falling

Harvest Orchard.

Today, as usual, Sonia was received by the Claw Club’s senior member, Mifa.

After selling the harvest from the Void Realm over the past few days, Sonia suddenly lapsed into silence.

Mifa wasn’t in a hurry either, quietly enjoying this time alone together.

After a good while, Sonia let out a sigh and said, “I’d like to purchase the ‘Heart Pen’ Miracle… Are there any promotions or discounts available recently?”

Although Mifa really wanted to offer the Sword Maiden a freebie, she didn’t have the authority, “No, you can only buy it at the original price of 15 Gold Coins, or maybe you could wait until the university league starts, that’s when the schools usually offer some promotional deals…”

“Then I’ll buy it at the original price,” Sonia sighed, her face full of reluctance.

Just as Mifa was preparing the Artifact Spirit, they suddenly heard a continuous ‘pop pop’ sound.

It was as if something had cracked.

Sonia turned her head and saw that a fruit had fallen from a tree behind her, its transparent crystal shell making a popping sound as it shattered. Within it, the Technique Spirit, opening its sleepy eyes, suddenly dissipated into a mist.

It wasn’t the first, nor would it be the last.

Pop, pop, pop.

One after another, Technique Spirit fruits fell, each shattering and dissipating in turn.

Though not many fruits had fallen, this situation was clearly beyond the tolerance of college students–this was Sword Flower University’s Harvest Orchard, a prominent Technique Spirit trading center in Jiale City, and these trees were the miraculous creations of Legendary Mages. How could there suddenly be an incident of Technique Spirits running away from home?

But they would soon cease to care about this minor issue.

Because they found themselves covered by an enormous shadow.

As mentioned before, Harvest Orchard had walls entirely made of glass, receiving 100 percent of the external light. So the girls lifted their heads, facing the stars in the sky.

Star Clusters were falling.

Thousands, tens of thousands of stars were falling, including the three Dazzling Stars known to everyone, as well as the brightest Moon Star at night, and the seventy-two constellations the college students loved most.

But they didn’t fall completely.

Because the “sky” stopped them.

They were like balls caught in a net, denting the sky many miles above with pits and hollows. The sky was like a highly elastic membrane, blocking all the meteors; it was also like a huge bubble, enveloping the entire world within it.

Countless questions surfaced in the Observers’ minds like bubbles, seemingly dense enough to make the brain boil.

No commotion, no chaos, no screaming.

Jiale City, Abaku Lei, Maji, Meit, Mis, Aifeng… the entire Kingdom of Stars came to a halt, countless people looking up at the sky, reevaluating their worldviews.

Then–

Pop.

There might have been that sound, or there might not have been, but afterward, everyone believed there was.

Because turning off the lights does make a sound.

And when the sky turned off its lights, how could there not be?

At that moment, all the stars were snuffed out, taking away all the light, plunging the entire world into darkness, along with stifling the screams of all creatures in their throats.

But this silent darkness lasted less than a second, as the people of Jiale City saw a wisp of blue light appear in the darkness.

It was a Female Mage in a hooded robe, with deep blue runes swirling around her, each step causing ripples in the air.

Any noble with a bit of sense could recognize her as one of the teaching staff who would appear in ceremonies.

She walked upon the dark stairs, guiding the gazes of millions, step by step towards the sky.

When she reached a certain platform, she knelt down, bringing her hands together in prayer. Her deep blue, like blazing flames, ignited the darkness, spreading like a wildfire throughout Jiale City, and even throughout the entire Kingdom of Stars.

Sonia was not spared either; blue flames clung to her, forming armor-like shapes on her body. She looked around and noticed that the blue flames on most people were a chaotic mass, not yet reaching a level describable in shape; only a few had distinct shapes of the blue flame, and they looked quite familiar… just like the Star Swordsmen and Star Archers she had seen before.

And Sonia’s blue flame armor seemed partly like a Star Swordsman’s and partly like that of a Star Archer or the Projectile Warrior worn by Observers.

Before she could continue observing, the world underwent another drastic change. As if to echo the burning land, the sky too began to dance. A falling star suddenly burst into a cracked azure brilliance, and then the sky’s elastic potential energy erupted all at once, propelling the star back into the heavens!

Then the second, third, fourth… The star cluster–like school children crowding at a window to watch a spectacle, now caught by their teacher–each hurried back to their seats, not daring to create further mischief.

Once the Dazzling Stars had also returned to their Chief’s throne, the sky finally brightened.

The morning star, the bright sunlight, the idle clouds, the blue and clear sky… That brief switching off of the lights and the falling of the star cluster seemed like nothing more than a grand illusion.

But when Sonia turned her head to the east, she saw a white tower hundreds of meters tall that hadn’t been there before but had suddenly appeared. The location right above at the tip of the tower was exactly where the female mage had knelt in the darkness.

Without a doubt, that female mage was still offering prayers for all beings, and the white tower was a stairway to heaven prepared for her by Legendary Mages within seconds.

For some reason, a term suddenly popped into Sonia’s mind:

“Prayer of the Stars.”

“Mifa.”

“Ah?” The industrious university student still hadn’t completed her reconstruction of world perception.

“Do you know what that fallen Technique Spirit is?” Sonia pointed at the cracked crystal fruit behind her.

Although a bit puzzled, Mifa naturally wouldn’t refuse Sonia’s inquiry, and after a quick check she said, “That’s the Two-winged Technique Spirit ‘Meteor.'”

“Meteor? Which Magic Faction does it belong to?”

“Light Magic Faction, but…”

“But what?”

“The manifestation of Meteor is not light, but physical,” Mifa read from the description. “But because meteors and starlight appear similar, and ‘Starlight’ belongs to the Light Magic Faction, Meteor was also placed under the Light Magic Faction.”

Not all Technique Spirits have a clear faction affiliation. After all, Magic Factions are just labels arbitrarily used by Mages to classify Technique Spirits, always relative and partial. Not to mention the fact that many Technique Spirits possess features of multiple factions, and some Technique Spirits simply cannot be categorized into any faction, like the Substitute Technique Spirit of the Observer.

Technique Spirits came first, then Magic Factions. The construction of theoretical systems has always lagged behind practice, sometimes by a large margin–as with the Prophetic Faction and Fate Faction; from ancient times till now, all Mages feel certain that these two factions exist and have discovered related Technique Spirits, but they simply cannot construct a complete systematic lineage.

Sonia pondered, “So, Meteor should actually belong to the ‘Star Magic’ Faction, right?”

“There isn’t a Star Magic Faction yet,” Mifa replied, somewhat amused. “The stars are too far away, how could Mages make use of them?”

Sonia looked up at the sky.

“They don’t seem that far away,” she murmured.

Star Cluster falling.

Prayer of the Stars.

Shattered Star Magic Technique Spirit.

Heroic Soul stolen Star Avatar.

Observer’s Secret Avatar.

No wonder the Heroic Soul Commander dared not kill the Observer…

No wonder she preferred the cumbersome method of a Contract to ensure she could successfully seize the Observer’s Soul Summoning Technique Spirit…

So, the so-called avatars were–

Suddenly, Sonia felt nauseous, and everything in her field of vision began to structure itself.

Mifa’s heart chamber turned inside out, sunlight fractured into cubes, fruit trees twisted into tombstones stacked with words, the sky turned into the black Deep Sea, and the Dazzling Stars grew countless eyes and mouths. From them, bright thin lines extended upward, like bait dropped into the sea…

But when she blinked, the world returned to its original state, unchanged.

Indeed, the world hadn’t changed.

Only Sonia’s perception had changed.

She was clearly aware of the reason for the anomaly; staying close to the Observer, a fickle creature of three hearts and two minds, made such incidents all too common.

When the world stripped off its disguise again, revealing its kaleidoscopic blackness, Sonia also received a response from the Void Realm through her perception–

“Concept Poison.”