Chapter 90: The Whirlpool's Secret Poison

[Loot Item No. 221: Cylindrical Labyrinth]

Source: Caravan of the Verdant Cross

Acquisition Record

The Temple ordered us to raid a caravan from the Verdant Cross. Unlike most caravans, it bore no banners, which meant it stood under no faction's protection. In this desert, that could only mean one of two things. Either they sought death, or they possessed the strength to protect themselves.

They proved to be strong, and we lost three Silverflame Knights. Under the captain's command, we eventually wiped out the caravan. With the escort of those fallen knights, their souls will surely be purified in flame. They will ascend the Stairway of the Sun and gain eternal peace.

While searching through the spoils, I found an exquisitely crafted cylinder inside one of the tents, small enough to hold in one hand. At that moment, I noticed a child hiding in the shadows. His gaze was fixed on the cylinder in my grasp.

Perhaps the Calamity Flame had clouded my heart. I asked him what it was.

He said it was a family heirloom, one that contained the secret to triggering a Whirlpool.

Before the captain entered the tent, I completed the child's purification. May his soul forever escape this land of calamity.

I concealed the cylinder. After some investigation, I learned it was a treasure called the Labyrinth, imbued with the aura of a Four‑Winged spirit. If opened incorrectly, the mechanisms left behind would automatically destroy whatever lay inside.

I lacked the wisdom to open it by myself, so I sought out the most brilliant woman in the Temple. After we swore an oath never to betray one another, I entrusted the Cylinder to her. She spent an entire month before finally opening it and extracting its secret.

With that secret, our mana advanced by leaps and bounds. Because of my own dullness, I triggered the Whirlpool only once. She triggered it twice and fully unfurled her Silver Wing.

One day, after returning from the Virtual World, I found the Temple Knights holding me down. She stood behind them, looking serious.

She accused me of concealing a damaged Cylindrical Labyrinth in my clothes. She had already advanced to Two-Winged Gold. She no longer needed the secret or me. What she needed was recognition from the Temple and a means to relieve the Whirlpool Secret Poison.

For privately concealing and damaging an important piece of loot, I was sentenced to execution. I was denied purification by flame and instead condemned to sink into filthy waters and endless nightmares. Until the final moment, I never spoke of the secret inside the Cylinder.

She may have unilaterally dissolved the oath through a Miracle after advancing to Two-Winged Gold, but its restraints still applied to me.

In truth, had I invoked the Miracle Burn the Remnant Body, I could have temporarily suppressed all abnormal states afflicting me. I could have broken the oath and exposed her falsehoods.

But when I looked at her, for reasons I cannot explain, I gave up.

Perhaps the Calamity Flame had clouded my heart.

Final Status: Destroyed.

Sonya crossed her arms. "The Temple of Calamity Flame. I've never heard of that faction."

Ashe replied, "Logically speaking, shouldn't a normal person be expressing some feelings about this sorcerer's romantic history?"

Sonya said flatly, "Do you really want to hear it? I can't lie right now."

"Then forget it."

Sonya pressed, "What about the method for triggering the Whirlpool? You deliberately skipped that part."

"I'm deciding whether I should tell you."

Sonya froze. She tried to stay silent, but her expression tightened with visible effort. Ashe had never seen her like this, and he nearly laughed out loud.

Hearing his laughter, Sonya finally lost control. Her voice dropped to a fierce whisper. "You're actually guarding against me? Planning to keep it all to yourself? So in your eyes, I'm worth less than some Whirlpool secret?"

Ashe looked startled. "So are you angry because I'm guarding against you, because you’re less important to me than you thought?"

Anger surged in Sonya's eyes. "I—"

Ashe said quickly, "I'm sorry, don't answer that. This is my fault. I'm not guarding against you. It's just that this secret is poisonous. Once you understand it, you'd be infected. I've already been hit. Since we can enter the Whirlpool together anyway, I thought you didn't need to know."

Sonya scoffed, "Poisonous knowledge? I don't believe it. I think you're lying. Big liar."

"I have to admit, you're much easier to deal with when you can only speak the truth. Fine, I'll tell you. Just don't blame me afterward."

Sonya shrugged. "Why would I? If I get infected, I'll blame you for not stopping me. If nothing happens, I'll assume you were lying on purpose. Either way, I won't think it's my fault."

Ashe sighed. "You're being completely unreasonable. Well, the poison isn't too severe yet. Since we're in the same boat, it feels unfair if only I get poisoned."

He paused, then said, "Here's the method to trigger a Whirlpool. Find a Knowledge Creature of the fish-dragon lineage[1]. Inflict severe injuries on it. After it escapes, pursue it without killing it. Let it die naturally from exhaustion. The place where its corpse falls will form a Whirlpool passage, because..."

Sonya and Ashe spoke in unison. "The Sea of Knowledge embraces its sleeping children."

As soon as the words left her mouth, Sonya stared at Ashe in surprise. She hadn’t meant to say them; they had slipped out instinctively. It was as if Ashe’s explanation had had awakened something dormant in her mind and given birth to new knowledge.

At the same time, an unfamiliar sensation washed over her. Nothing around her had changed, yet somehow the world felt different.

She scanned her surroundings, trying to identify what had shifted. Her gaze soon settled on the seawater outside the boat. After staring at it for a few seconds, a wave of nausea rose in her stomach.

"The effect of this secret poison is aversion to water," Ashe explained.

He opened Aurora Sorcerer's Handbook under Operator Management. On the status panel, both the Watcher of Doomsday and the Death Maniac Swordswoman had acquired a new abnormal condition.

[Whirlpool Secret Poison]

Infected Count: 131

Poison Amplification: 131%

Current Effect: Aversion to water (At 300%, the effect intensifies. At 100%, it weakens. At 50%, it becomes beneficial.)

It was a strange poison that caused no physical harm but twisted the soul. The most terrifying aspect was that the more people who knew the secret, the stronger the poison became. Everyone aware of it was infected.

When Ashe explained the details, Sonya's expression darkened at once. She snapped. "Why didn't you just turn me down earlier? You loud little trumpet!"

She meant it. If she said she would blame him, then she would. While the ritual made Sonya easier to deal with, it also made her far more irritating. She spoke without restraint and applied double standards shamelessly.

After a brief pause, Sonya continued, "Wait. Didn't you say that when the infected count drops below fifty, the poison turns beneficial? Then shouldn't we make sure the others who know the secret all..."

She made a throat-slitting gesture. Ashe quickly recoiled, "So you're really going to follow the example of the axe-wielding sorcerer's wife?"

"I'm not going to betray you unless you wronged me," Sonya replied nonchalantly.

"That honesty doesn't make me feel safer," Ashe muttered.

Through this exchange, they both understood why the secret had been sealed inside the Cylindrical Labyrinth, and why the axe-wielding sorcerer had been betrayed. No matter how carefully a secret was guarded, there was no guarantee it would not spread.

Once the number of those infected crossed a critical threshold, the poison could amplify to near-lethal levels. Sorcerers would become completely intolerant of water, collapsing or even dying upon contact.

At that point, those without survival measures would perish, rapidly reducing the number of secret-keepers until it returned to a safe level.

Thus, those who possessed the secret were natural enemies against each other. To survive, each had reason to eliminate the others. The axe-wielding sorcerer's wife had acted on the same logic. She dissolved their oath and reported him to reduce the number of infected.

Yet even if every secret-holder tried to protect it, the secret would still leak. Ashe and Sonya were the prime examples of this when they obtained the exact information from a Sorcerer's Handbook.

The Virtual World was a graveyard for sorcerers. Here, even death could not protect a secret.

By learning this truth, Ashe had effectively swallowed a lethal poison and stepped onto a path with no retreat. If he did nothing, and the infected count surged one day, he would have no choice but to curse his fate as the poison ended his journey.

And yet, Ashe felt no fear.

He understood something clearly. Every challenge the Virtual World presented could be answered in the same way. From beginning to end, sorcerers had only one path to survival.

"Then our next step is to find a Knowledge Creature of the fish-dragon lineage," Ashe said. "We can weaken the poison, or even eliminate it, only after growing stronger. That includes things like forcibly forgetting this knowledge. In short, we use what the poison gives us to push forward, keep advancing, and never stop."

Sonya brushed her fingers along the side of the small boat and gave a faint smile. "That's only natural. Aren't sorcerers greedy creatures like that?"

1. Mudfish Drake and Swordfish Dragon are both examples of Knowledge Creatures from the fish-dragon lineage ☜