115 Restless Thoughts

Due to their soul bond, the little hawk could transmit everything it saw directly into Theresa’s consciousness, allowing her to see through its eyes as if she were there herself. Through this hawk-eye perspective, she clearly looked down at the figure and the wolf racing across the gray, sandy plains. As she focused her intent, the targets on the ground were magnified again and again until she could see that familiar, usually cold and expressionless face with absolute clarity.

Just as she stared at Pedia’s face in a daze, the giant silver wolf and the knight mounted upon it seemed to sense her gaze. They looked up simultaneously, their expressions wary and guarded as they scanned the sky. This only served to make the familiar face even more unmistakable to her.

The moment she saw Pedia, the emotion that surged in Theresa’s heart was not the joy of meeting in a strange land, but rather a wave of hesitation and uncertainty. Countless dark suspicions—disguises, illusions, traps, and snares—spun through her mind over and over. This intense skepticism was so strong that even the Book Spirit and her two alchemical puppets felt it.

"Honestly, Tess, aren't you overthinking this?" the Book Spirit remarked, feeling both amused and frustrated. "You aren't cautious when you should be, but you dwell on these wild, groundless theories so much?"

"It’s a matter of probability," Theresa replied calmly. "As you said, a 'Demonic Devouring' is a catastrophic event that might happen only once every few hundred or thousand years. The odds of me encountering such bad luck were already incredibly slim, but for both my brother and me to end up here? That is a probability within a probability. Given how infinitesimal the chances are, how can I not be cautious?"

The Book Spirit rolled her eyes. "Suit yourself. Regardless, he’s here. See for yourself whether it’s him or not."

***

Across the campfire, the two siblings—not related by blood—stared at each other, both equally surprised. However, while Theresa’s heart was filled with conspiratorial suspicion, Pedia’s surprise was tinged with a hint of worry.

"Tess, how did you end up here?" Pedia dismounted and walked quickly toward Theresa with the snow wolf. Seeing the meat soup bubbling over the fire, he couldn't help but lick his lips and laugh. "When you're out in the wild, it’s the alchemists who truly know how to live."

As he spoke, he unceremoniously cast a simple shaping spell to form a bowl out of sand, poured a large portion for the snow wolf and a medium one for himself. With those two helpings, the small pot was completely empty.

Theresa watched Pedia drink the soup with such elegance, blinked, and offered a faint, teasing smile. "Big brother, looking at you, one would think you haven't had a full meal in over ten days."

"It’s not that I haven't been fed," Pedia replied after finishing the soup. "It’s just that for twenty-three days, I’ve only eaten roasted meat. The magical elements in this strange space are so chaotic that even the simplest basic spells trigger unpredictable and violent reactions. I haven't been able to have a single mouthful of hot soup until now. Tess, how did you get here? Were you also affected by the 'Demonic Devouring'?"

Theresa tilted her head, staring at Pedia’s face as she listened. She replied slowly, "Yes. The moment the 'Demonic Devouring' occurred, I was using a teleportation array and got swept into the spatial turbulence. I was lucky; I didn't spend much time in the chaos before being cast into this Void Realm. What about you?"

Though she answered him, Theresa couldn't help but feel puzzled by Pedia’s uncharacteristic talkativeness. She even had a nonsensical thought that perhaps he had become this "chatty" simply because he hadn't seen another human in over twenty days.

Pedia was unaware of Theresa’s strange musings and explained his own arrival quite readily. In truth, even he didn't fully understand the cause; he only knew that once the darkness of the "Demonic Devouring" faded, he was already in this gray, misty world.

"I suspect it might have to do with the 'Demon-Hunting Orb' I recently acquired," Pedia concluded. "Ever since I entered this space, the orb has vanished. Canis even vaguely hinted that there was something strange about it."

"Canis? Him?" Theresa raised an eyebrow, gesturing toward the silver-gray giant wolf at Pedia’s side. "Canis" was an ancient human term for "wolf."

"Yes, Canis, my good partner," Pedia said, patting the wolf’s neck with pride. "If it weren't for him, I probably wouldn't have made it this far."

Theresa nodded with deep empathy. Humans are social creatures; without interaction, one would either go mad or lose their mind. If she hadn't had the little hawk, the little wolf, and the Book Spirit for company, she would never have survived. That was why she tolerated the Book Spirit’s difficult temper—out of loneliness and the need for connection.

As she reflected on this, the Book Spirit suddenly transmitted a message into Theresa’s mind: "Tess, your brother and that wolf are both a bit strange."

Strange! Hearing that word, the skepticism Theresa had managed to suppress immediately resurfaced. She became alert once again—what was wrong? What was strange about them?

The Book Spirit suddenly fell silent, then flew closer to the man and the wolf, circling them twice. The two of them followed her movement with eyes full of curiosity and caution.

"Tess, what is this?" Pedia asked, pointing at the Book Spirit.

"This is a Book Spirit, one of my contract spirits. She is a repository of knowledge and knows a great deal, which helps guide my alchemical practice," Theresa replied to Pedia while persistently questioning the Book Spirit in her mind.

The Book Spirit finally relayed her thoughts slowly: "That wolf must have absorbed the energy of the 'Demon-Hunting Orb,' reaching a semi-evolved state. Look at him—he’s almost approaching the level of a Snow Wolf God."

Theresa nodded vigorously. She had noticed this the moment she first saw Canis; his size, coat, and presence were clearly far beyond that of an ordinary snow wolf.

"Furthermore, based on what your brother said, the wolf has a strong sensitivity to the energies of the Void Realm. Normally, an ordinary snow wolf would not possess such an ability. I dare speculate that this is also the 'merit' of the Demon-Hunting Orb!"

Theresa nodded again, then raised an eyebrow and asked, "What is the significance of this speculation?"

"Of course it matters!" the Book Spirit accidentally roared. Both Theresa and Pedia, who had been watching the scene, were startled.

The moment she shouted, the Book Spirit froze, her entire body turning a deep, stony gray—a classic cartoonish reaction. It seemed she had been heavily "poisoned" by the anime memories in Theresa’s soul.

Having already spoken, the Book Spirit stopped playing it cool with telepathy and muttered aloud, "Canis’s abnormal changes were triggered by the Demon-Hunting Orb. Since he now has an inexplicable connection to this Void Realm, we can boldly speculate that the orb itself is linked to this space!"

With that key point established, Theresa immediately grasped the Book Spirit’s meaning. With a thoughtful expression, she continued, "Are you suspecting that the Night Demons we saw were originally from this Void Realm, and that the Demon-Hunting Orb carried the spatial imprint of this place, which is why it pulled my brother and Canis here during the 'Demonic Devouring'?"

"Exactly!" the Book Spirit nodded fiercely.

Encouraged, Theresa’s thoughts expanded further.

"If the Void Realm doesn't naturally produce Void Demons or Night Demons, then the organized group we saw earlier must have been heading in a specific direction. From this, we can infer that they are likely using this space as a gateway! And going further, their destination is very likely the space we came from!"

Theresa spoke with great excitement, her cheeks flushed, but the Book Spirit’s reaction turned cold again. "Maybe, maybe not. The Void Realm is vast, and there are countless spatial gateways. How would we know where they are going?"

Theresa tilted her head, but before she could formulate another theory, Pedia took the opportunity to ask a question he had been holding back. "Tess, how do you know about Void Demons and Night Demons?"

Within the Empire, spreading information about Void Demons and Night Demons was strictly forbidden. Because these creatures were formless and could instinctively sense human thoughts, anyone who imagined their image would be plagued by them, with the demons constantly waiting for a moment of weakness to strike. Therefore, only those with sufficiently resilient souls and stable mental energy were permitted to know about them—this was both a method of information control and a way to protect the general populace.

"I’ve known for a long time," Theresa replied, her tone tinged with a coldness born of past experiences. She quickly composed herself and continued, "Since you’ve seen Night Demons and fought Void Demons, you should know how troublesome they are. However, now that they have physical forms here in the Void Realm, I imagine dealing with them will be quite different from the methods you used before."

As she spoke, Theresa described the Void Demons and Night Demons she had encountered. To her surprise, upon hearing her description, Pedia raised an eyebrow, a look of realization crossing his face.

Theresa watched his reaction and immediately shifted the topic. "Have you encountered a Void Demon before, brother?"

"Yes, I was fortunate enough to battle one." Pedia briefly summarized the encounter. Theresa listened, deep in thought. When Pedia mentioned that he had absorbed the energy left behind by the vanquished Void Demon, Theresa’s eyes widened, and a restless ambition began to stir in her heart once more.

Hunting Void Demons!

Hunting a Void Demon would not only solidify the soul forms of her hawk and wolf but also enhance the strength of Canis and Pedia!

What an incredibly lucrative endeavor that would be!