I want to just drift through life in Type-Moon.

Page 28

"Why not use a spell? Because—wouldn't it be faster to just punch them instead of chanting? A magician who says something like that is a disgrace to the magic world! Magicians represent power, mystery, and elegance! What kind of magicians are you who grab weapons and charge at the slightest disagreement!"

As Yue Zhengling continued to speak, unable to control his tongue, he failed to notice that Merlin's smile had frozen again, and he also failed to see the pitying look in Fufu's eyes.

"You can't possibly only know that British magic trick called 'Artoria's Dinner'! Strictly speaking, that's not even magic!"

"And why does that queen always fall for your tricks? Is her innate intuition really just for getting critical hit stars?"

"Did you actually add a strong implication to that sentence? Or did you whisper something in her ear every time she went to sleep when she was little? Or did you even use your ability as a nightmare to enter her dreams and subtly brainwash her?"

"Ah, just imagine, you could actually do something like that! Otherwise, how could a girl who was as lovable as a lily, so innocent, straightforward, and cute, end up becoming that stubborn, inflexible, and headstrong knight king! You clearly failed in raising her! You devilish father!"

Upon hearing this, Cathy Parluge ran away as fast as she could, partly to save her life and partly to find a safe place to have a good laugh.

Merlin's smile had completely vanished, and his face was now ashen.

While Yue Zhengling's words angered him, they also prompted him to reflect. Indeed, the original Artoria was such a lovely child, so why did she end up becoming the kind of king who looked at him like he was a pig?

Is there really something wrong here?

But now is not the time to think about these issues; his first priority is to teach this unscrupulous roommate a lesson.

Meanwhile, Yue Zhengling, who hadn't heard Merlin's rebuttal, raised her head slightly, resting her chin on the table as she looked at him.

"Are you angry?" Yue Zhengling asked with a smile when he saw Merlin's unusual expression.

Merlin frowned, noticing something was amiss. He looked at Yue Zhengling for a moment, then said, "No, there isn't."

"Are you angry?" Yue Zhengling asked again with a serious expression.

"No," Merlin replied calmly, having already figured out what was going on.

"I'm angry!" Yue Zhengling stood up with an angry expression!

"No~" Merlin replied with a smile.

If anyone saw this bizarre conversation, they would be baffled and would probably slam their fists on the table, asking if the two of them were just trying to get word count.

However, the truth is—

Chapter Sixty-Eight: The Shift in Ideology

However, the truth is that Lok Chung-ling desperately wanted some excitement.

There was a reason he had wanted to touch Fufu before: after entering this place, he found that his patience was getting lower and lower, and he found everything boring.

Living in this primitive environment for a month was even more unbearable than the second month of the longest summer vacation he had during his senior year of high school.

But after finishing everything you wanted to do in the first month of the year, you'd drift into the idle second month.

Back then, I would sleep until noon, then prepare breakfast and lunch together. After that, I would turn on the computer to play games and watch anime, then pick up my phone to read novels. Before long, I would get bored and lie on the sofa, not wanting to do anything or move. Even breathing felt like a hassle, and I wished I had a breathing machine to help me.

By the third month, he was completely in a state of utter despair.

No wonder there was a saying back then: "When you're in class, you want to leave get out of class; when you're out of class, you want to take a lunch break; when you take a lunch break, you want to leave school; when you leave school, you want a holiday; when you're on holiday, you want a long holiday; and when you're on holiday, you want to go back to school."

Humans always repeat the same mistakes.

People who are bored out of their minds will always find something special to do, but for some reason, Merlin didn't cooperate this time.

Even though the verbal provocation was more intense than before, he calmly drank his tea as if he hadn't noticed.

"Don't look at me like that. I admit I'm a little angry, but seeing your gloomy expression, my joy outweighs my anger~~" The older brother who loves flowers has a magnanimous look on his face.

"Do you know what's wrong with you right now?" He laughed heartily, because his plan could begin.

Le Zhengling shook his head, pretending to listen.

“Actually, I think explanations are useless; actions speak louder than words,” Merlin said mischievously.

"I still want to hear it," Yue Zhengling said through gritted teeth, suppressing his frustration and unease.

"You feel bored with nothing to do right now, and you are always restless and your emotions are very unstable. This is because your consciousness is beginning to shift from a short-lived species to a long-lived species."

Le Zhengling pursed his lips and remained silent.

"The so-called living beings, well, to be precise, are higher consciousness beings, which are composed of three major elements: body, soul, and spirit."

"The body is the physical form of reality, while the soul is the part of a person's thoughts, memories, and magical circuits. The bridge that connects a person's inner essence to the body and soul is the spirit."

"The human body will gradually age with age, but the soul is an eternal and indestructible existence. However, in reality, the human soul will age and deteriorate along with the body year by year, and eventually die and be destroyed. This is because the soul is connected to the body by the spirit, and therefore the soul will deteriorate and be destroyed due to the influence of the body."

As Merlin spoke, he drew a human figure in the air, which then separated into three parts as he explained.

His body is his physical form, his soul is the luminous body of his face, and his spirit is a colorful, irregular mass.

"Although the body affects the soul, it is actually protecting the soul, because external disturbances can trigger various transformations of the soul, some of which are good and some are bad."

The patterns in the air recombine, and arrows of different colors pierce the humanoid figure, but most of them are deflected by the body.

"However, your situation is too special. Your soul has left your body. I don't know the current state of your physical body, but because of this, you have lost your protection. Fortunately, you entered this ideal place. Otherwise, given your situation at the time, although your soul would not have disappeared, your personality and will would have undergone tremendous changes."

In the image, the soul and body separate again, then the body disappears, leaving only the image representing his soul. Various arrows pierce his soul, causing the soul's face to become instantly blurred.

"Because Avalon is pure enough, your soul is not affected too much, but it will be assimilated and dissipated here."

The pattern changed further, his soul returned to its original form, but a layer of mist rose from his body, while small green needles pierced into his soul.

"Moreover, when you came in, your soul was... well, how should I put it, it captured other higher spiritual information, which further solidified your soul. That's why the assimilation process slowed down when you entered here."

In the image, his body is covered by colorful orbs of light, and then a spherical protective membrane is added to his body, making it impossible for the small green needles to pierce through.

"But these memories don't belong to you after all. To prevent you from having your memories disrupted by too much information, Fufu filters out the ones that you can't absorb, making them the energy source for that protective membrane. The rest are used to strengthen your soul."

Those orbs of light were divided into two groups, left and right. The colorless and transparent ones were on the left, slowly being absorbed by him, and the solidity of his soul was increasing.

The other colors are on the right, while the ones on this side are slowly dissipating and being absorbed by the circular protective film. The tiny green needles are completely deflected.

Upon seeing this, Yue Zhengling frowned and asked, "So, if this state continues, my soul and spirit will not change. My current situation is because of what you did to me before, is that right?"

He wasn't stupid. Seeing this, he already had his own guess. If things continued to develop as Merlin had suggested, his changes should be related to the Infinite Holy Crystal from before.

“Smart! Didn’t I tell you that the Infinite Metatron Cube could stabilize your soul and accelerate your growth?”

Merlin clapped his hands, confirming his guess.

"So-called stability means that even when this protective layer is gone, you can still maintain your independent thinking and not be assimilated by the rules of the Inner Sea. And how do you achieve stability? Of course, it's when you grow strong enough to withstand it!"

At this point, it was clear that Yue Zhengling's soul was becoming more real, and the protective membrane around it had disappeared. However, the small green needles were completely repelled when they touched his soul.

"Accelerated growth makes you aware of the existence of long-lived species, but since your worldview as a short-lived species is already established, any change would definitely cause some conflict between the two."

Merlin waved his hand, and all the patterns disappeared.

"It's this shock that's making you irritable. The change in your mode of existence is also causing your subconscious to seek something—well, something to stimulate you, to keep your consciousness from going dormant. That's why you're the way you are now..."

At this point, Merlin spread his hands and asked again, "So, to help us both pass the time, would you like me to train a bit?"

Chapter Sixty-Nine: The knot in my heart remains untied; reality must still be faced.

Le Zhengling didn't answer immediately, but stared at his fingers.

"Ah, you're really stubborn. Don't you trust me at all?" Merlin looked at Yue Zhengling, who had fallen silent, and then his gaze fell on Fufu, who was standing at the entrance of the stairwell. Suddenly, he had an idea.

“It’s not that I don’t believe you! It’s just that…” Yue Zhengling was about to argue, but Merlin had already stood up and left his seat.

"Hmm, I suddenly remembered I have some things to do. You can think about it some more." Merlin waved to him and walked towards the stairs.

Sitting still, Yue Zhengling scratched his head, closed his eyes in frustration, and wished he could get a good night's sleep.

From an angle he couldn't see, Merlin gestured for Fou to be quiet, bent down, picked her up, and quietly walked downstairs.

Once on the ground, Fufu called out "fourfour~" a few times, seemingly asking Merlin something.

"Aha, I'm not lying to him. If he wants to relieve that restlessness, finding something to do is the best thing. That's why he's been wanting to hang out with you, hasn't he?"

Merlin smiled as he stroked Fou's hair. "Of course, getting through it is one way, but I don't think it's suitable for him. After all, he's half human, and it seems he grew up in human society."

“It is very difficult to reverse one’s ingrained consciousness in a short time, given that he is also very attached to the identity of being human. Therefore, ideological transformation is even more difficult.”

"The reason Artoria's transformation went so smoothly back then was because Kai and I accompanied her on a knightly tour of the world for training. But Ling can only be confined here. Apart from you and me, no other life can communicate with him."

“four~fofo~fufu? (Why is this happening?)” Fufu looked up at Merlin.

"Because Ling is destined not to belong here, and you and I both prevented him from being assimilated by Avalon, which is the best proof of that. The other creatures here also know this, which is why they don't want to communicate with him to prevent being corrupted."

Merlin lifted Fou up and stared at it intently, saying, "So, Cathy Parlug, if possible, I'd like to use you to get him into my training."

"Four? (Why?)" Fufu replied, puzzled.

"He may not even realize how unstable his mind is right now. He has no code of conduct, is unpredictable, and because he came here as a soul, he is influenced by various elements of his other self from other worlds. His previous reckless remarks are the best example of this."

"That's precisely why he now possesses limitless potential. With my proper guidance, this potential can be preserved to the maximum extent without affecting his original way of thinking. This is the best opportunity to shape him!"

“One day, you and he will both leave. Moreover, he mentioned some ‘future’ that I care about a lot. I want to change these ‘futures’, so I want to try to make them ‘possible’.”

At this point, Merlin revealed an incredibly gentle and pure smile. "I love this world, and I love all of humanity. I had no choice before, but now I want to do something for all of this."

"Four, four~fofofo~fofu~fu! (Okay, I can agree, but I don't care what the final result is!)" Fou twitched its ears and tail and agreed.

"It's okay, I just wanted to give it a try. And it's hard on you, since you're not getting close to him for the good of both of you." Merlin placed Fou on her head and began to prepare.

Fufu remained silent, quietly perched atop Merlin's head, watching him take out the rainbow card and begin to conjure something.

Meanwhile, Le Zhengling, who remained inside the tower, sat blankly in a chair, looking out through the skylight at the top of the tower.

"We've come to the safest place in the world, why can't I just be a lazy bum? What's the point of getting stronger in a place like this...?"

"Besides... I don't want to go back anymore. Whether it's escaping reality or being afraid to face it, I've already died twice. The second time, I cherished my life so much and struggled for so long, but in the end, I still died, didn't I?"

Le Zhengling stretched out his right hand, spreading his five fingers towards the sky.

"Death is terrifying, truly terrifying. Since my body has come back to life but won't let my soul go back, then I'd rather not go back. Going back might mean dying again."

"Anyway, I have no friends, no family, I've repaid Uncle Nero's kindness, and my soul has come to this place, so I can stop trying, right?"

The outstretched hand seemed to be trying to grasp something, but it grasped nothing.

"Let the secret remain a secret. Whether it's about my background or scheming, I'm not going to care anymore... Grandpa, I'm not going to be human anymore, okay?"

Thinking of the old man who might have deceived him for thirteen years, Le Zhengling choked with emotion.

Being kept in the dark by your closest loved ones—no one could bear to find out the truth.

He was just an ordinary person who lived in an ordinary working-class family in his previous life. However, he died tragically at the age of twenty-five. The cause of death was just a car accident, which seemed like an ordinary one to most people.

However, who knows what really happened behind the simple term "car accident"?

His car overturned because of a rear-end collision, and then a large truck came from the other side and rolled his car under its wheels.

However, he was not dead yet. He tried to call for help but could not make a sound. He tried to press down on his bleeding right arm but to no avail. In the end, he could only silently feel the blood draining away in the cramped and deformed carriage, struggling from conscious to confused.

His vision blurred, his body grew cold, and finally he lost the ability to feel pain. He became completely disoriented. In his last moments, he saw the sunlight again and the blood-red car roof that had become a puddle.

For the people watching the news, they only see reports of "a car accident occurred on xxx section of road," but for him, it was a long wait for death.

When I opened my eyes again, I saw a cool smile and eyes that couldn't hide my worry.

They depended on each other for thirteen years, but one day they were separated by death.

Whatever the old man was hiding, or whether he had lied to him, he no longer cared. He wanted to let the past be forgotten. Now that he had arrived in Avalon, he just wanted to live a simple and peaceful life.

However, it seems that this wish may not necessarily come true.

Even in an ideal world, the law of survival exists: those who don't work hard cannot live according to their own will.

Merlin's meaning was clear: if he didn't want to be overwhelmed by the shift in consciousness, and if he wanted a more relaxed future, then he had to accept the reality here.

“Ah, in that case, I should have just accepted Merlin’s suggestion from the beginning. Now it seems like I’m doing him a disservice.” Yue Zhengling withdrew his hand and stood up.

"To use my old playful words, it's really delicious..." He patted his face, turned around and went down the tower to give Merlin his reply.

Chapter Seventy: Merlin's Classroom - The Beginning

Upon arriving at the foot of the tower, Yue Zhengling saw Merlin squatting there, seemingly doing something.

"Okay, here again, like this, then like this, and then like this! Hmm, done~~"

As he approached, he saw Merlin happily playing in the mud.

In short, that's the truth. Yue Zhengling watched as he sculpted a strange clay figurine from the black mud on the ground. "What are you doing?"

Merlin seemed to only notice his arrival at this moment. He clapped his hands, which were completely clean, stood up, looked at Yue Zhengling, and smiled, "Doing something interesting. This is one of the few magic tricks I know."