Mist Belt, Reef Island.
"Cindy has been gone for almost an hour now, why hasn’t she awakened?" The chubby apprentice muttered with his greasy mouth as he ate grilled fish, "Could she have gone off to eat, drink, and be merry?"
When the chubby apprentice mentioned "eat, drink, and be merry," his eyes clearly glimmered. He was fortunate enough to visit that mysterious Dreamy City once and tasted incredibly delicious food, reportedly made by a culinary apprentice, and even the ingredients used were of the magical food variety.
Most importantly, one only needs to take on some ordinary construction tasks, and meals are free!
Those foods that would cost at least a hundred magic crystals in reality are provided for free. For the food-loving chubby apprentice, this Dreamy City is simply a luxurious paradise.
So he judged Cindy based on his own indulgences when she hadn’t gone offline for a while.
"Hmph, do you think everyone is like you?" The purple-robed apprentice scoffed.
"I, what did I do wrong? Are you looking to start a fight again?"
The purple-robed apprentice snorted coldly, "Did I say anything wrong? As a Wizard Apprentice, the most important thing is insight. Do you still not understand what kind of person Cindy is, and instead, you equate her to your low level? Isn’t that laughable?"
The chubby apprentice, glowering, was about to retort, but the female apprentice interrupted irritably: "Are you planning to argue like this every day? Quarreling over nothing? It’s getting annoying. If you have the guts, wait until Ferro returns and argue in front of him."
"Hmph." Both the purple-robed and chubby apprentice snorted in disdain, turning their faces away from each other.
The female apprentice rubbed her temples helplessly, then looked at Cindy, whose eyes were tightly closed, "Cindy definitely didn’t go to indulge herself. However, the chubby one has a point; Cindy has been gone a long time this time. A report should only take a few minutes..."
At this moment, the female apprentice’s expression slightly showed concern, "Sigh, I’m a bit worried."
"Worried? Worried about what?" The chubby apprentice asked, confused, "The Wilderness of Dreams is so safe, and we’re guarding her physical body, so what’s there to worry about?"
The purple-robed apprentice said irately, "I say you’re dumb, and you won’t admit it. Think carefully, who did Cindy go to report to this time?"
"Lord Nis... Nis! That old lecher!" The chubby apprentice suddenly realized.
"Shh." The female apprentice made a shushing motion; despite being disgusted by Nis’s personal ethics, he is still an Official Wizard. If their words got out, they would be doomed.
Realizing this, the chubby apprentice quickly covered his mouth and looked pleadingly at the female apprentice and the purple-robed apprentice, hoping they wouldn’t spread what he’d said.
The purple-robed apprentice was too lazy to respond, while the female apprentice sighed lightly, "Why did Ferro give the log-in device to Cindy before leaving, not to either of you? It would have been better."
If a man went to report, Nis would never give a glance. But Cindy, that’s different.
"Don’t overthink it, maybe Cindy just got delayed for some reason," said the purple-robed apprentice quietly, though the tone was not firm.
Just as the atmosphere grew heavy and everyone was worried, a voice with an icy texture called out: "What are you guys talking about? What did I get delayed on?"
They all turned their heads suddenly, seeing that Cindy, who was lying by the campfire asleep, had now opened her eyes and was sitting up.
Because of their previous discussion topic, they looked a bit awkward.
"I’m asking you, what was delayed?" Cindy sat up, removing the chain from her brow. — The chain on her brow clasped a blue gemstone, the log-in device to the Wilderness of Dreams. In Ferro’s hands, the blue gemstone clasp was an earring; after Cindy got it, she added a chain to turn it into a brow chain.
After carefully putting away the log-in device, Cindy hadn’t gotten an answer, so she looked at them with confusion, "If you won’t say, never mind. I have something to do... where’s Reynold?"
"Nothing, the chubby one said you didn’t go offline for so long and must have gone to indulge. We were all just reproaching him." The female apprentice didn’t hesitate to sell out the chubby apprentice: "Reynold, he’s sitting over there on the rock, daydreaming."
Cindy cast a cold glance at the chubby apprentice, saying nothing. She knew him well; his mind was mostly about eating and playing, so it was no surprise he’d say such things.
"Lord Pat asked me to go offline to ask Reynold something. After asking, I need to go back online to report." Cindy stood up and walked over to Reynold.
Hearing Cindy’s words, the others breathed a sigh of relief. They knew exactly who Lord Pat was, and if it was him, there was no need to worry about Cindy having any trouble. This lord’s reputation in the Barbarian Cave was always good, at least in the eyes of the witches, infinitely better than Nis.
Cindy arrived by Reynold’s side.
Reynold was still sitting mindlessly on the reef, gazing at the ocean concealed by mist in the distance.
"Reynold," Cindy called.
Reynold turned his head blankly, "Huh?"
Cindy didn’t waste time on pleasantries. Seeing Reynold turn toward her, she directly asked, "I have a question for you and you must answer truthfully."
Reynold: "I’ve lost many of my memories..."
Cindy: "I need you to answer honestly. Even if you’ve forgotten, you must tell me you’ve forgotten."
This was Angel’s order, and Cindy dared not slack off, her expression and tone extremely solemn.
Reynold thought for a moment, then nodded: "I’ll do my best, but what I can say, I’ve already said before..."
Cindy didn’t wait for Reynold to finish, she directly asked her question: "Never mind the rest, I just want to ask you if you know Nausicaa?"
As soon as Cindy asked, Reynold instantly froze, as if time itself had stopped.
Seeing Reynold unresponsive, Cindy thought he hadn’t heard clearly and repeated her question: "Nausicaa, full name Nausicaa Asberu, or King of Blackberry. Have you ever heard... of her?"
Initially phrased as a question, Cindy’s voice softened on the last word as she noticed a shimmer of moisture in Reynold’s eyes.
A soul, with a glint of moisture in its eyes?
While Cindy was stunned, she didn’t know that within Reynold’s consciousness at this moment, various fragmented images were swirling around.
These images were like broken puzzle pieces; he had tried piecing them together before but could never find the starting point, so he let these memory fragments continuously sink deeper and deeper.
But as Cindy mentioned the name "Nausicaa," these sunken puzzle pieces in the depths of his consciousness found a guiding thread. They began to light up in the dark and gradually followed some unexplainable order, flying out piece by piece, starting to piece together before Reynold’s eyes—
Inside Fangling Hall.
"Is there really something I need there?"
"Yes, I saw with my own eyes hands of humans, humanoids, even magical creatures, and demons. Among them was a right arm with patterns, supposedly from a powerful Witch."