Hyperdimensional Warlock

Chapter 4304 Heartfelt
"This question... is too bland."

Liriel turned and winked at the withered one: "This is a piece of cake for a witch from Elysium."

"Did you know that there are quite a few people who willingly pay to experience the pleasures of non-human beings at the Elysium? And for those with even more extreme tastes, the Elysium also offers such services?"

"Not to mention, this is all for survival."

"So the answer is obvious, of course I would do it."

The Decaying One: "..."

Looking at Liriel's effortless demeanor, the Decayer was filled with questions. Was it because it was too inexperienced, or were the limits of humanity too outrageous?
However, the withered one only paused for a second before silently withdrawing his attention and turning to look at Normefens.

It raised this question simply to see if Normeffens agreed with this type of question.

Liriel also looked over.

Normefens let out a slow, hoarse laugh: "While I enjoy watching some interesting shows, these kinds of imaginative topics are not my current interests. Perhaps other clones will like them in the future, but unfortunately, I'm too old and not interested in this kind of thing."

The Decayer, Liriel: "..."

They exchanged a glance and sighed helplessly, since the power of interpretation lay with Normeffens and there was nothing they could do.

We can only continue to test the waters.

"You go first this time," Liriel gestured for the Withered One to come.

The withered man thought for a moment and then asked, "What is the biggest regret in your life?"

The withered one did not immediately ask what was on his mind; some questions require preparation and a trigger.

Upon hearing the question from the withered one, Liriel immediately understood that this time it had chosen a heartfelt question that focused on personal privacy but carried emotional weight.

This kind of question can occasionally arise at tea parties, but only at very private ones.

It's normal to reflect on things after something absurd.

After thinking carefully for a moment, Lillie quickly grasped the crux of the problem.

The Decaying One made an extremely wise choice. Just now, the Normefenus clone on this wall clearly stated that it was "old." And any intelligent life form, upon reaching old age, will have a different state of mind than when it was young. In youth, one may prefer excitement and absurdity, but when one reaches the age of looking back, what often touches them more are the past events hidden in the folds of their emotions.

Especially fond of reminiscing... a pity.

Or rather, it's a preference to recall the path one didn't choose back then.

Liriel gave the withered one an "appreciative" look; she had a feeling that this type of question might be acceptable!
After analyzing the types of questions, Lillie also thought about how to answer them.

First and foremost, you absolutely cannot lie.

They had already passed the Wall of Questions six times and were very familiar with the rules. She and the Decayer had also discussed it privately. Normefens probably didn't have the ability to detect lies, but she seemed to be able to sense whether the respondent was sincere.

Given their current "ordinary" state, this is actually more difficult to deal with than detecting lies.

Because if it's just about detecting lies, even if you deliberately conceal key information, as long as what you say is the truth, it won't be able to detect it. And this is something that they, as "ordinary people," can currently do.

However, to determine the sincerity of an answer, it means that they must be completely focused and mentally concentrated when answering. If you are hiding something or trying to get away with it by concealing key information, this "lack of sincerity" will be detected by Normefens. Now that their power is suppressed, it is difficult for them to be "in harmony with their minds" while lying.

Therefore, under these circumstances, they have no choice but to tell the whole truth, and they cannot hide anything from the truth.

In other words, if the withered one asks her "the most regrettable thing in your life," she must answer completely truthfully.

So, is she going to say it?
Lillie reminisces about the regrets of her past.

The blood plague on the Shenxia Grassland, the estrangement of lovers separated by distance, the absurdity of time indulging in desire, the desolate night of destruction and rebirth, and the sleepless struggle for survival...

These images flashed through her mind.

If you were to ask her what she hated most in her life, it would undoubtedly be the blood plague that struck the Shenxia Grasslands; but if you were to ask her what she regretted most…

Finally, the image settled on an aged face.

A complex mix of emotions and regret flashed in Liriel's eyes: Indeed, the biggest regret was still about... her.

She thought about it carefully and finally decided to tell the whole story, as it didn't involve much privacy for her.

Moreover, she had already touched on this topic when she faced the first wall of questions; this time, she was simply explaining the reasons in detail.

Thinking of this, Liriel raised her head.

"My biggest regret is that one of my most beloved students from back then lost his life because of my misjudgment..."

"That was when I was still in the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. There were two major factions in the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, one in charge of ultimate bliss and pleasure, and the other in charge of purifying the world and protecting the Way."

"And I am a defender of the Pure Land School."

"The legendary wizard Insercot, known as the 'Heart of the Swarm,' once wrote in his journal: 'Factional strife is a poison buried in the roots of all intelligent races, especially humans. The more a group prides itself on being clear-headed, the more easily it is torn apart by ideologies. From a small family to a large country, internal strife and fighting can occur because of factional ideologies. Therefore, I prefer the Swarm to humans.'"

"Lord Insercot is right. Factional struggles exist everywhere, including Elysium. And because I affected the interests of some of Elysium's performance programs, the Elysium faction did everything in their power to push me onto the sacrificial table in their factional struggle."

"And the Pure World Sect behind me, while claiming to uphold the Way, actually has deep-seated vested interests among those in high positions within the Paradise Palace."

"Therefore, with no one to help me out, I became a complete victim."

“Of course I’m not willing to accept this. Since everyone says I’m the villain, then I can become even more joyful and pleasure-seeking than them…”

"During that time, I became a true pleasure witch. I was behind the scenes controlling some of the most popular performances at the Elysium."

At this point, Liriel glanced at the withered one: "And those performances were even more appalling than the pig-headed men you mentioned. So, do you understand why I described your question as bland? This is the reason."

"Although I have transformed into pleasure, my heart tells me that I cannot fall. I must uphold myself, and I must use my body as a raft to become a true Pure Land of Bliss."

"But... I can't do it."

"Enjoying pleasure without falling into depravity is common in storybooks, but it is rare to see someone who truly enjoys extreme pleasure without becoming addicted and can find themselves again in reality."

"So, while I said I wouldn't fall into depravity, my mind and body were slowly blinded by pleasure. I thought I was using rebellion as a bargaining chip to fight back against the two factions, but in reality, I gradually became the ally they wanted most."

As she said this, a faint, sorrowful light seemed to flicker in Lillie's eyes.

The withered one lowered his eyes and sighed softly.

Liriel: "I know very well that if I continue to fall into depravity, I will inevitably become an inescapable insect in a spider web, and then be devoured by them piece by piece."

"But I had no choice in the matter."

"Later, it was my student who took me away; her name was Astrid."

"She was originally the most outstanding saint of the Purification Sect, known by everyone as the lost pearl of light, a new god who could defend the Pure Land... Her future could have been very bright, but she chose to rebel."

“She is not like me. My rebellion was a joke, and I degenerated into a sycophant of pleasure. She, on the other hand, used the purifying insects to kill a large number of factional parasites and destroyed the fountain of pleasure of the Blissful Sect. With a completely rebellious attitude, she declared the Pure Land of Bliss.”

"And all she did was to save me."

Astrid saw Lillie's pain, and also her conscious descent into depravity, knowing that she was beyond saving.

As a student, Astrid could empathize with her teacher's helplessness. She knew that the only way to save Lillie was to change the nerves that were soaked in the power of pleasure.

Only one person can do this.

Stirling, a member of the Sky Machinery City Research Institute, is an alchemist skilled in neural modification and is known as the "Wanderer of the Nerves".

So she went to the punk theme park and found Sterling.

After that, Astrid agreed to some of Stirling's outrageous requests, bringing out the most precious Elysian Core and the Ring of Purification from Elysium. —And this was also the reason why she had to rebel.

"Later, after she took me away from the Pleasure House, I spent more than ten years in withdrawal."

"After my body recovered somewhat, Astrid became deeply involved in Stirling's experiments, helping me to alter all the nerves that were permeated by the power of pleasure."

"When I saw her again, she had become hunched over and old."

"Because the mechanical neural alteration designed by Stirling requires the use of the Bliss Core and the Purification Ring, which can only be driven by life force, and must be the life force of people in the Blissful Pure Land."

"A ritual similar to the sacrifice of life force."

At that time, only the two of them came from Elysium. As the recipient of healing, Lillie obviously could not use her life force, so Astrid used her own life.

"I later tried various methods to replenish her lost vitality, but it was completely useless."

"Later, Stirling told me that what she lost was not simply her life force. At that time, Astrid had just become a formal wizard and was unable to support the use of the Bliss Core and the Ring of Purification. She sacrificed her own lifespan to fill the gap."

As she recounted this, Liriel's voice remained calm. But when the Decayer looked up at her, he noticed dampness on her cheeks.

"Lifespan can actually be replenished, but she has lost too much, and her foundation has been destroyed."

Most life-restoring items are unusable.

The only way is to let her advance naturally to become a level two wizard, so that her lifespan can be replenished.

However, her body was completely unable to support the advancement; she needed a certain level of life essence.

Thus begins a tragic cycle: lifespan cannot be replenished, so advancement is needed; however, advancement requires a foundation of life, which in turn requires lifespan to replenish.

"After many twists and turns, I came to the abyss."

"I came to the Abyss not only to hunt the Great Demon God of the Red Plague, but also because I have no face to see Astrid..."

"If I had made a smarter decision back then, perhaps Astrid wouldn't be in this predicament now."

At this point, Lillie closed her eyes tightly.

After a long while, he gently exhaled and opened his eyes to look at the withered man: "This is the most regrettable thing in my life so far, and it is also the thing I want to make up for with everything I have."

After speaking, Liriel saw pity in the withered creature's eyes, and could even sense from its trembling Adam's apple that it might utter words of comfort.

Liriel said almost without pausing, "Don't pity me. Anyone's pity will only make me hate myself more."

"Let's get back to the main topic. Now it's my turn to ask you a question."

The withered creature opened its mouth as if to say something, but the words that welled up in its throat were ultimately forced back down.

It nodded silently: "Ask away."

Liriel looked up at the withered one, her eyes still filled with a trace of melancholy and daze, clearly she had not yet emerged from her previous memories.

After a long pause, he finally spoke: "What is the most regrettable decision you've ever made in your life?"

Upon hearing Liriel's question, the Decayer paused, a faint ripple passing through his eyes.

If this question had been asked before today, it might have been like a sharp knife, cutting open its dusty past and bringing back the pain that had been frozen in time.

But from today onwards, this problem will no longer cause it so much pain.

Liriel knew about this.

She brought up this issue partly because it happened to be the same type as his, and partly perhaps because she wanted to show him some leniency.
Because, in fact, Lillie could guess the answer.

"The decision I regret most in my life was that night I agreed to go to the top floor of the Star Academy with Elan."

"That night, the starry sky was the backdrop for both of us."

“Eran said he saw the note I left on the table that I forgot to put away.”

"My dream was written on that piece of paper."

—A arduous journey, leading straight to the stars.

"Under the dazzling starry night, Elan stood in front of the railing on the rooftop, turned to me and said that his dream was also to see a more distant world."

"However, as the chief scholar, he couldn't act recklessly, so he buried this wish in his heart. But this wish was like a weed; no matter how much it was pruned, it would still sprout."

"Elan said that he wanted to give up everything many times to pursue his dream, but he restrained himself in the end."

"But he was very sad."

"Until he saw the note I wrote, and when he learned that I had the same dream as him, he was overjoyed and called me to the rooftop that very night."

The eyes of the decaying man flickered with images of the past.

A young man under the stars, full of vigor and ambition.

"He said he couldn't leave, so he wanted to entrust his dreams to me."

"Let me take his dream to the distance, to the stars, to the other side of truth."

"I……"

"I agreed to it."

"I will always remember the bright smile on his face when he heard my answer that night."

The withered man remained silent for a long, long time before softly saying, "But I regret it now. If I could, I wish I hadn't agreed to him that night."

“I even wish that I could have given him a push back then, let him go and realize his dream himself, and let me stay instead.”