Wish 15 : illusion

Three years have passed since I entered the Deadly Poison Valley...

Physically, I should be ten years old now.

During this time, I continued to uncover the secrets of the incomplete virtue power...

I discovered several things...

First and foremost, I am somehow the incarnation of the Virtue of Pride.

As for why or anything about this matter, I do not know.

The proof of that lies in memories...

No...

Rather, fragments of memories that came to me from time to time.

Memories of both the Virtue of Pride and the Virtue of Greed.

But they are not the important memories.

The second thing I discovered...

Is the ability to copy the power of the Virtue of Pride.

This topic requires much explanation, so I will summarize it for you.

I can control life...

Specifically, the lives of low mind level beings.

Like plants and insects...

Yes...

It resembles the power of the Virtue of Pride to control the timing of plants...

And prevent them from withering.

But he did not control their timing, but their lives.

So I called it "mimicry."

I tried to mimic his power and succeeded in making the dead tree behind me bloom and flourish.

Why am I talking as if I'm explaining something to someone?

Well...

Maybe I have lost my mind?

Or maybe I have been immersed in my despair for too long...

Who knows.

...

The third thing I discovered...

The laws of this world no longer affect me...

But rather, I control these laws.

I couldn't use my skills before because I lost them...

So what if I create new skills?

If I were under the control of the laws of this world, I wouldn't be able to do that...

But now I am beyond the control of its laws.

So I can create new skills.

And here, I found an aspect of the Virtue of Greed...

I was able to mimic the power of the Virtue of Greed in creating skills.

And by chance...

I created an entirely new skill.

A strange skill that consumed half of my mana.

And once I created it...

I was able to use it freely and without restrictions.

It wasn't just a skill anymore.

It became part of my own power!

This skill is a combination of poison, fire, and the power of death.

A silver fire that, once ignited, will never be extinguished until it accomplishes its purpose.

So if I wanted to burn a lake of water...

The fire would keep burning until all the water in the lake disappeared.

...

Another year has passed...

Time passes very slowly when you have nothing to do...

When you are immersed in your despair...

Yes...

Despair is beautiful...

When you are drowning in despair, your mind becomes empty...

And wonderful ideas start to arise...

You begin to think about how to kill someone you hate...

While thinking about the same for someone you love...

To kill them with mercy...

Or killing them in the cruelest ways...

And sometimes, you think about revenge.

In my case, I only thought about one thing...

What should I do from now on?

Some silly ideas came to mind, like going back to the clan...

And others, like returning to the tower.

Am I serious now, really?

Tell me, my friend!

You are the only one who has been with me during the past year.

But let me think again...

Why did I create you??

By thinking that the fusion of the virtues would result in you...

Isn't that right, Loner?

Loner is the same as that silver fire...

If I add the life force of the Virtue of Pride to it...

It turns into a living silver butterfly.

Loner stays close by and just observes me...

And does nothing else but obey my orders.

Well, I guess the time has come...

To leave this place.

.....

I changed my form back to my old form...

Using only mana...

This is more than enough to prove that I no longer need skills.

After leaving the deadly Valley of Poison...

I continued my journey until I reached an area devoid of trees...

I tried to send mana to my back...

And butterfly wings emerged from behind me.

Have I become a fan of butterflies or what?

But when I tried to fly, I couldn't...

Because I forgot that the crown responsible for flying had been on my head all along...

Meaning I can fly whenever I want.

Fool...

.....

After I took flight, I caught sight of a small village...

So I descended and headed towards it.

When I entered that village...

I found it peaceful, and its inhabitants seemed happy...

That angered me.

And when I wanted to destroy that happiness...

A little girl stood before me and stared at me.

How should I put this...

She is quite bold.

So I asked her about her name...

And she told me, "I don't have a name... I'm a slave."

A slave?

Was slavery a thing in the Empire?

Well...

That doesn't matter to me anyway.

I left the village...

And that girl followed me...

It seemed she wanted to say something, but she couldn't.

"What do you want?"

My harsh voice made her frightened, and she backed away from me

So she thought of something and approached again...

She grabbed my cloak and pointed towards the forest.

I understood that she couldn't say it here.

Is slavery in the Empire this harsh?

Excellent...!