He revisited memories of the Golden Kin countless times. Derick felt he had killed the Golden Kin at least a hundred times.
His comrades-in-arms and lovers, fighting alongside him, were pierced through by him again and again. Watching them in their dying moments, Derick felt a great emotional upheaval.
At the same time, he gradually understood the situation of these repeated killings.
In Amphoreus, the Trail of Cinders was a cycle of reincarnation, where the Golden Kin replaced the Titans, transforming into new Titans in the next world's recreation.
However, this situation had undergone a major change in this iteration of the Trail of Cinders. For unknown reasons, the cycle began with infinite recursion, endlessly repeating. The Flame Reaver continuously slew the Golden Kin, took their Flame Seeds, and then entered a new cycle.
During another battle, Derick also clearly saw the appearance of the Flame Reaver.
"It's Phainon, indeed…"
Even before his transmigration, Derick had often heard people say that there was a strong connection between Phainon and the Flame Reaver. Now, after seeing his face, he finally confirmed that he was the Flame Reaver. Or rather, the Flame Reaver from the previous cycle.
But in this cycle, Derick had transmigrated to Amphoreus, and now he had completely devoured the Flame Reaver. His abilities, his memories, had all become part of Derick.
This feeling, it truly was… Painful!
As Derick pondered these things, the movements of his hands did not cease. Before his eyes, scenes of him killing the Golden Kin still played out, one after another.
No matter how he tried to stop it, he couldn't prevent seeing the blood of his lovers and friends staining his hands.
Hundreds of times, thousands of times…
Derick wanted to scream, but he was currently observing the Flame Reaver's memories, and there was nothing he could do.
This had a profound impact on his mind.
Firstly, Derick's feelings differed from Phainon's. Phainon's feelings towards the Golden Kin were primarily those of comrades-in-arms fighting alongside him.
But Derick's feelings were mixed with romantic affection. Not to mention Castorice, his official girlfriend, even Cipher, and Hyacine, and even Polyxia—it was impossible for Derick to say there wasn't a trace of complicated love.
Secondly, the hardships Derick had experienced were far less than Phainon's. Phainon had lived through the destruction of his homeland, then wandered everywhere, enduring many sufferings, so his psychological endurance was very strong.
Although Derick had experienced no small amount of hardship since transmigrating, it was primarily physical; mental blows were rare, and things had largely gone smoothly for him along the way.
This level of impact still had a significant effect on his psyche.
Just then, he felt a sting on his face.
Subsequently, the surrounding world collapsed, and transformed back into the Borisin beast-ship resting room. Not far from him, Jingliu, who had returned to her original appearance, was looking at him, her hand raised high.
It was clear that Jingliu was the one who helped him escape this scene. The method used was a bit rough, but it proved very effective.
"Jingliu, thank you." Derick thanked Jingliu.
At that moment, he realized his entire body was drenched in sweat. His face and body were covered in sweat, and his clothes clung tightly to him, becoming soaking wet. He turned his head and saw that the sofa he had been lying on was now soaked into a human shape.
Fortunately, he was interrupted by Jingliu in time, otherwise, who knows what might have happened.
"It's nothing, I just saw you in this state while meditating and felt you were in danger of falling into Mara-Struck, so I lent a hand to help you," Jingliu said faintly to him, her crimson eyes receding, as she watched Derick emerge from the nightmare.
"Mara… Mara-Struck?"
"Yes, a large amount of Abundance Path power exists within your body. If your mind experiences fluctuations, you could easily fall into Mara-Struck."
Jingliu said, looking at Derick.
Only then did Derick recall that Jingliu, before him, had also become Mara-Struck after the death of Baiheng and the subsequent Imbibitor Lunae rebellion, and significant psychological setbacks.
He imagined himself becoming Mara-Struck and looked at Jingliu with even more gratitude. Jingliu pulled him up and pushed him towards the bathroom.
"You look too much like a mess. Go take a bath first. Remember to take a cold shower. Once you calm down, tell me what happened."
"Mhm." Derick picked up some clothes to change into and walked into the bathroom.
While bathing, he pondered these memories from the Flame Reaver.
Derick felt he had only absorbed a small portion of the Flame Reaver's memories. More memories of killing the Golden Kin had not yet entered Derick's mind.
He didn't know how many more such torments he would have to endure.
Today he was lucky to have Jingliu nearby, who could wake him up when he encountered such a situation. But what about next time? Would it be such a coincidence again? Would Jingliu's "wake-up service" still be so effective? Derick had no idea.
He had a mind to control his Fourth Clone to abandon absorbing the Flame Reaver's body, but he also felt that the Fire Thief's existence was related to the fundamental operation of Amphoreus. If he didn't absorb the Flame Reaver, he feared it would be difficult to save Amphoreus.
Derick let the cold water rinse over his body, calming his mind considerably. After rinsing, Derick dried himself with a towel and walked out of the bathroom.
The sofa was already soaked with Derick's sweat, so Jingliu had to sit on the bed. Seeing Derick walk out of the bathroom, Jingliu patted the bed, signaling him to come and sit down.
Derick sat on the edge of the bed as per Jingliu's request.
"During the day, I didn't see anything that could trigger you to become Mara-Struck. Even considering the worst-case scenario for Xianzhou natives your age, it's far from the time for Mara-Struck to manifest. There was also no energy produced on the beast-ship that could cause you to enter a Mara-Struck state."
"Yes," Derick mused for a moment, then said to Jingliu: "Some scenes from the past appeared in my mind. Those scenes felt incredibly real before me, and I truly didn't want to face them."
"Is that so?" Jingliu's brows furrowed upon hearing this.
This kind of scene was somewhat similar to her own situation back then. The only difference was that she faced them at the time, while Derick was facing memories from the past.
"In this situation, if your physical strength is pushed to its limits every day, can it be alleviated?" Jingliu pondered for a moment, then said to Derick.
"I'm afraid not." Derick shook his head.
Leaving aside his immortal body, even if Derick's body became fatigued, it would quickly recover within a few hours, causing no long-term effect on his body. Even if that were possible, those memories belonging to the Flame Reaver would directly infiltrate his mind, influencing Derick's spirit along with the Flame Reaver's power.
"If this simplest method doesn't work, then there are only two other methods." Jingliu said to Derick.
"What are the other methods?" Derick asked Jingliu.
"First, every night when you sleep, I will directly infuse my sword intent and killing aura into your body, making you completely lose consciousness. However, during this time, you will be essentially unresponsive to the outside world, and each awakening also carries risks." Jingliu said to Derick.
"What's the other method?"
This dangerous action felt less appealing to Derick than continuing to bear these memories.
"The other method is to make you completely understand that memories are memories, and reality is reality." Jingliu said to Derick.
Back then, she faced the most tragic reality, one she couldn't change at all, whereas Derick only had to face memories, which he could still compensate for through reality.
"Using real-life happiness to dilute the scenes in those memories?"
"Yes." Jingliu reached out and stroked Derick's cheek, her jade foot gently touched Derick's calf.
"Physical pleasure won't have an effect. Those memories of yours are related to your girlfriend, Castorice. If you want to change them, cultivate more emotions in reality. Wait, looking at your expression, it seems she's not the only one."
In Derick's mind, he couldn't help but think of Hyacine, Cipher, and others.
Seeing Derick's expression, Jingliu's expression was also a bit speechless.
In Derick's situation, she didn't know what to say. If she called him a promiscuous man, he had at least more than one person in his heart; if she said he was promiscuous, then the circumstances of others were so vivid that they could even trigger Derick into a Mara-Struck state.
She couldn't understand it, truly couldn't.
However, Jingliu, being Mara-Struck herself, was not an ordinary person, and had no intention of digging deeper.
"Alright, it's almost dawn now, let's go get some breakfast first." Jingliu said to Derick.
Just then, Cipher secretly snuck in, preparing to help Jingliu change.
But seeing Derick and Jingliu sitting on the same bed, with Jingliu's toes gently touching Derick's calf, and then looking at the soaked sweat on the sofa, she had a shocked expression.
"You, what's happening with you two?"
She knew Derick wasn't entirely honest in certain aspects, but this was too dishonest!
On the other side, Derick looked at the living, breathing Cipher, his expression still complicated. Just moments ago, in the memories he had gained, there were countless instances of killing Cipher. Now, seeing her standing here so prettily, it truly gave Derick a feeling of being in a different world.
It was so good to see her standing here.
And he didn't even have to kill her.
Seeing Derick's expression, Jingliu thought that his memories probably contained no small number of scenes of the young girl before him. With a thought, Jingliu said to Cipher: "Derick's heart just suffered a considerable shock. Now is the time for you to come and hug him to comfort him."
"Really?" Although Cipher's words were still a question, her actions were already underway.
She quickly came to Derick's side and reached out to hug him.
Cipher hugged him and felt Derick's slight trembling.
Feeling him like this, Cipher's smile softened.
"Derick, I'm right here."
______
New History: A heart of Ice With a Romance System.
🎉 BIG NEWS! To celebrate our new story, the director is offering 25% DISCOUNT! Your support means the world <3
When you join, you get instant access to:
✅ Until 40 advanced chapters of ALL stories!
✅ Exclusive content and updates!
Help us hit our community goals:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 Bonus Chapter for everyone
🚀 55 MEMBERS = +5 extra chapters of ALL STORIES!
Claim your 25% OFF spot and unlock everything now:
👻 patreon.com/Walnutchan