Wisher fell speechless from 36's words. It seemed he was not that stupid about getting what he wanted. Even the words scattered over a long time could hold some meanings. 36 understood them very well through his crafted methods of dealings with them. After all, throughout his long life, one would get crafty enough in the world of the Immortals.
“Damn, what sort of clever lunatic is this devil...” Wisher cursed inside while dealings with this messy ghost.
“More or less... There are no ties within you. That is the cause of fewer rules set upon yourself.”
“Ties?”
“Certain restrictions. It is most likely caused by the holder of the real Diary of the Body. It puts you in the position where you are, but shouldn't be in. As for the reasons why this happened? I don't know.”
“Even you? Very well.” 36 said and acted in a reserved manner, but was cheering from getting the small answer of this madness. Although, it meant little to him, since what he could do with the long answer anyway? It went within his expectations that something terribly wrong was with his situation. The cause was unknown to him up until now, so that left something for this question.
Allan's situation was also not something that should have happened, yet it happened.
“So why the fuss over myself? Shouldn't a let be imprisoned or left free?” He asked The Wisher after deliberating what was the next topic of his values.
“Because of The Ones, of course. Who do you think they are?” Wisher said in a menacing tone.
“A bunch of lunatics like me, a bit more powerful, but that's about it, isn't it?”
“Little? Just a little? Not even a Lord, and you talk like that. No wonder you ended with your soul in this place. What a joke. of a fate. Heh! Wisher made fun of 36'smisfortune.
“So what? If I was given more years, I would have reached that stage without any troubles.”
“Wait... Oh right. It is called wishful thinking if I am not wrong. Heheh.” The Wisher laughed instead at his words.
“Cursed Wisher! Very well, I will take our cooperation in mind.” 36 told a surprising answer while not being angry at all.
“Oh? Good. Good. You changed your answer quite fast.”
“Well, since you are so keen on this exchange, how about telling me what you want from me?” 36 asked.
“I want to be free from this place... That is all I want.” Wisher said for a surprising reason. One, that... is special for him.
“Free? How am I supposed to even accomplish it?”
“You can't. No need to hide some things, then. You are outside of the rules, but still within them to a certain extent. Otherwise, you would not be a summoned teacher or have a student, to begin with. We need to get hold of the real diary, but I am unable to come up with a method to do so. In all these years, in dull silence, there was nothing apart from now. It's so joyous being out of the rules for once!” Wisher told in a pleading, yet happy voice that came from countless years of his act as an Artifact soul.
“Good for you, but I am more concerned about The One's involvement.” It was as if 36 gave a bucket of cold water over the Wisher's face.
Fear in an instant enveloped his whirling face to a frown.
“T-they?! Yes... yes. I forgot... They will become aware of us sooner than later... This is bad... This situation... It could be a few years, to a decade at worst.”
“Aware of me or the holder of Diary?”
“Holder, of course. They do not care about anything but the real Diary of the body, and its possession is important. D-do you know what sort of things happened around your student? I am unable to reach the outside world, as this ship is my only responsibility.”
“Of course, I know the holder of the Diary, but what possible importance does it have right now? You will need to figure out certain methods to get the diary. It could be either, by helping him or not, to get out.” 36 said with dead calmness.
“Ugh...Fine! Fine! Since I met my chance. Why should I be afraid too!? So what if I sent The Ones the massage!? It is now, or never!” Wisher shouted in a furious attempt to ease his sudden uneasiness.
“Wait. Wait. Stop with that gibberish. You sent them a freaking massage?” 36 shouted as well. His voice overruled the wisher's as he returned to his fear.
“W-what? I had to. Do you think the soul contract is something easy to overcome? If there are any abnormalities, I had to make a report. Otherwise, a death sentence is all there is for me.”
“Death over the unreported message? How domineering.” 36 thought.
The vision of The Ones made a small appearance in 36 heads. From the way, Wisher talked, it was clear they were in a lofty position. 36 was never a part of any organization, so his general knowledge of such places was not great. Even now, he was wondering about underlying problems that were The Ones, as a whole.
He did not know their power, steepness in the cosmos, or their beliefs. The only fact that he knew was the truth that he was sent to this prison because of them. The involvement of the Lord of 2 orbs that were also part of the prisoners shook him as well. Any sort of power that is able to imprison someone like that is an absolute overlord.
“Don't blame me. Don't blame me. What sort of questions do you have in mind instead of this mess? I barely covered anything, and we have been talking for so long.”
“Fine. Is there a time limit for you?”
“No. I am a master of this ship.” Wisher said with fake confidence.
“See. No need to hurry.” 36 floated into the chair and put his hand on a chin, ready to listen to Wisher with no regarding a comfortable spot. Of course, Wisher thought nothing of it. It had been countless years since his awareness was in such a state of clarity. It was no wonder he sounded so strange while talking to another being with no restrictions.
It was strange since his restrictive places in his contract placed him as a slave to never obey his masters. Yet, here he was, disobeying their untold rules against "their" benefit. After all, Wisher did not know the truth of the matter regarding the Diary of the Body at all. All he was, was an Artifact soul placed as a protector, with unknown history or origin. Could be from a prisoner, or a soul forced upon the contract before going to the Underworld. At this point, it was not important.
All he could do was guess and attempt to seize the opportunity that caused his soul-lock to become looser with 36's appearance. For whatever reason, it was a choice given to him by heaven. After months of deliberation, his appearance at 36 was crucial. A crafty one for sure. A method of going into this conversation was important to his freedom, so he expected to follow this devil with his deliberate choices. After all, he was watching 36 for a long time from the darkness.
“So, what sort of things I can even ask you? You know, there is not a good rule sets written in the beginner scrolls when I first came here.”
“Anything which comprises the teaching methods, techniques, materials and matters about them. It is a way for the teachers to solve certain issues for the students. The Wisher can deal with them according to the teacher's wishes. Of course, the price is still there.” Wisher explained.
“Why though? Why would The Ones implement such methods? It makes no sense at all how loose it all feels.”
“Sense? I feel like that word lost its meaning long ago. They are the most arrogant ones around, yet they implemented this sort of method to teach someone. It is as ridiculous as you say.”
“Good, that we can agree with each other.” 36 sighed upon finally having someone who shared the ridiculousness that he thought was this situation.
“Righ. Right... Immortal techniques and things that I need now... Hell! I've got it. Have you ever heard of someone possessing two souls living in the same body?” 36 remembered Allan and his situation. Asking about this matter never escaped his curiosity.
“Two souls? Impossible. It's going against the prime principles of the universe.” Wisher said with no hesitation.
“What if it was a soul-fire invaded into another person? They are quite strange beings of the universe. It should be impossible by what about it?”
“Soul-fire invading another soul? That is weirdly specific, but I am sure I've never heard of it before. Soul-fire is a rarity, to begin with, and their properties vary too.”
“I know. I am well aware of their properties.”
“Really? Then do you know that the soul-fire is one of the rewards for completing this course of yours?” The Wisher told in a meaningful tone.
“Rewards? Don't make me laugh about such a distant future. There have only been two successful people so far. How is it relevant for me to know it?” 36 shot down his attempt to
“Hohoho. Fine.” Wisher tried to taunt him a bit with extraordinary reward. It was to his disappointment that 36 cared little about them, since he did not feel comfortable until Allan would reach further strength.
But, as the course of the river can hardly be changed, this news stirred the mind of 36 in silence. Of course, he didn't make it obvious to Wisher, since his words confirmed his worries. Since the artifact soul had access to the all knowledge of this place, 36 was sure Allan's situation was unique to him. It could even involve the fundamental strangeness of everything that occurred to him up.
“Hmmm. Since you say it is impossible. How about some theories of its possibility? ”
“Possibility of soul-fire residing inside of another being? Not considering the sheer questionability of such a question, it would all depend on the quality of the person and the soul-fire itself. I believe there would be mutual destruction or the stronger one would destroy the other. Since it is the talk of the souls, you and I are, in part, a soul. We can't invade anyone as we wish, while in truth, cannot do so with ease.
Possession must be achieved by the strength of the soul. One could get extinguished by the laws of the universe since we are the souls that did not go to the Underworld. You get what I mean, right?” Wisher talked like a clever one this time. Making his opinion seem like some expert, who, in fact, he was.
It was very close to the truth. Unfortunately for him, his skepticism held him back from insane plausibility, which was Allan's situation.
He was, after all, not experienced what Wisher was describing. The Soul-fire was residing inside of his body by its... whatever reasoning or the cause. Perhaps even the soul-fire did not know what happened, or how.
36 understood The Wisher's words and since there were no records or knowledge about it here, he had no choice but to figure something out by himself. That, or Allan, had to figure something out instead. This soul-fire inside of his body would either end up killing him in the process or become a significant variable that 36 couldn't figure out. If he ends up dying because of it, 36 would have no choice but accept such a laughing and insane matter of death.
It went without a question that when a student died while out in the world; it was a failure on the teacher's side. No one knew how many failed like this, but The Ones couldn't care less about such details. It was a belief that when the stronger ones survived, the weak would end up eating dirt in their skull. The immortals worked in such a simple rule for all eternity.
“Alright. Let's forget this matter. There is something that occurred the last time I was summoned. The student hit me and the voice echoed in my mind about some bracket of rewards. What was that about?”
“That is an autonomous voice of the figurine. It will work itself out with more detailed progress of the student. Wait, you heard it now? Isn't it a little early for that? ”
“Early? For what?”
“You just came here a while ago. How long is it for the yearly examination? Quite a long time, you know.”
“I don't care about this. Tell me about that voice and what is it or whatever rewards are.”
“This... demon... One polite word wouldn't hurt him.” Wisher cursed in his soul.
“The reward is most what you want to hear. It is in a way to provide a choice of the possible rewards for the student. It goes for only the student, and it acts as a small trial for them. They can choose their preferred reward based on time and the type of task they accomplished. I am sure your student reached the first bracket. That leaves him with a trial of a rather important path that The Ones made.”
“Since it is that good, why there is nothing written about it.”
“It is meant to be used after the first year! What sort of excitement is there, if everything is precise?”
36 snorted in disapproval from his words. This sort of system and rules were awful to his standards.
“What kind of conditions are there for this to occur?” 36 instead asked.
“Student hit you in a duel, right? Or hit your figurine which has certain features after each examination for the Teacher. Since it was announced, there are very few problems with talking less. When your student is fine with reaching the strength a bit close to the examination, he should do the trial for rewards. It has some benefits, while the truth of that trial goes a bit deeper. This one... has everything for higher stages as well as lower ones. It all comes to the abilities one has.”
“Everything? Do you mean rewards that are meant for higher stages of the cultivations? Like the base Trials of Immortality of the Heavenly path?” 36 asked in curiosity to figure out what would Allan get from achieving this trial earlier. Getting the rewards from this place would prove to be much stronger. After all, the things that he could give to Allan were cultivation materials regarding the Diary of the Body.
Other scrolls that were given to him alongside it were not as important since only one was acceptable to cultivate. He had no choice of anything but to use what he had. Since... and that was the truth he would never admit to. He would never imagine himself becoming a teacher, so his teaching experience and the things he could do were awful.
“You... That is the worst example I ever heard. The reward I am talking about is less than soul-fire, of course. Depending on the preference, it could be a currency, as well as materials, immortal techniques, weapons, armor, and so on. There are even things to increase the pace of the cultivation, but it all depends on the strength of the student. You know there are a lot of these within this place... The Ones included a lot of loot of the prisoners or their own. The value of the rewards could be useful, depending on the student's needs. Be it the situation within the cultivation or the examination.”
“That's nice and all, but what kind of value does it have for me?” 36 told as if not interested while playing it as best as he could. Inside of his soul, he made sure to remember everything.
“For you? None. Your path depends on your student. It is fair enough to call it generous since your sin caused The Ones to notice you. You can instead ask for books, scrolls, and techniques of all kinds. You could know the index of them by now.”
“I just got the basics covered... Forget it. Does it have a time limit?”
“The first cracked with cease to exist in the first year of the examination. Waiting for the correct choice of this trial can shift the choices and chances for the student. Use it when you are certain about the benefits. If it has little value, it can wait for another time. Though, it should be within a year's time.” The wisher explained with a rather surprising amount of knowledge. This should make 36 and Allan's time a bit better.
The pair of souls followed with a more discussion of the near cooperation. Before he knew it, 36 was done with questions, but it was the case of the Wisher, being done instead.
There was nothing more to this than simple cooperation, while The Wisher had told him to be careful about this space. If some danger will come, he will help him as the Artifact soul of this place. Even though 36 thought that he got a tremendous helper, it left him disappointed as he couldn't get any advantage from it.
This was a fact that he disliked. The words of The Wisher, regarding the underlying truth that his fate was in the hands of his student, made him helpless.
“Alright, since there is nothing much else. What about the potential dangers?” 36 asked.
“Dangers? You are still within the rules. Nothing will endanger you while in this room for now.”
“Bullshit...”