Thousand-Faced Dragon

Chapter 308 The Echo

As it turns out, Rean's talent as a bard is probably zero.

Generally speaking, becoming a bard involves practicing a series of skills, including singing and poetry, and one's voice undergoes a "qualitative change" after becoming a bard.

“Sound, or vibration, or echo, is the source of a bard’s power. You, who are tone-deaf and out of tune, could never have become a bard in the first place.”

When Rean actually came into contact with this extraordinary profession, he discovered that there was a reason for the minimum synchronization rate of the Heroic Soul. Even with the blessing of the Heroic Soul, he really had no talent in this area.

"Even casting spells relies on the power of 'echo'? That makes no sense at all. How can playing the piano and singing summon extraordinary power?"

Bards are also spellcasters, but they are different from sorcerers who use bloodlines, mages who use knowledge, and evil sorcerers who use borrowed power. Their spellcasting is very "unreasonable".

Although it possesses a little magic power, it is actually very weak and cannot support high-level magic at all.

In their own understanding, they cast spells based on an "echo," a rule originating from the very foundations of the world.

In their own understanding, at the beginning of the world's creation, there were countless natural phenomena and extraordinary rules, and these bards were merely trying to "reproduce" them, using the "echoes" of those natural phenomena to simulate spellcasting.

"This magic? It's not magic at all!"

Rean couldn't understand it, but he was deeply shocked. How could they summon supernatural powers by using so little magic and singing some strange tunes and characters?

"Uh, why does it sound so similar to Dragon Language Magic?"

Rean fell into deep thought; he simply couldn't understand the logic behind it.

Why is it that bards, who have neither dragon veins nor extraordinary bloodlines, can summon magical effects simply by adding a little magic to a specific melody?

"Who made this rule? That doesn't seem right."

Could it be that there really is a "server" in the dark, where you can get results simply by entering a specific code? If so, wouldn't the mage's research be utterly absurd?
"Stop researching, you won't figure it out. As long as they can cast spells, that's all that matters."

Why are bards' songs effective? Why do they possess spellcasting abilities? So many spellcasters have studied this, and there are even numerous theories and academic schools of thought related to it. Many archmages have even tried to become bards themselves. But the result is that they messed things up and couldn't find the reason.

As long as it works, that's fine.

But Rean couldn't do it; it was a fundamental difference in talent, a path he couldn't take. Perhaps this is also the reason why this "Reincarnation Card" shouldn't be in the card pool.

"It seems I messed up."

Rean said calmly, as if he had found the reason why he could not resonate with this heroic spirit. Some heroic spirits were too incompatible from the beginning, and this one was a long-lived species that had experienced too much.

That might mean changes after being reshaped by the long river of time, or it might mean that his personality is no longer human.

Rean tried to fulfill the god's teachings, using his newly acquired magic tricks and acrobatic skills to bring laughter to the children and the audience.

Believe it or not, he was quite good at this, and each performance brought in a lot of audience and money, but the "god" did not respond to him.

He tried to recreate the "Yu-Gi-Oh!" experience by playing cards and chess with others, but still received no response.

He tried to do some good deeds and fulfill his teaching of "one good deed a day," but still received no feedback, as if God did not exist at all.

But Rean knew that something was watching him, waiting for him.
"I have absolutely no idea what he wants."

As he watched the countdown to the possession timer, Rean inexplicably felt calm, as if he could accept missing the opportunity. He realized that this "calmness" was perhaps the true nature of this heroic spirit.

"Appetite, mobility, and even the desire to fight are all noticeably declining." Rean didn't know if this was a common ailment among immortals or a unique symptom of this hero.

As a result, he felt that his emotions had become thin and he had become too calm, but he had developed a greater desire and curiosity for "knowledge" and "memory".

He seemed to want to silently observe the city and perceive everything that was happening within it.

Rean vaguely sensed that perhaps that heroic spirit was observing this era through his eyes. He seemed to have no intention of interfering at all, but was just watching silently.

"Tsk, watching a show? This heroic spirit, you don't want anything at all?"

Rean tried to research the past of this heroic spirit, attempting to uncover his desires. However, not only were there significant gaps in the information, but Rean's several blind attempts also failed. For example, the bard's strategy of seducing noblewomen? Rean tried that too. However, the results were quite subtle; simply being near women whose perfume was so strong it was almost suffocating made Rean feel extremely uncomfortable.

It seems that this spirit hated women even more than I did. Was this still a bard who made a living off women?

As time went by, the influence of the heroic spirits seemed to become more and more obvious, as if it needed some time to warm up. But in the end, Rean felt that his feelings were becoming weaker and weaker, and he was even too lazy to take any action.

However, he did not come away empty-handed.
"Sonic Sword!"

When Rean swung his longsword, this time what floated above it was not the Radiant Evil Slash, but another well-known magical sonic sword (Thunder Sword).

This is a fairly useful offensive spell, and it's not particularly difficult. But it was only after being possessed by this heroic spirit that Rean felt true "control".

This instinctive "sound wave" affinity is really too strange.

He seemed to be able to create vibrations simply by gently tapping the void with an object.

"Could it be that this heroic spirit couldn't sing either, and that he played musical instruments?"

The most convenient and user-friendly sound vibration source for humans to control is naturally the human vocal cords.

That is not only convenient to use and controllable, but if the vocal cords are not usable, it seems that using equipment can also bring out different sound sources.

Rean seemed to have found a direction. Then he proved that his talent on musical instruments was also almost zero.

But it also proves, from one perspective, that Rean's guess seems to have some merit.

"That great sinner? It's said he lost his eyes, had his mouth sewn shut, and was deafened. Even so, he continues to cause trouble." This information came a little late, but it seems to have hit the nail on the head.

"But I really can't learn that, I can't just become a blind swordsman on my own."

No one could give Rean a response, and he didn't seem to have time to dwell on it. With the rainy season progressing, there were too many things to do.

He also began traveling back and forth between the docks and his home, striving to expand his knightly order.

As before, the recruitment of Oath Knights went smoothly. This time, the number of runaway slaves was quite large, and they were probably the ones who knew the importance of power the most.

Even if paladins have very high moral standards, as long as the number of them is large enough, there will always be qualified ones.

Rean visited the frontline base twice. With the Great Mirror Demon as a teleportation point, the journey there wasn't too far. Archmages, the kingdom's artisans, and city guards had begun to move in, which meant that the exploration of the underground ruins was gradually resuming.

After the first week of the rainy season, things became noticeably easier to manage, and people who had had enough rest resumed their normal lives.
"A total of about 20,000 people is already quite exaggerated."

Rean's "town" has been overpopulated; if it weren't for the abundance of "mushroom food" brought by this natural place, food would probably be a problem.

Twenty thousand people, in Rean's past memories, was not even comparable to a small neighborhood, but for a city in this era, it was already a considerable burden.

Without the involvement of professionals in management, Rean is likely to make a lot of mistakes.

Fortunately, the mentor brought along managers and personnel dispatched by the Sudar family, who did start working and eliminated a lot of trouble for Rean.

During this process, an unexpected event caused Rean's synchronization rate to increase slightly.

They were two slave laborers arguing over rations. Rean happened to be passing by and intervened, stopping them and reassigning their work.

Synchronization rate increased by 1%.

It seems like a coincidence, but the synchronization rate did indeed jump at that exact moment.

While Rean was pleasantly surprised, he also tried controlling the variables and experimenting more. Finally, after wasting some monster test subjects, he found a seemingly feasible answer.

"As long as fighting and conflict are stopped, synchronization and satisfaction can be gained, even if it means killing one side with one's own hands. What kind of extreme pacifist is this?"

(End of this chapter)