noveldepot Chapter 886 - Juliet?
Chapter 886 - Juliet?
While Sofia charged up an explosive bolt, she summoned and sent her birds to thoroughly check the surroundings. Although she wasn’t seeing any trace of intelligent life anywhere nearby at a glance, she wanted to be certain not to repeat a temple incident.
Thankfully the mesa was gigantic and mostly barren, with no roads or lights anywhere in sight, so it looked like she would not have to hold back.
Throwing a glance at Cinthia, and remembering just how massive the fireball was during her testing with Erredis, she changed her mind.
Well… Maybe hold back a little.
A hundred million should be more than enough to fry anything in there and collapse the entire thing… The only issue is if there are things stronger than the lesser ones down there.
All the more reason to keep some mana at the ready.
Pestle is going down already. Oh? That’s much further away than I thought.
Is that it? You can come back now I don’t actually need to hit you.
It took Pestle a few seconds to come back while Sofia kept her aim steady.
Annnnnd. Go.
Her fingers lightly relaxed the grip on her scepter, and the azure trait of plasma disappeared with the usual bang, burying itself deep into the narrow ravine below.
I can never get tired of this.
Night suddenly became day, blue fire spewing out of the ravine like the mouth of hell opening on the surface, forming a gigantic expanding fireball.
Sofia stood still in the air, letting the blinding explosion expand skyward until it just about reached her, and started to dissipate. Her eyes closed, she basked in the warmth of her own attack like a cat in front of a lit chimney.
The shock wave raised a glittering orange dust storm above the dry mesa, all traces of vegetation long turned to charred ashes.
Admiring the explosion, feeling the heat and hearing the howling winds, Sofia felt strangely at peace. Until a system message came to disturb the moment.
‘You have defeated [Various Phageid - Lv.???]*ERROR_KFE08’
“Hey, that’s a new one.”
Mr.Scribe added an explanation below.
[Kill Feed Exception 08 - Cannot quantify kills during rapid mass-extinction events]
“Well, as long as I don’t get a murder notification…”
The explosion took a long while to die down, Cinthia and Pestle joining Sofia midway through.
Watching the burning crater that had replaced the canyon, Cinthia nodded in appreciation. “It’s a lot more impressive in real life than on the Ark’s spectator screens, I have to say. Any survivors, you think?”
Sofia shrugged, “You’re the one with long range detection skills.”
“Can’t you feel their bones from a world away now or something?”
“Cin, their bones are like Pestle’s, it’s all midenicite.”
“Oh, yeah, right… Well… My skills aren’t exactly the best at locating buried enemies either. I say we just leave. There are enough viewers anyway, they’ll send someone else to clean up if they think that’s needed,” Cinthia decided, “Let’s get going?”
“You’re the one making gods run errands for you now? Maybe I went a bit too far in trying to boost your confidence,” Sofia joked, hopping onto Crowie’s back again.
“As if I had that kind of influence. Oh, and thank you for the level up, by the way.”
Sofia looked up above Cinthia’s head, seeing that the previous 348 up there had indeed changed to 349.
“You got a whole level out of being the aim assistant? I forget how generous the system’s experience actually is.”
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“You do know I was with Saria in Sovuln for months killing tens of thousands of annoying birds and pink-covered furniture and trees, right? You’re probably the only one around who’d call the experience system generous.”
Without a word, Sofia took out the ‘Scarring unto the fabric circulation technique’ book she had received just a few hours prior and slid it into Cinthia’s hands, then gave Crowie a tap on the back to get him flying again.
Cinthia flipped through a few pages as Crowie flew past the charred mesa, her expression gradually turning ugly.
Halfway through the thin book, she closed it, and pushed it back toward Sofia as if disgusted by even having to touch it.
“You’re… Ugh…” Cinthia retched, “You’re really going to do this? Holy fuck…”
Sofia grabbed the book back with a victorious snort. “So, is the system generous or what?”
“Generous! Very generous! So generous! I don’t want to hear about human circulation techniques ever again… The hell…”
“Fair. My first reaction was not too far from that either. I have the advantage of not having a solid brain, though, so at least the part where you need to stretch it into the margin and cut it up slice by slice shouldn’t be as bad? I might not even be able to emulate it at all, actually. It’s my scribe’s job to figure it out either way.”
“Where even the fuck is the mana circulation in this? It honestly reads like a self mutilation book…”
“That would be the second half that you didn’t read. You have to do it together with the other steps,” Sofia explained, “don’t worry, the actual mana circulation path and method is just as crazy.”
“I’m good! Don’t wanna hear it!”
“Alright, alright,” Sofia said, placing the book back into her storage, “We shouldn’t be very far from the jungle now. Probably about half an hour.”
“I can’t wait to see you go through the test for the library access,” Cinthia commented with a wide smile.
“Hmm? Wait… Did the viewers tell you what the test is going to be?”
“My lips are sealed!”
“... Can I at least get an estimate on how long it will take?”
Cinthia glanced off into the distance for a few seconds, before nodding slightly. “I see… Hmm, hmm… Yeah they said it shouldn't be too long either way.”
“Either way?”
Cinthia smiled and said nothing more on the subject for the reminder on the flight.
Two young-looking women stood in a messy kitchen, one jittery and full of life, the other, a bit taller, carrying an air of peaceful calm.
“You are almost there, Velania,” the taller one noted in a cold motherly voice, her hands joined behind her back, “keep the curse-weave stable. Slow and steady. The molecular structures needed for flavoring are very delicate.”
“I- Is this good? Am I doing it?!” Velania asked, both hands plunged in a bowl of sticky dough.
“Nearly there. The third-section fourth square pattern should have a tighter mesh. Correct a few and let them propagate,” the other answered right away as if having anticipated the question, continuing her soft but detailed guidance. A few seconds later, she gave a satisfied nod. “Now taste it,” she nudged.
“Ah! Raw?!”
“Of course, why else would you bother to flavour the dough instead of directly producing a baked biscuit? This is part of the joy of cooking. Or are you scared for your health?” the taller one asked, sounding mildly amused.
“N- No… Well… It is all just my mana…” Velania mumbled, pulling her hands out of the dough, bits of it sticking to her thin white hands. After a moment of hesitation, she stuck out her tongue and licked some dough off of her finger. Her eyes immediately shot wide open. “Hmm!!! It tastes like real food! Juliet you’re incred–”
“Juliet?”
Velinia looked around, confused, she hadn’t even noticed her new acquaintance’s mana vanishing, but out of nowhere, she was just gone. But a familiar voice and two such mana signatures had reached her small underground mansion, having also escaped her notice before due to how distracted she was.
“Velania! Hello! Are you awake? I’ve brought some gifts from outside!”
Velania ran to the kitchen window, opening it with her hands and making the kitchen even more of a mess, “Sofia! Come! Look! I made real food! Ah– Did you see Juliet?”
Sofia jogged the window, Cinthia trailing behind her. “You fixed the taste problems already? I’m glad to see you looking healthier than last time. We just got here through the secret entrance, I haven’t seen anyone on the way.”
Velania seemed a bit disturbed by that answer, “Really? But Juliet was just here and I would have felt space ripples…” she mumbled to herself, “Ah- The cookies! You have to try the dough! Wait— no, come in first, I– Also I needed to tell you the– I–”
“Oh…”
With a sigh, Sofia used [Summon Self] to jump through the window and catch Velania as she fainted before she could hit the floor.
“I thought she looked better but she hasn’t changed one bit, huh…”
Outside, Cinthia leaned over the window, “Who’s Juliet?”
Sofia shrugged, fixing Velania’s clothes as she held her up, “Hell if I know. I felt no other bones in the mansion while we were coming down. If there was a Juliet here, she’s boneless.”
“A slug?”
“I mean we could just ask her, she’ll wake up in a minute or two. You should come inside too, the entrance door is probably unlocked.”
“Hmm… Sofia…” Cinthia called again from the window a moment later as Sofia was halfway through the door about to carry Velania out of the kitchen.
“Yeah?”
“Sorrow says she could swear she was watching Velania just moments ago and cannot remember any of it.”
“Hah! Juliet, huh? I can already think of a few possibilities… Well, as long as Velania is fine…”