Sofia did her best to forget the horrendous image of what she had become, and focused on VPPV instead. She could see her health go down steadily now, and she could feel Pareth attacking her.
The second the progress reached 100%, Pareth killed her.
The rune brought Sofia back to life. As usual, her first reflex was to open her eyes, but she couldn’t. Bony finger on her face held her eyelids tightly shut.
“It’s still there, isn’t it?”
There was no answer, but she could feel Pareth’s distress. In fact, she knew the answer perfectly well; she could feel her old body pulsating below her.
“It’s alright. I’m fine now, aren’t I? My body feels perfectly normal. I feel better than ever, actually. We’ll… Get rid of that thing.”
She immediately covered the entire room in Erredian rot. But to her dismay, she heard the rot consume itself instantly. Whatever her corpse had become, the rot was not having it for dinner.
My rot is still just a weak copy after all…
“Can you help me put the scale arm on?” she asked Pareth, “I will just bolt it all to ashes.”
Pareth was reluctant.
“I’ll keep my eyes closed, alright? I’m not even using my mana senses at all. I still have the glove and all the rings so just give me the arm.”
Pareth helped Sofia to sit up and to put the scale armor on, once it was all said and done, she sent him outside with the graveyard skeletons to warn everyone else to take some distance and started to channel an explosive bolt. She grew the bolt until she only had enough mana left for the graveyard skeletons to safely carry her outside. After quickly checking through Pareth’s vision that everyone had safely evacuated, she let the bolt go off. Despite her closed eyes, her vision turned white.
Surviving the initial blast with 1% of her health left thanks to the passive effect of VPPV, she quickly called the graveyard skeletons to take her to the spiritual plane as the entire hill collapsed on her, forever burying whatever might be left of her previous leviathan-corrupted body.
Maybe I should reconsider getting the [Friendly fire] classless after all…
The graveyard skeletons let Sofia out of the ground at the maximum of their range outside of the hill, the previously imposing cliffside of the small hill had become nothing but a pile of rubble. A large part of the hill had collapsed to the side in a landslide, and the near vicinity was covered in char marks and rogue boulders.
“The damages of a 200 000 mana bolt. It really does much more damage in enclosed spaces,” Sofia said to herself as she observed the aftermath. She felt relatively fine despite her charred body under the regenerating bone-armor and her empty mana.
My mind feels clearer somehow. This upgrade came with a bonus in processing, I think.
My brain is made of light, now, right? I wonder how that even works… But I feel like I should be significantly harder to kill now. Theoretically I should still be able to think even if my head gets destroyed, no? If the brain of light stays behind just like the veins. Can I even still die?
With no answer to her questions, Alith, Saria and Pareth rejoined her.
“Sofia?” Saria asked.
Sofia turned around, “A great success! It was a bit messy. I’m not looking too good under the armor currently, the runes still prevent healing. I know it’s weird but… Want to try to kill me?”
“Never change, Sister… You’re serious, aren’t you? Let this older sibling of yours stab you to teach you some decency, then! Where do you want it?” Saria asked as her Dragon mask crawled up to her face and her magical polearm of blue light formed in her hands.
Sofia tapped her forehead, opening a vertical slit in her bone helmet.
Saria shook her head disapprovingly and stabbed Sofia in the face.
“You’re just as bad as her,” Alith commented from the side. Pareth seemed to be of the same mind.
Sofia watched her health go down a few more points. The pain was really mild, muted. The magical blade felt cold inside her skin.
“Not dead?” Saria asked.
“No. I’d appreciate it if you could pull the blade out, though.”
Saria frowned, but obliged. Bright yellow light leaked from the gaping hole in Sofia’s punctured head as the polearm was removed. Then the skin glued itself back together, leaving no apparent traces of the attack.
I have a hole in my skull now…
“I don’t know if I’m more impressed or disturbed,” Alith commented.
It was Dopple who answered in a sarcastic tone, “You’re a ghost, wearer. Can you really talk?”
“Well you’re a talking piece of clothing which I am wearing, so I don’t think you’re well placed to speak either.
“Fair… Do you think I can have another one of those red-silk chemises tonight?”
After a few more stabs, it became evident that killing Sofia with something as clean as a single blade wouldn’t work unless all her bones were shattered, so to avoid a mess, she just canceled the runes and let her passive healing heal her back up.
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Maybe it’s a good time to start dying less often.
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[Venerable physique of the primeval void] ♢ - Fourth step of the Light forging realm :
Light forging realm :
Starting step : You no longer age.
First step : Your skin becomes tougher and opaque (1000/1000%)
Second step : Your blood becomes light (126 441 / 126 441 drops converted)
Third step : Your nerves and brain become light (100/100%)
Fourth step : Become a beauty blessed by light (0(6)/1)
Fifth step : Finalize the light-forging
Current step training method : Obtain the essence of a light-related deity; use it through this skill to alter your appearance.
I don’t understand…
I’ve been stuck on this crap for a week!
I already have the essence, come on, this should have been a free step!!!
Sofia once again channeled one of Sun’s essence through the skill, and as it did every time, it overloaded the skill’s mana channels with so much energy that it backlashed and failed to accomplish anything.
Sofia cursed.
“I give up… Alright. You forced my hand… I didn’t want to but I’ll use Scripture’s essence…”
How is it even light-related anyway?
Letting go of her stubbornness, Sofia channeled the venerable physique skill with Scripture’s essence, and the step was instantly completed as her body started glowing all-over like a shining star.
“Great. Is this my life now? Looking like a luminous freak, again?!”
She kept activating the skill, and tried playing around with the mana distribution, and to her great relief, she managed to stop glowing altogether.
Much better! Now the question is, can I do a tasteful in-between?
After a full night of deliberation in front of her mirror, and with the help of Pareth approving or disapproving of her changes, Sofia ended up settling for two configurations of the lights. For her everyday life , she had the passive mode where only her eyes and hair were affected, with her eyes shining softly with blue light and her hair becoming ever so slightly transparent and shimmering with golden light. And for grand occasions, she had the Angel mode, which, for all intents and purposes, made her look like a semi transparent being of golden light inlaid with shining stars, just like the angels and archangels. With the exception of not looking like she was trying to break reality, unlike the real thing. It still looked very uncanny.
It really only alters how I look though… Well, good enough.
One last step and I’m done with the light-forging!
For once Sofia did something she rarely did and opened the full description of VPPV, which came with a very familiar sudden jolt of pain in her head, which she could tell was largely attenuated thanks to her brain being now made of light.
Mr. Scribe? What are you doing? Are you alright?
[Venerable physique of the primeval void] ♢ - Fifth step of the Light forging realm :
The primeval void was born of the universe’s first shadow.
Shadow gathering realm :
A single hit cannot take away more than 99% of your maximum health.
You are 50% more resilient to explosions
You are able to see in extremely low light levels and to breathe light
You cannot be hurt by the cold and cannot be traced in the spirit realm
Shadows and light are two faces of a single coin.
Light forging realm :
Starting step : You no longer age.
First step : Your skin becomes tougher and opaque (1000/1000%)
Second step : Your blood becomes light (126 441 / 126 441 drops converted)
Third step : Your nerves and brain become light (100/100%)
Fourth step : Become a beauty blessed by light (1(+5)/1)
Fifth step : Finalize the light-forging by awakening the mana cores (0/11)
The primeval void is your domain.
Boundless space realm :
Starting step : You are able to perform quantic transpositions.
First step : ???
Current step training method :
1- Complete the bonus task in your next trial before the reward distribution and request a scribe upgrade to tier 3.
2- At the time of rebirth, complain that your scribe has wrongfully assigned you a quest resulting in the premature death of the Apostle of curse.
3- Ignore all error messages and focus on absorbing the mana hijacked from the tower.
4- When the system’s enforcers show up, claim that your actions fall under the emergency procedure rule ERR-O-12, and request to be judged directly by Anna, do not say or do anything else until they give way.
5- Thoughts about these instructions may get censored to avoid unwanted alerts.
6- These instructions will disappear in twenty seconds, commit them to memory now.
Complete all steps and gather divine essence to unlock further realms.
Current divine essence (11) :
* Scripture (1)
* Aphenoreth (1)
* Dread (1)
* Sorrow (1)
* Ormoncleth (1)
* Victory (1)
* Sun (5)
No way… What… Are you serious?!
Past the initial shock, Sofia quickly read the ‘training method’ several times over, and soon, it disappeared, replaced by a set of ridiculous instructions to the tune of : ‘find the origin of a rainbow’ or ‘count the grains of sand in the red desert’.
I’m going to trust you on this one, Scribe, but you better know what you’re doing…
And who’s Anna?
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