Tiangou…
“A hidden planet they detected but couldn’t find, perhaps? That reminds me of something… Did the admins predict the Phageid?”
Sofia stared at the map and sighed, “I shouldn't stand here drawing lines in my mind… I really need to focus on the trial. I’ve been here for like half a day already.” She finished packing all the maps from the room and decided it was time to finally leave and get back to business.
One last thing.
Grabbing a sheet of paper from Anna’s room, she wrote a simple message which she left on the living room’s table, on top of a map of the ‘Avian peninsula’, which was now the human continent.
‘I can help bring him back from the depths.
You should know where to find me.
Sorry for taking your stuff.
Sofia Aphenoreth.’
“Alright. Let’s go.”
Sofia returned to the lobby, and pressed her hand against the hand-shaped metallic plate. She left through a portal like the one she had entered through, and found herself in the same spot deep inside a cliffside fissure.
She dispelled the unlife rune and quickly phased her way out of the underground with multiple casts of the graveyard, until she was back at the waterfall.
Looks to be around noon.
The sky was still a light green, and the plants of the jungle below a pale blue. I really wonder how that works.
As she looked around, she tried to find the moons, but she couldn’t see any one of the three.
Hmm. Now that I think about it… Have I ever seen these moons up during the day?
I don’t think I did… But they were there every night.
I should be on the lookout tonight. Moon observation duty.
A new goal in mind, Sofia had about six hours left to kill before that, so she decided to do a simple thing. She was going to send the birds by themselves to search from an IPS tower, letting Bookie manage them, while she looked around in the jungle below.
To think I only found this place because I befriended some paper person with a bit of colored light and a Sprite.
I owe one to Shaily.
----------------------------------------
Five hours later, the sun was starting to come down already. Bookie’s birds had found nothing interesting, and neither did Sofia. The monsters in the Jungle weren’t all that interesting to hunt, in Sofia’s opinion, there was more danger in initiating a fight in this unfavorable environment than the worth of the meager imprints of the local wildlife. She had hoped to find more traces of the Admins since this was so close to their old hideout, but she had had no luck on that front. Even if there was anything interesting in this jungle, it would be hard to find it hidden beneath the dense vegetation.
Let’s take some altitude before the mana vanishes.
Sofia jumped up, soaring in the air above the trees, and spread her wings at the apex of her jump. She flew higher and higher until she was forced to stop due to the violent mana currents in the sky. There she folded her wings and sat in the air.
I still have a few minutes before dusk.
Looking in every direction, Sofia spotted one of the moons already, it was already fully visible, low on the horizon.
I still can’t see any detail when I look at it. It’s like my eyes are still as weak as when I was level 1. There’s definitely some shenanigans going on.
Since she had some time to kill, Sofia went ahead and started identifying some of the things she had pilfered from the admins’ house, since it was now working again ever since she left that place. The first thing she looked at was a sort of thick pen without a tip. She felt the pull of the mana circuits hidden within, but didn’t want to activate it without knowing what it did first.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
[Laser pointer]: Emits a concentrated ray of light to point at distant things. It displays the distance to the thing you are pointing at with an effective range of about five kilometers. Can damage the eyes of low-level people.
“Damage the eyes? The light must be quite strong.”
Sofia pointed the thing at her left hand and filled it with mana. A green dot of light appeared on her palm.
“Oooh, quite strong. I can even feel some heat. It’s a bit like holding a magnifying glass under the sun, huh? I bet I can use that to start fires.”
Out of curiosity, she wanted to point the laser at her right eye, but she held back, just in case it actually caused any damage.
Not being able to heal is really annoying… What else do I have? There was a compass I think.
[Sun compass]: Points toward the nearest sun-level source of light.
“That’s one useless tool if I’ve ever seen one.”
Sofia fed it some mana, the needle moved to point at the setting sun. At least it works.
Next among the junk was another pen-shaped thing.
[Mana extractor]: Point at an object containing mana to drain it. The extraction is slow and gentle.
Hmm… Probably a tool to remove any mana from their electricity-using devices without damaging them. This could actually be useful later. Like a weaker ring of Zar.
Looking through the other objects, they were mostly of the same kind. Tools to measure atmospheric pressure, humidity levels, temperature. Essentially just things the Admins might have needed when they were preparing to remodel the planet for the trial.
What about the books?
[Smut books]: A legendary collection of lecherous literature by an unknown author.
An unknown author? Yeah, sure. I guess you’re limited in what you’re allowed to say. And the maps?
[Diverse maps]: A collection of precious old maps by an unknown cartographer.
Huh uh.
So what about… Actually, is taking this out even a good idea? Mr. Scribe, give me a tap if I should keep it hidden.
Sofia kept waiting for the headache typical of the Scribe doing something he shouldn’t, be she felt nothing.
Should be fine then.
The picture of the three admins appeared in her hands.
[A discarded picture]: It was likely thrown away by someone who couldn’t see it anymore.
It was… Yeah. You’re right. It was thrown under the bed, as if to hide it from sight…
If Anna came back to that old hideout after the Dragon admin disappeared to try to find any trace left of him only to end up staring at this picture and the empty room… No wonder she just left the room in a mess and never came back. I can almost see the scene in my mind.
Is this why she’s ‘asleep’?
Devastated by the loss of the two other admins, she’d give up on life however she can?
But from what I know, a God cannot really die unless there is no one left to give them essence…
Maybe the one who needs rescuing the most isn’t the Dragon.
Sofia thought back to the last verse of Orator’s poem.
The last one sleeps, they are broken,
Nary a dream, thoughts forsaken.
Perhaps one day, forced awake,
They will leave nothing in their wake.
What if… This is what the last line means.
If you force them awake but the only thing they want is to die… Then, for a God who was powerful enough to strongarm all the other Gods into being subsidiaries to the System they created; to get rid of the source of all of their essence…
Wouldn’t they need to kill everyone?
Another thing came back to Sofia’s mind. An innocuous line from her first exchange with Richard, back in Valeure’s place right after the second trial.
It was Alith who had asked a simple question : ‘Are you an admin?’
And his answer…
‘Lords, no. I’d rather die.’
I found it curious at the time but all I could think about back then was finding Saria. Still, now, with hindsight, that’s a very surprising thing for him to say considering how much Erredis said he was obsessed with immortality.
While Sofia was lost in thoughts, night truly came, and the Sunless with it.
The first moon was already much higher in the sky, and the second one was coming into view over the horizon.
They really move super fast compared to our moon on Veliadren. The tides here must be crazy. I have not seen anything like a sea yet but there has to be plenty of water considering it was an ice planet originally. All that water has to have gone somewhere.
Sofia brought out the Sun compass again. It aimlessly spun until she tilted it to allow it to point at where the sun should be, under the horizon, which is where it pointed at.
Was worth a try, but I guess it’s not a Black Sun compass, after all.
Where is that thing, then?
Sofia laid down in the air and stared at the night sky.
----------------------------------------