CHAPTER 764: THE WORLD

Saria held out her hand, “Gimme one.”

“You’ve already decided you’re going to eat it?” Sofia asked, the beads firmly in her grip.

“Consume three and you can’t reverse the effects, right? That means whatever happens, a single one is safe. But if you’re really worried you can let me hold the stone while I eat it.”

“That would be preferable… It won’t work for Pestle, though…”

“Leg is leg, Pesle not harm,” Pestle confidently assured her with crossed arms.

Maybe I should have come alone…

“Alright… Let me get the stone out, we’ll take the beads together,” Sofia decided.

“Really? It’d be safer to let me try alone first,” Saria said.

“And what, let you deal with whatever comes next alone?”

“Tssk, you’re too much like me for your own good, lil sis, the elder’s supposed to protect the younger siblings, you know.”

“You’ve done enough of that for a lifetime when we were kids. Now we’ll get through this together. And with Pestle, too.”

Sofia shared the beads, and the three consumed them together, Sofia and Saria both touching the philosopher’s stone to prevent possible negative effects. As soon as it entered her mouth, Sofia felt the bead melt and a strange energy within starting to meld with her mana. Like a veil being ripped away from her eyes, her vision of the world suddenly changed.

The darkness shrouding the underground city was no more, revealing its grand sights beyond simple comprehension.

But before being able to focus on her surroundings, Sofia looked at Saria and Pestle.

Both were pitch black from head to toe, black void darker than Ihuarah’s shade. Sofia looked down, she was the same. Even the philosopher’s stone in her hand was like a rock-shaped hole in her vision.

“UEGH!”

Pestle retched loudly, nothing coming out since she lacked a stomach. “Not leg!” She complained, her hands on her tiny mana heart, “Must Klepra poop! Disgut! UERGH!”

“Didn’t really taste like anything to me,” Saria commented, “certainly has some interesting effects, though. I’m glad this shouldn’t be permanent…” she said, looking at her hands.

Sofia nodded, “It had some weird energy inside, didn’t quite feel like mana. Maybe that’s what she found disgusting? Either way… We’re Sunless now…”

Since Pestle seemed to be doing just fine aside from the retching and complaints, Sofia could take some time to look around.

They were still in the same place, near the house’s door, with the backside of the nearby church now fully visible, but aside from that, it was hard to tell what really was going on. In the middle of a small plaza after the street behind them, they could see the door they had entered through. Now it was the other side that looked pitch black. But perhaps more interestingly, the door was simply there, not attached to anything except the floor. If one looked to its side, it was clear the street and city simply continued beyond it.

Like the penthouse’s door…

And it was not only the city, but further out, a forest of dark trees could be seen, and further beyond even, a mountain of dark-grey hues under a red sky.

“Are we in the deep?” Saria asked after a quick scan of the horizon.

“I’m not sure,” Sofia answered, “It definitely has similarities… But it… It’s not quite right.”

“A toybox?”

“Not that either. The Skill isn’t responding at all. And honestly, I’ve gotten pretty good at noticing plane changes. This… As weird as it sounds, it should still be the physical plane. I still feel my connection to Pareth, too… But looking through his eyes… It’s pitch black.” ℞ãＮο₿Ɛṩ

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“Then it’s more similar to the failed toybox from that moon?” Saria asked.

“In a way, yes. But it’s not the same either. Pestle can probably get what I mean.”

Pestle was finally done making dying sounds, and flew back up to Sofia’s shoulder. “It different, but same... But different!” she confirmed in her infinite wisdom.

Meanwhile, Sofia carefully monitored the surroundings with her 360° demon vision while sliding the philosopher’s stone back into her armguard. The houses are all inhabited… Do these Sunless think I cannot see them behind their black curtains? Now that the darkness is lifted my mana senses are no longer restricted… Sofia let her mana spread far and wide, but she immediately retracted them when they encountered something that could push it back.

“Saria,” Sofia whispered.

“I felt it too,” Saria confirmed, “Someone powerful.”

A tall Sunless with a manly silhouette appeared in front of the group without warning, three red crosses shining in the middle of his chest. It was hard to tell, but he seemed to be wearing long flowing robes, standing with his arms behind his back. The amount of mana held within the confines of his black form was enough for Sofia to pin him as someone near the level of an ascended even without [Identify].

Sofia was the first to take initiative and decided to give the Sunless a polite bow.

“Greetings, do you understand the common language, sir?”

The danger sense from her title suddenly flared, she had kept it the same after the trial knowing that she now had too many eyes on her to ever fully relax. Despite the suddenness of it, the alert did not feel like something at a level that she could not deal with. Already anticipating the blow, Sofia’s right hand instinctively rose to block the black tendril that had shot out from the tip of the Sunless’ foot toward her face.

The tendril stuck the dragon-scale armguard with a bang, pushing Sofia’s hand up, but that was the end of it. Saria and Pestle both advanced to counterattack, but the Sunless immobilized them both with a glance.

Sofia could feel the philosopher’s stone working to negate the effect that kept the other two in place, but she feigned being affected by it as well.

“Not half bad,” the Sunless remarked condescendingly, his blank face seeming to gaze down at the group with an invisible sneer. The black tendril retracted itself into his body, and he turned around. “Follow me,” he ordered, freeing the group from his grasp.

Sofia’s aura immediately pinned Pestle back in place before she could even move.

Pestle. Don’t. She shared with her through thoughts before letting her go.

Pestle grumbled after being freed but did not say anything, only staring daggers through the haughty Sunless’ back.

The group followed the Sunless without a word, aware that they were not in a position to do anything rash, he simply led them through the city streets, past the church they had seen, and through several different large districts.

The other Sunless seemed to live a ‘normal’ life in this city, going to and fro, but everywhere the strong Sunless led the group through, the other Sunless, no matter their shape or size, only silently bowed to him before rushing into the nearest house. Between them, they spoke a tongue that Sofia could not understand, their hushed whispers following the group as they advanced through the streets.

In an uncomfortable silence, the Sunless brought the group downhill to the border of the city, and to the entrance of a clean forest path. Standing between two strange statues that marked the beginning of the path, the robed Sunless turned around, facing the group. “The elder beast awaits. Now go,” he declared, before simply vanishing away.

Pestle looked around worriedly to make sure the Sunless was no longer around, before letting out a loud sigh and jumping off of Sofia’s shoulder. She stomped on the spot the Sunless had been standing on moments before. “Why so slow?! If can teleport why is you walk for hour? Dumb stupid Suness Klepra!”

“I didn’t mind the sightseeing,” Saria commented, “Though I can’t lie, I would have enjoyed a more affable guide.”

“I’m just glad that his hostility stopped at that. I don’t think we could have escaped if he was really out to kill us.”

“Yes well, there’s a reason we had to follow him without saying anything, heh. D’you think he did the same thing when the admins visited?”

“Maybe… I didn’t say anything but he has been leading us closer to the source of divine corruption, I could feel that. The ring almost feels like it’s shaking in hunger.”

Saria scratched her head, making a mess of her hair, “Shit… We better hope the ‘elder beast’ ain’t the dead god. Cause I don’t want that guy coming back at us with a vengeance.”

“Sentiment shared. But what are the chances? This place should be older than the dead god, and ‘Elder beast’ doesn’t really sound like something that just moved in.”

“Fair point. We better follow lil’ pep before she gets too far, I don’t think I’ve ever seen her so mad.”

Sofia nodded and the sisters started walking on the forest path, following Pestle.

Sofia giggled watching Pestle stomping the ground as she walked with her tiny legs. “Feeding her something bad and forcing her to sit in silence for an hour, you couldn’t find a better way to piss her off if you tried.”