Chapter 508: Teenagers and Youth
The capital of the Kingdom of Star Antimony, Lionheart City.
Aurora woke up from her dream and gradually became sober.
She endured the pain and completed her advancement, reaching the fourth level. Now she has become a true "Misfortune Splicer".
Feeling her body gradually stiffen and then soften... Aurora slowly stood up, tilted her head, and looked at herself in the mirror.
Soft, long platinum hair, a light purple nightgown. Her delicate, expressionless face had turned pale, lifeless like a doll. She reached out her hand and grasped it a few times, then felt something.
She touched her heart.
——My heart has stopped beating. Or rather, it has slowed to the point where I can no longer feel it.
So Aurora tried to hold her head with both hands, twisting it slightly and twisting it off.
She carefully held the head in her arms, but not a drop of blood flowed from the neck. The cross-section was as smooth as jade, gleaming with a warm, oily sheen like the sliced surface of ham.
This is the special ability of the Disaster Splicer - every part of their body can be removed, replaced, and upgraded at will, and can also be spliced onto other corpses. From this point on, they no longer have traditional weaknesses and are difficult to die from physical attacks.
Before she could sort out her gains, she heard a shrill scream.
Aurora's heart tightened and she immediately put her head back on her neck.
She quickly walked to the door, opened it, and rushed to the ceremony room where the mentor was.
When Aurora reached the door, she stopped in her tracks and couldn't help but widen her eyes.
Their mentor, Little Fernando, was burning with passion.
He rolled around on the bed, scratching his skin with his hands, and kept making shrill, hysterical screams.
Little Fernando was covered in blood and his flesh was torn apart...an endless fire was burning deep in his soul.
Albert was waiting by his mentor's bed, chanting spells in the hope of helping him catch his breath.
But it was little Fernando's soul that was ablaze—a fatal wound brought back from the ascension ritual. No matter how Albert tried to dispel it, he couldn't dispel the flames. Albert tried various potions, but none of them worked. His hands were severely burned... and despite his best efforts, he could only stop the flames for a few seconds.
But he did his best.
If it weren't for Albert's efforts, little Fernando would have been burned to death in a few seconds. He wouldn't have been able to hold on until Aurora arrived.
Aurora felt a little sorry for the senior who was trying to rescue his mentor.
So she quickly walked forward and firmly pulled Albert away, whispering, “…Let me try.”
Albert turned his head and subconsciously murmured: "Aurora..."
He is better at necromancy and alchemy, and is far inferior to Aurora in terms of his talent for petrification and preservation.
So he took a few steps back in trust and began to use alchemical potions to heal his severely burned hands.
Aurora's pupils glowed with a dim yellow light.
She put her hands together and they turned into stone statues.
"Teacher...don't resist."
She spoke softly.
Then she stretched out her hands and touched little Fernando's body, while chanting softly.
The petrification spread rapidly, enveloping the struggling little Fernando. His body was completely petrified, his expression of agony frozen, forming a lifelike sculpture of agony. It could almost be called "The Burned Man."
“…Let’s leave it at that for now.”
Aurora pursed her lips and spoke softly.
Let's just petrify and seal him up for now, and we'll find a way later.
She then used the preservation technique to solidify the teacher's body again to prevent it from being accidentally broken or cracked during transportation.
She looked down at little Fernando with a sad expression.
At that moment, she thought of many things to say, but in the end, she didn't say a single word.
So she could only close her eyes and miss him silently in her heart.
“…Aurora.”
Albert looked at her and called softly again.
"The teacher died for me."
She said softly with some sadness.
"The mentor is not dead yet."
Albert comforted him somewhat feebly: "Maybe we can find a way to save him later. All we have to do is extinguish the fire of his soul..."
Although the fifth energy level can't do it...but maybe the legendary sixth energy level is possible?
The next moment, the room fell into an awkward silence again. Albert was silent for a long time—more than a minute—before he spoke again, trying to make conversation: "You still remember what the instructor said to us. Did you write it down with pen and paper?"
“…I just woke up.”
Aurora replied softly, "But I have been reading it silently in my mind."
She took out the pen and paper that she had prepared in her nightgown pocket and began to take notes.
Albert obviously woke up earlier than her.
He took out his small notebook, in which he had obviously written down all the key words that needed to be written down.
"While we still remember, let's exchange some information... Do you know anything new that I don't?"
"have."
Aurora replied briefly, "The teacher said, 'Don't be an enemy of Aiwass, he is the blessed one of the Twin Mirrors.'"
"...I only remember what the teacher told me. Aiwass and Queen Isabel are not on the same side. If there is any danger in the Ziggurat, go directly to Aiwass."
Albert flipped through his notebook. "Also, seriously investigate the Avalon Shadow Ritual..."
"I've already seen the last one."
Aurora added, "The ritual is real. Lancelot was indeed resurrected, and then he ate Aiwass. Then he went mad... He was very powerful after going mad. But Aiwass's soul seems to be in him. I must have been saved by Aiwass. Otherwise, I would have died."
She honestly told everything she remembered last.
Although it was rare for Grape to say so many words in one breath, Albert still blinked in confusion.
——To be honest, he didn’t understand.
Aurora was a quiet girl who didn't like to talk much. She often sat in the corner of the classroom, quietly flipping through her textbooks. When it came time for the practical classes that other students looked forward to, "Human Anatomy" and "Modification and Splicing," she always stood quietly at the outside of the crowd, avoiding squeezing in and never competing with other students for precious cadaver materials.
Every time the bodies were divided, she would be left with only the unwanted parts.
Later, because she displayed a strong talent for preservation, she was recruited by her teacher as an assistant. Her primary responsibility was preserving corpses—whether it was preserving fresh corpses or preserving already assembled bodies—a skilled assistant was needed. Aurora possessed the greatest talent for preservation.
At the time, she and Albert were in the same lab. Albert was diligently piecing together a body, while she would either curl up in a corner reading a book or stand far away and watch him work. She never spoke, and never disturbed him.
Sometimes Albert would think she had left, but when he looked up, he found that she had not left yet, and she was aware of his gaze and looked up at him in confusion.
...quite cute.
Albert thought so at the time and remembered the girl.
After they became acquainted, their mentor, Fernando Jr., also recognized this studious and talented student. On Albert's recommendation, he recruited her as his student. Although Aurora wasn't as direct a mentor as Albert, she always meticulously fulfilled her assistant duties when her help was needed.
Unlike his harsh criticism of Albert, little Fernando still cares about Aurora.
Knowing that Aurora's parents were both dead and she had little money, he not only brought her some snacks and drinks, but also invited Albert to treat her to a meal together - Albert had never received such treatment when he was his student.
After Aurora got to know them better, she started talking a little more. But it wasn't a lot, and Albert generally didn't understand much...but the instructor, surprisingly, did.
——I can feel that she has tried hard to express herself, but I always feel that she has omitted a lot of things.
It's like saying everything in your heart but not saying it out loud.
...If he were a mentor, he would definitely understand what Aurora was saying. Albert was a little frustrated.
Now that my mentor is gone... I have to take good care of Aurora.
Albert made up his mind.
After watching the final summary screen, he actually had a vague feeling...that his mentor might have been deceived.
Because Albert finally saw everyone on the ship on the Great Guardian's Griffin. Almost everyone who had gathered at Moriarty Manor was here.
At that moment, Albert thought of a new possibility——
A very simple process of elimination.
There are six settlement screens, and Grape isn't one of them. If the knight who died fighting in the Temple of Silver and Tin at the beginning of the settlement screen is the pirate... then the only people who don't appear explicitly are Fox, the Medic, Lulu, and Cheese.
But the "Fox" was the first of all, and Albert first ruled out the possibility that he would be ridiculed and withdraw. The mentor also said that Bishop Mathers should be the Fox... Considering Mathers' retrograde movement at the time, the final explosion might have been caused by him.
As for the remaining three, they had never seen anything from beginning to end, and the only empty scene was the flying ship. There was a person in it whose contribution was second only to their own.
Albert could only think of one person.
That's "Lulu." She's the third one, and she's also a path to beauty. Princess Isabel is also a path to beauty.
——Is there a possibility that Princess Isabelle is played by Lulu?
That would explain why Bishop Mathers said, "Evans and Isabel are close." This was information only outsiders knew.
And Albert thought of something else.
As they entered, the little girl named Cheese who appeared last said something.
She said—
"Is that Sister Lulu? And Brother Fox—I'm Cheese, long time no see!"
In other words, Cheese was once in the same promotion ceremony as Fox and Lulu.
It's unlikely that three people would be so coincidental. So it's very likely that Fox and Lulu are together!
So the three of them were together, but Fox and Lulu stole the meeting point. And if Fox and Lulu were together, then the second "pirate" must also be with them. Considering that the pirates are most likely from the Avalon Supervisory Bureau or the Inspectorate, then Fox and Lulu must also be from Avalon.
——Could it be that Aiwass and Isabel are playing themselves?
This inspiration suddenly popped up in Albert's mind.
No, not likely.
He dispelled this ridiculous conjecture.
If Lulu was truly the Queen, how could the pirates dare treat her like that? And if that were the case, the people who came in to accompany her on her advancement journey were too weak… they died right from the start.
Since it was confirmed that "Isabelle" was played by a promoted person, the information the instructor had obtained was likely inaccurate. This was because it was very likely that "Isabelle" had already figured out that he was not Sherlock and improvised to mislead him.
……but.
Stranger pondered for a long time, and finally decided to swallow the secret.
If the information the mentor brings is false, what is the worst that could happen?
That is, the intelligence is wrong - Aiwass and Queen Isabel are in the same group, and even if the Ziggurat is in danger, they cannot directly go to Aiwass.
...But now he really wants to join Aiwass.
Or rather, Aiwass doesn't care...
But he had some longing for the great guardian.
[——There is no reason, because you are a commoner. Because I am a knight——I am a knight bestowed with honor by Her Majesty the Queen, and I will protect her honor until my death.]
[——It doesn't matter where you came from, what your nationality is, or what you wish for. If you didn't participate in this war, you're not a soldier. You're a civilian.]
[——Whether you are a Star or Iris person, as long as you are not a giant, I will protect you! I can protect you!]
…Just thinking back on it brings tears to my eyes and makes me yearn for it.
Hearty, tenacious and straightforward——
This is a man! This is a knight!
The words "If you didn't participate in this war, you're not a soldier" undoubtedly saved the somewhat depressed Albert. Although even if he escaped from Star Antimony, the armed gargoyles might still be developed...but the outcome had nothing to do with his personal wishes.
Now it was he who wanted to go to Avalon. His mentor's "last words" were undoubtedly a powerful persuasive excuse, able to draw others along.
Although Xingti now values and respects its technicians far more than Avalon does, that respect stems from profit. It's precisely because their achievements translate into profit that their wisdom has value. However, this profit comes at the expense of the happiness of others.
For a moment, Albert couldn't think of...what research could definitely help others.
——He remembered that Lord Black said something shocking to the students at the opening ceremony.
Necromancer, from the very beginning, was not created for the purpose of war or killing.
"It's a technique that allows the dead to return to the living world. It's a miracle that reverses life and death, forging eternity! It's a technique that transforms decay into immortality, makes the broken whole, allows the separated to reunite, allows those from the past to meet those from the future—a technique that exists to gain infinite time within a finite fate!"
Dark Phase's speech created a belief and pride in necromancy in Albert's heart.
It once made Albert doubt himself, but now it has become his new inner goal.
"Let decay become immortal, let the incomplete become complete, let the separated meet again, let those in the past reach the future..."
Albert murmured, a dim yellow glow slowly gleaming in his pupils.
His life is undoubtedly happy.
Unlike Aurora, he didn't have anyone in particular he wanted to resurrect, nor did he have any memories worth remembering.
But now, looking at his mentor who was petrified, he felt pain and nostalgia for the first time.
He seemed to understand Lord Black's philosophy.
——So that people in the past can reach the future.
The Disaster Splicer has the potential to create a complete body without a soul, while the Amber Craftsman can insert one person's soul into another. Combining the two, isn't that a form of resurrection?
Let’s start new research with… prosthetic limbs.
"——First, make the incomplete complete."
On this day, the naive boy turned into a young man with his own ideals.
Four thousand five hundred words, which can be considered two in one, or it can be considered half a day off, meow!
On the one hand, I have to go out for something in the afternoon, and on the other hand, this way I can stick the plot on the 16th on the 16th~
Cat's obsessive-compulsive disorder.jpg
(End of this chapter)
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