Chapter 128: [Sister]

“Miss Iriush, she is…”

The clan leader turned her head, sadness and confusion flashing anew in her bioengineered eyes, then she announced a series of codes.

“The [River of Three Ways] Project Biomechanical Magical Puppeteer No. 0001, prototype machine, the most successful yet failed individual, and also… our true big sister.”

“…”

Miss Vilyric knew that Iriush wanted to say more, so she didn’t interrupt or ask questions, merely staying silent and waiting.

Sure enough, the puppet girl labeled No. 0003 took a moment and soon continued.

“None of this is recorded in our mental core’s saved data. If not for a fortuitous discovery of this long-buried secret lab beneath the Puppeteer Forest, we would have been completely unaware of her existence.”

“Considering the identity of Princess Noviya, if there’s any trigger for the mutation she’s experiencing, this is all I can think of.”

Iriush walked over to a nearby lab table, retrieved a metal tweezer that hadn’t rusted despite being here for years, and returned to the ice coffin, carefully extending it toward the prototype’s chest to grasp a silver gemstone resting there.

“Boom!”

As soon as the gemstone left the surface of the red-haired girl’s skin, a terrifying, overwhelming heat surged from the coffin, nearly visible as a wave of heat, and enveloped those nearby like a ravenous beast!

“Be careful! Get to me…!”

Just as the clan leader was about to do something with the gemstone in her grasp, Miss Vilyric reacted faster, raising her hand to conjure [Radiant Protection], shielding everyone from the sudden, terrifying heat.

The hot air battered against the surface of the magical barrier, producing a hissing sound as if some real flame were twisting and coiling upon it, causing Vilyric, who sensed this temperature through her skill, to gasp in surprise.

Honestly, if an ordinary person were to stand here unprepared, they’d probably be reduced to a flaming ball of fire within moments, completely incinerated before long, even with the prototype lying inside the ice coffin and not completely awakened.

No wonder the ice coffin was kept deep within the lab, surrounded by a near vacuum; the prototype didn’t wear any clothing either.

What I once thought was merely a whim of the creator now seemed to make perfect sense—unless one wore an artifact like the [Winged Garment of Glaraya] or at least semi-artifacts, normal clothing would turn to ash the moment it made contact.

“Your power is indeed strong; it’s impressive you can easily withstand the intense heat emitted from the Flame Lord’s core…”

The silver gemstone in Iriush’s hand glowed faintly, similarly protecting her and nearby Iriush within it, appearing as though she originally intended to step in front of everyone, but Vilyric’s quick response rendered the clan leader’s intentions moot.

“Just average really, so what do you mean by Flame Lord?”

Rather than praising her, Vilyric was more concerned about the title Iriush just mentioned, which reminded her of something at least in name that sounded remarkably familiar.

“The Flame Lord? Well, I don’t know much about it either, and I’ve never seen it in person. The name and relevant records were found from Father’s experimental logs left beside this ice coffin by Big Sister Iwen.”

“They say it’s an incredibly powerful elemental lifeform, a terrifying being composed entirely of pure fire elements. The title of ‘Lord’ represents an evolutionary stage of such beings; though it hasn’t reached its limit, it already possesses strength comparable to a true Flame Red Dragon. The crystal of the Flame Lord is the source of its power, akin to a magical core for magical beasts.”

“I don’t know where Father obtained this crystal, but during the creation of [Sister], he intended to fuse the two together by special means, seemingly hoping to use it as [Sister]’s core power source.”

“However, the experiment ultimately failed. Although the fusion process was completed smoothly, allowing [Sister], crafted from magical alloy, to avoid being incinerated by the Flame Lord’s core heat, the heat could not be contained. Or rather, due to the properties of the magical alloy, [Sister] was directly transformed into something akin to the Flame Lord’s core.”

“Unable to wear any normal clothing, unable to interact normally with living beings, and most importantly, the [Mental Core] couldn’t maintain stable operation due to the excessively high working environment, making it impossible for Sister to truly function.”

Iriush showcased the irregular yet exquisite and pure silver gemstone in her hand, its faint glow providing a refreshing coolness that seemed to clear the mind of those within its radius.

“Father tried many methods to resolve this critical issue, but ultimately had to seal [Sister]’s inactive body in an ice coffin crafted from ten-thousand-year-old ice crystals. The Flame Lord’s core could not be removed due to complete fusion, so as a safeguard, he left behind this [Tear of the Moon Goddess] to suppress the never-ending erupting fire elements, dispersing some into the earth veins, which is why the temperature of this underground river is so high.”

“Mm…”

As Vilyric sorted through the vast new information revealed by Iriush, she glanced thoughtfully at the silver-gray little wolf cub cradled in Aiste’s arms. Sure enough, Noviya seemed drawn in too, watching the gemstone in Iriush’s hand with curious, eager eyes.

It seemed that the item which, along with the night of simultaneous moons, triggered Noviya’s physical changes was likely indeed this gemstone called [Tear of the Moon Goddess].

However, leaving that aside, there was another point that greatly concerned Vilyric.

The [Flame Lord], the same name, had also appeared in [Fantasy World], represented as a high-level elite enemy typically found in larger dungeons.

Elemental-type monsters, and similarly possessing levels and attributes comparable to dragon species.

Elemental-type monsters were a large category among the enemies in [Fantasy World], as Iriush had mentioned, classified into various levels and strengths such as “Elemental Spirit”, “Elite Elemental Spirit”, “Large Elemental”, “Elemental Lord”, and even “Elemental Emperor.”

Vilyric had fought over a thousand times against the kind of [Dark Elemental Lord] required to learn advanced magic, which corresponded to [Flame Lord], an elite-level monster of the dark attribute; however, unlike the former, this was a very powerful and rare level 100 world boss.

Saying all this was not to prove that the creator of the Puppeteer Clan—[Father]—was a game traveler; on the contrary, the most perplexing point for Vilyric was right here.

It was very strange, no, too strange.

Clearly, both the titles and descriptions were strikingly similar to those in the game, yet…

There was absolutely no item or drop in [Fantasy World] called [Flame Lord Core]!

Elemental monsters and bosses, when defeated, drop various attribute-appropriate equipment, materials, and random stuff from who-knows-where, all of which had definite drop lists.

Vilyric, having fought over a thousand times against elemental bosses and with abundant experience in various dungeons, could state with absolute certainty that there was no such item as a “core” among those drops.

In other words, within [Fantasy World], the elemental-type monsters that Vilyric knew never dropped anything referred to as “xx core.”

Why… would a traveler be in possession of such a nonsensical item?

Was it a coincidence that an item was whimsically named like this? Or could it be that the [Flame Lord] Iriush mentioned, also existed in this world, but was somehow different from its game counterpart?

   

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