Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 85: Fragile World
Before the examination began, Mag threw two more protective spells toward the door to make sure no one would accidentally barge in.
With her back to the window forged by magic artifacts, she took a deep breath. The false sunlight cut across her body, carving out a distorted shadow.
“I’ll go first!” Myss clattered over to Mag, hopping and bouncing in front of her.
“Heavens, Mr. Myss is so brave!”
Brief clapped inside the cage, then turned to comfort the whimpering Bedsheet Archdemon. “Don’t be afraid, Bedsheet. Look, they’re ahead of us.”
“Woo-awoo…”
Bedsheet Archdemon leaned pitifully against the silver cage and stopped yelling and crashing around.
Salaar kept his tiny soft-cloth face taut.
Reflected in his lapis-lazuli button eyes, Mag lightly dipped the end of a metal needle into the Divine Blood. In an instant, dense black patterns appeared on the silver needle, finer than spider silk by several degrees.
“This is an analysis plate and resonance probe, an incredible invention from the Night Scourge period.”
She explained softly to Myss, “They can analyze the essence of magic to a certain extent. If two powers are similar in nature, it will produce a clear resonance sound.”
Myss tilted his head and looked down at the large silver plate under his feet.
The silver plate was polished as smooth as a mirror, allowing Myss to easily see his reflection. He wore only Salaar’s navy-blue coat, and his half-round button eyes were brighter than burning coals, making him look as if he was perpetually angry.
Comically, the hair ribbon Salaar had made for him had also been restored in this form. His gray-white cotton-thread hair was tied with a small lapis-lazuli ribbon, and the ruby brooch he had given Salaar was pinned to this miniaturized coat.
Myss stretched out one bare cloth foot and stepped on the swaying blue hair ribbon in the reflection.
Looking more carefully, there were also incredibly fine engraved patterns hidden along the edge of the plate, very similar to the patterns on that set of needles.
Unfortunately, he had lost his magic right now. Otherwise, he definitely would have taken a look at this magic’s structure. Myss habitually tried to snort through his nose. When he discovered he no longer had a nose, his mood worsened even more.
“An invention from the Night Scourge period? What was this thing used for?”
In the spirit of “never letting go of any knowledge point from the Night Scourge era,” Myss threw away his pride and humbly asked.
Mag was stuck for half a second by this unexpected question before continuing. “In that era, humans hadn’t yet found a systematic theory of magic. They could only rely on innate talent.”
“This kind of innate magic varied greatly, and theories couldn’t be universally applied. So the geniuses created this.”
At this point, she paused, digging deep into the recess of her mind to unearth this obscure piece of knowledge.
“Back then, the testing material was human blood. If two people’s flesh and blood could produce resonance, it meant the nature of their magic was compatible, and they could work together to research magical theory.”
No wonder I don’t know about it, Myss thought.
The army Salaar had brought in had all been mature, polished mages. They wouldn’t carry such a thing around.
In his impression, those messy tricks of the mages were indeed all personally specialized. But was the Magibase really so universal?
The Fallen Child, the Perfected Creation, the Prisoner of Dreams… Like the geniuses of the Night Scourge era, the nature of their magic also differed greatly.
Or perhaps the mutation brought by the Abnormal Fruit stimulated the geniuses’ “innate” power?
But what about the Magibase? What role did the Magibase play within all this?
Myss wrestled internally, his body freezing in place as if he had truly became a doll.
Assuming he was ready, Mag slowly drove the long needle into the doll’s abdomen, and then—
“Arrghhhhhhhh!”
The Myss doll let out a huge scream. Seeing that things were going badly, Bedsheet Archdemon in the silver cage also began to cry out, “Awoooaaah!”
Mag’s eyes widened slightly, but her hand remained perfectly steady, not trembling in the slightest.
The Salaar doll jolted in place. He looked as if he wanted to rush over immediately, yet something seemed to pin him to the spot. His soft cloth hands curled up into tiny fists.
Before Myss’s scream faded, a hazy halo rippled across the silver plate. Endless clear notes shook the air, making the listener’s heart itch.
“…It is indeed the influence of Divine Blood. Everyone’s guess was correct.”
Mag bit her lip and pulled out the long needle. “All right, Kendrick. Your turn.”
She carefully picked up Myss, who was whimpering and grumbling about the pain, and placed him onto a silk handkerchief.
Without saying a word, Salaar moved forward and received exactly the same needle as Myss.
How should one put it? It was quite painful, about the same as hitting one’s little toe against the corner of a table. Salaar let out a couple of perfunctory grunts as the silver plate and needle resonated again, producing a sound indistinguishable from when it had been Myss’s turn.
Without a doubt, there was no magic fluctuation on them, but the influence of Divine Blood existed.
Before Mag reached out, Salaar jumped off the plate himself and ran to the curled-up Myss. “Was it very painful just now?”
“Like hitting my little toe against the corner of a table.” Myss unhappily rubbed his belly.
Thinking of that tragic scream just now, Salaar helplessly stared at this, uh, Archdemon that could destroy the world.
“What are you looking at? If I hit my little toe against the corner of a table, I scream like that too.”
Myss tried to bare his nonexistent fangs. A certain unpleasant memory poked out from his mind, and he subconsciously tugged at the coat, covering a specific spot on his lower body. “If it really hurt, I wouldn’t even be able to scream. It’s not like you haven’t seen that before.”
“It doesn’t hurt at all. Look, I’m fine!” Brief patted his chest at Bedsheet Archdemon.
Bedsheet Archdemon finally quieted, making a thin whimpering sound. It lowered its tall body—relative to Brief, at least—and its dark eye sockets fixed on him.
“I’m really fine. Don’t worry, the examination is already over.”
“Woo woo.”
“I need administer one more prick. Sorry.”
Mag frowned at the needle.
The needle had only lightly brushed past the lines of Brief’s abdomen, and his resonance sound had been quieter than both Myss’s and Salaar’s. The Dragon Fae was somewhere in between.
The stick-figure’s “body” was far too thin, and the data was too different. Mag suspected that where she had inserted the needle hadn’t been solid enough.
Her needle tip pointed at Brief again, stabbing toward his chest, where there were more lines.
“Wargh—!!!”
The clanging and banging of a collision rang out. Bedsheet Archdemon had actually knocked the cage open right where he was. The tiny silver cage flew off the desk and rolled across the stone-tile floor.
The palm-sized Bedsheet Archdemon floated into the air, puffing himself up. His simple lines twisted endlessly, the ink surging like boiling water, releasing a tiny but unquestionable pressure.
“Don’t! Stop!” Brief scrambled down from the silver plate. “I’m not hurt. Don’t panic—”
But Bedsheet Archdemon didn’t listen to him at all. He dove toward Brief and wrapped around the simple-doodle hero like a snake. Immediately afterward, he turned and flew toward the closed copy of Brave Salaar.
The book stirred as if it was suddenly caught in a gust of wind. It slowly rose upright and swung open, resembling a vast, gaping doorway. Between the pages, an inky black hole appeared. Bedsheet Archdemon bound the waving, struggling Brief and charged toward that hole like a cannonball.
“Stop them!” Mag cried out.
Instinctively, the Dragon Fae reached out, attempting to snag Brief’s red cape. Unfortunately, Bedsheet Archdemon’s strength was astonishing, and he actually dragged the little Tass doll into the air with him.
Seeing this, Salaar lunged at Tass, wanting to pull the Dragon Fae back. Myss bit down on Salaar’s wrist, while Knife and Fork tightly coiled around Myss’s left and right feet, adding their own bit to the Myss doll’s weight.
Father Kalen, meanwhile, rushed to the book in three steps and reached out to stop this little fairy-tale train.
Everything happened too quickly. The priest only had time to grab Myss at the very end. Then… then he was actually dragged flying by Bedsheet Archdemon too. The burly man, who was nearly two meter tall, stagged and tumbled down into the tiny ink-black hole alongside the dolls.
In the blink of an eye, only a dumbfounded Mag remained in the room.
She wished she could follow them in, but a researcher’s rationality stopped her. Mag gritted her teeth, took out a larger silver cage, then poured all the remaining Divine Blood from the examination into the cage’s power reservoir.
This cage was used by the United Library to house rare creatures. As long as there was enough magic, it could keep the things inside in the “state they were in when they first entered the cage.”
“Please, please.”
She stared nervously at that strange book and slammed the cage down over it. “Please, stop…”
Fortunately, her prayer was answered. That copy of Brave Salaar didn’t close, and the dark ink-hole entrance remained wide open.
Mag took two steps back and collapsed into the armchair.
Now, she had done everything she could. She had left a door of return for those hapless people. Next, she could only depend on their luck.
“Kendrick… Kendrick, don’t you dare die on my doorstep.”
Mag wiped the beads of sweat from her nose. “I really don’t want to inherit that pile of troublesome assets of yours—truly, I don’t.”
……
Crackle, bang bang!
Amidst swirling clouds of dust, depicted merely as sketched lines, Myss regained consciousness.
His mouth was still biting Salaar’s arm, soft and warm. Salaar shifted beneath his body, clearly fine.
Myss relaxed and spat out that hand, then looked around.
Judging by the environment, this seemed to be the site of the final battle between “Brave Salaar,” no, Brief, and Bedsheet Archdemon.
As far as the eye could see, everything was flat simple doodles, with refreshing and adorable colors. The dolls and two little snakes, however, were three-dimensional, making them look extremely out of place.
“Hehe, hehe, wooaaah~”
Bedsheet Archdemon floated in the air, bouncing lightly with the posture of a victor and humming a cheerful little tune.
“Bedsheet!” Brief supported himself with his simple-doodle little sword and stood up trembling.
Bedsheet Archdemon smugly drifted over, the ghost-like hem of his cloth swaying.
Brief clenched his fist and lightly knocked Bedsheet Archdemon on the head. “That lady had no ill intent toward us, and I really didn’t hurt at all. Haa, how impolite!”
“Awwr!” Bedsheet Archdemon cried back indignantly, using his soft body to bump into Brief.
The two of them argued into a mess, in a rather comical form. It did indeed suit the age range of this picture book.
“Excuse me…”
Myss discovered in shock that a rumbling voice came from overhead. “Excuse me, I would like to know, how can we return?”
Everyone raised their heads at the sound and saw a black cloud… No, it was the giant priest half-squatting.
Father Kalen had maintained his normal human size, while the picture-book world was a one-to-one restoration of the illustrations. The dolls and little snakes were all right here, but the priest’s size was rather astonishing.
The priest was afraid that if he moved recklessly, he might accidentally damage something. He could only crouch in place with his arms around his knees, trying his best to reduce the space he occupied.
Myss and Salaar, looking up: “…”
Tass: “Wow.”
“That way.” Brief hurriedly pointed at the sky. “That hole, it’s still there! Bedsheet can fly you back out.”
Between the simple-doodle sun and clouds, there was unmistakably an extra ink-drawn hole, as if the artist had accidentally dripped ink there.
There was no way to distinguish distance in this flat world, but judging by its size, it was definitely high enough above the ground.
The priest carefully straightened his body and stretched out his arm, but he still couldn’t touch that ink hole. As for the others, never mind flying, they didn’t even have magic left, so they had no way at all.
“Bedsheet, I won’t go out anymore. Can you take them out?”
Brief turned his head to soothe Bedsheet Archdemon. “Don’t be angry. It was my fault just now. I know you were worried about me.”
Bedsheet Archdemon gave a forceful huff. He splatted onto the ground, becoming nothing but a “bedsheet” with blinking eye holes, taking the stance of “I’m simply not getting up and that’s final.”
“All right, he’s unhappy. We need to think of another way,” Brief said dejectedly.
His ink shoulders drooped as he uselessly picked at the Archdemon on the ground.
“Kalen’s stamina is fine. He can grab us and jump out,” Tass actively suggested. “Come on, Father, give us a jump!”
The priest nodded solemnly and used just a little force in his feet. There came a tearing sound beneath his feet, sounding a little like paper pages about to rip.
“No—!”
Hearing that faint tearing sound, Brief swayed on the spot. He almost cried out and drew his little sword right there.
“Please, please don’t do that!”
Brief gripped the sword with both hands, his voice somewhat sharp. “Please don’t destroy our world. Bedsheet just doesn’t understand… I will think of a way!”
Bedsheet Archdemon was still splatted on the ground and had been shaken by the priest’s preparatory motion. His eye holes had turned into two spinning circles, making him look dizzy.
Father Kalen’s movements froze, afraid that he would become the “world-destroying Archdemon” of the picture-book world.
Myss huffed. “This is what fragile worlds are like. They can’t withstand even a little force. Even if you want to do something proper, a Salaar will always pop out to stop you.”
“If the picture book breaks, then it breaks. We have to leave this place as soon as—”
The Salaar doll silently stretched out a hand and covered Myss’s mouth.
Seeing Kalen stop moving, Brief hurriedly ran to the priest’s feet. “I remember now. There’s also a hole near the title page! That hole is on the ground. We haven’t had time to explore it yet, and it might be another exit…”
He spoke in an almost pleading tone, his beady eyes trembling nonstop. “Mr. Giant, can we go over there and take a look first? And if we wait a bit longer, Bedsheet might be willing to cooperate.”
In his panic, the stick-figure hero spread his arms as if to shield Bedsheet Archdemon and the picture-book world behind him. He gripped his ink-drawn little sword tightly. Given the colossal disparity in power, the sword looked like a joke.
Even Myss could tell that Brief was truly worried.
Compared to a human, Bedsheet Archdemon was more like a simple-minded little animal. He was clearly not controlled by Brief and could only be coaxed. But Myss and the others still had serious matters to handle. They had no obligation to accompany a stick-figure in coaxing a fairy-tale villain.
As long as they wanted, they could directly tear apart this world.
The Salaar doll stared fixedly at the storybook version of “himself,”. No emotion could be discerned in those lapis-lazuli eyes. Myss bit down on Salaar’s soft hand in his mouth, but Salaar didn’t move at all.
Myss bit a little harder, but Salaar still didn’t react.
…He didn’t know whether it was his imagination, but after entering Cousin Mag’s room, Salaar had become much quieter.
“Don’t worry. I’ll go with you.”
Kalen crouched down again and gently pressed a finger against the nervous Brief.
“Fairy tales always have a happy ending, don’t they?”
The author has something to say:
Salaar, but from the world-destroying Archdemon’s perspective. This is what humans look like in Myss’s eyes. [cat paw]
A true dimensional strike. [OK]
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