Chapter 503
The girl let out a sigh of relief, raising her hand to wipe the sweat from her forehead.
"Cooking isn't that hard after all."
After placing the lid on the pot, she seemed to remember something and took a deep breath.
"It’s time."
Her breathing grew a bit heavier as she staggered toward the bathroom.
There, a large wooden tub filled with hot water awaited her, its edge draped with several clean towels.
"It’s been so many days... I should help the Mother Goddess clean herself... Yes, yes... Keeping her divine form pure is a servant's duty..."
"Yes, a duty... That's right, Tara, you were born to do this."
Thud, thud—
The girl puffed out her chest and gave her small board a firm pat, as if to encourage herself.
Then, two white shadows slipped out from beside her, lifting the wooden tub and following her upstairs.
Standing before the door that used to be her room, the little girl took a deep breath, slowly raised her small hand, and gently knocked on the wooden door, as if afraid of waking the person inside.
"Lord Sharl, I’m coming in."
Creak—
The wooden door slowly opened, and the girl with dark green hair tiptoed inside.
After directing the white shadows to gently place the tub on the floor, she looked around the dimly lit room. She walked over to the desk, struck a match, and lit the oil lamp.
The warm glow illuminated the entire room. The girl slowly approached the bed, inching the blanket aside, and reached out to touch the bed.
"Lord Sharl, I’m here to help you... Huh?"
Her hand met empty space.
Swish—
The curtains were drawn back, and bright sunlight flooded the room.
The girl seemed startled. She turned to the window and saw a red-haired beauty in a white nightgown standing by the windowsill, gazing outside, squinting against the light as if she wasn’t quite used to it.
"Sh... Sharl?!"
Tara's voice stuttered, and she quickly lowered her head, saying, "You’re finally awake!"
At that moment, Sharl calmly felt the buzzing in her mind, looking out at the streets and rivers below as she slowly pushed the window open.
A gentle breeze wafted in, the cool air easing Sharl's mind a little.
She had a very brief dream.
In the dream, a silver snake chain coiled in a pitch-black space, its head biting its tail, writhing in midair.
It was hard to tell how long this scene lasted before the surrounding darkness gradually faded, revealing a familiar pocket watch. The snake chain released its grip on its tail and slowly drifted toward the watch.
The silver chain slipped into the iron ring above the watch, as if it were a snake finally finding its nest, rejoining its tail and securing itself firmly to the watch.
The surrounding darkness was instantly dispelled by a flash of silver light, and only when the silvery glow consumed everything did Sharl begin to feel a semblance of control over her body.
When she finally managed to open her eyes, it felt as if she had crossed into another world.
This sensation of being awake yet in a dream made Sharl lose all sense of time. She had no idea how many days, years, or even decades she had spent in that state.
She could feel everything changing, yet she herself remained unchanged, and without any images to reference, this sense of loss and disorientation nearly caused her to lose herself.
But thankfully, she had woken up in the end.
Once awake, Sharl took a long time to stand up. She stepped barefoot onto the floor, adjusted to walking, and walked over to the window, only to realize the system panel in front of her had never been closed.
「Reality」
「Year 741 of the Holy Calendar, July 20, 8:05 AM」
「Evaluation: (Content has been re-edited^^)」
「You’re finally awake!!! Look at all the good things you’ve done!」
「You actually managed to capture one of the main subjects! The best episode yet!」
「Come on! This thing has been gathering dust for too long; let me teach you how to use it! But first, you need to adapt for a while longer...」
「Take this; it’s what you deserve based on your performance.」
「Reward: Destiny Points *6, 【Kiss of Time Erosion】」
「Destiny Points: 402」
「Kiss of Time Erosion: A silver chain made from 33 snake bones, one of the subjects that binds time, possessing the true ability to distort time and space.」
Six points?
And this "Kiss of Time Erosion"... is it a "unique" name?
After cutting out the other rewards, I only get this "uniqueness"?
It’s not that Sharl was complaining about the "uniqueness" being bad; rather, this was something she could have obtained on her own. When she acquired the Overlimit Gear, the system didn’t treat it as a reward and deduct from her other gains.
「Host, don’t be so negative; without me, that snake chain would have been taken by someone else^^_」
「And this system even assembled it for you, plus provided teaching services! This isn’t free!」
Just as Sharl was about to open the system interface to check the watch's abilities and see what new powers the snake chain had given her, an image suddenly flashed in her mind.
In a dark forest shrouded in mist, a figure obscured by pixelation, indistinguishable as male or female, slowly raised its right hand.
What it held was not pixelated; it was a pocket watch, with a silver snake chain coiled around the figure's wrist.
The figure’s left hand slowly picked up a dagger, threw it, and pressed the pocket watch with its right hand.
Click—
The figure and the thrown dagger became ethereal, as if time had stopped.
In that instant, time seemed to switch; ancient trees trembled and grew, only to be felled in a heartbeat. Simple mud huts appeared and collapsed, countless shadows flickered by, and a massive cathedral rose from the ground, while surrounding buildings experienced cycles of war and reconstruction, flourishing anew.
Then, time froze, and a statue of Sharl with "Target" written on its face appeared in front of the dagger, the flow of time resuming instantly.
Click—
Between the buildings, the statue cracked, severed in half.
A dagger appeared in the middle of the statue—as if it had existed there since ancient times.
The image in Sharl's mind shattered in an instant, and just then, she noticed some movement beside her.
She pulled back the curtains, and dazzling sunlight poured in. For Sharl, the sunlight was almost blinding, forcing her to raise her hand to shield her eyes.
Squinting, she looked toward the bed and saw that familiar figure.
"Tara..." Sharl spoke slowly, and through the sunlight, she also realized where she was.
This was... Tara's hideout in Ansu City, a small standalone house.
"How long have I... been asleep?" Sharl asked, lowering her right hand and looking at Tara.
At that moment, the images from earlier still lingered in her mind.
Was that the ability of the snake chain... or one of them?
When she opened the system panel, it displayed "Upgrading," and she couldn’t even access the warehouse... but thankfully, she could still use the skills she had already acquired.
"How long will the upgrade take?"
Sharl silently inquired of the system.
「Please be patient, host... This is for your own good^^」
Though she was eager to explore the abilities of the snake chain, it seemed she would have to wait for the system to finish upgrading.
"It’s the third day now, Lord Sharl," Tara said, "Today is July 20."
Three days...
What about Aivina? Is everyone else okay? Strong Sound is dead, right?
While she was unconscious, Sharl had pondered many questions, wanting to ask them all at once.
But seeing that Tara was still safe in Ansu City with her, it seemed Strong Sound was no longer among them.
"That is..." Sharl glanced at the steaming wooden tub behind Tara and asked.
"Ah... This was originally water for you to wash up. I... I brought it over for you to see." Tara slowly averted her gaze. "Do... do you need to wash up?"
"Thank you." Sharl nodded, instinctively turning her face to sniff her shoulder.
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