White Flower, Black Feather

Style

The room was dark… and what she saw filled her with dread…

Once she became aware of her surroundings, she saw her hammer and anvil tossed on the stone floor… and the metal sculpture of her was bent and deformed in front of the furnace…

With that unshaped thing… trying to destroy the gates of the furnace, and the stone around it

HIIISSS!!!

Miriam became enraged and grabbing her hammer attacked the material she had been working with

CLANK!!!

She managed to deliver the first blow, bending it and making it fill with cracks… then it tried to fight back, by making a spike aimed to her head-

CLANK!!!

That her metal self caught with her bent mouth

HIIISSS!!!

Letting her keep hammering the thing… cracking the wall and the doors of the furnace. The statue used those cracks and gaps to surround and constrict the thing, deliberately taking the brunt of a blow from the hammer, breaking and piercing the struggling substance with its sharp edges

Immobilizing it

“YOU WANT TO SEE WHAT IS BEYOND?!!!”

Her hammer, the statue fragments, the pillars and her anvil glowed with her magic… letting the heat fill the room…

“ALLOW ME TO ENLIGHTEN YOU!!!”

With one more angry blow

The walls were destroyed hurling the thing into a sea of magma

Miriam roared as the room sank in the molten rock and she started swimming towards it. The magma covering and flowing with her, condensing and growing around her as the thing struggled against the heat and pressure of that cavern, unable to move due to the boiling metal

The whole chamber started to tremble as a mouth of ten meters in length, made of the same magma surrounding the thing, close around it. Increasing the heat and pressure as a snake made of the same magma raised from that sea

HIIISSS!!!

Inside the molten mouth, Miriam bit the thing, hurting it and making the metal force it to a rough shape. While a molten hand raised holding her anvil, and the head of the gigantic snake crashed against it, flowing back into the sea

HIIISSS!!!

CLANK!!!

Leaving Miriam working with the glowing material on top of her anvil behind, she was pouring all her strength on the next three blows. Until the thing reveled again and made a spike that pierced her shoulder…

“Is that all…?” she was disappointed by the attempt, because she felt the thing recoiling from the contact with her blood…

And the molten hand closed around them, pulling them deep into the sea of magma…

Making the cavern quake as the gigantic snake raised silently again, lifting her two hands from the sea. One still holding the anvil and the material on top of it. The other holding tons of molten rock in the shape of a hammer-

To give it shape…

Twenty times she struck like that. Every impact making shockwaves that weakened the walls of the cavern… but the thing still tried to fight back…

So, the head crashed against it once more, heating it again while sinking fully into the sea. Before the head surfaced again, holding the anvil inside her mouth

CLANK!!!

Where Miriam started working the material again… adding her blood to the mixture…

Making it glow, while the material screamed… but she ignored it

Closing her gigantic mouth when she needed to reheat the weapon she was making. Working on the sword she wanted to make for hours…

Until the material stopped fighting back

And the process speed up

Letting her work peacefully as the two handed sword took shape… knowing that by adding her blood to it, she wasn't going to be able to do the finishing touches… nor make another sword like it again…

“I’ll figure it out… I always did it…” she looked at the engraving in the fuller of the blade on her anvil “I don’t see why I won’t be able to do it this time…”

The metal showed her jaws breaking a black skull between them…

“If I fail, this will be useful… if… there is someone that shares my body’s blood…”

The gigantic snake opened her mouth wider, and Miriam looked up. Her horns cracking with lightning that she threw to the roof of the cavern, deliberately making it weaker…

“Now… please help me quench the blade” she could see the roots of many different plants starting to move in the cracks… widening them

And making a torrent of water fall inside

Enough water to fill the cavern. Making the magma react violently as it was forced to cool… it hurt her, but she didn’t care about the pain

“Not worse than childbirth…” nor about what the destruction of her chamber meant

As the water reached the glowing blade she was holding, she studied it. Seeing the details taking shape…

“Not my best job~” and she talked to herself while the water covered her and she cooled “See? I told you… mother makes mistakes too…”

Miriam looked up… knowing that the glowing sword was going to be the only source of light, that the place was going to have soon…

“A shame… I can’t tell me, what mistakes I’m making…” she sighed, knowing that a string was messing with her… but she wasn't strong enough to see, or cut it… “For someone so young… he is right… as I am right now, if I get that Spark… I’ll lose… control…”

She looked down to the blade, feeling her body growing stiff

“I’ll figure… it out… a coward… is not going… to stop… me…”

As she cooled, like her mouth where she was holding the blade, she slowly turned to stone…

Except for a small green crystal on her head…

/////

Miriam woke up on the middle of the night

Ding

Before that sound happened… feeling sadness… and guilt… knowing that she had lost something… the absolute lack of magic in her body felt awful…

She didn’t wanted to move due to the cold, but seeing the flowering plants, holding fruits near her mouth, made her struggle to open her mouth

Letting the plants place a healing fruit, a magic fruit, and the last kind of fruit the trees had given her. The mixture of flavors was vile, but she didn’t had the energy to complain, or move…

So, while hearing Sunny still on top of her… she fell to a sorrowful, dreamless sleep…

/////

Waking up slightly later than she normally did

‘Ugh…’ with the Undead destroyed, that place was probably safer than her winter’s shelter ‘Sunny…?’ even if she didn’t realized it

Buzz

‘Good morning… to you too…’ the ladybug was still on top of her head, and from the ground it looked to her, like there were more plants around ‘What happened…?’ but the plants had just moved to surround her, instead of her weapon

Buzz?

‘No… I can’t remember…’ one of the trees inside the ruins grew a fruit, but didn’t threw it at her ‘Is… that what caused… the Magic Drain…?’

Buzz…

‘Ugh…’

Miriam struggled to lift her head and body… wondering why it was clean, it had rained while she was stuck, but not the night before…

The plants weren't touching her, even if she was surrounded at the time. In a moment they shook and moved, leaving a path to the tree for her to take, and she gave them some magic as thanks before going to eat the fruit

‘These… are just food?’ the tree answered ‘Thanks you…’ and she gave it some magic too…

Looking to the spot where her sword was waiting… the plants had moved the other handle she made, so it laid on the ground next to it. She slid around the plants to be able to grab either of them…

‘Ah…’ but hesitated and looked at her hands ‘Hmm?’ it was then that she saw the scar that looked like the burial symbol ‘Ugh…!’

Wincing at the memories that now were hers… trying to ignore them, as she struggled to find out what she forgot

‘My two siblings… those two… Singer… the woman that gave birth to me… the adventurers… the redhead… Diamond Volcano… the two that I killed…’ she winced again… remembering the people that the Undead had killed before the Fae stopped her previous body… ‘Sword teacher… those other adventurers… Sunny… those I killed, I almost killed her…’ and feared something ‘When did that happen?’

Buzz

‘Yesterday…?’ a growing fear… ‘Did I tried to erase my memories from yesterday?!’ that made her angry with herself

Buzz?!

‘No…?’ temporally, as Sunny told her what to do ‘Ugh… Status…’

‘Ah…?’ at first she was confused by the first Title appearing again ‘What…?’ then she read the rest ‘What happened…?’

‘Helper… how high was the Drain?’

-1%-

‘Why did I made that… Gestation…? How did I made it…?’

She got no answers… and the silence made her feel sorrow… she wanted to cry and scream, being unable to do that…

‘That sword…’ made her place her claws around her Magic Core ‘Sounds useful…’

Miriam noticed how everyone around her froze… she understood that they knew what that gesture meant…

‘Ugh… I want to cry…’ she dropped her hands and looked to the ground still holding the shape of a sword… ‘How is still like that…? Didn’t it rained for a bit before…?’ the plants answered her ‘Really…? Did any of you got hurt…?’

Telling her how they had activated the grip once it fell, to make sure it was there for her… the Helper didn’t participated in that conversation…

Buzz

‘Someone is coming…?’ Sunny wasn't forcing the Helper to participate anymore ‘As in just one person…?’

Buzz!

‘They are either strong…’ she made the scars on her hand glow… ‘Or easy to destroy…’

Miriam moved to grab the sword… but seeing how much her hand trembled… made her move backwards

Sunny took flight just to land on the pommel Miriam made, and looked back to her

Buzz?

‘Ah… let me see who they are…’ she looked north, waiting for the person to appear… ‘Besides… now it’s a bit small for me, don’t you think?’

Sunny, the plants and the trees spoke to her at the same time, making a lot of noise…

Noise that confirmed to the adventurer, that there was something weird happening ahead of her…

-Alterations were made…-

She couldn't answer them… feeling gratitude while moving forwards and grabbing the hilt, that broke off the blade easily

Making Sunny fly to a pile of rocks…

“Oh… crap…” as both the adventurer and Miriam made eye contact “You are… bigger… that what the reports said…”

Miriam moved around the plants, to be between them and the woman while her heartbeat speed up…

‘A cute non-undead person… good…’ feeling… unsure, about a fight with someone that made her feel envious of their appearance…

The young woman’s shoulder length brown hair was braided and held behind her head, her metal and leather armor looked functional, without harming her movement… the slight hesitation Miriam could see on her hand seemed to be about, wherever or not to pull out her sword… but her brown eyes looked steady, and her fingers relaxed eventually…

Making her wonder if the hesitation was real or an act…

Silence stretched while both of them stared at each other…

It was when Miriam saw that the woman noticed the flowers behind her, that she moved and touched the ground with the guard of her sword… she didn’t liked the greedy glint on the eyes of the woman

“Easy, I’m not here-?!” Sara gave a few steps back once the rock the snake was holding started glowing, and Miriam pulled a two handed sword from the ground “Hey! Hey…! All… right…” she relaxed slightly when the creature in front of her, just rested both hands on the pommel of the weapon “You definitively are the… Miriam… from the reports…” she needed a moment to let go of her own sheathed sword

She wasn't sure if “Snake” was a… foul… way of calling… her?

‘They… just needed a day to send someone…?’ Miriam tensed… but nodded

She understood that people would react differently, at the news of her killing twenty-five humans, instead of helping some of them with Porkus…

“Well… follow me? Or do you need help to get out of this place?” Sara asked “I didn’t walked around it, but it looks like a ring of Terror Stones…”

Making Miriam tilt her head in confusion…

‘You aren't here to kill me…?’ she considered writing that question

Buzz!

Sunny and the rustling of the trees alarmed the woman into pulling her glowing blue sword and glance around, not losing Miriam from sight

-Three days to get here…-

‘Oh… she doesn’t know…’ she noticed the natural color of the weapon… reminding her of the yellow things that clamped to her arms before

“What was that…?” Miriam didn’t liked her tone…

So she stabbed the ground with her weapon, before making words appear on the ground

She is Sunny, the big tree over there

And pointed to Sunny’s main body

Buzz~

Before Sunny flew and landed on the extended claw

‘Go hide again, possible combat to the death about to happen…’ she didn’t realized how dumbfounded the woman was, the moment she saw the ladybug…

Nor her confused expression as Sunny ignored Miriam’s warning for a moment, and rubbed against her head before flying to a wall

“T-thanks for keeping the forest safer than normal… grand tree…” Sara nodded in Sunny’s direction once she recovered and Miriam went back to her previous posture

Buzz…¹Then don’t fight my mom, you dumbass…

‘Don’t call her that… she doesn’t know either of us, it’s normal to make mistakes or some assumptions’

Buzz?

‘Yes, if they refuse to learn, then you can call them that… respect everyone, until they give you a reason to not do that… ah… things may be different in this world? Somehow I think that, if you are disliked here, there is a bigger chance of them attacking you…?

Buzz?

‘I wonder how tolerant people are…’

Sara had no idea of what was happening… it looked like the snake and the ladybug were… talking?

“Sorry to interrupt…?” she got the attention of the snake back to her “The gods want you to go to a temple, follow me and we can do that…”

Miriam stood still…

‘That’s what you all said to the humans…?’ managing to think that, before she shook her head and removed her sword from the ground

“I don’t want to hurt you…” she didn’t took her usual posture, still trying to save the situation from developing into a fight… “But the request was to bring you alive, not conscious…” sadly, she wasn't a diplomatic person. She was like the grandparents that trained her “And dragging you out of this place, sounds like a pain”

Miriam’s hissing mimicked laughter

‘You can try!’ and struggling to keep her Berserker from activating, she released her aura

Making the woman disappear the moment it hit her

Clank!

Hiss!

And she had to use her own [Boundary Break] to block the overhead attack from the woman. The metal sword sunk almost to the halfway point of her weapon, before the magic density stopped it

Sara, seeing how the thing resisted the impact, kicked her upper body below the crystal, to jump away and get some distance from Miriam…

“Shit…” the weapon recovered its shape by the time she landed “Ugh…” and her Gauge gave her an ominous feeling… “You… you are annoying… to fight, I can tell…”

Miriam laughed as she processed the information that her Gauge gave her…

“You are probably just… like the old man…” the only area that Sara was more skilled than Miriam, was her Sword Style… or at least that is how it seemed to her…

‘And you… you~ can teach me a few things~’ and to Miriam, making her eager to keep crossing attacks with the woman

Both of them took a deep breath

Buzz~!²Fight~!

CLANK!!!

And after vanishing from sight they collided in the middle of the space that separated them, with Sara disengaging immediately. Miriam let her move for a moment before chasing her with a stab that the woman was forced to deflect and disengage again

Sara’s Style specialized in dodging and waiting for the right moment to deliver a powerful attack… something that she was hesitating to do, mostly due to the posture that Miriam had…

Her head was close to the crystal on her body, meaning that her neck was curving backwards. With every dodge and block she did, Sara keep waiting for a bite that wasn't coming…

Neither of them noticed how they crossed the ring of Terror Stones while fighting

“Crap!” Sara was too busy dodging and using [Boundary Break] to make some distance, while wondering if she should use one of her potions

‘Come on!’ while Miriam wasn't able to see the glow…

Miriam got impatient, she could feel herself getting close to learn something with every clash, so she fired a [Sword Wave] at her

The woman managed to dodge the howling attack and in anger, retaliated with her own-

HISS!!!

That Miriam destroyed with a swing of her sword

‘Better!’ the impact pushed her back, but she wasn't damaged by it

“Seriously?!” the woman got angrier “How can you do that?! Without having a Style?!”

‘Style…?’

Not expecting an answer from the creature, Sara pulled a small flask from her belt. Swallowing half of its content while keeping the rest in her mouth

‘…!?’ the moment she placed the flask away, Miriam had to use her skill to block, she had moved in front of her like a blur. The impact made her arms hurt-

Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank!

And she had to use [Boundary Break] to block another four strikes coming from every direction, just as strong as the first, before Sara disengaged again, after breaking the blade with the last attack

She was breathing heavily while glaring at Miriam… trying to not make the mistake of drinking the rest of the liquid, before her body stopped making steam…

‘Just like gramps…’ she tried to relax her fingers, while the snake breathed just as heavily as she was doing ‘A fucking monster…’ she recognized the stare she was getting…

Someone that deep down enjoyed fighting… with the difference, that Miriam was holding back her Berserker. Many times while she fought alone, she had seen that unrestrained glint on the eyes of the creatures about to die…

Hiss…

‘I have an idea~’ after confirming that her creation was intact, while still ignoring the pain, she placed it on the ground. Willing it to take a different shape and make a longer grip ‘Ia Imbue Wings’

The sword she pulled out was thicker and had a single edge… Sara still noticed how her wings got Imbued and that now were spread flat above the ground, but didn’t had an idea of how she planned to use them to fight her

As she swallowed the liquid, Miriam used her skill. Making Sara block the strike, feeling the whole weight of the snake while she pressed the back side of the sword with her left hand-

‘…?!!!’ but before she could retaliate, the creature gripped harder with her left hand, and unsheathed another sword, from the first one-

Clank! Clank! Clank!

The woman had to use the remaining effect of her potion to block three painful strikes, being sent skidding backwards with the last one, before she jumped forward-

Clank!

Having that strike blocked by the “Sheath…” that now was a curved blade that held to Miriam’s wrist and above the elbow

“Ugh!!!” and Sara got pushed back exhaling steam… annoyed… but at least somewhat grateful, that Miriam was letting her rest when she needed to…

‘Yes…!’ Miriam gave her some more space glancing at the result of her idea ‘I’m getting close…!’ the whole thing had cracked with the hit, but she already had repaired the damage… ‘Now I have a shield~’

Opening her mind to the possibilities that her magic granted

Miriam rested her double sided blade against her “Shield” aiming at the woman while she waited for her recovery. Starting to relax, much to her surprise

Sara’s Gauge was screaming at her, but she didn’t knew why. She still had many of her potions, even the ones that she didn’t wanted to use, because she really didn’t wanted to kill Miriam, nor, receive a wound in order to deal one at the same time

Healing potions were the vilest thing to her tongue…

Besides, the large amount of scars, hinted at some form of enhanced regeneration

‘I’m not getting hurt… I’m not a battle junky, I do this for money… just prove that you are better than her…’ that idea never worked with her grandparents, but Miriam just reminded her of them, they were far stronger than both of them ‘You can always defeat something stronger than you…’

Both of them took a deep breath, with Miriam waiting to see more coming from the woman. Sara exhaled a large amount of steam

“You better be right old man…” who she was talking about sneezed, and after taking another deep breath she ran towards Miriam

Just running towards her confused Miriam for a moment, making her try to bait a reaction by shifting the ground into spikes, right in front of Sara as she ran, but the woman just stomped them, dispelling her magic-

Clank!!!

And then, used the skill

‘HAHAHA!!!’ her blade and shield blocked the impact, with Miriam growing certain of what she needed to do

For the next five seconds their weapons clashed as quickly as they could. With Sara breaking Miriam’s sword by using [Boundary Break] an instant before they weapons collided, and trying to hit her with her weapon right after that

But instead of blocking the attack, Miriam spun her head. Getting completely upside down while she was under the blade, and sinking her “Shield” and tail into the ground

Once she finished spinning and attached her handle on her remaining blade, her loop traveled along her body while she pulled an enormous slab of dirt between the two of them upwards

Sara moved back and easily avoided the vaguely sword-shaped thing, that Miriam tried to use to stab her. In an instant she jumped above the thing, with the intention of punishing such a bad attack-

Hiss!!!

When Miriam split the slab with ease, into two normal sized sword while discarding the excess material

Clank!!!

The three weapons collided with both of them staring at each other eyes. Until Sara’s boots hit the ground at the same time the loop reached Miriam’s tail

“Ah!” and she had to use her skill backwards to avoid the sword attached to it

‘I’m not done yet!’ seeing clearly how Miriam fused the two swords by the handle, leaving her with a long double bladed sword ‘HAHAHA!!!’

Miriam lunged forwards, forcing Sara to parry a stab and immediately block a slash made with the other blade

Their weapons danced for a while like that, until Miriam split her swords and changed the rhythm they were following, for a few seconds before letting one of her weapons be destroyed, and starting to use the other like a rapier

“Crap!” keeping Sara moving back while dodging, and using her skill to avoid another sweep of her tail “…?!” it was then, that Miriam moved her wings up

Revealing all the different swords that she made and got attached under them

Crack

Making Sara hesitate, and in that instant, Miriam scored a hit on her right shoulder. The rapier broke without damaging the metal, but the woman still felt the hit and tried to make more distance between them, with her eyes widening…

‘Magic Hold!’ as Miriam made all her weapon float and aim at her. She didn’t had time to reach for another potion ‘Blade Launcher!’

The attack made her dodge three swords that got destroyed once they impacted the ground, but she had to destroy two that would have hit her, and felt those impacts with every muscle of her arms. Trying to keep sweat from getting on her eyes as she avoided the other four swords chasing her

‘Appear even it’s for just a moment…’ with Miriam trying another thing ‘Reflect your shape and strength in my magic…’ raising her handle up ‘Materialize! Bane of the Undead!’

Her spell distracted her from controlling the other four swords, but the woman froze once she saw the green magic cover the handle and flow up, to take the shape of a two handed sword…

That Miriam moved over her shoulder-

[Sword Wave]

Her attack was like the roar of a waterfall, far louder than the howl from a normal wave

Ding

Sara felt Miriam’s change on her Gauge, and could only think about blocking that massive attack with a skill and held her sword horizontally in front of her

‘AH?!!!’ making Miriam scared

Trying to will her own attack to disperse, while moving her four remaining swords to help with blocking it

The end result was like a strong gust of wind that passed harmlessly around her swords and the woman… that almost tripped forwards due to how weak the wind of magic was-

“WHAT THE FUCK?!!!” healing magic “What the fuck is wrong with you?!!!” once it touched her, she knew what it was even before it healed the pain in her shoulder. Making her unleash every swear that she could think of while glaring at Miriam

Sara knew how hard her grandmothers worked to stop her from saying those, but her anger overcame their training…

Leaving Miriam to stare at her while she unleashed a torrent of profanities and… frustrations… at her

The closest thing that Sara could compare her feelings at what had happened… was a turn off…

“Shit! I’m thinking like a battle junky now!” she turned to the direction of the cities “Fuck you grampa!!!” before roaring in frustration and glare at Miriam again…

Her eyes had the same glint of someone that enjoyed fighting… even if she hated to admit it…

“Is this the first time you fight against someone with [Block]?! I could have killed you three times!” she put her weapon away and started to get close to Miriam “How many times, you could have done that?!”

Miriam thought for a moment, before making sparks from her horns appear, and then firing a dart of sleep venom right next to her

‘There is no water here, so…’ she lifted two fingers from the hand holding her creation

Unaware that her Venom Dart made both of them tied, by showing Sara that she didn’t needed to bite to use a venom

“Ugh…” not that the woman was going to change what she had said “Why…? Why you don’t want to come to the city?” instead she tried to calm down, and read what Miriam wrote

Not strong enough (15/100)

“The fuck you are!” but her anger exploded “I’m being considered to become an A rank! The fucking reason they keep holding me back! Is because I work alone!!!” she would said more, but Sunny landed on Miriam’s head and her Instinct told her to not scream anymore… “Is… that your current Level…?” instead she focused on something else…

Shivering when she got a nod as an answer

“Good thing that creature, and human levels, aren't equal…” she frowned while looking at the pair in front of her, wondering about her total level… noticing that at some point before she started screaming, Miriam had pulled her aura away… “Ah…” after looking at the gigantic tree in the distance, and back to Miriam, without focusing in trying to ignore that dread… “You… you are the Fourth…”

Miriam looked away while Sunny laughed, and nodded

‘Ugh… great…’

“Can you evolve again…?” that question made Miriam tilt her head “The other three aren't supposed to be able to evolve…”

‘Well… if they eat me…’ Miriam’s thoughts were interrupted by a buzz

-Extot Xetjonoxia: capable of evolving…-

And a message that made her wince internally before nodding, trying to not think about how many Calamities were waiting for her, because Sara got dizzy and had to make a seat for her

“Fucking… nightmare…” she was holding her head between her hands, appreciating the solid seat… but really dreading the report she was going to do in the near future…

/////

It took her a while, but eventually she pulled out another flask

“Honey…” and drank it after saying that word to Miriam, the sweet smell was recognizable by her, but she still appreciated the notice

Sara stared at her for a while, this time the silence didn’t lasted as much

“You might not understand what a god is, but I’m sure that there is a good reason for them to want you in a temple…” Miriam gestured down

I’ll go to one when I’m ready, I can’t right now

If someone defeats me, then I’ll go with them, but I’m more useful here

“Useful…?” she got stared, while the woman gestured around “How?!”

The answer came after a buzz and a distant thunder

‘Monster…?’

Buzz

“What…?”

Miriam pointed to the ground, where Sara saw a skull of dirt take shape

Slam!

Before she destroyed it with her tail

“The ones that betrayed Bori?!” those alarmed words were meet with another tilted head “Ugh…! Undeads! You kill Undeads here?!”

‘Yes…’ she nodded ‘That language might become useful…’

“How many?!” that question floored Miriam, she wasn't sure about exact numbers

‘Help…?’

Buzz~!

‘Ugh…’

It’s difficult to tell: first I dealt with one on that side

Miriam pointed north

Then I somehow dealt with others that counted as monsters on this side

She pointed to Sunny

And not long ago with the one trapped here

Ending with a gesture to the ruins…

“Ah…” making Sara realize that they had crossed the ring of Terror Stones “Ah!” the Fourth Ruler of Death wasn't affected by the Terror Stones

Sara didn’t screamed, even if she felt an incredibly strong shiver, making her want to do exactly that

“No one is going to believe this…” she covered her face again “Wait…!” but had an idea “That’s it!” and stood up “They don’t want you! They want what you know about those traitors!”

The Trickster laughed and made sure that Miriam knew… she took that message as a hint to not correct the woman… but couldn't stop herself from tilting her head

“Ah… nevermind” she sat again “They might still send people after you to make sure…” Sara took a deep breath and meet Miriam’s eyes “Just to make sure: did you Fell at any point?”

‘Help…? Is she talking about what happen with my last evolution?’

-No…-

Miriam shook her head, and the woman was relieved by that

“Good… if those start evolving now, we might be in big trouble…”

‘Wait! She is talking about Porkus?!’

There is a Fell Destroyer that way, be careful and stay close to Sunny as you get out

Just to make sure, she wrote that message while pointing to the east

“All right, don’t worry. I won’t try to hunt your food” she chuckled, not realizing Miriam’s intentions with the beast while standing up “You really don’t want to come?” she got the same answer “Fine… any questions you might have…?”

With that Miriam looked up…

‘Should I tell her about the Spawner below the city…?’

‘All right… can’t make her do it either’ she looked at the ring, pulling towards her one of the smaller stones and turned back to the woman. Sara hesitated

“Thanks you” but eventually smiled and took it “Goodbye both of you”

Miriam copied the gesture that the adventurer had made to her in the river: she made another sword and hold it against her chest. Making her laugh

“Yeah, yeah… it was an honor too…” She got that gesture done back to her before the woman left

‘So that’s what it meant…’

She stared at that direction for a while… Sunny didn’t pressured her

‘Status’ because she knew what to do

‘Oh…?’ that was the only new thing she got ‘That’s… good? I mean… Traits?’

‘Yes, it evolved-?! Thirteen?!!!’

Buzz

-Cap of Blooming Traits, affected by Titles and more…-

‘Ugh… I thought I had done… oh, oh no… Berserker is at level 9…’ she looked away

Buzz?

‘No, I don’t want to look at the shop… or do I have something new besides the prices?’

Buzz?

-Just updated costs…-

‘Then I can wait to see how much your final upgrade will hurt…’ she looked at the list in front of her ‘One hundred this time, right?’

-Yes…-

‘Can I have a Breakthrough while a Trait is evolving?’ the answer was positive ‘Then I’ll have to figure out how to do that, Evolve Crushing Strength’ the window closed, and she closed the rest of them while turning back to the ruins

Buzz?

‘I’ll say goodbye before looking for something to eat…’ she moved towards the flowers ‘I’ll leave Porkus for tomorrow, or something like that… I’m not in the mood for that frustration…’

Buzz!

Hearing how happy Sunny got, improved her mood… even if she was certain, that the Helper was valued in the range of the ten thousands…