Volume 4 Starto!
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Of course, the successful reconnection also meant that Tribios's consciousness had synchronized with Cipher and Castorice.
From Cipher and Castorice's perspective, it wasn't that Tribios had suddenly lost connection, only for another version of her to connect immediately afterward.
To understand this, think of Tribios as the 'primary consciousness'. The moment her 'past self' time-traveled, Cipher and Castorice lost consciousness. Simultaneously, Tribios in Okhema re-established her connection with them.
In Chaos City, at the Death Priest's headquarters, Cipher was still dining with Aria and the others when her movements suddenly froze. Even her tail, which had been swaying from side to side, came to a complete stop.
Noticing her stillness, Aria asked in confusion, "What's wrong? I think the food here is quite good."
Cipher simply shook her head. "No, it's nothing. I just... suddenly felt a bit sentimental."
To Aria, perhaps only a moment had passed, but for Cipher, that instant had spanned three centuries.
After a pause, Cipher suddenly turned to Aria and said, "Aria, can I hug you?"
"Huh... Huh?!" Aria, mid-meal, looked at Cipher with a confused expression. "O-of course you can, but why now...?"
Before she could finish, Cipher had already stood up and pulled her into a tight embrace. They pressed close together, and Aria felt something soft pressed against her face.
Normally, Aria was the one who sought out Cipher for hugs, and even then, she wasn't always successful. She couldn't understand why Sister Cipher was suddenly initiating a hug—and holding her so tightly!
After a moment, Aria instinctively struggled. "Sister Cipher... I... I can't breathe!"
Hearing this, Cipher slowly released her grip. Aria gasped for air, then shot a resentful yet envious glance at Cipher's chest. "So, Sister Cipher, you weren't trying to suffocate me with a surprise hug, were you?"
Cipher's tail began to wag cheerfully behind her, clearly in high spirits. She said with mock seriousness, "Of course not! And trust me, you still have plenty of room to grow!"
Aria was flat-chested now, but she had only just come of age—she was only seventeen! Three centuries ago, when Tribios first met Olivia, Olivia was already twenty-seven and had a stunning figure. So, Aria definitely still had room to develop!
However, their public embrace left everyone stunned, especially Douglas. He had just speared a piece of meat with his fork and was about to bring it to his mouth when he froze mid-motion, his mouth hanging open and his body motionless. He didn't even notice the meat slipping off the fork and falling onto his trousers.
If Cipher had previously seemed like a lively, restless wildcat, in that brief moment, she had transformed into a docile, clingy housecat.
After the embrace, Cipher returned to her seat. After all, there would be plenty of opportunities later; she wasn't in a rush.
Then, Cipher glanced at Eve beside her, who had been resurrected by Castorice and lost her memories. Eve was eating daintily when she noticed Cipher's gaze. Pausing, she puffed out her cheeks, tilted her head slightly, and looked at Cipher as if to ask, "Do you need something?"
To be honest, Cipher now had mixed feelings about this "former Hero." If she had known the truth of history before resurrecting Eve, she certainly wouldn't have chosen to revive her.
But this was a paradox, because she had resurrected the Druid precisely to gather intelligence about the Demon Lord and the Divine Artifact.
Now that the resurrection was complete, could she kill Eve again?
It was like asking: If a mother gives birth to a child, does she have the right to decide that child's life or death?
After pondering for a moment, Cipher turned to Aria and asked, "If someone, perhaps not inherently malicious, was manipulated by evil people into killing another good person, do you think they deserve forgiveness?"
Aria lowered her gaze to her flat chest, still mulling over Cipher's earlier "comforting" words. She didn't immediately react. After a moment, she replied, "Sister Cipher, in the scenario you've described, I don't think anyone else's opinion matters. Take me, for example—this situation has nothing to do with me. Whether I forgive her or not makes no difference, right?"
Cipher paused, then continued, "What if the good person who was killed... was you?"
Without a moment's hesitation, Aria replied with a light laugh, "Of course I'd forgive her! After all, Sister Cipher, you said she was being manipulated by bad people, right?"
Cipher wasn't surprised by this answer. She had already anticipated it before even asking the question. After all, this was Aria—she would definitely say something like that.
Perhaps it was because extremely socially anxious people tend to be particularly meticulous or sensitive? Since Cipher had observed Eve before questioning Aria, Eve couldn't help but freeze mid-bite. Lowering her head, she stammered, "D-did... did I do something wrong?"
"I-I'm sorry..."
"Sigh..." Cipher sighed helplessly, looking at Eve's timid demeanor. Fine, let's leave it at that for now. If I don't know what to do, I'll shelve it for later.
Castorice returned from the washroom at that moment. After dinner, exhausted from the day's work, everyone quickly retreated to their respective rooms.
Aria and Cipher shared a room, and Eve had joined them. After dinner, Eve transformed back into her Little Squirrel form and didn't even sleep on the bed. Instead, she curled up in a corner next to the bed, taking up hardly any space at all.
The only thing to worry about was accidentally stepping on Eve when getting out of bed.
Back in their room, though exhausted, Aria couldn't resist examining their spoils from the day—the Ice Egg they had brought back from the underground Ice Cave. "Sister Cipher," she asked, "what do you think will hatch from this egg?"
Cipher pretended to ponder, tapping her cheek with a finger and tilting her head. "Who knows?" she said. "Maybe it'll hatch a god?"
Aria scoffed. "A god? That's ridiculous! Even I'm not dumb enough to fall for such a wild lie!"
Cipher wore a helpless expression, but this time she was actually telling the truth.
As the two were talking, an extremely faint crack suddenly echoed. Cipher and Aria froze, their first instinct was to look at the Ice Egg in Aria's hands, but... the egg remained unchanged, showing no signs of hatching.
Yet the crack, crack sound grew more distinct. Aria suddenly remembered something and frantically rummaged through her backpack, pulling out an Owlbear Egg already covered in cracks—the Owlbear cub was about to hatch!
For Aria, the Owlbear Egg was a matter from several months ago, while for Cipher, it felt like ancient history—she had long forgotten about the thing.
Soon, under their watchful eyes, a plump Owlbear cub, about the size of a large adult dog, crawled out of the egg. It blinked its adorable, wide eyes, gazing curiously at the two women before letting out a series of soft chirps.
It's worth noting that Owlbears are technically owls, not bears. Much like ostriches, they're just too large and powerful to be considered typical birds, but their essence remains avian.
"Oh~ oh, it's such an adorable little thing!" Aria exclaimed excitedly, circling the Owlbear cub several times and reaching out to stroke it. "What do we need to feed it?"
"Well..." Cipher looked just as clueless. She honestly had no idea what Owlbears ate. "We'll have to ask Feidric. He probably knows."
Almost all newborn animals are irresistibly cute, and Aria couldn't resist picking up the Owlbear cub. The cub, in turn, cooperated perfectly, squinting its eyes and acting like it didn't mind being petted and cuddled.
Just then, another crack echoed through the air. The cat ears atop Cipher's head twitched slightly as she turned to look. This time, it was the Ice Egg—fine cracks had appeared across its surface.
In moments, the egg shattered completely, revealing a palm-sized, snow-white puppy. Unlike the Owlbear cub, this tiny pup hadn't even opened its eyes yet. It stretched out its little paws, pawed feebly at the ground, and then began to whine pitifully.
Hatching at the same time? What a coincidence! Cipher's gaze darted between the Owlbear cub and the puppy several times. For some reason, she couldn't shake the feeling that a rivalry for attention was brewing.
"E-eh?!" Aria exclaimed in surprise. "So fast? This egg hatched too?"
Aria gently set down the Owlbear cub in her arms and picked up the noticeably more fragile puppy. "Aww, this little dog is so cute too... But why did a dog hatch from an egg?"
Pausing for a moment, she turned to Cipher. "Sister Cipher, look! How could a god hatch from an egg? This is just a regular puppy!"
Before Cipher could reply, the Owlbear cub Aria had just put down started whimpering again. Aria hesitated, then set down the puppy and picked up the cub again. The very next moment, the puppy started crying as well.
Cipher watched the two noisy little creatures yipping and howling at each other, then glanced at Aria, who was frantically juggling them. With a helpless sigh, she turned her head and noticed the Little Squirrel sprawled nearby, its face wearing a bewildered expression.
Good grief, how did this room turn into a zoo? Cipher thought. Owlbear, dog, squirrel... And if I count myself, does that make me a cat?
Cipher already knew tonight was going to be a handful.
Meanwhile, the perspective shifted to Tribios in Okhema. With the System reconnected and her Fame reaching the required threshold, she was naturally eager to draw a new reward.
Although the Fame requirement for the next draw was only 200,000, her current Fame had skyrocketed to over 3 million. This likely meant that even during the System's disconnection over the past three centuries, all the Fame Tribios had accumulated in Okhema was still being counted.
But if that were the case, wasn't 3 million Fame a bit low? Tribios muttered to herself, "System, you haven't been secretly skimming my Fame, have you?"
As expected, her System showed no signs of intelligence, remaining as rigid as a dead machine and offering no response. Tribios sighed lightly. "Whatever. Who cares? Time to draw!"
Current Fame: 3,119,200 / 200,000
Fame requirement met. Proceed with draw?
Yes / No
"Yes, yes, yes!" Tribios clicked the "Yes" button frantically multiple times. In an instant, the Fame display changed to 1,419,200 / 2,000,000.
In the System Warehouse, three new characters had materialized: Aglaea, Anaxa (Anaxagoras), and Hyacine (Hyacinthia).
A quick calculation revealed the escalating Fame costs: the first draw cost 200,000 Fame, the second 500,000, the third 1,000,000, and the next would leap to 2,000,000.
With her remaining 1,400,000 Fame, she wasn't far from her fourth draw. But if this trend continued, would the fifth draw require at least 3,000,000 Fame, or even 4,000,000? Was this demand too steep?
Lost in thought, Tribios summoned the newly acquired Identities one by one. After brief consideration, she included Mydei, who had been stored in the warehouse for ages. In an instant, four figures materialized before her.
To Tribios, it was as if she had suddenly gained four new perspectives. But for someone as skilled as her, multitasking and controlling four bodies simultaneously posed no challenge.
Tribios first glanced to her far left, at the short-haired, golden-haired woman, Aglaea. Aglaea, in turn, lowered her head to examine herself.
Their figures were strikingly similar—both tall and voluptuous. When Aglaea looked down, her vision was completely blocked by her ample breasts, even more so than Castorice's or Cipher's. She truly couldn't see anything.
Most notably, a golden, tree branch-like tattoo adorned Aglaea's chest, spanning the northern hemisphere. It was both beautiful and slightly provocative.
Aglaea wore a magnificent white gown adorned with intricate golden patterns. Her long, fair legs were encircled by golden leaf-shaped anklets, and her feet were shod in the same strappy high heels as Tribios.
Moreover, both her fingers and toes were painted with the same golden nail polish as Cipher's—or rather, it would be more accurate to say that Cipher was wearing the same nail polish as Aglaea.