Chapter 118: The Second Escape Plan
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 118: The Second Escape Plan
On the other side, Xie Bai had already returned to Gamie’s side.
The entire process took less than three seconds. In Gamie’s eyes, Xie Bai had simply flickered away and back, and suddenly, a length of a blue branch appeared in her hand.
"Alright, I just need to shrink this, split it in two, and loop them into circles..."
In moments, Xie Bai had fashioned the blue branch into two simple bracelets.
"Perfect."
With that done, Xie Bai beckoned the two little ones over.
"Come here. Big sister wears the right hand, little brother wears the left."
Once they were on, Xie Bai looked at the two Gamies. Now that there was finally a point of difference between them, she couldn't help but sigh in relief.
"This is much easier on the eyes. It was torture trying to tell you apart when you looked exactly the same. From now on, the 'brother' will be called Little Gamie."
The two little ones looked at the blue bracelets on their wrists with curiosity.
"It really does feel more comfortable after putting this on."
"Mm... wait, why can't I even take it off with Spatial Authority?"
Seeing Little Gamie trying to remove the bracelet, Xie Bai spoke up, having already anticipated this.
"Hmph... did you really think I wouldn't account for that? I’ve already imbued these bracelets with the Divine Authority of Void. It’s specifically set to trigger whenever you try to transfer them."
To be more precise, it was the "Disorderly Chaos" aspect of the Divine Authority of Void, which was specifically used to interfere with the activation of other authorities.
With this safeguard in place, Xie Bai no longer had to worry about the two little ones secretly swapping the bracelets behind her back to trick her.
"Ugh, Sister Xiaobai, how could you do this? I trusted you so much... mmpf."
Little Gamie had just begun to put on a wronged, puppy-dog expression when Xie Bai cut him off by pinching his cheek.
"Alright, I haven't even settled the score with you for trying to use your Divine Authority to take it off yet."
Hearing this, Little Gamie’s eyes darted away guiltily.
"I... I was just curious..."
A moment later, Xie Bai let go.
"Fine. Anyway, we've seen enough of this place. Next, I’m taking you somewhere else to play."
The two little ones immediately perked up.
"Oh? Where are we going this time?"
"Is it far away?"
"Hmm... it shouldn't be that far."
As she spoke, Xie Bai looked toward the Aodu Empire convoy in the center of the plaza, which was preparing to return to the capital.
"Perfect timing. We'll just take that carriage."
*
Elsewhere.
Aisarakus had searched the entire Imperial Palace but couldn't find a trace of anyone else.
Facing the empty palace, Aisarakus felt a wave of lingering fear.
"This is bad. I can't find anyone anywhere. Did I really miss out on something huge...?"
At that thought, Aisarakus’s entire posture slumped.
"Forget it. Since things have come to this, I might as well go back to my nest and catch up on the sleep I missed..."
A moment later, Aisarakus arrived at the entrance to her bedchamber.
Just as she was about to pull open the door and dive back into her large bed, a black door nearby caught her eye.
"Wait a minute... was this door always here?"
Looking at the unfamiliar door, Aisarakus couldn't help but feel puzzled.
Driven by curiosity, she eventually pushed the door open and stepped inside.
"When was this place built? How did I not know about this...?"
After looking around, Aisarakus walked toward the golden ring in the center.
Seeing the circle of seats arranged around it, an ominous premonition welled up inside her.
"Don't tell me one of these seats is mine?"
The thought that she might have missed an important meeting made her feel even worse.
Just as she was debating whether to pretend she saw nothing and leave, a familiar hand pressed down on her head.
"Eek...!"
Aisarakus froze.
Before she could react, the voice she least wanted to hear sounded in her ear.
"Your Majesty is certainly living a life of leisure, finding the time to go out and 'inspect the commoners' lives.'"
Aisarakus recognized the voice without even turning around.
"Um... Brandon, I know I was wrong. Can we change the subject? I really don't want to study the Continental Chronicles anymore..."
Faced with Aisarakus’s plea, Brandon’s eyes narrowed slightly.
"What do you think?"
*
Five minutes later.
Aisarakus looked at the mountain of study materials and slumped onto the desk, her strength drained. Her tail flicked back and forth listlessly behind her.
"Ugh... that bastard Brandon. Who could possibly finish learning thirty million years of Continental Chronicles...?"
For a moment, Aisarakus felt utterly lost regarding her future. Even her desire to sleep had vanished.
"No, I am a noble Ice Dragon. How can I be cooped up in a tiny place like this?"
At that thought, Aisarakus immediately pushed herself up from the desk.
"Brandon isn't here right now. If I sneak out now, I might still have a chance. Let me think about how to do it this time."
She began to review her previous attempt.
The main reason her last outing failed was that her External Avatar couldn't maintain enough power, leading to an uncontrollable situation. She had been forced back into her main body before she could even explore properly.
Since the avatar's power was insufficient, Aisarakus decided she might as well send her main body out directly.
Of course, she couldn't just walk out.
First, she would send out an External Avatar that carried no presence.
Then, she would use a swap skill to switch her main body with the avatar outside. The avatar would stay here while her true self went out to play.
Once her main body was outside, Aisarakus could change her appearance and disguise herself as an ordinary tourist.
But there was a problem.
Brandon had sealed all the exits to this room, meaning she couldn't send a new External Avatar outside.
The problem had looped back to the same issue as her last escape attempt.
"I wonder how that other avatar is doing. Should I switch my consciousness over there to check the situation? If there's an opportunity, I can swap my main body then."
With that decided, Aisarakus adjusted her posture and switched her consciousness back to the blue dragon puppet from before.
*
The Land of Storms.
After leaving Northgard, Taro Ball had brought Yu Yunsheng and the others here to grind levels.
Facing monsters in the early level 50s, Taro Ball would beat them down until they were near the kill threshold and then leave them for Yu Yunsheng to finish off.
With the Soul Proof, Yu Yunsheng had successfully evolved her Priest class into a Penitent Nun.
Using her Judgment Affix, Yu Yunsheng could directly execute any monster with less than 15% HP, making her perfect for harvesting the low-health enemies Taro Ball left behind.
Aside from the fixed affixes, the Penitent Nun’s own "Penitence" affix was also very powerful.
Simply put, it allowed her to consume her own HP to empower the skills she cast.
This was a perfect match for Yu Yunsheng’s talent, "Mutual Growth and Decline."
As long as she kept burning and restoring her health, she could constantly trigger her talent to drain the HP of enemy units, never having to worry about overhealing.
Under Taro Ball’s lead, Yu Yunsheng leveled up at a god-like speed, returning to Northgard every few minutes to complete her class advancements.
As they pushed deeper into the Land of Storms, the monsters they encountered generally reached level 80.
With the experience bonus from the high-level gap, both Taro Ball and Yu Yunsheng reached level 60, completing their third class advancement.
Everything was going smoothly. Even Elania, who was just tagging along with Yu Yunsheng, didn't find it boring and felt like she was on a vacation.
Except for a certain game blogger wearing a cat-ear hat, clutching a blue dragon puppet while shivering in the cold wind at the back of the group.
"So... if you don't have an execute skill, you don't even have the right to leech XP behind you guys?"