“Miss Ini, she is...”
The clan leader tilted her head, and a strong sense of sadness and confusion flashed in her bioengineered eyes again, followed by a string of codes.
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“Prototype of the Three Paths River Plan Biomorphic Mage Puppet No.0001, the most successful yet failed individual, and also... our true big sister.”
Violet knew that Ini had more to say than just this, so she didn’t interrupt or ask questions, but maintained silence and waited.
Sure enough, the puppet girl with the code 0003 paused for a moment and then continued.
“These, there is no relevant record in the data preserved in our core mind. If it weren’t for the coincidence of fate, finding this long-buried secret laboratory underground in the Spirit Puppet Forest, we wouldn’t even know of her existence.”
“Considering Princess Novia’s identity, if there is some cause for her mutation, this is the only thing I can think of.”
Ini walked to the nearby experimental table, found a pair of metal tweezers that had not rusted even after being placed here for many years, and returned to the side of the ice coffin. She carefully reached towards the chest of the prototype puppet, picked up the silver gemstone pressed on top.
“Boom!”
As soon as the gemstone left the surface of the girl’s skin, a terrifying surge erupted from the coffin almost visibly, and the conflicting sensation of cold and heat was instantly covered by the high temperature, like a ferocious beast rushing towards the nearby people!
“Be careful! Get to me...”
The clan leader, who had just grasped the gemstone, was about to do something when Violet, who reacted faster, raised her hand and quickly sketched out 【Light Protection】, enveloping everyone in it and isolating them from the sudden and terrifying high temperature.
The heat beat against the surface of the light barrier, emitting a sizzling sound as if some real flames were entwining and swirling around it. Violet, who indirectly sensed this temperature through the skill, couldn’t help but be amazed.
To be honest, if ordinary people were standing here without any precautions, they would probably instantly turn into burning balls of fire, incinerating to ashes in no time, especially considering the fact that the other person was lying in that ice coffin and it hadn’t been fully opened yet.
No wonder the ice coffin was placed at the innermost part of the laboratory, surrounded by almost a vacuum, and the prototype puppet didn’t wear any clothes either.
Initially thought to be the creator’s twisted sense of humor, but now it seemed that unless equipped with artifacts like 【Feather Robe Graria】, or at least items of semi-divine or minimum sacred-grade equipment, ordinary clothes would immediately turn to dust upon wearing them.
“Your strength is indeed remarkable, to easily withstand even the high temperature emitted by the Flame Lord’s core...”
The silver gemstone in Ini’s hand emitted a faint glow, also protecting her and Eilush inside it. It seemed that Ini had intended to step forward and shield everyone, but Violet’s quick response rendered the clan leader’s action useless.
“It’s just so-so. So, what is this Flame Lord you mentioned?”
Rather than praising, Violet was more interested in the title Ini had just mentioned, which reminded her of something... at least something extraordinarily similar in name.
“The Flame Lord... actually, I don’t know much about it, nor have I seen it with my own eyes. The name and related records were found by Elder Sister Ewan next to this ice coffin in the laboratory, in the experimental logs left by ‘Father’ and brought out.”
“It is said to be a very powerful elemental life form, a terrifying existence formed by the convergence of pure fire elements. The title of ‘Lord’ is a stage in the evolution of such life forms. Although it has not reached its limit, it already possesses power comparable to a true Flame Red Dragon. The crystal of the Flame Lord is the source of its power, similar to how a demon core is to demons.”
“I’m not sure where ‘Father’ obtained this crystal, but when he created ‘Sister,’ he fused the two using special means, seemingly hoping to use it as the core power source for ‘Sister.'”
“However, the experiment ultimately went wrong. Although the fusion process was completed smoothly, making ‘Sister’s’ body cast from the fusion metal no longer susceptible to being incinerated by the high temperature emitted by the Flame Lord’s core, this heat could not be suppressed. Or rather, due to the nature of the fusion metal core, ‘Sister’ herself was directly transformed into something resembling the core of the Flame Lord.”
“Unable to wear any conventional clothing, unable to interact normally with living beings, and most importantly, the ‘Mental Core’ was unable to stabilize due to the excessively harsh working environment, preventing ‘Sister’ from ever truly becoming active.”
Ini displayed the irregular but exquisite and pure silver-white gemstone in her hand. The light emitted from it was faint, but it gave a refreshing and cool feeling, as if standing within its range, even thoughts became much clearer.
“‘Father’ tried many methods, but none could solve this crucial problem. In the end, he could only seal ‘Sister’s’ non-functional body in an ice coffin made of millennium ice crystals. The core of the Flame Lord was completely fused and could no longer be removed. For safety, he also left behind this ‘Tear of the Moon’ to suppress the continuously erupting explosive fire elements, and dispersed some of it into the underground veins, which is why the temperature of this underground river is so high.”
“Hmm...”
As she processed the wealth of new information revealed by Ini, Violet looked thoughtful and glanced at the silver-gray wolf cub being held in Esther’s arms. Sure enough, Novia seemed to be drawn to it as well, staring at the gemstone in the puppet’s hand with curiosity and eagerness in her eyes.
It seemed that whatever triggered Novia’s physical changes on the night of the March Moon, as mentioned by Ini and the others, was likely indeed this gemstone called the Tear of the Moon.
However, leaving that aside for now, there was another place that Violet was particularly interested in.
The Flame Lord, something else bearing that name, had also appeared in the Illusory World. It was a high-level elite enemy, usually only found in certain large-scale dungeons.
Similarly an elemental creature, and also possessing levels and attributes comparable to dragonkind.
Elemental monsters were a significant proportion of enemies in the Illusory World, as Ini mentioned. They were categorized according to their level and strength, such as Elemental Spirits, Elite Elemental Spirits, Large Elemental Beings, Elemental Lords, and even Elemental Emperors.
Violet had fought the Dark Elemental Lord, which corresponded to the Flame Lord, a dark-attribute elemental lord-level monster, a very powerful and rare IV100 world boss required for learning tier ten magic.
After saying all that, it’s not that Violet wanted to prove the identity of the creator of the Puppet Tribe and the one who built this place — the “Father” as a game traveler. On the contrary, what puzzled Violet the most was exactly this.
It’s very strange, no, too strange.
Clearly, the name and description are so similar to those in the game, but...
In the Illusory World, there’s simply no material or drop called the “Flame Lord Core”!
When elemental monsters and bosses are defeated, they drop various equipment, materials, and some miscellaneous items that seem to come out of nowhere, but all of these have a clear drop list that can be traced.
With her experience of soloing elemental bosses thousands of times and running various dungeons, Violet can guarantee one hundred percent that there is no such thing as a “core” among them.
Or, to put it another way, in the Illusory World, the elemental monsters as Violet knows them have never dropped anything called a “xx core.”
Why would a traveler have such an inexplicable thing in their possession?
Is it a coincidence that a similar item has been given this name? Or perhaps, the “Flame Lord” that Ini mentioned actually exists in this world, but in a different form from the one in the game?