Chapter 479 - Eyes rolling in the Deep

“Uncle?” Bookie repeated.

“This is the Deep. I’m almost certain. Just look at those big snails, they’re the same color as the parasites from Sun’s temple,” Sofia explained. Pareth nodded in approval.

“Then… Are we safe?” Bookie asked, huddling up closer to Sofia.

“Honestly? No idea. This could be the safest we’ve ever been, away from all the gods and all… Or this could be the worst thing to ever happen to us. So far, the snails aren’t paying us any attention, at least.”

The creatures the size of Sofia’s head were lazily crawling on the cavernous walls, leaving behind glistening trails of thick goo.

Taking her things back from Pareth, Sofia quickly got dressed, her horn tearing large holes through her chemise. The clothes had self-repair enchantments so these would only be temporary but it still made her frown.

“This is going to take a bit getting used to… It’s interesting that the storage items still work here…”

While Sofia was still battling with the buttons of her clothes, Bookie called out to her again.

“Sofia!”

“W- What?” She asked, looking down at the small skeleton.

“Can I touch your horns?”

“Let me get dressed up first, alright? Scepter still good, glove and dagger still good… I don’t think we lost anything. I feel a bit strange but I think it’s just the race evolution, stats are looking perfectly fine…”

Health : 822 762 / 822 762

Stamina : 204 336 / 204 336

Mana : 5 022 238 / 5 022 238

Sofia grabbed Bookie under the arms to bring him to and let him touch her glowing horns while she continued to analyze the current situation.

I really don’t think being sent here is the result of the unknown god attacking, or it would be strange that not even Sun could do anything. More likely this is a side effect of messing around with Aphenoreth’s essence for the race evolution and the heart.

Even though nothing similar happened to Alith, she also didn’t have an Ultimate tier mana heart.

It sure is weird here… There’s air but it smells a bit strange. Almost fruity? It might not actually be breathable for regular people. 

Well, regular people probably wouldn’t even be able to stand up, the gravity is pretty oppressive, I’m starting to sink in the ground again. Also, no mana. But that’s not really an issue for me anymore. But I guess it still impacts Pareth and Bookie.

“Not for me!” Bookie proudly answered Sofia’s thoughts while still fondling her horns.

“Really?” Sofia asked, staring at the cute skeleton.

“Hmmhmm. My regeneration works by copying yours! Only the normal speed, I think… The items and rituals and runes all don’t affect me at all, but the Infinity Engine works! Probably,” he explained, not seeming too confident in his own words.

“We’ll look into it later. Pareth should be feeling the mana drought, though, right?”

Pareth nodded, but Sofia noticed it was feeling a bit wrong.

She asked with narrowed eyes, “You want to touch them too? You guys… You don’t even have to ask, you know. It’s just horns.” Sofia reached up to touch the golden horns on her head, they felt the exact same as when she previously tried to touch her Ultimate form mana heart, like grasping onto a solid empty space pushing back against her fingers. As for the sensations from the horns, there were almost none, almost like touching one’s teeth.

While Bookie had been grabbing at Sofia’s horn without a care in the world, Pareth came up close and let his fingers run along the horns of light.

It actually sent shivers down Sofia’s spine, and she took a step back, almost falling over as her feet were continuously sinking in the ground, “H- Hey. Let’s, uh. I changed my mind, maybe don’t touch them too much.”

Pareth held his hands up, looking as embarrassed as a skeleton could.

What the fuck, Clint?!

“Is something wrong, Sofia?”

“N- No. It’s nothing,” Sofia answered, putting Bookie back down on the ground, ”Let’s get moving. It might not be safe here.”

The truth was that a lot was wrong, she hadn’t been able to do it during the reforging, but Sofia had just probed inside of her own body with her mana senses and it was shocking how far she had gone from a regular human. Everything in there was wrong. Forget vital organs, I have almost no internal organs left to speak of…

And what the hell is this thing floating in my head?

“Give me a second, guys, I need to check something.”

Grabbing the admin dagger, Sofia stabbed her left arm and carved out a big lump of flesh, exposing the bone. 

Almost didn’t feel a thing… My bones look like faintly transparent gold just like everything else… It’s almost like Pareth’s armor. The mana muscles are all white and stringy… Huh.

With the [Bone Dominus] passives, the injury closed itself in seconds, and surprisingly, the chunk of springy white flesh Sofia had carved out of her forearm also quickly evaporated in a thin mana mist.

“Well… I still need to look inside my head, protect me for a second,” Sofia told Pareth and Bookie before she stabbed her skull from the side, carving a thin slit through her right temple and sliding a bone token inside before it could close up.

Internal brain view. Interesting.

The inside of her head was unsurprisingly very luminous, and she now had a direct view of the weird round thing floating in the middle: a radiant golden eyeball with a pupil shaped like a simplified version of Aphenoreth’s divine rune.

Oh. Well this is definitely mine.

Can I move it?

The answer was yes, she managed to find the way to make it turn and look in every direction rather easily, but she couldn’t actually find a way to see through it.

Maybe it’s to do with the secret rune effect thing? Well, whatever. The red fog is coming closer, it might not be a good idea to stay here.

“Sorry, I’m done, you’re both good to go?”

“Ready!” Bookie enthusiastically answered, while Pareth simply summoned his sword and armor.

“Alright, well, let’s start with the obvious. Aphenoreth?”

Sofia waited for a few seconds, but there were no signs of anything happening. 

Orator did say he was busy. 

“You hear me, Orator?” Sofia tried, and there was still no obvious reaction. “Should I say Yvraveteth inst-” this time something clearly happened. It was like a wave of silent energy spreading from Sofia as the word left her mouth, it even made the colorful snails recoil and all start crawling in the opposite direction.

“Sofia, look!” Bookie cried out, pointing at something behind her.

Sofia turned around, noticing a thin ethereal red tether connecting her torso to the ground a dozen meters away. It slowly faded away under her eyes. Does it lead to something underground?

“Yvraveteth?”

The strange wave of energy spread out again, but Sofia clearly understood where from this time, it was not actually coming from her, but from the tether vibrating as it materialized between her and who knew what.

The large snails around them were sent in an outright panic and started rolling away, colliding with the walls and strange crooked stalagmites of the cavernous place on their way out.

“Seems we have a direction to follow, nice catch Bookie.”

Oh, right, before we go, I’m curious, do you still have access to the essence breakdown tab, Mr. Scribe?

The status window appeared instantly in front of Sofia’s eyes.

Nice, thanks.

[Divinity status - Sofia Aphenoreth]

– Saintess of a dirty rag –

(VIP) (Safeguards : Off) (Link Status : ERR_SSS023 - Connection aborted by user)

Planar connection:

Superphysical - Yes

Mana FOG - Yes ♢

Subspiritual - Yes

Margin - Yes

Deep - Probably yes

Collected Essence - EV :

Aphenoreth - #DIV/0

Creation (2) - 6.64

Dread - 3.69

Life - 4.56

Looming - 2e-9

Ormoncleth - #DIV/0

Scripture - 2.15

Sorrow - 4.72

Sun (5) - 25

Victory - 4.27

Huh huh. Did scripture’s essence get slightly stronger since last time? Also you need to explain this planar connection tab next time you take over to speak. Especially the FOG thing.

And since it looks like you can write whatever you want just put Saintess of the Deep next time please. We might as well make it official, you know.

And… We can go over the other things when we’re out of here. Let’s get ready.

Sofia’s armor grew around her body, the bones, copying hers, were made of solid light. She cast [Graveyard of the righteous] on herself, without giving the graveyard skeletons any order, like this she was ready to phase through walls at a moment’s notice. She also activated the [Spine of the Black Sun], and summoned two destroyer skulls from the [Skull Choir], making them latch onto her shoulders like extra large pauldrons. The only thing she did not cover was her head, as it just felt better not to wear the helmet. She would still wear it in battle, but now that her head was not the critical weak point it once was, it was much less important.

Wait, do the graveyard skeletons even work properly here?

Sofia walked to a wall and stuck her head against it. The skeleton hands sprouted out of her helmet to grab it from the outside, and her head started to sink into the wall.

Everything turned black.

What the…

Pulling her head out, Sofia looked around, observing everyone’s souls.

The souls are still here, white as ever, but the rest of the spirit plane here is pitch black?

The Deep is a strange place.

“Alright we’re moving,” Sofia told the skeletons, stepping ahead. “Hey, Bookie, did you know?”

“Did I know?”

“I don’t think I ever told you, your soul is shaped like your book form.”