With the sound of peeling, the fragments of the massive white cocoon’s surface fell like the weathered skin of a wall, silently crumbling into fine powder that dispersed in the biting cold wind.
Moments later, only a silver-haired girl in a black dress lay with her eyes closed in the snow.
She stirred slightly, flickering her eyes open, the deep red pupils reflecting the endless snowfall, before pushing herself up and scanning her surroundings in confusion.
“How long has it been…?” she murmured softly, standing up and brushing off the snowflakes and dust from her skirt. To her, the experience of the colossal dream had felt remarkably brief, as if it had all taken place in the blink of an eye—parting ways with Abella and Ice Rain seemed like just a few hours ago.
However, for Yvette, determining the duration of her slumber wasn’t difficult. Even in deep sleep, her magical core continued to stabilize and grow; given the limit of her physical form, the yearly increase was capped at 42 points, allowing her to estimate the time she had spent dormant by evaluating her overall magical energy.
She remembered that just before her sleep, her magic total hovered around 3100 points.
Now, she dived her consciousness inward, commencing her checks, but froze momentarily, disbelief painting her exquisite features.
An increase of a full 4200 points!
Could it really have been that long?
To confirm further, she decisively awakened her “Soul Brain,” which had remained on low power during her slumber and wouldn’t affect her magical growth.
Once again, she received confirmation—it truly had been a hundred years.
A long silence fell over Yvette as she stood in the snowstorm, allowing the chill to seep in. The first thought occupying her mind was about Rosalyn. What had happened to her? Surely she hadn’t turned to ash?
However, as the foremost power below the true gods and a ruler of mortals and demons across the Eastern and Western continents, her lifespan couldn’t be measured by normal standards; she should still have several hundred more years to live ahead of her.
She reassured herself, then directed her attention to her Pure White Touch, exploring the changes in her abilities brought about by a century-long slumber.
With a focused thought, a tentacle swiftly emerged from her palm, but compared to before, its color had undergone a noticeable change.
No longer the pristine whitish hue akin to milk, it now bore a grayish tint, infused with a sense of murkiness and chaos.
From white touch… to gray touch?
Yvette immediately recalled the nearly two-dimensional shadow tentacle she had encountered in the depths of her consciousness, contemplating whether the ultimate evolution was indeed to be tainted with darkness.
Did this mean her trajectory aligned closely with Lianna’s capabilities?
Driven by curiosity, she began experimenting with the gray tentacle, and within seconds, the end quickly morphed, stretching, and solidifying into a blade shimmering with a cold light.
Continuing her mental adjustments, the gray blade transformed into a gray, bone-like giant claw, then into a compact round shield, and subsequently into a whip or a saw. Not only could its form change at will, but its material properties could shift fluidly between soft and hard, responding as if it were an extension of her will.
This new ability of gray touch could rightly be dubbed “Mimicry.”
However, merely adding a mimicry effect didn’t seem sufficient for a century of thoughts.
Thus, fundamentally, the real special aspect of gray touch lay in the upgraded absorption capability and its synergistic effects with mimicry.
Firstly, her absorption power had transitioned from merely drawing in flesh to replenish magical energy and feeding aberrant magic.
Now, she could absorb and deconstruct the underlying runic structures of materials. In simpler terms, she could replicate the genetic information of her targets, using the mimicry capability to simulate their organs and thus gain partial access to their innate abilities.
For instance, she ordinarily couldn’t comprehend or analyze Abella’s leg spear and corrosive magic.
However, with the new synergy of “absorption” and “mimicry,” she could replicate Abella’s leg spear or other organs, using them as conduits to unleash her corrosive magic without needing to understand the foundational runic structures.
Even more astonishingly, her targets were not limited to organic life; she could also absorb and deconstruct inorganic materials like ores and metals.
This meant she could turn aberrant magic into a universal material workshop. Whether it involved clothing, production of alloys for equipment, or high-end medicinal materials for potion-making, she could first consume and decode the materials, log them into her database, and then use her mimicry ability to replicate them on the spot!
Wasn’t this invulnerability?
Of course, these absorption, deconstruction, and mimicry abilities had their limitations, rooted in the nature of aberrant magic itself.
As is well known, Yvette’s aberrant magic could only increase through absorption. Confronting a first-stage aberration might even result in a net loss in her absorption power, dropping her total.
As for absorption, deconstruction, and mimicry, each process consumed substantial amounts of aberrant magic, and the more rare or complex the target’s nature, the higher the associated costs.
So while she could use her absorption and deconstruction abilities to enrich her database, choices and trade-offs were essential; only particularly valuable targets warranted logging.
Otherwise, attempting to absorb indiscriminately would quickly drain her now 200,000 aberrant magic supply—not even 2 million could withstand such haste. Thᴇ link to the origɪn of this information rᴇsts ɪn noᴠelfire.net
—Don’t underestimate her example of Abella; to fully log Abella from head to toe would easily consume all 20,000 aberrant magic points.
Rooted in place, imagining countless applications for her “mimicry” ability, Yvette smiled, retracting her tentacle and turning to gaze at the three-story villa behind her.
At this moment, aided by the maintenance of the AI skeletons, the villa didn’t appear dilapidated or desolate after a century. Instead, it had deeply intertwined with vines and other plants, exuding a warm and vibrant atmosphere reminiscent of a scene from a Studio Ghibli animation.
Yet, in the next second, she suddenly noticed a faint orange glow flickering through the latticed window on the first floor.
Yvette was taken aback, thinking that after a hundred years, how could there still be signs of life within, and the fireplace was even burning?
Ice Rain had already been sent back to the mainland by Abella, and Abella herself surely wouldn’t be back—after all, she was an aberration. Acting as a maid was one thing, but lingering in the estate for a century was entirely out of character for her.
Could it possibly be…
In that moment, a name floated up from her heart.
She felt a wave of nervous excitement, akin to a shy teen about to meet his first love, sprinting a couple of steps to throw open the door and look into the room.
A wave of warmth greeted her, bringing with it the distinct aroma of burning pine, mingled with a soothing warmth that invited drowsiness. The glow from the fireplace cloaked everything in a flickering golden veil.
Yvette’s gaze zeroed in on the living room, where a tall figure draped in a black-and-white nightdress lay curled up on the sofa, exposing her long, snow-white legs, her delicate and stunning profile catching the light.
She quickly stepped closer, only to let out a disappointed sigh moments later.
How could it be Abella…?
But soon, she grew puzzled, wondering why Abella was still here after a hundred years. Had she truly been waiting here all this time?
No… that seemed impossible. This was not something an aberration would do. It didn’t fit Abella’s style at all. Even if she were to act devoted, she could only manage a few years at best—there was no way she’d endure for so long…
Could it be that she would return to the island periodically to check on me, perfectly coinciding with my centennial awakening?
With this thought, Yvette’s expression softened, and she smiled again.
She thought that although she hadn’t seen her most cherished disciple, feeling Abella’s genuine heart was quite pleasant.
It seemed reasonable to consider officially making her a disciple instead of just a maid… The “Tome of Earth” and “Tome of Divine Punishment” had been completed long ago and were gathering dust in the cabinet, so she might as well hand those over to her as well…
With a comforting nod, she gently reached out, affectionately ruffling Abella’s hair, then she heard her mumble something along the lines of, “Mistress… don’t…” as her legs reflexively rubbed together.
Yvette didn’t think much of it, nor did she hurry to awaken her. Instead, she turned her gaze to the round table at the center of the living room.
What she found there was remarkable—a towering pile of snow-white parchment, nearly overwhelming the surface of the table. Several thick notebooks, with worn covers and various handwriting, lay haphazardly open, while ink bottles and quills scattered among them, painting a picture of a scholar’s study, even filling the air with an aroma of knowledge.
“Is this for real…?” Yvette was genuinely taken aback, utterly unprepared to discover that Abella had immersed herself in studying diligently over the century she had been away, striving for self-improvement!
Could this really be Abella?
Had she truly shown this industrious side?
She shouldn’t be like Dugrabi, only learning the ready-made spells her mistress provided while ignoring the fundamental principles and theoretical knowledge.
People can indeed change; aberrations, too… After a century apart, even Abella had grown and matured nicely…
Feeling increasingly pleased, Yvette approached the table, picking up one of the open notebooks to investigate Abella’s learning direction and her progress.
Then she spotted a title written in elaborate script at the very front of the notes.
——《Yvette’s Corruption Notes 503: Futanari and Seedbed》
Her smile immediately froze on her face.