Because Mudrock's presence was steady and restrained, Alyona and Mudrock did not notice Griseo's subtle changes until the three of them reached an unoccupied corner.
Alyona, who knew the little girl's traits, quickly realized what had happened, but Mudrock was different.
"...?"
At that moment, Mudrock gazed at Griseo before her through her heavy protective suit, somewhat puzzled.
For some reason, she actually sensed the feeling—or rather, the presence—of a friend from the little girl. It felt close and familiar, yet also confused her, since she had not felt this way before.
"This is what we couldn't conveniently mention earlier. Griseo has now been colored by you, Miss Mudrock." Alyona glanced at the big and small figures staring at each other and explained with a helpless expression.
?;;
"As for what color means, you can understand it as a trait. Everyone's traits are different. Griseo is rather special—after spending a long time with someone, she unconsciously picks up that person's color."
Honestly, Alyona, who was serving as the translator, felt a little tired. For a moment, she even began wondering why they were here, dealing with Sarkaz mercenaries.
But after thinking back a little, oh... it was because they could not resist Griseo's pleading and were worried about her safety. Never mind, then.
"Unconsciously picking it up... Since you can obtain my color so easily, why did you choose to make a trade?" After hearing Alyona's explanation, Mudrock froze slightly again, a trace of confusion flashing through her eyes beneath her mask.
"Because picking up color isn't important. What's important is using that color to paint..." Facing Mudrock's question, Griseo explained with the exact same tone and expression as her.
"And I don't like owing people."
"..."
Hearing those familiar words from Griseo, Mudrock fell silent again, as though considering something.
"Miss Mudrock, you don't need to dwell on it. Even if Griseo uses your color to paint, the result will only be a painting with a little special magic."
Alyona was already at a loss with this little girl, who always either said only half of what she meant or could not explain herself clearly. But there was nothing she could do. Griseo was her lifesaver, after all, so she could only indulge her.
"And painting can help her shed other people's colors very effectively. Generally speaking, the finished painting will also be returned to its owner as a gift."
"So no matter how you look at this so-called trade, it benefits you, Miss Mudrock, doesn't it?"
After explaining everything clearly, Alyona fell silent and simply watched the large figure before her, waiting for her choice.
"...I agree to this. But there's no need for that condition. Just as you said, I don't like owing people either." After thinking for a moment, Mudrock finally gave her answer, her voice low through the protective suit.
"???)?"
Even Griseo, still in her colored state, could not help but freeze at those words.
The little girl had never imagined things would develop like this... She had originally wanted to use that condition to keep being involved with Mudrock afterward.
But how had their connection suddenly vanished with a snap?
Griseo did not understand, but she was deeply shaken. Was this what it meant for Mudrock to be such an honest person? She was truly straightforward...
"...All right, then. Since that's the case, once I finish the painting later, I'll bring it to you. As for the condition, I'll keep it. If you ever need anything, you can come find me."
After organizing her words a little, Griseo continued speaking in the same tone as Mudrock.
But then, as though she had remembered something, the little girl took several steps back and suddenly threw herself into Alyona's arms.
?;
"?"
Catching the little cutie who had suddenly pounced on her, Alyona froze slightly, a trace of confusion flashing through her light green eyes.
But she quickly understood that Griseo was shedding her color in her arms, so she did not make a sound to interrupt her.
"..."
In the end, with her companion's help, Griseo did not take long to shed Mudrock's color and return to her blank-paper state.
As for why the little girl had suddenly decided to shed the color... the reason was very simple. She had just remembered something, but in her "Mudrock state," she could not say it at all...
So Griseo had no choice but to shed Mudrock's color first.
Still, it did not really affect anything... After all, she had already remembered the color. If she wanted to, she could even pick it up again while Mudrock herself was absent.
Having returned to her blank-paper state, Griseo stared without blinking at Mudrock in front of her with her beautiful violet eyes shining brightly.
"Is there... anything else?"
Seeing the little one's sparkling eyes fixed on her, Mudrock hesitated before asking anyway.
After all, from Mudrock's perspective, Griseo's gaze was a little too "burning." It was making her somewhat embarrassed... so she could not just keep being stared at like this.
"Big Sister Mudrock, can you let me see what you look like? Alyona and I will keep it secret..."
Griseo had no intention of hiding her purpose, so once Mudrock asked, she said it directly.
And at that moment, her large eyes were filled with something called anticipation—or rather, "light."
"Although I'm not used to it..."
At Griseo's words, a trace of helplessness surfaced in Mudrock's red eyes beneath her mask for the first time in a long while. Then, she began removing her heavy combat suit...
Honestly, Mudrock had never expected the reason for the little girl's "burning" gaze to be nothing more than wanting to see her true appearance...
She had thought it was something important, or some difficult task that needed to be done.
Then, as the heavy protective suit was slowly peeled away, Mudrock's true appearance as a Sarkaz was revealed before the two of them.
ps: It's been really cold these past two days. I don't know what happened when I slept last night, but when I woke up this morning, my stomach felt chilled, and I'm feeling a little unwell now. Other than that, though, I feel pretty good after waking up. Let's see if I can update another chapter this morning.
It's Monday today. Later, I'm going to sneak over to someone else's school entrance to mooch a meal. Give me some votes~
Hurry me along. There was even a bug when adding an image—it insisted on adding a few words...
Snuggling and Testing
"..."
Since Griseo had already seen Mudrock's appearance in the game, only a trace of amazement flashed through her eyes, and her expression did not change much.
"!"
Alyona, however, was completely different. She was utterly shocked.
Although she had believed what Griseo said before and knew that this large figure was a woman, she had never imagined that this Sarkaz mercenary would be so beautiful.
"Mm... I may not be as good-looking as you imagined, and I'm not really used to taking off my protective suit."
Seeing the two little girls staring blankly at her, a trace of helplessness flashed through Mudrock's red eyes. She then moved to put her protective suit back on.
"Big Sister Mudrock is very beautiful, both as a person and in color... Wait a moment." Hearing Mudrock's words, Griseo instinctively refuted her.
After saying that, the little girl temporarily let go of her companion and walked over to Mudrock. Then, she wrapped her arms around the Sarkaz Big Girl's slender waist.
"Eh?"
After hearing Griseo's words, Mudrock had instinctively paused in the middle of putting on her protective suit. But she had never expected the little girl in front of her to initiate such intimate contact.
Her body stiffened at once, and she did not dare move. At the same time, as she lowered her head to look at the fluffy little head hugging her, a faint urge suddenly stirred in her heart.
"..."
In the end, Mudrock yielded to the thought in her heart and slowly placed her heavily gloved hand on top of Griseo's fluffy head.
"Mmm..."
Feeling the weight on top of her head, Griseo blinked lightly without dodging at all. She simply let someone stroke her little head.
And Griseo had not suddenly hugged Mudrock merely to play around or take advantage of her. She had thought of something she wanted to test, so she had come over to pick up the color herself.
As for why she did not color herself like before, or automatically take on the color from memory, the reason was simple: the color picked up that way was not strong enough to meet the conditions for the experiment Griseo had in mind.
And since she did not want to waste time, the little girl had simply pressed herself right against her.
Ding. Hua of Floating Life is being unlocked. Current progress: 1%
Just as Griseo was about to release her little hands, the long-unheard voice sounded in her mind again, instantly making her body stiffen.
"What is it? Did it press against you?"
Noticing Griseo's stiff body, Mudrock lowered her head toward the protruding Originium at her abdomen, a trace of complicated emotion flashing through her crimson eyes.
"No, thank you, Mudrock..."
Only after hearing Mudrock's words did Griseo hurriedly loosen her hands and look up at the person she was pressed against.
Honestly, after hearing that voice just now, the little girl wanted to keep snuggling with the Sarkaz Big Girl...
"It's nothing..."
Mudrock instinctively replied. But after saying that, she had nothing else to add.
After all, this was also the first time someone—or rather, a child—had been so close to her. She was somewhat at a loss.
Thus, the big and small pair, whose expressions and temperaments were now completely alike, remained in that snuggling posture, staring at each other in an awkward silence.
There was no helping it. Mudrock was not someone good with words, and Griseo had also been deeply colored by her, making her personality just like Mudrock's.
So for a while, neither of them knew what to say.
"..."
In the end, Alyona, who stood to the side, truly could not bear watching any longer, so she spoke separately to the big and small pair before her:
"Since everything has been settled, Griseo, let's head back early. We made quite a commotion this time, and if we return any later, Big Sister Alina might scold us."
"And don't worry, Miss Mudrock. We will keep your appearance a secret."
"Mm."
"Okay."
After hearing her companion's words, Griseo carefully took two steps back, putting some distance between herself and Mudrock.
As the little girl pulled away, Hua's unlocking progress was cut off as well. But she was not in a hurry about something like that. After all, there was plenty of time.
For Griseo, the most troublesome thing about this broken system was not unlocking people through snuggling, but finding the right person.
Now that she knew who it was, it would be easy...???)?
Griseo's naive thought lasted only until Mudrock put her heavy protective suit back on...
Only then did the little girl finally remember that Mudrock almost never removed that heavy protective suit of hers.
For a moment, Griseo could not help feeling dejected.
In the end, dejected or not, it was time to leave.
Griseo and Alyona chatted with Mudrock for a few more moments before saying goodbye and leaving first.
After all, just as Alyona had said, if they went back any later, Alina might really catch them, and then they would get another lecture.
Even if the lecture was gentle, it was still a lecture... no child wanted to listen to one.
?;|
"..."
On the way back, as Griseo and Alyona passed through a sparsely populated area, Griseo suddenly stopped and stood where she was.
"?"
Noticing this, Alyona also stopped, a trace of confusion flashing through her light green eyes. She quietly watched Griseo, waiting for an explanation.
"I want to test something. Wait a moment."
Griseo did not explain much. Instead, she showed Alyona what she wanted to do through her actions.
As Griseo drew upon her power, brown light appeared and flowed around her body.
The next moment, on the flat frozen ground before her covered in silver frost, a large, hard rock broke through the frost and rose up, floating in midair to proclaim its existence to the world.
"?"
Now Alyona, who had watched the whole process from the side, was even more confused. A huge question mark seemed to appear above her slightly tilted head.
Clearly, she had no idea what was happening.
ps: I originally said I'd see whether I could update this morning, but I suddenly received news that an elderly family member had passed away. I've been busy all day, so the update will be rather late.
Before you continue