A Girl in the Midst of Research

Chapter 194 - The Girl is Under Development

Miss Surtr performed a self-examination.

Interestingly, she discovered that fire, not blood, still flowed in her veins. Her muscles, bones, and even her tongue and nose, which had regained their sense of taste and smell, were still a collection of ashes—the essence of this body had not changed, but the appearance beyond that essence had changed.

Because the particles are arranged in the right way.

Cell membranes, cytoplasm, nuclei—even if they were composed of ash particles instead of proteins, their function would remain consistent with the original Terra. And when multiple ash cells aggregate, corresponding tissues are born. The only difference is that the nervous system is still flame, but this flame seems to possess properties contrary to the First Flame of this world.

In the Dark Souls universe, fire is the manifestation of the soul.

Therefore, souls can devour and merge with each other, creating many bizarre things that are unimaginable to ordinary Otherworlder. Because all souls originate from the First Flame, and for this reason, the First Flame is to this world what organic matter is to Terra.

Terra can exist without Originium, but it absolutely cannot exist without organic matter—although a universe without inorganic matter could also continue to exist, but that would mean the complete annihilation of existing civilizations.

The First Flame is the same in Lordran —fire, boiling fire is the soul, stagnant fire is perhaps ash... no, stagnant fire is indeed ash, for this is the substance contained in the Undead's Elemental Ash Bottle. And drinking it can restore and replenish either the ash or the spirit of the Undead.

This is Lordran's fire—but the fire within Miss Surtr, which is linked to the new lip and tongue sensations and projects nerve impulses onto the soul to act as a neural network, has a different nature.

It is not a soul.

It cannot assimilate, cannot devour, and does not react with the vast majority of known physical matter in this world.

It is an inert, independent flame that, once released, possesses considerable destructive power, yet it does not damage Miss Surtr's biological structure.

Its nature, compared to the First Flame, the Abyss, or even the Ancient Tree Mist in this world, is more like...

"Laevateinn?"

Miss Surtr tentatively said after much fruitless research.

There was no response.

Yes, Laevateinn isn't here. If Laevateinn were beside her, she would only need to call upon it to obtain her sword instantly—she had already called Laevateinn's name the moment she awoke. And since the sword didn't respond then, the outcome wouldn't change now.

—But I always felt this was Laevateinn's fire, something related to Laevateinn ...

—That dream...

Memories churned, becoming ambiguous and blurred in their quest for truth. She only remembered seeing her own cells and reaching a consensus with a portion of them. And then—

Her brain refused to let her explore the deeper parts of her mind.

I can't figure it out.

—But there are many things I don't understand... Let's put that aside for now and go back to Persephone for advice. Before that, we should first investigate whether this novel function has any side effects.

—And the most important thing right now is...

With eyes closed, the door to the world appeared in my perception—indeed, although I could see the door, I could only push it slightly. This was perhaps the reward for killing Aldrich. But with this achievement alone, it was far from enough to return to Terra.

—But I didn't plan to go back to Terra so soon.

—I need to rest and recover here, and get my thoughts back on track... Hmm, roughly speaking, I'll need to stay here for at least a month to fully recover. So there's no need to rush back and forth now.

She opened her eyes, and the gate between the two worlds immediately closed in her mind. The nature of the gate was not much different from before, and she also knew that if she changed enough, she could indeed bring two more items with her when she returned.

—For the world, there should be no essential difference between objects and people.

—I just don't know if the Fire Keeper can adapt to Terra... Wait! The changes in me, this transformation... isn't this just a manifestation of the world rules of Lordran being re-edited in the Terra model? And since Lordran is compatible with Terra's way of expressing phenomena, then the reverse should also be true!

Miss Surtr was startled, but she quickly reassured herself—the previously worrisome future suddenly became stable and clear. She unconsciously exhaled a warm breath.

The air contained only clean air and the heat of combustion. She was certain that the new functions her lips, tongue, and nasal cavity now possessed were merely the ability to rediscover the flavors of Terra —she actually knew how to do it; memorizing her cellular atlas and genetic fragments wasn't difficult, it was an achievement that could be obtained simply by putting in the effort and time. The only thing she hadn't known before was how to use the physical rules of this other world and novel materials to reconstruct a brain that conformed to Terra's rules, rather than the local order, thus synchronizing neural impulses and perception.

But now, this problem has been solved by this wisp of flame of unknown origin—that flame has acted on neurons, the spinal cord, and part of the brain, allowing her to perceive the world using the sense of taste and smell she had in Terra. And this also means...

—As long as I master how to use this wisp of flame, deconstruct its principles, and manipulate and replicate it.

—Then, no matter what world I'm in, I can synchronize my newly acquired dream-realm body with my immortal body on Terra. And at that point, no matter which world I'm in, I can unleash my full power on Terra ...

—What is this? The next stage of dream exploration ability? From bringing people there, to bringing things back, and then to the partial projection of the essence of power... I feel like the development of my abilities in the past few days is equivalent to, and far surpasses, my exploration in Terra in the first five years...

—Just as Persephone had predicted. Is the transformation and opening of the heart a natural progression onto the right path after accumulating sufficient merit...?

—Well then, give it a try.

Miss Surtr opened her mouth slightly. Her entire demeanor immediately became solemn, her expression exuding arrogance and dignity.

"Fus Ro Dah——"

A stream of air, gathered together, was compressed by an invisible force as she spoke, transforming into a visible, tangible ring-shaped shockwave that blasted forward. The ground was torn apart, and verdant grass blades and pale yellow clods of earth were thrown into the air, extending in the direction of her words until the force was exhausted. A furrow approximately thirty meters long, two meters wide, and half a meter deep was then fully formed before her eyes.

—The dragon roar of the Elder Scrolls universe, the power of unyielding force, is thus achieved.

—But its power has been weakened, less than a third of the damage I cause when I casually swing my sword... Was it downgraded because the worldviews are incompatible? Then, how about another one?

"Word Spirit, Candle Dragon."

A massive amount of flames immediately formed, converging into a sphere with a radius of approximately three meters before her. The flames gathered, compressed, and then exploded outwards with a deafening roar. The land before her suffered a fate similar to being directly hit by a 460mm naval cannon shot.

Looks good. But compared to its original power...

—It's a terrible sight... Is it because there's no dragon bloodline bonus? But in the original world, even without the bloodline bonus, I could easily destroy a mountain. And in Terra Replica, at least it had about 30% of the effect.

Miss Surtr shook her head slightly.

She decided to try something from the East.

"Hmph—! Ha—!"

Two streams of white mist, mimicking the supernatural powers of the two guardian deities, suddenly shot out from her mouth and nose, traversing a distance of about one kilometer, passing through a thick tree, and then turning back.

And then...

... Okay, and that's it. Because the tricks of the Heavenly Court Divine General can only be reproduced to this extent in this world.

So she began her next attempt...

Half an hour later, this wasteland had been transformed into a desolate wasteland. Everywhere were fissures, ravines, wind-eroded pillars, molten blocks of earth, and broken rocks. Clearly, this had become the most geographically inconsistent region in Lordran. And this landmass occupied only a few square kilometers.