A few days later, in the heart of Ish City, Ivette passed through a curtain of steel and weeds and found a patch of woodland. She decided to turn it into her own estate.
This place had probably once been a park or something similar. There were relatively few ruins left behind, and there was even a beautiful little lake. If she could build a house here, it could barely count as a lakeside home.
Of course, building an estate was a massive undertaking involving fields such as architectural planning. Even as a master of magic, Ivette would still need a great deal of time and knowledge to realize the idea. So in her farming life, her top priority remained collecting all kinds of hardcover books and absorbing the technological legacy left behind by Origin Civilization.
Ivette even often wondered whether her existence had nothing to do with Black Tower Pharmaceuticals—after all, Black Tower Pharmaceuticals itself had already been destroyed. Perhaps the gods needed someone to witness and record the existence of Origin Civilization, which was why she had been transported here and granted immortality and freedom from hunger.
And so, as she lived a life of gathering knowledge, building her estate, and cultivating fields, more than a decade passed.
During that time, Ivette traveled across all three cities on Ish Island, from the capital, Ish City, to Grayport City in the southwest, then Luya City in the far north. She marked several dangerous areas that seemed to be Mutant nests and could not be approached, and visited the ruins of countless towns and villages. But just as expected, she never saw another living person.
Yet she did not care. She had even become somewhat numb, merely admiring the scenery along the way in solitude. Only when she occasionally found a hardcover book carrying Origin Civilization's technological legacy did a faint ripple stir in her heart.
Sometimes, she thought that perhaps Ish Island was simply too remote, which was why she saw no one. Maybe somewhere on the three continents, there was already a human settlement sounding the horn for a counterattack against the Mutated Creatures.
That gave her a little motivation. She began studying Magic Engineering and pondering whether she could repair some magitech equipment, or even craft some crude, primitive Magic Circuits by hand. If she succeeded, she would be able to use medium- and large-scale magic with higher Rune specifications—the Myriad-Sigil Tier, or even the Hundred-Thousand-Sigil Tier.
But...
Whenever she thought of the horrifying numbers and strength of the Mutants in the sea, Ivette felt her hopes turn bleak again.
Crossing the sea was impossible. She shook her head inwardly. She would never cross the sea in this lifetime.
It was not because she was timid. She had seen it with her own eyes: on the distant horizon, a serpentine sea monster had once cruised past. Its terrifying body stretched for who knew how many kilometers, and even from dozens of kilometers away, it had been utterly shocking, as though a myth had descended.
What was even more astonishing was that the sea beast was not a carbon-based organism like an ordinary Mutant. Its body was covered in scales and armor, but the small portions of exposed flesh were actually steel bones and iron sinews left over from centuries ago!
Yes, by then, Ivette already knew that the mysterious factor that had once caused biological mutation could infect more than just carbon-based life. Even Mechanical Puppets and Magitech Soldiers controlled by AI could be infected, parasitized, and fused into insane forms that were half machine, half organism.
No wonder Origin Civilization had fallen.
If even machines could not escape infection, how could humanity possibly resist?
So Ivette silently named that sea monster the Steel Sea Dragon Beast, sincerely hoping it would stay as far away as possible—preferably never coming anywhere near Ish Island.
That night, an Aurora appeared in the sky, an exceedingly rare sight.
It had been nearly three hundred years since her arrival, and it was the first time Ivette had seen an Aurora in the night sky.
She brought over her little stool and sat on the top floor of the three-story wooden house in her estate, quietly admiring the view. Behind her, the interior and some of the estate's branches were brightly lit. Every light bulb was powered by a simple magic-energy generator Ivette had repaired some time ago.
Just as she immersed herself in the tranquility, an incredibly abrupt scream suddenly rang out from the forested city beyond the estate.
"Ah—!!!"
In an instant, Ivette's pupils constricted. Her first reaction was not to rush out and save someone, but to think she had seen a ghost.
—She had wandered Ish Island for so many years and was certain there could not possibly be anyone here. How could she suddenly hear such a clear scream from a human woman?!
From the sea? Impossible. The sea had become a nest of Mutated Creatures. How could anyone cross it under such circumstances?
From the sky? That seemed a little more likely, but how could she have failed to notice anything at all?
Could it be a Mutated Creature?
Had some humanoid Mutant regained its memories and learned to speak?
Very quickly, her intense curiosity overcame her caution. Ivette flipped over the railing and leaped down from the third floor, riding the gale as she flew directly toward the scream. Four flaming dragons burst from a Rune Ring and swept outward around her, their blazing light illuminating every direction.
Every Mutated Creature drawn out from the darkness, humanoid or otherwise, was reduced to ash beneath the sweeping flames.
A minute later, on a road at the end of the darkness, Ivette saw the source of the voice atop a vehicle stripped down to its frame. She truly was human—a little blonde, blue-eyed human girl who could not have been more than ten years old, dressed in an exquisite classical-style gown. Her delicate little face was filled with panic.
"Σ(⊙▽⊙"a%!~zxcvb&*!!"
When she saw Ivette, she excitedly waved and spilled out a string of unfamiliar words that Ivette could not understand at all.
Not Black Tide Language... Was this Emerald Language? Or Silver Mirror Language?
Ivette's thoughts raced. She had only learned Black Tide Language in the Dream Mist. Since they spoke different languages, her first thought was that this girl was a survivor from Emerald Continent or Silver Mirror Continent.
"Who are you? How did you get here?" After floating down onto the road in front of her and watching the little girl jump down anxiously from the car roof, she decided to try Black Tide Language first.
But the girl immediately showed a bewildered expression. She clearly did not understand what Ivette was saying.
This was a little troublesome... No, it was still fine. At least she did not seem to be a Mutant, but a genuine human. They could deal with the language issue later...
With that in mind, Ivette stopped trying to communicate. Instead, she made a gesture and guided her toward the estate.
A few minutes later, back at the large estate in the city center, Ivette settled the little girl in her three-story wooden villa.
When she had built the house, she had never considered that there might be a second occupant. So she could only give the girl the sole bedroom and sleep on the sofa herself.
At the same time, she took out some meat, vegetables, and fruit from her homemade little refrigerator and made a simple magical barbecue to soothe the girl's nerves.
However, the girl's manners were unexpectedly good. Though she looked starving, she did not lose her composure even when faced with freshly grilled meat and fruit.
At the dining table, she first gave Ivette a slight bow to express her gratitude. Only after Ivette nodded did she sit down, press her hands together in prayer, and finally pick up her knife and fork to eat small bite after small bite.
Of course, even so, it was obvious that the girl had not lowered her guard in the slightest. While eating, she carefully observed the room. From time to time, she would secretly glance at Ivette with reverence in her eyes, only to snap her gaze away as though shocked when their eyes were about to meet, pretending nothing had happened.
At the sight, a trace of warmth appeared in the depths of Ivette's calm eyes, like a river frozen for centuries quietly thawing at that moment.
She thought that the days ahead probably would not be as boring as before.