Morning light slanted through the floor-to-ceiling window and spilled across the desk. Ivette's fair, slender fingers moved lightly over the yellowed pages as she read a copy of Linguistics: From Beginner to Mastery.
After a while, she painfully closed her eyes, leaned back against her chair, and let out a soft, beautiful groan of anguish.
Over the past two days, she had exhausted every method available to her—gestures, written comparisons, phonetic symbols, and reference materials—yet she still could not figure out where the language spoken by this foreign little blonde girl had come from.
It belonged neither to Emerald Language nor Silver Mirror Language, and it did not seem to match any of the hundreds of regional dialects derived from them either.
The feeling of putting in so much effort with no results left her utterly exhausted.
Then she turned her head slightly and looked out at the manor through the floor-to-ceiling window. The girl was swaying on a wicker swing. Looking at her exquisitely made classical dress and its collar embroidered with intricate patterns, Ivette gradually formed a bold thought.
Could this little blonde be a transmigrator too?
Only, unlike Ivette, whose soul had transmigrated, she had taken the route of bodily transmigration?
Thinking of that, Ivette, unwilling to continue researching "Origin Civilization Language," gradually turned her thoughts to another field.
Mind Magic!
Yes, in Origin Civilization, whether telepathy or hypnosis, they were all genuine restricted magic.
There were simply too many restrictions on their use. Licenses, special conditions, and related equipment were all indispensable, so in most cases, they were only used to treat mental illnesses or interrogate criminals.
What Ivette needed to do now was use her many years of rune design experience as a foundation to rapidly develop a communication-oriented Mind Magic spell that could meet their temporary need to communicate.
Half a month later, after visiting the ruins of psychiatric hospitals, police stations, and other places, and combining the information she gathered with her years of accumulated rune design experience, Ivette's initial attempt at Mind Magic finally bore fruit.
It was a large-scale spell of extremely high specifications, containing over fifty thousand runes. Even Ivette, a master mage whose mental strength had greatly increased and whose total mana was approaching six hundred points, could not possibly cast it alone.
Fortunately, her years of scavenging had not been for nothing. During the past two years, she had acquired a relatively lightly damaged Magic Guide Terminal called the "Crucible Ring X3," manufactured by Ember Trace Chemical Industry.
That gave things a turn for the better after a period of studying, researching, and repairing it herself.
"The rune capacity is five hundred thousand, but according to the system diagnostic, eighty percent of the sectors are bad. That means the actual capacity is only a little over one hundred thousand... Barely acceptable, but enough..."
"Wait, why is the energy decay in the Elemental Capacitor so severe? A capacitor with twenty points of mana has decayed to only one percent? It needs to shut down the moment it powers on? Hah, good thing I have plenty of mana. I can provide stable power twenty-four hours a day..."
Stroking the ring on her middle finger, Ivette spent some time studying it before inputting all fifty thousand-plus runes and naming the spell "Heart's Language."
While she was at it, she also entered a newly developed but not yet optimized spell, "Vitality Technique." Its main function was to increase the body's recovery ability to heal external injuries or illnesses, and it used around six thousand runes.
"With that, the remaining space has suddenly dropped to forty-four thousand... How extravagant. Where did the me who used to spend years iterating a spell at Abyss Base just to optimize away seven or eight runes go?"
After silently sighing, Ivette went downstairs and found the little blonde squatting beside the manor's flowerbed, carefully observing two squirrels mating.
When she saw Ivette come downstairs, she raised her head and gave a sweet smile. Sunlight filtered through the lush branches overhead, scattering mottled patches across her face. It was a lovely sight.
Ivette quietly nodded in response.
She had spent more than half a month with the little girl already. Although they did not share a language, they had developed a decent rapport through simple gestures.
Moreover, this little blonde was practically the most obedient child under ten Ivette had ever seen. She had never shown the slightest sign of mischief, rebellion, or willfulness. Instead, she was well-mannered, docile, and sensible, which greatly increased Ivette's fondness for her and made her even more curious about the girl's background.
Ivette guessed that the little blonde must have received an exceptionally good upbringing in the past. Otherwise, she could not have remained so calm and mature after arriving in such a terrifying, unfamiliar world.
Walking over, she beckoned with her hand. The little blonde immediately obediently came before her and patiently waited for instructions.
Ivette raised her hand, and the girl immediately understood. She took the initiative to lift her palm, allowing Ivette to place her hand in it.
"..."
Ivette suddenly found it a little strange. Why did this look exactly like teaching a dog to shake hands?
But she could swear she had done nothing of the sort, so she could only attribute it to the child being too perceptive and understanding her meaning at once.
Without thinking further, she immediately activated Heart's Language. Using their skin contact as a medium, she created a subtle connection between her spirit body and the other girl's.
Five seconds later, the Rune Array finished loading, and the curtain of the mental world was abruptly pulled open—
"When will this life of fawning and currying favor finally end..."
When that thought, filled with irritation, echoed through her mind, Ivette's gaze froze slightly.
She looked at the girl's obedient, adorable face. Her large, watery eyes met Ivette's without avoidance, candid yet carrying a faint, pitiful timidity.
She fell silent and continued listening.
"What is this Evil God doing? She keeps staring at me. It's so scary... Can't she just let me be alone?"
Evil God? Ivette was slightly stunned. She had clearly saved the girl, so why did this child think she was an Evil God?
Was there even any logic behind that?
"Damn it, to survive, I have no choice but to fawn over an Evil God like a dog. How could I be this pathetic..."
"That isn't my fault, is it..." Ivette could not help defending herself.
Then she saw the girl's expression instantly turn terrified.
"Wh... whose voice was that?! Hers? She can understand my thoughts?"
"This is magic that enables mental communication. It can bypass language barriers." Ivette was no longer silent.
However, she did not tell the little blonde that she had hidden a backdoor in the spell. Whenever she needed to think, she could selectively mute herself so the girl would not hear her inner voice, while every thought in the little blonde's mind would be fully known to her.
At the end, she added, "Also, I'm not an Evil God."
"Y-yes... I'm sorry, Evil God. I didn't mean it just now. I only... I only..."
The little blonde changed expressions incredibly quickly. With a thump, she dropped to her knees, her face pale as paper and her body trembling like a leaf.
From her surging emotions, Ivette could also feel genuine fear. The girl truly seemed convinced that Ivette was an Evil God, rather than an angel, a deity, or some other more positive figure.
"Why are you so certain that I'm an Evil God?" Ivette helped her up and restored their physical contact to ensure the spell remained active.
"Because... because this is the Land of Finale, where the legendary Evil God, the Witch of Finale, was sealed."
As she answered, the little blonde's heart was full of resistance, but she did not dare refuse. "I... I found that only you live here, and you're also a beautiful woman, so I thought the legendary Witch of Finale could only be you..."
Before Ivette could respond, the little girl's thoughts immediately turned self-destructive at lightning speed. With a heart as dead as ashes, she replied, "Anyway, I won't betray humanity, so give up on that idea... Y-you can just kill me!"
"..."
For a moment, the manor fell silent.
Looking at the little blonde before her, whose eyes were tightly shut as though waiting to die but who could not resist peeking at Ivette's reaction, Ivette was silent for a while before changing the subject. "How did you come to this world?"
She was now completely certain that this child was a transmigrator from another world. That world simply seemed rather underdeveloped, so its people had greater limitations in thought and did not even possess concepts like "planet."
"Remnant Abyss." The little girl gave an inexplicable name.
"What is that?"
"I read in a book that there is a celestial phenomenon called the Aurora, which appears once every hundred years... When it appears, you can find the Remnant Abyss nearby. It's a spiral-shaped entrance connected to the Land of Finale, and it only lasts a short time, just a few minutes... These entrances appear and disappear unpredictably. Sometimes terrifying Filth Demons come out of them... I came here by passing through the Remnant Abyss..."
Aurora... Ivette turned the word over in her mind and immediately thought of the brilliant sight she had seen in the night sky three months ago.
At the time, she had not thought much of it and had merely admired it as natural scenery. Then she heard the little blonde scream. She had never expected that the Aurora that night had been the opportunity for the two worlds to connect.
She asked again, "What are Filth Demons?"
"They're those monsters outside that you've killed before... The books say those monsters are called Demons of Filth. They occasionally run out of the Remnant Abyss and attack people and livestock. They carry evil filth on their bodies, and once they scratch someone, that person will be assimilated..."
Although more than half a month had passed, the Mutants' grotesque appearance had clearly left a deep impression on the little blonde. The moment she mentioned them, Ivette could feel fear surging through her consciousness.
That did match the way Mutants infected other animals... Though she did not know how they had once infected mechanical constructs, blood transmission was now their primary means of creating other Mutants...
Ivette silently muted herself and nodded, then continued asking, "When did this phenomenon begin?"
She suspected that the world on the other side might be connected to Origin Civilization.
"I don't know. The books didn't say, but it seems to have existed for thousands of years." The little blonde shook her head blankly.