As for the mission, it was marked as successfully completed. The skill obtained was an enhanced version of Kennen the Electric Rat's ultimate from League of Legends—Ultimate Secret: Myriad Thunder Prison Seal.
Myriad Thunder Prison—Kanna summoned a storm of Lightning Wedges for up to ten minutes and could interrupt it at any time. Every second, a Lightning Wedge would be summoned beside every enemy within a hundred meters, dealing thunderstorm damage to all nearby enemies. If two Lightning Wedges were less than ten meters apart, they would resonate and trigger a greater thunderstorm. Multiple Lightning Wedges could stack their resonance effects. Kanna could swap positions with any Lightning Wedge, and she herself was unaffected by the thunderstorms and counted as a Lightning Wedge. There was no limit to the number of Lightning Wedges she could summon during the skill's duration, and they vanished once the effect ended.
After reading the skill, Kanna could only sigh that it had come too late. If she had possessed this skill earlier, the team would never have been in such a sorry state. With Kanna's speed, she could have cleared out every living creature within five li of the village in ten minutes. Then things would not have become so embarrassing afterward.
Still, even if it had arrived late, Kanna felt that she had at least gained an area-of-effect skill. It looked quite powerful too, the kind that dealt more damage the more enemies there were, so she did not dwell on it.
Only after devouring an entire roast lamb by herself and sitting in the vehicle did ACE begin asking about the monster Kanna had encountered during the Catastrophe. After all, he had only seen a few corpses by the roadside while traveling. They looked like some sort of gigantic fish, and only Kanna, who had been outside, knew the full details.
"That strange fish? It wasn't really a strange fish! It looked like the mudfish by the fields, just much bigger. The biggest one's head was about as large as this vehicle we're sitting in, and it was as long as six or seven vehicles put together. But that mudfish was really ugly. It had those... those Originium Particles all over its body, and some of them were especially huge. I don't know how it could swim so fast with such big rocks on its back."
As Kanna gestured wildly, the image of the monster gradually took shape in everyone's minds.
ACE and Reinhardt, who had moved over to sit beside him, took out notebooks and recorded Kanna's words. From her account, they saw an entirely new species capable of adapting to Catastrophes.
Although it sounded as though the creature had mutated severely during the Catastrophe and suffered serious contamination, it also suggested that Catastrophes might stimulate certain wild species to mutate in unpredictable directions.
Scholars had researched this possibility before, but samples were exceedingly scarce.
After all, Catastrophes were often accompanied by a sharp rise in Originium dust concentration. Under such circumstances, everyone's first reaction was to hide, trying to keep the Catastrophe outside with sturdy walls and sealed rooms. No one had the energy to investigate what the land beneath a Catastrophe was truly like.
Cases like Kanna's, where high-density mutated organisms appeared during a Catastrophe, had not gone undiscovered afterward through traces left on the land. However, most of those traces had been destroyed beyond recognition by the Catastrophe, and the creatures within them vanished without a trace after it dissipated. As a result, this had always been a major problem in Catastrophe studies.
Now, through Kanna's account, they seemed to have glimpsed the unknown ecosystem within a Catastrophe.
"Based on Kanna's account, I have reason to believe that if we had arrived one hour later, those mutated 'mudfish' would have completely destroyed the village. Everyone inside would have become food for those 'mudfish.'"
Even with only one person's testimony, the shrewd Catastrophe Messenger could still analyze many things from it.
It was very necessary to forge an incredibly badass weapon.
The next day, the convoy smoothly returned to Rhodes Island's main vessel.
The moment Kanna opened the vehicle door, she saw Amiya and Rosemary standing on the steps nearby. When they saw Kanna, both waved happily.
"Wow! Were you waiting for Kanna?" Kanna kicked off with her little legs and leaped straight in front of them.
"That's right! When ACE sent back the mission report, he spent a huge section praising you! Provence also said in her report that she wanted to apply for a high-difficulty Crisis Contract medal for you. Everyone was so happy."
ACE's report had already been sent back to Rhodes Island the day before. It not only conveyed that the mission had been completed, but also allowed them to coordinate the time and location for boarding afterward.
In the report, he had praised Kanna lavishly. Based on her description, ACE put himself in her place. Without an ability like Kanna's to see through the rainstorm, if he had discovered the strange fish, all he could have done was lead his subordinates and the villagers into the village to hold out until the Catastrophe passed and the fish left.
But in that case, both the team members and villagers would have faced immense threats to their lives and the risk of Originium dust infection. Given the team's strength, they would most likely have survived the disaster, but casualties would certainly have been unavoidable.
Everything Kanna had done had reduced the danger of the operation to the lowest possible level. Though she herself had faced even greater danger by exposing herself to the Catastrophe, the surprising thing was that after leaving the disaster zone, the accompanying Medical Operator had given Kanna an emergency examination. The results showed no traces of Originium infection in her skin secretions or saliva. Yet Kanna had remained in the Catastrophe for a long time without any protection, which worried ACE.
In response to his concerns, Kal'tsit sent him a private message telling him and the Medical Operator not to spread news of Kanna's physical condition. Though ACE had doubts, he respected the order.
"Don't rush off to play. What you did this time was very dangerous. ACE told us about it, so you must first go to the medical room for a full examination. You can only leave after the examination is finished."
Before Kanna could be happy for more than a few minutes, Kal'tsit's voice came from behind her.
Hearing Kal'tsit's words, both Amiya and Rosemary wore helpless expressions. Kanna could only droop her tail and follow Kal'tsit into the corridor.
After the examination, Kal'tsit and Warfarin held Kanna's medical report with expressions that said it was exactly as expected.
"Tch! What a terrifying little one. She spent nearly half an hour outside during a Catastrophe without any protection and wasn't infected at all. Tell me, Kal'tsit, are you sure you can keep her under control?"
Warfarin saw Kal'tsit's indifferent expression and spread her hands.
Fine.
If her superior was not worried, why should she, a subordinate, worry?
Besides, wasn't there the invincible Mon3tr? If the sky fell, the tall ones would hold it up. What did it have to do with an innocent vampire doctor like her?
After the examination, Kanna left the Medical Department and saw Rosemary sitting quietly outside. Rosemary's eyes lit up when she saw Kanna, and she stood up.
"Sniff, sniff! Rosemary, you smell so nice." As soon as Kanna approached, she caught a faint, pleasant fragrance. She had actually smelled it earlier, but she had been too excited after seeing the two of them, then Kal'tsit had immediately called her away, so she had not had time to ask.
"Really?" Rosemary was delighted, and her eyes curved into crescent moons.
"It was Senior Lena. Over the past few days, she and Miss Melantha made lots of new sachets and incense in the greenhouse. Doctor Kal'tsit said that this batch of incense and sachets was very effective at soothing patients with Originium infection, so I got one too." As she spoke, Rosemary raised her hand to show Kanna the small sachet hanging from her wrist.
Kanna nodded after seeing it. Then she would not need one. She wanted such a little thing too, but she did not know how difficult it was to make or how great the demand was. If they were in short supply, giving one to someone like her who did not need it would be worse than giving it to a patient in urgent need. Perhaps after spending so long at Rhodes Island, Kanna had begun to think a little more carefully whenever matters related to illness were involved.
She led Rosemary down toward the lower levels of Rhodes Island. Their destination was naturally Vulcan's workshop in the Engineering Department.
During this outing, Kanna had also realized that she lacked a suitable weapon. With her strength, a weapon could only be icing on the cake, but killing an opponent with a weapon felt completely different from doing so with her fists.
Especially that Giant Mudfish this time. To kill it, Kanna had endured the disgust of pressing both hands against its head and electrocuting it for quite a while. The smell of burnt flesh mixed with dirt and the distinctive fishy stench had been utterly revolting.
If she had a suitable weapon, Kanna was confident she could easily cut it in two with a single strike.
When they reached Vulcan's workshop and Vulcan heard that Kanna wanted to forge a weapon, she became very interested.
Then Kanna began explaining her idea.
Her weapon of choice would be a greatsword and a shield with extremely sharp edges on both sides.
The shield could split in half down the middle, and the greatsword could be locked between the two halves, transforming the sword and shield into a single elongated great axe.
As Kanna spoke, she planted one foot on a stool and gestured grandly. The stool was just high enough that her feet could reach.
"I call this whole weapon-transformation technique Super Decryption! When in doubt, decrypt the hell out of it! Any problem that Super Decryption can solve isn't a problem at all. When I run into something big like that again, I'll chop them down one axe at a time. Maybe I can even stack some Blood Rage..."
Vulcan's expression shifted from eager interest to the look of an old man staring at his phone on the subway, fully displaying her complicated and chaotic feelings.
Kanna did not care in the slightest. Eyjafjalla, however, wagged her tail and applauded after hearing Kanna's introduction, because it sounded incredibly cool. Even the not-too-bright weapon master was tempted after hearing it.
Leaving aside whether splitting a shield into two parts would affect its defensive capability and quality.
As for the strength of the sword itself, it simply could not be used as an axe handle. A normal axe's grip ran along the entire shaft from top to bottom, but even with a two-handed sword, the part one could actually hold was only a small section. That would place the axe's force at its outermost end, creating a huge and fatal weakness for its user.
After being criticized by Vulcan, Kanna temporarily gave up on her shield-axe plan. Given her height and combat style, Vulcan suggested that she should not choose an overly large weapon.
An oversized weapon would be too heavy and slow, making it unsuitable for Kanna's attack style of using Lightning Wedges to suddenly switch positions and launch surprise attacks.
Open your eyes! You are invincible!
Kanna, however, held a different opinion.
In her view, if her opponent was small or of ordinary size, she did not need any weapon at all. Her physical strength alone would easily crush them.
But if the opponent was too large, even if she could deal considerable damage, her little fists had limited power after all. She also did not want to end up covered in blood. In that case, having a suitable weapon to help her destroy and dismember gigantic creatures would naturally make combat much easier and more effortless.
After hearing Kanna's thoughts, Vulcan nodded. Then she pulled Kanna over to the training ground beside the Engineering Department, where they tested new machinery, and personally observed Kanna's combat style. The targets were the various dummies placed around the training ground, and they had reported the matter to Kal'tsit on the way over and received approval.
It was also the first time Eyjafjalla and Rosemary had seen Kanna's combat style. They were deeply captivated by the lightning filling the entire training ground and the dazzling rapid teleportation everywhere.
To obtain more intuitive data, Vulcan even specifically told Kanna not to hold back. The result naturally delighted those in the Engineering Department lucky enough to witness the battle—nearly everything in the training ground was destroyed, especially electronic equipment and conductive objects. None survived the waves of thunderstorms.
After Closure arrived in response to the inquiry and inspected the wrecked training room, she clutched her chest and nearly fainted. In less than ten minutes of testing, the entire training ground had been declared unusable.
Fortunately, this training ground belonged to the Engineering Department and was used to test new equipment. Many of its items were secondhand goods collected from elsewhere or items awaiting disposal. Otherwise, Closure would have been even more heartbroken.
Vulcan, on the other hand, did not take Closure's complaints to heart. She stroked her chin and pondered for a long time before telling Kanna that she already had a preliminary idea for her weapon. The new weapon would probably be finished in a week, and Kanna could come find her then.
Although Vulcan did not tell Kanna what kind of weapon it would be, Kanna trusted the professional and did not press her. She merely told Vulcan that it had to look cool enough, because there was no point in taking a weapon out if it was not flashy enough to show off.
Remarkably, Vulcan did not refute that suggestion. She even nodded and said she would consider it.
After receiving Vulcan's promise, Kanna and Rosemary left the Engineering Department amid Eyjafjalla's cheerful farewell, leaving only Closure devastated in front of the ruined training ground.
After leaving the Engineering Department, the two had planned to visit the greenhouse. Rosemary said that the greenhouse had undergone some changes these past few days under Melantha's guidance, and she wanted to see how it had turned out. But not long after stepping outside, they ran into Weifeng.
The instant Kanna saw Weifeng, her entire body instinctively tensed. It was the natural reaction of a student encountering a teacher. But the good news was that Weifeng did not demand that Kanna make up the classes she had missed these past few days.
The bad news, however, was that Weifeng informed her Kal'tsit wanted her to visit the Medical Department after dinner regarding the abnormal condition she had experienced after the previous battle.
ACE had not mentioned it earlier. Kal'tsit had only learned of it in the later report, and she took the matter very seriously. She planned to conduct another examination of Kanna during the rest period after dinner.
Kanna was very unhappy to hear that. After all, whether one was sick or not, no normal person enjoyed going to the hospital. Besides, Kal'tsit always wore a stern, serious expression that was completely incompatible with Kanna's personality.
Every conversation with her made the atmosphere feel especially uncomfortable.
But Kal'tsit was, after all, Rhodes Island's actual leader. A dragon under another's eaves had to bow its head. Kanna still had to go.
At the thought of having another examination that evening, Kanna lost all interest in visiting the greenhouse. She dragged Rosemary around Rhodes Island aimlessly for the entire afternoon.
That evening, in the Medical Department.
Kal'tsit, Warfarin, the clerk Ya Ye, as well as Amiya, ACE, LOGOS, and Ascalon, whom Kal'tsit had summoned. Though formal Medical Operators made up only one-third of the group, in terms of strength it was a gathering of Rhodes Island's top combatants.
First, ACE reported the time, place, and cause of the changes in Kanna's eyes, as well as when they reverted, along with Provence's speculation.
As an experienced veteran Operator, he had prepared everything long ago, so his report proceeded quickly and smoothly. But when it was Kanna's turn, things stalled.
Kanna simply did not know when or why her eyes had changed. The situation at the time had been too complicated. Was it the extremely oppressive field of vision? The dense Originium dust amid the torrential rain? Her emotions? Or perhaps all of them together? Kanna could not determine any of it.
So when they asked her, the only answer they got after her troubled expression was, "I don't know."
Just as the investigation reached a bottleneck, ACE slapped his forehead.
"Earlier, in the vehicle, at some point, I had a feeling—as if some terrifying creature were watching me. And right after that feeling appeared, the suffocating sensation of being surrounded from all directions vanished.
"Hmm... It should have been shortly after my last conversation with Kanna. Kanna, you said that monster was very cunning, so you needed to keep watch outside for a while longer.
"Yes! It was shortly after that."
After recalling the situation, ACE spoke with certainty.
Upon hearing ACE's words, Kanna held her head and carefully searched her memories. At the time, the enemy had indeed been hiding behind those little mudfish, constantly posing a faint threat to the convoy, which had made her feel very irritated.
Instinctively, she had thought about how to drive away the little mudfish. Then she remembered the passive ability she had learned in the wilderness. As long as she did not restrain her five senses and let her thoughts spread freely, the surroundings could become so empty that even mosquitoes and insects vanished within mere seconds.
She had used roughly the same method then. When the little mudfish stopped, she had even been happy, because it proved that her idea was correct. She had never expected that using it this time would cause such a major change in her eyes.
Kanna explained this matter. After listening, Kal'tsit looked at Ascalon. Ascalon nodded, while LOGOS spread her hands to show that she did not mind. Only then did Kal'tsit continue speaking to Kanna.
"Then can you recreate that 'attack' from back then?"
"Here?" Kanna asked.
Kal'tsit nodded. As the core of Rhodes Island, the Medical Department was one of the safest places aboard the landship. Moreover, several of the island's strongest experts were present, so she was not worried that anything would go wrong.
Happy Children's Day, my precious little treasures.
After receiving Kal'tsit's approval, Kanna took a deep breath, then emptied her mind under the tense gazes of the people around her... emptied her mi... emptied... zzz...
The group watched with helpless amusement as the Little Dragon Person strained for a long time, then lowered her head and fell asleep. They could not help but be speechless.
Fortunately, the moment her head touched the floor, Kanna woke up again. Seeing Amiya's faintly amused smile, Kanna's entire face flushed red.
"That didn't count, it didn't count... Let me get ready..." She had never expected to fall asleep just like that. How embarrassing.
Fortunately, everyone present was fairly patient. Once Kanna was ready again, they began the test once more.
This time, Kanna quickly found that feeling. She was no longer limited to what her eyes could see. The sound of breathing by her ears, the sound of the breeze passing through, the scents in the air—everything recombined in her mind into a new, three-dimensional image.
At that instant, everyone except the bewildered Ya Ye's expression changed dramatically. For a moment, they seemed to see an enormous creature hidden in the darkness, staring fixedly at them with a pair of eyes that made them tremble.
The feeling did not fade with time. Instead, that figure drew closer and closer. Warfarin's body began trembling uncontrollably, while Mon3tr emerged from behind Kal'tsit without being summoned, warily scanning its surroundings and letting out sharp howls.
"That's enough, Kanna. You can stop now."
Sensing that something was wrong, Kal'tsit immediately spoke up and stopped Kanna from continuing the test.
Hearing Kal'tsit's words, Kanna immediately pulled herself out of that state.
The moment her awareness returned, she heard the people beside her all let out deep breaths involuntarily, as though something had previously forced them to stop breathing.
"A remarkably terrifying technique. More precisely, the stronger someone is, the more intensely they feel it under this technique. If she can wield it freely, this move alone can suppress many powerful individuals." LOGOS, who usually carried herself with an air of supreme confidence, gave Kanna's ability high praise.
Ascalon also nodded in agreement with LOGOS. "When Kal'tsit said we needed sufficient combat strength to ensure safety, I thought she might be overly cautious. Now it seems Kanna's strength far exceeds my expectations. Rhodes Island truly should treat her with caution."
"Enough. I have never doubted Kanna's strength, but it seems it is not as simple as we imagined."
At this moment, Kal'tsit was perhaps the calmest person present. Of course, Ya Ye was the exception. Standing there with a blank expression, she had no idea what had happened or what everyone was discussing. She was completely confused—she had only seen Kanna strain for a long time before her pupils suddenly dilated, then everyone except herself began tensely watching the surroundings. Even Mon3tr, which always followed Kal'tsit closely and never appeared without orders, had emerged on its own and kept screeching at the metal ceiling overhead.
After LOGOS spoke, she still did not understand what everyone had felt, but she understood the reason—she was too weak to sense it at all.
She was not unhappy about that. As medical personnel, she did not need the ability to fight on the battlefield. Looking at Warfarin, the Blood Rage Doctor, curled up on a stool in a disheveled state, it was hard to imagine how imposing she had been in the Medical Department before. At that moment, Ya Ye even felt a little fortunate about her own weakness.
After Kal'tsit finished speaking, everyone realized that Kanna's eyes had not changed as ACE had described. It seemed they had suffered for nothing.
"Then it is very likely that this change cannot be achieved merely by using that technique alone. Perhaps other factors are needed as well. However, such experiments are too dangerous. I suggest we stop for now. If Kanna changes again in the future, we can work backward from the conditions of the previous incident. Once we determine the cause, we can analyze it. What do you all think?"
After taking several deep breaths and calming down, Warfarin accepted the diagnostic report Ya Ye handed her, checked it, and spoke calmly.
No one present, including Kal'tsit, objected. The proposal was approved, and the records of this examination were sealed. Only those who had participated in the operation had the authority to retrieve and view them.
Before you continue