Dusk in the Shadow City was always more enchanting than the real world. The precise lighting and the perfect refractive index of the air allowed the gentle and mysterious glow to spread evenly on every building that was about to rest. It was said that the best place to spend this short period of dusk in the city was a mysterious dessert shop next to the military blockade. I proved that the legend was true.
You couldn't find a better place to spend this peaceful and quiet time than Xiaoxi's dessert shop.
As usual, the dessert shop was deserted except for a Raven who came to help. She was humming a strange tune as she tinkered with the juicer. That was the only sound in the shop. The soft and intermittent sound made the shop even more tranquil. Looking out through the wide floor-to-ceiling windows, we could see that the narrow street outside the shop was shrouded in a layer of dreamy orange-red hue. The last trace of the afterglow of the sunset covered the wall of the military camp and the back wall of the residential houses on the other side. It was dimming at a speed visible to the naked eye. The orange-red glow with a pale golden hue shone through the bright glass windows, painting the small shop with a layer of warm colors. Sylvia sat opposite us with her eternal smile. Her long silver hair was dancing with the afterglow of the setting sun. We hadn't seen this scene for more than two months. My slightly restless mood calmed down in an instant. I suddenly felt that perhaps this was a magical power that belonged to Sylvia, a magic that could turn all agitation into a lazy afternoon tea atmosphere in the blink of an eye.
"Number One is a good child." Sylvia looked at me and Sandora with a smile for a long time before she suddenly said, "He often comes to help. Although he doesn't have much to do..."
The Number One she was talking about was Raven 001 who was tinkering with the juicer. She was born after the establishment of the New Empire. Her personality was a little out of place compared to her other comrades. She still didn't have her own name. She was called Raven 001, and she liked it when people called her that. In fact, this strange Raven didn't seem to care about anything. She treated everything with a playful attitude, except for when she was completing the mission given by her superior and fighting with Vega.
She was the closest to Sylvia out of all the Ravens. It could even be said that she was the only 'friend' in Sylvia's pitifully small social circle. The relationship between the two of them was not that of a superior and subordinate, but they did not seem like ordinary friends either. It really made me curious.
"You seem to have a leisurely life every day." I looked at the shop that had been cleaned to the point where not even a speck of dust could be seen. I could imagine that Sylvia and the other Ravens who came to help had nothing better to do here. After all, they didn't have many customers to entertain. "Oh, Santa Claus … Christmas is already over, right? Also, no one in the Shadow City celebrates Christmas. "
I noticed that there was a Santa Claus doll behind the window on the other side of the shop. I could vaguely make out the words "Merry Christmas" written on the little card in front of the doll. I couldn't help but say something. Firstly, I didn't think that Sylvia, such a slow person, would actually remember to decorate her shop during Christmas. Secondly, I didn't think that she would be this stupid. No one in the Shadow City celebrates Christmas. The only recognized Jesus here is Liliana...
"Oh, I forgot to take it down." Sylvia looked at the charmingly naive Santa Claus. She hesitated for a long time before she remembered what it was. Then, she thought for a while. "Just leave it there. In case I forget to take it out next year..."
"..." I was speechless. This kind of life philosophy is really tough. Her procrastination disease is measured in months, right?
At this moment, a rustling sound came from the direction of the counter. There was also the sound of a machine running and something being crushed. Just as Sandora and I were about to ask what was going on, Raven 001 appeared. Her body was dripping with orange juice. She held two cups of freshly squeezed juice in her hands. "That... the juicer might be broken."
I stared at Raven 001, dumbfounded. Her face was covered in juice. There was even a small piece of fruit on her nose. A piece of orange peel was hanging from her silver hair, slowly sliding down. Was she really preparing juice just now?
"You... worked hard." I calmly took the orange juice that she had painstakingly squeezed out from her hands. First, I scooped out the floating orange peel and tasted it. Then, I spat out half a gear. "Looks like the juicer really is broken..."
"This kind of primitive tool is not as sturdy as the ones made in the Empire. It can only be used as a toy!" Raven 001 said confidently. The small piece of orange peel on her head finally fell to the ground as she spoke.
Actually, I don't think the root cause of the broken thing was this. But... forget it. Those Ravens are mechanical idiots anyway.
"Do you want to use the bathroom?" Sylvia finally reacted. She looked at her clone with concern. "It's in..."
"Ah, no need. I can use Disintegrate to clean it up myself." Raven 001 hurriedly waved her hand. I felt that she had made a wise decision: Sylvia's water heater was saved.
"The new generation of Xi Ling apostles is very different from the previous generation," Shadora said as she watched Raven 001 use a ball of arcane light to disintegrate the stains on her body. Raven then went to pick up the pieces of the juicer. Shadora could not help but sigh. "They seem to be more sentimental, and they always have some strange hobbies."
"Is this a good thing or a bad thing?" I scratched my head. I had a feeling that the appearance of the new generation of Apostles like Raven 001 had something to do with me. This was not groundless. Father God had said that the Void Creatures were a huge source of information disturbance. In other words, even if I stood here and did nothing, there would be hundreds of Fantasy Breeds within a radius of a hundred miles after a few years. So, after the establishment of the New Empire, these Shiring Apostles were born in a … pain in the ass. It was more or less related to me.
"I don't think it's a bad thing." Sandora sipped her orange juice and occasionally chewed. "The racial nature of the Shiring Apostles will not change. At least their personality will not affect their mission and honor as an Apostle. Also, Tawil has a statistic that has not yet been confirmed. The probability of the basic soldiers of the new generation of Apostles evolving into a more advanced individual is about two percent higher than the average recorded in the Old Empire. Although this is a very insignificant number, I think it is mostly the result of their enhanced emotional ability. A high degree of psychological activity can enhance the individual's tolerance and judgment of vague information, which helps them to have more opportunities to come into contact with external stimuli that can allow them to evolve. "
I felt that Shadora's explanation was too technical, so I translated it into words that I could understand better. "Whether or not you can evolve depends on whether or not you are heartless enough. Take Raven 001 for example. She's obviously a general …"
"Ah, right." Sylvia sat quietly with us for a while, as if she suddenly remembered something. "Belavilla said that she has something to talk to you about. I will ask her to come out..."
Belavilla? Why is she looking for us?
Sandora and I looked at each other in confusion. Belavilla was definitely a person who lived in seclusion. It could even be said that she was even quieter than Sylvia in the City of Shadows. At least, Sylvia had to stand behind the counter in a daze every day. On the other hand, Belavilla maintained her biological clock of sleeping in the depths of Sylvia's consciousness and waking up once every seven days. She would not take the initiative to look for us.
As she spoke, Sylvia had already closed her eyes. Her temperament was slowly changing. After a while, she opened her eyes again. The indolent expression on her face was gone. Instead, it was replaced by a domineering aura of a queen. However, it was immediately countered by Sandora with the same domineering aura. She glanced at the two of us and nodded. "Oh, you came here to freeload?"
Belavilla's mouth was really not good at saving fuel. The amount of fuel she consumed was almost as much as an eight-wheeled trailer!
"If you continue with your nonsense, I will raise your rent." Sandora glanced at Belavilla. It seemed to be her little hobby to bicker with Belavilla when she appeared. The Raven King on the other side showed an indifferent expression. "Whatever. My main body is Sylvia anyway. The one who has to pay the rent is also Sylvia. I don't believe that the two of you would really be so heartless to bully a disabled person …"
"... Forget it. We didn't bring Liliana and Icetis today. We don't have enough equipment to argue with you. Otherwise, the two of them would have made you cry." I waved my hand. "Why are you looking for me and Sandora?"
"The fifteenth sky … has been restored, right?" Belavilla casually pulled out a sparkling arcane ball in the air. The destructive energy core bounced around in her hand. "I saw it from the information link. Every time you go out, you always bring surprises. Your actions have never been small. This time, you actually released an information link in the void. "
So it was about that. I didn't expect that Belavilla, who had long announced that she would retire from the world, would actually take the initiative to care about this news. I was a little surprised. "It is indeed not small. You should know that this time, even my sister and the rest are involved."
"I don't care about your huge organization." Belavilla created one arcane ball after another and arranged them on the table. Her actions were rather childish. "I only know that the group of 'old friends' will definitely be restless this time, right?"
The old friends that Belavilla was referring to was obviously the Fallen Apostle. Sandora straightforwardly admitted, "That's right. Ah Jun and I have already thought of this and made some preparations to mislead the enemy."
"You want them to have no time to interfere with the formation of your new army?" Belavilla actually guessed this directly. Although it was only a rough guess, what she said was already very close to the truth. My heart trembled. Don't be fooled by this person's current lazy appearance. She was also the Queen of the Empire in the past. If Sandora and I could think of it, she would definitely be able to think of it as well. Furthermore, she would be thinking of it from the same height!
"Do you need help?" Belavilla looked at my slightly dazed expression and suddenly chuckled, changing the topic.
At first, I didn't react and subconsciously nodded. Two seconds later, I opened my mouth and said, "What?"
"... Is he usually like this?" Belavilla looked at Sandora speechlessly as she extended her hand and pointed in my direction. Sandora spread her hands indifferently. "I feel that Ah Jun is quite attractive when he is muddle-headed. Furthermore, he is never muddle-headed when it comes to important matters."
"Cough cough, the person in question is here." At this moment, I finally came back to my senses and looked at Belavilla in surprise. "You are saying that … you are planning to come out of seclusion? To help us form an army or train soldiers? "
After I understood what Belavilla meant, the first thing I thought of was her other identity: One of the 135 Supreme Leaders of the old Empire! That was an Epic-tier hero who was on par with Sandora. An Epic-tier hero who would drop at least five pieces of purple equipment after defeating her … In short, she was one of the people who stood at the top of the Shiring Apostles. Furthermore, she was the leader of all the Ravens. Just how high would her attainments in mysticism be? In my opinion, she was probably the number one person in mysticism in the entire Empire. Even though we knew about this, Shadora and I had never thought of asking Belavilla to help us. The reason was that she was rarely the Raven King Belavilla. Most of the time, she was just a poor girl selling desserts at the military blockade line and living off the government's welfare every month. Sylvia's appearance was so ingrained in everyone's hearts that Shadora and I didn't even put her on the list of laborers …
"I know what you are thinking just by looking at your eyes." Belavilla looked at me from the corner of her eyes like a queen. Then, she snapped her fingers in the direction of the counter. "Number One, come here."
Raven 001 quickly ran over, holding a small piece of cake in her hand. Her mouth was bulging. I was surprised. "You have been sneaking food in the back for half a day?!"
"Anyway, most of these things can't be sold," Belavilla waved her hand. "It's a great help that she ate the leftover cake from yesterday …" Before she could finish, Shadora's eyes lit up and she placed her hands on the table. "I can help too!"
Belavilla looked at Sandora helplessly. "... Can you not be so embarrassing? At least it's Princess Warsong. "
Sandora pointed at the flour on Belavilla's chest and the cream on her face. "And you are the Raven King."
"That …" At this time, Raven 001 finally swallowed the cake in her mouth. She waited for the few big bosses to speak and quickly said, "Matriarch, do you have any orders?"
"Sit here, in deep standby mode." Belavilla pointed at the chair opposite us. Raven 001 nodded with a look of understanding on her face. It seemed that she knew what Belavilla was planning. She then sat down as instructed. Under Sandora and my confused gaze, she slowly closed her eyes and finally lay on the table with a thud. There was a sound of energy being released from her body. On the other side, Belavilla also lost consciousness. However, Belavilla was prepared. She pulled my arm over and used it as a pillow...
"Perfect conversion." In less than five seconds, Raven 001 sat up and gestured at me and Sandora with her chin. I was stunned. No matter how wild she was in the past, the mass-produced Raven would never do such a bold thing to her superior!
"Belavilla", who was lying on my arm, moved. She raised her head and smirked at me. "There is cream on your arm."
It was the kind of slow, soft tone that sounded as if she was not fully awake.
"You are …" I vaguely guessed something and pointed at Raven 001 in surprise. She nodded proudly. "As you can see, I am Belavilla. I am temporarily borrowing this body."
Under Sandora's curious questioning, Belavilla, who was temporarily borrowing Raven 001's body, finally explained her research results. "As you know, Silvia and I share the same body, even the same soul. We are both incomplete, so I can't leave my body at all. Most of the time, I can only hide in Silvia's seriously delayed head as a secondary personality. Originally, this didn't affect me much. Hiding in another person's spiritual world actually had a lot of things to do. I'm sure the mother and daughter living in your spiritual sea had the best experience. But recently, after hearing the news of the mother planet's fusion, I felt that I should come out and help out. After all, no matter what, you have taken me in. This is the solution I found. Temporarily entering the body of a mass-produced Raven, I can stay awake for a longer period of time and have almost the same independent mobility as before. You see, my affinity with this body is almost 100%. " The possessed version of Belavilla moved her arm — Raven 001's arm — with a satisfied look on her face. "All the mass-produced Ravens are replicated from my soul fragments. They are an extension of my soul. Temporarily occupying one of the Raven's body will not cause any stress to both parties. Since the consciousness is still attached to my soul, it does not violate the principle that Silvia and I share the same soul. Because, in theory, all the Ravens in the Empire share the same soul."
"It can be done this way?" I looked at Belavilla in surprise, and Silvia who was sitting beside me with a silly smile on her face. "Will Raven 001 be okay? Also, how long can you maintain this state? "
"As I said, this kind of 'borrowing' does not affect both parties too much. At most, they will recover after some rest," Belavilla said and suddenly smiled at me. "Oh, Number One cheered just now because you were the first to care about her. Let me think … This is the first complete conversion, so I am not sure how long it can last. But according to my estimation, this conversion can last for at least a day, and then I will need to rest for a day. But this is much better than the symbiotic state with Silvia. I intend to let the mass-produced Ravens take turns to be my carrier. After all, their endurance is still a little weak. "
"So now, I can move freely," Belavilla concluded and looked at me and Sandora. "I think you need an expert to teach you how to build a strong spellcaster army."
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