MTLNOVEL Chapter 1690: Khepri's Memories
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As Khepri narrated her memory fragments, she opened the way for a possible connection between the Great Oasis Spirit, her past, and even the Gods themselves.
Her last set of memories included her, the woman she believed to be the Great Oasis Spirit in her infancy, and a dozen other beings like them, Artificial Great Spirits imbued with powerful magical technology.
"I think we were defeated, and I passed out… not before we defeated a lot of them!" Khepri said.
It seemed that they battled miasmic beasts in some sort of desolate landscape, which Aquarina thought might have been the Demon King's Continent itself, or maybe another unrelated continent entirely.
After all, it is said that Terrarium was much more different in the past than how it is now, green plants might not have existed, and the world might have been rather strange and different on its own.
After all, if it looked similar to how it is now, the Gods would have never put so much effort into terraforming the planet and transforming it to suit their needs.
"But yeah, the last thing I saw was a strange being among the miasmic beasts as you call them, it was… something weird."
As Khepri narrated, her eyes became slightly more afraid, something even Silvia noticed, as she pitied her friend while watching her speak, she noticed that something ancient had left a mark in her mind, even with her memories in disarray.
"It was humanoid and yet not, made completely out of pure darkness, it didn't have a normal head, but its head was a floating ball of shadows. Within a few seconds after it appeared, we lost."
Khepri sighed, groaning annoyingly as she grabbed her head.
"Ugh… I-I think that's it, yeah," She nodded. "I don't know what happened to the other spirits, but if I survived with my memories missing and most of my power gone, while my ornament pieces were scattered away on Safety Orichalcum Cubes, then that means the rest might've suffered a similar fate."
"So you're saying the Great Oasis Spirit is like you and also lost her memories and part of her original powers?" Aquarina asked. "Hm, maybe that's why she doesn't remember you and also why she needs this place, its people, and the ecosystem to continue growing stronger and surviving."
"Yeah, we weren't supposed to be tied to a landscape I think, we were autonomous," Khepri explained. "I also needed hosts to remain alive, and that's why I ended always picking up monsters or something."
"So she attached to this Oasis and became some sort of bound spirit?" Silvia wondered.
"I think so… I cannot quite say for sure," Khepri said. "Oh well, that's that though, nothing else can come out of my little head for the moment."
"That's alright I guess, we should prioritize hunting the ants," Aquarina nodded. "It's quite interesting honestly, but aside from learning all of this, we can't do much with this info either way."
"Yeah…" Silvia nodded. "But I appreciate all of it, Khepri."
"Me too," Agua nodded. "I wonder if the village would take this information kindly, however… I assume they might become enraged as it could go against our original beliefs of the oasis spirit, but it is worth giving it a try eventually, perhaps."
"By giving it a try you mean telling the village about this?" Aquarina wondered. "Hmmmm, maybe just hold into it for now Agua. I don't think they would easily believe that either way, due to the lack of evidence and the Oasis Spirit denying everything and acting like she never met Khepri, most likely due to lost memories."
"Ah, yeah, I suppose that's for the better," Agua said. "But I still wonder who that monster was, Khepri."
"Monster?" Khepri wondered.
"The one that fought you and your friends and defeated you all," said Agua. "Just what was that thing exactly?"
"Ah, that thing…" Khepri muttered. "Honestly, I have no idea myself, but it's definitely not something normal either. But it sure was a long time ago, so whatever that thing was, it must be gone by now."
"Hmm, still intriguing, makes me think what sort of horrors existed back then you know," Aquarina said. "But yeah, whatever the case, we're done with this, let's get going! There's still a lot of terrain to cover!"
"Yeah!" Silvia nodded. "Wait, are we going by foot again?"
"Of course! How do you hope to cultivate your physique and a healthy body without walking? And we're going fast so hurry! Ah right, Agua, please guide us, do you know where the other nests are?" Aquarina asked.
"Yes but only one of them," said Agua. "It is a nest near the northwest edges of the crater, it is within a large cave inside the edge, which is like a mountain by itself, seems they dug the farthest from the rest, so they're the ones doing the least amount of damage for now."
"Is that so? Then maybe hunting them down wouldn't be that necessary?" Asked Silvia.
"It still is, the oasis spirit gave us such a task," Agua said. "However, even if they may appear not that harmful right now, if they keep digging and spreading their flames and generating magma, a small volcano could be created, and if it erupts in front of the entire crater, well, everything will burn down… Maybe if they're connected telepathically, this must be their plan all along. It makes little sense they would stay so far away from the rest."
"So you're saying they've been planning to make a volcano erupt in front of everyone?! Those damn ants are really crazy!" Justicio said. "Okay, let's go take them down quickly! Do we have to climb too high?"
"Yes, the steep from there is rather big, there's deeper areas in the crater after all, and because we're at the center, it means we'll need to climb or fly all the way up from several hundreds of meters, as I said, it's almost like mountains," explained Agua.
"Sounds exciting! Let's go!" Aquarina began walking faster while dragging Agua with her, everyone else had to keep up with her and started running as well, doing some nice, healthy exercise.
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