Mornn
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Chapter 678 - Secret leg
🕑 Added 2025-05-19 16:00:18 +0000 UTCWhy this place so big… Where leg?
Silently flying in between the legs of a skeleton guard who couldn’t see her, Pestle was surprised by a sudden communication from Sofia.
‘Pestle. Big news! The lich is distracted. You no longer have to be as sneaky. I’ll try to make this last as long as possible, you have maybe a minute where you can go wild. Rob him blind!’
Not sneaky?
Pestle stopped in her tracks.
If Sofia with lich and Pesle not sneaky… Alarm lich make Sofia danger, no?
Not very smart, Sofia… You sure fae descendant not klepra?
Despite her lighthearted criticism, Pestle decided to be sneaky faster, which involved teleporting through walls and dispelling the weaker alarm enchantments instead of going around them.
The security seemed to go up every time she went down a floor, so she took every opportunity to descend to the lower levels, until she arrived to a floor that looked just like the one she had started from, a luxurious casino with game tables everywhere, except with much fewer people.
Is Pesle also klepra? Fly a loop?!
Pestle still felt through her link to Sofia that she was very far underground compared to her, so there was no doubt this was a different floor, even if it looked that same.
Keep go down for leg!
Before going, Pestle gave another look at the few people playing on this floor.
Ack!
Someone looked back, another fae.
Hello there, ravager one. What is one of your kind doing sneaking around in such a place? Is there a fight to be found here?
Hello diamond one. Pesle is doing robbery. Pestle answered telepathically.
Robbery? Is someone in this room your target? The other fairy asked, seemingly amused by the idea, That Dragon in the corner maybe? Do you want help?
No help, diamond one. Robbery lich because fun.
The chronomancer? I see. Have fun, then, ravager one! Try not to kill him too permanently if you can. I do enjoy this place.
This one understand. Very fun to you, diamond one.
The other fae discreetly nodded and turned back to her game of cards, cutting the telepathic link.
Very luck it a diamond one…
The danger avoided, Pestle quickly fled the scene through a vent before anyone else noticed her presence. Trying to get away as fast as she could, she quickly made it to the casino’s very last floor.
Surprisingly, after getting past the two banshees guarding the last set of stairs, there was no one else guarding the last floor’s entrance. Pestle’ claws tore through several enchanted mithril doors, before she made it to the lich’s living quarters.
Oh. This why no guard. Pestle thought, standing in front of the last door, pushing her senses to look through it before breaking it.
The interior of the Lich’s quarters were fully enchanted by aura crystal alarms. The aura crystals were the origin of the concept of priming items, they could be filled with one’s mana, which would then be released if anyone else’s mana even entered the ‘aura’ of the crystal, hence the name. It was a very high-end alarm trigger, capable of detecting even someone who could forcibly suppress their mana, but it meant any kind of security guard would also trigger the alarm, so only one person could be allowed in the secured zone.
But it no work on ravager one.
Lich think ravager one not exist? Why insulting?! Lich must be klepra also! Very robbery now!
Pestle moved the mana around her to create currents. Using a single finger, she pierced a tiny hole through the mithril door. The mana currents sucked some mana out of the lich’s quarters without letting any in, when she felt there was probably enough, pestle pinched the metal of the door to close the hole back.
She deactivated all of ever magic, expulsing it backwards to where she came from, almost dying in the process, and as her skeleton crumbled, she absorbed the mana she had drawn from the lich’s quarters, using it to sustain herself, and activate her magic again.
Using everyone else’s mana was always what the manaless fae did. To trick an aura crystal alarm was child’s play, she just needed to use the liche’s own mana.
Pestle did the process again and cycled her mana another time, to make sure none of the exterior mana remained with her. With that done, she pierced the hole a final time, teleported to the other side through it, and closed it up again. Just like that, she was inside, and the alarm wasn’t triggered.
Where leg?
Since Pestle had no storage item, she could only bring back something she could carry to Sofia, ideally something not too big.
She began searching, opening drawers and chests.
Anything mildly valuable she found that wasn’t directly visible, she ate. Not only did it help her hunger, it would teach the lich a lesson, she thought. And it would take some time for him to find out, hopefully enough for Sofia to be safely far away.
Pestle stopped in front of a scepter in a display case.
Leg?
She wanted to eat it but that would be too obvious, so she left it and continued to search. That wasn’t a good enough prize for Sofia.
Pestle followed the alarm’s mana circuits, thinking that wherever there were the most alarms was probably where the most valuable thing was.
It did not take her long to find what she was looking for, a small round antechamber with three locked doors, with walls fully enchanted with even more protections, and a big aura crystal embedded in the floor at the center.
Pestle pressed her tiny skull against each locked door, feeling her way inside.
The left room had the scariest looking enchantments, and it oozed with the lich’s mana, which made its contents pretty obvious.
Phylalery here. Useless.
The center room had Pestle reel back when she felt what was inside.
Ack! Lich here?!
He no see Pesle, distracted?
Pestle felt the insides again.
MOVING!
Panicking, Pestle pierced and teleported through the last door without even checking what was inside.
The center door opened, a cursing skeleton walking out of it.
“WHAT WAS THAT?! SINCE WHEN IS A RANDOM NECROMANCER SUCH AN ADVANCED SPACE MAGE? HUH?! FUCK!”
Pestle silently waited for the Lich to go away.
“AAAAAAGH! I CAN’T BELIEVE SHE GOT ME WITH SUCH A STUPID TRICK! AND WITH THE EMPRESS WATCHING, TOO! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! WHY DID I EVEN ACCEPT THE TRIPLE?! I’M STUPID! SHIT!”
The lich slowly walked away, calling Sofia a flurry of distasteful names that would have made Pestle frown, had she had a proper face.
She turned around, looking at the item locked in a display case under more and more layers of alarms. It was an old book, which had to be very precious, considering how well secured it was.
Now robbery!
Pestle slowly observed the enchantments surrounding the display case. Though she understood little about the practice of enchanting itself, reading the flow of mana and deducing what it would do was as natural a breathing for a fairy. From what she could tell, breaking the protection and grabbing the book wouldn’t be too hard, but it would trigger several enchantments, some of which she could not predict the result of, as only the trigger itself was in this one room.
Hmm… If Pestle robbery now maybe Sofia danger…
What if… Hiding here until end?
Hope lich no see broken doors.
With here new strategy in mind Pestle peeled off one of the outer orichalcum layers of the room’s floor, sat in a corner with it in hand, and started slowly munching on it, waiting for news from Sofia.
Finally, after Pestle chewed through two thirds of the room’s flooring, she heard from Sofia again.
‘Pestle. I can see the exit. Whatever you’re trying to do, now’s your last chance.’
Chance!
Time for rob him blind! She rejoiced, jumping up and landing on top of the display case.
With a punch, she broke through the enchanted glass and grabbed the old book.
Loud alarms rung, mana chains appeared out of nowhere, tightly wrapping around Pestle, and a vast quantity of mana came from the other side of the floor toward Pestle, the lich was coming.
Pestle had thought she could break through the magic chains, but it seemed she had slightly overestimated her capabilities, as she found herself completely unable to move. She simply was not as strong as her instincts told her, as such a low level fae was not even supposed to exist.
Ack! Pesle is klepra after all!
Just as Pestle was wondering if she should kill herself right then and there to at least free Sofia of suspicion, the world around her shifted to a white void.
[Fourth wave: Gambler’s end - COMPLETED]
As the alarms rung, Sofia and the others ran toward the exit.
The even should end as soon as we’re out! Hold on, Pestle!
The exit gate had closed as soon as the alarm had started to ring, several layers of enchantments sealing it shut.
“Let me deal with the door!” Kuli called out, jumping to the front of the group, “[Crushing palm]!” She struck the closed gate with her open palm. For just a moment, it seemed to do nothing, after which, the gate suddenly burst open, its enchantments all breaking and failing to activate.
As soon as Kuli jumped through the broken gate, she disappeared; everyone jumped after her.
[Congratulations on completing the event! You have been transported to a waiting room while we review your performance and await for all participants to complete the event. In the meantime, you may say the name of your teammates out loud to spectate them if they are still ongoing.]
Sofia had been separated from the others, Kuli and Mornn were nowhere to be seen in the white void, but Pareth, Pestle and Crowie and the other scouts were all there.
The earring and the ingots are all gone, as expected… Huh?
“Sofia!” Pestle rejoiced, seeing that she got her attention, “Very robbery!” she exclaimed, holding up the book above her head with both hands.
“You… You managed to take something out of the event?! Did you do something special?”
Pestle tilted her skull to the side, “Special? No special. Leg robbery!”
“Let me see.”
Sofia grabbed the book from Pestle, its cover and spine were blank, so she opened it and read the first page.
‘Secrets of Chronomancy’
Comments
A.V. Anderson
TFTC I've also been wondering how the trial toybox works; Does it keep going even when there isn't a trial occuring? Or does it freeze time for everyone and everything inside until the next trial? I was leaning towards the latter, but after the "leg robbery" I have to lean on the former.
Dan N
There's a fan wiki with all the information available on RR. Here's the titles article. https://saintess-summons-skeletons.fandom.com/wiki/Title
Jonathan Wint
I just had a creepy idea. What if every fake world in every run has a hidden item in it? But that's not the creepy part. What if Sofie comes to the same conclusion??! And decides to go back and speedrun all the other worlds looking for items using toy box to reenter them! You know like a high level gamer going back and checking out low level instances for farming! Serifs begin to cry!
Jonathan Wint
She has power over time. I don't even know who will not be screwed by this! Everyone be afraid everyone be very afraid! 😳
Monster Royalty
Can we get a titles refresher post ?
Clara
Didn't she already go Zeus mode in this trial? Or do you mean a different divide form
E
I bet anything that the admins placed it there for a Marked. Pestle exists due to the Deep's power after all. Now we wait and see whether the Deep permit Sofia to use time magic in the "real" reality.
Amythyst
Thanks for the chapter! Two things I'm still looking forward to seeing though: Sophia busting out the divine form (imagine what the Gods/Recessed would say to that) and the message Sophia received as a reward for killing the Abyssal God at the end of Book 7. Also, has Pareth ever used the pulse ability he got from the amalgam shards in the last trial?
Amythyst
Seriously. Pestle is responsible for her beating the time trial dungeon in less than zero seconds, found the Abyssal God's mana heart for her, and covered an entire rift on her own in the demon invasion, on top of this robbery. Also the reflex test cube in today's RR update.
Tom Asciola
False Lord of Time, you say?
Matt Grayson
The system is more advanced. It will be NaN. 🤣
Matt Grayson
Misner, Thorne, and Wheeler? Nobody calls it by its title. Now Weyl’s “Time, Space, Matter”. That’s a good title.
Matt Grayson
Conversation with Diamond fae incredible window into fae psychology and culture. Short, but so evocative. 💕 And now I want a Where Leg? T-shirt.
Forint
"Secrets of Chronomancy" is too many syllables for a high tier item. "Secrets of Time" is better "Time" is ever better, but I'll accept "Chronos" as well You could go very very very hard if you replace the book with this. This is kinda, THE textbook on space-time and has been since 1973. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitation_(book)
Clara
She still got the points for those, everything gets converted to points
Monster Royalty
VERY LEG !!!!
Endicar
Shouldn’t Sofia be able to keep the ingots, I know she only got the ability to purchase the earring, but the ingots were from the left over proceeds
Ceasar Salas
Thanks for the chapter! Something tells me the Seraphs don’t know much about that book. But I’m sure Sofia’s uncles do and they will come knocking very soon I bet
Dan N
I'm guessing she's the Empress of the Klepra
Rat with a Pick
Seraphs: What have you got there? Sofia: A Forbidden Book! Seraphs: No!!
Cyclone001
Pestle POV was something I didn't know I needed - thank you. So, the second last floor had a fae and a dragon - both species born over lv 400. Thus, clearly not trial takers. They seem to also be aware of what's going on, so to me it appears this is a real place with real people - which also explains why the book didn't disappear. If true it's an interesting insight into how system fake worlds are created. That leads to the question though, who is this Empress?
Dan N
Kuli and Mornn are going to have some QUESTIONS when they see their team score is just those error pound signs you get when your number exceeds the allowed value of a cell in Excel.
Blackday768
Well that will end ether perfectly fine for everyone or more likely very very bad and highly entertaining.
Tom Asciola
She *did* have the option
Mornn
He'd smash his keyboard if he had one
OmniGlitcher
Very robbery! Huh, a second fae. Can all fae talk telepathically? >“WHAT WAS THAT?! SINCE WHEN IS A RANDOM NECROMANCER SUCH AN ADVANCED SPACE MAGE? HUH?! FUCK!” Ah I see. He's a gamer. >‘Secrets of Chronomancy’ Imagine if it's just the [Paradise Toybox] ritual.
Wensber
Thanks for the chapter! Watch that be the reason the chronomancer functions since the System can't reproduce time magic.
Mornn
Tartaros has his own way to deal with this, yeah
Lazy Monster
TFTC. Now that is an interesting find. I nominate Sofia for Time’s unofficial replacement.
Clara
Everything gets converted to trial points. The earrings too; however bringing them out now unlocks them as a purchase for Sofia. I'd guess the mana heart potion seller probably carries it now
phantom
If you mean the book I don't see how it could be a trap. No one was supposed to be able to reach that book and then be able to escape. Even if Pestle's species was around this was a species not far from rank of a dragon. They could have outright killed the lich.
Clara
Gave it some thought: I think often these kinds of povs serve to show that yes, the pov is dumb. This one is instead showing that no, Pestle is smart actually, just bad with language
Emily Gurnavage
Edit: Seems I just forgot or missed some lines on the earring text that would have made this obvious. "The earring and the ingots are all gone, as expected…" What? Why as expected? Wasn't that earring part of the Game Master set or Champion set or whatever that she has been after? She won it "properly" (was given the prize, not stolen) so idk why she didn't keep it. Because they broke out at the end and didn't leave properly? Is everything you exchange the points for in the casino fake and you are judged on what you chose to spend points on or something? But in that case, earrings from that set being available make less sense to me. Should only be available in areas where stuff is as "real" as the market and rest areas. . Pestles pov was very fun though, as usual. And other fae existing still!?!?!??!???? Thought they went extinct like before the System even came along? Cool that some are down there. I wonder if they are just memories though like the fake trial takers or if they are really the last of the fae kept safe down there gambling for eternity.
Songy
For the leg! \( ﾟヮﾟ)/
Songy
Hahahahahahahahahahahahah!! Oh by the lords, Pestle is such a perfect fit for Sofia. And the book, I guess Sofia isn't able to nosell everything in very possible dimension and not-dimension yet, so might as well add time into the mix :'D
Matt Grayson
Best! Chapter fun! But at least the trial didn’t break. Unless the value of the book is NaN and it was stolen from the Time Lord’s library.
Clara
With the chronomancy, it would be really funny if learning that outside of a simulation causes huge problems; thankfully, Sofia has a nice [false lord] class to slot that into safely as a 5th skill...😏
Tom Asciola
A Diamond One, you say? Some fae lore to whet the appetite before Sofia goes for Sorrow's other artifact? I'm also starting to think the lich is a real person. Was the second casino full of actual people?
Clara
Also I was doing some rereading: With her latest specialization, I think grabbing the sculpting classless is actually a very good plan. It gives 5% speed and precision per level at "sculpting and producing handmade art". In the Tartaros duel, touching his bones to get better speed and control was a distinct advantage in the fight, this would absolutely help. Also, one of the effects of heat death was: "When losing a limb, the contained Mana will be evenly distributed throughout the remaining parts of the body instead of being lost." Does this problem get removed for everyone one you get a mana heart (does that mean mana veins go away?), or did Tartaros also have something to fix that?
Mornn
More like an easter egg :p
Karnevale
Chronomancy??? But that's a whole other branch of magic, Soph. Where will you even find the time to- ohhh I get it
JHD
Very leg!
Codered999
You mean Scripture? Knowledge isn't an enemy of Sofia.
John Grizzly
The only real thing from the casino i guess? Or thr lowest floor was the anchor and only real space to the event/casino. Hence the only place with real items?
Shelbo
Oh oh Scripture is fucccckkked even more than before now
phantom
'But it no work on ravager one.' They said Sofia being the necromancer is the problem. Yet Pestle is what broke the trial.
Clara
Sicko mode!!!! Pestle pov was very fun. Normally I'm not a fan of povs that have purposefully choppy grammar like that, but this one was well done
BOT
That can't end well for anyone involved, or it's a massive bait. What a cliff to end on though, thank the lords it wasn't a friday chapter
Whyer
TFTC! Instantly started grinning at "Secret Leg" :D
phantom
"Not very smart, Sofia… You sure fae descendant not klepra?" I don't think a single person is sure of that.
Quentin Cozzi
Thanks for the chapter!
