Mornn
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Chapter 589 - Fake it till you fake it
🕑 Added 2024-12-11 17:00:15 +0000 UTCAs if she had been doused in oil beforehand, Sofia immediately burst up in flames. The fire was violent and quite strong, but it seemed content to envelope Sofia’s body, not spreading anywhere else.
“Sofia… You good?” Alith asked, only mildly worried.
Sofia observed her hands through the flames, waving them around and watching how the fire reacted. “I am, yes. Doesn’t hurt at all, it barely feels hot, even, but it does hinder my vision a bit. It’s interesting how it doesn’t seem to spread.”
“Well, good, considering how close we are to the tree. I can confirm that this fire is hot, from my perspective… I am immune to fire though so I can hardly show that…”
“You look a bit sick,” Sofia remarqued.
“It’s… This reminded me of the day I died. Not often that you get to see people get engulfed in flames. Good that I’m not next in line this time…”
“Oh… Sorry, I completely forgot about that…”
“It’s nothing, doubt you could have guessed this is what was going to happen to you anyway. Looks like you’ve got your own fire immunity now… Maybe. Or the fire is fake,” looking sideways, she turned to Pareth, “Why don’t you try- Ah, nevermind, you’ll be immune too since there’s no way it burns for ten percent of your health… Should we call Bookie to see if the fire can burn anything at all?”
“I don’t think that will be necessary,” Sofia commented, “This is a bit weird but I can tell I’m only pulling energy from one of Sun’s essences currently, it feels like I can make the flames stronger if I try to use the rest, but also… I don’t know, this skill is strange. I really do get the feeling that I am stealing power.”
“Well, you got the essences after all, so in a way you’ve stolen the power already.”
“True… Well, so far this is mostly just a fire immunity, I guess, it’s really not bad. Doesn’t cost me any mana either,” Sofia explained, expelling a bit of her mana to see if it reacted to the flames. While it did not, there was something else that caught Sofia’s attention. She looked up.
Alith and Pareth also looked up.
“Felt something? Is Sun about to fall from the tree branches or what?” Alith asked.
“I was just thinking that we’re completely in the shade of the tree right now… But my upgraded regeneration in sunlight is active.”
Alith immediately picked up on what this meant, “Now this is juicy! BOOKIE! GET YOUR BONES OVER HERE!”
“D- did you just use the banshee scream to shout louder?” Sofia asked, astonished.
“Yeah? Didn’t activate any of the effects though, don’t worry. It’s basically just voice-amplification magic at this point,” Alith explained with a smug look.
“I will never get being so proud over inventing new ways to be obnoxiously loud and noisy,” Dopple commented out of nowhere, prompting Alith to ‘punch herself’ in the chest. “Ouch. I suppose that was uncalled for. But I would remind you that you are two weeks late on that meal you promised me…”
Alith started to blush, “I- I was busy! You should know about it! We… We’ll go shopping for a few chestplates later today, alright?”
“Much appreciated.”
Sofia observed their back and forth, still covered by fire. “Is it me or has Dopple has gotten a lot more polite?”
Alith sighed, “We got used to each other, I guess. On the other hand I feel like Pareth has gotten less polite,” she commented with a raised brow.
Pareth’s jaw dropped at the accusation, but he also couldn’t say anything back.
“I see what you mean. He’s not been doing much of the polite bows and gestures lately, but I’m pretty sure it’s just because of his skeleton, his habitual gestures look a bit… Out of place with the hellspawn abomination…” Sofia defended him. And he vehemently nodded in approval.
“That so? I thought maybe he was mad because of the whole date thing you’ve been doing,” Alith casually said with a shrug.
Sofia turned to look at Pareth, completely stunned at the idea that Pareth might have any kind of romantic feelings for her. That was just not something she could imagine. “Is… Is it like that?” she asked, feeling now that this was dangerous territory. Thankfully, she was immediately reassured by Pareth’s visceral denial, his body language couldn’t lie, he was not interested in her like that, but somehow Sofia felt some mixed emotions about that, mostly relief but with a subtle distant tinge of disappointment. “Ahah… See, it’s really not like that. Pareth is more like… Another sibling, at this point? To begin with I don’t think we could make a very healthy couple, considering how we’re linked, and the fact that he can hear my thoughts, among other things.”
Pareth nodded in approval with all three of his heads.
“Also despite his maturity he is technically only like five years old, which, you know, doesn’t mean much for a skeleton, but yeah,” Sofia added.
“Hmm, yeah, fair. Well, maybe if you don’t date him I will,” Alith deadpanned, which was followed by a long silence. “What? He may look like that now but with the draconic shapeshifting he’s bound to be able to become the most handsome guy ever, no? Not only that but, It’d be fine with me because I know you so well and I’m holed-up in my laboratory all the time anyway, but what other girl out there is gonna allow her man to be with another woman all the time? And well, he’s got a pretty decent personality if you just ignore the fact that he can’t speak, so… I’m just saying,” she continued with another shrug.
Pareth disappeared into Sofia’s storage ring.
P- Pareth?
Sofia looked down at Alith, “I think you scared him off… Just between us… Were you serious?”
“When have I ever lied?” Alith answered with a question of her own, before looking far behind Sofia and waving, “Hoy! What took you so long?!”
Bookie was running up to them, his book form under one arm and a bunch of wildflowers in his other hand. Bookie only answered when he got close enough, “I was picking flowers to make a crown!” he proudly answered, showing the blue and yellow flowers he had picked. He then turned to Sofia, “But why is Sofia on fire?”
“This is my last racial skill,” Sofia explained, “Alith called you so we can try something.”
“I thought it’d work by now,” Alith said, “but I guess not, after all it doesn’t look like that fire makes much light so I suppose it’s not too surprising.”
“I don’t really get it, what do I need to try?” Bookie asked.
“Give Alith the flowers for a second, I don’t want to burn them by accident,” Sofia told him.
Bookie nodded and gave Alith the flowers and his book, “You don’t mind?” he asked.
“Of course not, now go out there and give Sofia a hug.”
Bookie looked a bit destabilized by the order. “Is that what you wanted to try? I already hug Sofia all the time!” he answered, but turned around and walked up to Sofia anyway, lifting his arms up in the air for her to grab him.
“Are you not worried about the fire?” Sofia asked as she bent over to be closer to his eye-level.
“It doesn’t feel dangerous,” Bookie answered, sounding quite confident about it.
“Alright then, let’s just try touching fingers for now though, just in case, I don’t want to hurt you,” Sofia continued, extending an open hand in front of him with a smile.
Bookie reached out into the fire and grabbed one of Sofia’s fingers.
“It’s hot but it doesn’t hurt,” Bookie said, letting go of the finger, astonished by the weird fire, taking his hand in and out.
Sofia’s smile grew wider, “Leave your hand in and look at it really closely, you’ll understand what is happening.”
Bookie nodded and did just that, he observed his unharmed hand within the fire. It was hard to see amidst the orange fire, but his hand shone with a faint golden light.
“The blessing!” Bookie almost shouted, “Sofia, you can do Sun Fire?!” he excitedly asked.
“Well… I wasn’t exactly sure but now I am, yes I can,” she answered, before giving Bookie’s arm a surprise yank, “now come here for the promised hug!”
And now to try the other runes!
Comments
Logen Felxon
Well, Pareth do seem like a pretty big handsome fella. And Alith is sorta fleeting, not the worst romance ever, they do have one thing in common, being creatures "summoned" by Sofia, and she as their summoner give the leeway to be as free as they want regardless of the system enforced bond they have with their summoner. Though I'm pretty sure Pareth, in his summoning had something like "Summon a spirit that is devoted to you to posess a skeleton" or somesuch. I am pretty sure that he's through the system is supposed to love her in some way shape or form. But I might be misremembering hard here.
L
Alith kinda desperate
Jeanean
Well, not like she wasn’t already, but with the ability to activate Suns blessing anywhere on demand, even if its only in a small area around herself, she is officially broken.
Tejing
She really has the wrong angle to catch a view of that, I'm afraid :-P
Tejing
Considering it was a God who gave her the ability, I doubt it's too much of a problem for them when she uses it. Doesn't mean she won't misuse it and harm herself or something, though.
Tejing
Hmm, if she can control the fire better, can she make a nice synergy with Alith's [From the ashes]? Bone Dominus' healing doesn't affect Alith, so it'll certainly be nice to have a reliable way to heal her. Especially if she can project the fire around Alith even when they're some distance apart. +20% to non-health physical stats is pretty huge for her build, too. Ooh! Turning on the sunlight bonus on command is really nice. Doesn't even cost her much of anything beyond (I assume) a little concentration. Nice! It's nice seeing Sofia and Alith bantering again. There hasn't been too much of that in quite a while. Pareth running away was hilarious! Bookie is cute as usual. Looking forward to finding out what the other runes do. Correction: “You look a bit sick,” Sofia remarqued. remarqued -> remarked
Matt Grayson
Sun is always watching. Probably in hopes that a gust of wind will flip up someone’s skirt.
Chance Rose
Alith and pareth would be a good ship. They are both linked to Sof ( I know she isn't anymore, but Sof can still res her). And the short stack ninja alchemist is a good counterpart to the regal undead weapon master and protector of the stainless of the deep. It works.
E
What does Sun Fire do again? This adds a whole new level of complexity to her skill set. Last chapter we saw Sofia grow a tree with the nymphs. What happens when she repeats that with Life's essence active?
Lazy Monster
Well of the gods whose essence she has only Scripture doesn’t like her so they probably won’t object.
Ceasar Salas
Thanks for the chapter! I still hope for the Pareth X Sofia ship…
BOT
I wonder how playing with gods divine authority will go. Absolutely no ways this could go wrong
Cyclone001
Poor Pareth. Deep in the friend zone.
Mornn
Same
Mornn
Nobody says she isn't watching :p
ArtTheGreat
I want a hug from Sophia…
Lazy Monster
TFTC. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t expecting Sun to just kinda show up to watch Sofia fumble around with her divine power.
ArtTheGreat
Sophia’s hugs were already warm and soft due to her rather significant ‘charisma’ But now they also have that delightful warmth of lying in a sun beam!
Daemion
I think Pareth never thought about having a romantic relationship with anyone, he probably believes he just belongs to Sofia and that's the end of it. Encountering an attractive girl who shows interest in him despite all the complications was probably a shock to the system. And yay, Sofia gets to cheat more! She becomes her own sun, so she can keep up the blessing even underground or at night. I wonder what the effect would be for the other essences... and it explains why Lumians need divine essences to evolve in the first place. Without them their racial skill can't work.
Custus
Thanks for the chapter!
Wensber
Something tells me Pareth is the overprotective sibling and is appalled at the suggestion that he might be a competitor.
Quentin Cozzi
Thanks for the chapter!
Wensber
Thanks for the chapter!
