Chapter 117: Part．12—8［Risking one's life to scout the path is the meat pigeon's specialty; one has to try it］

Part．12—8［Risking one's life to scout the path is the meat pigeon's specialty; one has to try it］

According to these profound‑sounding words, Wu Ming and Mi Na examined the remaining notes, hoping to find other relevant information.

Just as previously commented, although Mi Na's father made no progress on some deeper issues, the basic information was extraordinarily solid and complex.

According to various indexes and bookmarks, they indeed followed the labels of triangular stone platform, eye, and this kind of tag to locate other places with such characteristics.

In the western high altitude.

【At the peak of the ancient civilization's spire, let this sleeping seed bathe in sunlight.】

In the depths beneath the eastern desert.

【The alchemical process requires great fire and heat; to achieve this, place the seed in a scorching spot, producing its transformation possessing miraculous immense destructive heat.】

At a certain spot in the refuge on the second‑to‑last layer of Sacred Mountain.

【Once completed, it will, like the sun, be able to nourish all things growing.... To nourish life, creating it requires vast amounts of life to pass away. Let the seed devour a hundred different lives.....】

At the easternmost point of the desert, the deepest underground location.

【Final step: attach this 'embryo' to the essence of the four elements' crystals. Be careful, the 'embryo' is susceptible to corrosion.....】

"Like the sun..... Wait!? Nuclear fusion? No, that's wrong, it should be——"

Wu Ming followed the information revealed by these words, then associated it with the useless celestial bodies hanging in the sky, and his eyes widened.

"Creating a sun through alchemy, using this world's original elements, using this world's original rules! This is alchemy!"

Mi Na, trembling slightly, recorded and said at the back of the notes.

She was very excited; those techniques once like legends again demonstrated their power in this world. Even if they gained no tangible harvest, merely obtaining these 'stones from another hill' for polishing jade was enough to justify their efforts here.

"Mm... Why are you so eagerly showing us this? Is this really your true intention?"

Recalling that higher‑level communication at the start of the cycle, Wu Ming suddenly understood nature's longing.

The damaged He wishes to be made whole again, to the extent of not caring about the source that originally belonged to Him but was siphoned away by greedy 'people'.

And the first step to restore wholeness is to let nature's cycle begin anew; to start the cycle, one must inject power.

And that power is the sun!

"Let me see, sun... seed... the key word should be something related to warmth. Perhaps we can find it on those strange stones." The girl muttered, flipping to the relevant page.

According to the limited special‑item screening method and the various rules of alchemy in this world, they quickly determined the target's location—within a relic full of soul‑bodied monsters beneath the western ice fissure.

"Mm, it turns out this eye is useful here too." Comparing the earlier information, both suddenly realized.

Understood this way, the 'eye' used to see through illusory soul‑bodied monsters is merely a side effect; seeing through hidden secrets is its true purpose.

Moreover, reconnecting with the earlier cipher concerning the three deities representing the world, the sun might truly be nature's key to breaking the impasse.

Thinking, the two rearranged the spell configuration of their staffs.

"Let's go; this is only the beginning. Even in this much‑simpler world, the sun isn't that easy to create."

Wu Ming again began deep breathing before action. Having a seemingly useful goal as forward motivation is better than facing a vague need for action.

Ice fissure.

This is a subterranean ice‑cavern structure similar to Earth's polar glaciers; compared to the relatively spacious third layer of Sacred Mountain, this place is actually closer to a true glacial subterranean environment.

In this area, the fissure's maximum width is just enough for an adult to stand upright, while the minimum can be pursued ever smaller.

Boom boom boom!!!

After confirming that this place's structural strength is roughly as unscientific as a certain blocky open‑world game, Wu Ming and the other unhesitatingly used various mixed‑explosion spells to blast a path; although ordinary black‑hole launches with infinite world correction could also easily open a path, they hadn't done that yet, but here the joy of the audiovisual effects of indiscriminate bombardment surpasses that.

In this world with only the two of them and an endless loop, finding some amusement can still keep them from collapsing too easily.

Using the substantive (literal) vision projected by the eye, they all the way quickly blasted down to the lowest layer.

Here likewise awaits a powerful enemy, though shaped into a human skull by immense force, but upon close inspection one sees that its surface not only vaguely shows various biological forms in shape, but its apparent material also displays the kinds of patterns only non‑biotic substances have.

It gives the impression of a synthetic beast in a soul‑body state.

There isn't much movement; this failed‑product‑like thing has a very simple attack pattern, even simpler than the Xi Xi enemies who wield tech weapons and fire guns and cannons.

The back‑and‑forth rams were dodged, then came precise explosives appearing nearby; successive waves of attack coordinated with the stone‑eye's observation finished it off in under five minutes.

Sizzle—pop~

Accompanying the explosion of the soul‑body, a mysterious emotion suddenly spread through both of their hearts.

They 'heard' a faint yet clear and powerful pulse‑like sound.

"What is this!?? A seed?" Instinctively they looked toward where the soul‑body had died; a stone shaped like an egg, bearing a concentric‑circle pattern, lay still among the rubble of the shattered ground.

"The world originates from a bird's egg, so shaping the sun's seed like this is not strange. When thinking, we must combine what we know; this is one of the rules." Wu Ming stepped forward, picked it up, and a warm feeling traveled from the hand holding the seed through his whole body.

At that moment, Wu Ming even felt his body become a bit lighter.

"Whoa, even just a seed this powerful—no wonder it spawned such a monster."

Although it likewise gives warmth, unlike the fire stone noted in the notebook as one of the world's elements, a lone thrown fire stone makes its holder immune to high‑temperature threats and, in the environment, scorches away liquid‑flammable combustibles.

Whereas the sun seed only grants warmth and causes life to sprout in lifeless places.

In the girl's peripheral vision she saw plants sprouting and growing from the ground beneath her feet.

Wu Ming described his sensations, Mi Na supplemented the notes, and both simultaneously considered the next steps.

"Let the seed bathe in sunlight at the peak of the ancient civilization.... civilization.... pyramid!!"

According to the cipher's meaning, the only place where one can simultaneously see light and civilization is the pyramid on the surface.

Brushing away the surface sand and gravel, they quickly found on the pyramid's top a recessed altar bearing the same stone‑eye pattern; with a faint apprehension, the girl gently placed the pallid sun seed upon it.

Then they stepped aside, waiting for change.

One minute...

Three minutes...

Five minutes...

"Little Wu Ming...."

She raised her hand to stop what Mina was about to say; although there had been no response for a while, the slight feedback from the environment when she deduced the first step made Wuming confident they were correct.

Be patient, this is a huge project; we aren't even operators in it, we're just a tiny pusher.

Wuming handed the notes in her hand to Mina, then took out a brand-new notebook and began recording everything from the start.

After obtaining the seed, her connection with the deity known as the Creator of Nature grew stronger.

From there, Wuming gained more comprehensive knowledge, so to avoid conflicts from excessive supplementation with Mina's father's notes, she chose to re-record everything in a new notebook.

"A notebook that comprehensively analyzes and summarizes the information of this world, no longer containing only information useful in this world, but a versatile theoretical system applicable in many places is gradually forming. I need such a system as a backup... or perhaps because my innate hamster trait always wants to hoard things others don't have..."

In the midst of thought, tiny light particles from all directions, like moths flying into a flame, gathered in the air and then all poured into the seed on the altar. In the glow of the light particles, the yet‑ungrown seed shimmered with the feeling of sunlight.

"This should be a fragmented concept; the seed is merely a vessel, its purpose should be to re‑gather these things that ought to exist and then re‑condense them." Mina reached out trying to scoop some to observe, but the particles easily passed through her palm.

Wuming looked at Mina in surprise; she hadn't expected that, although Mina couldn't directly "observe" this process using spiritual energy or any special ability, she could infer a result close to her own understanding just with her eyes and brain.

Afterwards, out of a little selfishness, Wuming raised her hand and for the first time used a power not belonging to this world.

A bit of her own spiritual energy condensed on her hand into a pure, inward‑gathering crystal; then the girl lifted the created object toward the seed gathering the sun‑concept, a flash of light, and a small portion of the "light points" was thus trapped in that crystal, becoming a light mass about the size of a soybean.

"Just a bit of curiosity; this amount shouldn't have much effect." Wuming smiled at Mina beside her.

Hum~~~

As the sound faded, a strange tremor transmitted from Wuming's still‑unretracted spiritual energy into her perception.

"Hmm, that definitely won't happen. I trust my intuition." The girl, a bit nervous, confirmed that Mina hadn't noticed this anomaly, and thus emphasized her judgment (being stubborn).

Laughable, once it's in my hand it's mine; anyway I can run and you can't stop me, so making me work without letting me collect something is impossible.

Bang!

After the small maneuver, the seed surrounded by light points also completed its first metamorphosis, shifting from its original gray‑white to a pulsing crimson that seemed alive.

"All right, all right, don't think about that, let's move on to the next step!" Seeing the first step done, Wuming hastily spoke loudly on purpose, and at the same time lifted the seed and walked away.

Hmm, after the first wave of growth, the seed that was originally fist‑sized has now become baby‑sized. A strong warm energy also began to radiate outward involuntarily; although Wuming could endure it, if Mina reached out to touch it she would get burned.

"We need great light and heat... well, light, heat, probably an explosion? Scorching Land... pile a mountain with a huge amount of explosives?" Wuming thought, she lowered her gaze to the magic wand in her hand; this cycle's luck drew the infinite world correction, so she could actually achieve that idea. But is it really like that?

Try it?

Try it!

Mina was far more determined than Wuming; having a cycle that allows trial and error, as an experimenter by nature she had nothing to fear.

So they returned to the shrine of the Holy Mountain, where the stone tiles are extraordinarily hard; aside from spells like light piercing or black holes that can directly erase matter, ordinary explosives can't damage it at all, making it an ideal place to experiment with this cipher.

【Trigger Spark Bomb → Quadruple Release → Quadruple Release → Quadruple Release → Quadruple Release → Summon Ammo Box, Summon Ammo Box......】

A spark bomb, followed by three multiple releases, and then a large pile all consisting of the best explosive-power magic-generated ammunition boxes that can be found in this cycle.

Although releasing such a large amount of magic at once would consume nearly all the magic power in the wand and cause prolonged overheating requiring the wand to cool down, for Wuming, who only needs to release it once, it's completely not a problem.

The two estimated a rough safe distance and moved to a remote spot, casually tossing aside the overheated, smoking wand that seemed about to break; Mina lifted another wand loaded with a large magical fireball, ready to detonate.

"Using scorching light and heat to stimulate the sun's next stage of growth, I hope our guess is correct." After a silent prayer, Mina focused her attention on the wand.

Clang!

With a soft sound, a purple flash magic bolt arced into the small hill formed by the ammo boxes, immediately followed by a shockwave from the instantaneous detonation that triggered the other ammo boxes, causing a chain explosion.

There's no loss of power from delays between explosions; this world's unique rule means that explosives created by magic don't require calculating fuse distances or such profound knowledge—once detonated, everything affected explodes simultaneously.

Boom!!!!

We succeeded! Ah!!!!!!

The blast had just ended when Mina's delighted shout came to their ears, but right after that came her scream and a mysterious attractive force.

As she instinctively stepped back, Wuming saw Mina, who was standing ahead of her, turn and face her, reaching out fearfully.

What happened?!

Wuming didn't even have time to think much before hastily reaching out to pull Mina, who was being tugged by some force, back; however, it seemed because of her slight hesitation just before and their original positional difference, when Wuming grabbed Mina's outstretched hand, her voice had already turned into a anguished scream.

"Ahhhhh it hurts!!!! So hot!!! Quick, save me!!!"

At this moment Mina couldn't even call out Wuming's name, and from Wuming's perspective she also saw the situation.

The verification luck for the second cipher was good, they succeeded, but precisely because they succeeded, the accident occurred.

The infant‑sized crimson seed that had existed before vanished, replaced by a huge golden globe that shone, spewing light and heat, continually drawing surrounding material toward it, and then, like a real star, grinding everything that approached it into powder.

As for Mina, because she stood somewhat close, at the instant the "sun" finished growing, the stones under her feet began to crumble, forming an arc that let her slide past; thus, originally just somewhat near, she became even closer, and moreover the material near the sun was being rapidly attracted and ground away, leaving Mina no foothold to climb back.

And the magic wand? When she fell, the lighter wand slipped from her hand and was sucked away.

That anguished scream just now was the pain from part of the tissue in her back and lower limbs being burned off and peeled away.

Pop! Crack!

The wall that Wuming was scratching at also began to disintegrate under the growing pull.

"No, no, I'll save you! Mina! Hold on!" In an instant, realizing that with their current strength they couldn't get both of them out of here, Wuming immediately activated the magical girl's power, entered transformation state, turned her head, and exerted her full strength.

Come——out——ah!!!!

With a great roar, the girl crushed the ground beneath her feet and finally pulled Mina free from the "sun's" gravitational range.

"It's okay, it's okay. We're safe." The relaxed Wuming slumped to the ground and at once released the transformation state.

"Mina, hold on, you're all right...?" The girl turned her head, only to see her companion already devoid of life.

Wuming was still a step late; perhaps when Mina let out that anguished cry she should have entered the transformation state without hesitation to pull them out of the gravitational range, and because she delayed by just one or two seconds, Mina—who originally had only part of her lower‑limb tissue and back skin torn away—suffered greater pain.

A rough estimate is that she now probably has only a small half of her internal organs left.

Wuming turned her head away, she didn't dare accept the information sent back by the crystal particles in the air; she only needed to know that Mina was already dead.

"Ah... I'm really stupid, truly, just because I relaxed my school life for a few months, I forgot you were merely an ordinary person's level, and for a moment I didn't notice sending you off. Ah!"

She spent some time in dejection.

Wuming shook her head, endured the inner pain, and stood up.

"We'll talk about the sun later; I have to first go to 'Great Work' to restart, otherwise... no, I can definitely do it."

She reached into her pocket, firmly gripped the "Source Substance", then immediately re-entered the transformation state and rushed underground at top speed...

The familiar scene reappeared; as the golden world shed its anomalous form, life that had vanished for some reason returned to its original place.

Ah ah ah ah!!!!

The revived Mina seemed to still have her consciousness stuck in the immense pain of her bodily tissues being gradually stripped away by the sun.

Stop shouting, stop shouting, it's fine, everything's okay now.

Wumiao stepped forward and hugged the girl who was a head taller than her, comforting her.

Ah———!!

However, this didn't seem to have much effect.

Smack!

Listening to the ear-splitting screams for a full half minute, unable to bear it any longer, Wumiao finally reached out and flicked her forehead.

Oh! Eh? I, I'm okay? I'm okay!!!

Another part of her body ached, as if refreshing Mina's consciousness, finally waking her up.

Ah, ha, this, I'm okay? Great!! Xiao Wumiao, did you really save me?

Her face was full of the joy of surviving a catastrophe.

Ah, I, ah this, actually, actually it's like this...

Wumiao's expression twisted unnaturally at the corner of her mouth, but she still spoke frankly, telling Mina everything that had just happened.

Mm... so I ended up dying after all.

Mina listened and then wore an expression of "I see."

Ah? You, you don't blame me for not saving you? Now it was Wumiao's turn to be puzzled.

Hahaha, rather, all I feel now is gratitude for being alive. You should know that dealing with the mysterious is inherently dangerous; countless agents and other personnel have died in the line of exploration. Moreover, just like this time, it's another world beyond a spatial gate that one has no experience exploring beforehand. Xiao Wumiao, the fact that you managed to save me only shows how lucky we are, because the unknown holds too many surprises. If you hadn't saved me, I would have become an example warning those who come after what to watch out for. Although I haven't graduated yet, I already understand this! So, thank you, Xiao Wumiao.

She explained, then stepped forward and tightly hugged Wumiao.

Alright, alright, I'm a bit out of breath. Let's leave it at that. Since we've recovered, let's continue. We got to the second phrase of the cipher in the experiment; what's next?

The girl blinked hard at her slightly teary eyes, then similarly embraced the other before gently pushing her away.

"Mm-hmm! For complete exploration, for the ultimate masterpiece." Mina clenched her fists and cheered herself on.