svetikya Page 232
Page 232
The faint sound of flowing water reached Latis's ears. He opened his eyes, subconsciously rubbed his face, and yawned.
"……and many more!"
He paused, surprised, and reached out to look at his palm before touching his throat.
"I didn't turn into a skeleton? I can still talk?"
The feeling of being lapped by the tide came from his legs. Latis pushed himself up and looked around at the Bone Spirit Realm he had once visited.
Illuminated by a pale light that seemed to come from nowhere, the pitted and uneven surface of the Bone Spirit Realm shimmered with a highly contrasting diffuse reflection. Occasionally, a small section of withered bone would be exposed on the uneven ground, and some pitch-black, thorny vines would grow from the ground and hang dry on the surface.
Latis was no stranger to this terrain, but what surprised him was that the Bone Spirit Realm was now filled with puddles of all sizes, with pale water flowing into streams that flowed endlessly toward unknown destinations.
"My spawn point has changed? Who changed my Stardew Valley start to River Farm? Where's my standard farm?"
Latis muttered a complaint, shook his head, and started walking, intending to look around at his surroundings.
Clack clack...
"Who?!"
The sound of bones clanging against each other instantly put him on alert. He hunched over and looked around, but found no suspicious enemies, not even a single wanderer.
"strangeness……"
He took another step, and the strange clicking sound rang out again.
"?"
Latis lowered his head, kicked off his boots, and rolled up his trouser leg to see what was going on. Sure enough, the part of his body below his calves had all turned into bones.
"Is it because they were soaked in water earlier?" He wasn't panicked. He put his boots back on, touched his still slightly damp trouser legs, and muttered to himself:
"Anyway, as long as Brother Niu is still here... Pshaw, that's not important. What's important is why this water is wiping away my body. Although I didn't feel any pain, my feet, which I just had a massage, are gone. I feel like I've lost out big time..."
Latis leaned closer to the stream and examined it carefully. The water was an unusually pale color and completely opaque, but he did vaguely recognize this type of water...
"It's a bit like the river where Sai Leng cleaned my bones before... I think it was called the 'River Styx'?"
He scratched his head, somewhat bewildered by the completely different scene in the Bone Spirit Realm.
"Could it be that I was really born in a new place? Does that mean I'm about to embark on a new journey..."
Suddenly, a cool breeze blew in from nowhere, carrying some white sand from the ground into the water.
"...Mr. Bones?"
The same cool voice sounded hesitantly from behind Latis, both strange and familiar. Latis shuddered and quickly turned around, saying:
"This, this familiar voice, could it be... eh?"
The spirit that appeared before me wore a long maid dress, and there seemed to be a trace of confusion in her light blue eyes. Her face was pale, and she looked cute but with a hint of indifference.
The little girl had grown much taller. She used to only reach Latis's chest, but now she was as tall as his chin. Her long hair was tied into big pigtails, and only the rise and fall of her chest remained calm.
“…You…you are?”
Latis scratched his head and asked hesitantly.
Seren raised her head slightly, gently sniffing the air, her eyes suddenly trembling. She looked at Latis, absentmindedly fidgeting with the hem of her dress. After a long while, she managed to keep her voice steady, explaining with a hint of joy:
"In my dream, I felt the old contract appear nearby, and I was bullied by others. I woke up in a panic and triggered the contract... but I couldn't find it anywhere. I thought this Black Sun was going to pass by like this again..."
Seren raised his head, looked at Latis's face, and uncertainly sensed his soul aura again. After confirming that he was his contractor, he continued:
"Mr. Bones, I thought you had already been taken away by the River Styx... The white moon of the Bone Spirit Realm has risen and set a total of 37,564 times..."
She subconsciously took a few steps forward, then stopped, her quiet voice carrying a barely perceptible hint of confusion and grievance:
"Mr. Bones, your body has recovered. Have all your memories from your life returned to your body?"
She hesitated for a moment, then asked:
"Mr. Bones, do you remember me?"
Chapter 239 Mount Augusta has collapsed!
[Of course you couldn't forget this bone spirit maid. After all, she was the first female creature you'd encountered since arriving in this other world, besides your good friend Ate. Although Seren has transformed from a flat-chested loli into a flat-chested mature woman, it doesn't diminish your feelings for her.]
However, you were quite shocked when she said that more than 30,000 white moons had passed. Although you didn't know exactly how long a white moon was, based on your experience of waiting for a white moon for more than half a month last time, the time between two white moons was at least several dozen days.
You were slightly speechless, but fortunately, Sai Leng didn't dwell on these things. She was so overjoyed at your return that she momentarily forgot how agonizing the long wait had been.
According to her, the place where you were reborn is actually the place where you died. She once transformed into a withered branch here, and every time the white moon sets and the black sun rises, she would revert to a bone spirit, returning to this place before the arrival of a white moon to await your return as promised.
[Thirty thousand times the moon has shone brightly, and the land, washed away by floods, no longer resembles the place you once knew. The petty rallies and arrogant Bone Spirit rivals of yesteryear have long since vanished in the torrents, leaving only your Bone Spirit maid rooted here.]
At the same time, you finally understand the meaning of "white moon".
[In the Bone Spirit Realm, there is no sun during the day, hence the name "Black Sun." However, it will eventually undergo the cycle of time, exhibiting natural phenomena similar to planetary rotation. With the end of the Black Sun, the "White Moon" will arrive.]
It wasn't a moon, but an irresistible white torrent. When it arrived, all the land it washed over fell silent, just as night fell. That's why it was called the "White Moon."
After reminiscing about the past together, you curiously ask Serenity what she meant by "all her memories returning to her body."
[Sai Leng paused for a moment, her face showing almost the same blank expression as when she was a little girl. She gestured and stammered as she explained to you that this was a magical phenomenon in the Bone Spirit Realm...]
……
These pools and streams, large and small, are indeed the "River Styx" I saw last time I came to the Bone Spirit Realm.
Or rather, the "River Styx" and these bodies of water are both waters that accumulated on the surface after being washed away by the flood of the "White Moon".
The scene we see now is what it looks like right after the floodwaters recede, damp and messy everywhere. As time goes by, the water will slowly dry up, and the small streams will eventually converge into the "River Styx"... In other words, when only one wide "River Styx" exists on the surface, the "White Moon" will soon rise.
Latis waded through a pool of water of varying depths, when suddenly he felt a chill. Celeng, clinging to him, asked with some concern:
"Mr. Bones, your legs have turned back into bones. Are you sure your memories won't be damaged?"
“No, it can’t be.” Latis recalled his past experiences and found nothing missing. He guessed it was because this body was an avatar created by a simulator rather than a real physical body. So he shook his head, pondered for a moment, and asked:
“Saileng, according to you, the ‘River Styx’ will wash away the physical bodies of creatures, and with the disappearance of the body, the creature will also lose its memory, wandering aimlessly in this Bone Spirit Realm… Could it be that memory is linked to the physical body?”
“Hmm…” Seren flew out of Latis’s body, floated beside him for a moment, and said somewhat uncertainly:
"Mr. Bones, I don't know the answer to this question... In the River Styx, some skeletons may regain their memories and bodies, while others may lose them. It's like flowing water full of impurities; it may absorb the bones, or it may wash away the impurities from the bones..."
She paused and continued:
"But the body and memories always appear together, so I subconsciously assumed that after your body was washed away, your memories would also be lost..."
"Don't worry!" Latis laughed, patting his pectoral muscles, and said:
"Even if I turn back into a skeleton again, I will definitely take you to the top of Mount Augusta this time!"
"Eh?"
Seren's graceful figure paused for a moment, then she immediately caught up with Latis. A slight smile appeared on her pale and aloof face as she softly said:
"Mr. Bones, Mount Augusta has collapsed."
"……what?"
……
Mount Augusta is the sacred site of the Bone Taming Competition, mentioned by Seren in previous adventures. On "Starry Sea Day," trillions of skeletons and bone spirits from the entire Bone Spirit Realm participate in the competition, and ultimately, only one pair of partners can successfully win and ascend to the Starry Sea.
Now that Mount Augusta has collapsed, doesn't that mean the Bone Spirit Realm no longer has a path to the Star Sea?
[Selene tells you that after discovering the collapse of Mount Augusta, she spent over 20,000 black days searching for other high mountains. Fortunately, she eventually spotted the shadow of an extremely tall peak, though not entirely certain, but it was the only path she knew of at the moment.]
Listening to her adventures, you can't help but picture this: a little bone spirit, searching for a mountain leading to the future across the vast land, witnessed over 20,000 different white torrents, and, pursued by the torrents, returned to the place promised by her old friend, falling into slumber once more.
[The Bone Spirits truly do not die, or rather, the skeletons are not entirely dead. It's just that, comparatively speaking, the Bone Spirits carry the memories of tens or hundreds of thousands of slumbers and awakenings, searching for their contractors on this land.]
[Fortunately, you, an old friend, have finally returned. For Seren, the existence of Mount Augusta is irrelevant; all she needs to do is, as promised, take you with her into the sea of stars.]
You felt a pang of emotion. To you back then, the Bone Spirit Realm was merely a novel gaming environment, and Sai Leng was just a beginner NPC. Now, you realize that this NPC had been quietly waiting for you all along.
It's like logging into an old game you haven't played in ages, only to find the story still vividly alive, waiting for you to embark on your journey again. This unspoken affection has a unique kind of romance.
[Having returned to this world, you have even more questions than before... What exactly is the White Moon? What are the life forms of skeletons and bone spirits? Why does time pass so quickly here? What is the relationship between the so-called flesh and memories and the wandering skeletons...? You have a vague premonition that this seems to be closely related to the operating logic of the entire Great Thousand Worlds.]
Compared to other planes, this plane seems to lack a systematic civilization. At this moment, you and your bone spirit maid may very well be the civilization of the Bone Spirit Realm itself.
If Sai Leng stayed for you because she wanted to take you to the sea of stars as promised, then the first thought that popped into your mind as you looked at this desolate and lonely world would be to rush towards the sea of stars with her.
"In short!" Latis took a deep breath, casting aside the complex emotions in his mind, and forcefully clenched his fist, shouting with heroic spirit:
"Let's start again, Sereng! Once again, let's run like crazy towards a finish line!"
"Eh?"
Sai Leng slightly opened her mouth, muttering in a daze:
"So, Mr. Bones is such a lively and cheerful person?"
"Hey! I just have one more mouth than before!" Latis feigned annoyance, cracking his fists as if preparing to drive, and shouted:
"No time to explain, get in the car quickly!"
“…Hmm!” Seren’s lips unconsciously curled up slightly. She floated closer to Latis, about to return to his body, when suddenly she paused, seemingly lost in thought. A few seconds later, she awkwardly tugged at the hem of her clothes, then floated up and sat on Latis’s shoulder.
Latis, of course, paid no attention to the Bone Spirit Maid's little scheme. He was already imitating the sound of an engine and had started pawing the ground with his feet. Seeing that Seren was sitting steadily in the luxury viewing seat, he laughed twice and shot off like a wild bull that had broken free.
Amidst the splashing water, Latis's belated, anxious voice came:
"Wait, Sereng, which way are we going?!"
Seren finally couldn't hold back her soft laughter, which drifted on the wind. She laughed for a while before being urged by Latis, who was embarrassed and angry, to speak:
"The moon has just set, and I haven't quite figured out the direction yet... Hmm, Mr. Bones, let's go to that little hill first!"
……
The ground, uneven from the torrent, and the shimmering reflections of countless pools in the dark sun, made it difficult for you to discern your surroundings.
[Since you had nothing better to do, you started telling Sai Leng some lame jokes adapted from your own experiences. Sai Leng's expression gradually changed from indifferent and calm at first, to confused and bewildered, and finally, after a series of speechless impulses, she leaned on your head and laughed.]
Seeing Sai Leng gradually become desensitized to lame jokes amidst her repeatedly speechless and strained expressions, you don't feel anxious. A smile has unconsciously become a habit on her face, though she herself hasn't realized it yet.
["Perhaps I'm trying to make up for her loneliness after waiting for so long." You think to yourself, completely unaware that you have an innate talent for comedy. You're quite aloof, considering yourself an artist.]
Bro thinks he's an misunderstood second-generation Van Gogh, but the only similarity between you and Van Gogh is your abstract painting (or rather, your words).
After running for who knows how long, when you finally stepped onto the small hill that Sai Leng had mentioned, you realized that this was the ethereal track from the last simulation! Although the elevated staircases of the track had long since disappeared, some house foundations still remained on the hillside; you might even have stepped on one of them!