Chapter Thirty-Six

Elysia’s eyes fluttered open to a bright world. After a few blinks, her eyes adjusted, allowing her to take in her surroundings. She found she was lying on the bed. They must have transplanted her onto the bed after she passed out.

Her mind snapped into focus as she remembered what had happened before she passed out. Core fluttering in giddiness, she delved inward, then gasped as she took in her mana system. Shining deep purple essence cycled through her body.

Despite the power permeating her entire being, her mana system seemed perfectly stable. A weight she didn’t notice before seemed to have lifted from her body, making her feel feather light, or maybe she was that much stronger.

Unable to resist, she rolled off the bed, just then noticing she wasn’t wearing her armor anymore. Instead, someone dressed her in a simple violet sundress. Panic hit her for a moment until she spotted her armor laid out on a table to the right of the bed. For now, she decided to keep the sundress.

When she turned toward the stairs, a flash at the corner of her vision drew her attention. The temptation to ignore it presented itself, but knowing that would be a bad idea, she focused on the notification.

Achievement! Consolidation

“Congratulations on finally figuring out how to disarm the divine bomb within your core. It’s a miracle it didn’t blow up the moment you created your malformed core.”

Reward: +1% Max Charge.

Was she wrong for missing the snarky system? She hated how it treated her, yet was worried when it disappeared. At least it seemed the snark wasn’t as barbed as before. Maybe she was right about it getting a scolding from some higher up.

As long as the system kept the snark at manageable levels, she didn’t mind it, as it gave a little flavor to the usual robotic-like system notifications.

Elysia thought back to all that had happened since the last notification, causing her to frown. Did she miss out on a bunch of rewards because the system disappeared for a bit? The heist of the elemental ships and escape should have earned something. Maybe she was just spoiled. It might have been a good thing the system didn’t give her notifications after her admittedly stupid decision to use divine lightning on the water elemental ship. The snark would have been nasty, at least on par with her ill-advised evolution.

Oh well, she couldn’t change it now.

Instead of dwelling on it, she focused on the next notification.

User’s split core has been consolidated. +50 Divine lightning, Lightning affinities, -30% Max Charge.

Elysia stiffened, then opened her status.

Status:

Name: Elysia Arashi

Race: Level 6 Divine Sparked Lightning Elemental.

Class: Level 6 Path of Divine Lightning Control.

Charge: 12901/12901

Attributes:

Available Points: 16

Strength: T2-23

Dexterity: T3-1

Endurance: T2-23

Intelligence: T3-1

Perception: T3-1

Proficiencies:

Novice Spear Level 8.

Novice Throwing Knives Level 5.

Affinities:

Tier 15 Level 1 (6) Lightning.

Tier 10 Level 1 Divine Lightning.

Resistances:

Death Resistance Level 1

Water Resistance Level 1.

Poison Resistance Level 2.

Mental Resistance Level 5.

Bonus

+70% (100%) Damage with Lightning.

+10% Damage to undead.

+10% Damage to Arthropod.

+15% Damage to Ladybugs.

Solo Adventuring +10% Solo Experience, -20% Group Experience.

Skills

A Moment In Time.

Bonds

Sereia.

Umbra.

Ione.

When her eyes landed on her current max charge, she paled. She really hoped what she did was worth it. Losing over 5000 charge will be painful though maybe not. Really, the only time she came close to running out of charge was using pure divine lightning bolts. So maybe the changes to her core made her lightning a lot more efficient.

Actually, she knew the changes made her lightning more efficient as her affinities shot up. She would need to do some testing, but she was optimistic the changes were beneficial.

As nothing else drew her attention on her status, she closed it.

A glance at the corner of her vision told her there were no more notifications, giving her mixed disappointment and relief. She would like a break from surprises for at least a few minutes.

Elysia walked toward the stairs, freezing mid step when she caught sight of her reflection in a mirror. The ever present glowing veins shined in a deep purple similar to her internal veins, but that wasn’t what caught her attention. Her veins weren’t the only thing glowing. Everything glowed, including her hair. If she had trouble hiding in the dark before, now, it was practically impossible. She was a spotlight for everyone to see.

Despite her essence singing at the thought of everyone recognizing her for what she was, her eyes gravitated back to her armor, tempted to put it on to cover most of her body but it wasn’t like there was anyone to judge her in the penthouse.

She looked out over the edge of the loft, down at the penthouse below, to find Sereia and Ione on the meditation pad. Sereia seemed to be concentrating on something and going by the steadily increasing glowing of her body clad in a bluish green sundress. It was probably the same thing she did.

Curious, she sat on the edge of the loft, dangling her legs as she delved into their bond like they did before. Her theory proved correct as she found Sereia was systematically merging each of her strands together, creating a water element version of her lightning strands. The process paused for a moment when Sereia noticed her presence, but after sending a good morning image, she continued unbothered by the audience.

Soon after, she merged the last of her essence, causing a burst of energy to flood her system. Unlike Elysia, she didn’t pass out, but that was probably because she was already halfway there naturally.

As Sereia’s system stabilized, Elysia retreated from her twin’s body and descended from the loft. Her eyes landed on the kitchen, but she didn’t feel hungry, so she walked past. She wasn’t sure if she would ever get used to not having to eat. Well, she did eat it was just energy instead.

Sereia swayed to her feet, then drunkenly stumbled to the couch at the center of the penthouse. However, before Elysia could sit down, a loud ringing echoed through the penthouse, causing Elysia to wince.

The tablet on the coffee table lit up to display a group of unfamiliar people, but going by the anchor emblem on their uniforms, they were probably from the Shipwright Guild. There was a similar anchor emblem engraved on the Guild building, if she remembered right. That annoying space elemental, or whatever he was, said he would send people from the Guild her way.

Her mind flashed back to her armor laying in the loft tempted to put it on just in case they were hostile, but another thought came to her. Wouldn’t she look more intimidating in the sundress? She never thought that would be the case, but she probably looked terrifyingly powerful with how she glowed.

Now the question was, would it help or hurt her in negotiations? She didn’t want another fiasco like the trainers. It was definitely possible, as the lead person looked like an elemental.

Whatever. If they froze up, she was sure there were other members of the Guild who could help her. Besides, even if she didn’t force a reaction, she was sure someone in her family would.

Halfway to the door, Elysia glanced back at Sereia, who was struggling to her feet but going by the determination in her shining eyes, she would find a way to join.

The ever helpful Ione provided that by stopping in front of the mermaid, but instead of climbing on, she used Ione as a support. They caught up to Elysia with Sereia trying to look as natural as possible. It almost looked like she was just resting her hand on Ione, not using her for support.

Elysia waited until her family stood by her side before she opened the door, then strode out to the group of Guild members standing next to chairs in the meeting room, waiting for their arrival.

All five of them froze upon taking them in, then gave deep bows. They remained bowed for several seconds, moving well into awkward territory, causing Elysia to sigh. Not this again. She wanted to make a statement, but not like this. She was starting to think she might have to wear something that covered her entire body, but she doubted just her appearance was causing the reaction.

Now that she looked, all three of them radiated some potent essence. She didn’t notice before because she didn’t care about some stupid elemental hierarchy when it came to her family. Though going by the energy, they were all fairly even. A spike of pride shot through her when she noticed she had the strongest energy by an admittedly tiny margin.

She tried to suck in the aura, but to her dismay there didn’t seem to be a way at least that she knew of. Annoyed, she plopped down on one of the comfortable conference chairs joined by her family. One plus of the bowing visitors was Sereia could sneak into a chair without giving away her compromised state.

Once her family was situated, she stared at the visitors. “Please rise. There is no need for formalities.”

The elemental, who had light blue hair and eyes of the same shade, rose first, though he kept his eye avert. “As you wish, your divine highness.”

Both Elysia and Sereia cringed simultaneously. “Just call me Elysia.” Elysia flicked her hand toward her twin, then down at Ione, who was out of sight under the table. “This is my sister Sereia and bond Ione. We would all like to be referred to by our names, not some title.”

As the other four people accompanying the elemental rose, said elemental dipped his head in respect. “Of course, lady Elysia.”

Knowing when to give up, Elysia didn’t bother correcting him again. Instead, she moved on to the subject that likely brought them. Though going by their reactions, she was worried they may go over the top on Umbra in some misplaced idea of giving her respect. “Am I right in assuming you are here for our commission?”

All five of them dipped their heads to the twins, even looking under the table and to dip their heads to Ione who chirped in response.

Elysia tried her best to smother the impulse to zap the people. Maybe it would shock some sense into them. She shook her head a moment later. No, most likely would only increase their reverence. This was how their society functioned as annoying as it was for her. There was no way she could change it. She may as well just roll with it. At least it was better than hostility.

After they finished with their over-the-top pleasantries and greetings, the water elemental placed a circular piece of metal on the table, then tapped it. A moment later, the device lit up, then projected a 3D image of Umbra in her current state. Elysia winced as the hologram pointed out all the damage, driving home how much of a miracle the poor ship still floated.

Each of the assistants to the water elemental took out tablets of their own poking at them, causing more detail to appear on the hologram, such as repair options for each damaged section. One thing that caught Elysia’s attention was the list of options for repairing or upgrading the propulsion systems.

Most of the options were fairly mundane, such as gas, diesel, diesel electric, even mana powered, but one stood out for multiple reasons. She winced at the list of required upgrades to make such a system work, but she couldn’t help but imagine what Umbra would be capable of with it.

The water elemental smiled as he caught her eyes lingering on the option of lightning elemental chargeable electrical system and propulsion.