Monster - Chapter 88
Chapter 88: Pie's Guidance
Over the past year, Zhao Tai had grown much taller. His attire was equally magnificent, though his clothes were predominantly black. He wore a linen ruff collar, and over it, a silver-white jacket embroidered with many solemn and grand patterns. Due to the severe cold, he had on a lapelled overcoat lined with fur. His medium-length black hair was combed back. After just one short year in Great Britain, his young face had been weathered by life here, shedding its immaturity.
"You look much better than before…" Before Lin Sandie could finish, Zhao Tai lowered his head, rubbed his eyes hard with one hand, and then revealed a smile.
It was clear that, compared to Little Fool and Zhao Le, Zhao Tai, who had to shoulder the responsibility of running the "entire family," was far more exhausted.
He was just a boy of sixteen or seventeen, yet he had to navigate among the British nobles and manage the normal operations of such a large estate. Lin Sandie could see the fatigue radiating from his entire being.
"Le said you're planning to add bathrooms and toilets to the manor?" Lin Sandie approached the table, looking at some of the blueprints spread across it.
"Yes. Everyone is relatively free now that it's winter, so I thought I'd hire some nearby farmers to help out. With the God's Favored's help, the building materials are already prepared." Zhao Tai saw the blueprints on the table move as if an invisible hand were touching them. He immediately walked over to explain his upcoming plans to Lin Sandie.
During this period, the people of Great Britain, whether noble or commoner, were accustomed to relieving themselves wherever they pleased due to the lack of dedicated toilets for waste disposal. While they kept their usual living spaces clean, one could still catch a frown-inducing stench in some corner, which was truly unpleasant.
And it wasn't just about relieving themselves anywhere. The religion they followed even led some of them to never bathe in their entire lives. The church believed that "a dirty body can be closer to God," and that bathing, which represented rebirth, was a great disrespect to God. Under this religious ideology, not bathing became a symbol of sanctity.
For this reason, the three of them—Zhao Tai, Little Fool, and Zhao Le—were initially extremely resistant to sharing a room with these unbathed British people for too long. When they first arrived, a depressing atmosphere of despair and disgust hung over them for a long time. Lin Sandie, with her lack of a sense of smell, was the least stressed. If she could smell, she probably would have had Little Fool set off for China that very night.
"When I left last time, you mentioned building a bathhouse. Have the servants started bathing?" Lin Sandie asked.
"Some are still unwilling. However, after the previous king's religious reforms, some Protestant believers are willing to bathe. As for those who refuse, I had the butler find excuses that wouldn't cause gossip and transferred them elsewhere."
"You've done very well." Lin Sandie looked down at the design drawings and noticed some notes in Little Fool's handwriting. After learning to buy things from the points mall, the latter had also become more involved in their daily life.
However, Lin Sandie had no idea how many points she had now or what she had bought, because Little Fool completely ignored her.
"Goddess, the God's Favored's birthday is approaching. I've prepared a gift for her." Zhao Tai had put a great deal of thought into preparing Zhao Jinyu's gift, but there was almost no one with whom he could share his joy, so he was happy to share this moment with the Goddess.
Walking over to a cabinet in the room used for storage, Zhao Tai took out a wooden box from a drawer, placed it on the table, and opened it. Inside was an exquisite brooch made of gems and gold, in the shape of a rabbit.
The relationship between the God's Favored and the Goddess had been strained in recent months, but this hadn't affected the bond between Zhao Jinyu, Zhao Tai, and Zhao Le. Zhao Jinyu was happy to teach them their lessons and often brought them goods from the points mall that only she could purchase. As a result, the three of them remained as close as siblings, their bond even stronger than before they came to Great Britain.
Of course, this was Zhao Tai's one-sided perception; it was unknown if Zhao Jinyu felt the same way. Lin Sandie had always felt that Zhao Jinyu's feelings for anyone other than herself were very shallow, or that she had some kind of psychological barrier.
"It's beautiful." Lin Sandie picked up the brooch, examined it, and praised it from the heart. The Aztecs' aesthetic sense had always been on point.
"What's the date in December?" Little Fool didn't know her date of birth, so Lin Sandie had made one up for her, the day before her own: December 31st.
"It's December 29th."
Good, I didn't miss it this time. Lin Sandie began to think about what gift to give Little Fool.
"Did anything happen while I was away?" Lin Sandie then asked Zhao Tai. The two continued to talk for a while, ensuring all of Zhao Tai's problems were resolved. Only then did she find a quiet place, open her light screen, and check her displayed missions and points.
"The bell has chimed, let us run together to our eternal home."
You have been away from home for too long. Please return to the White Bear Tribe, west of Lake Texcoco, as soon as possible.
Time limit: Indefinite.
Success reward: 500 points.
Failure penalty: None
"You have entered the beautiful mid-Atlantic Ocean. In ancient legends, this is the home of mermaids."
Please find a mermaid and collect her tears.
Time limit: Indefinite.
Success reward: 20,000 points.
Failure penalty: None
Most of the missions had been completed. Because she was bound to Little Fool as a partner, even if Lin Sandie didn't have the time or energy, Little Fool would find a way to complete them on her own. The two remaining missions had been abandoned—one because they were in a hurry to get to Europe and didn't detour to Little Fool's hometown, and the other because they had no time to search for the home of the mermaids. Otherwise, with such a generous point reward, Lin Sandie and Little Fool would certainly have done everything they could to complete them.
After checking her missions, Lin Sandie looked at her points. A pitiful 202.
Lin Sandie sighed softly in her heart. She thought of many ways to reconcile with Little Fool, but all of them involved companionship. It was an easy thing to understand. Lin Sandie wasn't an autocratic parent; putting herself in Little Fool's shoes, she felt like she was suffocating.
To arrive in a completely strange place, with different people, different beliefs, an incomprehensible language, and not a single trace of her past life, while her most important partner always disappeared just when she was needed…
Lin Sandie closed the light screen and called out into the void, "Pie, are you there now?"
…There was only silence. No one answered her, only the quietly falling snow.
In the manor's garden, she needed rabbit-related or magical items to communicate with Little Fool, Zhao Tai, or Zhao Le. When there was no medium, she couldn't communicate, but the range she could roam in her detached spirit state was quite large.
"Pie, I feel that my current partnership is hindering Little Fool's development. She can take care of herself without me now, complete missions independently, and integrate into the current environment. Has the time come for me to leave her?"
Lin Sandie said, speaking to herself.
"If she could be bound to a Guide who is synchronized with her time, it would be better for her."
"Your current state has met the conditions for voluntarily dissolving the partnership. In the light screen's functions, you can choose to unbind. If Little Fool also chooses to unbind, you will no longer be partners, and you will not be able to return to the Aztec world in the future," an emotionless female voice sounded in Lin Sandie's ear.
Pie had appeared after all.
So if we unbind, I'll never see Little Fool again. Lin Sandie paused, feeling extremely reluctant. Although her previous statement was just a way to lure Pie out, the thought of never again seeing the child she had spent "many years" with naturally made her resistant.
Even though her current situation was exhausting, Lin Sandie still wanted to let Little Fool make the choice about unbinding.
"Pie, how can I strengthen my mental power?"
In Leviathan, Miu hadn't found a good way to train Lin Sandie's mental power, and the latter was eager to close the distance with Lou. So, even though she didn't particularly like Pie, Lin Sandie could ask for help without any shame.
"For mental power training during the tutorial period, a fee of 80 points is required." As Pie spoke, Lin Sandie's light screen opened automatically. She saw the words "Mental Power Tutoring," followed by a box to input points.
Lin Sandie entered 80 without hesitation, and the word "Beginner" immediately appeared next to the box.
"After pressing the confirmation button behind it, you will enter a random beginner-level mental power tutoring scenario," Pie reminded Lin Sandie, who had also noticed the confirmation button after the word "Beginner" on the light screen.
"Is there anything I need to be aware of?"
"Most mental power tutoring scenarios are within the mindscape of a Bedeviled Sentinel. You will see the mental state they are in after becoming Bedeviled. What you see is just a mental reflection, not real. Any creature you see in that scenario could be the Sentinel's mental state while Bedeviled, and it is not limited to humans," Pie explained what she was about to encounter, like a teacher.
"In the mindscape of that mentally troubled Sentinel, you will also be infected by their mental state. For example, if it's snowing heavily in the mindscape, you might also feel very cold—a chill emanating from the mind. This requires you to have a strong personal will. If you are influenced and cannot escape from the mindscape, the consequence is not only that you fail to bring the Bedeviled Sentinel out, but you yourself will also get lost. In severe cases, you could even die. In better cases, your mind might become abnormal for a period of time."
"…It's that difficult?"
"Do you prefer it simple?" Pie's voice carried a hint of a smile.
Lin Sandie raised an eyebrow. She did indeed enjoy a stimulating challenge, but she didn't think she and Pie were familiar enough for Them to tease her in such a tone, as if They were truly her mentor.
"Alright, anything else to be aware of?"
"In the mindscape, you can have any superficial object, as long as you can imagine it. Since it's in the mental domain, my advice is to use this function carefully, because you don't know what kind of thing might provoke the Bedeviled Sentinel's spiritual body. Also, it's best to clearly know who you are from the very beginning."
Lin Sandie waited for Pie to continue.
"That's all."
"I understand. Thank you." Lin Sandie pressed the confirmation button.
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