Abyssal Awakening-Chapter 907: Memory Device Prototype

"Hm?" Allura froze in her step, a frown appeared on her face. Creasing her brows, she glanced down at the ground and tapped her heel a few times.

"Something wrong?" Karya asked, wondering if Allura felt off with her condition.

Even though they should’ve traded enough life force to buy her a year, that could change at any moment.

Especially with how fragile Allura’s body was right now.

"Somewhat... Somethings bothering me." Allura sighed, shaking her head.

It’s like when you leave a house not knowing if you forgot to turn the stove off. Her gut twisted and she felt uncomfortable.

"Is it your body?" Gin frowned.

"No, my body feels fine. Maybe I’m just worrying about something." Allura shook her head. This feeling...

Could it be that something was happening to Alice?

But she always got into trouble and Allura never felt this unsettled before.

So she doubted it was Alice. And if it wasn’t her... who could it be?

’Kaden?...’ Allura clenched her fist.

Taking a deep breath, she composed herself. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Despite their... changes in views in the passing years, their goals changing and sometimes even standing on opposite sides, she had always trusted in the fact that he’ll be safe.

And this time, it was going to be no different.

"Ignore me, probably just getting used to not having pain in my body. Anyways, where should we go? It doesn’t seem like Ria can be found right now." Allura asked while they surveyed the state of the Northern Lands.

According to Gin’s friend, this should’ve been the location Ria and her friends tried to reach. But after the accident a while ago, they’ve been missing since.

Not dead, simply missing.

If she was dead, Gin would’ve noticed and he wouldn’t be composed as he is right now.

"We’ll travel down to the south. Ria I can’t find more tracks of her here so I guess the next best option will be to find that mead addicted girl of yours." Gin kneeled down, tracing his fingers across the dirt.

Even though it was faint, they could still sense the remnants of power left behind. A false divinity, a failed ascension, the power of Lords and... Traces of Nyer.

"You keep meaning mead but how addicted can one even be? Plus, you talk about her as though she’s a child yet mention her power." Karya asked curiously, sitting on a rock.

She had never seen Alice before so she had no foundation of understanding.

Yet from everything she’s heard, Alice was someone who:

Loves mead, loves to mess around. Extremely competent when it comes to fighting and casting, learns very fast, shy yet outgoing, naïve yet brutal.

A mess of contradictions and insanity, like a powerful child still learning her place in the world. What can or can’t be done, what they can get away with and so on.

A person who loves to get their blood pumping.

And despite how much information she was getting, it’s hard to get a proper picture of the girl in her mind.

Allura folded her arms and thought about it for a moment.

With how much Alice loved mead...

"Honestly if you give her some good mead, she might even fight an entire faction for you. Granted the faction can be classified as ’evil’ I suppose.

"The girl loves her mead but her morality holds it back... to some extent." Allura stuck out her tongue.

Karya’s smile twitched.

"Though I haven’t seen her in a long time now. You know what they say, children grow fast. A week can make a world of difference.

"Who knows, she might have grown out of her love for mead." Allura chuckled while Gin shrugged his shoulders.

"I doubt that. Mead to her is like a Kid’s first toy. Only this one doesn’t break."

"That is true." Allura laughed.

A warm smile appeared on her face. She’s been far away from Alice for far too long now. Will her trick even work on her anymore?

To sneak up behind Alice and surprise her with a sudden reunion. To imagine the look on her face.

Allura couldn’t help but chuckle just thinking about it.

Since there were no more traces to be found in the north, they’ll start their journey south.

"Based on what my informant told me, her traces practically vanished in the south so she’s most likely walking around with a disguise. In order for us to track her down, we’ll need to know her goal and it won’t be easy."

"Oh don’t worry about that. There is and only will be one goal for the girl in the Extalia. Even if she finds other things to live for, even if she finds other hobbies, the Zenia family still persist.

"And so long as they are around, her rage will never be quelled, especially the ones that operated on her. So if we want to find Alice, we just need to see where the Zenia family are most active." Allura suggested.

"That’s what I thought as well. But..." A deep frown appeared on Gin’s face.

"Extalia right now is a black hole of information. People go in but nothing comes out. And more and more factions are starting to become aware of this. Even if they send in spies, they come back with no information."

Everyone, without exception, don’t even realise they went to Extalia if people didn’t mention it. It’s as though their perception had been modified in order to trick their mind. To believe they were simply loitering around the area.

Even if five of their superiors told them they went to Extalia, they’ll think it’s the world that was wrong rather than themselves.

"Hmm... If everyone is affected, then it must be a passive law or contract put in place in order to prevent news from spreading. A stalling tactic?" Allura scratched her chin.

Immediately, she felt the need to go there and investigate but a single glare from Karya shot that idea down.

Allura instinctively held her arms up in surrender.

As a patient, there was one rule she must always remember.

Never annoy your doctor.

They are responsible for your life and death.

"We can go but you’re staying back until everything is verified. If a Law or contract is in place, we don’t know how that’ll affect the energy drain in your body. Remember, your current state is fragile. Any energy used is permanent.

"If you randomly come across a beast that can suck away your energy passively, it might as well be over for you." Karya warned as Allura nodded her head.

"I know but-"

"Shut up, no buts. You asked for a year, I gave you that year. I can’t squeeze out more from someone who has nothing left to squeeze out. If you want to live for this year, behave yourself. This is the time to let others do their job rather than taking everything on by yourself." Karya glared.

Despite being the Abyss Lord of Life, Allura felt as though she saw a demon behind Karya.

With no other choice, she simply nodded obediently.

It was a strange sensation, letting others do the investigating and so on. All these years, even with her injuries, she could still protect herself whenever she wanted to find out the truth.

But now... all she could do was wait for the information to land on her lap.

A feeling she didn’t enjoy but was forced to accept.

However, the silver lining was that she’ll be travelling towards Extalia. Sooner or later, she’ll find Alice again.

###

". . ." Alice stared at Suyin.

". . ." Suyin stared at Alice.

Elias sat in the corner, watching the two inventors stare at their newest contraption.

"It’s big."

"Indeed it is. But it works." Suyin folded her arms.

"You sure?" Alice raised an eyebrow.

"Theoretically."

"Better than nothing. But..." Alice was hesitant.

"It’s still big isn’t it?"

"Yeah..." Her smile twitched.

The original prototype was simply the size of a small sheet.

To help make up for the missing information the moment they leave Extalia.

But this...

How were they expected to carry this?"

"Can you shrink it down?"

"If I could, do you think I would’ve presented this prototype?" Suyin knocked on the hard metal case with the back of her hand.

"This is already the smallest I can make it while ensuring that everything still works with enough safety precautions. We’re working with the soul here, can’t be too wary. Any mistake could be dire."

"That I agree with. But... Don’t you think it’ll be a little... conspicuous for us to walk around with this strapped to our back? If we can even walk comfortably that is." Alice sighed.

To see the top of this... device, Alice had to tilt her head back and even then, it was still barely visible.

That wasn’t even a jab at her height either, Elias also struggled to see the top.

"Blame yourself. Who told you to make so many movements in the Nightmare? To record everything your brain remembers in that period takes a lot of space. If I try to trim it down, we don’t know what might happen the next time you enter the nightmare.

"There’s too little time to test and hardly any guinea pigs to test on. With a lack of test subjects, this is the safest prototype I can give you. Unless you want risks." Suyin shrugged while Alice shook her head.

"Even so... can’t we shrink it down by just a little bit? Even with my strength... this is too bulky." Alice let out a sigh.

After all...

The prototype that Suyin made...

Was almost two floors tall...