Kingdom Building: Civilization Starts with Divinity-Chapter 109: Phantom Knife

|<Your AUR has increased by 5!>|

|<Your FAI has increased by 5!>|

As Alchemy opened her eyes, she blankly stared at the cloth-covered entrance of her hut for several seconds.

"It appears I’m not brain-dead yet. Not any more than usual, at least." She mused, clenching her fist.

As she stood from the chair, Alchemy took a deep breath.

"Such a bizarre feeling." She sighed.

If she had a nickel for every time she felt abnormally light, she’d have three nickels. It’s not a lot, but it was peculiar that it happened thrice.

Among those three times, however, this time was a little different. Alchemy failed to find words to describe it adequately.

She felt Empty, but at the same time, something was trying to overflow within her.

"I should work on creating paper. I need something to record my memories and thoughts in. That sounds like a nice project for my first Divine Artifact."

An endless notebook. The idea felt oddly familiar.

|<Notice: Would you like to create a Divine Artifact Blueprint? Y/N>|

"How many can I create?"

|<Notice: 1 As a Pseudo-Completed Divinity. 3 as a Completed Divinity. And 1 more for every subsequent existence evolution after. Blueprints can only be deleted after at least one of the Divine Artifacts is created.>|

"Hold off on it for now, then. I’ll worry about my first Divine Artifact after I survive this."

|<Notice: Confirmed.>|

"How much time is left?"

|<Notice: Otherworldly Monsters will begin to invade the world in 0 days, 0 hours, 29 minutes, and 11 seconds! Please prepare for the worst.>|

|<Notice: Estimated time until Memory Destruction: 1 day, 7 hours, 24 minutes, and 22 seconds.>|

’I was right. That means I’m capable of keeping track of time while in that meditative state. It’s an improvement.’ Alchemy thought while leaving her hut.

The hustle and bustle of her colony has settled down considerably. The Sylvan Carvers and Granitects were still doing their parts, and there were flowers from Ruinous Bloom everywhere, but all of the offensive units were already at or currently heading to their battle positions.

"Mother Goddess!"

"Master Alchemy!"

Sapphire and Nera rushed to her side.

"Yo." Alchemy waved.

"Mother Goddess. Have you finished preparing?"

Pushing her arm in front of her, Alchemy’s hand was engulfed by a dull, beige aura. It felt powerful.

"About as much as I could. What about you two?"

"The same," Nera answered.

"85 Verminae are guarding the South, East, and West sides. Only the Northside remains unguarded." She continued.

"So the North is where I go? It’s a shame that the World Tree is only Stage 3. It could’ve acted as a turret if I had gotten it one more stage."

Nera gave a sorrowful expression.

"I’m sorry. I must remain in the center of everything to give commands and react to unexpected situations. You and Sapphire will have to handle the North and the World Tree. If you need any help, then I’ll make sure to-"

"I’ll be fine." Alchemy cut Nera off.

"Honestly... It’s about time you realize I’m not some incompetent princess who needs protection. I’ll make sure to carve out the north and help elsewhere." Alchemy gave a hollow smile.

"The only question that remains is about you, Sapphire. I still won’t force you to fight if you don’t want to."

Sapphire looked at Nera, who had no words to give her.

The young deer went silent for a couple of minutes before finally turning to Alchemy, looking her straight in the eyes.

"I... I don’t know what’s going on... And I’m very smart or good at fighting like Miss Nera... But this is my home. If danger is coming to our front door, then...Then I’ll fight!"

’What a brave little deer you are. I’ll need to get some more skill shards or something for you.’

"I wish you the best of luck. For the Verminae." Nera bowed.

"Luck, huh?" Alchemy hummed as she began to walk away.

"We won’t need it."

As she walked away, Alchemy grabbed the Prospect Skill Shard out of the Storage and crushed it.

|<Prospect Skill Shard has been used! Please wait while a skill is chosen!>|

|<Skill Phantom Knife has been added to your skill list!>|

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|<Phantom Knife>|

|<Type: Growth Skill | Active>|

|<Cooldown: 1 minute>|

|<Cost: 100 + 5% SP>|

|<Usage: Can only be activated within 5 seconds of an attack. Upon use, create three phantom knives randomly within 10 meters of you that linger for 30 minutes. When someone runs into a Phantom Knife, they take 20% of STR as damage with a high chance of bleeding. Phantom Knives are visible to party members or direct allies and are invisible to enemies.>|

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’This... It’s a little pricey right now for how spammable it is, but it’s quite strong. I need to increase my SP regeneration sooner or later...’

It was a shame that potions for SP recovery didn’t exist. Skill costs were extremely low compared to Magical and Demonic factions to balance it out, but Alchemy could already feel the struggle of managing her SP.

Until now, she’s really only had three things that ate away at her SP. Ruinous Bloom, her IDOL, and Divine Energy Reinforcement, and even then, her SP almost always cuts it close to 0 when fights end.

Her plant manipulation took too much time for her to consider, and luckily, Supplication could only be used once for a small amount of SP, so they weren’t factors.

’An SP-generating Divine Artifact could also be quite good... Decisions for the future, I suppose.’

"I’m quite curious." Alchemy suddenly spoke aloud.

"Curious? About what, Master Alchemy?"

"Well. This entire situation, really. I imagine Nera has already told you about our situation. How we’re not from this world? Or maybe I told you that? I don’t really remember."

"It came up in conversation." Sapphire nodded.

Alchemy idly looked into the sky as they walked.

"The System so kindly brought us to this world, and now it’s telling us about how otherworldly invaders are threatening our Civilizations. It makes you curious about why our dearest brought us here, no? Just what is the System’s agenda?" 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

|<All will become clear soon enough.>|

’Hmm? Are you not even going to grace me with the "Please Upgrade your Civilization" Schtick?

|<...>|

"I don’t really understand that complicated stuff. But if the System didn’t bring you here, you wouldn’t have been able to save me. So that means I’m only here because of the System as well!"

Alchemy looked at Sapphire with surprise.

"I suppose that’s true. It seems we’re more deeply intertwined than I thought. All the more reason to get this done quickly."

"R-right!"

|<Notice: Otherworldly Monsters will begin to invade the world in 0 days, 0 hours, 0 minutes, and 33 seconds! Please prepare for the worst.>|