Felia had noticed that ever since her elder sister returned, their father, though overjoyed, had also become more unfamiliar and frightening to her.
Their mother's illness had pushed the family to the brink.
For Pastor Lynn and Sister Ruth, a model couple of the clergy, losing the other to serve the Lord first—no matter who it was—would be an unbearable disaster. Yet strangely enough, both of them held an oddly detached attitude when it came to facing death.
Like a witch brewing strange potions, Miss Maria would occasionally pinch her nose and dash outside, only returning once the bizarre and pungent smell had dispersed.
Even the strange talent system she possessed for alchemy could barely stand it anymore.
"In the field of pharmacology, you possess extraordinary talent… This is not praise for your keen perception of material properties, but rather the fact that no matter what ingredients you use, you always manage to produce a stench unbearable to normal people. My dear noble lady, perhaps you should direct your exceptional abilities toward skunk bombs instead of potions."
That system evaluation had left Maria's expression dark for quite some time.
Failure. Failure. Failure again.
The darkened blood residue in the cauldron gave off an ominous aura. Judging from the splatter, there had clearly been a small-scale explosion just moments ago. Maria had already estimated the difficulty of her blood-separation experiment as high as possible, yet the repeated failures proved that the High Ones and Chaos were laughing at her from above, mocking her for overestimating herself.
Even if she maintained a perfect balance, preventing the force from escaping to affect the host, the High Ones and Chaos—both considered the absolute ceiling of existence in Fractured—could not be parsed by a mere Iron-ranked candidate without leaving a single trace.
She thought back to her past life.
Dozens of warbands, more than ten thousand Iron-tier scholars, spellweavers, mages, druids, necromancers, along with countless NPCs and nearly a hundred thousand support-type players on the Old Continent had all worked to research and analyze Chaos.
To combat the rampaging Chaos demon armies, the data those researchers provided had been indispensable to both the desperate frontlines and the Chaos-fallen zones.
A sample of blood as precious as Maria's in that life—
With authorization for Y-class Chaos support, and analysis by the Chaos Algorithm Laboratory, a complete material property report could be printed within a day.
What a pity. The united front that had once fought to reclaim the world from despair was no longer something she could see in this lifetime. It was just wishful thinking now. If she had those kinds of resources again, she would not even need to act personally. Those so-called favored children of heaven could have arranged an anti-Chaos warline in advance, turning the entire planet into an iron fortress.
"Sis, you're making stinky medicine again."
Maria looked up after yet another failure to see Felia's small head peeking through the doorway.
The black-clad nun waved her hand absentmindedly while jotting down notes on a sheet of paper—Experiment number 71, materials used… environmental conditions… dosage…
"It's not stinky medicine."
Her rebuttal was feeble, pale, and lacking conviction. She even slipped into a coaxing tone as if talking to a child. Felia, pouting with a mischievous gleam in her eyes, clearly did not believe a word of it.
"Sis, you never go out to play with me anymore."
Clearly aggrieved, Felia darted into the room and clung tightly to Maria's leg. Her stance screamed that if she did not get her way today, her sister would not get any peace. Reasoning with two kinds of people was impossible—children and women—and her little sister happened to be both.
"What about those other kids?" Maria recalled that Felia had a few playmates around her age. Why was she pestering her instead?
"They seem to be sick."
Maria's slender brows knit together. She felt as though she had been overlooking something since she returned to Seth Town. If townsfolk were sick, they would normally seek out the priest. Yet no one had come to trouble her or Pastor Lynn, likely because they knew the family was already suffering and did not wish to add to the burden.
A cascade of thoughts ran through Maria's mind.
"All right. Where do you want to go?"
She had just about used up her experimental materials anyway. And with her tendency to spoil Felia within reason, it was only natural to indulge her this time.
Seth Town might have been small, but its residents had, of their own accord, clustered together with the merchant caravans' lodgings to form a budding commercial street.
At certain times of the year, several caravans would arrive to buy grain, flowers, and meat products from the townsfolk. In return, they brought goods to replenish supplies, encouraging local spending and creating a mutually beneficial prosperity.
With both purchasing power and production ability, and its peaceful environment, Seth Town had become a prime target for small caravans seeking easy profit.
The priest's two daughters walking together down the street were a sight to behold.
Calm, mature, and noble in demeanor, Sister Maria held the hand of her lively, bouncing little sister Felia. One cold and reserved, one warm and innocent—the contrast was striking. About seventy percent of the gazes they drew, however, were irresistibly pulled toward Maria, whose every gesture exuded a quiet elegance. It was hard to believe such a remote town could produce someone so beautiful.
Along the way, many greeted the sisters warmly.
Some showed concern for Pastor Lynn and Sister Ruth. Some inquired about the sisters' marital prospects. Others were simply fishing for gossip.
Shooing away the buzzing flies, Felia felt a sudden crisis—watching her sister handle everything with composed grace, she feared she might be left behind. She remembered kissing Maria when she was younger. Father had said it was a bride's vow, and she certainly was not about to let anyone else take her sister.
"All right, all right. Don't fuss."
Maria's voice was so full of indulgence it could melt cotton candy as she patted Felia's head.
Felia tilted her head back to glare, trying to prove she was serious. But the moment her eyes met Maria's pale, poised face, she instantly looked away. For some reason, whenever she got too close to her sister's slightly androgynous beauty, her heart would start to race uncontrollably.
As they walked, strands of platinum and silver hair occasionally brushed together. Felia noticed and smiled, her mood lifting again as she began to skip and hum.
Maria was still calculating how many gold dragons she had left in her purse when a commotion suddenly broke out ahead of them.
Shouts laced with curses echoed down the street.
About a hundred paces ahead, someone was hurled with a loud thud into the center of the road.
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