Then, with just a flick of her hand.
"Zoom!"
Harapan's body shot upward, weightless and unwilling.
He barely had ti to gasp before an invisible force pulled him in, floating in mid-air, dragged right up to her, so close that their foreheads nearly touched.
Centiters apart.
The air between them shifted, heavy now.
"You have no idea..." she whispered, voice unhurried, but clearly colder.
Her breath grazed his cheek, every word rolling out slowly, deliberate, “how fateful... and lucky it was, to be chosen... and to be used... by the true body.”
"How lucky it is to think, to live, to feel... "
"I don't have the freedom like you have... "
"So please, understand what I am trying to convey, child"
Harapan’s eyes widened. His chest tightened.
His mind connected the pieces at once. This woman… this wasn’t the Mother he knew.
No. This was soone else entirely.
To save himself, Harapan forced out a squeak despite his throat being held by an invisible force, "I- I understand, Lady Cahaya."
"Good... "
Then, casually, as though nothing had happened, she leaned back with a smile, a sharp one, lips curled.
"So..." she said, voice back to its smooth lilt. With another wave, Harapan was gently thrown through the air, sent gliding ters away until his feet touched the floor again.
Stumbling several steps behind as he balanced himself, hitting the shelves behind him.
Throughout the whole exchange, Harapan kept his composure.
No outbursts, no trembling hands.
Nothing that could upset her further.
He was stiff, yes, but not rebellious. And for that, she seed… satisfied.
Anything to keep this woman under control, and obviously, not to die.
“Please address correctly from now on,” she added, tone light. “I am not the Mother"
"I am Cahaya, the Saint of the Mother of Light. Just like you.”
"Cahaya... Ca-ha-ya"
"A living person, that has emotions, the luxury of self, freedom of emotion, just like you"
“I- I understand, Lady C-Cahaya...” Harapan stamred, eyes flicking downward.
The mont was still sinking in.
“Good.” She nodded once, pleased, taking a few steps to the side with the grace of soone who had nothing to fear.
“I have matters to attend to,” she murmured, turning her back as she narrowed her eyes while discerning Harapan's figure.
“Hold the situation together in my absence. I will be back soon."
“Y-yes…” he replied, still dazed.
Then, in a breath, she was gone.
Vanished like a flicker of light.
Just an empty spot where she’d stood.
Harapan remained motionless for a while in the silent library, blinking at the still air around him.
Only when he was sure she was gone did he raise a hand to his neck, brushing the faint burn that still lingered there.
The sense of helplessness being held just now, Harapan felt fearful now of this separate divine will from the Mother.
Like a different person with different goals, not living or existing for Mother herself, instead... Living because she was scared to lose the privilege of it.
His fingertips flinched at the heat around his neck.
“Mother’s separate divine natures... have their own personalities?” he muttered, brows furrowed.
“No... it’s more like Cahaya is her own person, not just a clone...”
"And dangerously, she is extrely unstable... "
His voice trailed off.
His shoulder twitched slightly, a delayed wince slipping out from the earlier impact.
Straightening his back from the shelves as he gave one last look to where she last sat at the table.
Cahaya might not have inherited Mize’s full strength, but that ntal pressure by default... even without ntal tanks, her strength was more than enough to rival a true king equally.
Enough to leave even Harapan hopeless if she ever decided to go insane.
And with the recent territory upgrades Liam had done, even the clones felt the effects.
Mize’s true body had entered tier 7, and her clones? They advanced with her. The growth was simultaneous.
"What a troubleso hidden ticking bomb..." He sighed...
Elsewhere...
Far beneath the surface, hidden within the ancient lake’s cavernous hole, the entrance to the underground dungeon world. Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs novᴇlfire
Suspended just beneath the chasm, where the earth yawned wide into a black abyss, a floating city now hovered in place.
Smaller than the main city above, but massive in its own right. Large enough to house several hundred thousand people with ease.
And it was alive, bustling, filled with Awakeners.
Buildings stretched out in tight, purposeful grids.
Unlike the eclectic fusion of Malaccan and dieval styles aboveground, this city scread native craftsmanship.
It was traditional, boldly so.
Slanted rooftops split from the center, curved upward like wings. Most were made of glazed ceramics, but the wealthier sections?
Their roofs shimred under the watery ceiling lights, crafted from erald tiles that sparkled under mana-lit streetlights.
Ornate signs swung gently above store fras.
At the city’s heart sat a wide, circular structure, a building surrounded by a vacuum ring of air, layered with multi-layered roads spiraling outward.
This was the Adventurers’ Guild Headquarters.
Its front gate lood high, etched with delicate patterns, but completely open, no doors barred the way.
Inside, the building was just as lively.
Awakeners moved freely, so in light armor, others in worn robes, weapons sheathed at their sides.
There were dozens of wings inside, sections for loot appraisals, equipnt refinent, spatial storage, mission boards, supply vendors, tactical etings... everything a proper guild needed to function.
This was more than a hub.
It was a living, breathing nerve center, built not just for comrce, but almost for every other needs Awakeners required for expeditions down there.
The place had turned into its own bustling shopping complex now.
Even though the outer rings already served that purpose, this one had a uniqueness of its own, quieter in so corners, feverishly alive in others.
Especially those brothels.
Those streets were oddly lively.
Far off in the distance, in the corner of the whole continent like an island, there stood an altar, the sa one used to teleport to the floating city above.
Around it, a new city had begun to take shape.
It wasn’t large, but it was more than enough to house Awakeners before their journeys.
Designed as a transfer hub for Awakeners, it gave them a proper way to enter the dungeon and return without getting hopelessly lost in that sprawling, twisted forest in the outermost layers.
Within this forest layer, deeper in the dungeon, Awakeners could be seen trekking in organized groups, weaving between trees the size of towers.
The place was massive, an untad behemoth of land.
After several months of cautious adventuring, the Adventurer Association had already charted out key danger zones to avoid, especially in the outermost ring.
Their maps, sold to awakeners, quickly beca essential for survival.
One wrong step out here, and you could find yourself staring down sothing you were never ant to et.
Or the easier word, death.
As the dungeon’s depth grew clearer, its importance did too.
After that first month of chaos and adjustnt, the region’s major powers started to trickle in.
Not to the main city outside, but straight into the dungeon itself, specifically the floating city that hovered like a phantom.
Each ca with their own banner, their own ego, and their own agendas.
The Adventurer Guild.
The Alchemist Association.
The Ascension Hall.
God’s Hand.
The Baizong Chamber.
Even the lesser-known factions, those with long nas, carved out their own space.
Business blood fast.
Most of the structures in the floating city now wore their colors, lounges, resource hubs, recruitnt halls.
Everything was tailored for Awakeners.
And with them… ca the monsters of another kind.
Tier 7s true lords.
Dozens of them.
So were cloaked, others carried their entrance extravagantly.
Almost all were beings whose nas had long faded from the public, from the region.
They ca seeking sothing only a dungeon like this could offer: salvation from the abysmal gap to the next realm.
A way to claw back ti.
To stall the slow erosion of their once-imnse power.
Many of them had lived hidden for hundreds of years.
Now, with the dungeon’s ergence, they reappeared, desperate, and unafraid to make themselves known.
While they didn’t match Mize’s legion in raw strength, their combined presence could rival the Broken Blade Legion’s true lords in number… so long as no true kings entered the field.
Because that was the one thing the major forces lacked, true king powerhouses. And they knew it.
But the arrival of these titans wasn’t the only thing stirring whispers lately.
A new na had begun to echo across the dungeon.
She called herself Lady Lyshell.
An icy beauty.
A woman so stunning and untouchable, it hurt to look at her too long.
Most of her appearances in the dungeon were mainly due to foolish Awakener parties that dove too deep and stumbled into disaster.
By coincidence, she was nearby and decided to lend a helping hand.
In those monts, when hope was lost and monsters crept close, she’d arrive to help.
And just as quickly, vanish again.
She called herself Lyshell.
In the absence of the true body, she gave herself a na. After all, she too craved for the luxury of self.
Perhaps another Cahaya, but alone in the dungeon for months.
Afterwards.
When the major factions caught wind of her, they moved fast, eagerly wanting to recruit her into their forces.
A lone true lord with no allegiance? That was a prize too rare to ignore.
But every invitation, every offer, every proposal… was rejected.
She had no interest.
Only one thing mattered to her.
Following the script... written by her true body. If she doesn't want to die and lose her freedom of self, she needs to follow the script.
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