Book 3 Chapter 19.1 - New Beginning
Seven light screens piled up one on top of the other in front of Helen, almost occupying her entire field of view. Her hands flew about at crazy speeds, adjusting the hundreds of control diagrams. Her brain was concentrated on dealing with this sea of data, only raising one ear to Persephone's long-windedness and merely going through the motions in her responses.
Persephone's head of gray hair was casually winded above her head. She had just emerged from the restroom, so her hair was still moistened by droplets of water. Apart from her underwear, she only wore an oversized nightgown. She curled up next to Helen just like a cat, lazily looking at the screens in front of her face.
The light screens continuously flickered with meaningless data just like before, but in Helen's mind, they were continuously changing and complicated genetic fragments. In Persephone's mind, it was a similar scene.
Ever since they were little, this was their favorite game, as well as the game that made most of those who pretended to be intelligent collapse. Only, when they grew a bit older, Persephone became infatuated with developing various types of combat or non-combat abilities. In addition, her talents on this field became so great that she herself couldn't even stop it any longer. Helen had absolutely no interest in developing abilities, continuing to use that brain even Persephone felt was a bit strange year in and year old to sort out the endless data.
Ten years later, Persephone's speed of sorting out and converting data was already far behind Helen's. The only reason she could understand the meanings behind the light screen was because what Helen was currently analyzing were her own genes, as well as using this as the basis for deducing new abilities.
Right now, Helen's attention was completely focused elsewhere. For her to raise an ear and pretend to be listening was already being quite considerate of Persephone's feelings. Persephone understood Helen's nature quite well, but when she really had nothing to do, what she liked the most was just to bombard Helen's ears.
After her line of thought was broken several times, Helen finally couldn't tolerate it anymore and shouted, "Hey! If you continue like this, I won't help you plan out your abilities anymore!"
Persephone's body moved over until she might as well be resting on Helen's shoulders, She moved Helen's fair hair and lightly blew into her ears, saying softly, "If you don't want to help plan it out anymore, then don't. Either way, I don't care much about these abilities either."
That entire half of Helen's face began to itch, causing her thinking speed to become less than even a tenth of what it was before. She hatefully clenched her teeth, saying through the cracks of her teeth, "Phoney! Do you want to die?!"
After speaking, Helen's body leaned over. Her hands turned over, reaching into Persephone's low hanging collar and directly grabbing those towering and erect mountains of flesh.
This back and forth was something they often did when they were seven or eight. Back then, Helen who had always immersed herself in knowledge couldn't stand Persephone's irritation and retaliated, carrying out this type of punishment. However, ever since Persephone began to train combat abilities, Helen who had no interest in abilities immediately lost the ability to punish her. The few times this did work was because Persephone purposely gave up out of making Helen angry.
Only, half a year later, Helen's talents in intellect became more and more outstanding. Consequently, she became colder and colder as well, gradually losing most of the emotions a human had. After she turned nine, the two of them no longer played this type of game.
Right now, in Persephone and Helen's hearts, they seemed to have returned to their carefree and worriless childhoods. A slight crack suddenly appeared in Helen's ice-cold heart, and the wave of warmth and tender feelings told her that the current Persephone was actually feeling extremely weak emotionally. Otherwise, she wouldn't suddenly think of the game they played when they were little, nor would she be so reliant on Helen like this. If she was even the slightest bit serious, forget about Helen who didn't have a single level of ability, even if it was Su who was relaliating, he wouldn't be able to touch even a single one of Persephone's fingers.
Persephone was already prepared to accept punishment, but Helen's hands moved past her chest, and after giving her small waist a pinch, she ended the punishment. At the same time, Persephone whose ears were especially sharp seemed to have heard Helen release a light sigh.
"When are you preparing to depart?" Most of Helen's attention was concentrated on the data as she asked absent-mindedly.
Persephone pursed her lips in dissatisfaction and rested her heads on Helen's shoulder, lazily saying, "Three days later I guess. I can't depend on those fellas north at all! As soon as I leave, a single mistake from that old man Kaplan cost us all of the territory I won us. You know, I really wonder what kind of formidable individuals those empty headed holy knights are hiding. For them to not come out, it is either because they fear that we will deal with them with full force and immediately wipe them out, or there is some kind of great conspiracy. Regardless of what reason it is, I killed so many of their great knights in one go, so I want to see if they really can still keep their composure! If they still aren't going to come out, then I'll continuously kill, all the way until they do!"
Helen didn't pay her any attention. Persephone unexpectedly grabbed helen's hair and began to twirl it between her fingers while saying, "Either way, it's not like I have anything to do here, so I'll leave when you finish the ability formulation. I might as well fight a few battles and earn a bit of money to pay back by debt sooner instead of wasting time in Dragon City!"
Helen suddenly stopped the work she was doing. She turned around and took a deep look at Persephone before saying softly, "There is no need for you to be so good to Su!"
Persephone was momentarily stupefied. She immediately sat up and said, "What are you talking about? How have I been good to him? I… I just don't like owing other people money, that's all!"
Helen sized up Persephone a few times, from her gray and green eyes that gave everything away all the way down to her snow white skin, spiraling around her long legs. Every inch of skin of Persephone's entire body was exquisite like snow, fine and supple. It was as if a faint luster surrounded her. Helen suddenly reached out and pinched Persephone's face. After fiercely squeezing down, she spoke calmly, "The feeling really is quite good. That Su really is getting away with too much!"
Persephone accepted Helen's pinching without moving. With a light snort, she said, "Weren't you the one that told me to disregard all costs to catch him?"
Helen didn't pay her anymore attention and instead continued to look at the light screen. Then, something on the screen made her release a light cry of surprise. Persephone's attention was also drawn in. After all, there weren't many things that could make even Helen feel shock.
"Girl, your talents truly are great enough to make one jealous!" Helen shook her head lightly. She then looked at the lazy looking Persephone and couldn't help but say, "Such great talents on a lazy slob like you, truly…"
"Didn't you know that the one looked after by the deities is me?" Persephone's face wasn't just a normal type of thick. However, she could only roughly understand the data on the screen, so she urged Helen to explain it to her clearly to satisfy her neverending vanity.
"Hmm, to put it simply, you have four abilities to choose from. The first is the Combat Domains ultra offense and defense mastery. This can comprehensively increase your body's power, defense, as well as various reaction capabilities. The extent of the increase is around 40%," said Helen.
"Offense and defense mastery? Isn't this supposed to be a rarely seen ability in the Combat Domain? However, this offense and defense mastery's extent of increase doesn't seem that high!" Persephone looked a bit unconvinced.
"That is why I am saying this type of talent is completed wasted on a lazy bum like you! There is no need for doubt. This ability is precisely offense and defensive mastery, but it is an upgrade from the eighth level ability, with the extent of increase roughly 12% higher. Correct, this is a ninth level ability! To hell with it! To think that even a rare eighth level ability can have an upgraded version!" Helen finally couldn't help but spit out some words of obscenity. Persephone truly had the natural talents to drive her crazy.