CHAPTER 124: | LECTURE OF A DISSAPOINTED LADY

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  ? The Fallen Empire of Atlantis — Endless Ancient Sea-Forest —In the heart of the forest near the ancestral residence of the Fallen Seashore Clan ?

  Time flew by smoothly, the carriage gliding over the sandy seafloor path, the whole thing swaying in the deep currents, just enough to be annoying, not relaxing.

  I couldn't smell any pine or wet leaves, instead, I could almost taste the faint brine and minerals from the giant kelp-forest outside the carriage bubble, but mostly I was just lost in my thoughts.

  Haaa... a month's worth of time had passed since I fought tooth and nails with Cecilia, the indomitable lady of the Cereum race.

  I still haven't fully analyzed what her carapace was made of, since the variety of metals used to craft it was far too much to identify in a single month.

  There were some metals that I couldn't identify, maybe they're too new for me to know, or it was metals that I forgot at the loss of my authority wisdom, or maybe it was because I sealed that memory along with the rest the moment I've arrived in this world.

  Too much work to do, I guess, since I wasn't too sure which memories to unseal.

  Unsealing the memories that I don't want the Heavenly Dao to find out is going to ruin my plan, and it would be troublesome to reconstruct my plan in the moment.

  So, I guess I should just study how this metal came to be, or how I could create something similar to this with my Earth affinity, so that I could create a far more durable vessel for Mercy and an armor for myself.

  I really don't want Mercy to melt my flesh just from touching its form.

  So maybe this carapace of Cecilia's would be the key to keep me from being turned to ashes by Mercy, or maybe it wouldn't just become something that would help me resist Mercy's heat but become a foundation that will allow me to officialize in creating the 'Form of Ascendance'.

  I am far too lazy to check for new sources of which-and-which-and-which things would be good to use as a material to create it, so maybe her carapace would be a great help to me.

  Samantha also told me that Cecilia's carapace was called Cereum, a material that is only available to the Cereum beetle race.

  After hearing her words, I asked her if she knows how this Cereum thingy was created.

  Samantha contemplated, then shook her head as she only said.

  "I don't know how those beetles created such a stuff, since this information is highly classified in their race. Like a secret that outsiders shouldn't discover, even if it means to kill them. So pretty much the interlopers called Aulie, the emperor of the Wharks, tried to obtain this information in an attempt to directly increase his defense, not in an external way, but in an internal way. So pretty much he was a crazy bastard..."

  Samantha, took a breather then continued.

  "Yea, that word fits him, since even all the memories of my master say he is a psychopath that, uh... loved him like a puppy and a madman when it comes to his search in enhancing the durability of his physical form. Because of that unknown power that made everyone fear him, the emperor of the Wharks."

  That was all she could tell me, since she had no access to more than that, even though she had inherited a part of Ashin-Sae Acoustine's memories.

  It was pretty sad.

  So, I asked her what's the limits of a Cereum carapace for someone like Cecilia, a renowned 'Indomitable Cereum Matriarch.'

  Samantha's answer caught me off guard.

  "Well, you're asking a difficult question, don't you, you cutie pie?"

  Then she gazed at me teasingly, watching my reaction.

  But then she waved her hand and continued her speech as to not give me an opportunity to advance.

  "Well, forget about it, and let's focus on our lesson more seriously, got it?"

  I shook my head in disapproval at her words and glanced at her.

  As I opened my mouth, but before words escaped my lips, Samantha had already pressed her index finger into my lips, then hushed gently as she whispered.

  "I don't teach a disobedient student, so behave yourself, okay?"

  I smiled, then shook my head in disappointment.

  She smiled chirply at my face, then continued her lessons.

  "Well, if you're asking for their durability based on the metric system that you've designed, like lifting a thousand kilograms that most adults could do would equal a one metric ton of force, and unleashing a million metric tons of force in a single strike that some very competent sovereigns at Stage 1 could do would equate to a Zen, then I can accurately say for a sovereign such as her, with the extremely defensive race of the 'Indomitable Cereum Matriarch,' that you'll need to muster a force equivalent to twenty-five Zen, or twenty-five million metric tons of force, to be able to break her defense. Which you could unleash right now, thanks to 'Mercy,' correct?"

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Hearing her calculations made me realize that defeating Cecilia in a battle of attrition was nothing but wishful thinking from me.

  Well, I guess it's true, since even when I unleashed a force equivalent to a Zen, it did no damage to her, so it wasn't a wonder that she could resist a hundred thousand tons of force.

  So what's there to dream when she was merely playing with me to kill some of her boredom?

  Well, I guess such was the intrigue of someone who had the strongest defense, so I guess it made perfect sense that I didn't die within our encounter.

  I could have already felt it the moment that we met, that her strength alone was enough to destroy my sandy form at that time and grab my core in the next to destroy it.

  So I guess she had already known that this place was a dungeon, and she was looking for a way to die in an honorable fight with a powerful foe killing her.

  So I guess, yea...

  I was used as a tool to grant her wishes, and it leaves some bitter aftertaste in my mouth, since I've been the one using everyone to my advantage.

  So, haaa... well, I guess this is the wonder of life.

  You experience new things every day.

  So I asked Samantha for the final thing, and most obvious, or maybe the most foolish question that I had asked someone.

  "Hey Samantha, if Cecilia's armor is that strong, then maybe her carapace is one of the best crafting materials in this world, right?"

  Samantha listened to my words and took them like what an understanding mother would do, and frowned at how foolish her child was as she smacked my head, then lectured me at how incredibly foolish I was.

  "You fool! I said it's twenty-five Zen, not tons! But Zen!"

  I winced, my scalp stinging.

  Yea, okay, I got it, no need to yell, I wasn't that dumb.

  "So tell me, what durability could a Champion have at Stage 1? Well, it's not twenty-five Zen, but it's a hundred Zen, from what my master's memories showed me!"

  A hundred... my mind just stalled right there. A hundred Zen?

  That was four times Cecilia's defense. What kind of monster was a Champion?

  I was already thinking that was an insane number, so I guess my face looked pretty stupid.

  "And what of their Emperor? What durability could it reach?! Exactly! Even without listening to you answering my questions with your foolish words, I could tell that you're thinking that it's two hundred Zen!"

  Haa... she wasn't even letting me answer, just roasting me for the thoughts I was about to have.

  I just wanted the carriage floor to open up and swallow me. She was totally right, too.

  "But no, two hundred Zen wouldn't do justice to their Emperor's defenses, since it was a staggering thousand Zen!"

  A... a thousand.

  I just stopped thinking.

  The number didn't even make sense.

  A thousand million metric tons of force.

  Just to break a defense.

  Yea, I was dumb.

  My question was definitely dumb, I get it now.

  "So what about now, when time has already flown by and where a new Emperor has already risen, when Aulie had killed the previous one? Well, it's unknown, so figure it yourself. But from what I could instinctively feel, Cereum itself is the finest alloy or metal there is in the world, capable of creating world-class equipment in the highest tier, called Zenith. But it was impossible at the time of my master since there was no heat strong enough to melt Cereum itself."

  I sighed at how angered she was after hearing my question.

  I, too, felt ashamed at my question, but I asked it nonetheless to know if there was something that was stronger than Cereum.

  So I guess... it was worth it... Yea, it's not fucking worth it, since I've been scolded by Samantha pretty badly this time.

  She didn't just cook me like a master chef, but she fried me golden with her hurried words without waiting for my answers.

  Though I don't know what I was feeling this time, still, I know it hurts, just from observing how my mood dropped after hearing her lecture me like a damn child when I was over a...

  I scratched my head in confusion as I counted the years of my existence, then soon gave up, knowing that it was impossible.

  I sighed, then embraced her dejectedly while muttering in a hurt voice.

  "I... I feel dumb being lectured by you..."

  Samantha giggled at my words, then smacked my head again as she whispered in my ears.

  "Awww, don't be dejected. I wanted to apologize for scolding you, my big sweetie pie, for that dumb question. Yea, it was dumb, truly dumb, that you're asking if it's one of the best when it's the best of the best, that even the metal of the gods, Orichalcum, wouldn't even be able to rival. So I apologize for being rude in my words. It was unrefined of me to be angered by a child blabbering words that he couldn't understand. So sleep for now, since we'll be arriving in our destination in a bit."

  I sighed, hearing her words that added not salt to the wounds, but she was clearly rubbing acids into my wounds.

  Maybe she wasn't comforting me by apologizing to me and letting me rest in her lap, but to roast me into a charcoal by apologizing to me.

  Maybe I shouldn't have asked.

  Haaa....

  I really don't want to speak with Samantha of such dumb matters if I don't want to be roasted alive.

  Haaa... how saddening that the meek and gentle personality of hers had flipped, yet at the same time, not.

  I turned my head, then looked at Ishtar, who was sitting in the opposite direction of us inside the carriage.

  Haaa... I know those eyes.

  She was clearly avoiding meeting my eyes so that she wouldn't become as dumb as me.

  I couldn't help but sigh again, since the young girl who was super clingy had become this mature in a span of three months.

  Now she was shy, not acting like a kid, just like a dignified noble lady, like the master that taught her.

  And luckily the blind Solia, who was supposedly partially deaf, didn't hear a single word from Samantha.

  But I know she probably heard it and was now laughing in her inner monologue at how dumb I was.

  So I waved my hand and muttered with disdain.

  "Well, I'm still better than someone who's blind, deaf, and mute, since dumbness could be cured but those cannot be cured. Well, laugh at me all you want, Solia, but mark my words that I remember this day for the revenge of tomorr... ouch!"

  Samantha smacked my head, then gazed at me with a smile as she kicked me off from her lap and onto the floor.

  Then she stamped her feet just inches away from my ears as she muttered with disgust.

  "My... it seems that you're quite eager to bully someone who had willingly sacrificed herself for me, Alister? Are you perhaps mocking me, the one she saved?!"

  I gulped, then smiled gently as I slowly stood and dusted myself off, then muttered softly like a meek rabbit caught by a hunter.

  "Ahem... I mean, I remember that day so I could reward her the next day, since a gentleman remembers the kindness that others had shown them forever."

  Samantha smiled at my words, then whispered coldly in my ears in order to warn me not to do anything funny in the future.

  She glanced at me, then into Ishtar, as she smiled gently.

  "Right. A gentleman's generosity knows no bounds. So Ishtar, remember that, right?"

  Ishtar nodded at her words, and Solia, who couldn't speak but luckily heard her words, smiled softly at how her mistress was defending her like a fierce tigress.