Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 1139 - 252 Tombstone

Chapter 1139: Chapter 252 Tombstone

"The closer you get to the edge of the Fragment Area, the higher the proportion of large shards, and the fewer the number of shards distributed," Ava explained as she pulled Pannis by the sleeve and walked ahead of the group. "Correspondingly, as you move toward the center, the shards are smaller and more densely packed. As you observed just now, even taking a step might significantly alter your sense of distance, possibly because the force tearing the space hadn’t fully destroyed the peripheral area before it was contained by an external force. But it’s not absolute, there are still shards that can be used to accelerate, like this one, this one, and this one."

The group’s location was actually not far from the edge of the grassland if measured in theory. If they had been on a small shard, they would have been able to clearly see the bare yellow soil and gravel ground beyond the grassland. Unfortunately, as they were still on a large shard, they were at least one or two kilometers apart from each other. The girls had to rely on the Hawkeye Spell to see clearly outside; otherwise, they could only see it vaguely. Ava casually waved her hand to signal everyone to follow, then she and Pannis took a few steps forward, and suddenly, the distance of one or two kilometers was covered in forty-four steps. After forty-four steps, the girls found themselves at the edge of the grassland, four or five hundred meters away from the previously seen camp and tombstones.

"It’s really amazing, but I’ve had a question from the beginning," Lina asked, puzzled. "Ava, didn’t you say that this space carries synchrony? If we are not far from each other, nobody should split up. Theoretically, being the leader, you wouldn’t be separated from us. So how could you possibly take us through shard after shard?"

"Are you sure you want to know the reason?" Ava asked, staring at Lina’s face expressionlessly, her voice uninflected. "I could explain it to everyone, but to grasp a vague concept, it might require a hundred and seventy-two hours of lectures, and to basically understand the reason, it would need four thousand six hundred hours. If you’re willing to listen, I can start explaining now."

"I want to... mmm mmm mmm." The Mage girl being dragged away by Catherine, with her mouth covered, only left a face full of sorrow, while Catherine, holding Vivian, chuckled and said, "Thank you, but we don’t want to hear it now, not at all."

"I thought so," Catherine said, perhaps an illusion, but she seemed to see a fleeting smile on Ava’s lips. She continued in a mechanical voice, "If you ever want to listen, just let me know."

"No, wait, have you disconnected the sync already?" Catherine released her grip that had nearly suffocated Vivian, ignoring her retaliating pokes with her magic staff around her waist. Covered completely in metal, the knight girl didn’t feel a thing. She focused solely on Ava and asked, "You’ve hidden it well, but I’ve noticed some subtle changes in you."

"Yes," Ava paused briefly, seemingly surprised by the knight girl’s observant nature towards her teammates, then nodded and said, "One minute and twelve seconds ago, I already disconnected from Cyrie-0005. If we move forward ten more steps, we can completely exit this area of Shattered Space and return to normal space, so there’s no need to maintain the sync anymore."

Catherine crouched in front of Ava, hands on the girl’s shoulders, twisting her back and forth, observing her for a long time until she confirmed there were no abnormalities, then suddenly picked up Ava and turned to place her into Pannis’s arms, just like how he usually held Annie, smiling at the girl while saying, "Thank you, Ava, for your hard work along the way; take a good rest now, this is your reward."

"Hey, why do I have to hold her if you’re giving the reward?" Before Pannis could finish his complaint, Ava’s golden pupils turned towards him. The emotionless gaze made Pannis turn his usual banter into a cough, "Ahh, not bad either, ahhem ahhem."

For a moment, a strange silence fell over the group, each of them seemingly hearing faint voices echoing in their ears, sounding as if they were coming from another world, deep, hoarse, filled with anger and reluctant repetition of one phrase: "Let go of the mechanical girl, let go of the mechanical girl, let go of the mechanical girl."

Of course, like a terrifying voice from hell, it stopped after Pannis kicked Dillie again, a scenario to which everyone had become quite accustomed. Embracing the relief of finally leaving this bizarre space, they stepped beyond the range of the grassland.

Beyond the grassland was a sparsely vegetated wilderness covered with thick yellow earth and fine gravel. Where two terrains merged, the grass thinned at an alarming rate, disappearing within a few meters, leaving only sparse tufts of grass. The barren ground sported an occasional stunted tree every few hundred meters, the remainder being only large rocks and the dark moss and lichen underneath.

"This area should still be within the scope of the Bone Burial Ground." After stepping out of the Shattered Space, Pannis looked around and, after comparing it with the map in his memory, confidently stated, "Or rather, it’s still within the original Forbidden Land of Living Souls. We just walked through more than half of the Bone Burial Grounds on the map, so the small remaining part should belong to this wilderness, as I’ve never heard of such wilderness existing beyond the boundaries of the Forbidden Land of Living Souls."

"Why is there such obvious barren land here?" Lina curiously picked up a handful of yellow soil mixed with gravel from the ground and pinched it, puzzled, "Is it because of the soil quality? But according to the information in the church, in the forest, even if the soil quality changes, whether man-made or natural, the nearby soil should assimilate them. Oh, right, unless it’s land that wasn’t protected by the Forest Goddess at the creation of the forest."

"It is said that when Yuktiraxil was creating the Forest of Death, to make her children realize how terrifying a world without forest protection could be, she intentionally preserved a few areas of wilderness without vegetation. This place must be one of those. I remember, every ten years, devout followers of the Forest Goddess pilgrimage to barren lands like this, a sign they never forget her teachings," Pannis shrugged nonchalantly, crushing a piece of broken stone, "Of course, this is the official explanation from the Elves, as for my own thought, it was probably just an oversight by her. After all, managing millions of square kilometers encompassing the three great forests, missing a few spots is quite normal."

"You’re really brave." The girls decisively distanced themselves from him, with Lina clicking her tongue, "Talking bad about the Forest Goddess in the forest, are you bracing yourself to face Divine Punishment?"

"Hahaha, why would I? The Goddess is so beautiful, and her heart is as vast as the forest, why would she send down Divine Punishment over a harmless joke? Hahaha, impossible," Pannis laughed dryly, "You must not slander my reverence for the Goddess."

"Can’t be bothered with you." Catherine glared at Pannis petulantly and, pulling the other girls with her, turned to leave, leaving him still chuckling behind.

"Hey, wait, Ava’s still with me here," Pannis called out, holding Ava and chasing after the girls, "Even if you want to leave me behind, you can’t just leave her too. Wait for me."

"Lucky idiot." Dillie, trailing last, made what he considered an accurate judgment and nodded affirmatively to himself, "Exactly. And very foolish too."

The ground covered with broken stones was uneven and uncomfortable to step on, and due to the stones being rather loose, it was easy to slip. However, given the girls’ physique and balance, these were hardly obstacles, and they easily approached the camp ahead. The camp was built on a large exposed flat rock. Around its perimeter were inner and outer sturdy walls with Night Watchers positioned on the inner wall to oversee the outer wall and beyond. The three-meter-high outer wall, clinging to the edge of the rock, significantly increased the height difference with the yellow gravel ground below, making it more difficult to cross. Inside the inner wall were ten dome-shaped houses, also with doors but no windows, suitable for resting at night. Due to the absence of readily available clay often seen in grasslands, the expedition team had adopted a highly secure construction method. This method, though not uncommon and well understood by the girls, was somewhat cumbersome and labor-intensive and was not suitable everywhere. To build such a camp, one first had to create a special magical gel and then gather a large amount of closely sized stones, mix them in proportion, and shape them along the ground like clay to form walls and houses, waiting for the magic gel to air dry. Once dried, the material, mixed with a lot of gravel, became extremely hard, very suitable for temporary defense. However, aside from the material issues, the most serious problem was that the structure could become brittle in low temperatures, crack in high temperatures, and soften, deform, or even dissolve in continuously moist environments, basically having no practical value except for short-term use. Currently, although located in a humid and rainy forest, due to the special terrain, the barren land seemed to rarely be visited by rain, which ironically made it suitable for using them.

As for the tomb that Vivian and Freya had seen earlier, it was positioned near the rock below the walls. The tomb itself was built of the same material as the camp, and the tombstone was made by cutting a nearby ordinary rock. Carved neatly on the tombstone was a line of text that seemed to be a tombstone inscription.

The issue was with this line of text. The girls, with complicated expressions, stared at the text, feeling the veins on their foreheads throb continually, unsure of the expression they should wear.

The words on the tombstone were not many and not at all complicated; the pretty font made it pleasant to read, but the content of the text was what rendered them helpless.

"Dedicated to my perished frailty and despair."