Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 323 - 35: Energy of Death_1

Chapter 323: Chapter 35: Energy of Death_1

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"Clap, clap, clap." Vivian clapped her hands gently three times, causing the rubbery ground that had softened due to high temperature and the red-burning metal ground to cool rapidly, steaming a swath of white mist. Catherine stepped over to the wreckage of the metal puppet’s torso, poked it a few times with her shield to confirm that it no longer posed a threat, then squatted down to pick up a piece of debris for closer examination.

"The performance of goblin special alloy is terrifying. It wouldn’t necessarily become brittle and collapse even if it alternates between low and high temperatures a hundred times, but their joints are a different story. Because the joints need to function normally, they use a different, more flexible formula. Although the metal created by this formula can be used to make joints, it’s not as strong and robust as the goblin alloy. So, it can be destroyed using my method." Vivian came over and explained, "I had similar thoughts when I was studying the remains of such puppets, but I never had the chance to test it in actual combat. It worked surprisingly well this time."

"This tactic is indeed efficient, but it’s a shame that our team is too small. If there were twice as many puppets, I’d have a hard time defending you three, giving you enough time to control the temperature," Catherine shook her head: "If Lina and Pannis were here, no matter how many puppets we faced, they wouldn’t pose any threat."

Vivian stepped forward, grunting as she lifted a puppet torso whose head was still twitching futilely. She could only elevate it a couple dozen centimeters off the ground before dropping it back down and giving it an irritated kick: "Damn it, this thing’s heavy. Big sister, would you give me a hand and lift this thing? I want to disassemble it and see if the location of their core is different from the standard ones."

"Will there be a difference?" Catherine lifted a puppet, while Vivian whipped out an array of different tools from her massive backpack as if performing a magic trick. The seemingly indestructible metal puppet didn’t last more than five minutes under Vivian’s swift hands, and was disassembled by one third, revealing a toddler-fist-sized, glowing blue peculiar crystalline core from its abdominal area.

"This is the puppet’s core. It harbours the second of the five great mysteries of goblin civilization. The mystery at the core." Vivian, staring at the blue core, said, "In the last two to three hundred years of the Goblin Empire, they developed this core technology. Earlier goblin puppets, though precise and sturdy, required the operator to pre-set commands, like attack, repair, defend, etc. But with this core, these puppets can automatically execute pre-set commands within a certain range. They have some self-judgment ability, which is an unimaginable technological leap. But it’s a shame that this technology was lost as well."

"Is the self-judgment ability you’re talking about referring to this type?" Catherine pointed at the puppet in her hand.

"Of course not," Vivian shook her head, "These are just ordinary puppets, even modern technology can replicate them. There was a time when it was fashionable to imitate puppets in the mage circle. The self-judging puppets I’m talking about belong to the special ones, often governing a particular area. They can determine where attacks or repairs are needed and then pass on the directives to the regular puppets. Such specialized puppets are rare and extremely difficult to find. They can be among ordinary puppets. In many ancient ruins from the era, although special puppets should have been present, they were often not found and were mistakenly injured during the breakthrough. Despite thousands of years of exhaustive research on these cores by mechanical mages, no progress has been made. If we could crack this secret, the world might change fundamentally."

"Haven’t you thought about making a breakthrough towards this goal?" Catherine asked teasingly, "Aren’t you a genius?"

"Just because I’m a genius doesn’t mean I’m a fool," Vivian rolled her eyes and posed with her hands on her hips, saying with pride. "I fully understand that with the current level of knowledge, it’s impossible to unlock this secret. So, I won’t waste my time on something pointless. Understanding my abilities is another characteristic of being a genius."

"Alright, you win," Catherine dropped the puppet in her hand. The blue core of the puppet hit the ground, making the crisp sound of shattering crystal, and was shattered into several pieces. When the core shattered, the glow in the puppet’s eyes was immediately extinguished and its head no longer moved, it had completely lost its ability to function.

"Look, puppets are actually very fragile, just destroy their core and we can solve them. However, the metal around their core is thicker than the rest, it isn’t easy to penetrate. And since the core is relatively small and located differently in each puppet, it’s hard to accurately hit the core," Vivian pointed at the lifeless puppet and said, "But sister, your skills should be able to hit it accurately, so remember its location."

"No problem," Catherine suddenly swung her sword at another puppet on the ground. The one-handed sword infused with aggression stabbed at the same spot twice in succession. The two attacks tore open the puppet’s five-millimeter thick armor, and the sword penetrated into the puppet’s abdomen without any obstruction, destroying the core inside its body: "See, it’s quite easy. Leave these types of puppets to me from now on. Let’s continue."

"Hmm, there’s one last thing." Vivian touched her chin, smiling mischievously as she retaliated against Catherine’s earlier tease, "These small combat puppets, the Tower of Colossus offers a purchase price of five hundred gold coins per deactivated puppet, and one thousand five hundred gold coins per active one. So, we have eight puppets here. Let’s see, that’s ten thousand gold coins. What a pity."

"Hey," Catherine glared at Vivian, "You’re pretty sneaky."

"How can you say that?" Vivian looked wronged, "I’m just kindly reminding you, big sister. Besides, why not take these puppets with us? Consider it a supplemental reward for the mission."

"A puppet weighs two hundred kilograms, and you expect me to run around in sewers with thousands of kilograms on my back?" Catherine indignantly grabbed both sides of Vivian’s cap and yanked it down. The stretched cap covered Vivian’s eyes, "You wicked creature, consider this a punishment."

"Hey, hey, I can’t see." Vivian frantically grabbed the cap and pulled it upwards. With much effort, she managed to remove the cap from her head. The punished Vivian stuck her tongue out at Catherine’s back, put her hat back on, and quickly mustered a fierce look at the maid sisters, "Don’t laugh. Let’s go, let’s go. Otherwise, I’ll leave you two behind."

"Hehe." With all this commotion, the maid sisters quickly lost their fear of suddenly appearing grotesque puppets, and overcame their natural awe for upper rank professionals like Catherine and Vivian. At this point, Vivian’s stiffness did not intimidate them at all. They covered their mouths, chuckled, and followed Catherine.

Since the maid sisters had already discovered it, Catherine simply let Annie come out of the locket and walk hand in hand down the walkway. Sometimes, the little banshee would run away from Catherine’s side, flutter down to the bottom of the deep drain, and pick up random rocks or pieces of metal to show Catherine as her treasures. Those were all things that goblins from the city above had unintentionally lost down the drain thousands of years ago. Most of it had weathered and was destroyed, and only a few objects with special texture had survived, though they were not worth anything anymore and were now considered little banshee’s spoils of war.

"Annie feels really comfortable here." The little banshee held a small crystal ball in her hand and spoke innocently, "The further we walk, the more comfortable it gets. Annie really likes it here."

Annie’s simple sentence didn’t trigger much reaction from the maid sisters, but Catherine and Vivian’s faces changed drastically. No matter how cute, innocent, or kind Annie was, in the end, she was a Death Banshee, an Undead creature. These beings, which couldn’t be considered living organisms, were naturally drawn to places abundant with the Energy of Death. The more concentrated the Energy of Death, the more comfortable the Undead would feel. If Annie liked it here, that meant there was plenty of the Energy of Death, and that concentration was increasing as they moved further.

"Ugh, this is more troublesome now. I hope no Undead comes to join the party." Vivian said with a bitter smile, "Lina isn’t here. I don’t have any good strategies to handle the Undead."

"The chances must surely be thin." Catherine, too, spoke with uncertainty, "If they were truly here, Indulgence would have warned us."

"We’ve been walking for half a day. Judging by the distance, we are far beyond the detection range of Shadow Hand." Vivian lowered her voice instinctively, "So if there are truly Undead in the sewers, they may not even know it, let alone warn us."

"Shouldn’t matter, after all, there are cleaner puppets in the sewer." Catherine was reluctantly trying to find a reason," if there are Undeads, the cleaner puppets will promptly take care of them."

"Are you sure?" Vivian looked doubtfully at Catherine, "if the cleaner puppets determine their attacks based on whether there’s movement, they would indeed clean up. However, if they based their attacks on life energy, then no matter how many Undead are present, they wouldn’t trigger the puppets."

"Sisters, what are you talking about?" Annie asked, somewhat confused, "Are you talking about me?"

"No, no, no, not about you," fearful that the usually sensitive Annie would get hurt, Catherine bent down to pick Annie up, "We’re talking about others. By the way, Little Annie, can you sense any beings like you around us?"

"Ah, you’re talking about the Undead. You should have said so." Annie didn’t seem to mind, and said very directly, "No, while it is very comfortable here, there are no other Undead around."

"Phew, thank God." The two adventurers sighed in relief. Catherine hugged Annie and said, "Annie, can you also sense if there’re any Undead around while you’re searching for those people? If there are, can you remind us right away?"

"Don’t you worry. Leave it to Annie." The little banshee patted her flat chest, pretending to be an adult, she said joyfully, "As long as any Undead appear nearby, I’ll definitely tell you."

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