Abyssal Awakening

After a few hours, movement began to return to Alice's body as she could feel the flow of energy from within.

Seeing Alice sitting up and moving her arms, Ragnar was surprised by the rate of her regeneration considering her previous state.

"Oh I missed this feeling." Alice smiled, giving her body a good stretch while conjuring a bead of blood freely without the need for Torgeir's blood.

"You recovered? That fast?" Ragnar asked doubtfully. He couldn't help but wonder if she was forcing herself.

"Yep. Let's just say the battle was rather fruitful. Now I don't need to break my body if I want to fight." Alice puffed out her chest with a confident grin.

"Ah! But I'm not giving you back the fruits. They're mine now." Alice hid her pouch as Ragnar felt like smacking the girl over the head.

"Why would I fight a youngster for fruit I gave away myself?" He rolled his eyes.

"I dunno, maybe you wanted to get the seeds to replay your garden or something."

"If I had no other choice then yes. But seeing as how you're fine, this old man is going to rest by myself." Ragnar massaged his shoulder.

Even though it was just a small showcase of what his power used to be when he was 'fighting' against Tiamat, that was enough to give him internal injuries.

When he gave up his contract to be a Lord and passed on his power, he practically severed the connection he had with the Abyss.

All he has left are remnants of what used to be. A dying ember.

"Before you go, take this." Alice called out.

Turning around, Ragnar caught a bottle that Alice threw over gently.

"What's this?"

"A bottle of mead you can't get anymore. It's priceless ya know? If it wasn't for your help I wouldn't even have taken my baby out. This sh*t is actually limited okay? Can't get more." Alice shrugged.

She was indeed indebted to this man for the fruit, advice and just in general, the care he's shown. It's only natural for her to compensate him with something valuable of hers and the only thing that came to mind was Ayrian mead.

Raising his eyebrow, Ragnar chuckled softly as he nodded his head.

"Alright, I'll save it for a good occasion then." He stored it away before giving her a wave and making his way to another carriage so he could lay down and sleep.

Now that she was alone in her carriage, Alice was tempted to give her new power a try. But it was probably not a good idea to do so with so many people around.

Not only that, she wasn't sure what kind of effect it would cause. What phenomenon would appear if she were to create a rift between her and the world?

She wanted to test it out when she was alone so she could keep it a secret.

Playing around with a bead of blood between her fingers, Alice glanced around in hopes of finding Selen and Egil but they were nowhere in sight.

'They're probably in one of the carriages with a roof over their heads.' Alice thought to herself.

Since that was the case, Alice decided to explore her body a little more.

Now that she's gotten her fifth Sigil, her body experienced some reinforcement naturally. Not only that, but it felt as though her control had improved to another level.

Rather than just controlling one bead of blood to dance in her hand, Alice began to multitask with two, then three and then four. Each one was going through different motions.

'Actually… Do you think my resonance changed now that I've gotten a fifth Sigil? I know that my three Sigil resonance technically changed after I got my fourth with me and twinnie having one each.' Alice asked curiously.

[Unlikely. The change in resonance was a unique effect created by your constitution. Once it's been created, the likelihood of a resonance changing is very very small. So if things are to remain as they are, then no, your resonance wouldn't have changed master.] Cayla replied.

But knowing Alice, normality was never on the table and abnormality is her best friend. No matter how unlikely, she couldn't completely rule it off just like how the Tenebris had blackened heart.

Folding her arms, Alice began to tap her heel.

She couldn't quite sit still now that she had recovered to some extent. Of course, she still couldn't use her full power without collapsing since it wasn't like the Artifact had stopped trying to 'improve' her body.

However, it was enough for her to use her Sigils and experiment.

Pulling out some fruit, Alice passed her time but boredom gnawed at her mind.

'I wanna fight!' She threw a tantrum in her mind while Cayla glanced at her with dead fish eyes.

To think she'd see the day of her master throwing a tantrum on the ground complaining about wanting to fight.

'Cayla~ can't you make some illusions or something for me to fight? Don't you have a bunch of illusions that show me what the beast looks like?' Alice pouted.

[Master. . . Even if I could, who's the one who sealed me?]

'Right…'

[But no, I cannot. I'm a compendium of knowledge and a tool to get knowledge. I'm the Eyes of the Abyss not the training ground of the Abyss.] Cayla sighed.

She was helpful and had a lot of capabilities but she wasn't an omnipotent being who could just do things on the fly.

'But why not thought? If you have knowledge of what they look like and their abilities, can't you reliably estimate how they're going to move and display it? Like how you display the illusions of what they look like at me, just link them up quickly and it'll become a training illusion no?' Alice suggested.

Cayla wanted to retort but no words came out of her mouth.

The more she thought about it, the more feasible it sounded. All she needed to do was slightly change the 'pose' of the appearance and then have it play back one after the other.

If she does that, it would indeed feel like fighting an illusion and getting training.

However…

[Master… I'm sealed.]

'. . .' Silence dawned in the mental space as Alice truly wanted to jump off a cliff.

All of her ideas were being blocked by the consequences of her choices.

'Tsk, and here I was getting excited for no reason. If you can give me illusions to fight, I wouldn't have to be bored all the time. I can just punch some f*cker in the face or something.' Alyss grumbled in annoyance.

While she was listening to the two talk, she could feel excitement bubbling in her chest but now she's just been doused by the cold water of reality.

Scratching her cheek awkwardly, Alice laid on her back trying to think of ways to make this possible.

But with so many of Cayla's abilities sealed, it was hard to say.

'Do you know when you'll be unsealed?'

[If I did, I would've told you already. Kaden didn't mention a time either, he only mentioned that it'll unseal naturally in the future. But considering the current state of the seal, you can be assured that it won't be anytime soon.] Cayla shook her head with a sigh.

Hearing this, Alice wanted to cry.

'Stupid stupid stupid! Me and my stupid mouth.' She cursed herself while letting out a big sigh.

Since asking Cayla wasn't an option, Alice could only sit still in her carriage while drinking mead and eating fruit. Truly a slothful lifestyle.

She wasn't going to tap into her reserve of Ayrian mead since she had no way of replenishing it. Instead, she chose to go through her other assortment of mead.

But even her large supply had a limit and she had to replenish her reserves soon.

After a few hours, it was time to camp as Alice stumbled out of her carriage with a blush on her face.

Those that were curious had a look at all the bottles that were left blinked their eyes in disbelief while Alice cleaned up and put them away in her pouch.

Swinging her head back, Alice took another drink as she finally recalled something.

'Actually… now zhat I think… aboutz it… Where did Tiamat go?' Alice asked as Cayla sighed.

[Disappeared. We don't know where she went but she's free from Terminus.]

'Zat so…'

Seeing the state of Alice, Cayla doubted she could even test out her new skills in secrecy as she had initially planned.

All she could do was watch as Alice zoned out completely doing her own thing.

Grabbing the materials needed for her tent, she pulled her hand back and…

*CLANGGG!!!!

Smashed down with the hammer using the might of God.

The sudden sound of Alice smashing the nail like it's her worse enemy caused more eyes to turn towards her but they dismissed it as the actions of a drunk.

Many were annoyed but they didn't say anything since Torgeir had warned them of it previously.

With Alice making so much noise with her tent, it was hard for people to concentrate.

". . . Why are you drunk." Selen's voice rang out as she looked down at the state of Alice who sat on the ground.

"Ohhh itz Selen… You no injured zats good…" Alice gave her a goofy grin as Selen sighed and massaged her eyes.

"I can't even leave you for a day and you make a mess out of yourself. How do you plan on surviving?"

"It'll be fineee~" Alice laughed, throwing the hammer into the air and catching it before preparing to slam it down once more.

Rolling her eyes, Selen poked Alice in the ribs causing her to laugh before falling on the ground once more.

"I'll set up the tent. Just go to sleep." She relented as Alice gave her a thumbs up before falling asleep.

Seeing this, Selen couldn't help but reveal a helpless smile. No matter how destructive or how much of an anomaly Alice was, at the end of the day, she's still just a girl who likes her mead a little too much. A goofy drunk brat.