Coppelia raised her sleeve and wiped away the fine beads of sweat on her forehead.
The Abyss power within her had completely merged with her body. If she persisted with the second method, it would likely require disembowelment—removing the organs that had accumulated the most power and waiting for the body to regrow replacement parts. Such a task was absolutely impossible for her to complete alone. Ask someone else for help? That wouldn't work either. The scene would be too gruesome; it would terrify anyone.
"I still have to find another way," she whispered.
She combed through the specificities of this body again, attempting to find a third path. Flesh and blood constructed from the Abyss... a natural, powerful attraction to Abyss power... a constitution capable of accommodating the Abyss... and an astonishing self-healing ability...
As she pondered, she pressed her palm against her abdomen, which was wracked with unceasing colic. Suddenly, a thought flashed through her mind: perhaps she could approach this from the angle of "accommodation."
Maybe it was because the total amount of Abyss contained in her body exceeded a certain limit that the power constantly tried to break through its restraints. If she could "expand the capacity" of her body, making the volume match the power once again, the problem might be solved.
But how does one "expand capacity"? By eating until she became a fat person—would that enhance her ability to contain the Abyss? She felt a burst of frustration—she knew almost nothing about the nature of her own body or the principles of the Abyss power. The direction of "capacity expansion" was simply impossible to pursue.
She immediately abandoned this third line of thought.
She shifted her perspective. This time, she cut in from the angle of self-healing ability. For this body to activate its self-healing ability, it definitely needed to consume something.
She recalled the day of the duel with the Khaenri'ahn in the desert underground. The wounds on her abdomen and neck were extremely severe; until the moment she drew Amos's Bow, those wounds showed no signs of healing. But after she fell into that lake water filled with Abyss power, all her wounds recovered rapidly within a short time.
This might imply that the healing process of wounds consumes Abyss power.
"Then, the fourth method is obvious," Coppelia said to herself. "Actively create wounds and utilize the healing process to consume the power." Her train of thought became clear. "Moreover, this method is easy to put into practice. My body was constructed using the Abyss to begin with; if it encounters high concentrations of Lunar Force, the two will annihilate each other, creating trauma. And in Nod-Krai, the one thing that isn't lacking is Lunar Force."
"Right now, only this method has a possibility of success."
"I must try it!"
Having confirmed her idea, she immediately mobilized. She propped herself up on the bed with her elbows, slowly sat upright, and then scooched inch by inch to the edge of the bed. She tried to place her feet on the ground; the moment her bare feet touched the rock surface, the icy sensation made her recoil sharply, goosebumps rising on her skin.
She turned around, groping near the pillow until she found the storage bronze mirror Columbina had left on the bed. probing it with her consciousness, she retrieved the pair of shoes she had worn when she still had a mechanical body.
She stuffed her feet into them, but her heels required force to barely squeeze into the shoe backs.
"I need to change shoes," she muttered to herself.
She looked again at the excessively large Khaenri'ah black robe she was wearing, then took out her previous set of dress and skirt, spreading them flat on the bed. The dress was exquisitely made; the combination of a black base with gold patterns appeared magnificent and solemn.
Coppelia sighed. "I don't know if I can still fit into it." She gently stroked the surface of the skirt. "Once I solve the Abyss problem, I'll put it on and see... She should like the way I look in this outfit more."
After a brief pause, she stood up shakily in those ill-fitting shoes. Arms still cradling her faintly churning chest and abdomen, she suppressed the restlessness of the Abyss inside while taking steps toward the bottom of the vertical shaft leading from the Court of the Silver Moon to the surface.
She did not intend to experiment here. The concentration of Lunar Force here was insufficient to trigger a strong reaction, which might lead to poor results.
"To the southwest of Ilha Hiisi, there seems to be a small island with a very high concentration of Lunar Force," she recalled. "I can go there to try."
Walking to the bottom of the shaft, she raised her head. Above, the dark passage extended straight up for over a hundred meters. The passage was deadly silent.
Only then did she realize a problem: having left Columbina, she simply could not fly.
She wiped the cold sweat that had emerged on her forehead due to discomfort, a wave of disappointment surging in her heart. "I can't get out at all..."
Just then, out of the corner of her eye, she glimpsed two Moon Spirits floating over. They hovered in front of her, facing her.
Coppelia turned around, only to discover that dozens of Moon Spirits had gathered at some point, surrounding her in the center. These Moon Spirits seemed to be seeing her move about on the ground for the first time and appeared very curious.
Looking at these little guys emitting a hazy white light, she had an idea.
"How about," she pointed to the top of the shaft and said to them, "you guys lift me up?"
Two Moon Spirits could barely lift Amos's Bow, which weighed about two kilograms. With dozens together, they might really be able to send her to the surface.
The Moon Spirits seemed to grasp her meaning and appeared eager to try. They approached one after another, extending their long braids to wrap around Coppelia's body, arms, and legs. Soon, she was wrapped tightly in these soft ribbons of light.
Coppelia spread her arms, providing more leverage points for the Moon Spirits. At the same time, she focused even more on suppressing the Abyss power within her, preventing even a shred of leakage from hurting these fragile little things.
Dozens of Moon Spirits began to float upward simultaneously; some pulled from above, while others supported from below. A uniform and gentle lifting force was transmitted to her, and Coppelia's feet truly left the ground. Carrying her, they began to ascend slowly and steadily along the shaft.
Clustered and lifted by the Moon Spirits, passing through the long darkness, they arrived at the top of the shaft.
However, the scene before her eyes left Coppelia stunned.
A massive rock was embedded in the exit, blocking it without leaving a single crack.
Only then did she vaguely recall that earlier, when Columbina recounted encountering the Children of the Frost Moon and the "talking deer," she had indeed mentioned sealing the entrance. It was just that her attention had been entirely elsewhere at the time.
Coppelia looked at the massive rock and fell silent for a few seconds.
"A wasted trip..." She sighed and said to the Moon Spirits, "Let's go down."
The Moon Spirits slowly lowered Coppelia back down, settling her on the bed once more.
Coppelia sat by the bed for a moment, not planning to just sit there idly. As she watched the Moon Spirits gathering around and floating curiously, another idea popped up.
The Moon Spirits themselves could also provide Lunar Force. There were so many of them here; perhaps if they gathered together, they could create a phenomenon significant enough for her to verify the feasibility of the fourth method.
Enduring the persistent dull pain in her body, she stood up and walked to a grey-white rock at the edge of the Court of the Silver Moon, far from the sea of flowers.
She beckoned the Moon Spirits to gather. "I need you to do me a favor."
She began to direct the Moon Spirits' positioning. A portion of the Moon Spirits obeyed the arrangement, hovering half a meter from her body. There were four on each side around her legs, and eight around her upper body. The remaining Moon Spirits retreated slightly, clustering around to watch quietly.
To make the effect of the attempt as significant as possible, she took off the loose Khaenri'ah black robe she was wearing and placed it aside.
"Face me," she said to the sixteen Moon Spirits, "and release Lunar Force."
Although the Moon Spirits did not understand why, they did as told. On the side facing Coppelia, their soft white light became bright, shining upon her pale body like searchlights.
A burst of fine and dense sizzling sounds rang out, like water droplets falling onto a scorching iron plate. The light of the Lunar Force contacted the Abyss power contained beneath the surface of her body, and a certain annihilation reaction occurred.
Coppelia had thought that being directly irradiated by this light would cause severe pain, but what actually came was a scorching heat permeating her whole body, as if she were standing inside a massive oven, heat waves wrapping every inch of her skin.
She looked down to observe. Her pale skin began to change color, as if scalded by high-temperature steam, rising with an unnatural flush. Beneath the redness, a turbid, dark hue faintly revealed itself.
Amidst the continuous baking, a sharp, piercing pain came from her right forearm. She raised her arm to check; the skin there had already broken open, forming a gap about two centimeters wide. Wisps of fine black mist were escaping from the edge of the small hole, dissolving silently the moment they touched the light continuously emitted by the Moon Spirits.
The black mist obscured the details of the wound. Coppelia could only see the skin around the gap creeping slowly in an inhuman manner.
Soon, a dense wave of severe pain, like being splashed with boiling water, transmitted from everywhere on her body. She looked at her torso and limbs; the skin in most areas had already ulcerated and peeled off, covered by a layer of thick black mist that surged out continuously.
A few seconds later, the skin on her body surface completely lost sensation. All the pain vanished instantly, leaving only the terrifying visual spectacle and the restless agitation of the Abyss power forcibly suppressed within her body.
The sixteen Moon Spirits also saw the bizarre black mist surging on her body surface. They seemed frightened; the suspended balls of light trembled slightly, and the light they emitted dimmed a few degrees. But since Coppelia did not call for a stop, they continued to maintain the illumination.
Coppelia felt the degree of injury was about right and shouted to the Moon Spirits, "Quick, get away from me!"
Hearing this, the Moon Spirits felt as if they had been granted amnesty; they retreated to the surroundings one after another, hovering at a distance to observe her state.
Without the continuous irradiation of Lunar Force provided by the Moon Spirits, the black mist on Coppelia's body surface became even thicker, tumbling endlessly.
She saw that beneath the black mist, dark red muscle tissue resembling muscle mixed with ink was squirming violently, as if it had a life of its own, striving to repair the trauma. But new skin was slow to grow.
Coppelia guessed that this squirming flesh and blood needed Abyss power as "material" to complete the regeneration.
Perhaps my guess is correct... She turned her attention inward. That power she had been suppressing deathly tight was still violent, wanting to break through the restraints at any moment.
She cautiously relaxed her suppression of the power by a sliver, letting a tiny portion leak out.
What happened next lifted her spirits. The Abyss power that escaped did not rush away from her body like a runaway horse; instead, dragged by some invisible traction, it flowed rapidly toward the damaged areas of her skin.
The black gas at the ulcerated areas suddenly became intense, and the squirming of the flesh intensified to a degree near boiling.
Soon, Coppelia saw new, pale skin layers growing bit by bit over the dark red muscle tissue. The Abyss power she had deliberately released neither returned to her body nor dissipated into the air; instead, it transformed into new flesh and skin tissue.
Before long, sensation returned to the places on her body surface that had previously lost it—it was a dense stinging pain all over her body, like countless fine needles stabbing simultaneously.
Although the pain was unbearable, a strong excitement surged in Coppelia's heart.
Using Lunar Force to neutralize the Abyss, creating injuries, and then letting the body consume the Abyss through the self-healing process...
This method is feasible!
Finally, I've found a way to solve the Abyss power... When Columbina comes back, I'll tell her this good news. Amidst her thoughts, the skin on her body surface had finished regrowing completely. It remained pale, smooth, and intact, as if she had never suffered any injury. Only the faint smell of scorching in the air proved that everything that had just happened was not an hallucination.
...
Above the pale purple sea of flowers in the Court of the Silver Moon, the air rippled slightly, and Columbina's figure appeared. Dozens of round, green berries were suspended at her side.
Two seconds later, the Moon Spirits gathered around, jumping up and down beside her.
Columbina reached out, her fingertips gently brushing past every Moon Spirit that leaned close, responding to their silent enthusiasm. Within this touch, she perceived that the sense of power transmitted by a dozen or so Moon Spirits was weaker than their other companions, and their light was also slightly dimmer.
"What happened?" She looked at those few slightly exhausted little guys.
They did not answer directly but turned around, floating slowly toward the direction of the bed.
Columbina followed them. Coppelia was sitting by the bed; her complexion was more relaxed than in her memory, and her lips had regained some color.
Seeing Columbina approach, Coppelia raised her head, the corners of her mouth pulling into an arc: "Welcome back. I have good news to tell you."
Her condition seems to have improved... Columbina floated closer, guiding the green berries beside her to the head of the bed and stacking them neatly.
She sat down by the bed, her gaze falling on Coppelia's face, her voice kept very light: "What happened? Does it have to do with those few Moon Spirits? I sensed that their power has become weaker."
Coppelia smiled. "I asked them to do me a favor." Then, she told Columbina about her idea of using Lunar Force to "treat" the Abyss within her body, as well as the entire process of the preliminary attempt using the Moon Spirits. From how she gathered the Moon Spirits, to the reactions produced by her body, and finally to the healing of the wounds and the consumption of a portion of the power.
"Don't worry," she concluded. "I've already verified it; this method works. So, I want you to help me push this step even further. As long as I can eliminate the majority of the Abyss within my body, I can return to normal..."
After listening, Columbina's brows furrowed. She looked at Coppelia, her eyes revealing worry. "This method... for you, isn't it a bit too..." She paused, seemingly looking for the right word. "Too painful."
Coppelia shook her head and persuaded, "There is a saying: 'Good medicine tastes bitter but is good for the disease.' To treat a stubborn illness, one must use strong medicine. How can there be benefits gained for nothing without paying a price?"
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