Chapter 12: Creating Characters Is a Way to Pass the Time

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After it became clear that “Misfortune” was not tired of Hermione, the young wolf cub could only sulkingly return. Hermione breathed a sigh of relief and once again expressed her gratitude for the protection of Lady “Misfortune.”

“Be a good cook to repay me,” came the words, seemingly a joke, yet spoken with sincerity. As the sentence fell, Lady “Misfortune’s” figure vanished from the wicker chair.

“One after another... they either want to eat me, or pretend to want to ‘eat’ me, or want to eat the food I make... all foodies!”

Staring at the now quiet and empty dwelling, Hermione muttered curses as she wiped her long sleeves. She first cleaned out an unused room to serve as Uloius’s living quarters.

Then she hurried to the kitchen, rifling through the remaining ingredients, carefully planning what delicious dishes she could prepare.

“My main path is ‘Dreamer,’ after all... I’ve crossed over, well, not exactly crossed over...”

“Anyway, no cheat codes, that’s fine, but why no lucky encounter to boost me to max level? Then I could just imagine all kinds of gourmet dishes...”

Having painstakingly prepared a table full of dishes, Hermione fantasized deep within her heart. Yet the satisfaction of doing it herself filled her soul.

At that moment, a small hand tried to sneakily reach for the food on the table but was immediately swatted away by Hermione. “Uloius, this lunch is prepared for your lifesaver. Good children must be polite.”

“It’s been a long time since I had a meal cooked by Sister Hermione,” Uloius’s stomach growled loudly, his wide eyes seemingly melting hearts, but when he looked at Hermione, confusion filled his gaze: “My lifesaver?”

This child had been wandering all this time; though he had escaped peril, the past half-year must have been extremely bitter. Yet Hermione persistently said, “If Lady ‘Misfortune’ hadn’t secretly tapped into your incredibly high inspiration, would you still be sleeping soundly?”

Hermione recounted the sudden visit from the young wolf cub to Uloius, partly to warn him of the dangerous environment.

But Uloius, kneeling on the stool, his handsome eyes fixed blankly on the food, clearly didn’t absorb much of her words.

Hermione wanted to take Uloius’s brain apart to see if his processor was single-threaded...

However, this single-minded focus was also Uloius’s greatest strength.

It was this concentration that made him, despite his young age, the one who had advanced farthest on the “Monster” path within the tribe.

“You little brat. If you keep thinking about stealing the food your sister left for me, I might just throw you out.” The silhouette of Lady “Misfortune” appeared before the table and gracefully sat opposite them.

As Uloius tried to stretch out his little paw to sneak a bite, the wooden stool beneath him gradually vanished as if erased by an eraser.

This sudden change caused Uloius to fall to the floor with a thud.

Hermione could not bear to see the child’s miserable state and covered her eyes with a plate—out of sight, out of mind.

Uloius neither cried nor shouted, his gaze still fixed firmly on the delicious food on the table.

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Seeing this, Lady “Misfortune” couldn’t help but smile, though her pace of enjoying the meal did not slow.

Soon, the vanished wooden stool reappeared.

An invisible force gently lifted Uloius’s slender body and settled him back onto the stool.

Hermione pondered quietly:

This seemed to be Lady “Misfortune’s” way of accepting Uloius living here...

After the meal, Lady “Misfortune” took her customary afternoon nap, while Uloius helped Hermione tidy up the house. Although children raised in the tribe tended to be gluttonous, he was diligent and efficient in his chores.

After finishing, Hermione took out neatly cut, square stone tablets from the room she had planned as a study.

These stone tablets were for carving words.

Having organized all the current alchemical recipes and path sequences she could, Hermione found a new, meaningful way to pass the time—

That was to create a language belonging to humanity, one capable of harnessing the forces of nature.

From nothing to something was difficult.

But Zhou Mingxiang had done extensive etymological work on multiple languages and had a deep understanding of scripts. Moreover, Hermione was fluent in the extraordinary languages of giants and dragons, so the work had a clear direction.

Though Uloius had no talent or new ideas for creating language, his powerful computational ability allowed him to assist Hermione in sorting out the commonalities and differences between giant and dragon scripts.

With Uloius’s help, Hermione’s progress accelerated considerably.

She had a premonition that it wouldn’t be long before she could truly carve on stone tablets a language more suited to human phonetic habits and capable of wielding natural power.

Lady “Misfortune” sometimes observed Hermione’s creation of characters. Besides being surprised initially that Hermione had such calmness and creativity, she never interfered or participated—only quietly watched.

Immersed in her new research, Hermione lived a fulfilling life and never felt that being confined to this dwelling was a torment.

Uloius was equally patient.

But when Lady “Misfortune” went out to attend to her affairs, Uloius, carrying a stack of stone tablets, suddenly brought up a topic that startled Hermione:

“Sister Hermione.”

“What is it?”

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“Lady ‘Misfortune’ seems... to be suppressing some kind of pain and madness.”

Startled, Hermione looked up blankly. “What did you say?”

In an emotionless tone, Uloius slowly explained:

“Though my inspiration is blocked, I can vaguely see a shapeless gray mist twisting around Lady ‘Misfortune’ occasionally...”

“Sometimes I see blurry images, grand palaces resembling those of the giants, where Lady ‘Misfortune’ twists into countless worm-like forms.”

Uloius paused, his tone still devoid of emotion but calmer and more serious: “If not for the mysterious power Lady ‘Misfortune’ imposed on my spirit, my intuition tells me I would have gone mad the moment I saw these visions.”

The more he spoke, the deeper Hermione’s frown grew. Although many of Uloius’s visions were tormenting illusions, a few rare glimpses served as ominous portents.

Could the seemingly gentle and rational Lady “Misfortune” also be unable to escape the wolf tribe’s inherent madness?

Rubbing her throbbing forehead, Hermione continued pondering Uloius’s words.

Grand palaces, worms... what could these images signify?

Worms...

Hermione knew that a certain path’s mythical form had the twisted and bizarre imagery of worms—this was the “Diviner” path, the protagonist of the video story starring her yet-to-awaken younger brother, Zhou Mingrui!

Also known as the “Fool” path!

But Lady “Misfortune” was clearly from the “Night” path sequence number two—how was she connected to such imagery?

“Fool,” gray mist...

And the things associated with these words...

Hermione first thought of her brother Zhou Mingrui’s greatest cheat code, and the ultimate cause of his deep slumber—

The Source Fortress.

For some unknown reason, Lady “Misfortune” might be connected to the Source Fortress and corrupted by it?