Chapter 31: Am I Really Going to Toll the Bell for the Night?

In the days that followed, the two moved into their new home. There was only one bedroom, but they had brought in two beds, sparing Hermione from having to sleep on the cold, hard floor. Amanises, true to her word, did not rest at night, only taking short naps at midday.

"I really envy you for not needing sleep. My time is never enough," Hermione said, her dark circles growing deeper as she looked at the goddess, who was leisurely lounging with her legs crossed while studying a certain red fruit.

As the research project neared its end, Hermione discovered more and more flaws that needed patching. With the date of the New Year festival fast approaching, she had no choice but to work through the night, time and again.

Amanises smiled and said, "Once I finish researching coffee, I’ll be able to help you stay up late much better."

It was not that Amanises did not want to help, but in this final stage of creating a written language, only Hermione herself could complete the work of refinement and completion. No one else could assist, not even a deity.

"Coffee, huh? You’re a Sleepless, yet you keep thinking about drinking coffee..." After that retort, Hermione didn't waste any more time and plunged back into the vast sea of research.

As the New Year festival drew nearer, the Council organized several preparatory meetings. Hermione attended none of them. Even her daily needs—meals, hot water for bathing, and laundry—were all supported by Amanises behind the scenes.

Amidst this painful yet blissful busyness, just before the festival, Hermione, holding the stone tablet of the first written characters, felt the mysterious power stirred by the script. It was a language that truly belonged to humanity, one capable of moving the forces of nature.

...

Flowing darkness nourished Hermione’s overdrawn spirit and weary, fragile spirituality, feeling so comfortable that it made her want to moan.

Waking from a deep, tranquil sleep, Hermione narrowed her eyes slightly. Through the crimson moonlight filtering in through the window, she saw Amanises sitting at the head of her bed, looking out the window in a daze, perhaps reminiscing about her homeland.

"Don't pretend to be asleep once you're awake; time is still very tight, isn't it?" The cold, detached atmosphere shattered instantly. Amanises glanced at Hermione, who was actually trying to feign sleep in front of her, and laughed, speechless.

"I miss my days as a couch potato so much..." Hermione grumbled as she got up, taking the undergarment handed to her by Amanises. Having grown accustomed to dressing in front of her, she did not shy away.

When Hermione dressed, Amanises would look elsewhere.

"The festival begins at daybreak. I need to concoct the promotion potion first." Hermione stretched her body, stepped off the bed, and walked over to the various makeshift tools she had prepared. Beyond pots and stoves, she had crafted her own glass apparatus, making the place look remarkably like a crude scientific laboratory.

After preparing the various auxiliary materials she had gathered, Hermione asked Amanises for the pure "Manipulator" Beyonder characteristic, which Amanises had crushed, separated, and kept safe.

This was not the first potion "Hermione" had ever concocted or tested, but it was the first time she—now fused with the spirit of Zhou Mingxiang—was brewing a true potion.

The Sequence 4 "Manipulator" potion!

Sequence 4 was the true watershed in the potion system, the realm where one truly stepped into the domain of the demigod!

Precisely measuring the dosage of the materials and strictly controlling the temperature—though these factors could not truly influence the potion's success—Hermione still sought to be as meticulous as she could possibly be.

With Hermione's focused and gentle movements, a potion floating with countless fragments of light appeared before her and Amanises. Gazing at this strange potion was like looking at the embodiment of the collective unconscious sea.

Sensing the extraordinary nature of the potion, Amanises sighed internally, then tilted her head and smiled faintly at Hermione. "Is this also a result of your human research?"

Hermione chuckled without answering, simply explaining, "This is a 'potion,' the truly correct path to promotion. It’s much safer than swallowing a Beyonder characteristic directly."

Noticing Amanises’s increasingly peculiar gaze, she quickly added, "I really don't know the formula for the 'Blighted Knight' potion."

"Blighted Knight, is it..." Amanises murmured.

*I hope the future Evernight Goddess can find some inspiration in that name,* Hermione sighed to herself, believing that for now, this was all she could do.

"I won't be participating in the festival during the day," Amanises said, looking up slightly.

"Hmm?" Hermione returned from the joy of her successful potion brewing and looked at Amanises with confusion.

"Although the Giants haven't explicitly stated they will send people to participate in the tribe's New Year festival, I don't want to be identified by any Giants who might show up at the last minute..." Amanises explained. "To be safe, I will accompany Ouroboros's exploration team during the day to investigate a nearby lake where a deformed monster is suspected to be roaming. I asked Ouroboros to arrange this yesterday."

In Amanises's plan, once Hermione truly possessed divinity and began creating personal statues, she would follow, reveal her demigod power, build statues in the tribe, spread faith, stabilize their spirits, and then consume the characteristic left behind by the Two-Headed Demon Wolf, thereby becoming one of the most powerful among the attendant deities.

In this way, unless an Ancient God arrived in person, no one would be able to see through her Demon Wolf identity.

"I see..." Hermione felt a bit disappointed, but she nodded quickly. "Your consideration is very thorough. It's just that I've been too busy lately and ignored these hidden dangers."

Seeing the undisguised disappointment on Hermione's face, Amanises suddenly smiled brightly. "However, I will wait until I see you truly become a demigod from a distance before I depart. That way, I won't miss your promotion, nor will I run into any of those Giants."

Hermione was almost thrown off balance by Amanises's sudden turn. She rolled her eyes at her. "Say it all at once next time... you're wasting my emotions."

Hermione knew in her heart that Amanises's choice was actually out of concern that something might go wrong with her promotion. Even with the potion formula and the promotion ritual, the success rate was not high; one could only say she was on the right path, not a guaranteed one.

Thinking of this, Hermione paused and whispered to Amanises, "If... I mean, if an accident like the 'Mentor's' happens... I hope you can stop me. Don't let my hands be stained with the blood of the tribe's people."

Since she had to consume the potion at the time and place where the tribe's people gathered, although Hermione was confident she could succeed, if she failed, she would cause a tragedy similar to that of the "Mentor."

"I will," Amanises looked at Hermione earnestly, giving a firm answer. Then, the corners of her mouth curled into a playful smile. "However..."

"However what?" Hermione felt a tightness in her chest and asked, puzzled.

Amanises, her smile fading, said slowly, "It won't be difficult... once I build my statue, you must be my first believer and ring the bell for me."