CHAPTER 876: SUYIN’S GIFT

Groaning on the floor, Alice had a headache from how much alcohol she had drunk yesterday.

Letting out a yawn, she could still smell in scent of mead on her breath.

While experimenting with her ideas last night, her frustrations only grew as she continued to order mead over and over again. Thankfully, she wasn’t violent this time.

Keeping herself focused on the task at hand rather than destroying the place around her.

Elias was more of a lightweight considering he stopped around halfway through the night.

Pulling herself onto a chair, Alice rested her head against the table.

So many ideas put to the test but none of them worked...

Well... that’s not entirely true.

None of them worked the way Alice wanted them to work in order to cover the possibility of the memory being modified.

Letting out a sigh, Alice decided to open the vault again.

She sent the message over rather early so Suyin should’ve seen it by now.

"Oh but then again... I guess I haven’t been keeping in touch. She gave me the vault so I can access the Eldritch Crystals easily if I ever face Outer Gods again." Alice mumbled.

Shaking her head with a sigh, she gave it a shot anyways.

Even if Suyin didn’t respond, she can always wait.

As she opened the vault, she was surprised to see that most of the crystals were taken out to make room for something else.

Squeezed into the vault was a strange... puppet?

Alice saw a letter in front of the puppet and opened it.

[My heart is wounded from your lack of communication. Where were the samples you encounter on your journey? The eldritch abominations? Oh how I wait for your messages day after day while toiling away at the repairs needed for the city.

The people here aren’t like you. They take one look at my babies and they turn away in horror. Such disrespect.

Ah how I miss the days of letting you test my inventions, making research notes and progress. Tell me, did you miss me as much as I did you?

Or am I simply a forgotten part of your life now? Such sadness.

However, glad I am that you still contacted me for assistance. And as such, how can I hold back? You’ll find a gift I left in the vault for when you open it. And let’s just say... I think I’ve outdone myself.]

Alice raised her eyebrow.

A gift?

But more importantly, this letter wasn’t much help. It didn’t answer the questions that she had posed to Suyin.

Showing a helpless smile, Alice glanced at the doll sitting in the vault.

It was roughly the size of Alice’s forearm. Not big to the point where it would be a hassle to carry around but not exactly small either.

The doll wore a sleeveless eastern white dress with gold patterns along the edges and a pair of embroidered shoes with flower patterns on the top. The legs were exposed, revealing the mechanical joints around the knees, ankles and waist.

It also wore an off shoulder lab coat with appropriately sized sleeves that allowed the hands to move freely.

Had it been Alice’s choice, she would’ve given her large sleeves in a heartbeat.

Lifting the chin, Alice examined the doll’s face. Deep crimson hair with a slight glow on the underside of her hair. It was tied into a double maiden bun mixed with twin tails, the bottom of the hair reaching her waist.

A pair of golden eyes that seemed to flicker between pink, blue and gold every so often. But the most prominent feature of this doll was the black spikes protruding from just above her ear, some of which even wrapped around the ear.

In a sense, it made the doll look similar to a half dragon.

Alice held the doll up like a child, the limbs falling limp on the side.

She could sense a dormant storage of energy held in the chest compartment and wondered if she should inject some energy into the doll.

To jump start its systems.

Though... she couldn’t help but wonder how it was storing energy. If it got damaged, how would she replace it?

She held the doll with one hand and tapped the chest a few times with her finger, wondering if it’ll open.

"Oh gosh if you liked my chest that much, maybe I should’ve installed something bigger."

"!!!" Alice’s eyes snapped up and saw a smug expression on the doll’s face.

"Suyin???" Alice was in disbelief.

When did the doll activate? She didn’t sense the flow of energy.

But more importantly, how was she here?!

No, she wasn’t here in person but rather in doll form.

But... How??? She had no Sigils so how was this possible!?

"Wahahaha~ Yes! It is I! the great genius Suyin in my greatest creation! The Suyin mk2!" Suyin struck a pose as she broke out of Alice’s grip and flipped towards the table, making a perfect landing.

"Gosh you took so long to contact me I actually thought you forgot about me." Suyin folded her arms in annoyance.

"Ah... Sorry about that. It’s been somewhat of a chill journey... I think? There hasn’t been too many anomalies until now." Alice apologised as Suyin chuckled.

"It’s fineee~ I forgive you."

"So how come... you’re a doll now? What about your job in the east? Aren’t you busy with that?" Alice asked curiously.

"Fufu~ I knew you’d ask that. Give me a second." Standing up, Suyin shifted her body a few times before one of her eyeballs popped out.

Placing it on the table, a projection appeared as a flow of Abyssal energy was drawn in from the surroundings.

From the projection, Alice could see Suyin wearing a pair of glasses while in her lab.

"Hi~ the Suyin mk2 is made up of several preserved beast parts. As long as you can inject a bit of energy into it, one ability assigned to the body part can be used. In this case, this eyeball as the power of illusions. I simply synchronised it with the orb I created before and tada~ Long distance communication where we can see each other." Suyin explained, twirling her scalpel in hand.

Alice was taken aback by how fast Suyin was speaking but a smile appeared on her face.

"Seems like you’ve been busy huh?"

"Of course. I can’t sit idly now after all. There’s a few other features I’ve included on the mk2 but essentially I can travel with you for a little bit~ It’ll need to come in for some maintenance every now and then as I make improvements of course.

"Ah and don’t worry about touching it. The mk2 was made with the intention of not blowing up upon touch. It’s a mix of my machinery, Eldritch energy and Abyssal energy. Basically the culmination of the research we did while you were here." Suyin gave Alice a reassuring wink.

"I see... So did you have a read of what I wrote down yesterday? What do you think about this problem?" Alice asked.

Popping her eyeball back in, Suyin jumped over and sat on Alice’s shoulder.

"It’s definitely weird. Sadly, I won’t be able to see the realm since my soul isn’t here. This is simply a communication device after all. But when it comes to recording your memory without using Abyssal abilities, I should be able to help." Suyin crossed her legs.

"I’ve attached a recording device into mk2 that can observe the changes in your body. While that doesn’t account for the soul, I’m sure it’s something you can handle right? So long as I get the data into my hands, I’ll be able to solve the main issue for you."

Alice folded her arms and smiled.

"So you just need me to give you the ’data’ of my soul as I go into the realm right?"

"Yep. Just link you and mk2 up and I’ll get a live feedback. And if we make some extra modifications, ’seeing’ the realm through your soul might even be possible." Suyin winked.

"So, what do you think of the realm?" Alice asked.

"From what I’ve read and some guesses of my own, I’m thinking... the realm is currently in a state of infancy or possibly it hasn’t been fully ’born’ yet. It’s unstable, chaotic and the rules are being formed. The fact that you can only access it every 2 days is a clear hint towards the truth.

"My assumptions are that within these two days, the Nightmare realm consolidates the information it’s gained along with the changes that people have brought. It’s clear that the realm is operating completely differently to the Void and Abyss.

"A governing body is assigning ’guides’ to everyone that enters meaning... They have access to a large work force or a method similar to mine with mk2.

"Then we have a look at the foundational rules of this realm. I’m guessing the first death acts as a trigger for the one sided contract similar to bounties for Hunters.

"And as you embark on your journey, using the Embryos they give, the connection is being reinforced.

"However, just like the case of the hunts in the Abyss becoming stronger should you fail to kill your target, each death acts as a punishment with the Realm sinking its teeth deeper into your soul." Suyin rambled with an uncontrollable glint in her eyes.

She was born too late to see the war of Realm rulers, too late to see the changes in the Void. Too unfortunate to explore the Abyss as not a single Sigil was granted to her.

But...

She was just in time to see the birth of a new realm. A new anomaly, the spiral of possibilities and the exploration of the unknown.

Sitting in her lab, she could feel her heart slamming against her chest in excitement.

Ah~ truly. To understand the unknown was the aphrodisiac to a researcher’s soul.

This exploration of the Nightmare Realm...

Suyin absolutely cannot miss this!