4 Reaching the City, Leaving the Base

She dimly awoke in a small, cold room lying on a strange rectangular plinth. Although she thought the plinth was some even, gray stone, it was incredibly soft and adjusted itself as she moved. As she tried to pull herself upright, the plinth began to slowly change shape, gradually angling her legs towards the floor.

As she eased onto the gray carpet below, a murmuring sound seemed to come to her from the wall of the room. She took a few quick steps to reach the noisy wall before cupping her ear against it. Though indistinct, she could hear a voice, a man's voice, not too close, but not too far away. It sounded muffled, as if a hundred thick curtains separated the voice from her ears.

"Announcement...new....possibility.....Earth...field.....dimension....but,...Introducing, Rana...R.A.N.A..."

The wall of the room suddenly dissipated like mist and she could see the man a few meters in front of her addressing a massive crowd. As soon as she appeared, the crowd's cheering overwhelmed the man's voice, each wide-eyed and frantic person roaring "RANA! RANA!" in unison, roaring louder and louder as the girl was shocked by the lights and stimuli until---

The girl jolted awake so hard she slammed her head into the side of the wardrobe, but she didn't even care! She remembered her name, finally!! Like a light suddenly going one in the darkness, she knew she was Rana! Although she couldn't remember almost anything else, she knew that they were referring to her. In her dream, she was in a huge, bright room in front of countless people, while a man to her right was apparently showing her off!

Although she didn't know why, she seemed to be very popular in her dreams! The crowd surrounding her had looked up at her with shocking devotion, so she must have been cool or at least reliable! Feeling energized, Rana grabbed her plant blade and ran full tilt down the stairs to slaughter more slimes.

***

Five days later, Exenoura exited her trancelike state. Her slim grey body exuded a grand and ancient aura like the vast universe itself. Her skin seemed translucent, almost like smoke or nebular gas, and glistened with a hazy mirage-like quality. By using the obelisk her Master had fashioned her, she had made further progress in analyzing the unique Realm Curse that afflicted this universe. As the epicenter for this disaster, the caldera naturally contained a much higher density of the Curse's energies.

However, the region near her base was still somewhat lacking compared to the city ruins and danger zones that dotted the massive cavern. At this juncture, it was still difficult for her to determine which of these hotspots was the true location where the Realm Curse began or if there were multiple origins across the caldera. She stored her obelisk away and opened her ash-grey eyes, which momentarily glowed with silver points like stars.

As Exenoura contemplated the dangers and complexities of the Ruined Caldera, she inspected her ripening plant demon. The demonic pitcher was 3 meters tall and jet black, with captivating traceries of metallic purple that wound across its body like a river.

Though closed, the mouth of the pitcher plant exuded an insidious toxin from between shark-like teeth. Just below the mouth, a ring of octopus-like eyes fluttered as the demon pitcher slept. Beneath the pitcher sat an alarming pile of scythe-like tendrils and harpoon-like roots, which cushioned the sleeping demon like an expensive fruit.

In all, she was quite pleased with the quality of this pitcher demon; it had indeed been worth setting up her plant base here. The rare minerals and herbs she was able to collect in this specific region had boosted her plant demon from its base level of High Dæmon to the brink of Archdæmon. Although, much of this had to do with the quality of her blood, which allowed her to generate a High Dæmon in the first place...

As Exenoura walked closer, the lethal cushion of tendrils and roots beneath the demon parted like harmless willow branches. She closely inspected the traceries, identifying a few gaps between their runic patterns that were otherwise imperceptible. Using her small ivory knife, she pricked her thumb and began to draw runes with her blood where the gaps were. As her fingers glowed greenish brown, the blood seemed to adhere and smear like rich ink, eventually merging with the purple traceries perfectly.

They began to glow with a dark purple and dull silver light as the demon awoke! The coiled piles of tendrils and roots beneath the demon began to slowly uncoil and move together, bringing the plant demon into a kneeling pose before Exenoura. As its eyes trained on her ash-grey face, she slowly spoke.

"By the Pact, By the Rite, By the Will, By the Blood, what fate hast severed, thereby hast I restored! Thou art Ulahat, my Servant."

As she spoke the world seemed to tremble and resonate. The terrified plant demon could feel a tremendously overwhelming pressure that seemed to collapse from the heavens themselves into the small girl. She pointed at the demon, and it could feel the sap within itself thrum as if a heart was beating. Suddenly, the tattoo-like markings on the outside of the demon lit up with a blinding indigo light before melting deeply into the pitcher demon's phloem as the Covenant was sealed. In a strange, whispery voice, the demon replied to complete the ceremony:

"O Master, in thanks for the Gift of Life, under the auspices of the Covenant, this one shall serve thee well..."

"Good. As the Covenant is sealed, let us begin our work together. Ulahat, strengthen the surveillance and defensive capabilities of this base for now. As new resources are extracted, you should consume the Slime Cores directly, while Lunar Mushrooms and Prismatic Nether Moss should be ground up and absorbed by your roots in a paste. Please place other resources into piles. I will be performing reconnaissance beyond the Southwest perimeter of the plant network. Reinforce that region of the defenses first."

"Your will shall be done, Master..."

After instructing her servant and giving it examples of the relevant materials, Exenoura sped out of her central hideout. Her feet began to glow a soft grey color, and as she pressed hard against a tree branch, she suddenly took flight. Flitting to and fro like the wind, she reached her network's perimeter in a few minutes. From inside her bag, Exenoura drew out a long spiked whip. Each grey spike was stained with a thick layer of Pudgala Withering Ash, which gave off a threatening dark purple-brown aura like a thin fog. As Exenoura advanced into the forest, the pitcher plants behind her would quietly extend their tendrils and propagate to claim more land.

Soon, Exenoura reached an ancient settlement by a foggy lake. Though it was overgrown and dim in the constant midnight of the cavern jungle, she was able to see perfectly. Through her rhomboid pupils, she was able to see some figures ambling aimlessly in the lakeside settlement. As she neared the periphery, she used her whip to grab the nearest of these figures. With lightning speed, it whipped out into the mist and wrapped around the slowly moving figure. However, when she pulled the whip pack, she felt as if it was mired in something. With a final vigorous tug, she ripped the whip out of distant figure, and it came back to her covered in rapidly drying yellow and orange slime.

"Is this one of the ancient denizens?... Disgusting!"

Soon, the slime monster hit by her whip began to rapidly dry and wilt, shriveling piteously from a height of 3 meters to a withered stem the size of a finger. Although the accursed slime monsters of the Ruined Caldera have a strong immunity towards poisons, the Pudgala Withering Ash on her whip was a terrifying and sinister exception to this. It did not directly target the body of its victim; instead, it corrodes and denatures the Existence laws surrounding the victim, destabilizing their body. This was a shocking and lethal poison that Exenoura would only use in deadly situations or death zones such as this. Her Master did not give her enough to use it commonly.

However, as she moved closer to her victim, Exenoura frowned darkly. For although all the life, water, and gelatin of the slime monster had been completely destroyed through the erosion of its physical body, the piteous husk still moved across the ground.

"This Realm Curse... could it be a Curse of Life...?" As she thought this, Exenoura took out her white ivory knife and shattered the withered husk of the slime monster with a light tap, killing it for good. She found another slime monster and repeated the process. Before shattering its husk, however, she tried pouring water on it. Shockingly, the husk began to slowly re-inflate and revive!

"Their husks survive without the laws supporting their physical structure and can even recover. This is an insanely powerful curse — one that can even replace the Heavenly Laws of Existence! I'm sure that if I simply attacked these creatures thoughtlessly, they could end up multiplying and destroying me due to their vile vitality... What an insidious curse!"

She continued on her way, striking each slime monster with her whip first before reaping them with her knife. In this manner she slowly and cautiously reached the center of the settlement near the waterfront. Here, the houses of nobility lay in ruins near the temples and the eerily intact city hall. Behind her, the pitcher plants were rapidly expanding, seemingly more vibrant in the fog near the lake. She left them to scout and retrieve treasures from the demolished manors and headed to the city hall to investigate further.