Arknights, but the sickly pretty girl starts

Precious closed his eyes, trying his best not to look at Noah's face.

——There is no reincarnation in this world.

Chapter 72: The Weak

After Noah awakened the ability that Brandus called the "Preserver", she suddenly realized that her ability may have been misunderstood for a long time. Her ability is not so much to receive, guide, and perceive emotions, but more like a disk that reads emotions and reproduces and preserves these things in the spiritual realm. In other words, the essence of her ability is actually the ability to preserve and read souls.

It was precisely because of this unique ability that, after coming into contact with the music box containing fragments of the Witch King's spirit, she was able to construct the Black Gold Palace with the Witch King as its core. This also allowed her to meet Prissus.

This also explains why Noah can create spirit seeds and even take over other people's bodies. In essence, he makes a backup of his own soul and then stuffs it into someone else's body, like a compressed package. After unpacking it in someone else's mind, he can use Trojan programs to hijack other people's bodies and souls, or even directly usurp other people's abilities. This ability to copy, save, and read other people's souls is unique even among users of telepathic source stone techniques.

Theoretically, Noah could even replicate other people's Originium skills by reading their soul structures - the Originium skills replicated in this way could be replicated 100%, which even Noah himself found a bit outrageous.

Others become stronger by working hard, but she relies on stealing - stealing other people's understanding and operating methods, and then using her own method to decompress [Originium Skills.RAR], she can replicate other people's Originium skills.

Because this operation is essentially a copy, there are almost no thresholds or racial restrictions...

So, theoretically speaking, Noya could unleash all of Herhunzoren's Originium Arts... This was the complete skill list of history's greatest warlock, a true multi-disciplinary master. It was now stored within Noya's soul, and it could be called [Herhunzoren.rar]. The Witch King didn't mind this. To him, Originium Arts weren't what truly mattered. They were merely a byproduct of his research, not a significant thing at all.

"Why are you looking at me?" When Noya's eyes fell on Precious, Precious instantly got goosebumps all over his body. "My ability has nothing to do with Originium techniques. You can't learn it. Don't even think about getting [Precious.rar] for free. It's impossible."

"I haven't thought about that. I'm just curious. When did I copy you, Precious?"

Thinking about it this way, the Precious that appeared within Noah's body was most likely not the real person. It was likely a fragment of Precious's soul that, by chance, combined with Noah's replication to form the current Precious consciousness. However, it was not much different from the real person.

"I am me, not a replica." Precious shook his head, denying Noya's suspicions. "I exist with the Originium. After the Originium was removed from your body, theoretically, I shouldn't be able to contact you. But your soul is so special... perhaps it's because you did record some of my information, creating some kind of resonance... something like quantum entanglement."

"That's right... I don't have any Originium left in me anymore," Noah nodded. However, the situation wasn't as simple as Precious had told Noah. After learning of Noah's true abilities, Precious had a major question. Noah's abilities weren't Originium techniques. Indeed, what Originium technique could function without any Originium left?

If Noya had previously carried a magic unit, now she was completely devoid of any. Yet, she could still exercise her abilities, abilities that were no longer within the realm of Originium skills, but rather like some kind of soul-attributing quality. This deeply puzzled Precious. Logically, this situation shouldn't be possible. Beyond the technology left behind by previous civilizations, the power of behemoths, and the power of beast masters, no power system in this world could possess such unique abilities.

What kind of existence is Noah?

She couldn't help but ask, but the problem was, Noya had the blood of the Unicorn Master and Nightmare, so she must have been nurtured by this land. Even the family tree recorded everything about Noya's birth in detail.

Maybe... Noah is really a special existence?

Precious had to think so.

-

The sound of weapons colliding resounded from the mist, and Noah flew out of the mist, being directly knocked away by his opponent's great force.

Noya held her breath, concentrating. The mist before her eyes gradually dissipated, revealing the battle scene in sharp relief. The oppressive pressure of the dark seabed made her feel a suffocating sensation, the icy water carrying a silent threat. Her opponent, Skadi, stood directly opposite her. Skadi's figure loomed even taller in the dim light, the familiar greatsword hanging quietly in her hand, as if already fused with her.

Skadi appeared to be pacing, but the next moment, she transformed into a flash of lightning. With swiftness, her greatsword, carrying a powerful force of water, slashed straight at Noya. Noya jerked sideways, almost feeling the cold touch of the water against her ear. She swung her hand through the air, and dark shadows erupted from her fingertips, transforming into sharp tentacles that lashed out at Skadi like venomous snakes.

Skadi continued to move, swinging her sword with ease, easily dispelling Noya's shadow attack. Noya frowned slightly; her counterattack hadn't worked. Skadi's power was truly terrifying. Noya quickly retreated, creating distance, and the shadows in her hand gathered again, preparing for the next round of attack.

Skadi didn't give her much time to breathe, swinging her greatsword again, this time with even greater force. Noya misstepped, deftly spinning in the water, dodging the fatal blow. Seizing this momentary opening, she rapidly unleashed a flood of shadows, which spread like flowing black mist, enveloping Skadi.

Noya controlled the movement of the shadows while observing Skadi's every move intently. She knew that Skadi would not be easily trapped, and this was only a temporary suppression. She had to find the flaw quickly.

As expected, Skadi burst out of the black mist, her greatsword hurling itself at Noya with ferocious force. Noya waved her hands, and a shadowy barrier formed before her, attempting to block Skadi's attack. However, Skadi's sword was too powerful, shattering the barrier in an instant, forcing Noya to dodge once more.

The blow nearly knocked her off balance, but she quickly adjusted, the water flowing beneath her feet allowing her to slide lightly a few meters away. A hint of unyielding stubbornness shone in Noya's eyes. She realized that a head-on fight was impossible and she had to find another way.

"I can only rely on speed and skills." She thought to herself.

With another gentle wave of her hand, the shadows thickened, and darkness surged around Skadi like a tide. Noya hid in the shadows, moving swiftly, seeking an opportunity. The realm of shadows was her forte, allowing her to precisely anticipate her opponent's every move.

Skadi remained calm, her greatsword wielding a steady hand. Each of her strikes carried the force of thunder, as if shattering everything around her. However, Noa didn't engage her head-on. Instead, she used the shadows as cover, deftly maneuvering around Skadi's attacks.

The opportunity finally came. Skadi's sword momentum faltered slightly, and Noah instantly seized this momentary flaw. A shadow suddenly emerged from behind her like a sharp blade, pointing directly at Skadi's vital point.

"It's now!"

However, Skadi seemed to have anticipated this, severing the shadow blade with a backhand strike. Then, she spun abruptly, sweeping the sword towards Noya with overwhelming force. Noya's heart nearly leaped into her throat. She desperately lowered herself, narrowly avoiding the fatal blow. The sound of whistling water filled her ears.

At this moment, the surrounding scene suddenly stopped. Skadi's figure froze in an instant, as if time had stopped.

Noya took a breath and looked around. The battle scene had disappeared without a trace. She was still standing in the beacon tower, surrounded by cold metal walls.

"It's over." She sighed softly.

Although it was just a virtual image, the pressure that Skadi brought to her was never relieved. In order to show Skadi's situation as realistically as possible, she called upon her memories of Skadi and constructed several opponents for virtual battles in the Memory Hall - now Noah has called her ability this, including Skadi, Ulpian, Gloria, and Amaya.

This was a new kind of fun she had researched after completing Agor's suite "Sea Oath", a virtual battle. At first, she just materialized the strong men in her memory to fight, just like watching a cricket fight. Later, she couldn't help but join in. After being taught a lesson by the phantoms of Gloria and Ulpian several times, she finally understood that her own combat power, apart from the cheating telepathic Originium skills, was actually not very strong.

The shadow magic she was proficient in was far inferior to Viviana's level. In addition, she had been sitting in a wheelchair and had become a little rusty in her family swordsmanship, let alone close combat with an opponent like Skadi.

She casually materialized her family heirloom, the Sword of the Martyr, but in this area, it was just a longsword with a strange pattern. She waved it in the air, then adjusted the weight. After taking a deep breath, she looked across. This time, the opponent was no longer Skadi, but a gleaming knight holding a sword and lance. The illusion slowly opened its eyes, their lightless eyes, but based on her understanding of Margaret, the opponent's strength might be even stronger than Skadi.

The more you understand, the easier it is to replicate the opponent's strength. Noah has never lasted more than ten rounds against Margaret and Mace... Perhaps it is because these two are too strong, or it may be because her fighting skills are too rusty.

Always being busy with planning things makes you forget the feeling of holding a sword.

Now that I've recovered my health, I should get used to holding the sword again, at least until the next time we meet - I can't be too embarrassed.

-

"—Skadi, you've regressed."

Also in the training ground, Skadi barely used the greatsword in her hand to block Ulpian's giant anchor. This terrifying weapon was so flexible in Ulpian's hands that it seemed like a living thing. Skadi blocked left and right, but the giant anchor would always break through her defense at weird angles, and then her whole posture would be destroyed, and she would be knocked away by Ulpian's anchor.

Unlike the situation in the spiritual realm, this Skadi is the real Skadi herself.

She panted, finally freeing herself from Agor's mental scrutiny and returning to the ranks of the Deep Sea Hunters. Skadi had forgotten many things, and many memories had become hazy. Although she could still recognize the captain, Gorletia, and Laurentina, she couldn't recall anything about her experiences on land, especially Granfalo and Saltwind City, which had completely vanished.

In their observation report to Skadi, Ulpian and Gloria speculated that this might be due to some kind of mental trauma, or a self-protection mechanism, and her previous content was often related to a certain person.

Gloria and Ulpian knew this very well, but they did not state it in their report.

Ulpian stood before Skadi, not without his guard, even suspecting she was Ishamara, the Sea Heir, in disguise. But after a long period of observation and judgment, he could only conclude she was Skadi. She remained the same, dull and worrying figure as before. Aside from forgetting Noya, nothing seemed to have changed. If this was Ishamara's acting... then the Sea Heir's acting was truly even more impressive than those of movie stars.

"Rest for three minutes, and then continue training."

"...Captain...you just hit me on the back with the anchor..." Skadi opened her mouth and wanted to say something, but under Ulpian's terrifying eyes, she finally decided to shut up.

"Forcing things to grow, is this your educational policy?" Fortunately, at this time, Gloria also came to the training ground. She had been watching this training, or rather, one-sided abuse. She could understand Ulpian's anxiety.

Because Skadi's situation is really strange... Logically, her injuries have healed, and her sea cells are also very well-behaved, with almost no rejection reaction.

But she did become weaker...

Compared to the Skadi of the past, she has indeed become weaker.

Chapter 73: Good morning, Terra

"Ms. Saria, could you please tell us a few words about your successful hosting of the Terra Expo and your appointment as the acting general manager of Rhine Life?"

"Sorry, no comment. I'm busy with other things."

"Wait, Ms. Saria! Do you have any comments on the disappearance of the second Rhine Governor? Ms. Saria!"

boom!

The door closed, blocking the reporters outside. Saria, dressed in the Governor's attire, covered her head with a slightly weary hand and sighed. A long time had passed since Noya's disappearance, and Rhine Life couldn't remain without a Governor at the helm. So, after an internal meeting, Saria and Ferdinand became candidates for acting Governor. Finally, after a vote, Saria became the new Rhine Governor.

Saria didn't know whether Ferdinand had any objections to this result, but she didn't want to take over this mess at all.

Kristen is missing, and so is Noah. Does the CEO of Rhine Life have some special debuff? Not only is Kristen obsessed with soaring, but Noah vanishes without a trace once he enters the water. So what? Is the CEO of Rhine Life a ginseng fruit?

However, no matter how much Saria complained, it was useless. She had to do her job and manage Rhine Life well before Noah and Christen returned. You know, Noah left Saria a lot of proposals before he left.

Whether it was the Terra Expo, the Agor contact plan, even the cooperation with Rhodes Island, or the normalization plan for the containment department, all were still in the unfinished stage. She had to complete these plans and reform Rhine Life. Fortunately... she was not fighting alone.

"Reporters are really annoying, aren't they, Saria?" Muirses came to her side. "Don't look at me like that. It's not that I don't want to help you share the firepower, but a beautiful elf girl like me naturally needs to avoid the attention of the crowd."

"Just say whatever you want. How is Alex?" Now, Saria also serves as the director of the reception department. In order to facilitate management and because Muerses himself has a certain degree of restraint on Alex, Saria has also handed over all the work related to Alex to Muerses.

"The situation is relatively stable... Noah gave Alex some psychiatric treatment before she left, and it's been effective so far." Muirseth sighed. "Although Noah is gone, I feel like Rhine's entire life has changed dramatically because of her. I'm not used to it anymore."

"She's the kind of person who subtly changes everyone around her. This is the main reason why I think she's an excellent candidate for the position of governor." Saria nodded. "Then, Christen..."

"...I have no progress on this. If Christen doesn't want anyone to find her, no one can find her." Muirseth really had no idea about the whereabouts of the former commander-in-chief, but it was not completely hopeless.

"Agor has submitted another application to us for in-depth research on transmitters. They've restarted their nanorobot production line, intending to use transmitters as a breakthrough point to achieve our first in-depth cooperation plan. I suspect Noah's influence is also at play. After learning that Noah was once the head of Rhine Life, the governor in charge of the connection, Clemenza, expressed a strong desire to cooperate with us and is planning to establish a safe haven between Agor and the mainland."

"The Sea Siren suddenly fell into a low-activity state after that incident, so the channel plan was suddenly successful for this reason... All known Sea Siren nests began to migrate, and the ocean is now much safer than before." Muirses knew the horror of the Sea Siren, but after the Battle of Miriam, the Sea Siren's range of activities was greatly reduced, and a large number of Sea Siren began to gather in a certain large trench, making the ocean much quieter.

More importantly, most of the sea creatures had lost their aggressiveness. Having already understood the consequences of attacking the sea creatures, Agor would not take the initiative to provoke the sea creatures, and the channel plan was completed inexplicably.

"You say... is this..."

"I don't know." Saria shook her head. "I don't know whether Noya is dead or alive, but I have a feeling that she will come back."

"That's Noah. He's already overcome his mineral sickness. What else is there to worry about?"

"...How's the cooperation plan going on in Rhodes Island?" Saria thought for a while and decided to change the subject. If they kept talking about Noah, they wouldn't have to do anything else today.

"The project to treat oripathy with transmitters is still underway. However, as you know, oripathy isn't just a simple symptom; it's also a social class issue. Furthermore, with the excess Originium situation, the number of natural disasters has been decreasing exponentially recently, and the probability of explosions in most Originium mines is also decreasing. Believe it or not, this year's rate of increase in oripathy cases has shown negative growth for the first time."

The data that Muirses said was nothing short of terrifying. You know, since the birth of Terra civilization, because civilization and Originium were quietly tied together, the infection rate of mineral sickness has been on the rise. At most, it was just a matter of increasing or decreasing. However, this year, this upward trend actually showed negative growth. This was good news that had not appeared in Terra for thousands of years.

"There's even better news—the research on the new salt- and alkali-tolerant rice has achieved initial success. The experimental fields in Iberia have yielded a bumper harvest, alleviating Iberia's food import problem to a certain extent. As you can imagine, at least so many people won't starve to death." As one of the first researchers to develop salt- and alkali-tolerant rice, Muirseth was naturally delighted to see his research bear fruit. "The success of salt- and alkali-tolerant rice could transform vast tracts of saline-alkali land into fertile farmland. I've written several papers, and I can't finish them. I simply can't. I need to continue working on them when I get back."

"...These are what Noah left us. She may be the least like a scientist in Rhine Life, but she made the best judgment." Saria sighed. "In a sense, what Noah has done is still helping us move towards a better future."

“…It would be better if Noah were still here.”

Muirseth and Saria were silent for a moment, but the elf immediately smiled. "It's okay. Just do our own thing. She will definitely come back smiling one day."

"Yes, Muirseth, please contact Hemer for me and tell her I'll pick up Ifrit after get off work." Saria nodded, her expression softening. "Hemer has been quite tired lately. It's not easy to handle the Rhodes Island project. Let her rest for a while."

"I know--" Muirseth waved his hand and left. Rhine's life has changed now. It is no longer like before, moving forward like an engine at full speed. Instead, it takes human rights and morality into consideration. These changes were brought by Noah.

However, it was precisely because of her outstanding performance that even when she disappeared, Saria always felt that her shadow was everywhere.

——Coincidentally, outside of Rhine Life, Amiya in Rhodes Island was also troubled by one thing.

"—Agor proposed the establishment of the Terran Council, requiring the committee's membership to be decided in advance... They nominated Dr. Kel'tsit as the first chairperson of the committee. Lateran also had a similar proposal, and after it was put forward at the Terran Expo, Rhodes Island became the core of the council's formation." Amiya sighed, "Is it moving too fast? I always feel like everything has been accelerated since the Terran Expo."

"That's not a bad thing, Amiya. Our goal has always been to unite Terra. The incidence of oripathy is decreasing, and international relations are improving. These are all proof that our efforts are paying off, and they're what Noah would like to see." The doctor patted Amiya's head and said, "Although haste makes waste, sometimes you have to seize opportunities, otherwise you might miss them."

"...So, what's your opinion, Doctor?"

"I think it's a good idea for Kal'tsit to be a permanent member. They're all so reluctant to submit to each other anyway, and having someone everyone trusts as chairperson is a compromise. If it weren't for Noa's situation, I'm afraid Agor would have taken on the role himself." The doctor shrugged. "You know, someone like Kal'tsit who has some respect in all the countries is rare."

“…That’s what I said.”

"And Kal'tsit herself would probably agree. Did you notice at the Terra Expo meeting? Dayan, Lateran, Agor, Iberia, and Casimir were all actively promoting the formation of the Terra Council to eliminate internal friction and reduce war expenses. Ursus, who opposed this proposal, also admitted that the current situation is not suitable for continued internal friction. However, Ursus wanted Terra to recuperate for a period of time before returning to its original state."

The doctor analyzed, "Ursus was founded on war. Even if the current emperor wants to rest and recuperate, he needs the support of domestic forces... This is not something he can decide alone."

"...War...Ah..." Amiya sighed. She had just returned from the battlefield in Victoria and really didn't want to experience another war in such a short time.

Ursus was adamant, or perhaps the country itself was as hard as a rock. Before the Terran Council was formed, Agor was undoubtedly the backbone of Terra's unity. The technology Agor was willing to share freely would usher Terra into a new era, and in this new era, there would naturally be those who would be eliminated. The doctor wasn't actually worried about those who tried to stop the chariot with their bare hands. Instead, she was worried about a corner further north of Ursus—

Sammy——

At a critical juncture in Terra's changing landscape, with both the Sea and Originium crises having temporarily eased, the uncontrollable demonic forces have suddenly become Terra's greatest concern. Sami, at the forefront of the demonic crisis, has become the Doctor's greatest concern. After establishing contact with the land, Agor shared records left behind by prehistoric civilizations, including those concerning the demonic forces.

The evil demon...is the most dangerous existence that Terra faces now, and also the most uncontrollable factor.

However, what even the doctor probably didn't realize was that when they made it clear that the evil was the biggest problem Terra was facing, under the trench that had been renamed the "Trench of No Return", surrounded by countless sea creatures, the tower that had been silent for a long time suddenly began to move slightly.

The first to notice the unusual movement was Amaya, who had been guarding the beacon tower. The tower had been silent for nearly four months, and in those four months, everything had changed dramatically. At first, Amaya didn't realize it, but as time passed, she discovered that the sea creatures near the beacon had changed. It was difficult for Amaya to describe the changes, but those sea creatures, which had been provoked by Agor to plunder resources in a ferocious manner, seemed to be gradually returning to their original state.

They no longer actively expand their territory, become content and even docile, and their distorted life forms have been reversed.

Maritus also realized the changes in the Sea Si. He came to meet Amaya in the second month after the beacon tower fell and told him that the transformation of the Sea Si had begun to gradually spread from the ocean trench. The aggressiveness of a large number of Sea Si nests decreased and were no longer extremely aggressive. His judgment was the same as Amaya's. The Sea Si seemed to have begun to regress to its ancestors under the influence of the beacon tower - it began to develop towards the original purpose of its creation by the previous civilization.

Whether this is good or bad, even Maritus finds it difficult to judge, but at least now, the conflicts between Agor and the sea creatures are becoming less and less, and the types and numbers of sea creatures settling in the trench are increasing.

It seems that the beacon tower is attracting all the sea creatures, allowing them to come from afar, settle down, and change themselves.

This situation is unprecedented... Hai Si is actually gradually changing.

Amaya had her own thoughts. When confronted by the sage Maritus, she simply said, "The change couldn't be due to the Beacon Tower or the Sea Si itself. It could only be due to the person within the Beacon Tower."

Amaya's wait was not in vain. Four months after the beacon tower fell, this silent tower suddenly started to work.

The moment the tower was activated, the huge quantum computer in the Archon Meditation Room of Miriam received the signal from the beacon tower.

The signal was simple—just a phrase.

But to Glacetia, who was guarding the area, these words were like heavenly music. The computer quickly compiled the signal, and a deep, mechanical voice read out the message: "Good morning, Terra."

Chapter 74: Blood Connection

Skadi stood at the edge of the training ground of the base. The sky was low and gray, as if the world was shrouded in an invisible pressure.