Columbina withdrew her outwardly radiating Lunar Force, causing the blue light emitted by the sea of flowers around her to fade significantly.
Next, she probed the concentration of natural Lunar Force in the environment.
The surrounding air was already filled with active Lunar Force... She looked down at the storage bronze mirror in her hand, scanned her surroundings, and found a corner where the concentration was relatively less intense.
She activated the bronze mirror; light flickered slightly as she released Coppelia from within.
Coppelia appeared at her side. First, she looked left and right, confirming she was now on Ilha Hiisi, before slowly sitting down.
Inside the sea of clouds space within the bronze mirror, she had already changed into the Khaenri'ah robes Columbina had found for her. Although loose and ill-fitting, they at least covered her body.
Columbina looked at Coppelia, only to discover that fine beads of sweat were oozing from the other's forehead. Her face was pale, her brows locked tight, and her expression was taut as she forcibly endured discomfort.
Columbina asked with concern, "Is the Lunar Force here making you feel unwell?"
Coppelia shook her head, her voice somewhat weak. "It's not the Lunar Force... It's the power of the Abyss inside me; I can't quite suppress it..." The hand she had placed on her knee curled slightly.
Columbina's heart sank. Her own Lunar Force was mutually exclusive with the Abyss. Not only could she not help Coppelia, but she might also cause violent rejection and injury like when they had touched before. For a moment, she couldn't think of any way to directly help her companion dissolve this pain.
"Here..." She changed the subject, her gaze scanning the dreamlike island before them with vigilance. "Will enemies chase us here?"
The only ones who could be considered enemies now should be Khaenri'ah... Coppelia closed her eyes, searching rapidly through fragments of memory. In the future Nod-Krai, at least in this area of Ilha Hiisi, she had never seen traces of Khaenri'ah's mechanical activities.
She shook her head again, her movements somewhat sluggish. "They shouldn't. Let's... just settle down here."
"Where shall we settle?" Columbina asked.
Coppelia lifted her heavy eyelids, looked at the surrounding terrain, then raised her arm and pointed toward the northwest of this mountainous island. "In that direction... there is a smaller island. Let's go there."
Columbina took her and teleported instantly to the northwest.
Before them lay an independent small island. On the island, only a sharp peak composed purely of grey-blue rock was somewhat conspicuous. However, its height did not exceed a hundred meters; compared to the majestic peak of over a thousand meters on the main island of Ilha Hiisi, it appeared tiny and quiet.
At the foot of the mountain was a patch of pale blue-green grass, dotted with sporadic pink-purple flowers. There were also a few 'plants' emitting a faint pale blue shimmer, possessing slender columnar trunks and crescent-shaped luminous structures at their tops.
Aside from this, there were no more special plants or eye-catching landforms. It looked ordinary, even somewhat monotonous.
Columbina expanded her perception, carefully probing the entire small island. "Here... there is nothing."
Coppelia raised her hand to wipe away the sweat constantly emerging on her forehead, her gaze sweeping over the silhouette of the mountain body. "This is the place."
She took a few breaths to recover before continuing, "In the future... underground here, there is a space... called the Court of the Silver Moon..."
"Court of the Silver Moon..." Columbina repeated softly. "A very beautiful name."
"You will often sleep here..." Coppelia continued, her breathing becoming somewhat rapid, interspersed with a few suppressed coughs. "And you will also... meet someone here who can send you home..."
Columbina hurriedly stepped forward to support her slightly swaying shoulders. "No need to rush."
Coppelia struggled to raise her hand, pointing to the base of that rock peak. "The entrance to the cave... is right there. It extends straight down... very, very long... and then..." Her fingers trembled as she gestured toward the northwest. "Then, in that direction, open up a... underground space of over one hundred meters..."
Columbina immediately sank her consciousness into the Ley Lines, exploring the location and depth Coppelia had indicated.
Underground lay solid, intact rock layers. There were no signs of natural caves or hollows.
"There is nothing underground..." Columbina looked up. "How about... I cut out a cave right now?"
Coppelia glanced at her, the corners of her mouth twitching barely into a smile. "Okay. I'll wait for you nearby."
Columbina first teleported Coppelia to a relatively soft sandy beach at the edge of the small island, letting her sit down to rest. Subsequently, she returned to the base of the peak Coppelia had pointed out.
She concentrated her mind, her will shifting slightly. An irregular rock about three meters long instantly vanished from the mountain body. In the next moment, it appeared over the distant sea surface, smashing into the seawater with a boom, kicking up huge waves.
Just like that, she used her teleportation ability to 'cut' the rock layers. Huge rocks, one after another, were teleported away by her and thrown into the surrounding sea.
A vertical, irregular shaft with a diameter of about five meters formed rapidly beneath her.
On the beach, Coppelia tightly clutched her churning, uncomfortable abdomen. While trying hard to suppress the Abyss power rampaging within her, she lifted her pale face to look in the direction Columbina was working, then looked around at the current scene of Ilha Hiisi.
With her attention slightly distracted, the Abyss power within her immediately launched a fiercer counterattack, bringing a strong sense of dizziness and nausea that made the world spin. She immediately retracted her gaze, shut her eyes tight, and threw her entire mind into internal suppression, daring not look again.
Underground, at the bottom of the shaft.
Columbina began to expand horizontally.
She first carefully perceived the structure and thickness of the surrounding rock layers, selecting a suitable height to ensure there was a sufficiently thick layer of rock above the cave to prevent seawater from seeping in and flooding the place.
She continued 'cutting,' removing the rock in front piece by piece, opening up a broad space. Throughout the process, she spared a portion of her mind to monitor Coppelia's condition on the beach through the faint connection of the Ley Lines, preventing any accidents.
A huge and empty underground cavern hall gradually took shape.
Columbina stopped and looked at the rough rock walls and ground.
It could be a bit more 'natural'... She raised her hand, condensing dozens of blue water bullets made of liquid Lunar Force above her palm.
With a flick of her finger, these water bullets washed over the cave walls and ground like rain, swish swish.
Under the continuous impact of the water bullets, the hard rocks became relatively smooth, as if they had undergone the erosion of natural water flow over a long time.
Subsequently, she used her teleportation ability again to clear away all the cut rock debris and waste, casting them into the sea.
Having done all this, Columbina hovered in the underground space she had just created, looking around.
The cavern hall was still very crude and empty; the entire space held only the grey-blue hue of the rock itself.
But for some reason, standing within it, she felt a long-lost sense of peace, as if a weary pigeon had finally found a nest where it could land.
"Court of the Silver Moon..." She recited the name softly. "There should be a moon... Right."
She observed the layout and shape of the cave, and a vague sense of familiarity welled up in her heart. "It seems... inside Greater Lord Rukkhadevata's 'dreamscape,' I saw a similarly shaped cave... there was a lot of blue inside..."
Then, let's decorate this place according to the impression from the dream. She drafted a preliminary plan in her heart.
Next, she selected a relatively dry and flat spot at the edge of the cave. With a thought, she teleported Coppelia from the beach outside into the cave.
Coppelia's figure appeared. She adjusted to the dimness underground, and her first sentence was: "It's... too dark here."
Only then did Columbina react. When she was excavating, she had relied on her Spatial Authority combined with Ley Line information to 'detect,' effectively having night vision, and had completely ignored the issue of a light source.
She shook the storage bronze mirror she had kept by her side, releasing the four Moon Spirits from inside. The Moon Spirits emitted a soft white shimmer, like four small lamps, barely illuminating a small area around them.
The effect is not bad; I can create more Moon Spirits for lighting... Columbina looked at the four Moon Spirits, preparing the Lunar Force needed to create Moon Spirits.
Suddenly, she froze.
One Moon Spirit was missing!
Previously, while underground, due to her spirit being too tense, she hadn't noticed the change in the number of Moon Spirits.
I created three at the Akademiya, and two more underground... When we escaped, all the Moon Spirits were by my side... This means there is one Moon Spirit that didn't make it back... Columbina felt a pang of bitterness in her heart, feeling she had failed to fulfill her duty as a master.
Through the glimmer of the four Moon Spirits, Coppelia noticed her daze and asked, "What's wrong?"
Columbina shook her head. With a slight movement of her mind, one gentle white light after another began to flicker throughout the pitch-black underground space.
She mobilized her own Lunar Force, shaping rounded forms for these new lives; at the same time, she extracted some information fragments from the endlessly flowing Ley Line information to serve as their simple gnosis.
Soon, dozens of newly created Moon Spirits appeared inside the cave. They hovered quietly or drifted slowly, their bodies emitting a faint white light.
Dozens of points of shimmer gathered together, unexpectedly illuminating the originally pitch-black giant cave with a somewhat warm feeling of being 'brightly lit,' light and shadow swaying on the smooth rock walls.
"How is it?" Columbina looked at Coppelia, her tone carrying a trace of imperceptible anticipation and nervousness.
Sitting on the ground and still clutching her abdomen tightly, Coppelia looked at this dreamlike scene before her eyes. A weak smile couldn't help but appear on her pale face. "Good."
But this smile was soon replaced by a more violent internal churning. Her brows knitted deathly tight again, her face turned green, her lips pressed into a line, and her throat bobbed as if she were forcibly enduring the urge to vomit.
Columbina immediately approached with concern, crouching down. "The Abyss..."
"Yes." Coppelia squeezed the sound out through her teeth. "I have to find a chance... to expel them from my body..." She tried to raise a hand, palm facing the air, struggling to guide that violent power out of her body.
Beneath the pale skin, only blood vessels pulsed; there was no trace of black gas or anomalies manifesting.
She dropped her hand dejectedly, pressing down hard on her abdomen again, and sighed. "Right now... I can suppress them back down and stop them from going completely out of control... but I can't release them..."
"There will definitely be a way..." Columbina held her ice-cold hand.
"I want to lie down for a bit." Coppelia's voice grew lower and lower, carrying heavy exhaustion. "When meditating... suppressing it is a bit easier."
After saying this, her body went slack, and she was about to lie back directly onto the cold, hard rock floor.
Columbina stopped her with quick eyes and hands. "Wait a moment! Use something to pad it... This way... is very cold."
She immediately checked the storage bronze mirror in her hand, her consciousness probing inside—the bedding, pots, and cooking utensils originally stored there were all gone.
Coppelia knew what she was looking for and added with closed eyes, "Lost them... when fighting underground in the desert."
Columbina scratched her head, thinking rapidly of an alternative plan. Go outside to cut some soft grass to pave the floor? Or, have a few Moon Spirits huddle closely together to act as a mat...
Coppelia didn't disturb her thoughts; she simply kept her eyes closed, her breathing gradually becoming deep and slow as she had already begun the breath regulation of meditation.
Over ten seconds later, a spark of inspiration hit Columbina. "I can... go find someone... find an acquaintance I know to borrow some things."
Coppelia opened her eyes slightly, looked at her, and only instructed softly, "Be safe."
"Mhm." Columbina nodded.
In the next second, her figure disappeared from the Court of the Silver Moon.
About ten minutes later, light flashed inside the Court of the Silver Moon, and Columbina reappeared. Appearing with her was a complete wooden bed that looked extremely comfortable, paved with a thick mattress and a fluffy quilt, and even accompanied by a bedside table.
She first selected a flat corner in the cave. Using teleportation, she 'cut' a square stone slab with a smooth surface from the rock body outside and firmly embedded it into the ground. Then, she carefully placed this 'fully equipped' wooden bed onto the stone slab.
She looked at Coppelia. The other was keeping her eyes tight shut, maintaining the sitting posture of meditation, but her chin rested weakly on her knees, which were drawn together, and her body leaned slightly forward; clearly, her condition hadn't improved much.
Columbina walked over. Using her ability to manipulate gravity, she made Coppelia's body float up gently, moved it slowly to the bedside, carefully laid her down on her side, and then tucked the soft quilt around her meticulously.
After doing all this, she saw Coppelia's tightly furrowed brows seem to relax a tiny bit. Her heart also eased slightly, and her body, which had been tense all along, relaxed accordingly.
With this relaxation—
Grrr...
A sound of emptiness from her stomach that was hard to ignore immediately transmitted from her abdomen. Closely following it was a hunger and weakness that made her stomach twitch and churn with acid.
It has been a long, long time... since I ate anything. Although she maintained basic activity by continuously absorbing moonlight energy from the Essence of the Eternal Moon and hadn't starved to the point of immobility, this was not a long-term solution after all.
She glanced at Coppelia on the bed, who seemed to have fallen into a light sleep, and teleported away again silently, appearing on a quiet beach on the outer side of the small island.
Waves gently lapped against the reefs. The salty, wet sea breeze blew against her face, carrying a briny scent.
Since it was an island, there was no lack of water around, and naturally, no lack of... fish.
Columbina gazed at the sea surface shimmering under the moonlight. She smacked her lips subconsciously, her throat bobbing once.
"It's been a long time... since I ate fish."
____
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