novelraw Chapter 46 – The Smartest Half-Goose Girl
Chapter 46 – The Smartest Half-Goose Girl
"Maka's potions are all concocted by those green-skinned dwarfs, who are all perfectionists. The same potion can have dozens of formulas, each tailored to the customer's needs. The one Maka chose is the 'no matter what, I won't get poisoned' type. For this requirement, and considering the characteristics of the Mushroom People, the Goblins specially crafted a potion that could be resisted by shadow resistance—in other words, 'shadow resistance equals poison resistance.' As a priest fighting against monsters, how could your shadow resistance be low?"
Xia Ya explained this on the surface, but inside, he was complaining. At this moment, Mia's light and shadow resistance had reached an astonishing 85 points, which meant an 85% chance to evade corresponding spells. If the evasion failed, there would still be an 85% resistance effect.
The player's resistance cap is 70 points, and the extra 30 points have to be boosted through various blessings. But Mia had two blessings on her, one from the light and one from the dark Sacred Spirit, simply and brutally increasing her resistance by 15 points, reaching an outrageous level.
"I see... No wonder I only got paralyzed for a short while before regaining consciousness..."
Mia's bright eyes sparkled with understanding.
"Ah! What about Simon and the others? And the rest? I think I heard them fall..."
"They're up ahead."
Xia Ya pointed to the dark front and spoke before Mia could respond:
"I'll give you two choices: one is to stay here and wait for me to rescue them, the other is to come with me."
"I choose the second one!"
Mia answered almost instantly.
Xia Ya, like a hunter watching prey fall into a trap, smiled and said, "Cute little Mia, choosing the second option comes with conditions."
"Huh? Wha... what conditions?"
"Because I know you're not only afraid of the dark and the cold but also of bugs~ It's dark here, and the temperature will keep dropping, but if you use divine magic to ward off the cold and light up the area, it will immediately attract a bunch of bugs, buzzing around with wings, flying wherever there's light~"
"Ahhh, stop talking!"
Mia covered her ears, terrified.
In truth, there weren't any bugs here; what really scared her was her own imagination.
But her fear of bugs was real, just like how people can't lose to cockroaches but are genuinely afraid of them. This kind of fear is irrational, directly nullifying combat power, even for a level 50 priest.
"So, what do you... want me to do?"
"Not much, really. Before we meet Simon and the others, I'll remind you to pretend to be asleep." Xia Ya chuckled, turning to reveal his back. "Come on, for the next stretch, there will be bugs on the ground. I'll carry you over."
"Come on, hop on."
"Oh, okay..."
Mia obediently climbed on.
"Xia Ya... Am I heavy?"
"Heavy. With a chest that big, how could you not be?"
Mia blinked and suddenly giggled.
Xia Ya curiously asked, "Why are you laughing?"
Shouldn't this silly girl be a little angry?
"I don't know, I just feel like laughing. And, and I'm not angry at all!" Mia hugged his neck, suddenly leaning forward a bit. "Xia Ya, do you believe in the 'reincarnation' mentioned by the Seven Sacred Spirits... I always feel like... like I've seen you somewhere before, and, and..."
Xia Ya suddenly stopped.
A chilling sensation crawled from his heels to the top of his head, like a bucket of cold water waking him up.
Mia, blushing, turned her head, pressing her cheek against his cool neck.
"Hey, Xia Ya, Xia Ya, why are you sweating? Am I really that heavy..."
"Mia."
"Mm-hmm, go ahead!"
"Why would you say that? We've always been so far apart... It's impossible for us to have met."
Xia Ya's voice was a bit dry, even faintly trembling.
A thought he had never considered rose in his mind, like a faint spark.
He wanted to grasp it, but feared that being too hasty would extinguish it, so he could only watch with anticipation.
"Yeah, I don't know either..."
The priestess looked a bit troubled, the more she thought about it, the hotter her face became.
New dialogue.
And...
A very subtle feeling.
Like...
Coming to life.
As if everything suddenly came to life.
Xia Ya found it difficult to describe this extremely subtle, almost imperceptible feeling that couldn't be observed with the naked eye or compared with logic, yet it undeniably existed.
Initially, it was just a faint presence, but accumulated to the point of a qualitative change, waking him up—
As if,
Since the public test, all the NPCs he had interacted with had come to life—from cold data in the past to living beings.
Before leaving the Starter Village, Sennia seemed to sense his impending departure, more passionate than ever.
On the night of the Festival of Disguise, Yveline's unusual behavior—Xia Ya was sure that at that moment, her favorability exceeded that of a close friend, but the system gave no indication, not even a temporary breakthrough.
And now, Mia's words gave him a shock, his hair almost standing on end.
In countless past cycles, the NPCs, though indistinguishable from real people, had a problem: their behavior was too fixed, never showing such sensitive curiosity towards a player who kept reincarnating.
This is different from asking, "How do you know?"
Imagine if a real person encountered someone who seemed to see through everything, who had meticulously watched their life from beginning to end hundreds of times, the first glance they gave you would inevitably be filled with indescribable complex emotions.
Your life's joys and sorrows, sweet and bitter moments, all consumed by someone else in one gulp, their omniscience would surely unsettle you, creating a subtle sense of opposition between the two.
That's what makes someone human.
Even just one glance would be enough.
But it never happened before.
Those NPCs, those people were just there. Xia Ya appeared, either saving or observing, he watched them, and they watched him, without a ripple. If Xia Ya didn't participate, the cycles would play out like the same movie, without the slightest difference.
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But now, just reaching this point, there was a change.
As a priest, Mia, at level 50, had 105 points of perception, which increased not only her ability to detect evil and sense magic but also her "feeling." And the girl, with the intelligence of half a goose, never overthinks, always following her feelings, so someone as pure as her could amplify this layer of experience more than anyone else.
"It's so strange... The first time I saw Xia Ya, my heart inexplicably started racing, like I hadn't seen you in a long time. Seeing you made me so happy... And just now, you knew I was most afraid of being tickled, and you knew I was afraid of bugs and the dark... And even though you were saying some awful things, I couldn't get angry, instead, I felt happy, just because it was Xia Ya, it was natural for Xia Ya to say those things, and I got to see Xia Ya again...
"It's really strange... I've only known you for less than a week, and we haven't talked much, but it feels like you've known me for a long, long time... Even though you didn't say it, it feels so familiar...
"Ahhh, what am I saying, so embarrassing!"
Mia buried her head in Xia Ya's back, like an ostrich.
Xia Ya sighed softly and set her down.
"Little Mia, come, give me your hand."