NOVEL NEXT Chapter 988
<988 – Regained Purity (2)>
Jonnas set the plan to enhance Titosso’s Oknodie powers.
However, before Oknodie, there were creatures facing the harsh reality of needing to become cute just to survive…
It was the 980 students in their third year who, having barely broken through the mansion, had stumbled upon Oknodie House.
“Welcome! You can sleep over there!”
The moment the third-year students arrived at the mansion, dragging their exhausted feet, they followed Oknodie’s guidance to their respective art pieces!
The poor 980 students were completely unaware that right after overcoming such trials, they were thrust headfirst into yet another trial. With their own legs, they had descended into summer.
Watching the incoming students being shuffled off to summer, Irene wore a satisfied expression.
“The potential of students joining the Northern Expedition has increased. Maybe I should invite candidate recruits to Oknodie House under the guise of a tourist tour during winter vacation…?”
Meanwhile, the unfortunate students kidnapped by the local express train to summer were crying out in the depths of summer where they could never return.
Of course, no one even knew how long they would struggle and come back in the different time ratio of the Middle Realm.
“Is this the Oknodie that passed humanity to Cooking Oknodie…?”
“This was already the baseline, Sister Sia.”
“Yikes! That’s so scary…!”
At least it was fortunate that while the third years vanished into summer, the few remaining second years were sitting tight and surviving.
“Titosso, why aren’t you going in?”
“Leaving a perfectly good bed to go into an art piece? That’s just suspicious!”
“Hmph. You’ve become more perceptive. Titosso’s not that easy to deceive.”
Even the Jigoku Pirate Group, which entered late onto the island, was amazed enough to applaud.
Finally, Titosso the perpetually foolish became a person!
“But seriously, are you sure you don’t want to go in?”
“What do you mean, Jiang…?”
“It’s definitely a trap, but summer is a training ground created for function training. Have I grown stronger this much?”
Jiang deftly utilized his slightly increased function experience to secretly slice off the horn of a taxidermied animal on the wall with his stealth swordsmanship.
If the target hadn’t been a stuffed animal but rather a person, it would have been a ghost-like assassination technique that no one would notice until it was too late.
“Whoa?! I was clearly watching with my eyes, but when did it get over there???”
“Titosso could be powering up like this. What a shame. If it were a male, they’d have gone into summer willingly, but it’s too much for Titosso being a female. We’ll understand.”
“…Cancel that! I’m not a female!”
“Are you sure? With all that bravado. You might actually end up going into summer for real?”
“I am a female… I just won’t put on airs anymore…”
If it were Oknodie, they would have been provoked into going in out of self-esteem, but the true female Titosso meekly tucked her tail and declared her female status.
Given how far things had gone, it felt wrong to forcibly shove someone who hated it in.
“To be honest, Titosso doesn’t have to go in!”
“Really, Oknodie? Why am I the only one who doesn’t have to go in…? Ugh… Could it be that Oknodie thinks I’m the most feminine, so they’re teasing me…?”
“Opposite! Titosso is too strong that if she powers up, the safety measure might break!”
Oknodie’s concern was sincere.
Due to the serious growth rate of <Shining>, once her body was suppressed with Giant Blood Serum.
Even so, with mana control skills, if Titosso was starting to shine with little sparkles, introducing her to a summer event with a different time scale might turn her into a big shining light when she returned.
By that time, Giant Blood Serum would be too much as well.
It’s better to let Titosso run free instead of permanently isolating her in a confined space or summer.
“By the way, why are there two Oknodies…?”
“Say hi! That over there is Cooking Oknodie!”
“She’s the swordsmanship master, Cooking Oknodie!”
Titosso was thrown into confusion.
Bright, big eyes.
Soft blonde hair, fair skin.
When poked in the cheeks, they were both equally squishy, and even when lifting their skirts, they both wore pantyhose perfectly.
Whenever they dipped their hand into their backpack, weird food popped out instead of school supplies, and if they played rock-paper-scissors, they changed their moves in real time with their eyes.
“Isn’t this strange…? They’re definitely the same as the original…”
“Are you feeling a sense of discord with Cooking Oknodie…?”
“For some reason, it feels familiar. More than the original Noddie!”
Except for Titosso, everyone else had expressions as if they understood.
Cooking Oknodie had fully inherited all of Titosso’s inner Oknodie powers, so how relieved must Titosso feel finding this trivial lifeform that resembled her?
Seeing that, Oknodie felt oddly uncomfortable.
With the same face making a blank expression, and truly a faint light shining from Titosso’s eyes—not a metaphor—it caused Cooking Oknodie to flinch in surprise.
The sight of Titosso cheerfully grabbing Cooking Oknodie’s waist made it feel like she liked her just because she seemed easy to deal with…
“German Suplex!”
“Ow?!”
It seemed perfect for getting a technique off.
Naturally, seeing Cooking Oknodie’s foolishness who couldn’t discern Titosso’s prank even with the original’s memories made Oknodie sigh.
“If I accepted such fools into one, I’d only end up becoming weaker. I feel it was wise to keep them independent!”
“But aren’t you at all jealous?”
“Jealous of what?”
Jiang casually asked as he approached.
“Of Titosso’s confidence to use techniques without fear. It’s rare nowadays, right?”
Titosso was a person too.
Even when pulling pranks, she considered the power balance with the opponent, whether they had the personality to accept the joke, and the atmosphere of the day.
No matter how generously Oknodie might feel like accepting a prank, if she perceived a skill gap, she couldn’t possibly pull off such jokes.
Back in the days when she was weak, she could do it carelessly, but now that she had grown strong, she clearly recognized the skill gap with Oknodie, so she couldn’t pull major pranks.
However, Cooking Oknodie had the same body as the original, yet she didn’t know how to properly use the abilities and strength granted to her by being the original.
“She seems easy to deal with!”
It was clear that if Titosso looked down on her, it spoke volumes.
Though she thought it was pitiful, she honestly felt envious.
“It’s really bringing back memories!”
“You could still play like back then.”
“Hmmm… Can I really just have fun? Gradually, the specs of those around me are becoming more important than my own…”
Oknodie hesitating to play.
Jiang was surprised.
Sadi Chocolate, that vixen, had said something really offhand.
Oknodie, who had sacrificed herself with the Doppelganger Technique for everyone. Her obsessive mindset of sacrifice was even preventing her from having fun.
“Why do you even raise others?”
“Because there are those who grow as I do!”
“Then train Cooking Oknodie instead. Oknodie doesn’t have to get stronger if Cooking Oknodie becomes stronger than her, she can beat the enemies while having fun.”
Friends are to be protected, nurtured, and kept safe.
I must succeed in everything by myself.
While others could make mistakes, I alone must not fail.
Oknodie, caught in such an obsession.
Jiang’s words released her from the noose of responsibility called guilt hanging around her neck.
An existence that can be trusted as much as I can.
It was the doppelganger born from me.
Relying on the doppelganger who proved her ability while escaping from the Sword Saint Reinhardt’s summer <Tomb of the Sword>.
Really, even a veteran player.
No, it was a thought unique to a veteran player that had never occurred to her.
Since Jiang had no duties or responsibility as a veteran player, the advice he provided alleviated Oknodie’s heavy burden of responsibility.
Finally, Oknodie realized that she had a “far greater” desire within her to play and fool around.
In truth, who wants to work for the sake of working?
Oknodie wanted to play.
In an organization named “Organization that Plays with Oknodie,” the overflowing desire to play had been bottled up like a wild beast’s hunting instinct for a long time.
Now that the obligation had disappeared, she became a free being.
The heavier the burden of responsibility, the greater the rebound of wanting to play.
“I want to do that! In a mansion isolated from the outside world, it’s only polite to have that game at least once!”
“What kind of game?”
Jiang thought that if Oknodie was excited about anything, he definitely had to play along, so he asked insistently.
“Finding the murderer in a locked-room murder mystery game!”
“…What kind of game?”
“Finding the murderer in a locked-room murder mystery game!!”
“Anything else?”
“Finding the murderer in a locked-room murder mystery game!!!”
“This isn’t good.”
No matter how one looks at it, only ominous thoughts arose.
The kid had become pure because she wanted to play.
But just because she had become pure doesn’t mean she had become kind.
She couldn’t help but come up with a truly sinister game befitting the only daughter of the infamous Wahyhiemhai family of assassins.
“How about playing tag instead?”
Unable to bear it, Sing provided support fire.
“Tag is great too!”
“Phew.”
Jiang let out a sigh of relief.
“Still, games should be sincere to be fun, so if you get caught, it’s summer for you!”
“?!”
“Counting to a hundred before you start! One, two, three…”
Sing and Jiang dashed into the darkness of the mansion with serious expressions.
While watching them with a chuckle, Oknodie said to Irene.
“Oh right, for those who don’t want to participate in the game of tag, please gather in the cafeteria. I’d like to enjoy the murder mystery game too!”
Irene, Sadi Chocolate, the second years, Jonnas, and even the spirits all fled.
Even Fake Lin, who had just peeked outside of the ring, was so scared that she discreetly turned back into it, commencing the frightening summer-kidnap tag game.