Zoemie woke up the next day tired. It was all so exhausting, having to deal with constant piles of garbage being shoved into her face. She couldn't risk going x on her training. Not with an enemy coming her way... whoever it may be. So, she was going to prepare as much as she could.

  Zoemie didn't like having to prepare for something, but what she hated even more having to scramble and adapt. She was bad at such things. Urgh. At least the conversation about video games with the old man had taken the worst of her annoyance off, but it was still frustrating to not be able to focus on things she loved, and that was because she knew there was trouble coming her way.

  Part of the issue is that I can't train 24 / 7, Zoemie grumbled. If whoever was coming came while she was exhausted from a training session, it would have been a glorious waste of her time. So, I'll do my training in the afternoon and evening., Zoemie thought as she ate breakfast, satisfied with her approach.

  Don't know how much time I have, but I don't wanna dawdle, Zoemie thought as she went back to her bathroom. The st time she had had to fight seriously was against the three adventurers. That one sucked. I really only won cause they were overconfident idiots.

  She couldn't take the risk of her cssmates being that stupid, so she had to get properly ready for anything they may bring to bear. Just about the only thing on her side is that she hadn't been here for too long and therefore neither had they. Probably won't have nukes or shit like that... but then again I've already dealt with a nuke.

  "The revive ability is handy, but they'll probably find a workaround around it.", Zoemie grumbled. What she feared was not defeat, per se, or even death, but being forced to return against her will in that pack of assholes.

  Even if she could obliterate all of them combined, they would find a way around to keep tormenting her. The only situation they couldn't torment her in was if she wasn't here to begin with. And that infuriates them to such a degree they're willing to come here just to hurt me.

  But she would be ready for them. That was the whole point of the training, after all. Maybe to deal with a wandering Apocalypse thing or two, as well. As long as I get less trouble than I would by not doing so. Zoemie was sick and tired of constantly getting into trouble.

  She crashed on her bed, her post-breakfast routine over with, unsure of what to do. It was too early to start training, after all. Oddly enough, what roused her attention was the old man, who seemed to be going to the meeting room.

  Zoemie put on her mask and decided to teleport in front of the door, before knocking and entering. "Ah, hello.", the old man said, smiling at her. "Do you feel better ?", he asked.

  "...A little.", Zoemie answered. "I... think I know how I want to do this. But it's mostly going to be more training for me.", she said. The old man nodded in turn.

  "Good. Having even an idea of a pn is always better than going in blind.", the old man said. "I shall likely increase my own practice as well... But I am not quite here for that. Rather, there are a few things I would like to talk about with you.", he said, and Zoemie nodded.

  "So.", the old man started. "The man that came yesterday was named High Priest Kvutar... Let me tell you something about him." Zoemie nodded. "He and Duke Vosvelz have never met." Zoemie frowned.

  "Wait, that makes no sense. That dude was an high priest, and a duke is a noble, right ?", she asked.

  "Indeed, high nobility even.", Yuulvan started. "High nobility of a different country." Zoemie frowned deeper, confused. I am missing something...

  "So I'm not in the country that that blind sheep of an high priest came from ?", she asked, and the old man nodded in turn.

  "Correct. Kvutar is... was, I mean, the high priest of Xvodane. Currently, you are south of Ijiane, which is Xvodane's eastern border country, and the two do not get along very well.", Yuulvan expined, before looking to the side.

  "I never cared much for politics. When you live as long as me, you watch countries rise and fall like the tides.", he admitted. "So I don't know all that much detail about the two countries beyond that."

  This is still useful info, Zoemie thought. It meant that her enemies were not likely to team up together. The old man looked at her. "On a much lighter hand, I wanted to know if you would be alright with me returning here at some point."

  "Got any idea when ? I don't think it'd be a problem, but I thought you couldn't stay for too long ?", Zoemie answered, uncertain.

  "I am expected to spend this year's winter at the Demon Realm,", Yuulvan started, "but I have no obligations for the winter of next year.", he continued. "I believe this would be the best moment."

  Zoemie stared at him for a minute. "Maybe. If I'm still around. Which isn't guaranteed at all with all the bullshit being thrown at me."

  The old man closed his eyes. "That is the st thing I'm worried about.", he said. Why ?, Zoemie thought, confused, before shaking her head.

  "Something else on your mind ?", she asked instead, and the old man pulled out a sheet of paper.

  "I have conjured this strange paper and... is something the matter ?", he asked as Zoemie looked at it giggled a little. Now I didn't expect that.

  "Oh, that's funny.", she said. "Right. Yeah. It's about a scientist who worked on chemical weapons and industrial fertilizer production.", Zoemie expined. Urgh. I don't remember the details of that one...

  Yuulvan raised an eyebrow. "But... yeah, chemical weapons, plus the environmental consequences of fertilizer spam, are... a problem.", Zoemie said. "I don't know the details, though, just shit Neth told me, so if you want more info you'll have to look it up... Anythin' else ?", she asked, but Yuulvan shook his head.

  "Okay. Guess I'll go, then. Need to start my trainin' at some point." I think I can start earlier today ? After all, they're not likely to show up literally the next day.

  Yuulvan considered as he wandered. Is this fertilizer research a worthwhile pursuit of my time ? Probably not right now, he thought. But I will want to investigate this before leaving... alongside the negative consequences that came with it. Yuulvan always did his due diligence with such things. It would pay off in the future.

  He couldn't deny he was curious, but he needed to talk to Xajymzia first. He had had some interesting insight from the event of the day before, but Zoemie was not very likely to be receptive to it or capable of wielding it well, whereas Xajymzia was much more so.

  He travelled over to her boratory, knocking on the door and entering, Xajymzia looking at him. She was in her white coat, and nodded to him, Yuulvan answering with a nod himself. "A moment of your time ?"

  "Certainly.", the maid answered with a nod, to which Yuulvan nodded in turn.

  "Yesterday's events led me to have an interesting realization, but I think you'll be able to make better use of it than Zoemie.", he expined, and the maid nodded. Yuulvan cleared his throat quickly and started talking.

  "When High Priest Kvutar came here yesterday, he did not expect Zoemie to oppose any resistance, but looking from her point of view it makes perfect sense.", he started. "What tripped him was his expectations, how he thinks other people function. But Zoemie doesn't operate like most people – and it is a major tactical advantage, because it makes her unpredictable to those people."

  The maid nodded, Yuulvan continuing. "If Vosvelz decides to take revenge, he will surely fail, and he will fail in a way he couldn't have predicted, because the way he expect Zoemie to behave makes no sense from her point of view.", he expined. "Only people willing to take the time to understand her can predict her behavior properly."

  "Enemies like Kvutar and Vosvelz are not the ones you should fear. Their expectations are always going to lead them wrong when Zoemie is concerned because she does not operate like they think she does.", he summarized.

  "Those you should be wary are the maniputors who prey on her pain and easily worm their way into her heart, to use it for their own designs. Those people excel at understanding how others work and what makes them tick."

  Xajymzia nodded. "I appreciate the tactical insight", she said, Yuulvan smiling slightly. He could not fix everything, but maybe she could find that information useful. "Anything else ?"

  "Not quite yet, but I will be looking into... fertilizer production from the other side. See if i can come up with something." The maid raised an eyebrow. "...It's not going to be useful here, mind you, but improving food production without more effort from the peasants will only benefit everybody." She nodded at him.

  "I do not care much for the human peasants... but if having more food encourages them to stay away from us, then it's probably worth looking into.", Xajymzia started. "Besides, I could also gain something from that research.", she continued, to which Yuulvan nodded.

  "Anyhow, I have taken quite enough of your time for now, so I shall leave you to it.", Yuulvan said before leaving the b and teleporting to his quarters. He had some research to do. If this works out, we could gain a lot from it.

  Xajymzia looked as Yuulvan left her boratory. A part of her was still destabilized by the meeting of yesterday. It was their power. It had been the sheer presence those gods had exuded. And clearly they were not done bothering Zoemie just yet.

  It unsettled her, their sheer, raw power. Her skill mattered not, her abilities mattered not, nothing compared to that much power, overwhelming, it drowned her every sense. And yet they had not been particurly hostile. In fact they came off as mostly contrite... although Xajymzia wasn't sure how true she was.

  They, however, had told her something very interesting. Artillery. The dungeon was located within a forest; this made Xajymzia hesitant to investigate rge-scale mass destruction weapon as the forest was their cover. A ravaged pin was much harder to hide a mountain in, after all.

  However, this could mean at some point Xajymzia would engage in combat in wide-open fields. And for that purpose artillery was going to be immensely useful as it could hammer the enemy from extreme range and they had little way of defending from it.

  That said, it was not her absolute priority. Enemies were coming. It wouldn't be tomorrow, but they would come. And Xajymzia was not going to let them trample around as they wished.

  The st three adventurers who died had the surprise effect, and Xajymzia was in her weaker body. Yet, they had fallen. She was neither anxious nor worried in terms of her raw combat ability. The gods had been evasive on who was coming; other than they wouldn't be alone.

  Xajymzia found herself pondering Yuulvan's words, as well. It was unclear to her whether he was correct, however she did find sense of his description of why the priest failed. Xajymzia had almost never seen anyone who thought like Zoemie.

  Or maybe she had and hadn't noticed ? Xajymzia shook her head. Overthinking will cost too much time. She would instead put in more combat practice of her own. More likely to be useful.

  Zoemie dropped her sword, satisfied for now. She would put in a second training session after dinner, which would be in a hour and an half or so. Let's go back to gaming instead.

  She teleported to her room, opened up her computer, and looked for something to py. "Let's do... this, I guess.", she said as she booted up a racing game. Something low-investment I can kinda space out while pying.

  Zoemie grumbled internally. She was still unhappy about it all, but there was precious little she could do besides prepare for it as much as possible. What a paaaain... She wanted to be able to take some degree of soce in knowing one of the incoming enemies was one of her old cssmates, but couldn't even manage that much.

  Killing people just fucking sucks. Even when they're awful people. "Why do things always have to be so complicated ?" Things shouldn't be complicated. I'm tired of it being so complicated ! Why can't I have a simple, trouble-free and mistake-free life like everybody else !

  "It's all so easy for them." People do what others ask them to, do it fwlessly, and never hurt each other. "What am I missing ? Why won't people leave me alone ?" Zoemie shook her head, before deciding to change the game she was pying. "Not keeping my mind busy enough. I need something else...", she grumbled.

  Let's go with... this one, Zoemie decided. "Been a bit since I st pyed, but it should keep me busy better..." Besides, talking with the old man gave me ideas for it. That had been an enjoyable conversation, unlike basically everything else about yesterday.

  Zoemie focused. "Alright, so what I wanted to do was..."

  Xajymzia looked at the cursed sb. Simply spamming weapons not sufficient. Unlike Zoemie or Yuulvan, she did not gain strength or skill from repeated use of her weapons or spells. That was not how her body worked.

  An alternate approach was required. The issue was not even her powers. It was ck of actual combat experience. Need to design more advanced battle simution.

  She did not know what her enemies would be capable of. But she did have something to base herself off from. Her memory unit, and the adventurers that came before. Especially those she and Zoemie killed.

  Xajymzia teleported to the memory unit, a gimlet light within her eye. The information was still here, and some of their magical items were still in storage.

  This will take some refinement. But she could work from it. She could fabricate facsimiles of those three; soulless automatons with no purpose or mind of their own beyond what they had been built to do.

  It was something of an extension of an old ability of her, subordinates capable of handling certain simple tasks without requiring Xajymzia to focus on it. A convenient ability, but these subordinates were truly "simple" and had little in the way of adaptability.

  Teleporting to another part of her boratory, Xajymzia shivered as magic materials swirled. One issue her materials had is that none of them could truly imitate flesh. Neither stone, nor metal, nor pnt products. But that was quite alright.

  Simucrums of experienced adventurers would be less effective if built of flesh anyway, considering that combat experience seemed to have made them tougher than normal humans. Pstic ?

  This would take a little bit of time and work... but it would be fine. Having tools to test situations resembling live-ammo environment was a smart investment for her practice. Xajymzia smiled grimly, a part of her taking satisfaction in the fate of her enemies, to be used as target practice.

  She found it rather satisfying.

  Yuulvan focused, practicing his boulder spell while pondering what he learned. The rocks flew outward, then back inwards, still a further distance from him. Using heavier metals for the boulders added a lot of inertia to them and made the control somewhat finickier, so he proceeded with care.

  Fertilizer production... He had done a quick first look at the subject, and, had he not dived deep into atomic physics, he would surely not understand much of it. But he had, so he was able to use that knowledge for good effect, and ideas burgeoned within his mind.

  Turning nitrogen from air and hydrogen from water into ammonia-based products... then slowly diffuse it in the ground of an area... The worst part is that such an artifact was not out of reach for a mage of his caliber. Thanks to magic, he could btantly break the ws of physics, bypassing the heat and pressure conditions of any chemical reaction, no matter how difficult.

  He could even combine it with a chamberpot cleaner. Could extract phosphorus from it... The idea was good, or at the very least workable. This is within my knowledge. Maybe add a few more functionalities here and there, but as a base idea he could pull it off.

  He was actually a little frustrated at the situation; the necessary to prepare for battle annoyed him. It ate on precious time that he could spend inventing that device, and that device could easily have a far greater impact than 2-7-4's death, despite his greater personal stake in the tter.

  Strictly speaking, he could have decided to sit it out a second time. One might argue that it was the smarter decision, to leave the battle to them and focus on building that crop improving artifact, and that argument would likely be strong. Zoemie hadn't particurly held it against him the first time around either.

  But a part of him was unwilling to do so, partly because he didn't want to push his luck too far, and partly because something told him that Zoemie's incoming enemies were the kind of people that would engage in unspeakable things against Zoemie if they got the upper hand. And while he may be spared, or be even able to avoid them outright...

  The boulders spun faster and faster.

  He would not allow that to happen.