Chapter 88: Climbing

"...Moros, I appreciate that you did this job for me with such dedication. It really was just as I expected." Nio thanks Moros, who carried out three of her prior requests in the kingdom of Ortyr.

The first was to gather information separately from Yomo, since Nio never trusted that Yomo would give her information without some distortions. The second was to keep an eye on Yomo and everyone he made contact with, since Nio didn’t want to let him have too much freedom. And the third was to obtain one more of the palace battery materials, whichever of the three that was missing.

’Now there’s only one material left... fortunately Moros found one of the two missing materials instead of finding one I already have.’ Nio looks at Moros, who seems extremely happy. Nio truly feels grateful that she created Moros in a way that makes him ’dependent’ on her like this, even though he’s someone who makes her a little uncomfortable.

"..." Moros looks at her, smiling, while Nio realizes Yomo is doing something wrong.

"Moros, are you absolutely certain that Yomo had contact with the princess on numerous occasions?"

"Yes!! I’m sure, Nio!! He’s been having a lot of contact with her!!"

’Yomo asked me to legitimize the princess of Ortyr’s incest with her father. Honestly, it’s disgusting, but I was going to do it if it was useful... but how is this useful to me?... Yomo is trying to deceive me...’ Nio decides not to accept Yomo’s request.

Which will indirectly break Yomo’s agreement with the princess, cracking his plan for allies among the National Ranks in half, even though Nio doesn’t even know what his plans are.

"Tell Yomo I’ll refuse his requests. I don’t see any merit worth approving this, and besides, it would tarnish my saintly image. Tell him incest, especially between father and daughter, can’t be approved by a public religious figure like me."

"And if he insists, give him a correction." When Nio says this, Moros gives a big smile at the permission.

"Now... tell me where you found this?" Nio holds a philosopher’s stone in her hands. Not the one from legends, but a red jewel that drains the life of everything that holds it. Of course, Nio’s immense HP makes the stone practically a paperweight in her hands.

This stone is one of the materials Nio was missing. Now she only needs one last material to make the palace battery.

"I found it on the black market!! Yomo took me to an auction and I saw a guy wearing it as a necklace. I felt its energy even through the seal, so I stole it!" Moros says, proud of his good work.

"You really did an excellent job. They’re very rare..." Nio raises the stone, looking at it through the light.

’A real philosopher’s stone... it was a very rare material in the game. A boss drop... I never expected humans to have one... I think I’ll send Moros away... I’m getting sleepy.’

"Your good work deserves a reward, so I’ll give you some freedom to hunt humans as long as you don’t overdo it." Nio knows Moros is an "ambush predator," so she lets him have a little fun to keep control over him.

"Really!?! Thank you, Nio!!"

"Okay, okay. You can go now, but don’t overdo it with your hunts. Five people per night max and thirty people per week. We’ve been talking for almost an hour now, the information was useful and I need time to process everything." As Moros skips excitedly out of the room, Nio looks at the window, seeing nothing.

’Seriously, why did I create windows in rooms that look out onto nothing?... Anyway... I’ll have Moros come back to the palace in one month at most, so he won’t even be able to kill that many people...’ She only sees a black void and sighs while waiting for Nioh to say something.

"[Yomo is going to betray us. You know that, right?]"

"I know. It’s pretty obvious, and I think he doesn’t even care about trying to hide it, or he thinks I’m too stupid to notice..." Nio staggers from sleepiness.

"[You’ve been avoiding sleep because you don’t want to wake up in the nightmares to see Typhon, but you can’t stay awake too long or you’ll hibernate, so go to sleep already.]"

"Okay..."

"[Nio, you should lay an egg.]" Nioh decides to take advantage of Nio being lethargic from sleep to deepen her relationship with her new dragon body. Nio throws herself onto the bed in the room, using magic to freeze the door.

"Lay an egg?" Nio murmurs without even fully registering what they’re talking about.

"[Yes, an egg serves as the conductor the battery needs. It’s the last material we need for the battery. I thought about it a bit, and laying an egg solves the problem you caused by saying the island would be raised to the skies soon.]"

"...?"

"[Just think rationally. Is the embarrassment of laying an egg more valuable than putting the island back in the skies? Because of our race and your level, the egg would be a suitable material as the battery’s conductor.]"

"[I don’t know what you think about it, but the island flying is mandatory for all its security systems to work. More than 80% of the island’s security system is inactive without the battery.]"

"[Considering your plan with the Raids, you need all the defense possible around the island.]"

"[It might be something embarrassing and a little intimate, but considering how valuable the battery is to our island, it’s actually pretty interesting, isn’t it?]" Nioh uses what’s most important to them at the moment.

"...I’m sleepy... can we talk about this later?"

"[No.]" Nioh knows Nio would never accept laying an egg if she were 100% awake, while she knows Nio would do it if she were drowsy, so she tries to convince Nio to start the process before sleeping, so she’ll wake up with the egg already done.

That way Nio can’t do anything. They already have almost all the battery materials, which means her anger would be contained by the immediate benefits.

"..." Nio messes up the bedsheets. Because of everything she’s been doing, her sleep cycle is messed up from trying to resist sleep.

"Just... stay quiet..."

"[Then be smarter. It’s just laying an egg, it’s not the end of the world!! You can even use the battery as a bomb against Typhon if necessary.]"

"...Fine, fine. I’ll do it... just be quiet, let me sleep—" Nio gets frustrated at being bothered while everything starts to go dark.

"[Then increase the amount of magic in your uterus. Imagine something is forming inside, make your body work for it. Just let your instincts act.]" Nio obeys as her tail rustles the bedsheets.

"Done? Can I sleep..." Nio can barely keep her eyes open, doing everything almost by reflex. This has proven to be a severe weakness that she doesn’t know how to resolve.

"[...Looks right. Sleep as much as you want, your body will do most of it on its own...]" If Nioh had a body, she’d be smiling. Unlike Nio, Nioh doesn’t feel sleep the same way and can stay awake while she sleeps.

"[Already asleep? Tsk... we need to deal with this... it would be bad for you to become lethargic in a fight... I think we had an artifact that applied the heavy insomnia effect, right? If I’m not mistaken, it was a ring that gave the Shooting Star buff in exchange for applying insomnia that reduces the user’s physical stats.]" Nioh knows this wouldn’t keep Nio awake forever, but it would give her more time awake every day if used when she felt herself getting sleepy.

"[She won’t even answer me anymore... I’m sure she’ll be angry when she wakes up, but I hope she understands I’m doing what’s best for us... you’re underestimating Typhon way too much...]" Nioh knows the real horrors of a battle against their greatest enemy.

Nio, inexperienced and new to this, can’t imagine how complicated and terrifying a battle of that magnitude really is outside the game, so Nioh has immense concerns about Nio winning at all.

"[...If Nio fails...]" Nioh doesn’t finish that dark line of thought, not wanting to imagine a scenario of defeat.