The Rebirth of Evelyn Knox

Chapter 143: Heart of the Earth

Although Evelyn could refill her spirit power using spirit stones, the process required her to concentrate, which would leave her vulnerable in the middle of the forest for much longer than she would like.

Regardless of the spirit stone's grade whether it was a core or a crystal it took around ten minutes for people to completely absorb its energy. This of course meant that the higher grade stones were much better, as not only was their capacity higher, they would also be able to provide much faster restoration speeds.

However, if her level-up process could already be considered dangerous when it only took a fraction of the time it would take to restore her spirit power using spirit stones, there was no need to even think about it in the middle of the Wonderland of Doom.

Most importantly, while she could now be more confident thanks to the 'Lotus Throne's Natal Shield', as well as her throne's movement capabilities, Evelyn still had to consider that her friends might not be so safe without her.

Unfortunately, there was no yellow mission for professor Donna, though she would have quite liked that laceration mirror ability for herself. Wouldn't it work amazingly well when combined with Ruru's 'Lotus Throne's Natal Shield'?

Looking at the big hole in the 'Kittykat Blue Halter Dress' that Cecilia had got for her, she couldn't help but feel a little guilty. The damage had clearly exceeded the grade two item's repairing capacity, and it was likely that it would either become useless or need some very skilled repair.

Curiously, the stat boost from the dress wasn't gone even though it was damaged, though Evelyn assumed it must be because the array that Madam Genie drew was towards the back of the dress.

"It's a bit unfortunate that the Tree Demon managed to escape deeper into the forest"

Evelyn thought about it for a while, but it didn't seem like a wise idea to go around looking for the thing even deeper into the core region. Even if it was injured, it was likely that she would have to expend quite a bit of her remaining soul points to take it down.

With her current state, that would put her in a very vulnerable position, and although her teacher often accused her of being greedy, Evelyn knew when she shouldn't let it rule her.

"Alright that monster can consider this its lucky day. Ruru! I know you're tired, but let's go see if we can find Craig's spatial artifact, and then we can head back to regroup with Amara, and you can sleep as much as you like!"

The pink fox yipped and jumped down, and with the two of them both using their own ripples to scour through the area, they quickly started covering most of the area Craig had been through.

Although she knew that it was possible that the spatial artifact may have been destroyed, in the off chance that they did manage to find it, Evelyn knew she would be able to strike it rich in one go. It wasn't an opportunity she could pass up without even giving it a try.

After all, Craig was the crown prince of one of the strongest kingdoms in the continent, and seemed to have had plenty of absurd treasures and tricks up his sleeve.

"Well, I doubt I'll find anything better than that black orb from Pillar Mantis, but Craig couldn't have been too destitute either way."

Bree seemed to have fun circling around Ruru in the beginning as the pink fox ignored her to use the Lotus Throne's Eternal Ripple, but after a while, she got bored and started following Evelyn instead, even changing to her human form.

"What are we looking for, mama?"

"Hmm I guess a shiny-looking thing, like a ring or a belt. It should have a pretty big gem in it, I think."

"Oh like that thing on the tree over there?"

"?"

Turning around to look at the tree Bree had pointed out, although it was a bit too far from the area she had been looking in, she could still clearly see the glint of a green gemstone.

"Good girl. That might actually be it! Wait here with Ruru, okay? I'll be right back."

Although it was a bit embarrassing to climb the tree like a monkey, Evelyn was still able to fetch what looked like a green necklace with a giant emerald gemstone, and checking its stats, it really was a spatial artifact!

[ Heart of the Earth: Grade 6 ] 

  Can store items in a pocket dimension.

Dimensions of storage space: 3 meters wide x 3 meters long x 3 meters high

Can only be allowed access by the owner.

Current owner: Unassigned

Evelyn guessed that the security feature of this necklace was only effective as long as the 'owner' didn't die or assign a new one. Of course, now that Craig was dead, it became an unbound item.

The pink haired girl nodded. "It's actually quite useful. Even if someone loses it, their belongings will remain safe and recoverable as long as they can trace it back. Of course, there might be ways to get around this restriction, who knows?"

Looking at its 'total volume', however, Evelyn couldn't help but shake her head. "Compared to my inventory, the space inside is so puny!"

But when she thought about it, the capacity of the thing made sense. Her grade five untainted was only able to store twenty small and one large item, while this thing had far fewer restrictions.

"A bit disappointing for the spatial artifact of the Terran crown prince, but it is what it is, I guess. It may be quite useless for me, but it's still invaluable to anyone else."

Of course, the most important thing wasn't the total capacity of the spatial artifact, but what it contained within.

Evelyn couldn't wait to check out its contents, but she knew that this wasn't the time and place to be doing so. Now that she had secured the thing, she could always take a look later.

After making Bree change into her puppy form, Evelyn quickly grabbed both of her little pets and started heading back in the direction of her friends.

Having never expected to find Craig and Dane so quickly, and even get rid of that hidden danger Donna, Evelyn couldn't help but feel a little complicated in her heart.

She'd thought that they would be staying in the forest for quite a while, and her friends could slowly grow along with herself while she looked for any clues that could lead her to the Terran prince. 

Once she found any, her plan had been to report to Aurora, and get her to help.

After all, as she had been back then, she stood no chance at all against someone like professor Dane. Who could have expected that he would be like a sitting duck while she stoned him to death?

"Ehehe I wonder what kind of expression Aurora will make when I tell her?" Shaking her head in amusement, Evelyn finally reached the location she had left her friends in. Thankfully, there were all still there, and seemed to have been waiting for her anxiously.

Cecilia was the first one to clutch her shoulders and shake her vehemently, looking distressed. "Ahh! What took you so long?! I was worried to death! How in the world is this twenty minutes?! It's been twice, no, thrice as long!"

Amara chuckled as she watched the two in amusement while holding Vivian back by the collar. "Cecilia was almost ready to start searching for you, but I convinced her to wait a little longer."

The younger redhead gave her a gloomy look. "Meanie 'mara! Let me go!"

Evelyn chuckled as she patted Cecilia's shoulder, feeling a little embarrassed. "Sorry, sorry! I know I said I'll be back in like twenty minutes, but that thing really escaped too fast! It almost led me deep into the core zone."

Cecilia jumped as she stared at her in shock. "AHH, you should have retreated! What if something went wrong?"

The pink haired girl smiled as she gave her ash blonde friend a reassuring look while ruffling the gloomy-looking Vivian's hair. "Don't worry. I know when to cut my losses."

Amara breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, it's fine if it escaped, as long as you weren't hurt."

Evelyn scoffed. "Who do you think I am? It didn't escape. I killed the darned thing!"

"Eh?"

"EHHH?"

"Really?!"

Looking at their expressions, Evelyn couldn't help but puff out her chest in pride. "Yep."

"Wow~"

"Little Eve is amazing!"

It was a pity that she couldn't brag about having killed Dane and Craig, as the boy's identity made it so that the slightest chance of her identity as a murderer being leaked would make things incredibly difficult for not just her, but even her family and friends.

Of course, every single one here with her today was worthy of her trust, but the fewer people who knew, the better. Anyway, it's not like them knowing would benefit them in any way.

Now that all the pests she had been looking for had been taken care of, however, Evelyn had to make another decision stay in the forest longer to train her friends, or go back to her room to check out the contents of Craig's necklace.

In the end, the temptation of checking out her new loot was too much, and Evelyn quickly led her reluctant teammates back to the academy. "Don't pout! W-We can always come back for more training later. Proper rest is also important for growth, you know!"