The Speedrun Manual of Miss Witch - Chapter 288

Has Sadhana gone mad?

After talking with the Pure White Knight, Ciel surprisingly felt no surprise at all.

After all, Sadhana’s roar at her didn’t sound sane.

This makes things difficult now… If it were an Other Side creature like the Grim Worm or the Pure White Knight, with whom communication was possible, Ciel could try to approach and talk, to see if there was any room for reconciliation.

Being entangled with a mad entity, one could only accept one’s bad luck.

Moreover, Ciel discovered a problem.

Up until now, Ciel had never seen any “Ascender” appear in reality.

Even when Ciel caused a city massacre in the simulation, not even a single Ascender was provoked… Instead, in the Other Side, those “Other Side creatures” all possessed characteristics befitting Ascenders.

Whether it was the Grim Worm or the Pure White Knight, Their abilities far surpassed Tier 4 transcendents. They were definitely existences above Tier 4.

But on the other hand, most of the creatures in the Other Side seemed to have gone mad… At least that’s how Ciel felt from her own explorations of the Other Side.

Of course, the Other Side creatures Ciel could summon were basically all mentally stable and had a positive disposition towards Ciel. This might be due to the “Spiritual Summoning” skill itself acting as a filter—they could communicate, thus they were summoned. Those who couldn’t communicate simply wouldn’t heed Ciel’s summons.

If someone were to ask Ciel why the Other Side creatures she summoned could basically communicate every time, it would be like asking why so many people are sick in a hospital; it’s a question for Adele’s table.

It was time to prepare to digest the “Listener” potion and the “Ascetic” potion, and save these two paths before leaving the simulation.

In addition, she also had to record Adele’s research results and clarify Avena’s advancement details, to reduce pressure and accelerate progress for them in reality.

Perhaps due to the Other Side’s pollution and actively communicating with the Pure White Knight, Ciel’s mind had a constant hazy feeling. In addition, there was physical and mental exhaustion.

Although sleep in the simulation couldn’t restore her mind as quickly as normal sleep, it could at least alleviate her physical and mental fatigue.

Ciel had a premonition that digesting the “Ascetic” potion might have strong side effects, because she had never properly completed the “Ascetic” reconstitution ritual from beginning to end, while the “Listener” was considered to have been completed quite well.

So, tomorrow, she would first drink the “Ascetic” potion using the pocket watch, then restore her body and drink the “Listener” potion, using the “Listener” state to get through the remaining simulation time.

While planning what to do tomorrow, Ciel drowsily closed her eyes, almost falling into a deep sleep.

After an unknown period, Ciel slowly opened her eyes only when she felt a sliver of light shining on her eyelids.

Her mind was still a little sluggish, but the fatigue in her body and brain had diminished considerably… mainly because she felt some pressure released in her heart, which counted as rest.

However, when Ciel opened her eyes, she realized that even before opening them, she could already see everything before her.

Had her eyes not recovered?

It seems both “Listener” and “Ascetic” will have to be saved with a visual impairment…

Although this fits the names and abilities of these two paths, it was not a good thing for Ciel. It meant that the “Temporal Disorder” side effect of the pocket watch’s “Echo of Time” might suddenly blind her during battle.

Just as Ciel was about to get up, she found that her right hand was not responding.

Ciel slightly shifted the perspective of her Precognitive Sight and looked at the bed.

Avena still held Ciel’s left hand to her chest, lying on her side. Her right leg was now draped across Ciel’s lower abdomen at some point.

On her right side, Adele, also lying on her side facing Ciel, was still resting her head on Ciel’s arm. Her pillow had disappeared. Perhaps she was dreaming of something delicious, a trace of glistening saliva hung from the corner of her mouth, already connected to Ciel’s right arm.

And the blanket that the three of them had been sharing had, at some unknown point, been kicked away. Avena probably felt cold, which was why she subconsciously hugged Ciel in that position.

Ciel: “…”

She subtly moved her shoulder, and with effort, pulled her right hand out from under Adele’s head.

Feeling the tingling sensation of blood flowing back, Ciel sighed slightly.

If she had slept any longer, this hand would probably have needed amputation.

She opened the system and glanced at the time. It was 6 AM. It seemed she had slept for quite a while.

「Countdown – 09:11:05」

There were still nine hours left, enough time for her to complete everything she wanted to do and collect all the information she wanted.

Ciel adjusted her Precognitive Sight back to its eye-level view. Although she could only see 15 meters ahead, as if nearsighted, this vision was more in line with Ciel’s own habits.

Ciel tentatively tried to pull her left hand out from Avena’s embrace. Perhaps because Avena was wearing silkier pajamas, Ciel successfully withdrew her hand from Avena’s soft embrace.

However, this movement seemed to wake Avena. She opened her eyes somewhat blankly, looking at Ciel drowsily. After several seconds, she gradually woke up, returning to her usual expressionless demeanor.

“Good morning.” Ciel said softly.

“Morning.” Avena replied, then asked, “Are your eyes alright? Strange… your mind doesn’t seem to have recovered much…”

“Much better now… I have some things to do today.” Ciel replied with a smile, trying not to let the other party worry.

“Alright.” Avena did not press for details. If Ciel wanted her to know, Ciel would naturally tell her. Avena would also give Ciel her privacy.

Of course, everything had to be based on the premise that Ciel was not in danger.

Feeling that her right hand had regained some sensation, Ciel was about to prop herself up and get out of bed, when the scene of falling appeared in her vision. This made Ciel instinctively stop her movements.

She moved her Precognitive Sight forward and saw little Tara, wrapped in a small blanket, lying on the carpet under the bed—now she knew where the blanket that disappeared from the bed had gone.

If she hadn’t used Precognitive Sight and had just gotten out of bed, Ciel would probably have stepped directly on Tara’s face.