The goblin lets out a sudden, sharp screech and attempts to attack us. Then—there is no 'then' anymore. That goblin is now very much dead, so dead it can't die anymore. Kuro just kills it with a punch. The moment Kuro's fist landed on it, the goblin was directly reduced into minced meat. Well, Kuro is still as violent and destructive as ever!
The reason Kuro could punch a goblin into mince meat is because she injected draconic power into her fist the moment she punched out. This punch consumed 20% of her draconic power. Due to her injecting her draconic power into her fist, her fist glimmered slightly with a purple glow at the moment she threw out her punch.
(The Observer's Interludes: What Kuro does is simply transforming magic power into kinetic energy.)
"Eww!" Shiro exclaims in disgust, looking at the mince meat.
"Kuro kills it too quickly, Shiro doesn't even have time to use [The Eyes of Deconstruction] on it," Shiro complains lightly.
As Shiro complains, the minced meat that was once a goblin starts to dissipate into black ashes, and the black ashes disappear into nothingness. At the same time, a crystal-clear, transparent, glowing purple crystal cube the size of a fingernail, along with two plain, black ritual robes, appears in its place.
"Are those 'drops' that the books say may appear on a rare occasion after a monster dies? How interesting!" Shiro says as she looks curiously at the items on the ground.
"So this is the crystal talked about in the books? The one that can be absorbed by living beings to strengthen the body or used on non-living beings to enhance them?" Shiro picks up the crystal cube and uses [The Eyes of Deconstruction] on it. "Huh? Wait! A crystallized divine power?! Why would such a thing drop from a monster?!"
"Wait! If this crystal is the one living beings absorbed to strengthen themselves, does that mean they're actually absorbing divine power?! Well, if that's the case, it also explain why it is possible to advance into the demigod realm." Shiro murmurs to herself.
In this world, the highest realm one can reach is the demigod realm. To advance into higher realms, one needs to own an authority. Of course, if one already owns an authority, one can jump directly into low-rank god realm, though one's body will need to be strengthened later on as it will not be strengthened by skipping the realms. This is the case with us.
But to be honest, it's more accurate to say that owning an authority allows one to access divine power in advance without any side effects, rather than that one has skipped to the low-rank god realm. After all, this process has no other benefits, and even after it, one can still improve their body in a normal way.
As for why we didn't advance before but waited until a few days ago, it is because advancement to realms higher than the demigod realm can only be done in the main material plane or in one's own divine kingdom. It wasn't until a few days ago that Aunt Phyllis allowed us to construct our own divine kingdom.
"Divine power constructs, as expected," Shiro picks up one of the robes and examines it using [The Eyes of Deconstruction]. The robes are black in color, though not as black as Kuro's pure black. "And a stable one at that."
Unlike the divine power constructs Shiro created during our free-fall, the stable divine power constructs can exist for a long time without needing a constant supply of divine power. Though, they are also a lot weaker than normal divine power constructs.
The robes have three functions in total: first, they can adjust their size according to their user; second, they automatically clean themselves once they are dirty; and third, they can conceal their user's appearance using shadow, though this function isn't very effective. They fit our current needs perfectly. Their ability to adjust their size means that we can wear them, while their ability to automatically clean themselves means we don't have to worry about them getting dirty. They can also hide our faces, which emanate an unimaginable amount of cuteness, so much that they break the cognitive limit of cuteness of anyone who sees us!
(Whispers from the Void: Please don't take Shiro's 'extraordinary self-confidence' to heart. Although they are indeed very cute, they are not yet so cute that they break the cognitive limit.)
Although Kuro and Shiro already have our own mini dresses. They are actually the manifestation of our scales when we are in half-dragon form. Unlike normal clothes, they are always clean, just like our bodies. This is also why we don't wear anything else other than our mini dresses.
After we put the robes on, they quickly adjust themselves to fit us. The shadows cast by the hoods are dark enough to cover our faces. Our tails can easily hide beneath our robes. The robes are just long enough to reach the ground, perfectly blocking our petite, barefoot forms from sight without hindering our mobility. Our soft, delicate, jade-like hands are also hidden comfortably in the sleeves.
Although the shadow is said to be dark enough to cover our faces, the shadow function of the robes merely slightly increases the coverage of the shadow of the hoods to include the lower half of our faces. The nature of the shadow remains unchanged, which means it can easily be pieced by direct light.
(Whispers from the Void: Their current appearances closely resemble the stereotypes of cultists. As for why they only closely resemble, have you seen a cultist with a height of only 1.3 meters?)
Actually, the sudden appearance of the robes that perfectly suit our needs isn't a surprise to us. It isn't because we knew in advance that the robes would appear. It is just that we are quite used to this happening. You see, for some unknown reason, dragons are very lucky. And among dragons, dragon gods like us are the luckiest of all. The things we need often run to us on their own. So the sudden appearance of the robes isn't surprising to us at all.
(The Observer's Interludes: The last atmospheric reentry experience wasn't caused by their bad luck; it is caused by Shiro not double-checking what she had input and jumping directly into the gate.)
The cave is quite small. It only takes us a few minutes to find the exit and leave the cave. Outside the cave, is a forest. From the distance, we see smoke rising. The amount of smoke isn't small. We estimate that either there is a town of considerable size there or there is a not-so-small forest fire. Of course, no matter what it is, it poses no threats to us.
We decide to go there to have a look. Our goal here, other than sightseeing, is to take over a religion. But, as 'Blue Star' humans say, 'plans cannot keep up with changes'. After we encountered an accident and got lost, we don't know where that religion is anymore. So we can only build a new religion from scratch.
We also need to resupply our divine power. After Shiro previously spent 5 units of divine power to examine the crystal cube and the robe (2 units on the crystal cube, 2 units on the robe), we only have 21 units remaining.
The location where the smoke originated from isn't too far away from here. With Shiro and Kuro's walking speed, we should be able to reach it in two hours at most.
(The Observer's Interludes: Although the journey only takes two hours for Shiro and Kuro, this is only because their walking speed in the forest is no different from on a flat ground. Note that this is their casual walking speed. Normal humans will take at least twice as much time to cover the same distance as Shiro and Kuro.)
The two-hours walk is uneventful. In fact, not even a single beast appears in front of us. But that is understandable; after all, beasts' instincts are sharp enough to know who not to mess with, otherwise, how can they survive in the wild?
Finally, we see increasing signs of human activity as we approach the source of the smoke. This means that what we are heading toward is most likely a town. It couldn't be that the town is on fire, right?
After a few minutes' walk, we finally see the town. The town isn't being razed to the ground by the fire or anything. The smoke is from open flames in both homes and workshops. The smoke is so thick it looks like a dirty fog covering the entire town. It is also everywhere in the town, but humans in the town seem to be indifferent to it. Even from a distance, we can tell at a glance how poor the town's air quality is, the smell alone should be unbearable. Suddenly, we don't feel like entering this town anymore.
But since we're already here, it would be a pity to just leave like this. So we decide to at least go into the town to investigate. But before that, there is something important we have to do: making a mask that can block the smell and purify the air for each of us!
"Kuro!" Shiro calls out Kuro's name. Because our minds are connected, Kuro immediately understands Shiro's thought and takes her hand. Well, even if our minds weren't connected, Shiro believes Kuro would still understand her instantly.
The reason why Shiro asks Kuro to hold her hand is that Shiro wants to use Kuro's processing power. Although Shiro and Kuro's minds are connected, without physical contact, our memories and thoughts are completely open to each other. But by having physical contact, Shiro is able to use Kuro's brain as if it was her own. The same goes for Kuro.
(Whispers from the Void: When someone decides to connect their brains together to perform a High-Performance Computing.)
With information gathered from using [The Eyes of Deconstruction] to examine the robes before and with our combined processing power, Shiro starts to deduce and design a stable divine power construct mask.
(Whispers from the Void: Kuro's job is to provide her processing power to Shiro and wait. Shiro's job is everything else.)
The difference between normal divine power constructs and stable divine power constructs is that when the same amount of divine power is used to create them, normal divine power constructs fully transform the divine power into functions, while stable divine power constructs store part of the divine power to maintain their existence. This is why stable divine power constructs are weaker than normal divine power constructs and also why normal divine power constructs dissipate once no longer supplied with divine power.
(The Observer's Interludes: Think of them as electric cars. The size of the cars represents the amount of divine power spent creating them. Normal divine power constructs are cars with entire internal structure made of engines. Stable divine power constructs are cars with internal batteries in addition to their engines, leaving less room for the engines. The engines represent divine power constructs' functions. The bigger the engine, the more room it takes up. The same goes for the divine power constructs' functions; the more powerful a specific function is, the more divine power is consumed to create that function. In this situation, divine power is like electricity to the cars. The only difference is that divine power does not fuel divine power constructs' functions; instead, it only maintains their existence. As long as their existence is maintained, the divine power constructs' functions can work indefinitely without consuming anything. Of course, even stable divine power constructs cannot last forever. Like electric cars consuming electricity stored in their batteries when driven, stable divine power constructs consume their stored divine power to maintain their existence, and once all the divine power they store is used up, they will dissipate too. But like electric cars' batteries, they can also be charged by inputting divine power into them.)
After two hours of calculation and deduction, the design for a stable divine power construct mask is finally completed.
Its final design resembles a 'half-mask respirator' used by 'Blue Star' humans except that it doesn't have head straps. It has a dual, side-mounted filters and an exhalation valve in front of the mask. The entire mask is the same black in color as the robes. It is also considerably thinner than a 'half-mask respirator' commonly used by 'Blue Star' humans, with a thickness slightly more than a 'surgical mask' used by 'Blue Star' humans. Only a thin layer of the filters and exhalation valve extends from the mask; they are so thin that if one isn't careful, it's easy to miss them.
To make constructing it easier and consume less divine power, the mask is divided into three parts, with each part being given only one function. The first part is the mask body, the second is the filters, and the third is the exhalation valve.
For the mask body, its function is to allow it to stick to its wearer's face as if it were part of its wearer's face. This means the mask will not fall off easily after placing it on the face and that it doesn't need head straps. It also will be considered part of the wearer's body when worn so the wearer will not be annoyed by it. This means it will always be clean when we wear it, just like our bodies.
For the filters, they are given the function to block out all harmful substances. Unlike the filters used in a 'half-mask respirator' by 'Blue Star' humans, these filters don't have to be changed. What they do isn't to trap the harmful substances within them, but to completely block harmful substances from entering the mask in the first place.
For the exhalation valve, this part was originally designed to only be an exhalation valve and not have any special function. But under Kuro's insistence, Shiro added an aroma conditioning function to it. What this function can do is adjust the smell within the mask according to its wearer's wish.
With the design completed, it is time to bring it to life. Shiro spends 1.5 units of divine power on each of the mask bodies and 0.5 units of divine power on each of the filters and the exhalation valves. In total, she spends 6 units of divine power to create two stable divine power construct masks, one for herself and one for Kuro. This leaves us with 15 units of divine power.
"Shiro, Kuro wants Shiro's scent to be added to her mask," Kuro suddenly says as she looks at her newly created mask in Shiro's hand, expressionless and monotone as ever.
"Alright"—Huh?! Wait! Shiro's scent?! Well... Actually, thinking about it again, Shiro doesn't seem so surprised anymore. This is indeed something Kuro could ask. "Alright! Shiro will add her scent into Kuro's mask."
Wonder why Shiro seems so surprised? It is because even though her and Kuro's minds are connected, our processing capability isn't infinite. Unlike Kuro, who doesn't use her brain much in normal times, Shiro operates her brain at full capacity most of the time. This means Shiro does not have extra processing power to peek at Kuro's thoughts. Plus, she also doesn't have a habit of peeking at other people's thoughts... unlike Kuro. So she mostly let Kuro's thoughts run in the background of her mind.
After Shiro adds her scent to Kuro's mask, we both put on our own masks. Due to the masks' color being designed to be the same as our robes, they blend in perfectly with our robes. Although most of the time, they will not be visible due to the shadow function of the robes. In addition, the masks also block the lower half of our face, where the shadow function is relatively weak. This lowers the risk of us exposing our faces, though there seem to be no consequences even if we are exposed anyway. But isn't it more interesting to spread religion while dressing like this?
(Whispers from the Void: First, the cultist-style robes, then, half-face gas masks. A big step forward in the path of villain dress code... Even if they can't pass the villain height requirement and are far too cute to be in a villain league.)
"Alright! It's time to explore the human town!"