"Hiss..."
Having taken a full-force sweep from the Cryo Regisvine, Coppelia now lay on the ground, eyes shut tight, her body curled into a ball.
Although she lacked the structure of bones and muscles, she still felt an intense pain, as if her bones had shattered into blades, slicing her muscles to ribbons.
She understood that heightened pain sensitivity was to prevent the mechanical body from unknowingly coming into contact with dangerous things.
But why was the sensitivity cranked up this high!
Coppelia was in so much pain she wanted to cry, but a mechanical body could not shed tears.
The pain didn't last long. Once she recovered, Coppelia quickly checked her body, especially the spot on her left abdomen where she had been hit. There was no damage to her clothes or her mechanical body's exterior.
"No 'Skills' and no 'Talents'... could it be because all my points were put into defense and sensory sensitivity?"
"I was careless just now, didn't dodge." Coppelia reviewed the battle. "The Cryo Regisvine's attack patterns are simple and easy to avoid. The problem is my reaction speed can't keep up, so all I can do is take hits."
"Wait, take hits?" An idea to quickly improve her reaction time came to her. "Since the Cryo Regisvine can't hurt me anyway, why not just rush it a few more times? Let it hit me. If I get hit enough, I'll naturally learn how to dodge."
She quickly abandoned this idea.
"No, no, that won't work. Even though there are no wounds, the pain is very real."
The earlier sensation of her entire skeleton shattering had completely vanished, but she really didn't dare experience it a second time.
"If only I had a ranged attack. I could launch a sneak attack while it's not paying attention, destroy the core in its corolla, and paralyze it."
"I'll go find Columbina and ask if she has any ranged attacks."
...
Columbina tried to transfer the power within her body outward. She gathered her abilities into an orb, where ginger-red and azure-blue lights intertwined and separated, transformed and contended, releasing faint fluctuations of energy.
Columbina let the orb float in the center of her palm, aimed it at a patch of mud five meters away, and launched it.
The orb traveled less than two meters from Columbina before it swelled up, having lost its structural constraint, and its colors dimmed. It vanished without a trace within the span of a single breath.
Columbina shook her head at Coppelia, indicating she was powerless to help.
"Columbina can precisely control the power within one or two meters of her, but it's very weak and can't be used as an attack. If used as a shield, it could probably only block the flow of air." Coppelia gained a preliminary understanding of Columbina's current strength. She had her return to the previous safe spot to hide and told her not to run around.
Afterwards, she tried enchanting a stone with the Pyro element and throwing it at the Cryo Regisvine's corolla. Her aim was true, but the amount of Pyro she could currently imbue was too little to effectively break the Cryo Regisvine's ice shell.
"Enough with these fancy tricks." In the end, Coppelia decided to just brute-force it. Pain be damned.
After all, being stuck in the starter area by a mere plant was just ridiculous!
...
Coppelia charged toward the Cryo Regisvine, focusing her gaze on its corolla, ready to dodge at any moment.
But this time, the Cryo Regisvine neither condensed orbs of light to fire ice projectiles nor postured for a sweeping attack. It just stood there quietly.
Coppelia stopped five meters away from the Cryo Regisvine, which was likely the range of its sweep attack. She stood there, staring intently at the plant, but it still showed no sign of moving.
Seeing the Cryo Regisvine remain inactive, Coppelia decided to strike first. Enchanting her hands with Pyro, she took two steps forward, preparing to quickly shatter its core.
Just then, the Cryo Regisvine finally moved. It bent its stalk and tilted its corolla back—the same posture it took before a sweep.
Coppelia quickly crouched to lower her center of gravity, preparing to retreat and dodge.
But a sharp pain shot through her feet. She looked down to see an icy mist spreading across the ground. Her feet were frozen solid, a thick layer of ice extending up to her knees!
The Cryo Regisvine wasn't preparing to sweep. It had gathered a large amount of the Cryo element in its corolla, forming a thick, sharp icicle. Then, it swung its stalk forward, delivering a headbutt.
Its target was Coppelia, who had entered its attack range and now had her feet frozen in place!
Coppelia struggled and managed to free one leg, but the Cryo Regisvine's headbutt had already arrived. She immediately raised her hands and crossed them over her head.
The side of the icicle struck Coppelia's forearms, knocking its tip off course from her head. She avoided a direct hit to the head, but one of the Cryo Regisvine's petals still slapped her to the ground.
Coppelia tried to force herself to ignore the pain from her back and arms, but she failed.
So she tried another method. She focused her mind, mobilizing all the energy in her body, channeling it into her palms and arms, converting it into Pyro elemental energy, and condensing it so it wouldn't leak.
The Cryo Regisvine lifted its corolla and launched a second, more vicious headbutt.
The icicle lunged toward Coppelia's abdomen. She wanted to raise her hands to block, but she was a beat too slow.
She felt a sharp object pierce her abdomen and churn wildly inside. She lifted her head to look. Some ice shards were scattered on her body, but her clothes were completely unscathed.
"There's no way the Cryo Regisvine can break my defense..." Coppelia decided to just close her eyes. She let her hands rest on the ground and entered a meditative state, ignoring the churning pain in her abdomen. She focused all her thoughts on the Pyro element, continuing to charge her hands, continuing to convert energy into Pyro, and continuing to condense it. A warm, comfortable sensation spread through her hands.
The third headbutt. It didn't break her defense!
To focus even further, Coppelia transferred the energy and Pyro element from her left hand to her right. The condensed Pyro began to grow unstable, and she was starting to lose control.
The fourth headbutt. It didn't break her defense!
Coppelia gathered all the convertible energy within her body into her right hand. The condensed Pyro energy surged, and the warm-water-like heat became as scorching as molten lava.
As the fifth headbutt was about to land, Coppelia raised her right hand and unleashed the condensed Pyro element within. It erupted in a scorching red light, her right arm looking like a steel bar freshly pulled from a high-temperature forge.
The Cryo Regisvine clearly hadn't noticed the sudden change. It slammed its head right into Coppelia's right hand. The Pyro element poured out, flowing into the icicle and melting it, then into the ice shell protecting the core. In an instant, the ice shell vanished without a trace.
The Cryo Regisvine thrashed its body violently, trying to shake off the foreign object. But soon, the Pyro element flooded its core, destroying it. The Cryo Regisvine twitched a few times, then crashed heavily to the ground, motionless.
The Pyro element surged into the Cryo Regisvine's corolla, reacting with and consuming all the Cryo element within. With energy to spare, it scorched the plant's tissues. Lying on the ground with her eyes closed, Coppelia could smell a strong burnt odor, and... a fragrant aroma.
Speaking of which, I think Cryo Regisvines are edible. I should get some for Columbina to try later... The process of condensing the Pyro element had exhausted Coppelia's mechanical body's energy, and she could no longer support the strain of thinking.
__
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