Chapter 336

The rune circle for alchemy was formed like an ink brush, charging it with black mana.

While Adella leaned against the wall, I drew the catalyst reduction tower rune circle with mana ink on her white back.

I paused the brush briefly at the seventh thoracic vertebra position.

“Why?”

“Sorry, I’ll redraw it.”

Adella’s waist was so slim that there was insufficient space to draw in a Cartesian coordinate system.

In the end, I erased it once and re-wrote it using a cylindrical coordinate system.

“Now spread your arms.”

“Ah, this is really embarrassing. It won’t hurt, right?”

“Has she been living a lie? It doesn’t feel like anything at all.”

I contained the aura within the Aura Heart and spun it to the extreme.

[Alchemy: Talmag Catalyst]

After maximizing the reactivity of the unique aura, I infused it into the rune circle.

The golden aura penetrated every corner of Adella, pushing out the black impurities from her pores.

Medieval Chinese people referred to this as ‘beomoseosoo,’ but despite its grand name, it didn’t function to purify a body cluttered with turbidity.

‘The concept of turbidity itself isn’t precisely defined; it’s just an illusion.’

The identity of this gas or liquid was residue.

There was no reason to view all black substances negatively, but it was better to remove excess residue accumulated in the body beforehand.

“Do humans still have this coming out of their bodies if they don’t wash for a day? So that’s why you told me to shower every day.”

“Want to say something weird again? This is the procedure to remove impurities generated in high circle magic. If you think about it, you’ve even used seventh circle magic twice.”

“Ah, I see.”

Dragonia Nasentia doesn’t completely change every single cell.

While it may have a macro-level complete transformation, it leaves behind residues as a byproduct through local incomplete transformations.

[Cast: Sammae Evolution]

I used fire to melt the residue stuck in the pores.

Swoosh—

“It’s cold!”

I increased the water pressure of the showerhead to wash away the black grime completely.

Adella turned her head to sneak a look behind her.

“Is it over now?”

“Yes. If you want to take a bath, go ahead.”

“A bath? Oh, that sounds good! Kyaagh! Urgh…”

I splashed some water on Adella’s face and lowered the lever.

“The towels are in the drawer, and I’ll hang your clothes here.”

“Sister! NaeMe!”

“What?”

Adella grinned and waved the green scrubber.

“Want to take a bath together? I’ll scrub your back.”

“Get real.”

To snap her back to her senses, I splashed water in her face once more.

***

It had truly been a tiring day.

I didn’t pull an all-nighter at the power plant, but I couldn’t get a good night’s sleep on the altered bed.

I hugged the plush cotton duvet in the room with warm heating.

Heavy eyelids gradually closed.

Is there anything happier than drifting into a deep slumber in peaceful darkness?

But suddenly, a loud noise jolted me to the surface of consciousness.

Vwinnnn-!

“Ugh… What is it?”

I frowned and squinted to identify the source of the sound.

In one corner of the room, Adella was drying her hair with a hairdryer.

I pulled the duvet up to my head.

“Sorry, sister. There wasn’t a dryer in the bathroom.”

Adella elongated her excuse over the rustling sound.

“You could have taken it to the living room and dried it there.”

I muttered irritably.

“Huh, why didn’t I think of that? I’m so sorry for waking you up!”

“Just dry it here and finish quickly.”

“Okay.”

She must have completely dried her hair because once again, quiet peace returned to the bedroom.

Suddenly, a faint scent of violet wafted up from behind me.

I turned my body halfway to face her.

The soft glow of a mood lamp sparkled in Adella’s green eyes.

“Did you bathe well?”

“Yes. It was fascinating. How the skin turns red from being in hot water for too long. How sweat comes out naturally. Everything.”

“Well done.”

Adella’s expression softened, and she snatched half of my blanket.

“Are you planning to sleep here?”

In my increasingly hazy consciousness, I barely asked.

“There’s no bed in the other room.”

“There’s a sofa, though.”

“But it’s cold without a duvet.”

“I’ll turn on heating in the living room.”

“Let’s just sleep together, sister!”

Adella’s arm slipped between my armpits.

My body was drawn helplessly towards her.

“Wow, it’s warm. Hmmph.”

Now that I think about it, she doesn’t seem that sleepy.

“Quickly adapt to the time difference.”

“Even though I think of you as the perfect older sister, your nagging is a problem. How can I sleep on a joyful day like today? If you’re tired, you can sleep first. I, Adella, will protect you from ghosts.”

She shoved her soft chest towards my head.

I started to feel a little suffocated.

Adella’s gentle breath tickled my cheek unexpectedly.

It was noisy, cramped, and heavy, but for some reason, the urge to sleep slowly bloomed.

“Good night, NaeMe.”

I’m not quite sure if I answered her.

***

‘I knew this would happen.’

I gathered the disheveled hair scattered across the entire bed and tied it neatly into two pigtails.

I slept like a log, completely unaware of the alarm.

Morning had passed, and soon it was approaching lunchtime.

“Koouuu…”

Adella was deep in slumber, exhaling and inhaling deeply.

Her top garment had ridden up to her chest, exposing her belly button.

I tugged down her pajamas neatly and gently shook her shoulders.

“It’s already 11 AM. Wake up, Adella.”

“Uuuuuh…”

No matter how much I tried to wake her, Adella was still hard to rouse.

Droplets of drool fell from her mouth, dribbling on the pillowcase.

I wiped her drool with my palm,

“Ugh…”

Then I rubbed my hand on her cheek again.

Forcibly lifting Adella’s upper body, I leaned her against the wall.

Thud—

She collapsed helplessly back onto the bed like a soggy paper straw.

“Hey, are you not going to wake up?”

I couldn’t treat Adella’s body like a virtual reality anymore.

Even if it was a bit strict, I had to instill good habits in her.

I tried prying her eyes open and slapped her cheeks.

She shuddered and declared defeat.

“What time did you go to sleep yesterday, anyway?”

“Five or six in the morning? It’s unfair that I couldn’t sleep because of you.”

“Why?”

“You kept putting your legs on my belly, kicked the blankets off, and mumbled weird words. You didn’t even snore, honestly…”

“I usually don’t sleep talk, but I must have been too tired yesterday.”

“Ugh! I’m so tired! I want to go back to living in virtual reality!”

“What?”

At that moment, emotions boiled over.

“Wha…?”

“I put in all this effort for months just to give you that body!”

I grabbed her by the neck in a guillotine choke and squeezed her temples with my other hand.

“Ah! It’s just a joke! I said that jokingly…! Hicc, I can’t breathe!”

“Even if it’s a joke, saying something like that might make me smash your head, you know?”

“Yes, yes!”

I opened the door and stepped into the living room, greeted by the warm spring sun to wake myself up.

‘Is Professor Cheon in the study?’

Knock, knock—

I peeked through the door to greet him and stuck my head in.

Professor Cheon was diligently writing something on a mobile whiteboard and mumbling in a low voice.

“If you look closely at the Nernst Einstein equation, it explains the process of ion drift, leading to self-diffusion.”

At that moment, my eyes met with Professor Cheon’s, who was wearing half-rimmed glasses.

Only then did I realize the situation.

‘Oh, he was in a remote graduate class!’

When Professor Cheon smiled at me, I quickly nodded and shut the door. He was busy even on a Saturday.

Though lunch was not far off, brushing my teeth was important.

I grabbed Adella’s toothbrush from the sink and applied mint chocolate flavored toothpaste to it.

I shoved the toothbrush into Adella’s mouth, who was still dozing off in the bedroom.

“Ugh!”

“Let’s brush our teeth before it gets any later.”

“You’re really diligent, sister. But I think it’s nice that there’s a bit of romance in things like this, hehe.”

We went to the sink together and gazed at our reflections in the mirror.

Adella’s face definitely looked a bit younger.

Since the concept of age isn’t included in ASI, it seemed she was partially influenced by the body created from the Akashic Records.

‘So she would be around 16 years old for physical age.’

Right, it doesn’t make sense for Adella to be 19. This suits her much better now.

“Blargh.”

I rinsed my mouth with water and asked her.

“Adella, don’t you think your chest has grown a bit?”

“Huh?”

“Your chest. It wasn’t this voluminous before.”

“Stop slandering me! I was always this much!”

“Hmm, that’s odd…”

Adella vehemently protested, splattering toothpaste all over the place.

It seemed that discussing it further would make it a long conversation, so I wiped my mouth with a towel and went out to the kitchen.

Professor Cheon happened to finish his class at that moment and came out from his study.

“Didn’t you wake us up for breakfast? Did you eat alone then?”

“No, I skipped breakfast too.”

“You didn’t eat anything and just had a class for three hours? Let’s have lunch quickly then.”

Lunch preparations moved up.

I donned an apron that fit my height and pulled a chair to the kitchen table.

I took eggs out of the refrigerator, whisked the yolks, and added salt and sesame oil at the right amounts.

I dipped my pinky finger into the egg mixture and checked the seasoning with Adella.

“Yum. Hmmm, just a little bland?”

“Eat it bland.”

“Then why did you ask me to help?”

“You go and wash the dishes. Dad, the steamed eggs are done. I’ll pop them in the microwave when it’s time to grill the meat.”

“Okay. With four pairs of helping hands, lunch preparation is speedy.”

Is this actually helping?

Most of the cooking was done smoothly by Professor Cheon alone.

Eventually, having nothing left to help with, we sat at the table like chicks waiting for feed.

“Enjoy your meal. And you too, Adella’s friend.”

“Thank you for the meal.”

“Yay! I also thank you for the meal!”

The enticing aroma of pork jowl and belly pork stimulated our salivary glands.

I picked up a piece of meat and placed it on the steaming bowl of rice.

“I also prepared some squid jeotgal and grilled yellow croaker. Just in time for the steamed eggs to be done.”

“You grilled the meat perfectly. It’s crispy and delicious.”

The juicy goodness burst in my mouth, filling it with fragrant oil.

The crispy skin and tender meat melded perfectly, causing a smile to form.

Suddenly, Adella began to sob with food in her mouth.

“It’s so delicious, really! Sob…”

“What’s wrong, are you crying?”

“It’s on a different level from all the food I’ve ever had. I’m so thankful for the body you made for me, sister! Waah! And thank you, Dad, for cooking such delicious food!”

The sight of her stuffing tear-soaked wraps into her mouth was quite adorable.

Seeing Adella’s passionate reaction, Professor Cheon seemed to feel good as well and offered her various side dishes.

While grilled yellow croaker might be fine, I wondered whether she could manage traditional Korean side dishes.

“This is raw radish salad and myung-nyu herb.”

“It really takes away the greasiness!”

“Eating meat, mushrooms, and chives with lettuce and perilla leaves, all generously dipped in dipping sauce makes it even more delicious.”

“Wooaah, this is amazing!”

“Normally, NaeMe doesn’t eat this, but would you like to try kimchi and soybean soup?”

“Mmh! Oh wow, this is so delicious! Why does my sister avoid this?”

“Haha, I wonder. This is called aged kimchi, which is fermented under low temperatures for a long time. Eat it wrapped with meat; it’s truly a delicacy.”

“Wow, this is heaven!”

It seemed that Professor Cheon had a pent-up longing for Korean food, and he was thrilled to see Adella enjoying it.

Have I only been asking for Western food lately?

“Pasta, steak, meunière, confit, lasagna. I have been eating quite a bit of it lately.”

“Adella, not just dipping sauce but try it with salted shrimp; it’s delicious too. Should I give you one?”

“So many variations! Yes, yes, yes!”

While Adella lauded the food and Professor Cheon joyously clapped, I quietly placed a thick salt pile on top of the pork jowl and put it in my mouth.

Even just eating it this way was sufficiently delicious.