studiobondurri Chapter 315: Small Ranni
Chapter 315: Small Ranni
After leaving Seluvis's basement, Bai Shi headed straight for Renna's Rise.
Renna's Rise was located in the northernmost part of the area, a good distance from the other two towers.
Along the way, Bai Shi traversed vast stretches of ruins.
Packs of wolves once roamed this area, and a glintstone dragon used to stand guard before Ranni's tower.
Traces of their presence still lingered among the ruins.
Now, however, the wandering wolf packs and the glintstone dragon were nowhere to be seen, leaving the place even more desolate.
They were all allies of the Carian royal family, bound by an oath to protect Ranni.
But with Ranni gone, they no longer had a reason to remain.
Bai Shi looked at the completely empty ruins and shook his head.
Ranni had set out to achieve her goal, her resolve unshakable.
She walked that dark and frigid path alone, unwilling to drag anyone else into her feud with the Two Fingers.
It was a shame that, despite her intentions, Iji and Blaidd had still met tragic ends in the game.
This time, however, nothing would happen to Iji and Blaidd.
Soon, Bai Shi arrived at the last of the Three Sisters’ towers—Renna's Rise.
Renna's Rise had clearly been untouched by visitors for many years.
Compared to the other two nearby towers, this one was far more derelict.
The tower had no lift, so Bai Shi simply leaped up to the second floor.
On this unremarkable floor, a chest lay quietly on the ground.
Bai Shi walked over and opened it for a look.
As the chest opened, a blast of biting cold air billowed out, coating Bai Shi's hands in a layer of frost.
Bai Shi kindled the embers within him to dispel the chill and peered into the chest.
It was, as expected, the Snow Witch's set of clothes.
Though the style was identical, Bai Shi could tell this was a completely different set from the one Ranni wore.
This must be the legacy of Ranni's teacher, the Snow Witch.
The Snow Witch was a heretical sorceress who delved into the study of cold sorcery.
Yet this very heretic was Ranni’s secret mentor.
As a child, Ranni met the aged Snow Witch deep in a forest and learned cold sorcery from her.
The doll that housed Ranni’s soul was modeled after the Snow Witch’s appearance.
Bai Shi took out a frigid, frozen witch's hat from the chest.
It was the pointed hat that signified a heretical sorcerer, the symbol of the Snow Witch.
The inside of the hat was covered in brilliant ice crystals that emanated a cold gleam.
Placing the hat on his head to test it, Bai Shi realized its wide brim truly did obstruct his vision.
Perhaps the reason Ranni always sat perched so high up was related to this hat, in addition to her pride.
If she sat any lower, the brim would almost completely block her view of people.
And Ranni would probably never deign to tilt her head up to look at others.
Looking at it this way, her line of sight from her high perch was indeed perfectly suited for this pointed hat.
Seeing the Snow Witch's legacy set, Bai Shi felt a slight tinge of regret.
Ranni’s teacher must have been incredibly experienced; who knew what earth-shattering secrets she might have possessed.
Even if not for intelligence gathering, she was worth visiting simply for being Ranni’s mentor.
He also wondered if the cold properties of Ranni's Dark Moon were related to the Snow Witch.
After all, Ranni seemed to hold the old witch in high esteem; otherwise, she wouldn't have used her as the model for her doll.
Based on the spectral form of Ranni that Bai Shi had seen in the Wailing Dunes, her original body's appearance wasn't much different from her current one—just minor adjustments.
So, her current doll body still largely resembled her own, just clad in the Snow Witch's attire.
Bai Shi placed the Snow Witch's pointed hat back inside and closed the lid on the chest containing her set.
He wasn't playing a female character, so he couldn't wear it even if he took it.
In a game, it wouldn't matter. You could wear any piece of equipment without caring about appearance.
Whether it was mismatched gear paired with some incomprehensible eldritch-horror face creation, or a cool armor set on a meticulously crafted character, it was all part of the fun of enhancing the gaming experience.
But here, in the real Lands Between, Bai Shi could only say: better not.
Bai Shi continued upward and soon reached the room at the top of the tower.
Inside the room, a shimmering portal stood silently.
Without hesitation, Bai Shi touched the portal.
A deep blue magical light flared, enveloping his figure.
The next moment, Bai Shi’s figure vanished from the tower.
When Bai Shi opened his eyes again, the scene before him had completely changed.
He now found himself in a silent ravine, deep within a massive subterranean cavern.
Before him was a gentle stream that nourished lush flora, and silver fireflies flickered along its banks.
Following the sound of roaring water in the distance, Bai Shi looked afar.
In the gloomy subterranean river channel, countless great waterfalls cascaded from unknown heights, pouring down immense volumes of water.
At the base of the waterfalls lay a bottomless, dark pool that received all their water.
Its presence was what made the stream here so placid.
This was the Ainsel River Main.
Bai Shi gazed up toward the top of the falls, trying to discern what lay above.
But the towering waterfalls seemed to have no end, their sources hidden within dark, inscrutable caverns.
Bai Shi knew that the source of one of those waterfalls was the Deeproot Depths.
He could fly up later, tracing the water back to its source to reach the Deeproot Depths.
However, the sheer number of waterfalls meant that searching them one by one would undoubtedly take a very long time.
Regardless, it was another path available to him.
In the game, one could drift here in a stone coffin from the Nameless Eternal City in the Deeproot Depths.
But looking at the stone coffins littering the ground, all of them cracked from the fall, Bai Shi shook his head.
The person who came up with this mode of transport was a real genius.
That was a compliment.
The countless waterfalls, originating from different places, would carry all the stone coffins here to the Ainsel River.
In the past, this must have been a stable form of transportation, allowing all paths to lead to the Eternal City.
All roads lead to Nokstella, except they were waterways.
But it had likely become unsafe because the various Eternal Cities were no longer managed, causing severe changes in water levels.
Bai Shi stopped observing his surroundings and walked toward a particular stone coffin ahead.
Directly opposite the portal, in a spot that was impossible to miss, a conspicuous little object sat atop a coffin.
He walked over and saw the doll placed on the edge of the stone coffin.
It was a small doll that looked exactly like Ranni the Witch, with even the tiniest details exquisitely crafted.
Small Ranni's head was bowed low, pressed down by her pointed hat. Bai Shi could only see the enormous hat, not her face.
Having been scaled down proportionally, the pointed hat looked even larger by comparison.
Small Ranni’s four hands were folded over her abdomen, and her two legs dangled over the coffin's edge, just like a cup noodle weight.
Clearly, its placement in such a prominent spot was the result of Ranni's careful planning, ensuring Bai Shi would see it the moment he arrived.
And that was indeed the case.
Though the time had come, Ranni was quite particular about this sort of thing.
So before embarking on her cold, dark path alone, she had deliberately taken the time to carefully place this doll here.
After repeatedly observing the arrival point and the layout of the area, she had finally found the perfect spot.
A place where it could be seen at a glance, yet wasn't too jarring—it looked perfectly natural.
According to her way of thinking, even a doll representing her, the Carian Moon Princess, could not be placed just anywhere.
And if it were overlooked because of poor placement...
...then Small Ranni would probably have jumped up on the spot to get his attention before returning to her "nothing to see here, just a doll" act.
Bai Shi carefully picked up the Small Ranni doll and held it in his palm.
The doll was truly exquisitely made, a perfect and adorable replica of Ranni.
No, something this cute should really be called a toy, shouldn't it?
Bai Shi gently pushed up the pointed hat that was pressing down on her head, and Small Ranni's face finally lifted.
With her head tilted up, that dual visage of hers also came into view.
Bai Shi poked Small Ranni's cheek, trying to figure out the reason for the second, spiritual face.
But he couldn't find a reason, so he could only suspect that Ranni was already logged into the "Small Ranni" account.
"Ranni?"
Bai Shi called out tentatively, but Small Ranni gave no reaction.
So his attention unconsciously drifted.
The cheek felt hard to the touch. That made sense; it was a doll, after all.
The material used for the skin on Small Ranni's feet and torso was in perfect condition, which was a little different from his memory of Ranni's appearance.
It seemed this doll wasn't a perfect replica... Had it been specially repaired?
Bai Shi remembered that Ranni's body had some damage, but this Small Ranni was perfectly intact.
With these repairs, Small Ranni had become even more perfect.
If Seluvis's puppets would be repulsive in the real world, then Small Ranni was an absolutely perfect collectible figurine.
Bai Shi nodded as he looked at the finely crafted Small Ranni.
Ah, Seluvis, Seluvis. I'm already savoring the beauty of Small Ranni. What about you?
Alas, your dream is my reality~
Just then, Bai Shi noticed the biggest difference between the Small Ranni doll and Ranni herself.
Small Ranni didn't constantly radiate the intense, biting cold that Ranni did.
But holding it in his hand, he could still feel a faint chill.
Perhaps this was a way to tell whether Ranni's consciousness was attached to it?
Bai Shi wasn't sure.
After all, he currently couldn't sense any soul within the Small Ranni doll.
Ranni's ability to possess dolls was a rare one in the Lands Between, making it impossible for Bai Shi to judge.
Could it be that Ranni was watching him through Small Ranni at this very moment?
The thought was actually a little exciting.
Ranni watching as her doll body was held and played with, but having to pretend nothing was happening to hide the fact that her consciousness was inside, silently enduring Bai Shi's hands all over her...
Ahem, the tone of this thought was getting a bit out of hand.
In any case, Bai Shi wouldn't do anything strange to Ranni's doll.
After all, if Ranni really was watching in secret, his image would be ruined.
Besides, the doll was made of a hard material, not the soft, realistic kind.
So he had no bold ideas about it.
Just as Bai Shi was about to continue admiring Small Ranni, a loud bang interrupted him.
"CRASH—!"
Something heavy had smashed down from above, plunging into the shallows and sending up a massive spray of water like a depth charge.
The commotion was so huge that Bai Shi thought a dive-bombing blast-fishing team had arrived.
Looking closer, he saw that a heavy stone coffin had crashed down beside him into the shallow water.
Bai Shi was curious. Why was a coffin drifting down now?
Was someone inside?
Bai Shi put away the Small Ranni toy, placing it somewhere safe, then walked toward the coffin that had crashed down.
He went up to it and pushed aside the heavy coffin lid.
Seeing the contents, Bai Shi shook his head in disappointment.
Inside the coffin was a desiccated corpse, shattered to pieces by the impact.
From the looks of it, this corpse definitely hadn't climbed in recently.
It had probably gotten in a long, long time ago and become stuck somewhere, only to be washed down now.
Bai Shi turned and headed for a nearby passage.
But just as he was about to step into the passage, a strange rustling sound came from the cliffside.
The sound was strange—faint, yet impossible to ignore.
As the sounds drew closer, more details became discernible.
Bai Shi quickly identified the noise.
It was the sound of some creature's limbs scraping together as it moved.
And from the sound of it, there were quite a few of them, moving in a dense pack.
Bai Shi stood quietly outside the passage, concealed his form, and waited to see what was going on.
As the noise grew louder, Bai Shi locked onto its location.
High above the main path of the Ainsel River were numerous large holes, leading to unknown destinations.
Before long, a massive creature emerged, crawling upside down from the ceiling of a tunnel.
It was a giant red-and-white ant of enormous size, even larger than the common beasts of the Lands Between. It could rival the giant crows and monstrous dogs of Caelid.
In terms of size, creatures like wolves and wild dogs were mere toys before it.
And there wasn't just one such giant ant; there were seven or eight of them.
The giant ants moved swiftly out of the passage and surrounded the coffin that had just crashed down.
They touched their antennae together a few times, exchanging information.
Then they set to work, their terrifyingly large mandibles beginning to tear at the corpse within the coffin.
In just a few seconds, under the cutting action of those saw-like mouthparts, the corpse was reduced to even smaller fragments and was packed up piece by piece by the giant ants.
Once the entire corpse was packed away, with almost no scraps left behind, the giant ants departed with their prize.
They returned the way they came and disappeared back into the tunnel.
Only then did Bai Shi reappear, stroking his chin as he stared at the spot where the ants had vanished.
So these ants were just coming out to pick up takeout?
This method of transportation via stone coffin was probably quite convenient in the past.
But now, only Red Bull would probably invest in continuing its use.
Bai Shi shook his head and began walking inward, following the stream of the Ainsel River Main.