Fu Hua, who could hear Amber's inner voice, fell silent for a moment before saying, "About this... maybe Little Senti can help."
"Little Senti?"
Amber was puzzled. "Is Little Senti going to help play the role of Dark Seele?"
"No..."
Fu Hua hadn't expected that the Herrscher of Sentience's whimsical actions would come in handy now.
She wasn't particularly keen on letting that consciousness interact with Amber, so after it successfully awakened, she had the Herrscher of Sentience keep it close.
To be honest, even now, Fu Hua wasn't too thrilled about Amber making contact with it.
But this was something she couldn't hide forever. Once the Herrscher of Sentience emerged, she'd definitely bring it up.
Rather than that, it was better for Fu Hua to explain the situation herself.
"So... I have another me too?" Amber sounded confused.
"Yes," Fu Hua nodded. "In essence, that isn't you—it's a consciousness born from the Chaos Tide using you as a vessel. I've met her a few times, and the encounters... weren't pleasant. But I've always been biased against her. You'll have to judge for yourself what she's really like."
After a moment's thought, she added, "You don't need to worry about danger. Little Senti and I will keep a close eye on her."
Amber hadn't really considered the danger—after all, if that consciousness were truly dangerous, Little Senti would have taken care of her long ago.
Thinking this, she was about to ask how Little Senti was doing when she realized that after switching worlds, she'd only equipped the Fenghuang Down and forgotten to equip the Herrscher of Sentience's core.
"Ugh, I've been dying in there!"
No sooner had she emerged from the backpack than the Herrscher of Sentience started shouting. "I was right in the middle of setting up a street stall! I'd just met a customer with a good eye, and we hadn't even exchanged a few words before I got thrown into that little black room! All my antiques are wasted now!"
"Uh... sorry," Amber said awkwardly.
"Hey, that outfit—you really turned into Seele, huh?" The Herrscher of Sentience only now noticed Amber's appearance.
"Yeah..." Amber nodded.
"I always said you two look almost identical. Now that I see you like this, it's really true. If you were just a year or two younger, you'd be the spitting image of Seele. Only your hair and eye colors are different."
The Herrscher of Sentience looked as if her suspicions had been confirmed.
"Huh?"
Hearing this, Amber froze for a second, then hurriedly opened the room door and headed for the bathroom.
There was, of course, a mirror in the bathroom. With its help, she finally got a clear look at her current appearance.
...There really wasn't much change. This was exactly what her face looked like a year or two ago.
The realization that she was now effectively "using her real name online"—after maintaining a sense of detachment in the previous world—shocked her more than she expected. Her expression grew noticeably tense.
"Hey, yeah! That makes you even more like her!" The Herrscher of Sentience's eyes lit up.
Amber: ...
The Herrscher of Sentience quickly realized her misstep.
"What I mean is, now you can just play yourself! Your personalities aren't exactly the same, but they're pretty close. Plus, with this Dark Amber armor, it's perfect! Hard to break character, you know?"
Thanks, that was... somewhat comforting. But only somewhat.
"Speaking of which, where's the other me?" Amber remembered the newborn consciousness Fu Hua had mentioned.
"Hey, she's calling you. Why so shy now that you're face-to-face?" The Herrscher of Sentience poked at the consciousness residing within her core.
"Shy? Please. I just never expected that meeting the other me in person would reveal she's even more pathetic than in my memories. I'm at a loss for words."
A voice identical to her own echoed in Amber's mind, and she immediately knew this was the other self born from her consciousness.
"Huh?"
Amber hadn't expected her other self to be so sharp-tongued right off the bat. She quickly gathered her wits to retort, but what came out was: "Wh-where am I pathetic...!"
Ugh! Just thinking about facing herself like this made it hard to speak...
She was just a socially inept mess with no real-life friends, used to only talking to people online...
Amber couldn't help but feel disheartened.
Seeing this, Dark Amber—who had been somewhat reserved—relaxed a little.
Born from the fusion of Amber's consciousness and the Chaos Tide, she was filled with hatred for humanity and hostility toward life.
Though the Herrscher of Sentience's long-term guidance and the warmth of Amber's memories had helped her suppress that malice, her nature was still fundamentally evil.
Not only did Fu Hua believe this—she was aware of it herself.
She'd imagined this meeting many times.
Maybe Amber would be wary of her. Maybe Fu Hua would destroy her because of that wariness. Or maybe Amber would despise her, leaving her to follow the Herrscher of Sentience forever.
She'd also dared to imagine Amber accepting her, but she never let herself dwell on that possibility.
The Lahmu were beings of slaughter and chaos, but the most important part of them was their love for their mother.
Amber couldn't exactly be called her mother, but she still held a strong fondness and curiosity for the consciousness that had given birth to her.
Being disliked by someone like that would be agonizing.
So, from the start, she'd built up her defenses. If she expected to be hated, it wouldn't hurt as much.
But she never expected that before they'd even met, this girl would casually refer to her as "the other me"...
She felt a thrill of joy and happiness, but immediately realized it was only because the girl was so naive and completely unguarded around her.
Did this fool have any idea how dangerous she was? If she wanted to devour her, this fool wouldn't stand a chance with her weak will.
Whether it was to jolt Amber awake to the danger she posed or to make her more cautious—to understand that she shouldn't trust strangers so easily—Dark Amber chose to lash out with words.
She wanted to say things like, "You're so naive, you're like an idiot," or "It's a miracle someone as dumb as you has survived this long."
But she feared making the girl upset, so she forced herself to hold back.
Honestly, in this regard, she'd really inherited Amber's personality, damn it.
Dark Amber knew that Amber was only so relaxed and careless because she had Fu Hua and the Herrscher of Sentience as safeguards. But... she still felt the joy of being accepted.
"Hey?!"
Seeing the two like this, the Herrscher of Sentience grinned even wider.
She slipped into the Fenghuang Down and glanced at Fu Hua as if to say, "I knew it'd be fine," then turned to Amber.
"Dark Amber's learned a lot from me over the years. She'll definitely be able to help you. Plus, she'll round out your Seele persona nicely—no need to worry about staying in character anymore."
Having said that, she got to her real point: "I'm pretty curious about this world too. Let me out to stretch my legs for a bit. You two can keep getting acquainted."
"That works," Amber nodded.
It seemed that, perhaps because people only have two hands, she could only equip two weapons at a time. With the Fenghuang Down and the Herrscher of Sentience's core each taking a slot, she couldn't even equip her scythe. Letting Little Senti out was probably for the best.
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.