"Huh?"
Elias knelt by the edge of that dreamlike lake, his expression utterly bewildered.
The offering was wrong?
How could it be wrong?
In this alien world where he had no relatives or friends, what could he possibly care about more than that photograph which carried the blood bond of his original body?
Did he really have to dig his brain out for it to count?
And more importantly—
How does a little girl know what I care about most?
Elias's mind was racing.
"You are...?"
Even though he didn't understand, he still spoke up tentatively to ask.
Although the other party looked like a harmless little girl, considering this was an unknown realm, he maintained a minimum level of politeness.
The girl did not hesitate; she stood with her hands on her hips, her chin tilted slightly upward, and said in a matter-of-fact tone:
"My name is Arne!"
"..."
Elias waited for two seconds.
"And?"
"That's it!"
Arne blinked her large eyes, looking as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Elias took a deep breath.
"Are you a god?"
"To be precise—"
Arne extended a finger and wagged it in front of her lips.
"I am, and I am not."
"..."
More riddles and nonsense.
What did 'is and is not' even mean?
"Don't try to change the subject!"
Arne's small face suddenly turned stern, scolding him like a strict little teacher:
"Your offering was wrong!"
"That's the second time you've said that."
Elias spread his hands helplessly.
"Next time you come, bring the right thing!"
Arne ignored his reminder and continued speaking to herself.
"Wait, there's a next time?"
Elias was shocked.
"Of course there is."
Arne seemed to take it for granted.
"You'll have to advance again in the future, unless you don't want to?"
"So you're saying that every time I advance, I'll come here?"
Elias struggled to comprehend.
He felt like his brain was a bit overloaded.
He was doing his best to stay on the same wavelength as a little girl.
"Wrong!"
Arne suddenly waved her hand, interrupting his reasoning.
"You don't just come here whenever you advance!"
"You need a ritual!"
"In other words, if I perform the ritual during an advancement, I'll come here?"
Elias felt he had grasped the key point.
So he could come back here repeatedly!
"Still wrong!"
Arne shook her head anxiously, her long black hair swaying with her movements.
"The offering has to be correct!"
Elias was starting to feel frantic.
"What exactly is the correct offering you keep talking about?"
"Can you give me a hint?"
"Or do you actually know me?"
Elias suddenly thought of a question.
If she didn't know him, how did she know what was right and what was wrong?
Hearing this, Arne tilted her head, her deep blue eyes carefully scrutinizing him for a moment.
It was as if she were once again confirming whether Elias's face looked familiar.
"I don't know you."
"..."
Kid, if you don't know me, what the hell are we talking about?!
Since you don't know me, on what basis are you saying what I brought was wrong?
Are you just here to pick a fight?
Elias desperately suppressed the urge to complain.
He took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down, and organized his words slightly:
"Then how do you know what I care about most?"
"I just know!"
Arne answered righteously, even with a hint of petulance.
This answer was simply unreasonable!
Before Elias could argue, Arne suddenly reached out a fair hand and pointed at him.
Her gaze changed at that moment.
It was no longer innocent and lively, but instead held a piercing sharpness that seemed to see through everything.
"Besides."
Her voice became airy, yet it hit Elias's heart like a heavy hammer.
"Why did you use 'his' most precious thing to start the ritual?"
"..."
The expression on Elias's face instantly froze.
The atmosphere, which had felt like casual chatter, plummeted to freezing point in a second.
An unspeakable chill rushed from his tailbone straight to the top of his head, leaving him frozen in place.
This girl... she seemed to know something!
He couldn't tell right now if she was referring to him, or the original body.
'His' most precious thing?
That photograph belonged to the original Elias Rockland.
It belonged to the good brother who had become a lighthouse keeper for his family.
It didn't belong to him, Jiang Huan.
Elias's heart rate began to accelerate uncontrollably, the thumping sound echoing harshly by the silent lake.
Fortunately, this wasn't the real world, so he didn't sweat.
Otherwise, cold sweat would have already drenched his back.
"You..."
Elias's voice trembled as if someone were squeezing his vocal cords.
"Who is this 'he' you're talking about?"
He tried to play dumb.
Even though he knew it was a poor attempt, in this situation, it was an instinctive reaction.
Arne raised her eyebrows and tilted her head, studying Elias for a while longer.
That look was like she was watching a clown.
"Why are you pretending not to know what I'm talking about?"
she murmured.
Elias panicked even more now.
He had a feeling this kid could see right through him, leaving him with nothing hidden.
This fear of being completely seen through was far more profound than facing those snarling monsters.
"I..."
Elias opened his mouth, only to find he had no idea what to say.
Should he admit it?
Admit to a god-like being that he was a transmigrator?
However, before Elias could come up with a strategy, Arne suddenly shook her head again.
"Never mind!"
The depth on her face vanished instantly, and she reverted back to the image of an innocent little girl.
It was as if that all-seeing gaze from a moment ago had just been Elias's hallucination.
"Maybe the time hasn't come yet."
She clapped her hands as if ending a boring game.
"Next time, remember to bring the right offering!"
"..."
That's it?
Is that all she has to say?
Scaring someone half to death and then just saying 'never mind'?
Is this some kind of divine sick joke?
And most importantly—
"So what exactly is the right offering?!"
Elias was about to ask, but Arne didn't give him the chance.
She waved her small hand at him, making a goodbye gesture.
The next second.
His surroundings instantly pulled away from her.
It wasn't that she was retreating, but the entire world was pulling back.
Every scene around him stretched rapidly, turning into blurred blocks of color and lines.
It was like a Hitchcock dolly zoom.
"Hey!"
Elias instinctively reached out and shouted.
"Don't go! Explain yourself!"
"What exactly should I prepare?!"
Even a hint would do!
As the distance grew, the girl's figure quickly shrank into a point of light, and her voice became distant and ethereal.
"Don't forget me!"
The girl answered him in some dialect of the Kingdom of Velen.
It was an accent with a heavy rustic feel, sounding both familiar and jarring.
"..."
No, what kind of answer is that?!
I asked what to bring, and you tell me not to forget you?
How does that even relate!
Elias was momentarily annoyed.
However, he soon had no time for annoyance.
A massive amount of spirituality scrambled around in his head, like countless loaches burrowing into his skull.
A powerful sense of weightlessness instantly enveloped him.
The ground beneath his feet vanished.
He was falling rapidly.
Falling into an endless abyss.
"Ho—ly—sh—it—!"
Amidst his conscious scream, the sensation of falling stopped abruptly.
There was no pain from an impact, only a softness and tranquility like falling into a pile of cotton.
When everything came to a halt.
Elias slowly opened his eyes.
This time, he was no longer in that eerie yet beautiful forest.
He had come to a world where the water and sky were one.
Beneath his feet was a water surface as calm as a mirror, reflecting the pure blue sky above that held no clouds.
There was no wind here, no sound, not even a boundary.
It was a bit like the legendary Mirror of the Sky.
"Hey! Kid! Are you awake?"
Old Edmond's anxious voice exploded in the sky, breaking the silence.
"What am I supposed to do if you die!"
Hearing this familiar roar, Elias actually found it incredibly comforting.
Compared to that baffling little girl, this old ghost who talked nonsense all the time gave him more of a sense of security.
"Stop shouting for my soul..."
He tried to answer, his lips moving, but he couldn't make a sound.
Here, language seemed to have lost its meaning.
He had no choice but to give up on communicating and carefully observe this strange place.
He lowered his head and looked down.
Through that layer of water so clear it was almost invisible, he noticed that it wasn't a void beneath the surface.
In that deep azure, there were faint patterns.
They were countless glowing silver lines.
They crisscrossed, forming various complex geometric shapes.
Some were curved, some straight, some converged into nodes, and some radiated into the distance.
These lines were densely packed underwater, extending to the end of his vision, as if they formed the foundation of this world.
The more he looked, the more familiar they seemed.
Elias narrowed his eyes.
What kind of mysterious magic circle was this?
This was clearly an integrated circuit board!
Seeing this, he couldn't help but recall a term Old Edmond had once told him:
Rational Circuit!
Rate on N.U.
