[Random character script starting...]
[Hysilens]
[Randomly drawing a conceptual ability...]
[River God: Designate anything as the 'dropped item' and designate anything that can flow as the 'river' to serve as the place for plunging the 'dropped item' in order to produce its perfect gold or silver replica. Can designate more than one 'dropped item,' and the energy consumption and the existence duration of the replicas will fluctuate depending on the 'dropped items' and the user.]
Lucian carefully read the conceptual ability description, and almost immediately, his thoughts drifted to the old fable of 'The Honest Woodcutter,' where a woodcutter accidentally dropped his axe into a river, and in the end, because of his honesty, the god Hermes not only returned the woodcutter's own original axe, but also granted him gold and silver replicas of the axe.
'Anything can serve as the dropped item, and anything that can flow can serve as the river... Doesn't that mean I can also apply the 'time is also a river' idea? I mean, there's a saying that time is flowing, right?'
Lucian pondered thoughtfully, trying to determine the most effective way to make use of this new conceptual ability.
'Could an Emanator be counted as a dropped item?'
'Could an Aeon also count?'
'And there's energy consumption and duration too...'
'Looks like the replica can't exist permanently, and the more powerful the replica is, the greater the burden on me.'
In other words, making replicas of an Aeon might last only one second, or even less.
Nevertheless, it did not matter.
For him, the words 'perfect replica' alone were already more than enough.
As Lucian was still deep in thought, his vision soon stretched, the surrounding scenery abruptly changed, and his presence quietly vanished from the room.
At that exact moment, someone knocked on the door.
*Knock—Knock—*
"Excuse me, is Mr. Lucian in?"
Several seconds passed after the question resounded from the other side of the door, yet there was no response.
In the end, after waiting for a while, the sliding door opened, and a pink-haired young woman, Asta, walked in.
However, when she looked around the room, she found that no one was inside—it was utterly empty.
"Hm? Looks like Mr. Lucian is still wandering around somewhere... Well, I'll wait for him here for a bit then..."
Asta muttered to herself, then sat down on the edge of the bed, but in that instant, she caught a faint masculine scent.
It was a familiar scent—the scent of Lucian!
Because she had smelled it on Lucian not long ago, she still remembered his scent clearly.
As she kept breathing in Lucian's scent, Asta unconsciously leaned forward onto the bed.
"Hm? Why does it feel like the scent here smells so nice... No, wait, why am I doing something like this in the first place?!"
Asta quickly stood up and patted her reddened cheeks.
If someone had seen what she had just done, it would have been terribly embarrassing and shameful.
Fortunately, no one was here.
Asta sighed to herself, then walked over to the desk by the window, sat down, and picked up one of the books on the desk, planning to read it as she waited for Lucian to return.
No matter how noisy the outside world was, the room itself remained exceptionally quiet.
===
In a distant, unknown star system where Amphoreus lay, the people of the Eternal Holy City of Okhema continuously established defensive lines to resist the black tide under Aglaea's leadership.
Through countless years, as city-states in Amphoreus fell one after another, Okhema had remained standing, becoming the final bastion against the black tide.
Because the flow of time inside and outside Amphoreus was abnormal, two years had already passed in Amphoreus since Khaslana joined Aglaea and the others.
"We're approaching the end of this recurrence. Before long, the black tide will launch a full-scale invasion. Given that Lucian still hasn't arrived, I intend to restart the world and wait for him in the next recurrence."
Inside Marmoreal Palace, Khaslana spoke with a solemn expression, her gaze sweeping across the gathered Chrysos Heirs one by one.
"Why rush it so much? What if he shows up tomorrow or the day after tomorrow?"
Phainon asked with a frown, clearly disapproving of Khaslana's decision.
Today, Khaslana had summoned Aglaea and the others to discuss retrieving the Coreflames and preparing to move on to the next recurrence. From his perspective, the current recurrence was already nearing its limit, so only by starting the next one would there be enough time to wait for Lucian's arrival.
"Could we forcefully extend the duration of the current recurrence by relying on the power of hundreds of millions of Coreflames?"
Aglaea gazed at Khaslana seriously and asked in a helpless voice.
"We should at least give it a try," Tribios said with a soft nod. "Besides, I can still borrow Big Brother Lucian's abilities. It's not impossible for us to hold the line a while longer."
"Extending the current recurrence by two hundred years shouldn't be a problem, right?"
Castorice chimed in confidently.
"Give me another hundred thousand Coreflames of Strife, and I'll make Amphoreus immortal forever!"
Mydei spoke confidently while patting his bare chest.
"Another hundred thousand?" Phainon raised his brows at Mydei, then scoffed. "Give you three more, and you'd burn yourself to death. You think you're me?"
An ordinary Chrysos Heir truly could not store excess Coreflames—even if they somehow could, two was already the absolute limit. Only Phainon was special, capable of storing hundreds of millions of Coreflames and still surviving.
Tribios, Castorice, and Polyxia being able to store more than two Coreflames was not because of themselves, but because they were benefiting from Lucian's blessing of Abundance, which allowed them to store that many Coreflames.
Needless to say, the blessing given by an Emanator was no small matter.
Mydei, unfortunately, did not have such a fortune.
"Tch, when is Lucian going to bless me?" Mydei, fully understanding his own capabilities, couldn't help but complain. "If I had his blessing, the title of Deliverer wouldn't belong to Phainon."
Hearing this, Tribios merely smiled and said nothing.
Getting Lucian's blessing?
Mydei would never receive Lucian's blessing in his lifetime, and even if Lucian were willing, neither she nor Castorice would ever agree to it.
Just imagining Lucian doing 'that kind of thing' to Mydei made her shiver.
"Alright, if we can withstand the upcoming black tide invasion, we'll continue waiting..." Khaslana said hesitantly. "If you all can't hold it back, however, I will immediately start the next recurrence."
Truth be told, he did not have much confidence in this.
Across thirty million recurrences, none had ever survived the final black tide purge.
Irontomb would mobilize massive computational power to end Amphoreus, leaving the only option to start the next recurrence before being swallowed by it.
Khaslana simply wanted to see how much the situation could change with the help of an outsider from beyond the sky. If a turning point appeared this time, it would prove that waiting for Lucian was the correct choice—even if it meant dying while waiting.
"Alright, let's do that..." Aglaea nodded with relief. "If we fail, that can serve as our backup plan."
"Well, since it's decided, I'll head back then," Mydei said as he turned around. "Just like Pie-non said, the black tide is getting more and more violent. Castrum Kremnos is under increasing pressure. I've already been to the nether realm several times."
He had been killed by the black tide more than ten times, but fortunately, he had acquaintances ruling the nether realm, so they could revive him directly, allowing him to continue fighting the black tide.
"Don't worry. As long as your soul enters the nether realm smoothly, my sister and I won't let you die."
Castorice spoke firmly to Mydei, who walked away while raising a hand in response.
Of course, even though Castorice said that, if Mydei's soul were truly gone, there would be nothing she and her sister could revive.
"If only Imperator and Dux Gladiorum were still around..."
Aglaea couldn't help but remark as she recalled her past companions, then sighed unintentionally.
"Maybe Imperator will return later, just like my mother and Xia?" Tribios approached Aglaea and comforted her. "Or perhaps Big Sis Hysilens will return from the sea and help us fight the black tide."
Imperator and Dux Gladiorum were two famous figures in Amphoreus, and almost everyone there knew them.
Imperator was the Chrysos Heir who had inherited the Coreflame of Law—Empress Cerydra.
Dux Gladiorum, on the other hand, was the Chrysos Heir who had inherited the Coreflame of Ocean—Hysilens.
Unfortunately, the two of them had vanished without a trace.
Aglaea and the others couldn't help but look at Khaslana.
If anyone were the most suspicious, it would be this executioner, who wouldn't bat an eye at killing a Chrysos Heir.
"Don't look at me," Khaslana said helplessly, shaking his head while raising both his hands. "I don't know their whereabouts. I really didn't kill them in this recurrence. When I arrived, they were already gone. I only picked up their Coreflames."
He was telling the truth.
Besides, he was now standing on the same side as the Chrysos Heirs, so there was no reason for him to lie.
Everyone, understanding this, accepted his explanation.
"Only the two of them probably know the truth. If only Mr. Lucian could bring them back as well..."
Aglaea couldn't help but sigh again.
Back then, Hysilens had been known as the killing machine of Okhema, having single-handedly slain sixty thousand enemy soldiers. If she were still around, the odds of defending Okhema would increase significantly.
Like Aglaea, the others shared the same thought.
However, what they did not know was that, at this very moment, a consciousness trapped within an illusory dream sank into yet another layer of the dream.
She dreamed that she had returned to her homeland, that deep-sea kingdom where she could roam freely and laugh freely.
Once again, she was the carefree sea siren princess.
Surrounded by schools of fish, she sang a melodious song with her sisters.
===
Amphoreus, Styxia's Waters.
Sunlight, like crushed gold leaf, filtered down from the surface of the sea, casting gently swaying patches of light across the water and illuminating the coral reef below.
A young sea siren floated there, her upper body emerging just slightly above the water's surface, and her wet, long, black hair clung to her smooth forehead, neck, and shoulders.
With a gentle smile on her face, she hummed softly, and the melody that flowed from her mouth was as free as the sea breeze, yet carried the ethereal quality unique to the deep ocean.
Her voice was not loud, but it drifted far—soft and sweet, blending with the rustling sound of the waves, making it especially soothing to hear.
"Wow! Helektra!"
"Beautiful~!"
"You have the most beautiful singing voice among all of us!"
Several sea sirens, like brightly colored mermaids from fairy tales, lightly swam over to the side of the young sea siren known as Helektra, their faces filled with sincere admiration and smiles, their beautiful fish tails swaying as they stirred up tiny splashes and bubbles.
Hearing their praises, a faint blush spread across Helektra's cheeks.
"Don't tease me…"
Helektra softly responded in an especially gentle voice, carrying a hint of a young girl's shyness.
In the next moment, her slender and beautiful fish tail flicked lightly, causing the water to stir, and strings of bubbles of varying sizes, clear and shimmering, were formed.
===
[A bonus chapter for every 500 Power Stones.]
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