Because he had been in first-person view before, Lucas wasn't clear on the girl's appearance. Although he had glimpsed her in the mental world, he hadn't looked closely.
Now that he was outside her body, Lucas finally had the chance to carefully examine the girl's features.
The girl's skin was fairer than snow, and her eyes were a rare red. However, unlike the blood-red eyes of a Vampire like Warfarin, the girl's eyes were more like rubies—bright, brilliant, and full of luster.
The most striking thing was the girl's hair. She had long, beautiful silver hair, glossy and bright, that trailed all the way down to her calves. This was probably the girl with the longest hair Lucas had ever seen.
She wore a grayish-white hunter's outfit, with a hunter's hood that was black on the outside and dark blue on the inside. On her back, she carried a greatsword almost as tall as she was. Her chest was full, and her figure was graceful.
However.
There was one point Lucas had to comment on.
Why did the leather pants have two hollowed-out cutouts on the inner thighs?
Whichever genius fashion designer came up with these pants, Lucas just wanted to say:
"Creative. Well done!!"
With the aid of the Transparent World.
Lucas could clearly see the structure of the girl's muscles, bones, and tendons. Her overall structure was no different from an ordinary person's, but the most absurd part was her muscles and bones. Their density was countless times higher than that of a normal person.
A muscle group of the same size could erupt with tens or even hundreds of times the strength of a normal person's. The hardness of her bones was also perfectly suited to allow her body to withstand the intense impact generated by those muscles.
For some reason.
Under this gaze, Skadi felt her skin crawl, as if she were being seen through, as if she were standing naked in front of him. Skadi subconsciously covered her chest with her hand.
"May I ask who you are?"
Skadi interrupted Lucas's scrutiny.
"Lucas."
"By the way, how did I end up inside you?"
Lucas asked casually, but it made Skadi fall silent.
Because this was the exact question Skadi had been about to ask.
Seeing Skadi's cold, silent expression, Lucas changed the subject.
"What's your name?"
"Skadi."
"Okay, Skadi. Why am I inside you?"
Skadi: "???"
"...."
The two fell into an awkward silence again. You could even hear the cawing of crows in the wilderness sky.
After a while, perhaps Skadi couldn't stand it anymore, she spoke in her clear, cold voice.
"I... I don't know either..."
Skadi looked up, met Lucas's gaze, and confirmed again that these were the eyes of the god who had saved her in the mental world. Only then did she relax a little. To be honest, having another soul inside one's body was a major taboo. If it had been any other soul, Skadi would have already punched it.
"May I ask, are you a god?"
Skadi asked.
"Strictly speaking, yes."
"Um... the one who killed the 'horror fish' in the mental world just now..."
"That was me."
"And, um, when I was running in the wilderness earlier, were you... spying on me?"
"Er... yes."
As Lucas answered, he felt something was inexplicably awkward about the way she'd asked that, though he wasn't sure why.
"Thank you."
Skadi formally thanked Lucas.
Because she remembered: the power she had used to pierce the Seaborn god was identical to the power Lucas had used to save her. This meant that this god named Lucas had been inside her body for a long, long time, she just hadn't discovered it.
"It's fine. The soul of mine that's inside you also just woke up. After all, we're two grasshoppers on the same rope now. Our souls are already seventy or eighty percent fused. If something happened to you, I definitely wouldn't be able to get away either."
"Woke up?"
Skadi asked, confused.
"You were asleep all this time?"
"Yes."
Skadi thought about it carefully. That must be it. After all, in all the years prior, she had never once felt like she was being watched. This way, it all made sense.
Skadi slowly started walking toward Iberia. She asked questions as she walked, such as what he was doing inside her, why he chose her, and if he was the one who helped her when she slayed the Seaborn mother.
However, Lucas's answer to almost everything was "I don't know."
But he really didn't know anything. This time, he wasn't lying.
The night was dark and deep.
Skadi walked slowly toward Iberia.
She didn't know her objective. She only knew that her comrades might be here.
"Miss Skadi, where are you from? You... seem very different from ordinary people."
Lucas voiced the question in his mind.
"Aegir."
"Aegir?"
In Lucas's memory, Aegir was a nation unknown to most people on the continent of Terra. Lucas only knew of it because he had learned about it after coming to Rhodes Island. It seemed Weedy was from Aegir.
A city in the ocean.
Atlantis?
Lucas suddenly recalled the image in his mind.
Turbulent waves, an endless sea surface. The seawater was black, like ink. Dark clouds blotted out the sky. The whole scene was incredibly oppressive. Huge city-states were connected on the sea's surface, standing tall and unmoving against waves hundreds or even thousands of meters high. In the image, countless hunters charged toward the god beneath the ocean.
Could it be...
That was Skadi?
Or rather.
This memory might have come from his soul fragment inside Skadi.
Lucas was a little speechless now.
His soul fragments were like they were playing a game on their own, acting like delinquents, popping up in places he would never have expected.
Lucas didn't know much about the nation of Aegir. He could only guess from the data that it was an incredibly powerful country, far stronger than any nation on land. It could basically be described as an 'alien' civilization.
The former Iberia, relying on just a tiny scrap of technology from Aegir, had leaped to become a superpower comparable to modern Victoria or Ursus. It just... disappeared later.
Lucas had learned a lot about Terra's many secrets and history while at Rhodes Island.
He discovered a common characteristic.
This world seemed to be split in two.
The West.
Victoria, Ursus, Columbia, all doing their own thing. The Eastern nation of Yan was like a ghost, barely mentioned in most books. Of all the many events and wars in Terra's recent history, the only one related to Yan was the war between Ursus and Yan.
In reality.
From Lucas's perspective.
Yan was, on the contrary, very likely the most powerful nation on the entire continent of Terra, second only to Aegir.
On the surface, the terrifying thing about Ursus was the Emperor's Blade. However, Yan had the Imperial Guards, and each one's strength was no less than an Emperor's Blade. Then there was the Tianshi Fu, the Ministry of Rites, and the Sui Regulator Commission—departments that possessed powerful Celestial Masters.
According to what Dusk said.
Lin Qingyan's master once shattered her scroll with a single Lightning Art. His Lightning Arts were truly exquisite, to the point of "boiling mountains and cooking seas." And Yan had more than one of these top-tier powerhouses. Above even these peak experts, there was a legendary figure, someone who stood above the ceiling: the Old Celestial Master.
As for Ursus and Columbia, two countries Lucas was more familiar with, they didn't seem to have any absurd, above-the-ceiling, high-end combatants so far. Ursus at least had Patriot. Columbia... Lucas really had no idea.
Lucas had even once asked Jessica if Columbia had any truly high-end combat power. Not asking for someone comparable to Nine-Colored Deer, but was there anyone comparable to Nian or Dusk?
However, Jessica just shook her head, not knowing either.
You could only say...
They suffered from a lack of historical foundation.
After all, it hadn't even been a hundred years since Columbia was founded. It wasn't even half as old as Patriot. It was, without a doubt, the youngest country in Terra's history. Even Bolívar and Siracusa, which it bullied every day, had much longer histories than Columbia.
Columbia's history students must be ecstatic.
The textbook is only a few pages long.
At first, Lucas thought Skadi was very cold. He hadn't expected her to be so talkative. As long as Lucas asked, Skadi would answer everything, and even actively expand on the topic.
At the same time.
Lucas also learned a bit about Skadi's situation.
Skadi was once an ordinary girl from Aegir. Aegir's traditions were full of wildness, different from those on the Terra continent. The concept of family affection in Aegir was severely lacking. The higher the status, the less the concept of family existed. But Skadi was different. She had a happy life growing up, accompanied by her family.
However.
One day.
Her family died at the hands of sea creatures.
So, from then on, Skadi hated the Seaborn with a passion. Because of this hatred, Skadi was selected as a candidate to become a modified soldier. As for how she was modified, Skadi didn't know herself. She only knew that this modification made her much, much stronger. Later, during the decapitation operation against the god, the Abyssal Hunters Skadi belonged to suffered heavy casualties. And Skadi, as the one who dealt the final blow to the god, miraculously survived and was washed ashore.
She had been searching for her comrades all this time, but couldn't find them.
Furthermore.
For some reason.
These mental 'horror fish' could always find her. As soon as Skadi made a new friend, they would devour that friend.
*Sigh...*
She's a girl with a tragic past.
After listening to Skadi's description, her own expression also grew dim.
Her family was gone...
The comrades she fought alongside were nowhere to be found. It was even possible she was the only one left.
Even... new friends she made would die mysteriously in the maws of the deep-sea species.
Perhaps this was the true meaning of being all alone. This loneliness... perhaps only Skadi herself understood it.
No family, no one to rely on.
Lucas habitually reached out and rubbed Skadi's soft, silver-white hair.
Skadi subconsciously tried to dodge.
However, she stopped halfway.
She had only just met Lucas today.
But, this familiar feeling was as if he had been with her for a long time. Thinking back to the power bestowed upon her when she slayed the Seaborn god, perhaps he had been by her side for a long, long time.
"So, you're looking for your comrades?"
"Mhm..."
Skadi nodded.
"I can help you, Miss Skadi."
Lucas said with a faint smile.
Skadi thought for a moment, then asked, conflicted, "What reward do you want, Mr. Deity."
"I don't need that kind of thing. My characteristic is to absorb the Prayer Power of people's gratitude. So, as long as you are truly grateful to me in your heart, that is the greatest reward."
Skadi quickly shook her head.
"No... during my time on land, I've been a bounty hunter. Bounty hunters operate on the principle of equal exchange. I don't really want to accept help for free. And... even back in Aegir, in the Abyssal Hunter unit, it was the same. The world doesn't give anything for free. The bargaining chip for an exchange..."
"So, Mr. Deity, what reward do you want..."
"However, I am all alone and have nothing of value. Can I... pledge something else...?"
Seeing Skadi so insistent, Lucas didn't argue anymore and casually named a price.
"How about this."
"If I find your comrades, how about you serve as one of my combatants for a while? You can think of it as being a mercenary. As a bounty hunter, you should understand that, right?"
Skadi didn't hesitate at all.
"Alright. Thank you, Mr. Deity."
"Then the contract is established."
Lucas shook Skadi's hand.
An icy voice sounded in Lucas's mind.
[Contract formed. One 'Help' opportunity seems to have been consumed (2/10)]
"Yes..."
[You will receive one of the following...]
Lucas looked at the given options and chose one without hesitation.
[Causality Inquiry: Allows you to see the causal threads on everyone.]
With the selection of the ability.
This ability was also imprinted on Lucas's soul.
Since it was free, the ability couldn't be too overpowered.
This ability allowed Lucas to see the causal threads on people. In this world, as long as you were born, you were entangled in countless threads of causality.
Causality with parents, causality with friends... even something like marriage affinity was already decided at birth.
However.
This ability only allowed Lucas to *see*; he couldn't change anything. Moreover, the final form of this ability was [Rule: Causality], representing one of the rules of a god. It just required a lot of Prayer Power to upgrade—1.5 million. If he were to exchange for it from scratch, it would probably cost 2 million, the same amount needed to condense a physical body.
This ability was similar to the rule displayed by Miss Nine-Colored Deer, but her rule was much stronger.
Lucas opened his eyes, activating the ability.
In Lucas's sight.
Very few threads extended from Skadi's body.
As expected...
There were no threads representing family. There were also very, very few representing friends. Among them, two faint threads connected toward Iberia in front of them.
They really were still in Iberia.
Wait.
Marriage affinity?
Lucas saw a faint, bright red thread of marriage affinity near Skadi. But this thread was very strange. It wrapped around Skadi once, and then its end led back... into Skadi's body.
Strange....
Is this marriage thread so abstract?
Marrying herself?
Wait??
No!!!
*F--k!*
It can't be!
Lucas, suddenly understanding the truth, was deeply shaken.