"It must be... my ancestors showing their power?"
Looking at the girl's confused expression in his arms, Luo Li couldn't help but retort as he set her down, "Your ancestors can give you power?"
At Luo Li's words, Kiana shook her head gently, her face still showing uncertainty.
"I... I'm not sure if he was my ancestor, but that's what he said."
"And..."
Kiana swiped her finger in front of her, and a spatial rift was easily torn open.
"He really did give me power."
Luo Li looked over at Ghost, and found that her expression was also a little dazed.
She stared blankly at Kiana, then at Luo Li, and couldn't help but complain, "Is that spatial manipulation?"
"I remember that being the Herrscher of the Void's ability. When did it become so common?"
Hearing her words, Luo Li smiled and looked at her.
The meaning was clear: you don't have spatial abilities.
Ghost opened her mouth, then closed it, finally slumping back onto the table to sip her drink.
Luo Li motioned for Kiana to sit down, took a bottle of soda from the counter, placed it in front of her, and then asked, "Can you tell me what happened?"
Kiana nodded.
Then, she began to recount what had happened when she entered the game in the Shicksal Entertainment theme park.
To put it simply:
After entering the game, I was told that I had a super-powerful ancestor who left me great power, which I then used to go on a killing spree in the game.
However, in Kiana's telling, it was far from that simple.
---||---
The time was not long ago.
Shicksal Entertainment theme park, Immersion Hall.
Rows of immersion pods were arranged in an orderly fashion from bottom to top, the entire building resembling a man-made honeycomb, with the pods like eggs arranged within it.
Kiana was only dazed for a moment.
Then, based on her beta ID, she found her designated immersion pod.
The pod was like a capsule, but the interior didn't feel cramped.
Kiana didn't observe much, just swiped the chip in her hand over the pod's verification area.
Click!
Pshhh!
With the sound of the mechanism and the ventilation system starting up, the pod in front of her slowly opened.
Kiana didn't hesitate and lay down inside.
After getting in, it felt like lying on a soft bed.
"This is pretty comfortable..." Kiana mused.
Since her body had been taken over by Sirin, she hadn't lain in a bed for a long time.
Her daily living space was just a small, enclosed dark room.
Only when Sirin's mental suppression loosened did she have a chance to see the outside world. Lying in a bed like this felt like a lifetime ago.
But she quickly put that thought aside.
She needed to complete the task Luo Li had given her.
Since they were a community of shared destiny, she would definitely fulfill her promise.
She hated people who didn't keep their promises...
Then, following the operating instructions, she smoothly put on the helmet connected to the data cable.
The moment she put on the helmet, everything around her disappeared.
Only the countdown timer for the game's launch silently ticked away in front of her.
Kiana began to wait for the game to start.
The countdown in front of her quickly passed. When the numbers reached zero, Kiana felt her vision go dark.
Then, what appeared before her was not the virtual world she had expected.
Instead, it was a man quietly watching her.
He was a man with short, snow-white hair, his blue eyes like reflections of a frozen river.
He wore a trench coat, his face stern, his arms crossed over his chest, quietly looking at her.
Like a block of extreme cold—that was Kiana's first impression of him.
And her second thought was:
"Who are you?"
Kiana's face was filled with vigilance.
But the man before her didn't answer her question, instead asking one of his own.
His voice was steady, like an unmovable rock.
"Do you... desire power?"
"???"
A look of confusion appeared on Kiana's face.
Is there something wrong with this guy...?
Wait!
Kiana suddenly thought of a possibility.
Could it be that this was the character creation part of the game?
It seemed that to raise player expectations, the official promotion had released very little content, choosing to let players explore on their own.
So she didn't know if this game had a character creation section.
But she had come here right after entering the game, and this person had asked her if she wanted power right from the start.
This progression did indeed fit the journey of a protagonist gaining power in various fantasy works she had seen.
So, half out of experimentation, half out of sincerity...
Kiana replied seriously and solemnly, "I need power."
After saying this, Kiana began to anticipate his next move.
According to the typical fantasy genre, the tests the protagonist faces are usually about friendship, bonds, justice, love... things like that.
"I need you to answer a question for me."
Of course. Kiana understood.
She had played some related games. It was probably a part where you assigned points based on different choices.
Kiana nodded.
"Please ask."
"Well then..." The white-haired man's face seemed to grow more serious.
"Tell me, if humanity were to face a great disaster, and saving it required you to sacrifice your life, would you be willing to step forward?"
"I..."
Kiana opened her mouth. She had wanted to say some grand, heroic words to fit the story.
But for some reason, she had a strange urge in her heart, making her want to say what she truly thought.
This strange urge was faint; she could easily suppress it if she wanted to.
But Kiana chose not to say some polite words.
At least in the game, she didn't want to suppress her negative emotions anymore.
So, she was silent for a moment, then she seemed to give up on herself.
"What does the survival of humanity have to do with me?"
She held her head in her hands, looking completely broken.
"My life is completely ruined!"
"No, I ruined everything."
"Everything I cared about is gone, and everything that cared about me is gone. This world has nothing to do with me anymore."
"Whether it exists or is destroyed, what does it have to do with me?"
At this point, her face was filled with bitterness.
"Anyway, no matter what, I'll choose to die before anyone else."
The white-haired man was very patient. He quietly listened to Kiana's words.
"Successor, is this your answer?"
"Of course..."
Kiana's words suddenly stopped.
She suddenly thought of the person who had reached out to her when she had chosen to die.
His words seemed to flow in her ears.
[Miss Knight, will you join me in saving the world?]
Kiana looked at her own hand. The feeling of his hand tightly holding hers seemed to still linger.
Kiana clenched her fist.
"Of course I'm willing."
She looked at the white-haired man before her and said solemnly:
"I destroyed everything I cherished. I am no longer qualified to talk about protecting it."
"But at least I still have a chance to fulfill a promise to someone else."
"Dad said you must always keep your promises. Although he didn't keep his promise to me... I hate people who break their promises."
"I promised someone I would help him save the world. I will never allow myself to become someone who breaks a promise."
"So, this is your answer." The white-haired man looked at her quietly, his eyes emotionless. "Your desire to protect humanity is merely to fulfill a promise to one person?"
Kiana looked up and met his gaze.
"Is that not allowed?"
The white-haired man closed his eyes.
"It's just... the same..."
Kiana looked at the white-haired man before her in confusion. His lips seemed to curve into a smile.
But she felt it was an illusion. After all, this person's aura was so cold, it was hard to believe what he would look like if he smiled.
"You've passed."
"Huh?"
The white-haired man looked at Kiana, a hint of warmth seeming to appear in his voice.
"I will unlock the power of the Kaslana bloodline for you, but how far you can go depends on you."
"However, you can only unlock the power after you leave."
"Leave?" Kiana caught the keyword. "What do you mean?"
"This is 'His' decision. I have no right, nor the power, to tell you."
Clearly, the white-haired man had no intention of answering her.
"However, I can open a breach in 'His' seal for you, allowing you to master a portion of the Herrscher Core's power."
"Herrscher Core?" Kiana suddenly reacted. "How do you know... no, who are you?"
"You can call me, the Kaslana Stigmata consciousness, or the consciousness of your ancestor."
Kiana's expression was strange.
"You mean, you're my ancestor?"
"In a sense, you can understand it that way."
Kiana wanted to ask more questions, but the next moment, the surrounding environment changed into a hall filled with light.
[Player ID AN215221, please choose your nickname.]
Clearly, this was the real character creation interface.
"What was that all about?"
Kiana didn't understand, but she ultimately chose to put it aside for now.
The most important thing now was to complete the task Luo Li had given her.
The subsequent development was as Luo Li had understood. She successfully became a trending topic and drew out Ghost.
And when Kiana came out of the game, she truly understood what the man had meant.
She found that she could now use the Herrscher's Authority just like Sirin!
---||---
Luo Li understood why his control over spatial power had suddenly become stronger. It turned out that Kiana's mastery of the spatial authority had increased, which in turn fed back to him.
This gave Luo Li a bold idea.
Although he still didn't know how to establish a connection with others, one thing was certain: he had to at least get involved with them.
But the stronger a person was, the harder it was to get involved with them, and thus it was harder for them to provide him with power.
So, could he try a different approach? Could he first establish connections with a group of weaker people, then find a way to help them become stronger, and as they became stronger, he would become stronger as well?
But where could he find a group of people with enough talent, but whose strength needed to be improved?