Chapter 488: 105. Morning Light
Beneath the wrapping of the black mud, Fisher’s consciousness did not go out like a power failure; instead, he felt increasingly alert, as if he had taken a thousand doses of stimulants.
In that fleeting moment, it seemed as if an unpredictable change had occurred from head to toe.
First, on the level of consciousness.
He suddenly saw a vast amount of knowledge from unknown and difficult-to-identify sources, those knowledge were inscribed into his brain like signals, but when he tried to recall the magic knowledge he had learned in the past, those pieces of knowledge felt unreadable, only bringing about profound pain.
“Ahhhh!”
Fisher roared, and in that moment, the madness he had felt while reading the Soul Supplement Handbook filled his mind once again, as if it was about to overflow, causing black sludge, akin to black mud, to surge from all his orifices.
He seemed to see the vast starry sky, like seeing strange celestial bodies shimmering, like witnessing peculiar beings curled up in dark corners or dwelling under bright stars.
Just by witnessing those great, indescribable existences, Fisher’s physical form threatened to break apart, yet for some reason, his consciousness remained particularly alert, as if completely unaffected.
Fisher’s consciousness continued to traverse this utterly unfamiliar, splendid, and silent world until a cold solitude filled his body, and he faintly heard a song emanating from deep within his heart.
The voice carrying the song, its language, was incredibly difficult to understand, but Fisher seemed to be guided by that melody, becoming one with it, following the infinite voice that pervaded the universe…
It did not grow distant; rather, it brought Fisher to the place he was most familiar with.
In the deep night of the Dragon Continent, Fisher’s consciousness floated along with the song, crossing over the camel that acted as if nothing had happened and passing over the coastline he had just traversed, until the melody led him past the wounded beach below, where he seemed to see the battered Whale Folk.
His consciousness froze in place, and he softly spoke,
“Wait a moment…”
As those words left his mouth, he first felt absurd; he did not even know why he was speaking to the unknown song or presence around him, but he felt a strange sense of familiarity.
However, in the next instant, the song’s movement gradually came to a halt.
Below, the seemingly mad Sorobato had entwined itself around the cornered Gouwen, ready to completely absorb and refashion him into its next masterpiece.
In the moment the song paused, Sorobato’s frenzied expression turned around; he looked around, confused and delighted, and said,
“Life, oh, the gospel of life, let me hear your voice…”
“Ah, I hear it, I hear it…”
Fisher did not look at him; at that moment, he looked clearly at the bound Gouwen, seeing him with severed limbs, in imminent danger…
Fisher wanted to save him.
The intangible song seemed to sense Fisher’s will, and in the next moment, the seemingly incoherent melody grew clearer.
Hearing it longer, Fisher surprisingly seemed to understand a bit of what was being sung or said,
“Speak… speak… speak…”
It wanted him to say something, to that strange angel?
Fisher remained silent for a moment, then softly spoke to the angel,
“You… die…”
In the next instant, as if words held power, the surrounding song suddenly soared. As Fisher’s voice fell, something within the strange angel replied fervently to him, as if it were a devout follower who had been with him for a long time, suddenly “whoosh” away from Sorobato.
In the next moment, Sorobato puzzledly self-dissolved, and the severely injured Gouwen fell to the ground, no longer in danger, while distant figures who had been observing this situation curiously peeked out.
Fisher breathed a sigh of relief, as if he had resolved a concern. The next second, the song continued to carry him upward, like a pair of gentle hands, yet he did not know the specific direction or destination.
He just kept following the song.
As time passed, Fisher found himself able to understand more and more words, although they seemed disjointed and incomprehensible, like shards of broken glass, but at least Fisher no longer felt like he was listening to celestial scripture.
He heard the intangible song sing,
“Songwriter… center… thousands… souls…”
Thus, Fisher was swept along, and everything around him began to change before his eyes, until the surroundings transformed into profound darkness, evolving into an odd space where only a few winking stars watched.
In this place, Fisher’s originally clear consciousness felt immense joy, like a baby about to fall asleep; his awareness grew heavier, so much so that perhaps even the sublady he admired most would come before him, and he wouldn’t recognize her…
This indeed was a terrifying heaviness.
Fisher only vaguely remembered crossing the scattered stars; traversing a sprawling structure created by some strange civilization; passing through countless struggling, bubbling oceans…
In this drowsy state, Fisher finally realized that the intangible song seemed to be leading him somewhere; no matter where it was, he felt increasingly distant from his familiar place.
In his mind, the shadows of the ladies and important people he had met before suddenly exploded in his consciousness. He abruptly snapped awake and no longer followed the song in the starry sky.
The song that felt familiar to Fisher keenly sensed his intentions; its voice slightly rose, as if urging him to move forward, but Fisher did not budge.
Fisher completely recalled that he had returned to the past to resolve death, and Renee was still waiting for him in the future.
And at this moment, he was still in the process of advancing to a mythical rank!
This might be the temptation of chaos; because his method of advancement was quite unconventional, he had to return to his body. Only through the unity of body and soul could he enter the mythical realm.
“…I want to go back.”
“…”
Thinking to this point, Fisher suddenly said to the song. Before it could respond, he resolutely turned around, no longer following the beautiful melody.
The surrounding song abruptly stopped, and at that moment, Fisher vaguely felt a hint of disappointment from it, but soon that feeling disappeared.
It did not obstruct Fisher; instead, it gradually dissipated, retreating like a tide towards some direction in the darkness of deep space.
That direction seemed both an end and the ultimate, and the song seemed to come from there.
The journey back was much easier than Fisher imagined; he did not see the sights from when he left but quickly found his body.
Strangely, the black mud that had wrapped his body had completely vanished, revealing a body covered in dense ∞ symbols.
Everything felt normal; Fisher felt unprecedented relief, as if the mythical rank was within reach, but soon he would regret feeling this way.
The reason lay in his soul.
He could not wait to re-integrate with his body, following a breath powerful enough to shatter all rules, Fisher’s powerful body and soul began to link closely, yet when he felt a sharp pain that came from both his soul and body, he realized that his soul had become a thousand times more distorted than before.
“Hiss!”
The intense pain was even more unbearable than the torture of plucking a pipa, as if a razor were slicing one rib after another from him.
In reality, Fisher’s body began to undergo unimaginable distortions accompanied by a series of jarring sounds, while the countless bizarre pieces of knowledge hidden in his mind began to surface, making it extremely difficult for his body, on the verge of unifying with his soul, to adapt.
“Crack! Crack!”
“Roar…”
In the night forest, a harsh, inhuman sound emerged, accompanied by a twisting shadow crashing wildly amidst the trees, causing waves of distorted rules.
The camel tethered far away trembled in fear at this noise, too scared to sing, burying its head among the leaf-piled obstacles as if playing dead, but it did not leave.
Of course, it was perhaps not due to loyalty to Fisher, but simply because he had tied it up before advancing; it couldn’t leave even if it wanted to.
…
…
“Peep! Peep! Peep!”
Even though it was still morning, the forest was not quiet; compared to before, many trees here had suddenly fallen. The ground bore deep scars, as if caused by a giant monster, with pits reaching ten meters deep, claw marks, and countless black slime, making the morning woods seem hellish.
“Ha…”
At this moment, at the forest’s edge, a naked man was hugging his body; his strong muscles were still surging, as if there were strange eyes madly twitching with relentless energy.
Fisher, exhausted, squinted one eye, looking at the darkening sky, feeling various grotesque pieces of knowledge banging against his reason, bringing him close to madness.
Do not be fooled by his seeming tranquility; it was entirely due to the fact that he had completely lost all strength.
Fisher breathed heavily, daring not to move, fearing that even a slight motion would lead to disintegration, transforming into some kind of distorted monster.
In this extreme torment, Fisher’s brain went blank, and all living consciousness was expended to resist the madness from the depths of his soul.
He did not wish to think of anything; even dying at this moment would be acceptable…
Fisher’s squinting eyes gradually closed wearily, as the strange movements of his body became increasingly pronounced. Until the next second, a warm light suddenly appeared from the east, piercing through the trees and soil knocked down by his distorted body, landing on his face.
Is it dawn?
Fisher thought so.
Perhaps due to the warmth of the sunlight, he inexplicably opened his eyes again.
In his hazy vision, he vaguely saw a figure dressed in a white robe squatting before him, smiling as they looked at him.
The figure had short, golden curls that fell neatly in front of her blue and golden scattered pupils. She remained barefoot, maintaining her squatting position, floating just a millimeter from the mud before the currently disheveled Fisher, tilting her head to observe him.
“Hela…”
In a whisper, Fisher spoke, as if to confirm whether what was before him was an illusion.
Until the next moment, this beautiful and pure angel, bathed in morning light, truly extended her hands towards Fisher, as if she were an apostle from heaven coming to save a struggling believer in the mortal world, slowly embracing his head into her arms.
Her examining squat gradually sank, transforming into a side sitting posture that did not touch any mud, until she placed the back of Fisher’s head on her leg hidden under her white robe.
Amidst the pervading morning light, for some reason, the torment that had nearly driven Fisher to madness began to fade little by little, and he felt incredibly warm.
“How come… you’re here?”
But at the moment he gained strength, his voice sounded low—perhaps it was just that he suddenly had the characteristic of someone who felt wronged by this mischievous angel?
Hela, holding his head, seemed unconcerned with his words, but rather thought that Fisher missed her greatly, so she smiled and asked,
“How does it feel to finally see me? Are you going to cry from being moved?”
“……”
Fisher closed his eyes, turned his head, leaned against her embrace, not crying, just gently rubbing against her body,
“A little, I really felt like I was going to die just now.”
Hela’s smile suddenly brightened several degrees, yet she did not express it loudly.
She lifted her head and looked at the slowly rising sun, suddenly spoke,
“Be a little more confident; you’ll never die even if this world ends.”
“Isn’t that a bit too confident?”
“Because I am here. I’ve been watching you for these four days…”
Hela raised the temple where she was holding Fisher’s head, mimicking an action of drawing a bowstring, while playfully pouting at Fisher to attract his attention, adding in her incomplete thought,
“Don’t forget, you still have Cupid’s arrow on you.”
“Cupid’s arrow means that I have succeeded, but I still feel a little… wait, what did you say, four days?”
Fisher initially wanted to say that his condition still felt very off, and though it was more comfortable to be next to Hela now, he couldn’t confirm that he had successfully advanced to the mythical rank.
Until he groggily realized the passage of time, had he really advanced for four days?
But above all, that was not the key; Fisher was not someone who particularly cared about time.
The key was that if four days had passed, then wouldn’t tomorrow be the day he had agreed upon with Hela?
Doesn’t that imply that Hela was very close to the gender transformation she was about to undergo?
No wonder Fisher seemed to catch a hint of a charming, warm fragrance, though he did not know where it came from.
Lying in Hela’s arms, Fisher blinked, then raised his head to look at her, but all he could see were the folds of her white robe and her smiling face.
Yet Hela simply smiled brightly, holding her chin and gazing directly at him.
Immediately after, she extended a finger to dance on his lips, as if fishing, though he did not know whether she was trying to catch Fisher’s tongue.
That fair finger moved like that, occasionally brushing against Fisher’s lips, a touch like electricity.
“Mm-hmm, what’s wrong?”
The Hela before him remained enveloped in holy morning light, dazzling like a true angel, but at that moment, behind her smiling expression and condescending gaze, her true character seemed to reveal itself, radiating a deadly allure.
Faced with her gaze and smile, Fisher unusually averted his eyes for a moment, and even his words became awkward,
“Nothing, just wanted to ask how Tang Ze, whom I entrusted to you, has been these past few days…”
After a brief pause, Hela still maintained her smile, seemingly responding silently.
Fortunately, at a critical moment, Fisher added,
“By the way, I’ve prepared a little gift for you.”
“Oh, a gift specially prepared for me?”
Hela’s angelic side was activated once more.
“…It’s just that I happened upon something interesting, so it doesn’t really count as specially.”
“Oh, I see. So, when you found it, the first thing you thought of was me, huh?”
“Did I successfully advance? I haven’t felt…”
Fisher closed his eyes and said, but before he could finish, he felt Hela, holding his head, lean down and gently kiss him on the forehead, like a dragonfly touching water.
“Hahahaha, you’re so cute…”
“……”
Fisher’s face darkened; he had said before that he did not like being called cute, but Hela loved to do so.
The crux was that Fisher found it hard to press her about it. The sly angel always added a gentle kiss as a gift whenever she said something so wicked, making it hard for Fisher to resist.
He couldn’t be bothered with that wicked angel, but to be honest, his condition had suddenly improved significantly; even the writhing limbs slowly regained sensation, though there was still a bit of ringing in his ears and the occasional meaningless whispers flashed through.
Just as he was about to move, he suddenly noticed, for some reason, that something black, like a horn of a black goat, lay quietly in his embrace.
“What is this…?”
Looking at the item in his arms, Fisher rubbed his temples with a bit of a headache, asking in confusion.
(End of Chapter)
