"For a long time, the land of Vizima was inhabited by elves, who were later expelled and slaughtered by humans... during those chaotic years."
A trace of distance sounded in her voice: "One day, in the sky... a crack opened, as if the world had been torn apart for an instant."
"It fell from that crack and into my lake."
The nymph pointed to the object: "At that time, it also held an inexplicable attraction for me, though it was very faint."
"I collected it and tried to unravel its mystery."
"Over time, its allure for me grew weaker and weaker, almost disappearing."
"I tried various methods to destroy it or activate its power."
"But it remained the same, almost impervious to damage and unresponsive to any energy, like a piece of... truly stubborn stone."
Karl nodded, and the nymph's description further confirmed his suspicion.
He reached out and gently touched the citrine fragment, suspended above the water column, with his fingertips.
The moment his fingertips touched the cool fragment,
the fragment, which had remained motionless and cold to the touch, suddenly heated up without warning.
Immediately after, it shook violently in Karl's hand, instantly disintegrating into countless specks of dust-like, dazzling golden points of light.
They were like a swarm of fireflies, suddenly bursting forth and surrounding Karl's body.
This sudden change made the nymph subconsciously step back half a step, and a shocked expression also appeared on her face.
Karl was also surprised, but he felt that these points of light were not malicious.
His bio-field instinctively expanded, creating an invisible barrier, trying to block these unknown points of energy light.
However, these golden points of light were only slightly stopped by the force field, as if confirming something.
Immediately, they stopped trying to penetrate it, and with a joyful thought, they easily and gently merged with the bio-field, then sank into Karl's body.
"...What is this?" Karl's heart trembled, and he immediately closed his eyes, carefully feeling the changes inside his body.
An indescribable, incomparably warm, and even slightly fiery feeling instantly coursed through his limbs.
This feeling was very similar to basking in the sun and absorbing solar energy on a regular day.
But it was purer, more comfortable, more... essential.
The hundreds of millions of cells in his body seemed to be activated at that moment, expressing unprecedented joy and happiness.
The cells greedily absorbed the strange energy brought by the golden points of light as they melted into his body.
What surprised him even more was that he distinctly felt that the speed at which his body absorbed and converted solar radiation had significantly accelerated.
If before it was a stream flowing into him, now it had at least become a small river.
He immediately muttered quietly to himself and opened the system panel, which he hadn't checked for a long time.
His eyes quickly scanned the information prompts on the panel:
[Absorbing low-intensity sunlight... Energy reserve +0.1...+0.1...]
[Absorbing low-intensity sunlight... Energy reserve +1! +1!...]
The previous absorption prompts usually increased slowly by 0.1.
Now it had become a steady +1, an efficiency increase of ten times.
And another message, which had just appeared and was flickering with a faint golden light, made his pupils contract.
[Detected and absorbed advanced energy... Analyzing...]
[Confirmed absorption of divine fragment of the 'Sun God']
[Acquired trace amount of divinity... Minor shift in individual life level]
[Increased efficiency of energy absorption, conversion, and storage]
[Unlocked hidden permission: World Shuttle (current energy insufficient, does not meet minimum standard)]
Karl's gaze swept over the grayed-out, temporarily unusable World Shuttle.
Immediately, he stared at the words "divine fragment," extremely surprised.
"Divine fragment?! Sun God?!" His heart was filled with disbelief.
No wonder... No wonder his body reacted so strongly after absorbing those light spots, and the rate of sunlight absorption had also increased dramatically.
It turned out that the crystal was not a magical item at all.
It was a fragment of a god, and specifically the Sun God, which was most compatible with his physique.
Combined with what the nymph had said earlier—that the world had undergone unknown changes, the gods had disappeared, and Chaos Magic had invaded...
Karl immediately had a terrifying guess in his heart, and he was 90% sure of it.
This unknown Sun God had likely completely fallen in this unknown upheaval.
The other party couldn't even maintain its divinity; it was shattered into pieces scattered in all directions.
What he had obtained was only a tiny part of it.
A god wielding the power of the sun would fall... the reason was indeed somewhat puzzling.
He raised his head and looked at the nymph standing nearby.
However, just as he looked up, the nymph seemed to sense something, her body suddenly trembled, and she involuntarily stepped back.
Her turquoise eyes stared intently at Karl, full of extreme surprise and deep doubt.
"You... you seem... to have become a little different?" The nymph's voice trembled almost imperceptibly.
She seemed a little uncertain, as if confirming something.
She slightly tilted her head, as if feeling the indescribable, subtle changes emanating from Karl's body.
Her tone became more affirmative and more confused: "This feeling... is very strange."
"It's like... it's like the feeling I had when I first saw my mother, long ago..."
She tried to find the right words to describe it: "There is... a sacred, sublime, completely different from ordinary life... an essential breath."
"Though it is still very faint, far from comparable to my mother, it gives me a feeling of closeness to nature, of accepting all things."
"And you... it feels more like the blazing sun hanging high in the sky, radiating light and heat... I wouldn't mistake that sense of a difference in the level of life."
Karl listened silently to the nymph's description, knowing in his heart that this so-called sacred feeling might be the influence of that fragment of divinity.
Although it was only a tiny hint, for a nature spirit like a nymph, who came from nature and had felt divine grace, she acutely perceived the difference.
He looked at his palm and felt the surge of power in his body.
This seemingly unremarkable divine fragment had brought him far more than just an improvement in energy absorption efficiency.
Karl looked at the nymph and smiled wryly: "Nymph, perhaps we now have a hope."
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