Chapter 774: Taming an Overly Cute Old Feline, Specter's Encounter!
After a long period of contemplation, the silence in the room was heavy, filled with the scent of sterile medical supplies and the faint hum of the air filtration system.
Kal'tsit raised her head, her emerald eyes sharp and calculating. She gazed into Ren's eyes, trying to dissect the entity before her, and asked solemnly, "What is the price? Knowledge of the 'Truth' you speak of... equivalent exchange dictates a cost beyond mere currency."
Ren extended his finger. He didn't point at a map of Terra, nor at a pile of Originium ingots.
The target he pointed at was none other than Kal'tsit herself.
"…"
Kal'tsit was not a fool; she was perhaps one of the most intelligent beings on Terra. How could she not understand such a simple indication?
The price was her.
But Kal'tsit was puzzled, her brow furrowing slightly.
"Why?" she asked, her voice steady but laced with genuine confusion. "Why do you believe my value—the value of a single life, however long-lived—can compare to information capable of fundamentally changing the trajectory of the Terra Continent? Do you not understand what you are offering?"
Ren withdrew his hand, looking indifferent, as if he were discussing the price of a cabbage rather than the fate of a world.
"Because even if you know the truth, you cannot use my power. You cannot replicate it. What I want to do is not something you can control, predict, or contain."
He took a step closer, invading her personal space.
"So, do you really want to know what kind of power I possess? Do you want to see how small your 'calamities' really are?"
"…"
Kal'tsit remained silent.
Complex emotions intertwined in her eyes—wariness, curiosity, and a deep, ancient exhaustion. She didn't think her value was very high in the grand cosmic scheme, nor did she care about her own ego. She had sacrificed much more than dignity in her thousands of years of walking the barren lands.
But she truly wanted to know. She needed to know the secret of someone from outside the world. This was an "Outside Context Problem," a variable she had no data on.
Comparing the value of her own autonomy against the potential salvation of civilization... she would decisively choose the latter. She always had.
But these things had to have a prerequisite.
"If the value of the information doesn't match what you said..." she started, her voice hardening.
"Then you can pretend that our conversation just now never happened. You can walk away."
Seeing her wavering, Ren proactively smiled, a devilish grin that promised chaos. "Besides, I don't want a slave. I just want to raise a lynx. Free-range is not impossible. You can still return to Rhodes Island, work for your ideals, and scold the Doctor. You'll just belong to me."
He was quite benevolent, wasn't he?
Of course.
Most people would definitely refuse with righteous indignation if they were told they were going to be kept as a "pet." It was an insult to one's humanity.
Unfortunately, Kal'tsit was not most people.
She had lived too long. She had seen civilizations rise and fall, seen the Demons in the north and the Seaborn in the south. She carried the weight of pre-civilization secrets that would drive ordinary men mad.
The more she knew, the more serious she felt about the crisis on Terra. It was a ticking time bomb.
Not to mention, Kal'tsit herself wished for Terra to become peaceful more than anyone.
Now, an incredibly massive variable—Ren—had appeared before her. A being who treated their laws of physics like mere suggestions.
Of course, she first needed to confirm whether Ren was deceiving her; did humans outside of this world truly exist? And were they really 'Gods'?
"Come on," Kal'tsit said, her voice dropping to a low, resignated tone. She closed her eyes for a brief moment, then opened them with resolve. "I want to know who exactly you are. I hope you haven't deceived me. If you have... I will ensure you regret it."
"Heh."
Ren chuckled softly. He disdained deception the most. Why lie when reality was far more overwhelming?
He reached out and lightly tapped Kal'tsit's forehead with his index finger.
Tap.
"!!!"
In an instant, the world fell away.
A massive amount of information flooded her mind, bypassing her sensory organs and injecting directly into her consciousness.
Kal'tsit's eyes widened, her pupils contracting to pinpoints.
She saw.
She saw the Sea of Stars. Not the fake sky of Terra, but the true, boundless universe. She saw galaxies spinning like dust motes. She saw civilizations that spanned star systems, technologies that made Originium Arts look like caveman fire-starting.
She saw Ren.
She saw his existence towering over realities.
Terra.
The Continent that was full of pain, tragedy, Catastrophes, and endless war... in Ren's presence, it was truly as insignificant as a grain of sand on a beach.
Even... it couldn't even compare to dust.
The terror of the Seaborn adapting to everything? A biological joke to him.
The Demons of the North? Mere pests.
Originium? Just energy to be reorganized.
In this information, she felt the crushing weight of the 'True Reality.'
But...
Even such a boundless starry sky was merely a speck in Ren's hand. He held the strings of causality itself.
"..."
Coming back to her senses, Kal'tsit gasped, her chest heaving as if she had just surfaced from deep water. Sweat beaded on her forehead.
Her gaze towards Ren was no longer cautious or analytical. It was unprecedentedly complex—a mix of awe, terror, and a strange, newfound hope.
Just as he said.
Ren could twist everything with a single thought.
Pain? Originium? War?
This land could head towards light with his single thought. Or it could be erased into nothingness just as easily.
However...
She didn't know how to make Ren save the Terra Continent. Negotiation seemed futile against omnipotence.
She couldn't even think of anything he might need.
Because he could obtain everything on the Terra Continent with a snap of his fingers. Except, perhaps... amusement.
Ren watched her reaction, folding his arms. "How was that? Are you satisfied with this information, Old Well?"
He was very satisfied with Kal'tsit's speechless, astonished expression. It was rare to see the stoic, all-knowing lynx look so lost.
As for Kal'tsit.
"Mm..."
She could only nod weakly. Her throat felt dry.
She no longer had any sharp demeanor. Her verbal thorns had been stripped away by the sheer scale of what she had witnessed.
Although she was a proud person, she was primarily a survivor and a protector. She knew how to adapt to circumstances. If becoming a "pet" was the price to anchor this god to Terra's side... it was a cheap price.
"Since you're satisfied, and the contract is sealed..." Ren smiled, stepping closer. "Then you're now my pet lynx. Come, let me pet your ears. I've been wanting to do this for a while."
"..."
Kal'tsit's body stiffened.
Leaving aside the fact that she wouldn't break her promises—her word was her bond—she realized with a jolt that she couldn't refuse.
Now, in front of someone like Ren, she had no room to resist. Resistance was illogical.
Stiffly, moving like a rusted machine, she raised her feet and stepped forward, coming to stand right before Ren. She lowered her head slightly, a gesture of submission that burned her pride but saved her world.
"..."
She just watched him raise his hand. Her heart hammered against her ribs.
His large, warm hand landed on her head, fingers curling around her soft, sensitive Feline ears.
Rub. Squeeze.
His practiced kneading technique was terrifyingly effective. He found the nerve clusters instantly.
"Ugh!"
She couldn't help but let out a soft, uncharacteristic groan. Her knees buckled slightly.
Instant shame brought a fierce blush to her usually pale face. The sensation was electric, bypassing her mental defenses. It felt... good. And that was the most humiliating part.
Ren enjoyed it greatly.
This was the ear-kneading technique he had practiced on Baiheng (from Honkai: Star Rail). It was a master-class skill.
Little old lynx, captured!
"Doctor Kal'tsit?"
Suddenly.
A questioning, monotone voice came from the doorway.
Kal'tsit's body trembled violently. She froze, her eyes widening in horror.
She stiffly turned her neck, the motion mechanical.
What she saw was Skadi standing there, holding her sword case, looking at her with a puzzled, blank expression. Behind her stood the tall, imposing figure of Gladiia.
Madam Kal'tsit, who had the image of being the strictest, most unapproachable person on Rhodes Island—the woman who scolded the Doctor and commanded Amiya—experienced for the first time the intense, crushing shame of her persona collapsing.
Caught in 4K. Being petted like a house cat.
She tried to retreat, to break free from Ren's right hand and regain her dignity.
"I... this is..."
Unexpectedly.
Ren didn't let go. His left hand moved up and took hold of her left ear, pinning her in place.
Squeeze.
"Ah~!"
An electric current-like sensation spread throughout her body from her ear, rendering her limbs weak and unable to struggle. She slumped against him.
She could only watch helplessly as Skadi and Gladiia approached, witnessing her total defeat.
"It seems your communication went rather smoothly," Ren said calmly, while playing with the lynx's ear as if it were a stress ball. "She's quite affectionate once you get to know her."
"...Mm. You two seem... to have also gone very smoothly. In a manner of speaking."
Gladiia, the Abyssal Hunter, narrowed her eyes. She couldn't help but glance at Kal'tsit, who was enduring the petting with pursed lips and a flushed face.
The reality was very different from the image Skadi described of a terrifying, cold-blooded commander.
However, Gladiia wasn't entirely surprised.
After all, she was facing Ren.
A person who made both Lungmen's higher-ups and the usually indifferent Skadi extremely respectful. In the Aegir culture, strength was paramount. If Ren was strong enough to make the "Old Well" of Terra submit, then he was truly a monster.
He seemed very skilled at handling women. Or rather, handling powerful beings.
Gladiia didn't particularly care about how others were humiliated. She was a soldier, a hunter.
She now had a more important matter. The reason she had come all this way.
That was Specter.
Or rather, Laurentina.
Laurentina was her squad member, her subordinate, and her friend.
She had received detailed information about Laurentina from Skadi.
She was currently receiving treatment at Rhodes Island.
And it was treatment for a disease that was almost impossible for Abyssal Hunters (Aegirians) to contract: Oripathy.
Normally, Abyssal Hunters couldn't get Oripathy. Their physiology was fundamentally incompatible with the Originium infection that plagued the land dwellers.
But Laurentina's experience far exceeded what ordinary people could imagine. She had been captured by the Church of the Deep.
It was confirmed that the source of the neural infection was an excessive concentration of liquefied Originium fluid forcibly injected directly into her spinal cord in a dark experiment.
Current medical technology on Terra was unable to treat this condition. Even Kal'tsit could only slow it down.
Therefore, only minimal conservative treatment could be carried out at Rhodes Island to manage the pain.
At the same time.
Specter suffered from severe mental disorders due to the infection attacking her nervous system.
This included memory impairment, emotional instability, identity dissociation, and cognitive disorders. The once proud warrior was now a fractured doll singing madness.
Skadi's cooperation with Rhodes Island was entirely based on her hope for the treatment of Specter.
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