In the sea soaked with lovely moonlight, nine pillars of water surged upward. The spray thrown off by the rising columns scattered in all directions and drenched the ground, but the whirlpool at the center of the pillars remained there like a living thing.
The skin of the blue waves rippled like flowing water. The eyes embedded in the whirlpool shimmered with a pale, blinding light.
Even with that overwhelming sight before me, the small human-like being in front of it showed no reaction at all.
Strictly speaking, I was paying more attention to the message floating in front of me than to that water serpent that looked like a natural disaster given form.
[Story Quest – Lesser Lord Kusanali, Chapter of the Lord of Wisdom, Act 1]
Rukkhadevata, the omniscient god of grass, has entrusted you with a young branch of the World Tree. It is impossible to know what intentions she has, but she expects something from you. Now that the little World Tree is leaning on you, how it grows is entirely up to you.
[Archon Quest – Demons and Gods, Chapter of Supremacy, Act 1]
You are currently the only neutral Archon on this continent. Logos possesses immense power that none can approach. Though he is an Archon who loves peace and hates fighting, relentless fate is forcing war upon him. Whether you continue to remain neutral, place yourself under someone else, or seize the Seven Thrones of Celestia yourself is up to you. But beware.
“Hah.”
The Story Quest had appeared. The Archon Quest had appeared too. Not long after Rukkhadevata left and Nahida spoke to me, I slowly read the contents of the translucent window in front of me.
“So the Story Quest, in simple terms, is a quest to raise Nahida. Depending on the direction I take, Nahida will change. This is basically like Princess Maker.”
“And the Archon Quest... this seems like the Archon War storyline. So does that mean this era is 3,000 years before the original story?”
“Logos? Never heard of this Archon before. Well, not all the Archons have shown up yet, so I guess I’ll just think of him as a new one.”
“He loves peace and hates fighting, huh...”
- Master!
“Shut up.”
At the irritating noise that had slipped into my head, I blurted out the one-line summary of my feelings.
I could see spray flying, but I ignored it and carefully moved my hand downward. Looking at Nahida sitting on my palm, I slowly, very slowly tilted my hand.
Her body, so tiny and fragile, landed with a soft tap on my thigh.
Only then was my hand free, so I lifted my empty palm into the air.
“Close quest - interface - character.”
Someone appeared on the translucent window.
A man with black hair hanging down to his waist and black eyes stood there.
After studying the man who had appeared in the air for a moment, I moved my hand behind my back and brushed it there. His long hair rippled over my palm. An unfamiliar sense of wrongness prickled at me.
“Hmm.”
Then, all of a sudden, I snorted as I looked at the numbers written beside him.
“HP is 120,000, attack is in the 8,000s, defense is in the 5,000s, elemental mastery is 2,000. Stamina is 900?”
The absurd numbers actually made me laugh. By this point, I was curious about the detailed specs, so I clicked the information below stamina.
“Crit rate 5%, crit damage 50%. Why are these the base stats? The others are like that too.”
Energy recharge 100%, and all the damage bonuses and resistances below that were a clean 0%.
The detailed info was actually just the default after all. It felt strangely underwhelming, so I closed it.
Only then did the part above catch my eye.
[(-) Logos]
[Lv. 232 / 250]
“Level 232.”
Outside, the max level was still 90, so 250 was practically a dream.
“Come to think of it, that explains why the detailed specs are all basic.”
Only the base stats had gone up with level. Crit damage and the like could increase on ascension too, but usually it was the base stats that rose.
As expected, there was nothing equipped in the weapon or artifact slots. It was like looking at a composite photo.
“Constellation, C0, no dupes.”
“What about talents?”
[Normal Attack · Normal Attack]
Maximum attack.
[Manifestation of the Dream]
Overwrites reality with dreams within one’s own space, linking the present world to dreams. The present world connected to dreams shifts between reality and dream according to the caster’s will.
[Return of the Wise Calamity]
Spreads a domain of deep will over the world of suffering. When the domain is deployed, it partially obtains the authority to grant or withhold everything around it. Consumes some stamina depending on usage.
[Seeker of Theology]
[One Who Has Lost Soul and Mind]
[Improvement · Depravity]
I waved my hand to close the window and lowered my head. A pair of tiny eyes was looking up at me, blinking quietly.
I carefully extended a finger and brought it beside Nahida. The little girl beamed and rubbed her cheek against my hand.
Biting my lower lip, I held my trembling hand still with my other hand. The tiny but soft sensation sent a tingling shock through me.
“Manifestation of the Dream.”
I murmured it softly in my head, and something suddenly appeared in midair and fell. Catching the object as it dropped, I frowned at what was barely even clothing, so flat it looked more like a sheet of paper.
It was an outfit so thin it probably wasn’t even 1 mm thick, like something drawn on paper.
“Hmm.”
This time, I thought of something else. Not Nahida’s costume-like clothes, but a T-shirt you could see anywhere in daily life.
I caught the T-shirt that dropped with a soft plop from the air. Smooth fabric, a large hole to put the body through, and smaller openings for the head and arms.
“So I can’t just use this casually.”
I seemed to need to define exactly the shape of what I wanted, then fill in the corresponding details.
Everyone knew what a shirt looked like, because most people had touched and worn one countless times.
But Nahida’s clothes were 2D. Unless you were someone who actually did cosplay, there was no way I could know them from just seeing them on a screen.
I lowered my gaze again and looked at Nahida. My little princess. Thinking about what to do with her, I settled on something simple: a dress.
A white dress, smaller than my palm, forming in midair.
I carefully placed the dress on my hand and held it out to Nahida.
At the sight of the white cloth suddenly appearing in front of her, Nahida reached out.
And instead of grabbing the dress with her outstretched hand, she grabbed my hand and climbed right on top of it.
“No, not climb up. I mean put it on.”
“...?”
Nahida blinked, tilting her head, and I bit my lower lip as I carefully tilted my hand.
Nahida slid down from my hand and settled back onto my thigh.
She lifted her head and blinked at me for a moment, then soon drooped it dejectedly. The clean little dress hung limply beside her.
At her downcast look, I chewed on my lower lip and nodded.
“I... I can touch it, right?”
Thinking she might stay like this forever if I left it alone, I decided to dress her myself.
But unlike my resolve, my heart was extremely careful, and I hesitated.
Unlike my thoughts, my hands moved with great caution, lifting Nahida’s small arms and slipping the dress down over her.
It took less than ten seconds. Such a short time that all my worry felt pointless.
Once Nahida had the dress on, she stood up and spun around in place. The skirt of the dress, which fell to her knees, fluttered softly.
Seeing that, I clapped quietly. I made sure to keep it very soft, in case it was too loud for her tiny body.
Nahida looked up at me clapping and smiled brightly.
“Dad!”
“This kid smiles way too easily.”
Thinking that, I carefully lifted my hand and brought a finger beside Nahida. I could feel her tiny nails pressing lightly against it.
Nahida looked back and forth between my finger and me, then moved closer to it, wrapped her whole body around my finger, and clung to it tightly while grinning from ear to ear.
Her mochi-soft cheek pressed firmly against me, and a strange, blissful sensation washed over me.
“See that, world? This is my daughter!”
- Master.
“You didn’t leave?”
- ...
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