A transparent glass display stand was placed flat near the window. On the glass display stand lay a book, a seemingly ordinary one, yet it contained the story written by an adventurer throughout his life.
Caelus looked at the display stand. This was a Time Display Stand he had purchased for 1000 System Currency. Items placed on this stand would be blessed by a special power. As long as the item was not removed, the book would not decay under the power of time but would be preserved forever.
"Omacido, you are also my friend."
Caelus opened his own notebook and began to draw the appearance of a young man, short fiery red hair, yellow skin, and emerald green eyes. This was Omacido's original appearance.
He began to write the story about this friend. Everything started by a small lake, where a young Omacido felt lost about his life. At that time, a stranger from another universe, a Traveler constantly shuttling between various worlds, chose him, and the story belonging to this great adventurer unfolded from there.
After spending some points to furnish the empty carriage, Caelus sat on the sofa, watching the environment outside, which was still a void. He switched the background board, turning the outside environment into a starry sky.
"System, which world are we going to next?"
[Your current mental and psychological state is already much better than it was at the beginning, so I want to try letting you return to your original universe and make contact first. However, it will not be direct contact with the original universe yet, but going to a relatively closed environment first. That place is indeed a world full of stories, and it also possesses a power called Honkai.]
[Moreover, the situation in the next world is relatively special. There is no main quest. It relies purely on your personal performance. Judgment will be made based on your actions in that world and the degree of impact on the future. Rewards will then be granted according to the score.]
[The reason for using this method is that the future of that world is not fixed. It is constantly changing, and even higher dimensional beings are involved. Therefore, it is difficult to judge and score fixed tasks. Because of this, an overall evaluation method must be used.]
[And in that world, you may be able to further advance your current energy status.]
I understand. Free rein, then wait until time runs out and receive a score. There is not even a standard for that score.
[That is the basic idea. Alright, we have reached our destination. It is time to get off and begin your own adventure.]
Caelus nodded and walked to the carriage door. Yes, that was correct. His method of traveling between worlds essentially involved riding in this carriage, waiting for the loading bar to finish, and then, upon arriving in the new world, opening the door and stepping out.
He stood amidst the wind and snow. Beneath him lay an endless expanse of snow, and above him snowflakes swirled with the gale. Bathed in this blizzard, any ordinary person without shelter capable of maintaining warmth would likely freeze to death on this cold night before long.
However, for Caelus, who possessed the Path of Nihility and the Path of Remembrance, and whose life entity level had already reached the third tier, this blizzard was nothing more than a bit of wind and frost.
Is this the world of ice and snow you spoke of?
It was his first time seeing such a scene of snow filling the sky, and a slight sense of wonder rose in his heart. Finally, like a tourist checking in at a scenic location, he followed his usual habit, took out his notebook and quill, and sketched the scene before him.
Caelus walked through this world of white snow. He chose a direction at random and kept walking, walking until night turned into day, until the raging blizzard subsided. He had even moved beyond the vast white snowfield and spotted a forest.
After walking for an entire day, he began to wonder if he was moving too slowly. He had been walking all day and had yet to see any trace of civilization.
Just as he was considering whether to use some method to travel faster, Caelus suddenly heard a sound cutting through the air from above.
Then he watched as a little girl with white hair fell from the sky for some unknown reason. Accompanied by a clattering sound, she crashed through countless branches in the nearby forest and finally slammed into the snow with a loud bang. He wondered whether her body was still intact and whether her expression remained peaceful.
Caelus thought for a moment and walked forward. Driven by a faint sense of condemnation toward himself for not intervening earlier, a morality that barely existed deep within him, he decided to go and collect the poor child's body.
He walked into the forest and arrived at the spot where the child had fallen. To his surprise, he found that the girl's body was still intact, not torn apart, and there was still a breath of life, faint but undeniably present.
Caelus approached and examined her. Multiple internal organs had ruptured, few bones in her body remained intact, and there was severe damage to her brain. In such a condition, even if she were still alive, she might never wake up.
How, then, could he save this child? The simplest method was to use the power of Nihility to assimilate her, granting her the power of Nihility. This would cause her body to undergo a massive transformation, freeing her from the frailty of flesh and blood.
But because of the existence of Omacido, Caelus ultimately rejected this option. Someone saved in that manner would eventually become part of the shadows of his own existence, effectively locking away the child's future.
Even if the child were destined to die, that fate was still far better than forcing her to endure the slow loss of her self, eventually turning into someone else.
In the end, Caelus directly obtained help from the omnipotent System. He purchased a Panacea. As long as the physical damage sustained did not exceed two tiers of his energy or life entity level, consuming this Panacea would cause the injuries to heal within seconds.
Because its effect was limited to two tiers and he was purchasing only a single dose, it cost only 100 points, the same price as retrieving a book from the Warhammer world.
After feeding the pill to the white haired girl, it took only a few seconds for her internal organs to heal. Even the bones that had been shattered into dust re knitted and fused together again. Their structure was even automatically corrected, allowing the girl to grow taller and more well proportioned in the future.
Although her body was repaired, the girl remained in a deep sleep and would not wake up for some time. Caelus felt that he should not abandon a girl in this frozen wasteland. Moreover, her clothes looked quite thin. If left alone, she would likely freeze to death before long. Would that not mean he had wasted a dose of the Panacea?
Out of consideration for the sunk cost, as well as his faint sense of morality, Caelus removed his black coat and wrapped it around the girl to prevent hypothermia. Carrying her in his arms, he began searching for a shelter where they could stay temporarily.
A warm bonfire brought light and heat to the dark, cold cave. The crackling of burning wood seemed to disturb the sleeping girl. Her eyelids trembled slightly, and she opened her bright sky blue eyes.
The girl looked around with her sky blue eyes, then looked at Caelus sitting beside the bonfire and asked in a soft and youthful voice, "Where is this?"
"In a cave."
"Who are you?"
"A passing Traveler. I saw you collapsed on the snowfield and saved you on a whim."
"Then who am I?"
Well, falling from such a height and suffering a head injury, amnesia was to be expected. The Panacea only repaired physical damage. Issues such as amnesia, which stemmed from psychological, volitional, and other complex factors, were not within the scope of what the Panacea could influence.
(To be continued.)