Ursus.
Chernobog.
Within a hidden and massive apparatus, a device that seemed to not belong to the modern era, thick pipes connected to the surrounding walls. Furthermore, these pipes were not absorbing energy from their surroundings but were continuously releasing it outward.
And inside the brightly lit, room-like device.
A person wearing a hood was lying within.
"Mmm..."
With a short groan, the person, who had been asleep for an unknown amount of time, suddenly stirred.
First, a pale, bloodless, and slender hand trembled slightly, then the body seemed to shudder faintly.
Huff...
The person in the apparatus slowly woke up. He opened his eyes in a daze to a world of white. He tried to breathe, but the ability to breathe automatically had gradually degenerated after countless years of slumber. If not for a tiny bit of instinct, he might have actually suffocated to death right there.
His head was spinning, his vision blurry.
The memories in his mind were like a jumble of paste. The image of a woman flashed by, but these past memories instantly vanished without a trace, turning into a pure white void. The memories of his past had become history, impossible to recall.
His body's automatic breathing function gradually returned, and his consciousness cleared up a bit.
The hooded man lying in an unknown place suddenly let out a confused sound.
"Where am I?"
Lucas Reeve was utterly confused at this moment. He had just been researching new weapons with Nian when he felt a slight anomaly from one of his soul fragments in Ursus. He wanted to go check on it, and then, this happened.
Lucas Reeve was utterly confused.
He struggled to lift his hand. A physical body... whose body was this?
However.
It felt so weak.
Incredibly weak.
Even lifting an arm was extremely difficult, as if it consumed an immense amount of energy. It was hard to imagine that on Terra, there could be a body weaker than his previous life's, which belonged to a student who never exercised. This left Lucas Reeve somewhat speechless.
Because of the precedent with Surtr.
Lucas Reeve almost immediately contacted the soul fragment on Jessica's side. Only after confirming that communication was smooth did he relax and look around.
Lucas Reeve now had a question.
Who was this person?
Why was he inside this person's body? It was a bit strange.
Forget it...
Lucas Reeve couldn't be bothered to think about it.
Ever since his soul fragment had been in the sword Laevatain, Lucas Reeve no longer dared to take his memories as the absolute truth regarding his origins or past experiences. After all, his memories were short and simple, but his true experiences seemed to be not so simple.
Lucas Reeve wanted to stand up.
However.
The strength of this physical body was far too weak. Coupled with who knows how long it had been lying there, there was simply no strength left in it. A simple action from Lucas Reeve, even just lifting his head, felt like he had just done hundreds of barbell curls; his body's strength was completely drained.
"So weak..."
Lucas Reeve decided to stop thinking and simply leaned back in the sarcophagus, focusing on sensing the changes within himself.
However, what shocked Lucas Reeve the most was that he was the only soul in this body. He had originally thought he had taken over someone else's nest, and that there should be two souls in this body, but inexplicably, there was only one.
This was the first time Lucas Reeve had encountered such a phenomenon. He didn't know if this body originally had only his soul, or if there had been two, but one had dissipated, leaving only him.
And... Lucas Reeve now had absolutely no recollection of anything this body had experienced before. It wasn't amnesia; amnesia would at least leave some fragments of memory that could be recalled occasionally. The memories of this body were a complete blank slate to Lucas Reeve, a perfectly clean sheet of paper, as if nothing had ever happened in its past.
After resting for about an hour, Lucas Reeve even injected some Prayer Power into this feeble body—so weak it seemed an ant could kill it—to give it a little strength, enough to walk like a normal person.
Lucas Reeve slowly got up, staggering to his feet inside the coffin. The feeling of his feet on the ground was ethereal, like stepping on cotton, somewhat unreal. He swayed, as if about to fall over again.
Lucas Reeve took off his hood. There was no mirror here, so Lucas Reeve didn't know what he looked like. He felt his face; it had a nose and eyes, so he was probably a handsome young man.
Lucas Reeve walked out of this special device. He followed a dark corridor for a long time until he finally saw a steel beam ahead. Lucas Reeve frowned slightly, his pace quickening. However, due to a long period without sun exposure, Lucas Reeve was like a vampire, feeling a sense of dread towards the light. He reflexively pulled his hood back on and plunged into the brightness.
He pushed open the door.
The outside was bustling with traffic and pedestrians.
Lucas Reeve didn't attract much attention. In the summer, no one would have looked twice, and now in winter, being dressed so warmly was quite common, hardly drawing the notice of passersby.
He looked around.
Lucas Reeve recognized this place...
Chernobog in Ursus. He had been here before when he infiltrated Chernobog.
To be on the safe side, Lucas Reeve did not turn back.
He had no memories of this body, so he didn't know if he was an experiment or if someone came to patrol on schedule. If he went back, he might be walking into a trap. Besides, this body's physical condition was pitifully poor. Its limits were set; even if Lucas Reeve poured more Prayer Power into it, it would be difficult for it to grow. It was definitely not suited for combat.
Following his memory.
Lucas Reeve walked through the not-so-crowded streets of Chernobog. As he walked, he took off his coat and hood. Since the weather was too cold, he ducked into a random shop to wait for Raythean Industries personnel to pick him up.
Lucas Reeve had already notified Jessica at the first opportunity. Nearly two hours had passed, so the relevant personnel should be arriving soon.
After a little while longer.
At the location Lucas Reeve had specified, the transportation manager from Raythean Industries arrived. After confirming the code with Lucas Reeve, they decisively led him to the Raythean Industries private jet on the landing pad to return to Columbia.
On the way back.
Lucas Reeve closed his eyes to rest.
His soul left this body and returned to Jessica's side. After his soul departed, the body seemed to have lost its spirit. It could breathe on its own by instinct, but it could no longer hear people speak or respond, as if it had become a puppet.
His soul returned to Columbia.
Jessica, who was sitting in her office reviewing documents, asked Lucas Reeve doubtfully.
"Mr. Reeve, what's going on with your soul fragment over there?"
"I'm not too sure myself."
Lucas Reeve recounted the events concerning the male body in Chernobog. Jessica was also full of questions as she listened. After all, she was just an ordinary girl and knew very little about matters of the soul, so she couldn't offer any advice.
"Why don't you go ask Miss Nian or Miss Surtr, Mr. Reeve?"
"But, I think it's pretty good, actually."
Jessica suddenly thought of something happy.
"In that case, won't Mr. Reeve have a temporary body of his own for now? This body can be used as a substitute, and when you succeed in creating a new body in the future, you can just switch it out."
"Uh...."
Lucas Reeve was speechless.
"That body... to be honest, I'm a little disgusted by it. It's too weak, ridiculously weak. Even if you gave it to me, I wouldn't want it... uh... forget it, I can barely accept it. At most, I'll just use your bodies when I need to fight."
Originally, Lucas Reeve wanted to be stubborn, but then he thought about it...
Although that body was a bit weak, it was usable.
As long as it's usable, that's fine.
Being in this soul state gets old after a while. It's more comfortable to have a physical body.
"Then I'll go find Nian first. I remember she should be with Surtr."
"Wait a moment, Mr. Reeve."
"Hmm?"
Jessica said, "Do you remember we started a collaboration with Rhodes Island before? Recently, Rhodes Island's pharmaceutical research has made some breakthroughs, and so has ours. So, Miss Kal'tsit from Rhodes Island wants to discuss deeper collaborations with us. It looks like she might be coming tomorrow or the day after. When the time comes, how about you stay by my side, Mr. Reeve?"
"Your body from Chernobog is arriving soon anyway. How about being my 'secretary' then?"
"To be honest... I'm still not very good at discussing these things, so... I'd still like you to be by my side... please?"
Lucas Reeve smiled and ruffled Jessica's cute little head.
"No problem."
Lucas Reeve went from Jessica's place to Nian's.
At that moment, Nian was in Jessica's villa, passionately reciting the thousands-of-words acceptance speech she had written.
Surtr, Ceobe, Ifrit, and the other young girls sat on small stools, acting as her audience.
"I have been making movies for over a hundred years, so I believe I deserve this award. Thank you, everyone."
Nian spoke with deep emotion, although... the speech sounded a bit like she was asking for a beating.
After Nian finished speaking.
Ifrit was the first to clap, and the other children followed her lead. The only adult, Surtr, clapped silently with a cold expression.
"Nian, I need to talk to you about something."
Lucas Reeve emerged from Laevatain in the form of a small flame-person.
"Big Brother!"
Ifrit called out happily.
When Surtr saw Lucas Reeve arrive, a rare smile appeared on her face.
"What is it?"
Lucas Reeve recounted what had just happened in Chernobog.
After hearing him, Nian also fell into a bit of deep thought.
"Are you sure that there's only your soul inside that body, without any other remnant soul?"
"Yes..."
"Uh....."
Nian paced back and forth.
It seemed Lucas Reeve's words had hit a blind spot in Nian's knowledge.
She thought for a moment and said, "I'm more inclined to believe that this body only has your soul. As a god, you should know that a soul fragment out in the world has a certain possibility of developing self-awareness. I lean towards the idea that your soul fragment occupied this person's body long ago, then completely fused with that person's soul to become one. Afterwards, that person's original consciousness, combined with your soul, gave birth to a new consciousness, and this new consciousness controlled the body for many years."
"But due to some accident, this consciousness disappeared..."
"However, I'm more curious about the device you mentioned than this soul... Looks like I'll have to take a trip to Ursus when I have time. Will you come with me?"
Nian smiled.
"We'll see when the time comes."
Lucas Reeve temporarily got a relatively reliable answer.
"By the way, do you know the Black Serpent of Ursus? It's also considered a god in Ursus."
After hearing Lucas Reeve's words, Nian almost wanted to laugh. "That Black Serpent... I know of it..."
"Uh... its strength is so-so..."
"Alright, I can't hype it up. Its strength is pitifully weak. Besides its immortality and parasitic traits, I don't know how strong it is... In short... it's a bit weak."
Nian mercilessly belittled the Black Serpent.
However, that was normal.
If the Black Serpent had the strength of a proper god, it wouldn't need so many fancy tricks. It could just bring its main body over and crush Lucas Reeve. If the Black Serpent's main body was as strong as a true god, then even Patriot and himself combined wouldn't have stood a chance back then.
His consciousness returned to the body in Chernobog. Lucas Reeve got up and stretched a few times on the plane, getting used to the body's strength. Although... it was truly weak, it was barely usable. From now on, he too would be a person with a physical body.