During that brief, fleeting contact, Amun had read the fluctuations hidden deep within the normal stream of thought data—dim, scarred records of information that mirrored Patty's physical body in reality.
He might not have understood the principles of the Neural Network, nor how magical power drove those Artificial Neural Cords and connectors to allow thoughts and data to communicate, but as a former god, he still possessed unparalleled authority within the domain he had once governed. Even after relinquishing his godhood and declining for three thousand years, that had not changed in the slightest.
The Nature God had grown old—but the Old Deer still had a trick up his sleeve.
Patty stopped. She looked at the elderly gentleman before her in confusion, and the gravity in his eyes made her a little nervous. "Mr. High-Speed Deer... what's wrong?"
"Is your physical condition very serious?" Amun frowned tightly. The instant he had touched Patty's finger, he had established a connection with the mortal girl's mind. At that moment, in his line of sight, another "figure" overlaid the girl in the white dress with the radiant smile. That figure was scarred, frail, and sickly. Though it bore many traces of treatment, countless wounds remained that could not be healed. "Were you badly injured many years ago?"
"Mr. High-Speed Deer?" Patty finally showed a startled expression. "How did you know...?"
"I..." Amun opened his mouth, only to realize that he had no way to explain. He could not casually reveal his identity, yet how could an ordinary user wandering the Neural Network possibly "see" Patty's condition at a glance?
Yet Patty did not pursue the matter. She could tell that the old gentleman before her had reasons he could not speak of. As one of the Neural Network's earliest users and now one