Acheron's Little Gift

"You have to understand, the unknown and the mysterious are what attract people most. Dress yourself up a little more—it'll help you pick up cute girls."

The system's unique item descriptions and its comments were completely disconnected.

Lin Shuang held back her urge to complain.

The item description made it sound so grand, but the comment was just about helping her pick up cute girls, wasn't it?

Using a cannon to kill a mosquito—that was you!

Still, since the item description said it had been touched by threads of fate, Lin Shuang was a little curious.

"Let me see what card I can draw."

Without even shuffling the deck, Lin Shuang simply took the top card from the stack in her hand and turned it over.

It was, surprisingly, the upright The Lovers card...

"Uh..."

Lin Shuang did not quite know what to say.

The Lovers card did not only represent love; more broadly, it also referred to interpersonal relationships.

As for the meaning of the upright Lovers card... Lin Shuang did not know much about this stuff either. Anyway, it probably meant that one's interpersonal relationships were stable and improving.

It did fit her recent situation.

"Pretty accurate. I just wonder whether this thing reflects the present or hints at the future."

With great interest, Lin Shuang flipped through all twenty-two cards one by one, admiring their exquisite artwork and finding herself reluctant to put them down.

Her collector's habit was acting up. Whenever she saw some delicate, pretty little thing, she could not help wanting to play with it.

But why did this deck only include the minor set? There were still over fifty cards missing. Did it secretly eat them?

Drawing a divination-related item did suit Fu Xuan's identity, though there was admittedly a bit of a cultural difference in its style.

Still, with this, Lin Shuang could act like a cryptic know-it-all from now on.

When others acted mysterious, she would throw punches. When she acted mysterious herself, she was delighted!

Still fiddling with the cards, Lin Shuang looked at the final green draw.

Draw!

Whoosh—

Green light flashed, and then an information card appeared before Lin Shuang:

Mystic Seal of True Sight: Illusions and deceptive tricks have nowhere to hide here. You can see the present, and only the present.

I can't see the future or fate, but can I really not see the present? Let me take a look!

Of course, this thing's function is somewhat dependent on belief, so theoretically, you could also use it for peeping or seeing through things. Do you want to? Or would you gain a Commendation of High Morals instead?

Then, the information card transformed into an intricate, exquisite set of Mystic Markings and fused into Lin Shuang's eyes before she had time to react.

Within her sky-blue pupils, an elegant set of Mystic Markings flickered in and out of sight.

Other than a cool sensation in her head and feeling much more alert, she did not feel anything else.

Just as Lin Shuang wanted to test the effects of the Mystic Markings—

A video call from Acheron pulled her attention away from the rewards the system had given her.

Taking out her phone and seeing that it was a call invitation from Acheron, Lin Shuang thought about it and decided she was too embarrassed to answer in the restroom.

So she muted her phone and hurried out of the stall.

She found the card table from before, greeted Qingque, gestured at her lit-up phone, and temporarily left the somewhat noisy card hall.

Once outside the card hall, her surroundings immediately became much quieter.

She accepted the video call and found Acheron at what looked like a Starport. Behind her were the vast depths of space and all manner of enormous ships.

"Over there, it's... good afternoon?"

Acheron stared at Lin Shuang on the screen, tilted her head slightly, and greeted her.

"Good afternoon. What made you free enough to call me?"

Lin Shuang smiled as she spoke with Acheron while walking down the street.

"I happened to arrive at a Starport to rest for a while, and I saw the photo you sent."

Acheron only said half of it, but her meaning was obvious.

Naturally, Lin Shuang grinned without any restraint.

"I quite like Xianzhou customs. I wonder if you like them."

"They're not bad. I seem to remember seeing something similar before."

As she spoke, Acheron turned, shifting the background in the camera from pitch-black deep space to a bright, dazzling, bustling planet.

It looked as though she had found a place to sit down.

"Oh, right. Has there been any movement from Abundant Doses?"

Acheron believed she was still somewhat intimidating. Thus, while she had been there, neither the Xianzhou nor Abundant Doses, nor even that hidden Emanator, had made any move.

But now that she had left Luofu and Lin Shuang was there alone—

There should have been some activity by now.

Volume One: Acheron's Little Gift

Hearing Acheron's concern made Lin Shuang a little happy.

"A little. Abundant Doses has been watching my movements, and I met with people from the Divination Department these past two days. They didn't say it outright, but I think they probably have that intention too."

She briefly explained the situation to Acheron.

On the other end of the call, Acheron nodded.

"Remember to keep the sword I left you with you at all times. Although the Divine Foresight General is stationed on Luofu, it is still best to be careful. If you encounter an Emanator, use it when you need to."

"I know. Still, it would be best if I never had to use it. It's a little sword you made, after all, and I want to keep it as a memento. I hope that Emanator knows better than to provoke me!"

Lin Shuang's words drew a rare smile from Acheron.

The white-haired girl's little act of borrowing a tiger's might was not annoying in the slightest. In Acheron's eyes, it instead seemed rather charming and adorable.

"It was just a trinket I bought from the roadside. If you like it, I'll make you a better one someday."

"That's different."

Shaking her head in disagreement with Acheron, Lin Shuang smiled and changed the subject.

"Oh, right. If nothing unexpected happens, I plan to visit Azur Star in a month. I want to see Herta Space Station."

"Why are you suddenly in such a hurry to go there?"

Acheron was a little curious. Azur Star was indeed somewhere Lin Shuang had wanted to visit, but she had never been so eager to go before.

In a month, the matters on the Xianzhou side likely would not even be settled yet.

"Didn't I meet a friend on the interstellar internet? She invited me over to hang out, so I thought it would be nice to take a look."

"Is it that young girl who's very good at games?"

Acheron immediately remembered her. After all, among the people Lin Shuang had met online, there was likely only one whose relationship with her was good enough that she would be willing to meet in person.

"It's her."

Seeing Lin Shuang nod, Acheron nodded as well in response.

Just as Lin Shuang was about to say something else—

Acheron suddenly reached one hand in from beside the camera, holding a small cluster of blue flames in her fingers.

"I called you because there's something else I wanted to show you. I came across a rather interesting little thing on the way. Since you use fire too, I was wondering whether I should send it to you for you to play with."

Lin Shuang tilted her head in confusion at the sight. What was that? Some kind of unique otherworldly flame from this world?

Where had Acheron picked up such a little thing?

As she was wondering, she saw Acheron hold that tiny cluster of blue-green flame before the camera as though she were holding a solid ball.

The flames passed through Acheron's fingers, yet they failed to harm her in the slightest.

"This little fellow seems to have plenty of energy and no aggression. I thought you might like something like this, so I caught it for you. It also seems not to need feeding, so it's quite convenient."

"Um... this thing is alive?"

Lin Shuang looked at the wavering flames, then at the expressionless Acheron. Looking at the two together made Acheron seem like some great demon king, which was a little funny.

Still, Acheron's words reminded Lin Shuang of something.

A ball of fire, alive, with a fairly strong energy signature. Put those keywords together, and there was something that fit quite well.

A Heliobus—or rather, a Flame Spirit.

But this thing was quite dangerous, wasn't it...? It was not a relatively harmless species like Wubbaboo. How had Acheron caught it barehanded?

Thinking of that, Lin Shuang could not help saying,

"You should still be careful. This might be a Heliobus. It can possess humans and gradually replace its host, so it's pretty dangerous. Where did you find it? And can this thing really be caught with bare hands?"

Upon hearing Lin Shuang's words, Acheron directly released her hand. Yet that cluster of flames remained confined within her palm, unable to escape at all.

Or rather, it did not seem to have any intention of escaping. The flames swayed very calmly.

"This little thing is called a Heliobus? That does sound very much like a Xianzhou name. Earlier, when I passed by a planet, it crashed straight into my body. I did not feel anything, but then it ran back out on its own and immediately became quiet. I did not sense any intention to replace me."

"Pfft... that's because you're too strong. It was probably frightened by your power."

Lin Shuang laughed. What an unbelievably unlucky thing.

Although Heliobus liked human emotions, Acheron was not exactly rich in emotions. It would be more accurate to say that she was emotionally detached...

I think this little guy was really desperate.

Of all people, it had chosen to provoke Acheron and even tried to possess her.

But after possessing her, it had immediately become this quiet... Could it have directly been tainted by the Nihility within Acheron?

Lin Shuang could not help becoming curious about the Heliobus's state.

Could this kind of life-form also be tainted by the power of the path of The Nihility?

"Acheron, you really are amazing."

Even when faced with something as dangerous as a Heliobus, Acheron treated it like a toy.

This once again gave Lin Shuang a very direct understanding of just how powerful Acheron was.

Many things that seemed extremely dangerous to others could earn only a single comment from Acheron: "Quite cute."

It felt rather absurd.

As though the two of them belonged to entirely different genres.

And even now, Lin Shuang had never actually seen Acheron draw her sword and strike with her full strength.

She could bulldoze through Fragmentum monsters all the way with just her scabbard.

Lin Shuang had yet to witness firsthand just how strong Acheron truly was.

Acheron gladly accepted Lin Shuang's laughter and praise before saying,

"This Heliobus has a very high energy signature, and its energy is more stable. It is also fire. I thought it might be more compatible with your power."

Some things were not convenient to say over the phone, but both of them knew what she meant.

Lin Shuang's power came from energy output by the Stellaron, not from a Path.

But a Stellaron's power was violent by nature. Even with that strange greatsword and storage cards serving as intermediaries, it was impossible to change that violent quality.

It looked fine in the short term, but who knew whether there would be side effects later?

Besides, Lin Shuang carried a Stellaron around every day, which was always a source of concern for Acheron.

So, after encountering this Heliobus that had delivered itself right to her—

Acheron immediately felt that the Heliobus's power seemed more suitable for Lin Shuang than a Stellaron's, and she captured the Heliobus on the spot.