"Hm?"
Vane froze for a moment and instinctively opened the group chat interface for a look.
"Oh! The second one finally replied..."
He saw Vera's brief notification and scrolled through the chat history. No one else had spoken at this moment.
Just then, seeing that he had not reacted, the Scribbled War God extended another tentacle and poked his arm.
Vane was focused on reading the messages and waved it away.
"Quit messing around. I'm busy."
[Sibling... need help?]
Vane's body suddenly stiffened. He slowly turned around and asked tentatively,
"Sibling?"
[Do you need help, sibling?]
Unlike the vague words from before, the clear response entered his mind directly.
"Holy shit!!!"
Vane leaped backward, his face filled with horror.
"The Seaborn can talk?! Did I create a First Speaker?!"
[Holy shit?]
The Seaborn's voice carried obvious confusion as it repeated Vane's exclamation, learning the combination of those syllables.
Hearing it repeat his curse, Vane actually calmed down.
"No..." He pressed a hand to his temple and carefully sensed it.
"This voice... appeared directly in my head? Can you communicate through thoughts?"
The Scribbled War God waved its tentacles, and the thought it conveyed carried the clumsy uncertainty of an attempt.
[Sibling... thoughts.]
[Vague... perception.]
It was still adapting to this entirely new form of communication. Its vocabulary was simple and its logic direct, confirming Vane's guess—
He had not only changed this Seaborn's appearance, but had also accidentally granted it intelligence.
Vane's eyes instantly lit up. He rubbed his hands together and began the next experiment.
Excitement gleamed in Vane's eyes. He wanted to try controlling this Seaborn directly!
His intent traveled through the link, and the Seaborn sent back a clear wave of confusion.
[Control?]
Vane immediately replied with righteous conviction, wrapping his intent in a noble veneer.
"This is for a greater goal! To better understand The We Many, for our shared evolution!"
He precisely seized upon the core logic in the Seaborn's mind: unconditional devotion to "The We Many."
Sure enough, once "for The We Many" was mentioned, the Seaborn's simple mind did not hesitate in the slightest.
[For The We Many, this body is given to sibling. Please... use it.]
It worked!
Vane silently praised himself, then immediately focused his mind and concentrated his consciousness.
After a brief sensation of dizziness and separation, Vane's vision abruptly changed.
When he opened his eyes, the world around him had become a bizarre composite perspective.
With a thought, several tentacles swung in response, producing wet, slippery sounds.
It worked! Is this how the Seaborn see the world? No, this isn't the time to study that!
Vane forcibly suppressed his curiosity about the new body and tried activating [Immortal Body] within the Seaborn's body.
The familiar crimson radiance actually appeared over the Seaborn shell. Though it felt slightly different from activating it within his original body, it had truly been successfully triggered!
It works! It really works! Skills can actually adapt across bodies!
Vane, in Seaborn form, excitedly waved his tentacles.
Next came the crucial part!
He focused again. This time, Vane attempted to split his consciousness.
One part maintained control over the Seaborn's body, while the other returned to his own body.
A wondrous sensation came over him—on one side was the world under the Seaborn's composite senses, and on the other was the familiar perception of his own body.
He saw both of them from two perspectives at once: the crimson Seaborn and Vane's motionless original body.
"Begin testing!"
Vane controlled the Seaborn's body and viciously lashed out at himself, who stood in place.
The instant the tentacle made contact, the glow of [Immortal Body] flashed over Vane's original body.
The attack was absorbed, but...
The energy increased within the Seaborn's body!
Just as I expected!
His earlier hypothesis had been confirmed. [Immortal Body] did not depend on a particular physical structure.
He had vaguely sensed this as early as when his ability merged with Gorth's skill—
As long as a sufficiently powerful "link" existed between the two, whether through flesh and blood, mental synchronization, or pure energy resonance.
The properties of [Immortal Body] could be shared between different individuals, even different forms!
Then...
Across this land of Terra, whose body possessed greater plasticity than the Seaborn, creatures born to adapt and evolve?
A Seaborn body was the perfect "external energy buffer" and "spare blood pack"!
Not to mention that behind this body was a connection to the unfathomable entity spread throughout the oceans—
The We Many consciousness!
If he could connect to The We Many...
No! He definitely could connect to The We Many!
Vane sank his consciousness, searching within the Seaborn's body for that connection...
Silence was the only theme of this sea abyss.
Here, time had lost meaning. The lightless abyss devoured all illumination, as well as every sound.
Yet deep within this forbidden region, where even the most tenacious deep-sea creatures struggled to survive, something existed.
A slumbering, living "mountain range."
One enormous corner of it faintly emerged from the darkness. A mere glimpse of that fragment had already surpassed ordinary people's limits of comprehension regarding a living creature's size.
She was Ishar-mla, one of the Seaborn's four Firstborn, the Heart of Corruption that governed migration and conflict.
At the instant Vane's consciousness attempted to merge into The We Many consciousness through the Seaborn's body—
Deep within this absolutely dark sea abyss, an energy pattern formed by bioluminescent bodies... softly lit up once.
She... answered the call of a "sibling."
Vane's consciousness was enveloped by an all-embracing silence, a vast background hum formed from countless tiny thoughts.
It was as though he were wrapped in icy seawater. Just as Vane hesitated over whether to retreat, his consciousness finally connected to The We Many.
[Hungry... hungry...]
[Fish school discovered, coordinates...]
[Capture food, send back to nest.]
[Enemy! Land creature! Aggressive! Drive away!]
[Sibling trapped... rescue.]
[Environment changed... lost, return... recalibrating.]
Countless thoughts intertwined and traveled through the network, originating from Seaborn individuals of different forms and different seas.
The content was chaotic and disordered, yet the entire network displayed a strange efficiency and harmony.
At the foundation of this enormous network's stable operation were several vast wills located in the deepest part of the sea of consciousness.
Two seemed tranquil, as though they had fallen into the deepest slumber.
One emitted a faint but steady glow, while another...
Was focusing its "gaze" upon him, this newly connected and utterly out-of-place node.
[Sibling, abnormal condition.]
The vast will conveyed a clear thought, cold and ethereal.
[Return to The We Many... synchronize... purify anomaly.]
A sense of security like returning to a mother's embrace wrapped around Vane's consciousness, tempting him to merge into this sea of awareness.
Vane shuddered violently. [Immortal Body] activated to its limit as he forcibly resisted the assimilation of his consciousness.
[Sibling?]
For the first time, a ripple of confusion entered Ishar-mla's thoughts.
[Why refuse to return?]
Vane instinctively wanted to say something flippant to ease the tension, but then suddenly realized that this was a state of consciousness—
Whatever he thought would be transmitted directly!
In his panic, a meaningless greeting escaped uncontrollably and swiftly swept through The We Many:
[Hey hey hey!]
Ishar-mla: "?"
The vast will stalled for a moment, filled with incomprehensible emotion.
Even The We Many consciousness, which had been operating steadily, froze because of this completely unparseable message.
Countless Seaborn tried to understand the unfamiliar information, but gained nothing.
Driven by their instinct to imitate, the confused Seaborn subconsciously repeated the incomprehensible message.
[Hey hey hey...]
[Hey hey hey!]
[Hey hey hey!] x N
Before Vane could regret it, "hey hey hey" instantly rang everywhere.
The We Many consciousness descended into chaos. Just as Vane considered whether he should run, an ethereal voice arrived.
[Ishar-mla used Great Silence. It was super effective.]
The Seaborn returned to normal and stopped spamming. The We Many network regained its stability.
Ishar-mla's gaze focused once more upon Vane, the source of the chaos.
This sibling's consciousness possessed severe "contaminating" properties.
After a brief moment of confusion, Ishar-mla swiftly made a decision based on the core logic of eliminating anything that could threaten The We Many's stability.
Vane had only just recovered from the shock of Great Silence when he felt an irresistible force act upon his consciousness.
The composite senses vanished, replaced by the familiar sensation of his own body.
He was back, back in his Vampire body.
Vane stood there blankly, his expression indescribably complicated.
[Ishar-mla has kicked you out of the group chat.]
Vane fell silent for a moment, his gaze landing on the other Seaborn.
One account got banned. Can't I just make an alt?
Meanwhile, deep within the sea abyss.
Having removed the abnormal node, Ishar-mla withdrew the will she had invested.
To her, countless siblings perished every day while hunting, fighting, and migrating, while new individuals were born.
She would not, nor did she need to, feel anything resembling sorrow over the departure of a single sibling.
Her consciousness returned to calmness, like the eternally silent deep sea.
However, that calm did not last long.
That familiar consciousness attempted to enter this deep sea once more, this time originating from another Seaborn individual.
Ishar-mla: "..."
[Ishar-mla refused the connection.]
"Holy shit! She really blocked me?!"
Vane's face turned red. He felt like an administrator was deliberately targeting him in a game, and a surge of anger rose within him.
"I refuse to believe this!"
He immediately switched his target to a third Seaborn, then a fourth... Using new Seaborn as stepping stones, Vane continuously sent fresh requests to The We Many.
For a time, countless requests from different Seaborn individuals yet carrying the same abnormal traits flooded toward Ishar-mla one after another.
Ishar-mla's will remained silent.
Her silence was not because she was speechless—
As a divine existence without emotions, she did not possess such feelings in the first place.
She was merely thinking—
This anomaly clearly possessed transmissibility and repetition. Would it continue disrupting the purity and stability of The We Many consciousness?
If left alone, would it pose a potential threat to The We Many?
After a brief assessment, Ishar-mla made a decision.
She needed to reassess the threat level of the anomalous individual.
If its existence was confirmed to pose an uncontrollable risk to The We Many, then... erasure was the most efficient option.
Vane's request was approved.
When his consciousness entered the vast sea once more, before Ishar-mla could act, Vane immediately sent out his words.
[Ishar-mla! I'm here to negotiate!]
Before you continue