Little V, Even Though You Don't Have a Mom, You Still Have Me, I Totally...

Windchaser held Vita as she stood amid the snow falling from the sky. She raised her head to watch the white flakes drifting down, her eyes gleaming slightly. "It's snowing~"

Vita quietly gazed at the sky. She stretched out her little hand, trying hard to catch the white specks falling from above. "Snow..."

She softly repeated the unfamiliar word.

Seeing how serious she looked, Windchaser suddenly got a mischievous idea.

She secretly summoned a wisp of wind, rolling the snow on the ground into a little snowball, then quietly placed it on Vita's tiny head. "Hehe."

Vita did not notice at all. A few seconds later, she reached up to touch the top of her head and discovered the icy little thing.

She tilted her head. Then, before Windchaser's stunned eyes—Vita took off the snowball and popped it straight into her mouth.

"!" Windchaser was utterly dumbfounded. "Wait! You can't eat that!"

Sadly, it was already too late.

Vita blinked and swallowed it earnestly. "Can't I?"

Windchaser opened her mouth, momentarily unsure how to explain.

"This... this is snow. You can't eat it."

Vita lowered her head to look at her hand, then looked up at the sky. "But it looks really tasty."

Windchaser fell silent. She had no idea where to even begin. "..."

Nearby, Vernacular Poet had just climbed out of the huge pit left behind by Silver Wolf's earlier battle. He patted the snow off himself and happened to witness the scene.

He sighed. "She was already silly enough, and you still had to tease her."

Windchaser immediately turned to argue. "How was I supposed to know she'd actually eat it?! Who could've imagined that?"

Vernacular Poet: "..."

Apparently unable to refute that, he helplessly shook his head. "Forget it. Just treat this like raising a kid."

Hearing that, Windchaser paused. She did not respond right away, merely lowering her head to look at Vita in her arms. Her gaze drifted away briefly, as though recalling something.

Sunken Crow stood behind her and watched quietly for a while before speaking without emotion. "Silver Wolf said she's back."

"..."

Windchaser instantly seemed to reboot. Her eyes lit up again, and she lifted Vita high into the air.

"Vita, Vita~ Big sis will tell you something: you can't just eat strange things. Ask big sis first."

Vita blinked, then nodded earnestly. "Okay~ Big sis."

Windchaser was instantly struck down. "Ah—too cute!"

Holding Vita, she pressed the little elf against her cheek and rubbed against her wildly. "Big sis has got your back from now on!"

Vita was a little bewildered from being rubbed against, so she could only stretch out her tiny hand and grab Windchaser's thumb. "Big sis..."

"Hmm?"

"Snow can't be eaten."

"That's right!"

"Then big sis shouldn't eat snow either."

Windchaser froze. "..."

Vernacular Poet could not hold back a laugh. Mimicking Windchaser, he repeated, "Big sis shouldn't eat snow~"

"Get lost!" Windchaser then looked gently at Vita. "Vita."

"Hmm?"

"Don't copy what he just said."

"Oh."

A silver-blue stream of data suddenly unfolded in midair. Countless pixel fragments rapidly assembled, forming a familiar figure.

Silver Wolf stepped out of the torrent of data and landed before everyone. "You're all here." She clapped her hands, as though she had merely gone out for a stroll. "It's settled."

Then, Silver Wolf pulled a wreath woven from vines out of thin air. "This." She shook the wreath in her hand. "The real Goddess of Life left this for Vita."

"The real one?" Windchaser froze for a moment. She looked down at Vita in her arms, then at Silver Wolf, clearly still unable to keep up with the plot.

Vernacular Poet, on the other hand, caught on quickly. "So..." He looked at Vita. "Vita is the next Goddess of Life?"

"Mm." Silver Wolf nodded. "But there's a lot to unpack here. It can't be explained in a sentence or two."

She handed the wreath to Windchaser. "Let her inherit a little something first. Once she finishes processing it herself, we can explain it slowly."

Windchaser accepted the wreath. She looked at the object in her hand, then at Vita in her arms.

"So... she's supposed to wear this?"

Vita seemed to sense the power within the wreath. She stretched out her little hand and tried hard to grab it.

But she was still too small. She wriggled around in Windchaser's arms, and in the end, could only grab one of Windchaser's fingers.

Watching this, Windchaser suddenly turned serious. "Wait! Nothing weird is going to happen after she puts it on, right?"

Silver Wolf: "? Like..."

Windchaser lowered her voice. "Possession?"

The air fell silent for a moment.

Silver Wolf looked at her. "Girl, how many weird plotlines do you have in your head? This is obviously inheriting power."

Windchaser scratched her head. "What if?"

Vernacular Poet could not help roasting her from the side. "Have you been watching too many cultivation mini-dramas?"

Windchaser ignored him and still carefully placed the wreath on Vita's head.

The entire process was extremely slow, as though some earth-shattering change would be triggered the very next second.

Yet nothing happened.

Vita merely reached up to touch the wreath on her head, then carefully adjusted its position. She said softly, "It's a little uncomfortable."

A few seconds of silence passed.

Windchaser let out a breath of relief. "Thank goodness. It wasn't possession."

Vernacular Poet facepalmed. "Why were you even worried about that..."

Silver Wolf, meanwhile, activated her goggles and began scanning Vita's condition.

Blue data streams flickered rapidly before her eyes.

[Vita]

[Life signs: growth]

[Related: Authority of life, authority of death]

[Bound: Vita · Life]

[Ability unlocked: 0%]

After reading it, Silver Wolf nodded. "Looks like it'll still take some time." She put away her goggles. "You can't expect her to put on a grass wreath and immediately mega-evolve."

Windchaser reached out and rubbed Vita's little cheek. "True. She's still a child right now."

Vita blinked. Not only did she not resist, she instead reached out and grabbed Windchaser's finger.

Seeing this, Vernacular Poet could not help reminding her, "Then don't spend all your time bullying the future Goddess of Life."

"Got it." Windchaser answered with a grin.

Silver Wolf looked around, suddenly remembering something. "Oh, right. Where's Prometheus?"

Vernacular Poet pointed at the large pit nearby. "Still over there, analyzing the Abyss residue."

Silver Wolf looked in that direction. At the bottom of the pit, the AI projection created by Silver Wolf was continuously scanning the black wreckage, surrounded by massive streams of data.

Silver Wolf stepped closer. "How is it?"

Prometheus raised his head. "Analysis complete. The target residue possesses highly corrosive properties, as well as assimilation characteristics."

Silver Wolf narrowed her eyes slightly. "Assimilation?"

Prometheus continued, "The Abyss does not merely destroy its targets. It gradually alters their form of existence, eventually making them a part of the Abyss."

Silver Wolf looked at the black matter at the bottom of the pit as it gradually dissipated.

Prometheus answered, "There is a 68% probability that the Abyss possesses intelligence."