He wearily opened his eyes, grunting as he clutched his head.
'What… happened?' he thought with a frown as he scanned his surroundings.
Sirius was on his bed, with Noir sleeping peacefully beside him. Purring sounds reverberated across the room.
Carefully, he sat upright, grimacing as he felt aches across his body. Shaking his head, he continued scanning his surroundings for any clue. Though his room showed nothing. No signs of conflict or struggle. It remained exactly the same, nothing out of place.
He knew something had happened. But what exactly? Sirius didn't know. For some reason, there were mysterious gaps in his memories he couldn't access.
Crossing his arms with eyes closed, Sirius rummaged through his sea of memories.
However, as time passed, a frown formed across his face.
He couldn't remember anything…
'That's… weird. Did they beat me up so badly that I lost consciousness and forgot everything?' he thought, his frown deepening.
Vexed, he habitually rubbed the back of his neck, only for his eyes to widen.
The necklace was gone.
"No–"
Suddenly, the ethereal goddess materialized on his bed, floating in the air before him.
At the same time, a flood of memories surged through his mind, accompanied by a severe headache.
Sirius gritted his teeth in pain. His eyes locked with hers. The familiar yet foreign memories unfolded one by one.
At that time, because his vision was blurry and her figure was indistinct, he couldn't make out her facial features clearly.
'The Immortal Spirit… she was real!' he thought with disbelief.
Now, everything made sense, from why he lost consciousness to what happened to the necklace, and the mysterious gaps in his memories. He thought he was hallucinating at that time, and, feeling utterly desperate, as Sirius was reminded of his failures, he agreed instantly.
However, if he were given the same choice, his answer would remain the same.
At this moment, Sirius narrowed his eyes, trying to make out her features. And when he did, he was instantly struck breathless. He found himself unable to take his gaze away from her.
To claim that the Immortal Spirit was an ethereal goddess was a grave understatement. Even if her features were slightly discernible now, the word 'goddess' was akin to an insult, barely encapsulating her grace. It was as though she existed beyond this world, untouched by mortal dust.
The Immortal Spirit possessed the temperament of an otherworldly fairy—pale skin, glowing red eyes, and long silver hair flowing down like a waterfall. Yet, her simple, fitted, long white robe, which accentuated her bountiful curves, stood in stark contrast to her divine appearance.
Without a doubt, she was a spiritual goddess. A real one.
It took Sirius a few seconds to force himself to snap out of his trance, his eyes growing serious. He hastily cupped his fists and bowed his head.
"Senior—"
"Speak informally."
He was stunned, staring at her for a while before nodding reluctantly.
"You said you'd give me power…" Sirius stared at her for a moment. "What's the price?"
He wasted no time, believing no such thing was free in this world. And even though it sounded far-fetched, he was too desperate and had no choice.
Not to mention, Sirius didn't bother to be cautious. If his guess was correct, then this so-called Immortal Spirit was a Fifth Mortal Realm cultivator or even beyond, given her ability to completely project her primordial spirit outside her body.
With a quick glimpse at Noir, who was still sound asleep, Sirius confirmed his conjecture that she was able to remain undetected, even against a magical beast with keen senses.
Against such an existence, everything was futile.
"The power you long sought will not be given to you directly," she said as her feet touched the floor. "Rather, it is the primordial artifact you once held that would give you opportunities. In the end, it is up to you, the inheritor, to risk yourself and seize the opportunities presented unto you."
Sirius was stunned, finding her way of speaking odd, then he frowned. 'Primordial artifact? Inheritor?'
He shook his head. Such thoughts were useless at this moment.
"But…" Sirius' expression turned extremely dark as his head lowered. "I'm unable to cultivate."
As much as he hated to admit it, he was truly a cripple.
The Immortal Spirit stared at him for a moment, then replied:
"Truth be told, you are not a cripple," she said, floating gracefully in the air. "When you cultivate, the spiritual energy you absorb is inevitably redirected into the artifact to slowly repair itself and then maintain certain functionalities. This is needed in order to protect you at times absolutely necessary. At the same time, it blocks divine sense to avoid scrutiny, thus appearing like a normal artifact to the others."
His lips twitched. For a long moment, he was stunned silent. Sirius didn't know whether to feel infuriated or overjoyed.
When he was a kid, his parents had given him this artifact as a memento. They told Sirius to keep it at all times to ward off bad spirits, though he didn't believe that. However, ever since his parents passed away, he had kept it all the time, only removing it to hide it away from those bandits.
Sirius had even thought of allowing them to look at it to finally remove all suspicion. But he feared that they would still be persistent in thinking it was an 'anomaly,' snatching it away for an even deeper investigation.
He stared at his hands for a while, feeling the once familiar sense of powerlessness slowly turning foreign. In the end, he sighed in defeat and met her eyes again.
"My necklace—the artifact… what is it and…" he said, confusion spreading across his face. "Why only now?"
"The artifact requires you to drip considerable blood essence onto it to fully awaken and make it yours. However, since it was heavily damaged, there was no way to contact you…
"Regarding the nature of the artifact, it possesses various locked and unlocked functionalities beyond your comprehension, all designed to facilitate your growth. All you need to know for now is that it detects Providents, allowing you to eliminate them without karmic backlash, and then seize a portion of their cultivation and talents."
Sirius couldn't help but be astounded beyond belief once more. As far as he knew, no such artifact existed in this world.
'Providents… aren't they the same thing as the protagonists found in fictional works? But… why?'
Shaking his head, Sirius asked another question:
"How about you…" he said, taking a deep breath as he couldn't think of a better, polite way to frame his question. "What are you for?"
If the artifact existed to help him grow, then what was the Immortal Spirit for?
"Mentor. Teacher. Guide. You could think of the Immortal Spirit as the consciousness of the artifact."
Sirius raised a brow, still not used to her odd way of speaking.
Then, with a shake of his head, a resolute expression formed on his face. "How do I start? I want to start now."
The Immortal Spirit was momentarily taken aback.
"Are you sure?"
He nodded.
She stared at him for a while, softly shaking her head.
Sirius was confused and was about to ask when something appeared before him that made him gape in wonder.
It was a hologram, reminiscent of those video game panels he had seen countless times.
[A Scenario has been created.]
[A Provident has been selected. Preparing description…]
[Noah Eckert: A Blessed-type Provident. The reincarnation of an unfortunate mortal from the Divine Realm. In an attempt to steal a sacred treasure under the eyes of powerful deities, he faced instant annihilation. Unbeknownst to him, his soul was touched by the sacred treasure's presence, preserving his soul and allowing him to endure the cycle of reincarnation. He awoke on Earth before the cataclysm began without his memories intact. His Fortune Value is at 500.]
Sirius couldn't help but open his mouth. 'Blessed-type Provident? Reincarnation… and Fortune Value?'
[Objective: Travel back in the distant past, before the cataclysm began to eliminate the selected Provident.]
"What!?"
His expression shifted dramatically.
[Initiating scenario…]
"Wait, wait! Stop!"