The Knight heard a voice coming from behind him, and quickly turned his head, only to see a familiar figure.Yu Sheng stood there with a smile on his face, and next to him stood a stranger, a blonde girl.
"This is Luna, you've met her," Yu Sheng raised his hand and pointed at the blonde girl standing beside him, "Here in the Soul Wilderness is where she truly appears as herself. By the way, this Soul City called Valhalla was also personally built by her and her Knight Order."
As soon as he finished speaking, Luna, who had maintained a polite smile, suddenly panicked: "No, no, no, the main effort was from everyone in the Knight Order, I was only responsible for the Central Cathedral. In fact, many areas in the city are still unfinished, what you're seeing now is a lot of semi-finished projects that will certainly be completed in the future, please be assured..."
She spoke rapidly while waving her hands repeatedly, her face showing an expression as if saying, "The boss got a big project, only to find on the start day that his entire team consists of green-skinned architects. The whole city adds up to only half a blueprint, and the blueprint was used upside down during construction. When the boss came to inspect, the landmark buildings turned into ground marker buildings, and now, this Thunder City has to host foreign guests, feeling like the sky is falling, but as the project manager, she couldn't not come."
To be honest, it was very rare to see this girl appear so flustered, and Yu Sheng was inwardly delighted at her reaction, yet had to maintain his composed demeanor as the big boss, while also feeling a bit sentimental —
How to put it, in this travel agency group, everyone has their own dark history, only that other people's dark histories usually reside in one of Luna's super-encrypted folders, while Luna's dark history is imprinted on the ground, spanning an area of 80 square kilometers (for now)...
Yu Sheng was in a very good mood, while the Knight opposite him was momentarily at a loss for how to react, as he had just traversed from "another world" to reach here and still hadn't figured out the situation. Countless thoughts of confusion and slightly chaotic memories left him unsure of where to start his questions, finally he managed to utter, "So, are you actually the God in charge of Death? Is this... your domain?"
"How shall I put it, I did that job before, but I retired a few years ago," Yu Sheng said cheerfully, not caring what expression the Knight might have upon hearing this — mainly because he couldn't see the other's expression, "Originally, I planned to enjoy my retirement, but a little accident happened halfway, and I got called back to work, now I'm in charge of some other things..."
The Knight listened, bewildered, struggled to keep up with Yu Sheng's thinking, and while he was trying to mentally translate what all this meant, Yu Sheng already reached out with an inviting gesture: "Let's not stand around talking on the main road, come along, I'll show you around."
The Knight hesitated for a moment, then hurriedly followed with Rosaline upon realizing — the latter had been very quiet, carrying a thoughtful look on her face; only then did she suddenly break the silence: "So now what... do you do?"
Yu Sheng slightly paused his step, then turned his head to look at the small figure accompanying the Knight — the girl's figure was petite and slender, with slightly translucent, fluffy, pale golden hair draping behind her, wearing a simple white dress, making her look as thin and pale as a shadow that might disappear at any moment.
After all, she once was just a machine, and being able to generate a soul was quite a feat.
But she had a pair of bright and pretty eyes, eyes like two clear pale-blue pools, filled with curiosity.
Yu Sheng laughed.
"I opened a Spirit Realm detective agency outside, on usual days, I go out for a brawl or a treasure hunt; as for here, my main job is handling the registration of newcomers."
"Are we newcomers?" Rosaline asked very earnestly.
Yu Sheng lightly nodded: "That's the idea... you know quite a bit."
"I, I remember your voice, at the end, you told me about the Soul Wilderness and the paths," Rosaline held her sketchbook with one hand and the Knight's two fingers with the other, appearing somewhat awkward, "I've always been keeping an ear out for the 'outside' voices, so I roughly know what happened... did we cause a lot of trouble?"
"Indeed, the trouble is considerable, and many people will have to work a lot of overtime because of it," Yu Sheng thought for a moment and gently shook his head, "But it's not your fault, it's not anyone's fault."
Rosaline blinked her eyes, as if understanding Yu Sheng's meaning, and continued walking forward.
Yu Sheng continued leading the way and at the same time asked another question: "You just mentioned you've been keeping an ear on the 'outside' voices? So, you can roughly feel the situation beyond your Sanctuary... or rather 'Kingdom' border?"
"Yeah, I can feel some things, although... many times I don't understand what's happening."
"Then do you know about those large roots appearing at the Kingdom Border?" Yu Sheng showed a serious expression, "If I guessed it right... those roots shouldn't be something that your Sanctuary originally had."
Rosaline hesitated for a couple of seconds, seemingly contemplating and recalling, then replied: "They... indeed appeared only recently, I haven't seen those things before."
Then she quietly recollected for a while and continued in a very small voice, "That happened when the sky and earth cracked open, a giant tree suddenly appeared near the Lodaxim High Wall, but it only appeared shortly before disappearing, afterward, roots started growing all over the Kingdom... initially, those roots even delayed the Kingdom's disintegration, but soon, the rift widened, and many roots began to die off in large numbers..."
Yu Sheng raised an eyebrow.
"So, the main body of the big tree managed to evacuate in time, right?"
"Um, maybe?" Rosaline said somewhat uncertainly, "I, I haven't quite figured out what that big tree is all about, I wasn't even aware it was helping... Ah, do you, do you know its origins?"
Yu Sheng thought for a moment and nodded to Rosaline: "He is another outsider—in a way, your kind."
Rosaline slightly widened her eyes.
Yu Sheng stopped, casually opening an illusory door beside him.
"The city tour ends here. From here to the Great Cathedral is still quite far, we'll take a shortcut instead," he gestured with his hand, "Follow me, the 'residency' process still needs one last step."
Rosaline raised her head, looking at her "father" beside her, the Knight nodded to the girl and then stepped forward without hesitation.
After passing through the door, a scene of floating luminescent light and numerous crystal vines hanging down from the sky first came into view. The Knight was slightly startled, immediately looking around, only then realizing he had already arrived at the Crystal Tree.
The colossal crystalline trunk, like a Giant Tower reaching the heavens, stood before them. The magnificent treetop spread out at the trunk's top, blocking the sun, with a stream of light and stars flowing between the branches and leaves. Numerous space rifts, refracting distant times and spaces, hid among those light streams and branches, while crystal branches hung down from the treetop, falling onto the Cathedral's roof, the courtyard's clearing, even into the city.
A kind of ethereal, bell-like gentle sound echoed around the Crystal Tree, unconsciously relaxing one's spirit.
To witness this Crystal Giant Tree up close brings enormous impact; even the Knight, who remained calm throughout, instinctively pulled Rosaline back half a step, as if to resist the pressing presence, while Rosaline instinctively exclaimed in a small voice: "What... what a big tree!"
"It wasn't this big before, but the nourishment given was quite sufficient, so it kept growing bigger. To accommodate the trunk, we even expanded the Cathedral's backyard," Yu Sheng said, crossing his arms with a proud expression, "To be fair, my Knight Commander certainly has something to say about growing things..."
Luna heard this, her expression somewhat subtle, but thinking that it was after all a compliment to her, she readily accepted it.
Just then, a soft radiance suddenly appeared, slowly descending from the Crystal Tree's crown.
The Knight looked up in surprise, seeing a sacred figure with wings.
He recognized the opponent—in the battle against "the other self" under Lodaxim High Wall, it was this mighty War Angel who ended the battle with a jump slash from the wall.
The scorching descent and the powerful force of this "Angel" left a deep impression on him.
However, just as the Knight was about to turn to ask something, he saw Freyia descending from the treetop, with a Holy Flame Greatsword appearing in her hand.
Countless starlit radiance glittered in the Crystal Tree's crown, starlight gathering into a river, descending from the sky, converging around the shining Holy Sword, instantly forming streams of gorgeous lights between Freyia and the Crystal Tree.
Freyia revealed a brilliant smile on her face as she raised the Holy Flame Greatsword high... then performed a jump slash towards the Knight and Rosaline.
Neither of them had time to dodge.
Yet the blazing glory disappeared in an instant, and besides a comforting warmth, it seemed that nothing had happened. Rosaline instinctively closed her eyes, hesitated for several seconds before cautiously reopening them, looking completely puzzled.
Yu Sheng's voice came from the side: "Alright, this way your residencies are registered under the 'World Bridge,' considered as a collective settlement—any 'foreign population' similar to yours will register under this collective household in the future."
As soon as he finished speaking, a sound of clattering armor came from the Knight's direction, and the voice emerging from beneath the helmet sounded somewhat trembling: "... Isn't there a more gentle process? At least something not this scary..."
Yu Sheng shrugged: "You wouldn't say that if you knew how the previous ones registered—you've already got the simplified version."
Beside him, Freyia immediately nodded repeatedly.
Knight: "...?"