Liens merely chuckled at Lucrezia's assessment, offering no response. He then said no more, bidding her farewell: "Well then, I'll see you tomorrow or the day after."
With that, Liens turned and returned to his room, closing the door.
"He's gone. After you notify Balder and the others, go back and rest. We still need to continue building the Outer City defenses tomorrow."
"Speaking of which, Liens announcing his seclusion isn't to avoid bricklaying, is it… What's wrong, standing there motionless? Were you captivated by Liens just now?"
Seeing Isabelle standing still, deep in thought, Lucrezia walked up to her, bent down slightly, and gently pinched her cheeks with both hands, teasing her.
Looking at the 'colossus' so close, even as a woman, Isabelle couldn't help but blush.
She had personally measured its weight not long ago, and thinking of that softness, thinking of the pleasure Lucrezia had given her, the shyness in her heart became even harder to control.
Isabelle, whose mind was a bit muddled, didn't bother with her inner thoughts. Hearing Lucrezia's teasing, she quickly denied it:
"No, it's not… I'm just thinking about Liens's changes. Setting aside the change in his outward personality, that charm alone is a bit strange."
"Although Liens's appearance is indeed good, it's not to the extent of being world-shattering. No matter how weak my willpower is, I wouldn't be affected by a simple smile."
"So there must be some kind of power or technique hidden within. I was thinking if I could ask Liens about it, so I could in turn…"
Isabelle didn't finish the rest of her sentence, just looking awkwardly at Lucrezia.
She couldn't possibly tell Lucrezia that she had been suppressed by her too many times and wanted to regain her initiative on the 'battlefield'.
Lucrezia's expression remained unchanged, still maintaining a faint smile.
She didn't care about Isabelle's desire to turn the tables; in fact, she found it quite amusing.
Although she chose Isabelle as a 'plaything' not purely to vent her 'madness', trying new ways to play was also a kind of fun.
However, she still spoke to dissuade Isabelle from seeking Liens's guidance:
"That's not a technique. It's just the effect achieved by Liens's own power passively influencing the surrounding environment. It's useless for you to ask him about this."
"He will probably explain the principle behind this phenomenon, but you might not understand it."
"Don't be so quick to refute… This has little to do with your talent level. It's just that the fields you two specialize in are different, and what he talks about is very 'diverse'."
"You know so much about Liens."
Isabelle was a little jealous.
"I know more about you, though… Shall we go play some 'games' again?"
Lucrezia leaned her head close to Isabelle's ear and whispered.
Upon hearing this, Isabelle's face instantly flushed red. Her lips stammered, and she mumbled indistinctly, "That, that… Let me recover. Tonight is really not possible."
With that, she ran away, her face red.
Although playing 'games' with Lucrezia was very enjoyable, that pleasure came at a price. If they did it again, it would be a question of whether she could even get up tomorrow.
Watching Isabelle flee in disarray, Lucrezia's eyes showed a smile. After a final glance at the closed door, she also turned and left.
As she departed, the night's tranquility once again enveloped the corridor. Faint moonlight filtered through the glass window, adding a touch of brightness to the dark room.
Liens sat in meditation, adjusting his state. Next, he would proceed with the third step of his 'Self' plan.
After the completion of the second step, he had already met the minimum requirements of fate.
That is, to understand the Self, to have the ability to resist the influence of Heaven and Man as One and Sword Heart, and even to truly control these two powers.
And the third step is an extension based on this, laying the foundation for the future path, which is the third stage of the Grandmaster Realm as he personally summarized it — recognition.
To prove the feasibility of one's own path to heaven and earth, to the world.
For example, Alfred's "Belief".
Because he had already reached the end of the path below Legend, his own path showed signs of sublimation, which led to the activation of the power of belief within the Hartwin Kingdom.
And Liens's appearance further helped him solidify the existence of the path of "Belief" to the world.
This is also why Alfred cared so much about Liens. Liens was not only his fated opponent but also, in a sense, the continuation and expander of his path.
What Liens needed to do now was to determine his own path, to integrate the vague 'momentum' into specific theories and methods for understanding and transforming the world.
The so-called Legend is to gradually sublimate this method and theory, that is, one's own path, into the rules of the world.
Of course, Liens was still some distance from this. He was merely preparing to define his own path while simultaneously regulating his Self, so that future changes and growth of his Self would not deviate from his chosen path.
Liens focused his mind, and his consciousness sank into the depths of his awareness.
This area, which should have been unconscious, was now filled with mist, and vaguely in the center, a seemingly ordinary longsword was embedded.
This was Liens's 'Mindscape'.
The mist represented his Sense of heaven and earth, while the longsword was the symbol of the 'Sword Heart'.
Before stepping into that void, his expectation for himself was to become stronger, to achieve longevity, to pursue higher realms, and to explore more mysteries of the world.
But this goal, rather than being a goal, was more of a process, a driving force to propel himself forward.
He needed a more concrete goal, even if the goal was abstract, even if he might never achieve it in this life, but this goal could become the foundation of his own path.
For this, he thought for a long time and thought a lot in the void. Finally, he looked at the void that enveloped him.
At that moment, he found the meaning of existence, found the foundation of his path —
He wanted to create a world that could contain the void.
Although the goal of creating a world was a bit fantastical, Liens no longer wanted to consider whether this goal could be achieved. Instead, he directly planned his goal into three stages.
The first stage was understanding the world.
To create a world, one naturally needs sufficient understanding and comprehension of the world itself. Therefore, the name of this stage is — "Myriad Forms".
At the same time, "Myriad Forms" was also the Legend he had chosen.
Liens's consciousness avatar came before the longsword manifested by the 'Sword Heart', sat down cross-legged, and entered a state of concentration similar to meditation. Fresh chapters posted on novelFɪre.net
Subsequently, the mist around Liens gradually faded, and at the same time, various items, objects, and natural phenomena seemed to shed their veils and began to appear.
Some of them looked very real, like actually existing objects, while others looked somewhat illusory, flickering occasionally as if something was wrong.
And as time passed, a somewhat bizarre land surrounded by mist gradually took shape.