Hyacine tentatively touched the golden threads around her. The instant she made contact, the threads tightened, binding her securely.
Her hands were bound behind her back, the golden threads leaving faint marks on her white-stockinged legs, while coils wrapped around her torso suspended her in mid-air.
Though bound, Aglaea had deliberately restrained the threads, ensuring Hyacine felt no discomfort. Aglaea watched with keen interest as her other self remained captive.
Normally, such bindings would be considered an advanced romantic play or something found only in adult comics, adding considerable spice to the scene. Yet from Aglaea's perspective, even with the added bondage, Hyacine looked utterly devoid of any erotic appeal.
After studying the scene for a while, Aglaea released the golden threads, allowing Hyacine to gently float back to the ground. Aglaea then resumed her experiments, attempting to expand the golden thread's coverage range and render them transparent and invisible—all in preparation for the future World Wide Web.
Hyacine began experimenting with her Authority. Little Ica first appeared beside her, chirping twice before circling her a few times. In a flash of white light, its form rapidly expanded, transforming into a majestic winged white celestial steed.
In the Honkai: Star Rail game, Little Ica's chubby appearance was due to its past act of protecting a city with rainbow-hued light. Exhausted from expending its energy, it had reverted to its plump, diminutive state.
During Hyacine's ultimate skill activation in the game, a celestial steed's phantom silhouette would appear—that was Little Ica's true form.
Just as her summoned Aglaea retained her vision, Hyacine discovered that her Little Ica was not in a power-depleted state but rather its "complete form," capable of transforming back into a celestial steed at any moment.
Clop, clop~ Little Ica—no, it should now be called 'Big Ica'—took two steps forward, its hooves ringing crisply against the ground. Without a doubt, the fully realized 'Big Ica' now appeared both beautiful and majestic.
There was just one problem: adult horses typically stand between 1.5 and 1.6 meters tall, and Little Ica was even taller than that. This meant that even if Hyacine stood on tiptoe and stretched her arms as high as she could, she could barely touch the horse's back.
Just as she was pondering how to mount him, Little Ica seemed to sense her dilemma and promptly lay down. Hyacine then swung her leg over him, climbing onto his back.
Without a saddle or reins, Hyacine initially didn't know what to hold onto. After a moment's hesitation, she scooted forward and wrapped her arms around Little Ica's neck. At the same time, Little Ica spread his white wings, gave a gentle flap, and soared into the sky.
Castorice had ridden the dragon Pollux before, but the experience was completely different from riding a horse. To put it simply, riding Pollux felt like riding a high-speed train, where she was merely a passenger. But riding a horse felt like driving a car, giving Hyacine the sensation that she was the driver.
Soon, the pair ascended higher and higher, until they reached the azure sky, piercing through the clouds. At one point, Little Ica suddenly seemed to sense something, gradually slowing down and coming to a halt.
Hyacine felt it too—just above her, not far away, was a barrier brimming with divine power. This must be the highest point in this world.
Since the purpose of this journey was to familiarize herself with her abilities, Hyacine had no intention of causing unnecessary trouble. She rode Little Ica down a bit, away from the barrier, and then activated her Authority.
BOOM—!
At Hyacine's will, the clear sky was instantly blanketed by storm clouds. Bolts of lightning began to crackle across an enormous area—a truly colossal scale!
While a Sorcerer-Hero could summon a thundercloud large enough to blanket a city in the blink of an eye, Hyacine's power had conjured a storm visible across nearly half the Dragon Ember Empire!
The oppressive black clouds looming overhead made many in the Dragon Ember Empire believe rain was imminent, and they rushed home in a panic.
Yet moments later, just as they had taken a few hurried steps, before even reaching their doorsteps, the storm clouds vanished as suddenly as they had appeared. The sky cleared abruptly, revealing several vibrant rainbows arching across the horizon.
Some people stopped to gaze at the sky, murmuring softly, "So beautiful..."
Although Hyacine possessed the ability to create rainbows and materialize them into bridges, what the commoners were witnessing now wasn't her deliberate creation, but rather a natural phenomenon occurring after the storm clouds dispersed.
"Amazing~!" Hyacine herself couldn't help but exclaim from above. Such a vast atmospheric phenomenon had manifested solely through her will.
Beyond offensive techniques like lightning and storms, Hyacine sensed she could conjure 'meteorites' from thin air. These weren't the colossal meteorites Phainon summoned in the game, but rather solidified manifestations of her divine power, condensing into adult-sized 'divine power bombs' that rained down upon the earth like a meteor shower.
She could even hand-craft 'Light Beams,' firing scorching white light as searing as the sun, with even greater destructive force. As the Demigod of the Sky, Hyacine truly lived up to her reputation as one of the Demigods most abundant in martial virtue, alongside Strife.
Of course, Hyacine refrained from testing these high-destruction techniques. After all, she couldn't exactly hurl meteorites at Okhema, could she? Or bombard the neighboring Dragon Ember Empire? That wouldn't do either.
More than her destructive power, Hyacine's first thought was that she could ensure a country would enjoy perpetual good weather—a dream coveted by countless emperors throughout history.
"Let's go, Little Ica. Let's explore somewhere else," Hyacine murmured, nuzzling Little Ica's neck from her perch on its back. The warm, fragrant skin felt wonderful against her cheek.
With a soft chirp of agreement, Little Ica spread her wings and soared into the sky at lightning speed. Hyacine could fly on her own, of course, but nothing beat the thrill of riding a Pegasus!
By the time Hyacine had finished her aerial tour and returned to their starting point, the morning had already passed. She and Aglaea first enjoyed a meal together, then spent the afternoon separately studying medical knowledge and weaving techniques.
And so their days unfolded: mornings mastering their Authorities in the open fields, afternoons devoted to learning new skills. Time slipped by, and a week vanished in a blink.
On this particular day, Melly pushed open the door to Tribios's office. The first thing she saw was Tribios seated at her desk, reviewing files, while the Demigod of Romance, Aglaea, stood silently beside her.
"Teacher Tribbie, did you call me here for something?"
Yes, it was Tribios who had asked Melly to come. Setting aside the files she was reviewing, Tribios picked up her phone and said to Melly, "Melly, perhaps it's time to further upgrade the phone's capabilities."
Melly looked puzzled. "Teacher Tribbie, what do you mean?"
Tribios simply smiled. "Melly, take out your phone and check."
Melly complied. At the same moment, she saw Aglaea raise her right hand, extending her index finger toward Melly—or, more accurately, toward Melly's phone. A nearly invisible golden thread materialized from Aglaea's fingertip, connected to Melly's phone, and vanished completely.
Moments later, after Tribios tapped a few buttons on her own phone, Melly's phone beeped twice. She received two identical messages:
[How's that? Pretty impressive, right?]
[How's that? Pretty impressive, right?]
If anyone else had received these duplicate messages, they might have assumed their phone was glitching or malfunctioning. But Melly was the phone's creator! She immediately recognized the issue.
The slower message was a standard smartphone function, sent peer-to-peer using Divination School Magic. But the faster message was different. Melly immediately recognized it as the golden thread from earlier!
It's worth noting that Melly's current power level, excluding the "demigods" like Tribios, made her the strongest person in all of Okhema, far surpassing the legendary figures in the city. She possessed true demigod-level strength—having divine power but lacking divine Priesthood. This allowed her to faintly sense the divine energy flowing through the golden thread, and she realized it was connecting her phone to Teacher Tribbie's device, transmitting the messages.
Aglaea interjected, "I can link all the smartphones in Okhema through this method, creating a massive public network—the World Wide Web."
Before Aglaea could elaborate, Melly exclaimed, "And this network is more stable, with even faster speeds! I get it!"
Grasping the implications instantly, she exclaimed, "I'm going back right now to design a revolutionary, cutting-edge smartphone!"
Another week flew by. Melly's first prototype was complete, its controls having been upgraded from buttons to a touchscreen interface.
In addition to new features like photography, video recording, and group chat, Melly had also created a search database—essentially a "google" for this world. Though still sparse, this database would need to be populated over time.
The phone also included a calendar, notepad, music player, and other features that were commonplace in Tribios's past life but represented a quantum leap in technology for this world.
And all this in just seven days. Melly was sure to continue upgrading the device in the future.
Another half-month passed. The first batch of new phones had been fully debugged and was now ready for mass production and sale. Meanwhile, rumors began circulating in Okhema.
A Catfolk woman whispered, "Have you heard? The Holy Maiden's Prophecy... it seems the other Demigods have begun to appear!"
The other half-elf chimed in, "Really? I thought the Demigods wouldn't return until Okhema ended its seclusion."
The first catwoman rolled her eyes. "Seriously? Okhema ended its seclusion over a month ago! Haven't you heard?"
The half-elf looked dumbfounded. "Huh?"
"There was a public announcement a month ago!" the catwoman insisted. "Didn't you see it?"
"I didn't know," the half-elf admitted. "I don't really follow that stuff. But if Okhema ended its seclusion, why hasn't anyone left?"
The catwoman still wore her exasperated expression. "What, you wanna go sightseeing in those backward countries out there?"
The half-elf shook his head frantically. "Absolutely not! So... you're guessing a Demigod has appeared just because Okhema ended its seclusion?"
"It's not just a guess," the catwoman retorted. "Yesterday, on my way to work, I saw an incredibly beautiful blonde woman. She was absolutely stunning—almost as breathtaking as the Holy Maiden herself! Someone that inhumanly gorgeous must be the Demigod of Romance from the Prophecy! And the timing fits perfectly!"
This time, the half-elf was speechless. "So you're just lovesick, aren't you?"
The catwoman replied, "Remember that strange weather a month ago—the sudden appearance and disappearance of that dark cloud? And how there haven't been any new smartphones for decades, but recently a new model was released? Don't you find any of this suspicious?"
The half-elf fell silent for a moment, realizing he was starting to be convinced.
Similar discussions were taking place all over Okhema. Although Tribios hadn't officially announced the Demigod's arrival (she had only confided in Melly), she hadn't made any deliberate attempts to hide it either. She planned to make a joint announcement once Cipher and Castorice returned.
On this very day—exactly one month after Aglaea had been summoned and Cipher and the others had left Chaos City—Cipher and her companions finally reached their destination, a city of the Alliance called Silver Moon City, just as Feidric had described.
Aglaea also prepared to officially depart, intending to capture a Cat and bring Aria and the others along.
Before setting out, Aglaea gazed at her reflection in the mirror. Her hairstyle was flawless, her outfit both flattering and figure-enhancing, and her thigh ring and high heels were both alluring and beautiful. Everything seemed perfect.
But that was precisely the problem—she was too beautiful, too conspicuous! And her destination was a city, where drawing attention was far from ideal.
In the end, Aglaea had no choice but to wrap herself in a black cloak to conceal her appearance. With her features hidden, a Century Gate materialized before her, and she stepped through.
In the blink of an eye, Aglaea transitioned from her bedroom to the depths of a narrow alley. She strode out of the alley, seamlessly blending into the crowd. No one noticed the sudden appearance of a person from the shadows.
Ahead, Aglaea spotted Cipher and her group chatting casually as they made their way to the city's Adventurer's Guild.