Hearing Karl El's tone soften, and realizing that he was no longer refusing outright, the Nymph's eyes visibly brightened. A trace of relief flashed across her delicate features, as if a heavy burden had finally been eased.
She replied at once, her voice gentle yet earnest.
"Thank you for your kindness, Emissary. We have approximately four months remaining."
She paused briefly, then continued, choosing her words carefully.
"Although the Seal at the bottom of the lake is gradually loosening, I can still rely on the power of the lake itself to sustain it for a while longer."
"However," she added softly, "the sooner this matter is resolved, the better. As time passes, maintaining the Seal will require an ever-increasing amount of my power."
"At that point…" Her voice faltered slightly. "I fear that the blessing I placed upon you—to resist that entity's mental erosion—will also weaken accordingly."
Karl El nodded, committing the timeframe firmly to memory. Four months—neither particularly long nor especially short. Enough time to prepare, but not enough to waste.
"I understand," he said in a deep, steady voice. "I will deal with this as soon as possible."
"But before that," he continued, "I need time to prepare."
"Whether it is strengthening my own power, or searching for potential methods, weapons, or contingencies—I cannot act rashly."
"Of course," the Nymph replied, bowing slightly. "Your caution is wise. I will remain here and wait for your return."
With that, Karl El said nothing further. He turned, offered a brief farewell, and strode out of the woodland without hesitation.
After reuniting with Dalton and the others, who had been keeping watch outside, the group wasted no time. They mounted their horses and galloped straight back toward Terra.
Early the next morning, as the rising sun cast its first golden rays across the land of Terra, Karl El was already hundreds of meters above the ground.
He hovered silently in midair, bathed in the steadily intensifying sunlight. The warmth poured into him without restraint, filling every corner of his body.
Yesterday, he had absorbed a fragment of the Sun God's shattered godhead. Now, he was carefully experiencing its effects, testing whether deeper or subtler changes had occurred—changes that he might not yet fully understand.
Closing his eyes, Karl El calmed his mind and activated his Clairvoyance ability. His perception turned inward as he began scanning his body from head to toe.
He examined himself meticulously—his skin, muscles, bones, blood flow, nerve pathways, and even the minute structures within his cells.
The result was immediately apparent.
His cells were far more active than before, brimming with vibrant vitality. They absorbed solar energy with astonishing efficiency, like parched earth greedily drinking in rain after a long drought.
He could clearly feel his power increasing—minute by minute, second by second—at a faint yet continuous rate. The growth was steady, undeniable, and entirely natural.
Aside from this dramatic increase in energy absorption efficiency and heightened cellular activity, however, he found nothing else unusual.
He scanned himself several times, unwilling to overlook even the slightest anomaly.
No new energy core had formed.
No mysterious runes or divine markings had appeared.
His physical structure had not undergone any fundamental transformation.
Karl El let out a self-deprecating chuckle and shook his head.
"It seems I was overthinking it," he murmured to himself. "After all, it was only a tiny fragment of a godhead—one that was shattered into countless pieces."
"How could absorbing something like that immediately allow me to stand among the gods?"
"Being able to significantly enhance my absorption of sunlight—and even gain a trace of divinity—is already more than I could have reasonably expected."
Letting go of those unrealistic expectations, his mind grew calm and clear once more.
He raised his head and gazed at the massive star hanging in the sky above—the Sun. It radiated boundless light and heat, endlessly nourishing him with power.
As he stared at it, a restless impulse surged uncontrollably within his heart.
He had never attempted to fly toward extreme altitudes before. In the past, his abilities had not yet fully Awakened, and such an experiment would have been reckless.
But now, having absorbed the godhead fragment and reached an unprecedented peak in physical condition, he felt an overwhelming urge to test his limits.
With a single thought, he shifted his posture. No longer content to hover, he tilted his body upward slightly.
Then—swoosh!
Like a shooting star reversing its course, Karl El shot straight upward toward the boundless sky.
At first, his ascent was steady and smooth. But as his altitude increased, the surrounding environment began to change dramatically.
The temperature rose rapidly, climbing to an unbearable level. For an ordinary person, such heat would have caused severe dehydration—or even instant death.
Karl El, however, remained completely unfazed. This level of heat posed no threat to him whatsoever, and he continued his ascension without slowing.
The world below shrank at an astonishing pace.
Buildings, winding mountain ranges, and mirror-like lakes quickly diminished, turning into miniature models scattered across a vast sandbox. Soon, even those became indistinct blurs.
The clouds grew thicker as he entered them, their color shifting from pure white to dark and oppressive gray.
Violent winds howled around him, churning the dense cloud layers into chaos. Dazzling bolts of lightning occasionally tore through the sky, followed by muffled rolls of thunder that reverberated through the air.
Then, just as suddenly, the temperature dropped.
The scorching heat gave way to bone-chilling cold. Water vapor in this region of the atmosphere was extremely dense, condensing into icy rain—and freezing instantly into frost and hail of various sizes.
The hailstones crackled violently as they struck the invisible Bio-Force Field surrounding Karl El, shattering into countless tiny ice crystals.
At the same time, he could feel the planet's gravitational pull growing stronger, dragging relentlessly at his body as if trying to haul him back to the surface.
What caused him to frown slightly was the thinning of the air.
With less and less oxygen available, his brain began to feel faintly dizzy—a sensation he had never experienced before.
But he did not panic.
Closing his eyes, Karl El focused inward and adjusted his body's internal functions.
A few seconds later, the rise and fall of his chest gradually ceased.
He had stopped breathing entirely.
When he opened his eyes again, the dizziness was gone. In its place was a look of realization—and a faint smile.
"So that's how it is," he thought.
In an environment saturated with solar energy, there was no longer any need to rely on breathing to survive. His reliance on oxygen had been nothing more than habit.
It was simply because he had lived as a normal person for so long that he had developed mental inertia—subconsciously believing that breathing was essential.
The brief dizziness had been the result of unfamiliarity and psychological suggestion during this first true breakthrough into the upper atmosphere.
Freed from the need to breathe, Karl El's body flickered with golden light. Energy surged violently within him, counteracting gravity and the hostile environment.
He accelerated upward once more.
Like a golden arrow, he pierced through the top of the storm-filled troposphere.
The world changed instantly.
His view opened wide. Above him stretched a deep, gradient-blue firmament. Below him lay an endless sea of rolling clouds.
There was no moisture here, no dark clouds, no freezing winds—only a gentle airflow, like a soft breeze brushing against his face.
Sunlight shone down unobstructed, purer and warmer than anything he had felt on the ground. It filled him with profound comfort, pleasure, and satisfaction that reached deep into his bones.
"Stratosphere…" The term surfaced naturally in Karl El's mind.
Compared to the hellish environment of the troposphere below, this place was nothing short of heaven.
What surprised him, however, was the noticeable weakening of the planet's gravitational pull.
This was his first time reaching such altitude, and he had not expected this change.
A spark of excitement flashed in his eyes.
Just how high could he go?
With that question lingering in his mind, Karl El continued his ascent—toward even greater heights.
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