(Elysia didn't have elf ears when she was a child, but little fairy Ely does~ And isn't she just so cute?)
"Tsk, this is the first time I've seen a situation like this..."
Ryn sighed. He was still a bit too young. Elysia was young and inexperienced, so it was understandable she wouldn't know about this, but how could he have not considered it?
Even people can get cut by the lid of a can, let alone an animal.
"Stop roaring. Elysia didn't do it on purpose. Let me compensate you..."
Ryn knocked the Big Black Bear unconscious with a single slap, then formed his five fingers into a blade and plunged it into the bear's body, creating a thunder-element core inside it.
But thinking about how he only had a few Honkai Beasts, giving it just one core seemed a bit stingy. If he was going to give it something, he should give it the best. So, he stuffed a few more cores into the Big Black Bear: a life-attribute core, a wind-attribute core, a rock-attribute core...
After all, a Herrscher creating Honkai Beasts didn't consume anything, so he could make them however he wanted~
As Ryn was preparing to modify the Big Black Bear, not far away, Elysia was silently watching everything through a pair of binoculars she carried with her.
Realizing that her good intentions had led to a bad outcome, Elysia was heartbroken. She had only wanted to share her most precious treasure with her new friend, but she never imagined her treasure would end up hurting the Big Black Bear.
Especially now, when Elysia saw Ryn knock the Big Black Bear out with one slap and plunge his arm straight through its body.
"Stop! Don't hurt the Big Black Bear!!"
Elysia cried out as she ran towards Ryn.
Ryn had just turned his head at the sound when a small, pink-haired ball of fluff leaped at him and hugged his waist.
"Brother Ryn, don't hurt the Big Black Bear! He's Elysia's friend!"
"Didn't I tell you to stay put... It's not right for someone so young to lie."
Ryn shook his arm, flicking off the blood, then picked Elysia up by the waist and carried her away from the Big Black Bear.
"The Big Black Bear... is it dead?"
Looking at the Big Black Bear lying motionless on the ground, blood still trickling from the corner of its mouth and its back, Elysia muttered to herself in a daze.
"Dead, dead, dead. A child shouldn't talk about death all the time. If you keep saying that word, I'm going to give you a good spanking."
Ryn pinched Elysia's nose and put on a fierce expression to scare her.
But Elysia wasn't frightened by Ryn's stern face. Instead, she puffed out her cheeks angrily and glared at him.
"You're a bad person! You killed the Big Black Bear! Elysia doesn't want to be your friend anymore!"
"I didn't kill it. It's alive and well."
Ryn shook his head, then pointed at the Big Black Bear's body and said to Elysia:
"Elysia, do you believe there are gods in this world? I know it might be hard to explain, but this world is actually..."
"I believe in gods."
Elysia nodded without hesitation, saying with a serious expression, "There must be gods in this world. The mother at the orphanage took us to worship every day. Although I don't know who God is, if there's a God, then there must be gods, right?
If there are gods, then there must be an Eternal Elysium in the world!"
"Uh..."
Ryn scratched his head awkwardly. Where in this world would you find an Eternal Elysium? Expecting a god to create some paradise was less realistic than hoping he'd one day lose his mind and turn the world into his own personal Eden of wine and debauchery...
"The god I'm talking about isn't the kind from your fairy tale books. Now, please witness the great divine power of a god who still walks the earth!"
Ryn extended his hand towards the Big Black Bear, then slowly turned his wrist and pressed down.
The next moment, violent bolts of lightning began to flicker around the Big Black Bear's body. Then, its form started to grow larger, its dark brown fur rapidly turning snow-white, and the claws on its paws became harder and more prominent.
At the same time, the can in the Big Black Bear's mouth melted into a torrent of molten iron that covered its body, forming a suit of armor filled with patterns of Honkai energy.
"Wow! Wow—"
Elysia's cherry-like mouth fell open in astonishment. She pointed at the transforming Big Black Bear, then turned to look at Ryn in disbelief.
Ryn conjured a few small grapes and popped them into Elysia's open mouth, then helped her close her jaw.
Then he leaned close to Elysia and asked smugly, "Isn't it amazing? Isn't it incredible? Don't you admire me so much that you want to kneel down and kiss the ground at my feet?"
"Ew… I would never do that!"
Elysia pushed Ryn's face away with a disgusted look, all while chewing the grapes in her mouth.
"Mother Manta Ray has done stuff like this in front of me with some unknown purple energy blocks. That's not what a god is!
My idea of a god is someone who can appear when everyone is in despair, save the world like a hero in a fairy tale, and eliminate danger for everyone. Then they would build an Eternal Paradise where everyone can live together happily ever after."
"Hmm… I can do the first part, but as for the latter, making everyone happy forever, that's…"
That's a lost cause. Only a child would still fantasize about everyone being happy forever... He could modify everyone's brains to make them eternally happy, but...
To be human is to have emotions and desires. The most prominent is desire; a person without desire can only be called a walking puppet.
And once there is desire, happiness will inevitably be unevenly distributed. If some are happy, others must be sad.
An eternal paradise already exists, in a way. A graveyard, isn't that it?
Eternally happy, or perhaps, eternally sad.
Elysia shook her head in disappointment and said to Ryn, "So, Brother Ryn, you're not a god."
"It's fine. If I think I'm a god, then I am a god. As for you…"
Ryn shrugged nonchalantly, then placed Elysia down on the ground from his arms, grabbing the back of her collar and lifting her up.
"You should go back and read more fairy tales and live in your sweet dreams."
While Ryn and Elysia were talking, the Big Black Bear had completed its transformation.
It stood there, dangerous lightning crackling in its eyes. The claws on its five-fingered paws were like sharp daggers.
After transforming into a Honkai Beast, its standing height nearly doubled from 2.5 meters to 5.1 meters. Standing before Ryn and Elysia, it was like a small two-story building.
But this wasn't its final form. As long as it had enough Honkai energy, it could grow even larger.
Since Ryn had transformed it into a Honkai Beast, its intelligence had increased, and it had gained some knowledge...
Every step it took was like a heavy weight hitting the ground, creating a small tremor. But with each step, its form shrank, and parts of its armor disintegrated and vanished.
After a few steps, it had turned back into a 2.5-meter-tall white bear.
It knelt on one knee before Ryn and Elysia, placed a hand over its chest, and performed a standard knight's salute.
"Dharma-Ending-class Honkai Beast—Volibear. I greet my master."