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It had to be said that Ian's line of thinking was indeed not wrong. Everything inside this room was absolutely not something that belonged to this world.
If the female Titan, Claire, was not herself a crossover, then the only possible crossover would be the one who taught her all of this… who, judging from the current situation, could only be Raven. And between Raven and Claire, there was certainly a very close relationship.
Otherwise, Claire would definitely not have received such thorough, complete "crossover" instruction, nor would she have become what she is now, a couch potato. Well, she is not fat, but she did indeed look extremely reclusive.
She was completely different from the other Titans Ian had seen... not only in body type, but also in mindset. In this light, it made perfect sense that she had been expelled from the Titan clans.
After all,
If one did not grow up under the Titans' education, one would naturally be unable to integrate into their way of thinking.
Perhaps she was the only person who had truly come into contact with Raven and was thus the only one capable of prophesying about her.
After all, this was the world of Harry Potter. Judging by how seers functioned in this world, a seer would only foresee things they wished to see, as well as matters closely related to themselves.
Even though Claire was a life form on par with a planetary creation lord, her power was ultimately subject to such rules.
The abilities of later human seers originated in ancient times. It is unknown whether these abilities were passed down from Claire, but even if they were merely powers of creation or manufacture, they would still have to follow some kind of reference framework.
The abilities of a creation lord and those of a human wizard should not differ by too vast a margin.
Thinking of the methods the Titans possessed, Ian's earlier doubts resurfaced. Deeply shaken, he flipped through the paintings and could not help but speak up to ask,
"Can you do all of this by yourself? Do you possess all the Titans' abilities?" Ian felt that each Titan should govern different powers and authorities.
Creating life...
No matter how you look at it, that should require a joint effort, shouldn't it?
"That's just how seers are," Claire said casually as she sat back down on her beanbag chair. "Whatever I want to learn, I can learn. I just need to peek."
She made a sneaky peeking gesture, and suddenly, her eyes turned completely purple. Countless tiny runes appeared in her pupils but vanished in an instant.
This was clearly just a brief demonstration of a seer's "screen-peeking" ability. From this perspective, it was outrageously powerful, a skill that allowed one to spy on the past or future at any time.
Of course,
If the ability to bestow life upon things could truly be acquired through learning, then the philosophy of later alchemy was obviously not wrong, and wizards would also be able to create life forms of their own.
The only thing lacking was craftsmanship.
Faced with Claire's answer, Ian was speechless. She was indeed far more powerful than any wizard he knew, after all, she was the ancestor of all ancestors.
"This kind of craftsmanship and the Titans' inherent immortality probably aren't related. They are linked to the rules of nature, clearly representing a form of superiority at the level of life itself."
As Ian thought this, his mind continued to churn.
He could not help but look at the female Titan, Claire, once again.
Outside the window, the starry sky was deep and vast. Inside the room, however, it was warm and quiet. The aroma of roasted eggs drifted from the fireplace, mingling with the scent of burning firewood and creating a strangely soothing sense of tranquility.
"The Titans' power is rooted in this world. Are you native lifeforms?" His question was bold, yet Claire was not offended.
Still, the question was like a stone thrown into a calm lake.
Claire's fingers paused for a brief moment on the video game controller. The firelight from the fireplace cast flickering shadows across her face, making that originally youthful visage suddenly appear ancient and mysterious.
"That's a bold question," She chuckled softly, not at all offended. "But the answer is simple. No, we are not. We come from the stars."
As expected.
It was just as Ian had predicted.
She casually set the video game aside, and the pixelated island on the screen froze in place.
"According to our records, we came from between the constellations, drifting for seven epochs aboard the World Ark. Oh, the World Ark is the very place beneath our feet right now."
"But once we found a new home, the migrants naturally abandoned this place. They grew tired of it, so in the end, it became a bargain for an unlucky wretch like me who was cast out."
The female Titan, Claire, stretched lazily, her silvery-white hair spilling like moonlight over the beanbag chair. She reached into the fireplace, hooked a wisp of flame, and shaped it into the form of a miniature galaxy at her fingertips.
"When we arrived, we discovered that this planet was dying. Your planet's creation lord lies beneath the polar ice cap. It wasn't dead, but it might as well have been."
"In any case, it couldn't be awakened."
Claire spoke as if she had witnessed it with her own eyes. Yet, she was clearly a Titan born on Earth. This must have been possible thanks to her abilities as a seer, which allowed her to trace history and spy on the past.
Ian looked at her face, an indescribable feeling rising in his heart. He had originally thought the Titans were merely mythical beings, but he never expected them to be survivors of science fiction.
It was obvious.
This world was far more complex than he had imagined.
"The Earth's creation lord? What did it look like?" Curiosity stirred within Ian, and he immediately pressed for more.
Claire glanced at him and continued, "Its body was more magnificent than the mountains. Its blood was liquid magic, and the authority to create all things flowed within its bones."
As she spoke...
The flames in the fireplace suddenly surged, casting bizarre shadows on the wall. Countless giant-like figures sat in a circle around an even larger body, conducting some kind of sacred yet terrifying feast.
"The twelve Titans devoured the creation lord's body. Of course, we couldn't truly kill such a life form, but we had knowledge. We knew how to make the Creation Lord coexist with us."
"The flesh and blood of the Creation Lord merged with us, becoming one with the Titans. That is how we gained the means to survive and obtain supreme authority on this planet."
Dressing up eating the creation lord in such lofty language, there really was no one else quite like that.
"That sounds like partitioning the corpse," Ian said bluntly.
Claire did not deny it. Instead, she smiled. "In a sense, yes. We absorbed the legacy of the Creation Lord and took on his responsibilities."
The female Titan's voice carried a hint of heaviness.
"What do you mean?" Ian blinked.
"We gained his authority, but we also inherited his curse." The flame at Claire's fingertips transformed into twelve indistinct human figures encircling a pulsating heart.
Ultimately, one of them was bestowed with the title of Titan King.
That was also the reason the Titan-King was so powerful.
"A curse?"
Ian unconsciously leaned forward. Since childhood, he had liked not only telling stories but also listening to them, especially secrets like these. One day, they would all become proof of his vast knowledge.
If you wanted to become a walking encyclopedia, you had to start early by collecting information that others didn't have. Whether secret lore or clever riddles, saying it out loud made you impressive as long as others didn't know it.
"Yes, a curse." The female Titan nodded.
A clear cry of a phoenix came from outside, interrupting her narration. Claire tilted her head to listen, then suddenly revealed a sly smile. "Do you know what the most ironic thing is?"
"What?" Ian continued to play the role of the curious child.
Claire didn't beat around the bush as she spoke. "That dead creation lord."
She leaned closer to Ian.
The breath she exhaled carried the scent of stardust.
"He looked exactly like a human. Yes, the wizard you see outside, the way they look, are lives the Titans manufactured based on the appearance of the creation lord."
"And precisely because of this, the Titans never realized that what they did caused them to hand back part of their authority. That is the true reason for the Titans' eventual downfall."
It was obvious.
Although Claire lived in this place, she was still extremely well-informed about what was happening outside. Her revelation also made Ian realize something.
The infinite potential of humanity.
Wasn't it because of this?
Because humans were identical to the creation lord, they could be considered a continuation of the creation lord. In fact, the earliest humans were that group of gods, but the gods clearly strayed from the path in the end.
They did not persist in the road of wizards, and thus diverged from the essence of the creation lord, eventually being overthrown by later human wizard.
The logic was a bit convoluted.
But the general idea was this: the Gods were closer to the creation lord, so the Gods defeated the Titans; later human wizards were even closer to the creation lord, so later human wizards were able to defeat the Gods.
"If that's really the case…" Ian felt as though he had glimpsed a world-shaking secret.
"Then the creation lord was a wizards? This place was his wizards' kingdom, or perhaps his private garden?" He felt this theory was truly worth serious study.
"I don't know." Claire shook her head at that.
"Even a seer can't see everything. The only thing I know is that Raven desperately wants to become a human, a species I didn't understand at all back then."
"Then that species must have something special about it. I also tried to manufacture a few of them, you should have seen them already." Claire was clearly referring to the predecessors of the Asgardians on the island.
If that was truly the case…
It seemed that the human creations of the Titans could never escape the ultimate fate of stepping onto the path of godhood; perhaps this was not merely a coincidence, but an inevitability of history?
Ian could not yet figure it out.
But, since the other party had mentioned biological alchemy, he hesitated for a moment before speaking. "May I ask you about some knowledge related to biological alchemy? It might be very useful to my future self."
In response, the female Titan did not refuse.
"Of course, that's no problem. However…"
Claire tilted her head to look at him, then suddenly revealed a mysterious smile. "Those things are very complicated. Perhaps… you should sleep first? We can talk after you wake up?"
"Why should I sleep?" Ian asked with a puzzled look on his face.
"Because your time to return home is almost here." Claire pointed out the window, where subtle changes were taking place in the sky, the positions of the stars were beginning to shift.
Only then did Ian realize something and spring to his feet. "Wait… don't tell me… the daytime in this world actually corresponds to nighttime in the normal timeline?"
Claire did not answer his question.
Because only he himself understood that when he crossed over, it had been night, yet when he arrived here it was daytime. So the daytime here did indeed correspond to the night he was supposed to be experiencing.
A hazy night.
"I wouldn't dare sleep in a place like this. Who knows whether you'd do something strange to me?" Ian said warily. He certainly wouldn't casually trust a stranger.
Especially when that stranger wasn't even of the same species as him.
"You will sleep." Claire's tone was firm.
"Huh?" Ian was both startled and uncertain.
"Because I saw you sleeping." Claire's voice suddenly became ethereal. Her eyes turned completely purple, countless tiny runes flowing within them.
Almost at the same moment she finished speaking, Ian suddenly felt an unprecedented wave of exhaustion wash over him. His eyelids grew as heavy as if filled with lead, and his body swayed uncontrollably before he collapsed to the ground, his consciousness rapidly blurring. Ian tried to say something, but an irresistible drowsiness surged over him.
"How did you do this?"
His eyelids became impossibly heavy, his vision fading. The last thing he saw was Claire picking up the video game again, her fingers tapping lightly across the screen.
"I just saw it. Go to sleep, Professor Raven, it's not a bad thing. At most, I'll just dress you up like a girl." Her voice seemed to come from very far away.
"When you wake up, you'll understand more."
Ian's body pitched forward.
Just as he was about to hit the ground, a gentle force caught him, easing him down until he lay flat on the floor. His breathing became steady and deep.
His consciousness sank into boundless darkness.
Claire looked at the sleeping Ian and softly sighed. She set the video game aside and walked to the window, gazing at the shifting starry sky.
"Time really flies," She murmured to herself, her fingers gently brushing over a line of small engraved words on the window frame: 'To my most idiot student… Raven'.
The phoenix egg in the fireplace let out its final soft crackle; it was completely roasted. A tiny new life emerged from inside, still holding a roasted egg in its claws, only for Claire to snatch it away and eat it directly.
The little phoenix voiced its dissatisfaction.
Because that had been its growth ration.
"You need to become smaller… a gigantic phoenix can't be kept as a pet." Golden light filled the entire room, coating the sleeping Ian in a warm halo.
"Good night, Professor Raven," She said softly.
A faint, almost imperceptible smile lingered at the corner of her lips. Outside the window, the phoenix cried out once more. Starlight cascaded over the entire floating island, as if bathing everything in a layer of dreamlike radiance.
At the same time…
Ian awoke within a void.
He felt no gravity and heard no sound, as if the entire world had been stripped of color and texture. His body floated weightlessly, surrounded by a blur of gray and white, like an old film obscured by dense fog. There was no temperature in the air, no scent, and even time itself seemed to have ceased flowing here.
It was still the Twilight Zone.
Only… this time, Ian realized that he had not merely arrived at a new place. Everything around him was rendered entirely in black and white, and it was as if this were an unchangeable past.
(End of Chapter)