Returning to Cerydra, while Hysilens displayed only subtle asymmetries, Cerydra's entire outfit was steeped in mismatched elements.
The crown atop her head tilted to the right, and several cyan diamond-shaped patterns adorned the left side of her forehead. Her sleeves were mismatched—one black, the other white. On her legs, she wore a black thigh-high stocking on her right leg, while her left leg was bare except for a thigh ring.
Truth be told, Tribios found the stocking situation odd, but Cerydra herself felt even more peculiar. Physically, one leg was encased in the stocking while the other was completely bare. She took a few tentative steps and experienced an indescribable sense of strangeness.
Cerydra's attire was heavily influenced by chess elements, hence her mismatched sleeves. So, shouldn't her legs also have one black stocking and one white stocking? Why, then, was the opposite leg bare instead of wearing a white stocking?
After pondering for a moment, Cerydra couldn't quite grasp the situation and gave up trying to understand. She was currently wearing her Identity's default Skin, but if she wasn't satisfied, she could easily change clothes herself—there was no need to dwell on it here.
Cerydra glanced down at her attire. She was wearing a backless gown similar to Hysilens', and her long hair cascaded down her back, obscuring most of it. Unlike Hysilens, however, Cerydra's shoulders were bare. She gently raised her hand, revealing her pale, fragrant shoulders and perfectly smooth underarms.
Finally, Cerydra examined her hands. Each hand sported three rings: two blue rings on the middle finger and one gold ring on the pinky of her left hand, and one gold ring on the thumb and two blue rings on the index finger of her right hand.
Why were the rings arranged this way? She couldn't figure it out. Still, she suspected it wasn't a random design. Perhaps there were some subtle details or hidden meanings behind it?
Having thoroughly observed the appearances of her two new identities, the next logical step was to test their capabilities. With Hysilens present, Tribios considered for a moment and then opened a Century Gate, revealing an endless expanse of azure sea beyond.
In the Material Plane, all nations actually existed on a single massive continental plate. At its center lay the All Nations Alliance, with the Eastern Ancient Kingdom to the east, the Dragon Ember Empire to the west, and the Great Southern Forest to the south. Beyond these well-known regions...
Both west of the Dragon Ember Empire and east of the Eastern Ancient Kingdom stretched boundless oceans. Even the Northern Territory had once been a sea, its waters frozen solid due to the extreme cold, resembling the Arctic of Tribios's previous life.
While the situation in the Eastern Ancient Kingdom remained unclear, many within the Dragon Ember Empire had attempted voyages westward. The vast majority found nothing beyond the horizon; without any landmarks for navigation, most couldn't even return, eventually getting lost at sea.
Tribios had casually opened a Century Gate far to the west. After passing through, she and Cerydra floated in mid-air, while Hysilens leaped down with a splash, plunging into the sea below.
The icy seawater enveloped Hysilens the moment she hit the water. Her first instinct was to hold her breath and close her eyes, instinctively trying to swim toward the surface—exactly what any ordinary person would do in such a situation.
But Hysilens quickly realized she was no ordinary person anymore. She slowly stopped moving and cautiously opened her eyes.
It seemed anyone could open their eyes underwater, as long as the water was clear enough. Conversely, murky water or seawater could potentially harm the eyes.
In her previous life, she had never tried this. But now, after overcoming the last vestige of her human, primal fear, Hysilens opened her eyes. To her surprise, she felt no discomfort whatsoever. On the contrary, her vision was remarkably clear.
Hysilens opened her small mouth, hesitated for several seconds, and then tentatively inhaled. Overcoming the instinct to breathe underwater proved far more challenging than simply opening her eyes beneath the surface.
Tribios, watching from above, had even prepared to use the Century Gate to instantly transport her other self back to Okhema at the first sign of choking.
However, these preparations and anxieties proved entirely unnecessary. Hysilens inhaled and exhaled smoothly, tiny bubbles escaping her lips like a fish, showing no discomfort whatsoever.
The mere ability to open her eyes and breathe underwater thrilled her, like a child with a new toy. With a thought, she began to glide effortlessly through the water at high speed.
This wasn't swimming in the conventional sense, with flailing limbs, but rather more like flying underwater. Hysilens needed no extraneous movements; simply adjusting her lithe form to minimize water resistance was enough.
She darted freely through the water, left and right, up and down, without a destination or end goal. The act of swimming itself brought her immense joy and amusement.
She had come to test her Authority and abilities, but instead, she was just playing around.
However, as she swam faster and faster underwater, Hysilens gradually began to feel a faint discomfort. She slowly came to a stop and looked down at her hands, or more accurately, at the clothes she was wearing.
The discomfort stemmed precisely from these clothes.
How to put it? It felt like sleeping fully dressed. Surely, taking off all her clothes and slipping into a warm bed would be far more comfortable! To her, this vast sea felt just like a 'warm bed'.
In the game, Hysilens herself had once mentioned that she didn't particularly enjoy wearing clothes. Could this habit have been inherited by her current Identity, now imprinted on her?
Is... is this right?
She suddenly remembered hearing about a group called 'Naturists' in her past life, especially prevalent in France. These people advocated for activities like nude swimming. But she quickly shook her head, her long black hair swaying in the seawater. To her, that still felt a bit too avant-garde.
Hysilens tugged at her seawater-soaked clothes, dismissing the minor discomfort as trivial.
After playing in the water for a while, she finally began earnestly studying her Authority. Having performed this ritual countless times through her other Identities, she was now exceptionally proficient at it.
As Hysilens gradually calmed her mind, her thoughts sank deep within. The moment she 'touched' her Authority, she felt the entire ocean become an extension of herself—her limbs, her very body. She could command it at will; even summoning a tsunami was merely a thought away.
Through the seawater, Hysilens could directly 'see' hundreds, even thousands of kilometers away. It was only when she used this ability to spot Tribios and Cerydra flying above the sea about two hundred kilometers away that she belatedly realized she had playfully swum such an astonishing distance in the blink of an eye.
In addition to her newfound swimming speed, Hysilens discovered she could command and control the fish in the sea. Earlier, her rapid swimming had startled most of the fish, scattering them in all directions. But with a mere thought, she summoned them back, and they swirled around her.
Colorful, long, square, wide, flat—fish of every shape and size rubbed against her. The school completely enveloped her until she waved them away. They lingered about a meter or two around her, as if yearning to nuzzle closer but held back by her command.
At first glance, the fish seemed quite adorable. Yet Hysilens could sense that these creatures possessed almost no intelligence, acting purely on instinct. This very lack of intellect allowed her to freely command them.
If she encountered more intelligent marine life, her ability would likely function as a means of communication rather than direct command.
Next, Hysilens experimented with another power. She held her hands open before her chest, and a ball of purple water materialized in her palms, its color starkly contrasting with the surrounding seawater.
Hysilens opened her mouth and swallowed the purple liquid in one gulp. Cupping her cheeks with both hands, she squinted her eyes, a blissful expression spreading across her face.
"Mmm~"
The God of the Ocean was also known as the Chalice of Plenty, possessing the ability to create honeyed wines—in other words, alcoholic beverages. The purple liquid Hysilens had just consumed was one of her own honeyed wine creations, and it tasted absolutely divine!
Before this, the finest wine she had ever tasted was Okhema's Holy Maiden Wine. But compared to this divine nectar, the Holy Maiden Wine paled in comparison. After all, one was crafted by mortals, while the other was created by a god!
Soon, Hysilens' cheeks flushed crimson, though she wasn't drunk. Her mind remained crystal clear, her body simply feeling warm and comfortably numb.
Suppressing the urge for another glass, Hysilens took a deep breath. Then, she opened her mouth and began to hum softly in an ethereal voice. Unlike the synchronized singing and dancing Hyacine practiced, this was the Siren Song. As a member of the Siren Race—or, as some might say, the Mermaid Race—charming and bewitching others with her voice was a fundamental skill, wasn't it?
Her voice could plunge others into hallucinations, completely blurring the line between reality and illusion—an incredibly potent Control Skill. But with only a school of dumb fish around, she couldn't properly test its limits.
Finally, Hysilens extended her right hand, and seawater coalesced in her palm, forming a translucent fish. Seawater Shaping—she could manipulate seawater into any form she desired, including various fish, weapons, or even a colossal, hundred-meter-tall seawater giant, like a watery Susanoo avatar.
Moreover, as she continuously channeled divine power and sculpted intricate details, the tiny seawater fish in her hand began to show signs of life. If she wished, could she perhaps create life from nothing?
Just as she was testing this ability, a realization struck her. She glanced down at her abdomen again. This body, her entire being—it seemed, perhaps, possibly, that she herself was composed of this very skill!
To put it simply, she wasn't actually a mermaid. Her true form was a mass of highly specialized "water," much like the Water Elemental Great Spirit she had fought against Hyacine earlier. In essence, Hysilens and that Water Great Spirit were the same type of being! This explained why her abdomen was translucent, allowing one to see the water within.
However, unlike the Water Great Spirit, the "Spirit Water" that constituted Hysilens's body was of far superior quality, capable of achieving perfect mimicry. For example, her current physical form was indistinguishable from a human body—a level of transformation the Water Great Spirit could never achieve.
With this realization, she finally understood why wearing clothes felt so unnatural. She had initially attributed it to habit, assuming that as a mermaid, "Hysilens" normally lived underwater without clothing, her lower body a fishtail. Only when she came ashore did the tail transform into legs, forcing her to wear human garments, which naturally felt foreign.
But in reality, the mermaid form itself was merely a perfect mimicry of "Spirit Water." The so-called transformation of her tail into legs was simply a shift in this mimicry. Since Hysilens's true form was water, being submerged while separated from it by a layer of foreign material (cumbersome clothes) was bound to feel unnatural.
Hysilens tugged at her soaking clothes again. She even briefly considered stripping naked to test her abilities, but her sense of modesty held her back. "Never mind, never mind!"
After taking a deep breath to calm herself, she realized she didn't actually need to breathe at all. The act of breathing was merely a mimicry of human behavior.
Having grasped her abilities, Hysilens pondered. Perhaps because she felt so comfortable in the sea, or simply out of curiosity and playfulness, she didn't immediately return to the surface. Instead, she expanded her Perception, continuing her descent.
She wanted to see the seafloor.
As Hysilens plunged deeper, around 200 meters below the surface, all traces of sunlight vanished. At this depth, no human eye could possibly detect sunlight; only a few fish adapted to these depths might perceive faint traces of light.
Continuing her descent to approximately 1,000 meters, she found herself in complete, absolute darkness. At this depth, not only was sunlight nonexistent, but the fish themselves lacked eyes, their vision having degenerated completely.