As Morax's power flowed into him,
the sleeping Aether began to feel a warm current circulating continuously through his body.
S-So comfortable…
That sensation lasted for over half an hour.
Aether slowly opened his eyes.
The first thing he saw was a hand injecting golden energy into his body. Following the hand upward, he looked toward its owner…
"Mo—"
Wait.
Why does this person look so familiar?
Even though the man was dressed in white robes, Aether recognized him at a glance.
Wasn't this one of the characters from Genshin Impact?
One of the Seven Demon Gods who govern the mortal realm, the god of Liyue Harbor, the Lord of Geo and Wealth, bearer of countless titles—
Morax.
"You're awake?"
"I happened to pass by earlier and sensed some disturbance here, so I came to investigate."
"I found you unconscious on the ground."
"Why would you damage your own origin the moment you were born?"
Seeing Aether awaken, Morax withdrew his hand and looked at him, voicing the doubt in his heart.
If he hadn't misheard earlier, the boy had muttered something like "Mo" just now.
He certainly hadn't touched him.
Another strange demon god, added to the list.
Hearing Morax's question, Aether froze for a moment.
Uh…
How was he supposed to explain this?
He couldn't exactly say that he'd been careless and failed to dodge, could he?
As a newcomer, he hadn't yet grasped the proper limits of his Authority. He'd accidentally overused it and ended up damaging his own origin.
Fortunately, after checking his condition, Aether found that the damage wasn't severe. It would probably take around ten or so years to fully recover.
But how was he supposed to answer Morax now?
Let me think…
"I… I just wanted to give myself a body. I was too greedy and accidentally overconsumed my origin…"
Aether said weakly.
He felt it was better not to lie to Morax about something like this.
By now, he already had a rough idea of what kind of world he had transmigrated into.
Morax dressed like this could only exist during the era of the Demon God War—and as everyone knew, that era was extremely brutal and dangerous.
If he wanted to survive in such a time, the best choice was to find a reliable pillar to lean on.
And Morax was Aether's target.
So his current objective was to gain Morax's trust as much as possible—
Then follow Morax and stick close to him.
After all, although he had obtained the authority of a demon god, he was still essentially a sixteen-year-old boy from Earth.
Earth's nine-year compulsory education certainly didn't include a course called One Thousand and One Survival Tips for Transmigrating into the Demon God War Era…
Ahem. Obviously, Aether had never learned anything like that.
After hearing Aether's explanation, Morax looked at the youth lying before him and fell into thought.
He found it hard to understand.
Hard to understand why a demon god would willingly damage their own origin just to obtain a human-shaped body.
In his eyes, that was a foolish thing to do.
But perhaps Aether had his own reasons for doing so…
Morax was not human.
Aether, on the other hand, had transmigrated from Earth as a human. Naturally, he couldn't accept his perfectly normal body suddenly turning into a cloud of white mist.
"You're quite interesting."
"Very few newly born demon gods would allow their origin to be damaged."
Mm… very few. In truth, probably only Aether had ever done this.
But Morax chose a less absolute phrasing to spare the boy's feelings.
"The wilderness is full of danger. Would you like to follow me to my territory as a guest?"
"Although this invitation may be a little abrupt,"
"please believe me when I say that I have no ill intentions."
Morax's words were filled with sincerity.
Seeing Morax's current attitude, Aether became even more certain about the period they were in.
It should still be before the Demon God War officially began.
If the Demon God War had already started—an era where all demon gods lived in fear, slaughtering one another under the mandate of the Heavenly Principles to decide the final seven victors—Morax would never casually befriend a strange demon god, much less bring one back to his own territory.
That would be far too dangerous.
From this perspective, the Demon God War hadn't yet begun, which was good news for Aether.
If a newbie like him had to face the full intensity of the Demon God War right from the start, could he just dig a hole and bury himself on the spot instead?
Hearing Morax's invitation, Aether excitedly got to his feet and nodded repeatedly.
"Mm, sure, sure!"
"Thank you for helping me. Otherwise, who knows how long I would've stayed unconscious."
"I believe someone like you wouldn't harbor any ill will toward me."
"My name is Zennos—the Demon God of Manifestation!"
Aether directly introduced both his name and his authority.
In the era of demon gods, this was perfectly normal. Since everyone was a demon god, being secretive instead would seem suspicious, as if one were plotting something.
As for the name Zennos, Aether had completely made it up on the spot. As far as he knew, there had never been any Demon God of Manifestation in Genshin Impact anyway.
If a Demon God of Manifestation could exist, then what was wrong with there also being a demon god named Zennos?
Zennos? The Demon God of Manifestation?
I see.
"So you are Zennos, the Demon God of Manifestation."
"I am Morax, the Geo Demon God."
"Come. Follow me to my territory."
With that, Morax rose directly into the air, looking as though he was about to turn into a streak of golden light and vanish in an instant.
"Why aren't you moving?"
Seeing that Aether hadn't followed, Morax looked at him in confusion.
Had he suddenly changed his mind and decided not to go after all?
Morax's favorability toward Aether immediately dropped a notch.
Uh…
Aether wanted to go too, alright?
But you never told me that by "go," you meant flying!
"I… didn't you say we were going? Why are we flying…" Aether said weakly.
Morax looked at Aether in surprise, scanning him up and down.
Then he asked, "You can't fly?"
"Me? Should I be able to?" Aether pointed at himself uncertainly.
Should he be able to fly?
Do all demon gods automatically know how to do this? Then why couldn't he?!
Morax paused.
That was true—Aether was a newly born demon god. It was normal that he hadn't yet mastered flight.
He himself had been careless.
"Very well. Then I shall impart to you the experience of flight."
A sphere of golden light condensed in Morax's palm. This was presumably the "flight experience" he mentioned.
"Take it and integrate it into your body."
Trusting that Morax wouldn't harm him, Aether naturally absorbed the golden sphere.
Instantly, a wealth of unfamiliar knowledge appeared in his mind.
The guidance of divine power… applications of divine power for flight… theories on the usage and accumulation of divine power…
In addition to flight, Morax had also given Aether a great deal of fundamental knowledge on how to use divine power.
He really was too kind.
Aether was genuinely moved to tears.
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