"When shooting stars fall, it heralds the death of a powerful being..."
A sharp gleam flashed in Tifa's eyes. "Sure, it's an omen of ill fortune, but I don't care about that. A chance like this won't come around again — I bet before long this place will be crawling with adventurers. I've got to go in and grab something good before they do... Who knows, maybe I, Tifa, can set foot on the path of an adventurer too and become a respected lord!"
In the eyes of a naive village child, the adventurers who occasionally passed through in their leather armor were mighty powers, and the local baron was already a big shot.
"If only I could find a legendary item..." Little stars were practically dancing in Tifa's eyes, and a trail of drool slipped from the corner of his mouth.
"Isn't that how all the bards' tales go? When the hero is still young, he stumbles upon some divine artifact, and from that moment on, he walks the path of destiny — that is seriously so cool..."
Fueled by the reverence of one who dreamed of becoming a hero, Tifa steeled his courage and ventured into the dense forest.
At that very moment, Raylin's soul seed had run into enormous trouble.
"Damn it! This drain! And the suppression of all supernatural power!"
Raylin had already discovered that he couldn't move a single inch. What was worse, his remaining soul force was being devoured at an alarming rate under the crushing pressure of this world.
"Unacceptable! A soul seed left exposed like this is far too fragile — I need to find a vessel to inhabit!"
Raylin's soul force continued to hemorrhage as the objects within a ten-meter radius flickered into his awareness one by one, only to be rejected in turn.
"No living creatures! Plants won't work — too fragile. Rock? That might do, if I can't find anything better by the end..."
In the end, Raylin's soul seed finally settled on something that was at least passable.
It was a rusted, broken sword — how many years it had lain buried here, no one could say. Concealed beneath layers of rotting soil, the impact of Raylin's descent had unearthed it and brought it back into the light.
"Soul Attachment!"
A flicker of dark crimson light flashed across the blade, and Raylin's soul seed vanished from where it had been.
The moment he entered the broken sword, Raylin felt a flicker of relief as his consumption rate dropped — though it was still terrifyingly high.
At the same time, a wave of weakness emanated endlessly from the depths of his soul seed.
"Just that single soul transfer burned through more than half my reserves. At this rate, even with the main body feeding me support, I won't last more than a few days. I need to find a source of replenishment — or gather data — as fast as possible."
With the formidable barriers of the Divine World, the cost of Raylin's main body projecting support across them was astronomically high — even the main body itself couldn't sustain it for long.
Once the main body withdrew its support, this soul seed would automatically self-destruct.
[Alert! Atmospheric data detected! Energy particle data collection in progress! Attempting to parse world rules! Physical constants being remeasured!]
Meanwhile, Chip was continuously scanning the surrounding environment, transmitting the most valuable first-hand data back in real time.
"Even the laws themselves are different. And with this kind of world's hostility and suppression, even if my main body came here personally, it would be extremely difficult to cast any truly extraordinary magical abilities. Every single sorcery template will need to be completely restructured!"
Raylin's expression grew somewhat grave. Then, the soul force radiating outward from him immediately detected the approach of other living beings.
"Hmm?!"
Through the sensing range of his soul force, he felt the surrounding forest stir — and then a small boy with fiery red hair emerged from the bushes.
The child wore linen clothing covered in rags and patches, clearly indicating that his family was not well-off.
And within the boy's eyes, Raylin could see both fear and anticipation.
"A sentient inhabitant of this world, then? Just as Beelzebub's memories indicated — completely indistinguishable from ordinary humans!"
Thanks to Beelzebub's memory database, Raylin was far from ignorant about the Divine World.
"Judging by his appearance, he's probably a child from a nearby village. Perhaps... I can make use of him to some extent. After all, intelligence on the grassroots life forms and social structures of the Divine World would be quite valuable..."
With that thought, Raylin immediately decided to take action.
"This should be where the meteorite crashed earlier... Heh heh..."
Night had already fallen. Cool moonlight filtered down through the treetops, cold wind howled through the black forest, and the temperature had dropped considerably, making Tifa instinctively hug his arms tighter.
The fear of the unknown, combined with the gloomy darkness of the forest, sent creeping waves of unease through the boy's heart.
"Cuckoo! Cuckoo!"