"Now..." the man said, snapping Ryuk back to reality.
"If I may ask too, how did you end up in an Interdimensional Sewage Domain? What world are you from?" the man asked.
Ryuk's eyebrows furrowed, but in the end, they relaxed and he decided to reply truthfully.
"I'm from a world called Endearth."
"I partook as a trial taker in a random cultivation ruin, and after completing the first mission, I collapsed from exhaustion."
"The last thing I heard was that I was being sent into the reward room."
"When I opened my eyes, I saw the face of the twins..." he replied.
The man's eyes flashed as he reclined in his seat while his hand stroked his beard.
"Peculiar. You ought to have been sent to a reward room, but instead, you were sent into a garbage disposal? That's really peculiar."
"A situation like this, where the participant is transferred into another place rather than where they ought to be, is either due to them having done something wrong to pass the test and later discovered, or some intervention of an otherworldly force faintly overriding the laws of a ruin to take control of its takers."
"That is much rarer though, as the process is much more complex and definitely done with a distinct aim."
"It could also be this place being your reward room, but then a Sewage disposal as reward room? That seems very unlikely .." the man said, once again talking to himself.
Ryuk's eyes flashed with understanding.
'Could it be?'
'The mission requested that I should be the only one in the room, meaning I had to get rid of Antares.'
'But I chose to spare Antares' life and instead sent him into the Void Rift.'
'That definitely seemed like I was walking around the system, but I did fulfil the mission. I was the only living being present?'
'Could this be the ruin punishing me, or—as the man said—the intervention of an otherworldly force? I think the former is more likely...' Ryuk thought to himself.
"Well then," the man said as he turned his attention to him.
"Seems like you'll be stuck in here for a while.'
'Your world, Endearth, doesn't strike any chord in my brain, meaning your chances of ever finding it or getting back to it are close to nil.'
'Believe me, I am aware of more names of worlds than you are of people in your 17 years of lifetime." He replied as Ryuk's eyes flashed, but he didn't dwell on it too much.
'I'll find a way back to Endearth. That's without question.'
"I'll be honoured if I'm well received by the inhabitants of this world."
"But I must ask—what is it with this body? I don't remember this being my body," Ryuk asked as he looked at his weird arms and watched as the man's eyes flashed brightly.
"Oh yes. How could I forget..." the man said as he rose to his feet and swerved his hands through the air.
Ryuk watched as silvery, translucent runic lines appeared in the air before they formed a large rectangular box that soon began flashing with incredibly clear images.
But the image on the screen right now was quite disturbing.
It was the body of a seemingly half-devoured and half-burnt machine corpse, with no arms, legs, and nothing but its head and upper chest remaining.
A picture that made Ryuk's stomach almost turn.
"This creation in the image above is how you were brought to me."
"Half-destroyed, deader than alive, and in a pretty devastating condition. But!"
"I sensed something. Something incredibly peculiar about your body. I could see there was something extraordinary—something I have only seen once in my countless years of lifetime," he said in such a feverish tone that Ryuk's heart began thumping louder.
"I sensed tiny bits of machineries that you might know be referred to as nanotechnology."
"But yours... yours isn't any ordinary nanotechnology. The template of your body belongs to an incredibly advanced, ancient, yet extinct race."
"A race referred to as the Annunakis!" he said as he looked Ryuk in the eye.
Ryuk looked back at him, but he couldn't help but notice the silvery circular rune in the man's eyes that were starting to roll with excitement.
"For countless years, I have studied them. I have chased them—the absolute peak of machinery and technology our universe will ever know."
"And who is to believe, I would find a being who has fused with an Annunaki template from garbage machinery? Hahaha!" He laughed out loud before swerving the image to the side.
Another set of images appeared.
This time, the image revealed the full body of a creature.
A body that was mostly covered in Nanomachineries and blue gems—the exact same as the one Ryuk had now—but in the picture, there was an open hole in the place where the heart ought to be.
"This. This is what I found after traversing an ancient ruin, 100 years' distance from this world."
"The true complete body of an Annunaki model."
"A work of ancient, advanced creation."
"A body of immense power, yet often reffered to as absolute uselessness..." the man said, causing Ryuk's eyes to go from awe to confusion.
"What do you mean uselessness?"
"Very good question, youngling."
"You see, the Annunaki are an advanced race—the peak of technology in known universes."
"But after their extinction, their bodies are incredibly difficult to find."
"Some of them can only be found in the most ancient and dangerous of ruins, while others exist in places where hands will never reach."
"While their bodies can be studied, their template is too advanced to be comprehended by most."
"And to top it all off, a fusion with an Annunaki model was impossible for any race."
"Some are lucky to find an Annunaki model, but it can't really be studied by most of them as it's too advanced."
"And because of its absolute uniqueness, it is simply impossible to transplant the body into another."
"Even if a living heart is placed into the body to start it, it is absolutely unreactive and unresponsive."
"The Annunaki might be an extinct race that had reached the peak of a subject, but without them being able to be studied, and not being able to be fused with others, then they become quite a useless artifact, no?"