Carrying him steadily toward the depths of the lake.
The light slowly gets swallowed bit by bit.
Light blue, deep blue, until the water body finally turns pitch black.
He feels as if he has fallen into an extremely quiet world.
All the chaos is left behind, as if returning to the primordial state of life.
"Lord Meteora? Lord Meteora?"
He attempts to communicate with the Lake God, but there seems to be no response.
His body continues to sink downward.
He doesn’t know how much time has passed.
His feet touch a fine sandy ground.
Unlike the pitch-black water body above, at the bottom of Blue Lake, the water here emits a strange luminescence like a sea of stars.
[This place, is the heart of Blue Lake, and also the root of my existence.]
Meteora’s voice sounds, more ethereal than when it was by the shore, but with added solemnity.
It extends its hand, not touching Gauss, but the water around him starts to spin faster, forming a slow and steady vortex.
The gleam around the vortex continuously gets sucked in, then rushes into Gauss’ body.
In an instant, Gauss feels an indescribable cool sensation wash over his entire body.
This power is gentle yet immense, seemingly cleansing and scouring his body.
The first to change is Gauss’ skin and organs.
He clearly feels like he has completely merged with the water, which is no longer an external entity, but extends like tendrils, as part of his body.
He doesn’t need to concentrate intentionally to clearly sense every slight disturbance within a hundred-meter radius of the water, he seems to "hear" the whispers of aquatic creatures like fish and shrimp.
His skin pores slightly expand, and after a momentary discomfort, it’s as if he can breathe underwater autonomously.
The impurities in his blood are gradually expelled from his body.
His spirit and Magic Power benefit as well, like a clear spring nourishing this "pond".
And continuously expanding the boundaries of his soul’s "pond".
Beside him, the Holy Water power bestowed by Meteora earlier now changes form continually, as if possessing life.
Sometimes turning into a flying shuttle circling around, then reorganizing into a flowing water longbow...
In this state, Gauss gradually falls asleep.
[Sigh...]
[This time the consumption again requires a period of slumber.]
Meteora looks at Gauss submerged in the water body.
Naturally, it can detect the trace of hidden power Aisweir entrusted to Gauss.
Aisweir must have its reasons for doing so.
It’s willing to invest a portion of power in this quite acceptable human in advance.
[Sigh...]
It thinks of Aisweir’s prophecy about the future, where the resurrection of the world’s "dark side" impacts not only the fate of humans and other races, but also has profound effects on them, the nature spirits.
Both it and Aisweir were born a long time ago, back when nature spirits were far from being as sparse as they are now.
However, world rules have undergone several transitions, forcing specially born entities originating from the Material Realm to gradually lose their peak powers.
It has no choice but to overcome the erosion of rules through slumber, while Aisweir is likely able to maintain long-term wakefulness by resisting another malevolent thought-state.
Entities like them are already in the best condition, as many nature spirits have involuntarily merged into the world itself, a powerful and dangerous new will is resurrecting.
This land is experiencing a change not seen in millions of years.
...
Time passes by unnoticed.
Beneath the originally calm lake surface, a white-robed figure slowly emerges to the surface of the water.
At the moment of reaching the water surface, seemingly stimulated by the sunlight, Gauss slowly opens his eyes.
His cheeks emerge from the water, the cool lake water gently lapping at his cheeks like a gentle kiss.
He dazes for a moment.
Looking at the morning sun in the sky.
After a long time, his mind gradually clears.
He remembers why he is on the lake surface.
He props up his upper body from the water, sitting on the lake surface, looking around.
"Lord Meteora?"
For a long time, there was no response from the lake surface.
The Lake Goddess must have fallen into slumber again.
Thankfully, he has already received the reward from this visit, Gauss looks down below him.
He is sitting on the lake surface as if on solid ground, which is also one of the benefits from the Lake Goddess’ baptism.
His body feels like it’s been transformed.
Now water has become a very close presence to him.
"Constitution +1"
"Charm +1"
"Constitution: 13→14"
"Charm: 14 (13)→14"
The Constitution is increased by one point, while the Charm value hasn’t changed, but the bonus from the Moonlight Robe has now been covered by the actual value itself.
The attribute increase is just one part of the physical change, deep down there’s also his affinity for water elements.
Gauss vaguely realizes that he probably needs to gather some water-type Magic.
No, there is a 4th-ring water-type Spell lying in his Storage Pouch, a gift from Pleos of Flute Castle.
And...
He looks at the transformed water armament not far away.
Now it also shows new changes, turning from the original blue to a now gilded blue, and its volume has also increased significantly.
With a slight grip, that water body rushes toward him, then transforms into a gleaming blue Longsword with golden edges.
"Shing!!"
The blade shines brightly!
The blade reflects half of his handsome face.
"Lake Goddess Sword, Meteora’s Sword."
He gently swings the Longsword in his hand, causing the surrounding lake water to surge into raging waves instantly.
The waters of Blue Lake obey his command.
"Hahaha——"
Gauss feels a sense of freedom rise in his heart.
In this domain of Blue Lake, wielding the Lake Goddess Sword, he can harness greater natural powers.
He even feels that if the battle against Dragon Priestess Cecilia took place here, he should be able to slay her along with her skeletal dragon.
This is the power of being in one’s "home ground".
He restrains this peculiar power.
Instinct tells him that this power is not his own, considered borrowed from Meteora’s great strength.
For instance, a hundred meters away, the Water Ghost that surfaced has already perished in the wake of the surging waves, yet his Monster Atlas hasn’t changed.
Clearly, the kill by controlling the lake isn’t credited to him.
"Oh well, oh well."
With this new weapon, he is already very satisfied.
He tightens his grip on the sword.
Near water bodies, especially freshwater areas, this weapon will be enhanced, and its restraining effect on evil forces will be strengthened too.
Of course, the amplification isn’t as great as in Blue Lake, where he could borrow Meteora’s power, and in other water bodies, there won’t be this effect.
After getting familiar, Gauss opens the map in his mind and heads towards Lake Town.
He has already traveled some distance away from Lake Town.
Early morning.
Fishermen are casting nets to catch fish during the rare thaw of Blue Lake these days.
On a fishing boat, a fisherman casually glances toward the direction of the lake water, hurriedly taps a companion to look towards the lake’s heart together.
In the distance, a white figure slowly walks across the surface of the water.