The Gaze of the Goddess of Fate…?
Huh?
Bai Yue Ling froze for a moment, hurriedly opening her character panel to confirm she wasn’t seeing things.
[Skill Name: Gaze of the Goddess of Fate (Passive)]
[Quality: Mythic]
[Cost: None]
[Learning Condition: Being noticed by the Goddess of Fate for some reason]
[Attribute Bonus: None]
[Description: The Goddess of Fate is watching you, slightly increasing your Luck stat.]
[Note: “Our Fate Church isn’t good at much, but fortune-telling… er, I mean, divination, we’re pretty great at. What, you want to know when you’ll make money? Hmm… I’ll tell you a foolproof method: place a gold coin under your pillow every night before bed, and when you lift it in the morning, you’ll find a gold coin!” —Archbishop of Fate “Dessni” once said while running a roadside stall, only to get beaten up by the little girl who asked the question.]
Bai Yue Ling’s lips parted in surprise.
It really was a goddess’s gaze!
And it was a permanent effect, not some cheap, temporary blessing.
Normally, praying wholeheartedly to a goddess granted a one-day blessing. For example, a Nature Blessing increased health and mana regeneration by 5%, a Judgment Blessing boosted attack power by 5%, and a Life Blessing raised max health by 5%. These blessings weren’t particularly strong but were too useful to dismiss entirely—neither spectacular nor useless.
But this Gaze of the Goddess of Fate was rather abstract, as Luck was an intangible, elusive stat.
Oh well, better be content. At least this gaze wasn’t as punishing as the Goddess of Judgment’s.
“I just prayed to you once, and now you’ve got your eye on me?” Bai Yue Ling grumbled, glaring at the Goddess of Fate’s statue. “We don’t even have any history, do we?”
The statue, of course, offered no answers, standing silently as if its gaze pierced through the black cloth covering its eyes to observe the world.
Why the Goddess of Fate took notice of Bai Yue Ling was a mystery only the goddess herself could unravel.
Maybe she just thought this white-haired, busty girl looked cute while praying.
“Done praying? Come check this out,” Jelly’s voice called from behind the statue. “There’s a teleportation gate here.”
Curious, Bai Yue Ling circled to the back of the statue and saw a circular gate emitting a swirling vortex of distorted, mottled spatial energy, its destination unknown.
Why would there be an Altar of Fate with a teleportation gate in the isolated Underground Ocean?
No matter how you looked at it, this was bizarre.
As Bai Yue Ling pondered whether to explore the area further, Jelly suddenly turned, her expression grave as she stared into the distance.
“There’s something behind the tree roots, watching us.”
Following Jelly’s gaze, Bai Yue Ling spotted a dark, serpentine head peeking from behind the massive, mountain-like World Tree roots, hissing menacingly in their direction.
As if realizing it had been noticed, the serpent let out a roar. Then, a second head, a third, a fourth… up to nine heads emerged, their vertical pupils fixating on Bai Yue Ling with an eerie, bone-chilling intensity.
[Name: Nine-Headed Hydra]
[Race: Serpent]
[Level: 70]
[Description: A powerful monster inhabiting the Underground Ocean, possessing nine heads with unique abilities and a pair of sky-shrouding wings. In its youth, it swam from the Storm Ocean into underground waters, traveling along the World Tree’s roots to reach the Underground Ocean. It feeds on marine life flowing into the area and considers the nearby waters its territory, mercilessly killing any intruders.]
[Note: Scholars once believed the Nine-Headed Hydra came from beyond the starry seas, leading to a campaign to exterminate these ‘alien’ monsters. Their numbers plummeted, becoming rarer than dragons. Later, a scholar discovered they cannot survive in a vacuum, debunking the rumor, but their population never recovered.]
“A level 70 Nine-Headed Hydra?”
Bai Yue Ling took a deep breath, her body drenched in cold sweat, feeling like prey under a predator’s gaze.
To think such a terrifying creature lurked in this isolated Underground Ocean!
The Nine-Headed Hydra began to move, its massive body slithering over the colossal tree roots. With a sudden spread of its sky-shrouding wings, it unleashed a terrifying aura and lunged toward Bai Yue Ling!
“It’s… it’s flying at us!” Bai Yue Ling’s eyes widened, a foul, briny stench unique to the hydra hitting her like a wave.
Against a level 70 monster, even the shockwave of its attack could obliterate her!
“What are you standing there for? Run!” Jelly grabbed her hand, urging her forward.
In her prime, Jelly wouldn’t have feared this Nine-Headed Hydra, but as Bai Yue Ling’s pet, she was far from her full strength.
The best strategy was to flee.
“Run? Run where?” Bai Yue Ling glanced around. The surrounding ocean was vast and empty, the massive tree roots too far to reach for cover. There was nowhere to hide.
The only hope was the teleportation gate.
But there was a catch: you never knew where a teleportation gate would lead until you stepped through.
“The Goddess of Fate wouldn’t screw me over, right…?”
As the briny stench grew stronger and the hydra’s roars echoed closer, Bai Yue Ling gritted her teeth, dragged Jelly with her, and dove into the teleportation gate.
With a faint “buzz,” Bai Yue Ling felt her body stretch as if pulled through a distorted, abstract spatial tunnel toward a distant speck of light.
[Teleporting…]
The system prompt sounded. Ten seconds later, with a [Teleportation Complete], Bai Yue Ling’s vision cleared—
“Ugh…”
Rubbing her eyes, she found herself in a simple chapel. The pews were empty, not a soul in sight, and the door was tightly shut.
Looking back, she saw a Goddess of Fate statue glowing faintly, identical to the one in the Underground Ocean.
Bai Yue Ling sighed in relief. “Looks like a Fate Church. The goddess didn’t screw me over after all… Where am I?”
Jelly, gazing at the warm, radiant sunlight outside, murmured with a distant look, “I’m back… My people, your queen has returned.”
After slumbering in the depths for countless ages, returning to the surface felt like a lifetime had passed.
“Let’s hope the Goddess of Fate helps us out and dropped us right in the Royal Capital,” Bai Yue Ling said, pushing open the door and stepping onto the street, with Jelly—now in human form—following closely.
Not long after they left, a girl in a white nun’s outfit passed by, muttering irritably, “Who left the chapel door open?”
As she moved to close it, her gaze fell on the faintly glowing Goddess of Fate statue inside. Her eyes widened—
“Quick, go get the Archbishop! The goddess has shown a miracle!”
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