Massive doors the size of a high-rise stretched out upward in front of Ryan. Each half of the door was decorated with enormous carvings of a woman. Her upper body appeared similar to that of a common humanoid, though her lower body was a fish-tail. She appeared to be a mermaid, at least outwardly. Though Ryan had never seen one before himself, in one of the books that Runar gave him, he read that they were part of the species under the Aglecards' protection.

  In most drawings of Goria, she was usually depicted pretty much exactly like this, so Ryan knew that it was supposed to be her. Something like this must have taken years to finish, especially all the way down here.

  A bit nervous, Ryan stepped up to the door, and as he got closer, it slowly opened up. The motion created a strong current that pulled Ryan inside of the space beyond the door. It was where he wanted to go anyway, but it still felt nerve racking. But he didn't have much time to really think about that in the first place. Because what Ryan saw beyond the doors was absolutely breathtaking.

  For a few moments, Ryan was unsure if he suddenly moved up at some point on his way here, because he could see sunrays breaking through the surface of the water above, illuminating the massive reef below. It stretched out as far as Ryan could see in this crystal clear water. Numerous breeds of fish swam all around him. Some were the size that he was used to, while others were as massive as the ones in the reservoir outside.

  The reef's corals climbed up on top of each other like densely-growing trees, creating a glittering forest. How was this space so large? There was no way this was part of the same reservoir. It seemed as though Ryan had entered a whole other space. He was now inside of Goria's domain. The water that surrounded him was so densely filled with magic that it felt incomparable to the mana density of dungeon air, but somehow, it wasn't as offensive as in a dungeon. This space was inviting, and the magic inside of it was trying its best to not hurt Ryan if at all possible.

  Ryan walked forward, looking around him as he did. Everything around here was so massive, it just felt like he had been shrunken down and dropped into the most picturesque reef you could find on the coast. At this point, Ryan understood why Goria's acolytes were so jealous of him. This was a once in a lifetime sight, and he hadn't even met Goria herself just yet.

  The path in front of Ryan continued on for a while. It was lined with shells like a brick road, and though it was a bit bumpy to walk on, he didn't really care. He was barely able to focus on what was below him, because there was something new to see with every step he walked and every breath he took.

  Ryan continued on through Goria's domain. Its size was truly incomprehensible. It didn't seem like it would ever end, and even looking behind himself, an infinite ocean was stretching out beyond the door that he had come here through. It took him about an hour of walking to get to the end of the path. He looked around, trying to see if the path continued on somewhere else, but there was nothing. Ryan was just standing at the edge of a cliff, staring down into an abyss that had glistening and glittering like stars in the night sky shining through the dark fog.

  As he looked around, Ryan spotted something in the distance. There were fish all over the place, but this was something else. It was clearly massive, approaching him from the distance. It was a whale, larger than any that Ryan believed to exist in the world, with a forest of barnacles, kale, and corals growing on its back. But atop its crown sat a certain figure, hidden between the underwater critters swimming on top of the whale's back. It was a woman with the upper body of a human, and the lower body of a fish.

  Soon, the whale came to a halt, and the woman swam away from her throne, approaching Ryan. But she continued swimming for far longer than Ryan expected. She appeared rather small from a distance, but as she approached, her body seemed incomprehensibly large. It was an even bigger size difference than there was between Ryan and Maximus.

  The massive mermaid came to a halt, looking down at Ryan with a soft smile. She was beautiful. That was the only word that really came to mind. Though she didn't open her mouth, a voice soon reverberated through the water.

  "I thank you for coming to this humble place. First, allow me."

  Goria's voice was calming and soft, but still carried an unbelievable authority within it. Ryan was almost stunned by its sound, though he was snapped out of it when a message appeared in front of his eyes.

  [You have completed the Quest -Goria's Gratitude-]

  Ryan waved his hand to the side, getting rid of the system window. He slightly bowed his head in front of the figure in front of him, "Thank you. It's an honour to be able to speak to you."

  Goria laughed slightly, shaking the water around Ryan's body, "Please raise your head, my child. You should not be the one bowing, but I. You have done me a great favour."

  Though he was grateful to hear something like that, Ryan felt a bit unsure about what he was hearing, "I'm sorry, but... I don't know if I did anything to deserve those words from you. I just poured out a potion over a spirit's head, that's all."

  "I am not merely speaking of your curing of the child of the lake, but much more than that. You and your predecessors have been in great service to us for many an era, and we have seldomly had the opportunity to thank you."

  "Do you mean the other Spirit Keepers?"

  The figure in front of Ryan nodded her head, a soft but bright smile on her face, "Indeed. The Keepers have long ------"

  Goria's voice continued to sound out around Ryan, and he knew for certain that she was speaking. But at some point, her voice simply became inaudible. Like his body refused to hear what she was saying, filtering it out. Realizing this fact, Goria stopped herself.

  "My apologies, I... have not spoken in quite a while. I tend to forget what I can and can not share."

  Ryan frowned slightly, feeling a headache come on, "Does that have something to do with the seal on the spirits?"

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  Goria seemed surprised, as the massive face in front of Ryan opened her eyes wide, nodding, "I was not aware that you had already learned of this fact. I pray that you will continue to uncover more, but I may divulge more to you."

  With a sigh, slightly disappointed that he couldn't just be told all the secrets he had been wondering about, Ryan nodded, "I understand, but thank you anyway. So if you can't tell me more, what did you call me here for?"

  "I have prepared gifts for you to help you and my child you carry with you."

  "Child? What do you mean?"

  Goria was silent for a few moments, as the enormous mermaid moved her hands around as if she was shaping the water in front of her. Soon, Goria spoke again.

  "She is fractured, but a part of my daughter is with you. And you are bonded to another with my energy," she explained, and Ryan glanced down at his arm.

  "So... the latter is Tiar, I would guess, and the former is... Violette?"

  The mermaid finished shaping the water, as three small objects floated toward Ryan, "You are correct. Though all spirits branching off the water are my children, the one named Violette has earned a special place amongst them. She was the first to ------"

  Ryan could feel a slight pain in the side of his head. It was getting more uncomfortable, like his mind was actively fighting against the words he was hearing. Again, Goria stopped.

  "My apologies. I will not attempt to divulge anything for the time being. Maybe in the future, when this knowledge has come to you yourself, you may come to understand what I was trying to tell you," Goria explained. Ryan slowly nodded, trying to push through the headache. And a handy distraction came soon enough, as the three objects reached Ryan.

  The first that his eyes landed on was a bead.

  "An object meant to help guide you through your journey. I am aware that you are searching for lost fragments of my daughter. This will alert you when you are close to another fragment, and similarly, when another dormant core bearing the energies of water is near."

  Ryan raised his brow. This was perfect; it was exactly what he needed. It didn't seem quite as potent as the guiding light that he used to find Gaia's last fragment, but this was still going to make the search so much easier. Rather, it would make the search viable in the first place, as without this, it was like finding the oldest gold coin in a dragon's hoard. Ryan's eyes soon wandered over to the next item.

  It was a metallic horn, the sort that you drank out of.

  "A tool of the legends, able to take on many a form. However, actually making use of these forms is akin to taming a current. Your bond, Tiar, may also be able to make use of this tool."

  This one was a bit more confusing. Ryan had no idea what she really meant, but it sounded like it could be useful in a lot of situations. He would just have to take a look at it later. But then, there was also the last of the three items.

  It was a pair of earrings made with greenish blue pearls that had intricate carvings on their surfaces.

  "Magical accessories created to allow their wearer to freely move, breathe, and act when fully submerged."

  The three items were placed into Ryan's hands. They were clearly extremely potent magical items, ones that he didn't quite feel he actually deserved. But he could tell that Goria wanted to give this to him no matter what, as if she had prepared these a long time ago.

  "Thank you, so much," Ryan said with a smile on his face, carefully putting the bead and the drinking horn into a safe place in his bag. He then quickly took his stud earrings out and replaced them with these pearl earrings. They weren't necessarily his style, but he did have to admit that they looked pretty neat.

  And the moment that Ryan put them on, he could feel a wave of magic come over his body. Since he came into the temple, Ryan had been basically just walking in the water, breathing through the power of the shell that he stashed away earlier, but now it was different. His body was no longer weighed down, and it was like he was normally swimming in water. He could see much more clearly in the water as well, and the sound of everything around him wasn't a dull thud anymore. Ryan could hear the current flow through the massive, never-ending reef as if it were wind flowing through a forest, singing a melody he never even thought about before.

  He smiled broadly, looking at the figure in front of him. The enormous mermaid looked at Ryan, looking at him just as gently as she did before.

  "Do you think I can thank Goria directly?" he asked, and the mermaid's smile dropped, surprised. The water was silent, as the mermaid began to chuckle, though not a single sound left her body. She stretched out her hand toward Ryan, who slowly swam onto her palm. Carefully holding his body, the mermaid started carrying Ryan away, over toward the whale where she had come from. A distance away, the mermaid stopped, letting go of Ryan, and he swam a bit closer forward until he felt it was enough.

  Ryan was faced with the whale. If the mermaid was the size of a building, the whale was a mountain. Now that he was closer, able to see the giant barnacles protruding from the being's skin, he couldn't help but marvel at the sight in front of him.

  "Thank you, Goria. For inviting me, and for giving me these gifts," he said with a smile on his face, and the Great Spirit in front of him was silent for a few moments, until her voice reverberated through the ocean, as it had been since the beginning.

  "... It is unusual for someone to see through this little act during our first meeting," she pointed out, and Ryan laughed.

  "Yeah, I guess I have good instincts for this kinda stuff," he said.

  "Instincts, you say... Most are simply satisfied with the fake image I portray. Melusine, my eldest daughter, acts in my stead, as her image is easier to accept than my true form. But you... you were always looking past her while speaking to me, were you not?"

  "Well, of course, I could tell that she wasn't you. I mean, I was a bit taken aback, because she looks exactly like all the painting I've seen, and the carvings outside in the temple, but when I was here, it was kind of obvious."

  Goria's body was stationary in the ocean as if it had always been there, "I see there is a seed within your mind."

  "Huh?" a bit taken aback, Ryan turned back around toward Melusine, and then back to Goria, thinking about the seed that was solidly set in place in the space between the domains, "Do you know anything about that? It was left behind when I cured a bit of corruption from someone. Actually, the lake's spirit also dropped something similar when I cured him. Is it... bad?"

  "Bad? No, it's the seed of a blessing. If treated right, it can bring you much fortune. Let me assist you in that journey," Goria said, but Ryan tried to quickly shake his head.

  "No, no, you already gave me so much! I-"

  "Please. I insist."

  Goria's body slowly began to shift as she opened her mouth. The ocean bent in response. Water flowed around Ryan's body, tightly enveloping him. But it wasn't what was going on outside of his body that was concerning him, but rather what was happening inside. It started to rain in the space between the domains. And it wasn't just a light rain either. It was a storm that clouded Ryan's mind for a few moments. But when the rain settled, a change had been done to the space between the domains.

  The seed had grown into a solid sapling. Its roots had dug deeper than before, and a small mound was formed underneath it. But around that mound, a pond had formed. The energy of cool, calming water filled his mind.

  "Whoa..." Ryan let out instinctively, and he noticed Goria let out a slight laugh. Hearing of a 'Great Spirit', Ryan expected that he would be dealing with something like a god. Something so far removed from him that he could never understand her. And sure, Goria was beyond anything Ryan could have ever tried to imagine beforehand, but in the end, she was quite... approachable.

  "Again... thank you," he said. Though he wasn't sure exactly what this change meant, he knew that it was something special, and something good.

  "Now... It is time for you to return. Good luck on your journey, Ryan Aglecard."

  Before he could respond, Ryan felt a current push against his body. He was thrown backward, all the way to the entrance to Goria's domain, just seeing Melusine wave at him from a distance. When he was outside, the door closed in front of him, and Ryan's mind took a few moments to catch up to what just happened.

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