"Tell me the truth." William’s voice became noticeably firmer.

He was no longer in the mood to hear vague explanations or convenient guesses. Lia had remained unconscious for centuries inside the Infinite Domain, yet she had suddenly awakened immediately after his own physique evolved. There was no way he could dismiss that as a simple matter as exposure to energy; if that was the case, Orion would have advised him to use this element already to cure her.

He genuinely wanted to understand what had happened.

Orion remained silent for a brief moment before finally answering.

[Alright, fine.]

[I cannot say with complete certainty, but I believe it has something to do with your newly awakened Creation Affinity. That change appears to have triggered whatever phenomenon caused her to awaken.]

Another brief pause followed.

[I truly do not know anything beyond that.]

[I would require considerably more information, and perhaps even greater authority within the system, before I could fully understand what has changed inside her.]

William quietly accepted the answer without interrupting. His gaze slowly shifted toward Lia.

She stood calmly in the air opposite Rah, and the sight made him feel strangely uneasy.

Rah’s appearance alone was enough to terrify almost everyone who saw him for the first time. His enormous body, overwhelming aura, and unnatural appearance usually caused ordinary people to panic before he even spoke.

Lia, however, appeared remarkably composed. She was certainly alert and cautious, yet she did not seem overwhelmed by fear.

That alone was enough to make William feel that something was different about her. Suddenly, Orion spoke again.

[They are communicating mentally.]

William immediately looked toward the two of them.

"What?"

His eyes widened.

"When did Rah learn the Arissian language?"

Orion almost sounded amused.

[Perhaps you should ask him yourself, Host.]

William immediately established a mental connection.

"Rah."

The enormous vyker instantly turned his single eye toward William the moment he heard his master’s voice.

Without any hesitation, Rah disappeared from his previous position and reappeared beside William almost instantly.

"What happened here?" William asked.

"Tell me what happened from the beginning."

Rah obediently nodded. "This girl suddenly woke up."

His deep mental voice echoed directly inside William’s mind. "She started screaming the moment she regained consciousness."

"The noise was bothering me, so I personally came here to make her shut up."

William stared at him for several seconds.

"...You came all the way here just because she was screaming?"

Rah answered without the slightest embarrassment.

"Yes, it was a horrible and loud scream."

William rubbed his forehead.

"Forget that."

"How exactly did you tell her to stay quiet?"

"Have you somehow learned the language spoken on Aris?"

Rah slowly shook his massive head.

"No."

"Strangely enough..."

"It was she who spoke my language."

William frowned.

"What do you mean?"

Rah continued explaining.

"Only I could hear her screaming. None of the other subordinates reacted."

"Her voice echoed directly inside my mind. I believe she somehow learned the vyker tongue."

William stood frozen.

"What the heck..."

The vyker language was unlike every ordinary language spoken across Aris.

It was not built upon spoken sounds or written symbols.

Instead, every sentence naturally conveyed thoughts, emotions, intentions, and meaning directly through telepathy.

It was a language of consciousness rather than words.

Only vykers naturally communicated that way. Ordinary inhabitants of Aris could neither hear nor understand those conversations.

Yet Rah had just claimed that Lia was suddenly speaking fluent Vyker.

Before William could think any further, Orion calmly offered an explanation.

[It is actually less surprising than you believe.]

[Her body has been gradually changing for a very long time.]

[Since her genetic structure has been transitioning toward that of a vyker, it would not be strange if she unconsciously inherited certain vyker characteristics.]

William slowly nodded.

"That actually makes some sense."

He looked back toward Lia.

"In that case, perform a complete analysis on her body."

"I want to know exactly what has changed."

[Certainly.]

[Simply make some form of physical contact with her.]

[Holding her wrist for a few moments will allow the system to complete the analysis.]

"Alright."

William nodded before looking toward the place where Lia had been standing only moments ago.

She was gone.

"Of course," he sighed.

"So now I have to play hide-and-seek." He folded both arms across his chest while casually scanning the surroundings.

Then, without warning, he smiled. "...Actually."

"It seems that won’t be necessary."

A sharp sword was quietly pressed against the middle of his back. Its edge rested firmly against his clothing. Despite the pressure being applied, the blade failed to cut through his skin in the slightest.

William could not help chuckling. He slowly began turning around.

"Don’t move."

A soft yet trembling feminine voice stopped him.

The instant he heard it, William still remembered her voice clearly. It was exactly the same voice he had heard years ago when she had barged into his store with a desperate cry for help.

They still lingered in his memory.

"Lia..."

Instead of obeying her command, William smiled faintly.

"Only my women get to order me around."

Before Lia could react, William calmly turned around. The sword remained pressed against his back. The instant his body rotated...

Crack.

The blade shattered into two clean pieces. The broken fragments fell harmlessly onto the ground.

Lia remained frozen.

Her eyes widened in complete disbelief as she stared at the broken weapon still clutched inside her trembling hands.

The realization slowly settled upon her. The sword had not failed because of poor craftsmanship. It had broken against William’s body.

Fear quickly spread across her face. Her hands began trembling. Her legs instinctively took half a step backward.

William looked at her expression before looking toward Rah.

"...Seriously?"

He sighed dramatically.

"She looks perfectly calm while standing in front of Rah’s terrifying face."

"Yet she’s scared of me?"

Orion immediately burst into laughter.

[Hahaha.]

[ It appears you might actually be scarier than a vyker. ]

William completely ignored the teasing. His mood, however, became slightly worse.