Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

"Are you surprised that I have my own cards? I told you, I can satisfy all your desires, including playing cards."

The woman's head emerged from the water as she spoke, still pushing the deck toward Shard with one hand, while Shard still hadn't seen her shoulders.

"Do you want to check? I don't have any special cards."

"No, I think I'll pass, but I have special cards."

Shard shook his head, he definitely wouldn't approach that pool of water before winning the card game.

"No matter, add your Impermanence Card to the mix, it'll make things more interesting."

The woman chuckled lightly, and Shard gave her a surprised look, reaching into his pocket, he added "Genesis: Balance" and "Genesis: Silver Moon" to the pile. Now, Shard's deck of 54 cards had a total of eight Special Rule Cards.

This woman actually knew about the Impermanence Card, and even that he had it on him. Her danger level was higher than Shard had anticipated.

Even now, the Outlander still did not know what he was facing. The only certainty was that she was a Relic, but he knew nothing about her danger level, traits, or even her basic outward appearance.

There was nothing recorded in the book stolen from the Merman. Shard could only vaguely guess that she was related to desires. Wealth, power, flesh—the woman could stir the most primitive desires and emotions at the bottom of a person's heart, but fortunately, Shard's goal was clear, and she still couldn't satisfy his desire for deification.

The woman asked:

"So, how do you want to play the cards?"

Her fingertips caressed the top of the deck gently, then, because she only had one hand out of the water, she simply extracted a card from the middle of the deck and placed it on top, repeating the motion a few times before stopping her shuffling.

Shard also stopped shuffling his cards with both hands, thought for a moment, sat down against the door frame, and placed his own stack of cards in front of him. Then, he looked at the beautiful woman's head:

"We'll play using the most basic rules, three rounds, best two out of three. If there's a tie, then the tie doesn't count."

"Okay."

The woman smiled, she drew the first card, not using the arm without a sleeve to draw, but biting the top card from the deck with her mouth. With a shake of her head and a few water droplets flicked from her wet hair outside the pool, the card flew in front of Shard.

Moon Three, of course, the face of the card wasn't a numeric symbol, but a special design. It depicted a lavish lady's dress worn on a puppet, and even though Shard was a man, he admired the design style, the color combination, and the small ornaments on the cuffs and hem.

Shard also drew a card, Moon Five.

Both continued to draw cards, the woman's second card was Star Thirteen, depicted as a ruby cushioned on velvet in a wooden box. Shard's was Flower Seven, which was "Genesis: Balance." Holding this card, if he busted this round, he could discard all his cards and restart.

"Oh, Impermanence."

The woman whispered softly, her smile growing more evident:

"The emotions you are bursting with right now are quite interesting, this card is connected to your ultimate desire, I can feel it, and this desire is simply delightful."

Shard did not respond, then both drew again. The woman's card was Sun Six, unfortunately, she busted. Shard had Flower Five, totaling seventeen points, and he won the first round.

Neither had cheated, it was purely luck. Shard did not understand why he had won, yet she could still smile so happily. It wasn't a forced smile, but one that came genuinely from the heart.

"What do you gain from playing cards with me?"

He couldn't help but ask.

"I can see through your heart, see your desires."

This answer was not unexpected, and Shard did not start the second round immediately, but asked again:

"So, how do you view my desires?"

"You are the greediest person I have ever seen."

Since it was a best of three series, if Shard won once more, he would truly emerge victorious. While drawing his cards, he felt that even without the luck brought by the two Genesis Cards, the woman still couldn't beat him this time.

As expected, the first card Shard drew was the King.

The woman smiled at the result, although she could try to draw a 21 to beat the King, she gave up directly:

"You've won, you can leave now."

The iron door across the pool creaked open automatically, letting more sea breeze in. Faintly, the sound of waves could be heard, indicating that the exit was very close behind that door.

"You can open the door yourself? Are you truly imprisoned here? What exactly do you want to do?"

Shard put away his cards, frowning in puzzlement.

"I originally wanted to lure you in to obtain a new soul and free myself from here. But that's enough, I have tasted your desire, and that is sufficient for me."

"You... can leave too?"

Shard instinctively stepped back:

"A little more time is needed, but the stinking seals of those merman no longer work. Speaking of which, even they do not know what I truly am."

"Then what exactly are you?"

"You can see for yourself."

The woman's deck turned into a puddle of water, her hand also withdrew back into the pool, leaving only her head at the edge of the pool watching Shard.

"No, sorry, my curiosity isn't that strong."

The pool was about six or seven meters in length, and the range of "Lagre's Leap" was ten meters. By calculating the distance properly, he could directly move to the other side of the pool and rush out the door, trying his best to avoid getting too close to the woman.

"I can feel your regret, your fear. No, even if you hadn't shown up, the seal would have failed. They don't know my power, they just coincidentally used the power of a deity to imprison me. If that thing had stayed here, I would have been unable to leave, but that golden pearl has already returned to the Temple of Bygone Days deep beneath the sea..."

The woman spoke softly, her beautiful eyes gazing at Shard's face:

"Do you want to know how to obtain it?"

Shard's entire face trembled, he struggled to restrain himself from saying "I want," as the woman had precisely detected his desire.

"I still want to merge with you, but watching you walk towards your own desires, seeing your desires grow stronger, is also an interesting matter. Agree to one request, and I'll tell you how to get that pearl and even offer you a gift. Of course, you can also leave directly."

"What request?"

Shard asked softly, knowing full well he should not ask and should simply leave immediately instead.

"Come closer to the pool, look carefully at me, and then tell me, what do you truly see?"

Shard was fully aware that it wasn't the time to let greedy darkness take over his soul and that he should treat the woman's words as air and leave immediately. But when it actually came to confronting the situation, his feet simply didn't move.

"Look~"

The head, which looked like a piece of art, chuckled softly: Explore more stories with My Virtual Library Empire

"No one is without desires. And I, am 'Desire'."

The voices by his ear said nothing; she wouldn't interfere with Shard's own thoughts. And Shard, pondering the situation repeatedly in his mind, eventually didn't leave but took a step forward.

He still had a drop of divinity by his side, and he had to take a gamble on this opportunity no matter what. A few weeks ago, he even dared to face the deity in the Blood Feast for a drop of divinity. Now, it was just a relic; he wasn't lacking the courage to face it but was pondering whether it was necessary.

"Courage, arrogance, caution, greed, desire, fear, hesitation, determination. Your emotions now are really too rich."

The thing in the pool laughed, its head retreating back under the water's surface. With the absence of the enchanting woman's voice, silence once again fell in the dark room momentarily.

The pool water gurgled, blue and white light emanating from the bottom.

Amid the steam whistle and bell sounds, the Ring of Fate slowly appeared behind Shard. In his heart, he let "her" be ready to ignite divinity at any moment, and the Outlander took another step forward.

At this moment, he actually heard his own heartbeat. He knew, even after first seeing Miss Feliana and rushing to the charity dinner through the blood fog, he had never been this nervous.

"So, what exactly is that woman?"

The answer was revealed immediately because Shard took another step, and he clearly saw the entire pool.

Contrary to the illusion that the pool led to a bottomless abyss, its depth and length were almost the same. The water quality was fairly clear, allowing Shard to see directly to the flat floor at the bottom.

He saw the beautiful woman's head, her hands, her feet. But what he saw was not a person: he saw a mass of flesh, a giant mass composed of a head along with dozens of hands and feet.

It completely contradicted human aesthetics, natural laws, and the most basic rules.

If one could say it resembled anything, it reluctantly could be called a mermaid—human upper body, fish lower body. Only the upper body was constructed of constantly shaking hands, and the lower body was made of densely packed legs.

Just a glance was enough to almost cause Shard to fall headfirst into the water due to a powerful dizziness.

He clutched his forehead, his body swaying a few times. Even with his eyes closed, the "mermaid" image that could evoke the most primal fear continued to sway before his eyes.

There was no Spring Eye beneath the pool; the gurgling sound was the head exhaling upward.

The beautiful face at the bottom of the pool looked at Shard while the eerie hands and feet slapped the water, not regretting that he hadn't fallen:

"Please watch me closely, what do you really see?"

At this point, there was no need to leave. Steadying his mind, Shard opened his eyes to look at it again. He hadn't even realized that on the Ring of Fate behind him, both "Gluttony" and "Greed" were glowing simultaneously.

If initially upon entering the dark room, Shard was simply influenced by his inner dark desires, now staring directly at the bizarre creature of flesh directly affected his physical body. Regardless of who created this terrifying thing, the combination of bizarre beauty and total chaos meant just staring at it, one's physical equilibrium would be affected.

Even if the soul remained clear, the mundane flesh was still mundane flesh.

"What, exactly, did you see?"

The head asked, almost humming.

Shard noticed the skin on his exposed hands was dissolving, signs of blood about to seep out, and he realized that staring closer at it, his inner dark illusions began to emerge again.

The Outlander clenched his teeth and stood there, blood streaming simultaneously from his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears:

"I saw..."

He had intended to describe the monster's appearance, but as the pool's halo swayed, the scene he saw had changed. The monster disappeared into the pool, and the water became murkier and murkier until, like an oil painting, another scene was revealed.

"What did you see?"

The voice still inquired, but it seemed not to be in the pool anymore but all around. Shard, shocked, observed the scene displayed in the pool, even momentarily ignoring the pain in his body and mind:

"Is this... my desire?"

"What did you see?"

The voice was still questioning, this time coming from behind Shard:

"Behold me, if mortals don't collapse, then they can see their most authentic Desire, which will make you thoroughly understand what you truly want. The most genuine..."

A pair of hands, dripping with water and painted with red nail polish, climbed onto the Ring of Fate spinning behind Shard; "Gluttony" and "Greed" were emitting an intense Spiritual Light.

What Shard saw wasn't himself achieving deification, nor possessing endless wealth, nor surrounded by girls, nor the Roder Card and cats, nor even the gradually abandoned idea of returning to his hometown.

He saw himself standing in the bathroom on the second floor of Saint Delan Square, facing the mirror. Outside the mirror was Shard Hamilton, but inside the mirror was a faintly visible woman with long silver hair.

He held his breath:

"I see... another me?"

The Outlander, struck by lightning, was stunned at the sight, unexpecting such a scene.

"Interesting, the true nature corresponding to your infinite desire is the craving for self. Your desire, is yourself?"

The enchanting voice rose beside Shard's ear. Unlike before, this time there really was something behind him, he could even sense the sweet-smelling breath brushing his ears.

"My desire is to obtain myself?"

Shard's eyes widened as he stared intently at the image in the basin, trying to discern what the woman reflected in the mirror looked like.

Ever since the Outlander came to this world, his initial question was "Who is she." At this moment, he vaguely understood that maybe his greatest craving was to become a deity, but the deepest craving in his heart was actually... he felt incredibly ridiculous.

"I know the Circle Sorcerer System of the Sixth Era, although your 'another me' is a bit strange, but she is you, and you are her, do you actually have desires for yourself?"

The woman's voice continued to Whisper, her tone laced with amusement:

"So this is it, hence the terrifying strength of that desire. The Id, Ego, Superego — Me and another me, the soul's facade and the soul's rear. Self-love, narcissistically and pathologically pursuing, the desire for oneself, the desire for desires, and the desires for the desire of desires..."

Because of the woman's breathing, Shard's ears tickled a bit.

The Outlander stood beside the pool, and unbeknownst to him, the "Mermaid" had already left the pool; her terrifyingly fleshy form coiled around him like a python. Those pairs of legs clung together, those hands grabbed onto his Ring of Fate, and that beautiful head was right behind him, its elongated eyes now exceedingly eerie.

"The Mermaid" was preying, yet the prey beside the pool remained motionless.

In the dim room, only the bottom of the pool emitted a blue light. It clung to Shard's body, whispering softly, almost like singing in a low voice:

"'Gluttony,' sinking into oneself, unable to extricate oneself.

'Greed,' never satisfied, thirsting for oneself.

If you could have been born in the First Era, you would have been eligible to compete for the Great Sin Brand;

If you could have been born in the Second Era, you might have...

If you could have been born in the Third Era, you would certainly become an Evil Spirit Demon after death;

If you could have been born in the Fourth Era, the chaotic dark age would have been even more interesting;

If you could have been born in the Fifth Era, even Witches would marvel at how terrifying you are as a man.

It's really too interesting, yet you were precisely born in the Sixth Era."

The dangerous and elongated arms wrapped around his neck:

"Man, please tell me, why in the story of the Sixth Era, is there you?"