Chapter 68: The Ring of the Nibelungen

“Melantha”

Vladimir softly repeated the name, then pushed a cup of black tea in front of me.

“A name full of poetry.”

His gaze lingered on my right eye for a moment, then fell upon my gloved right hand.

However, his gaze did not stop at the back of my hand, but locked directly onto the index finger where the ring was.

“I didn't expect you to have this,” Vladimir said softly, “The Ring of the Nibelungen...”

“Are you referring to... this ring?”

I subconsciously raised my right hand.

“After I woke up, I found this ring on my hand—do you know what it does?”

“Of course, it is an incredibly valuable supernatural item.”

Vladimir nodded lightly, “It can accommodate a Flock. With it, it's equivalent to having a mobile combat unit.”

“What do you mean....?”

I frowned slightly.

“Accommodate... a Flock?”

“The Ring of the Nibelungen, a divine artifact said to have been forged by dwarves in the legends.”

Vladimir stood up, walked to a nearby bookshelf, and pulled out a thick tome.

“Its greatest feature is that it can contain a Flock, allowing them to exist in a special form within the ring's space.”

He spread the book open on the desk and pointed to an illustration.

It was a ring extremely similar to the one on my hand, surrounded by countless blurry human figures.

“Simply put, you can put your Flock inside the ring. When you need them, you can release them at any time.”

Hearing Vladimir's words, my heart immediately stirred with excitement.

“Then... what if the Flock is destroyed?”

“The ring will contain the souls of the Flock. As long as the souls remain, there is no need to worry.”

Upon hearing this, my eyes gradually lit up.

In other words, Veronica had not disappeared; her soul had been taken into this ring.

“Then is there any way to allow the Flock in the ring to regain a physical body?”

I asked impatiently.

“From your tone, it seems you already have a member in your flock?”

Vladimir raised an eyebrow.

“There is indeed a way, but before that, I have a few questions for you, may I?”

Hearing this, I was slightly taken aback, seemingly a bit hesitant.

“Rest assured, I will not force you to answer.”

Vladimir seemed to see through my worries and smiled gently.

“If you don't want to say something, you don't have to.”

“Then...”

I nodded, “Please, ask.”

“First, where are you from?”

Vladimir asked.

“I originally lived in Dunke City.”

I said, “With my sister.”

“Mm... Dunke City....”

Vladimir nodded slightly, “Then, do you know about the God's descent ritual that took place in Dunke City a few days ago?”

Vladimir's gaze rested on my right eye.

“I.... I was there at the scene.”

I answered truthfully.

“Then, what happened at that time?”

Vladimir sat up straight and asked.

“I don't know,” I shook my head, my face a little pale.

“I only remember that at the time, my sister, in order to protect me, was... was killed by the people from the Omniscience Society.”

My voice carried a hint of a sob and lingering fear.

“And then.... and then I suddenly felt as if someone was watching me.

That feeling was very oppressive, very heavy... very painful, so I fainted.

By the time I woke up, everything was over.

I was lying on the ruins of the library, and there was a ring on my hand.”

As I spoke, I raised my right hand.

“I can feel that my sister seems to be inside, but I don't know how to communicate with her.”

“I see,” Vladimir mused for a moment, his gaze shifting back and forth between my right eye and the ring.

“It should have been a God's descent ritual for an anointing and coronation, yet unexpectedly, the attention of 【Knowledge】 was drawn to you instead. It seems, It is very interested in you....”

He stood up, walked to a nearby bookshelf, and gently slid his fingers across the spines of the books.

“Regarding the method for a soul to regain a physical body... such a ritual does exist.”

“Really?”

I stood up in excitement.

“Don't get excited, miss.”

Vladimir smiled faintly, “It exists, but it is not within the capabilities of 【Knowledge】. To accomplish such a thing, one must borrow the power of 【Aberration】.”

“【Aberration】...?”

“To make a soul enter a physical body, a grafting ritual is needed to allow the soul to complete its incarnation.”

Vladimir nodded, “And the physicians at Cixin Hospital are skilled in all kinds of surgeries. —Be it of the body, or of the soul.”

“Cixin Hospital....”

I repeated the name in a low voice.

This was the most famous hospital in the Britannic Empire, publicly claiming a cure rate of over ninety percent.

“Although I can understand your desire to reunite with your family, I must still remind you of one thing.”

He took a thick tome from the bookshelf, its cover adorned with a drawing of a distorted human figure.

“The power of 【Aberration】 is not as... gentle as that of 【Knowledge】.”

(Actually, 【Knowledge】 isn't all that gentle either)

I grumbled to myself inwardly.

Vladimir spread the book open and pointed to an illustration.

It was a human body enveloped in various tubes and mechanical devices, looking ferocious and terrifying.

“The physicians at Cixin Hospital can indeed help a soul regain a physical body, but this rebirth is not without a price.”

He said.

“Even if your sister could regain a physical body, that body would not be the same as her original one. Considering the adaptability and rejection reactions between the soul and the body, she might become a... monster. Of course, this is not a one-hundred-percent probability, successful possibilities and cases do exist, just not many.”

I fell silent.

“Is there no other way?”

“There is.”

Vladimir nodded.

“Perhaps you could try finding the craftsmen of Hermes Workshop and ask them to help you create an alchemical golem. Then, you can go find the people at Cixin Hospital, they will help you get a corpse you are satisfied with. After the golem's body is completed, I can help you analyze her soul and convert it into data to be stored within the golem. That way, you won't have to worry about the problem of aberration.”

Vladimir said.

“But that way, Veronica could never truly be alive. It would just be a precision machine, a container to hold a soul. Furthermore, if we did that, even Veronica's soul would become a pile of cold data.”

I said.

“To have that kind of thing be my sister,” I looked into his world-weary eyes and spoke word by word, my voice resonant and my attitude resolute.

I said: “I will never acknowledge it.”