Chapter 680: Birth of Consciousness

"Wasn't Gwen destroyed? Besides, she's just a puppet. How could she possibly sing..."

Loren found it hard to believe this had happened, but he quickly guessed something:

"Don't tell me this is Cassian's price..."

Only something related to Cassian could explain such an absurd situation. Who else would go to such lengths to pull off something like this?

Still, this matter was highly suspicious. Life and death were the Primal Songstress's authority. It was extremely difficult for anyone else, even other gods, to create life.

Even the God of Bountiful Harvest's flesh giant trees were "born," not created by Him.

"Forget it, I'll understand once I see her."

Loren even considered a far-fetched possibility: that Cassian had actually pulled the Gwen from another dimension over here. Such a thing wasn't impossible.

The status of Outer Gods was incredibly high. They didn't exist in just this dimension. They could appear in other dimensions as well, and could even invade multiple dimensions simultaneously.

So compared to the Outer Gods, the Orthodox Gods really were on a far lower tier.

Of course, no matter how fierce the Outer Gods were, the Perpetual Observer and the Final Singer were their strictest parents.

At the same time, Loren felt a bit of anticipation. If Cassian could pull Gwen over, could He also pull other virtual characters over?

Though that seemed unlikely. The Final Singer was asleep, not dead. If the Outer Gods got too cocky, it wasn't impossible that They'd be angered back awake.

To confirm Gwen's situation, Loren quickly headed to Cecelia's residence. Along the way, he didn't forget to burn down a newspaper office while he was at it.

He had always been the type to repay any slight, never letting vengeance wait overnight if he could help it, and never skipping revenge just because the grievance was small.

Even if it caused him no real loss whatsoever, as long as something annoyed him, he would seek retribution as much as possible.

...

Burning the newspaper office didn't waste much of Loren's time. Soon, Loren arrived back at Cecelia's doorstep. In truth, not long had passed since he'd last left.

Loren knocked on the door. This time, the head that peeked through the gap wasn't Cecelia's, but a head with blue hair.

Loren was very familiar with those eyes, because he had personally installed them himself.

"Master?"

Seeing that it was Loren outside the door, Gwen suddenly grew excited. She pushed the door open and gave Loren a hug, her spiral-shaped twin tails swaying behind her.

"No, wait. Weren't you dismantled by the God of Light and Fire?"

"I don't know. It seems the fire didn't reach me."

Gwen scratched her head, looking confused.

"Then how do you have consciousness?"

"That should be related to you, right?"

"Me?"

Loren pointed at himself, looking bewildered.

But thinking carefully, it really was possible. After all, only someone of his status could touch the threshold of creation.

"I can't explain the exact principle either. Anyway, we exist depending on you, or maybe depending on your memories..."

"Memories?"

Looking at Gwen's vacant, dopey expression, Loren suddenly felt some regret.

Gwen was right. They really did depend on Loren's memories. He shouldn't have created these two based on that crappy little skit.

And Loren also confirmed that this was definitely Cassian's doing, and that He Himself didn't know exactly what would happen either. He just did it anyway.

Using Loren's memories as a template, He gave them consciousness. Though whether they counted as life now was another question entirely.

"Scarlett, come try putting Gwen into the space."

"Oh."

Scarlett came over and gave it a try. Gwen didn't resist. The next moment, Gwen vanished from the spot.

"Just as I thought... Even Cassian's ability can't truly create life. Gwen is essentially an object that has gained consciousness..."

After confirming this, Loren had Scarlett release Gwen again.

"What does it feel like inside the Life Thief space?"

"Not much of a feeling, really. It just felt like the whole world disappeared."

"You call that not much? Wasn't it uncomfortable?"

"It was fine. As long as I'm still alive, nothing's really uncomfortable."

Gwen was quite at ease about all this.

"Gwen, can I take back control over you?"

This was what Loren cared about more. Honestly, his feelings toward Gwen weren't particularly deep. When he'd created her, he'd done so according to bomb-making standards.

To put it bluntly, Gwen as a puppet was actually more useful than Gwen as a human.

But now that Gwen had consciousness, Loren's attitude toward her would change somewhat. At the very least, he'd treat her as a person first.

The main issue was that Loren lacked an information position right now, and it was inconvenient to transmit intelligence. Having a puppet was ideal.

Loren had originally planned to just make a few new ones. Since Gwen was back, that saved even more trouble.

"You can. Just reconnect me with the Puppet Strings."

Saying this, Gwen spread her arms toward Loren, signaling him to re-take control of her.

Loren gave it a try. Puppet Strings formed from condensed magic extended from his fingertips, reconnecting to Gwen's body.

The next moment, Loren felt himself reconnect with the core inside Gwen's body. Just like before, he shared Gwen's vision, completely controlling her.

Even if the Puppet Strings were cut, the control would remain.

"When you control me, I can't control myself, but my consciousness is still there. I can communicate with you."

Loren suddenly heard Gwen's voice, but Gwen hadn't opened her mouth. This was mind communication.

Afterward, Loren tried controlling Gwen to cast magic. Not only was there no delay, it was actually smoother than before.

After all, remote-controlling a puppet always had some delay, even after Loren had installed several cores in Orianna.

But now, when Loren remotely controlled Gwen, there wasn't the slightest delay. This effect delighted Loren.

"Gwen, has Master returned?"

Just as Loren was controlling Gwen, Orianna also walked out from the room. Her tone was flat, carrying a strong mechanical feel.

"Yes, I'm back."

Loren released his control over Gwen, and Gwen regained control of her body. Then she and Orianna flanked Loren, one on each side, hugging him simultaneously.

"Master, it's so good to have you here."

Orianna sighed with her usual tone. Naclis's face instantly puffed up.

Before, Gwen and Orianna had no consciousness, so she could treat them as toys. But now things were different. A sense of crisis instantly rose in Naclis's heart.

In the end, Naclis gritted her teeth and directly squeezed Gwen and Orianna apart, hugging Loren from the middle.

She buried her face in Loren's chest without a care, not looking at anyone else's reaction.

Anna watched Naclis, feeling somewhat gratified.