The instant Felt met Noah's gaze, her consciousness was struck with a dizzying jolt—as though invisible hands had seized her soul and hurled it into the cosmos.
"Ah!"
Panicked, Felt thrashed like someone drowning, glancing wildly about.
She had suddenly arrived in a space beyond her understanding.
A vast darkness surrounded her, filled with countless "suns." Around each sun spun entire worlds, and around each world orbited a glowing sphere.
Then, those "suns" began to shrink—until they became nothing more than pinpricks of light, eventually forming a black sphere filled with glowing motes.
A silver halo encircled this black sphere. As the black sphere shrank further, it was enveloped in a radiant, multi-colored shell. The black sphere now occupied only the tiniest central part.
Suddenly, her mind was flooded with a torrent of knowledge—revealing what she was seeing.
The black sphere was a universe, filled with countless stars around which worlds revolved, and moons that orbited the worlds.
Just that one moment of eye contact had shown her the true scope of the Teyvat Universe.
Such immense cognition would have obliterated an ordinary person instantly, had Noah not allowed it.
This was divine gnosis—the sacred knowledge of a god.
To a mortal, receiving divine gnosis opened the door to apotheosis.
After all, their understanding of the world had already reached a god's perspective.
"Ahhh!" Felt's consciousness snapped back to her body. She screamed and instinctively stumbled backward—only to trip over some rope.
The makeshift shack collapsed with a crash, burying her in a heap of rotting wood.
A cloud of dust rose, choking her.
"Cough, cough!" She struggled free from the broken planks, then quickly looked up.
Noah still stood there with a serene smile.
Felt scuttled back, pointing at him in terror.
"Y-You… you're… you're…"
Noah's golden eyes narrowed as he smiled. "I'm what?"
"A god!" Felt quickly lowered her hand. She may've been a slum rat without manners, but she knew the rules of survival.
She'd always scoffed at the idea of gods, but pointing at one to his face? That was worse than pointing at the Dragon in front of all of Lugnica.
Worse by far.
This was a real god. No wonder he felt so strange—so impossibly likable.
"U-Um, God… sir… why did you come looking for me?"
Felt was drenched in cold sweat, not sure what to do with her hands.
Noah stepped closer.
She reflexively took half a step back—but her back was already pressed against her collapsed "home." There was nowhere left to retreat.
When the god reached out and gently took her chin, her heart pounded wildly.
"Didn't I say already? I'm interested in you. Doesn't it feel lucky to be the object of my interest?"
Felt swallowed hard, then smacked his hand away on reflex—only to instantly regret it.
"Ah—! S-Sorry, I…"
"You're truly rare," Noah mused. "Even now, you aren't cringing or fawning. I didn't use any creator-level power—just stayed at the level of a basic Lower God."
He gave an approving nod.
"A personality like yours is hard to find in any world—maybe one in a million."
Felt muttered, "Well, thanks for the compliment, I guess… but seriously, why me?"
A slum girl, a thief by trade—what could possibly make a god interested in her? Was this divine punishment?
"One more question," Noah said with a smile. "Do you feel lucky?"
"Eh? I… am I lucky or not? I guess I am…" Felt mumbled. She didn't really know. Wasn't it up to the god to decide whether she was lucky?
"Mhm… hehe. In this world, those whom I favor are not rejected by the world. From now on, the world will revolve around you. Even if you wish to become the queen of this country, it will be granted."
Noah smiled as he spoke, amused by Felt's stubborn internal muttering.
His rank far surpassed that of this plane world. Naturally, the world itself would be instinctively influenced by his will.
Felt scratched her head, visibly conflicted. "I understand… but why me?"
The moment she had met his gaze, she knew his identity—the Creator, the one who had forged the entire "universe."
The universe contained countless worlds, and he was a god above gods.
So aside from her endless awe, she was overwhelmed with questions. Why would such a being be interested in her? Why would he appear before her?
Noah gently patted Felt's head. "The difference between gods and humans lies only in power. Gods have emotions and desires too."
"When a human walks past a field and sees a wildflower, they may become curious and intrigued."
Felt understood. Oh—so the god had simply passed by and found her interesting.
She hadn't studied much, but she wasn't dumb. Her crimson eyes glanced toward Noah.
"Um… your favor—does it come with a price?"
Growing up in the slums, she had learned one thing well: nothing came free. Everything had a cost. That's why she became a thief.
She knew that divine blessings sounded amazing, but she'd also heard the stories—whether it be witches, dragons, or gods, their favor always came with a price.
For example, Lugnica was under the protection of the dragon, but the entire nation had to live under its will.
Noah's golden eyes reflected Felt's anxious expression as he said playfully, "Of course there's a price."
Gulp— Felt swallowed.
"W-what price?"
Noah patted her head again with a grin. "The cost of a god's blessing is marked at the finish line. But don't worry—your destiny is smooth and bright."
"Go pursue your wish. We'll meet again someday. On that day, I'll come collect my price."
With that, Noah turned away and waved his hand.
"From now on, your life will be that of the world's favorite child."
"Farewell, Felt."
Felt stood there dazed, watching the god slowly disappear.
...
Only when he had completely vanished did she snap out of it.
"What just happened? Was I dreaming?"
She tugged on her cheek.
"Ouch!"
Now that the strange calming aura had vanished, her scarlet eyes widened in alarm.
"Ah! It wasn't a dream! I really met a god! Holy crap!"
Noah's voice still echoed in her ears, his words repeating in her mind.
She looked down at her small hands.
"To realize my wish…?"
Her eyes sparkled with light. Her tiny hands clenched into fists, and her lips curved into a smile.
"You said it, Lord God. You said—even becoming this country's queen would come true!"
"Then I'll wish to become queen of this country."
The nobles, sages, and knights in this land always looked down on commoners.
So I'll make all those arrogant bullies lose their jobs.
Noah, hearing her whispered declaration, stroked his chin in amusement.
I said it—go for it. The nobles of this world may not all be bad, but at least half of them aren't great.
He had already arranged Felt's fate. She would become queen of this world.
And in the instant he altered the trajectory of this world, everyone who understood "world lines" or "destiny" was shaken.
Kararagi.
In the forest along a trade route, a young white-haired girl with sapphire eyes paused in shock.
"The world's trajectory… its fate… it's all been rewritten in an instant."
Roswaal Mansion, Border Territory.
Roswaal stared in horror at the constantly shifting text in his Gospel.
"What?! It's changed?! All of destiny has changed! Everyone's fate has been rewritten! How is this possible?!"
"Why? Why is this happening? Why has everything changed? The world's trajectory shouldn't be able to be completely denied!"
Roswaal's fingers trembled as he flipped through the pages of the Gospel. Each page was shifting, its words rewriting themselves.
With every turn, cold sweat beaded on his brow. By the end, he was drenched, sweat dripping onto the sacred text.
His body quivered, his heterochromatic eyes dilated, and his voice grew shrill.
"Impossible! This is impossible! The future has been entirely denied! What happened to the world?!"
This exceeded everything he understood.
He was no stranger to the workings of the world. As a mage, and bearer of the Gospel that linked to the world's memory, he had insight.
The "World Memory" was absolute—it couldn't be changed. One could only avoid ruinous paths until reaching destiny's end. No one, not even witches or humans, could defy it.
"What happened to the world?! What happened?! That person from fate—will they still appear?!"
His grip failed. The Gospel slipped. Roswaal lunged and clutched it to his chest in terror.
"They won't appear anymore! That person won't appear! What do I do?!"
If the world's future had been overturned, did that mean his four hundred years of scheming were worthless?
"No, no… even if the future changes, not all chances are lost…" Roswaal mumbled like a madman, frantically flipping through the Gospel again.
...
"The world's future… completely rewritten. What kind of power…? It's no different from a god. No… it is godlike."
A soft voice flowed from the lips of a white-haired girl—loli in appearance, with pure white hair, eyelashes, and robes, save for the occasional faint blue accent.
A blue ribbon tied up her right side hair. Her sapphire-blue eyes were full of serene, saint-like gentleness as she spread her arms and looked to the sky.
"Even if only for a moment, I felt it."
"A top-down force erased all future trajectories and rewove destiny."
"Who are you? The source of the power that altered the world so completely."
Though her plans had collapsed with the complete rewrite of fate, she recognized the force for what it was—something beyond Authority.
It must be the divine power she'd been pursuing.
She knew that gods had once existed. She just didn't know why they had disappeared—or what had fractured the world.
The world's powers had scattered far and wide. And the core of that "secret" lay sealed behind the door at the center of the Elior Forest.
But fate had not yet reached the moment when that door would open. Many trials still lay ahead.
Still, for now, she could set her plans aside.
"Even I, who had escaped fate, have been drawn back into it. That means the one behind this power has surely taken notice of me."
"I look forward to what destiny brings."
The loli clapped her pale hands together, and tears of emotion shimmered in her blue eyes. "Such a fate… it's simply beautiful."
...
At the same time—
On the far side of the "Great Waterfall," in the ruins of a warped space-time zone—
A deep-blue dragon, over forty meters long, stirred from its slumber. It raised its horned head, and its wings spread wide.
"What?! The world's fate—?!"
It had felt the call of the world—a surge that roused it at once.
Its destiny had been poured into its mind.
"What is this?! Fate has changed?! How is this even possible?!"
"What is this new fate?!"
Volcanica didn't know what had just happened to the world, but it had grown used to the unknown. The world often acted in unpredictable ways.
Sudden changes to the world's trajectory weren't necessarily terrifying.
After all, could any recent anomaly compare to the catastrophe from four hundred years ago that affected half the world?
"Lugnica, huh? The original plan, per the contract, was to hold the Royal Selection. But if the future has changed like this, we may as well let the last royal-blooded girl become queen."
With that thought, the new mission assigned to it left it somewhat discontented.
In the future, it would be unilaterally released from its contract and return Lugnica to human hands.
Still, the fate assigned by the world couldn't be disobeyed—otherwise, it would become an enemy of the world.
And becoming an enemy of the world… was a burden even it could not bear.
So it immediately used the "contract" to contact the current rulers of Lugnica.
...
Noah, observing the consequences of having overturned the "predestined fate," smiled slightly.
He wasn't the type to flinch from rewriting destiny just for the sake of some nostalgic sentiment.
Since he was already here, he may as well rewrite everything. Otherwise, wouldn't his arrival be wasted?
He sneered at those time-traveling colleagues who trembled at the thought of changing worldlines, terrified of the so-called butterfly effect.
"The Witches of Sin in this world are a perfect reflection of the shadow side of the Sephirot."
"The Seven Deadly Sins—Teyvat currently lacks representatives for those."
"The seven primal sins that represent the darker side of human nature."
"They belong to both the Kabbalah and the Alaya—making their alignment rather complex."
"All seven sins combined form 'Absolute Evil.' If placed in the Little Garden world, it would serve as the Last Trial of Mankind (Last Embryo)."
This so-called "Last Trial of Mankind" would always appear once human history reached a certain point.
It was the inevitable problem that humanity had to solve once all external threats to its survival had been overcome.
When a civilization conquered hunger, disease, death, and all external causes—then the only remaining threat to its survival was internal: self-destruction.
And that internal threat was known as the "Last Trial of Mankind."
Once a civilization crossed all its final trials, there would no longer be any risk of destruction.
At that point, it could reach Multiversal tier.
Noah walked toward the Sanctuary of Kremaldy before him.
A faint glow appeared at the graveyard's entrance. Every stone brick shimmered with magical glyphs.
He didn't conceal his presence. And with the Witch of Greed, Echidna's Authority being the "Book of Wisdom," connected to the World Memory—she was undoubtedly aware that fate had changed.
Even if their physical bodies had perished, witches who wielded Authorities did not die in spirit.
"Greed—the thirst for all unknown things. I really want to see just how mad you'll become for me, Echidna."
Noah said with amusement as illusory rules manifested around him. He transformed into mist and stepped directly into the graveyard.
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