Emma looked at the female Ning weirdly and turned towards her mother. "Mama, what's going on?" she asked.
"That's your papa," Ely explained to her.
"But that's my papa," Emma pointed towards Ning who was behind them.
"Yes, he is," Ely said. "But so is that. Go give him a hug, okay? He needs it."
Emma didn't understand but nodded regardless. She flew up to Ning slowly and wrapped her tiny arms around his chest. "Mama said you needed my hug," Emma said as she hugged him even tighter.
Ning felt the strength behind the grip and knew if he wasn't the god of this world, this body might have already died.
"You're… so strong," he couldn't help but say. "But… how?"
He looked towards the others for an answer, but none of them could give him any answer at all. He decided not to care and hugged back his daughter.
He picked her in his arms and looked at the other two. "How long was I gone?" he asked.
"About 120 thousand years," Ning said. "It's hard to keep track of time when it is that long, so I don't really know if I'm right."
Ning nodded when he heard that. 'System, how much time has passed here?' he asked.
<143,242 Years>
'I see,' he thought. 'And what about outside?'
<A little over 42 Million years.>
Ning's mind didn't comprehend the number for a moment and had to consciously think of how long that was.
All the days he had lived didn't amount to a single million years at all, and somehow over 42 Million years had passed outside.
"Why is he lost in thought?" Ely asked softly.
"He's talking with the system," Emma said.
"Ah," Ely said, nodding to herself, before being surprised. "How do—"
"Ah!" he said. He quickly let go of Emma. "You guys go back for now. I'll come back in a bit. Someone's outside waiting for me."
"Oh, okay," Ely said and took her daughter. "Come soon."
"I will," Ning replied. He looked at himself for a second and remembered that he was still in his female body.
"I didn't make this body. How many changes can I make?" Ning asked the system.
<The creator of this body has allowed you to make changes, so you can do whatever you want with it.>
"Great, can you change it to look like what I look like right now, please?" he asked.
<Understood>
The system quickly changed his look and dress, becoming the same as the Ning that had left just moments ago.
"Good," Ning said. "Now, the question is… is Nigel really a host of the Energy System? I'm not being tricked, am I?"
<The system cannot confirm that.>
Ning paused. "Why is that? Is it because you're incapable, or are just choosing not to?" he asked.
<The system cannot confirm whether someone is a host of the Energy system or not.>
"Okay, let me rephrase the question. Is she a Will?" he asked.
<No.>
"That's good enough for me," Ning said and teleported back outside on the ship.
"Hmm?" Nigel turned around and was surprised to see Ning standing there, and not the girl that had just left.
"Are you… the same person?" she asked.
"Hi!" Ning said as he held his hand forward. "I'm Ning."
Nigel smiled and grabbed his hand in greeting. "I'm Nigel," she said.
Ning smiled back. "You said you're a host, just like me?" he asked.
"I am," Nigel said. "Is this your first time seeing another host?"
"Yes," Ning said. "Honestly, I thought hosts were rare. I didn't expect to meet you at all."
"I wouldn't have met you either," Nigel said. "Were it not for the system beacon."
"Beacon?" Ning asked. He tried to remember, but before he could remember anything like that, Nigel answered him.
"When you are in a precarious situation where the system can't help you to get out of it, it sends a beacon throughout the universe, requesting help from another host of the Energy system. Of course, I just happened to be passing by here when I heard your beacon and decided to come help," she said.
"I see," Ning said. "I didn't know the system would still send a beacon when I shut it down before I was captured."
"Hah!" Nigel gave a laugh. "You shut your system down before you were caught?"
"Yes," Ning said. "Is that bad?"
"No, it's not bad," Nigel said as she laughed. "It's just that a disabled system is apparently notoriously difficult to get into, even for a Universal will, not only a Galactic one. They have to spend so much time and energy just trying to get it to work that some don't even do it in their lifetime."
"Was Bayrus capable of doing it?" he asked.
"I don't know," Nigel said. "He was still working on your when I arrived, so probably not."
"And, I'm assuming you killed Bayrus?" he said.
"Of course," Nigel said. "And I rescued you too."
"Thank you for that, really," Ning said.
"Don't mind it," Nigel said.
"Thank you for not leaving me alone wherever it was you found me," Ning said. "Although, is there a reason why you placed me in your inner world, instead of keeping me out here?"
"There is," Nigel said. "Because before I helped you in any way, I needed you to wake up. However, it was impossible to tell when you would awaken because I didn't even know what you were."
"You were just a bunch of… rocks when I found you, and the system won't tell which of the rock holds you, so I had to take everything, including dust back to my house," she said. "My plan was brilliant, wasn't it? To have my children help you with activating the system."
"It wasn't bad," Ning said.
"Anyway, that's why I kept you there. Also because I wanted you to awaken faster. Still, you took over a million years to wake up," she said.
Ning's eyes went wide when he heard that. "I see," he said. "It must have been a pain to take care of me. This is a debt I hope you will let me pay in the future."
