The carriage rattled for a good few seconds, making that the only sound in the carriage for that period of time. Ning was too shocked to even think and finally decided to learn a little more.
"You… You are Alexis, the Goddess?" Ning asked using sound energy through the spear.
"I believe that is the name I have been given throughout the eons," the woman spoke with a voice so beautiful that just made him fall for her even more.
'Don't let your thoughts go astray, Ning,' he told himself.
"Don't worry. Your thoughts won't harm me," Alexis said from the side.
'She can read my mind?' Ning thought.
"Yes, I can read your little mind," Alexis said with a little chuckle.
"Ahem, sorry about that," Ning said.
"Don't be," Alexis said. "You don't have to apologize for me intruding your mind."
Her beautiful voice with her gorgeous face was making it hard for Ning to concentrate.
"How… can you read my mind, though? Does Aether give such skills as well?" Ning asked. He had read quite a bit about Aether, but he never knew this was possible.
"No, I cannot read the minds of anyone else in this world. Only yours," Alexis said. "That was one of the reasons why you caught my eyes the first time you came here 6000 years ago."
Ning felt quite a shock. "You knew about me back then too?" he asked.
"Yes," Alexis said. "After all, not many people can come through the Peak of Afterlife. Although, you destroyed it, and I'm quite angry with you for that."
"Did you know how difficult it was to create a seal around that mountain?" she asked.
Ning felt another shock. "You created that powerful seal?" he asked.
"I… think so? At least that's what I remember," Alexis said. "My consciousness didn't fully develop until dozens of thousands of years ago."
'So old,' Ning thought.
"I am," Alexis said.
"I read about you in the library of the tower. How… much of it is true?" Ning asked.
"What did it say?" She asked.
"That you are the goddess of Aether, and that you came down from the heavens and created Aether to help men," Ning said.
"Is that what they think of me?" she asked. "Hmm, did I create Aether? Or did Aether create me? I don't know which came first, but it is true that I helped men with Aether."
"Men weren't making use of Aether, despite knowing about it, thinking it was taboo, so I came to them and helped them understand more of it," She said.
"I see," Ning said. "So… why did you show yourself up to me now? Do you need something from me?"
"Yes," Alexis said. "I want you to continue to be my apostle."
"Well, you will have to wait 5 years for that, unfortunately. Unless you can cure my body right now," he said.
"I can," Alexis said, giving Ning a bit of hope. "But I won't do that."
"Why?" Ning asked. "Won't it be better if you help me get my body back so I can continue doing the work I was doing?"
"It would, but I need a weak you right now. Not the strong you," she said. "I've seen you create things. So, you can create a new body too, right? Create a new one that has never seen Aether before."
"A new body?" Ning asked. "Are you going to teach me how to use Aether or what?"
"Yes," Alexis said. "I have seen you use Aether, and while it's… not bad, you still have a lot to learn. You also skipped a lot of ranks before learning to use Aether, so you ended up not understanding just how strong you can get."
Ning got a little curious. "Why do you want me to learn how to properly use Aether? Is there something you want me to do?" he asked.
"Yes, I want you to take over the Aether tower that has so much influence over the continent and use it to help everyone so that they can use Aether again," she said.
"For that, you will have to defeat the person at the top of Tower. The same one that poisoned you 10 minutes ago," she said.
"I have to fight and defeat that Perry guy?" Ning asked. "Hmm… if you really can teach me to use Aether in the most efficient way, then yes I may be able to help you."
"Alright, I will make a body for me then," he said. "Do you have any specifications?"
"Your previous body was absorbing Aether even when you weren't doing anything. Can you stop that?" she asked.
"Yes," Ning said. He just had to stop his Automatic absorption after all.
"And do make it a Dual Awakener," Alexis said.
"Okay," Ning said and quickly gave the specifications for a new body to the system.
The total energy required to make such a body was only a few dozen billion, so Ning was pretty okay with making it.
Bright white light appeared in front of him and a body that looked a bit different from his usual body appeared opposite to Alexis.
The body had the same height and build as Ning, except the face was a bit different. The nose was much pointier, the eyes a bit further apart, and the pupils of a slightly lighter brown color.
It was just enough to make Ning still have the same body, yet look completely different.
Ning switched to the new body, and at the same time, Alexis moved her hand to create a bunch of clothes directly onto the new body. She then looked at the new body and nodded.
"Thank you for accepting my offer," Alexis said. "You are the only one that can help me. Although, I won't be asking you to help me for nothing. I will give you an incentive to help me as well."
"An incentive?" the new Ning asked. "What is it that you can offer me?"
Alexis smiled and said, "I can give you the location of the place you've been so desperately wanting to find."
Ning's eyes went wide as he asked, "You know where the Origin is?"
