In the asylum of the gods, the courtyard was clean and bright. Nyx, dressed in a black veil and flowing gown, sat in a white rocking chair. The chair gently swayed with the breeze, and she closed her eyes, appearing to thoroughly enjoy the moment.
"Grandmother, it's time for your medicine," Li Yifei, dressed in a light blue caregiver's uniform, gently approached with a tray.
"Alright."
Nyx nodded obediently and took the medicine from Li Yifei's hands, swallowing it one by one.
"Xiao Fei..." she began.
"What is it, Grandma?"
"You know... when will Danatus give me another grandson? That way, you'll have another brother, and life will be a bit livelier."
"…"
"Xiao Fei, why aren't you answering?"
"Grandma, your son just can't find a wife."
"How can you talk about your father like that?" Nyx shot him a stern look, adopting the air of an elder. "Danatus may be a bit cold-hearted, but he's still quite handsome."
"… You're right."
While Li Yifei rolled his eyes and tried to humor Nyx, Lin QiYe, wearing a white coat, strolled over casually.
"Danatus, you're back to see me?"
Nyx's face broke into a wide smile when she saw Lin QiYe.
"Mother." Lin QiYe walked forward with a smile, "How have you been feeling these past days?"
"Good, good!" Nyx replied cheerfully.
Lin QiYe glanced at the treatment progress bar floating above Nyx's head. It was still stuck at 78%. Since helping her break through to 51% half a year ago, the progress had slowed down significantly, and now it had been nearly a month with no movement.
Has the treatment reached its limit? Lin QiYe thought to himself.
If he was right, to push Nyx's progress further, this small mental hospital alone wouldn't be enough. After all, Nyx's condition was a mental illness, and to fully cure her, he would need to explore methods from the outside world. Unfortunately, he'd been in the training camp for the last six months. After the previous incident, he didn't dare let Nyx wander outside. It seemed that any further progress would have to wait until after he graduated from the camp.
"Mother, rest for a bit. I have some things to attend to," Lin QiYe said after chatting with Nyx for a while, giving Li Yifei a subtle glance. The two of them then headed toward the patient building.
Li Yifei was puzzled. "What are we doing here? Didn't we already try opening all the doors? None of them worked."
"That was before." Lin QiYe pushed his glasses up his nose. "Now that I've broken through to the next level of mental power, I might be able to open the next door."
"The next door? What's behind it?"
Lin QiYe stopped on the floor where the six patient rooms were located. He paused in front of the second room, lifting his gaze to the peculiar plaque on the door—neither quite a pen nor a staff. He slowly spoke:
"Perhaps… this hospital is about to welcome its second patient."
Li Yifei's eyes widened. "Am I going to get another grandma?!"
"… Not necessarily. Who knows what this one will be?" Lin QiYe shook his head.
"Director… if we get another patient, will my salary go up?"
"No."
Li Yifei sighed, resigning himself to his fate, and took a few steps back, clearing the way for Lin QiYe.
Standing before the second room, Lin QiYe took a deep breath and slowly placed his hand on the door handle.
If he was right, each door in this place corresponded to a different realm. Now that he had entered the "Pool" realm, his mental power should be strong enough to break the seal on this second door.
The first door revealed a melancholic goddess of the night; what would this second door hold?
With a heart full of questions, Lin QiYe turned the handle...
Click—
A crisp sound rang out as the seals on the door dissipated, and the door creaked open slowly.
As expected!
Lin QiYe's guess was correct. The six doors corresponded to the six realms: "Lamp," "Pool," "Stream," "Sea," "Infinite," and "Klein."
Now, Lin QiYe was qualified to release the second patient.
The old door buzzed as it opened, and Lin QiYe peered into the dimly lit room. Li Yifei stretched his neck, eager to see who his second "grandmother" was.
Inside the room sat a young man wearing a deep blue robe. He was quietly sitting, slightly tilting his head. His deep, abyss-like eyes locked onto Lin QiYe with an almost statuesque stillness, as though frozen in time.
His face was ordinary—perhaps even the most ordinary Western face one could imagine—but his eyes… his eyes were like rivets, permanently etched into Lin QiYe's heart.
Lin QiYe recalled that when he opened Nyx's door, all that remained in her eyes was dullness and confusion. But the man before him...
His gaze was far from murky. Instead, it held an inexplicable wisdom and calm.
"You've come," the man in the deep blue robe said in a calm voice, which had a slightly hoarse quality to it.
Lin QiYe raised an eyebrow. "You knew I was coming?"
"Yes." The man nodded slightly.
This was different from Nyx's case… Lin QiYe thought as he observed the man's behavior, then his gaze shifted to the wall behind him.
Unnoticed, a few lines of small text had appeared on the wall.
Room 2
Patient: Merlin
Task: Assist Merlin in treating his mental illness. As the treatment progresses to the specified thresholds (1%, 50%, 100%), certain abilities of Merlin may be randomly extracted.
Current Treatment Progress: 0%
Lin QiYe read the text, then looked at the man in the deep blue robe. His expression grew complex.
Merlin… The legendary wizard from English mythology?
Lin QiYe didn't know much about English mythology, especially with the fall of many continents into mist over the last hundred years. Books and experts on foreign mythology had become increasingly rare. If not for Merlin's somewhat famous name, Lin QiYe might not have recognized him at all.
Merlin was a legendary wizard in English mythology, famous for assisting King Arthur in his rise to power. He was said to be proficient in nearly every kind of magic and could even foresee the future. A powerful and wise figure.
However, Lin QiYe knew that the "Merlin" here wasn't just one person. It was a fusion of various legendary mythological elements from England. The Merlin in front of him wasn't just the wise figure who aided King Arthur, but also a god-like figure created from the English people's fascination with the unknown—a deity of magic and wisdom.
Lin QiYe glanced back at the plaque on the door. Now he understood the meaning of the staff depicted there. But to think that the first room opened a Greek mythological figure and the second opened an English one… Could the six rooms represent six different mythological systems?
If so… would there be a myth related to Daxia among them?