Veiled Destiny

Location: The Arachnidian Loom

Shiraori PoV:

"Do not look directly at god…" The young girl in front of me whispered a familiar phrase while bowing her head with her eyes closed. Of course, there was a reason it was familiar. The phrase was mentioned several times in multiple Lord of the Mysteries chapters.

Now it made sense to me as to why she was closing her eyes. It was obvious considering that I was an outer god now, albeit currently lacking the strength of one. Looking at me directly would cause her to be corrupted.

That said, it was surprising that this girl even knew about the existence of outer gods considering what I had input into the survey. Maybe the reality of this new multiverse I am in could be starkly different from what I had entered, or this girl was not as simple as she seemed.

My mind was leaning towards the latter speculation. As for how she managed to even come to my sefirah? Of course, she was summoned by me. 

As I was exploring my sefirah I found multiple starry threads interwoven within the cosmic fabric of the arachnidian loom spreading out into infinity.

As I was toying around with them, I basically figured out their function. They were essentially analogous to the crimson stars in the gray fog connected to the real world in the sefirah castle. The ones that Klein used in order to summon people above the grey fog.

So their function was to monitor prayers from individuals in the multiverse and also the ability to summon their projections to my sefirah. Coincidentally, as I was inspecting the threads, one of them started shining brightly and voila. This girl was summoned as I held that thread.

Unless there is an honorific name already circulating in the multiverse that points directly to me, it is likely that she possessed an object connected to the Arachnidian Loom allowing her to make this connection with the sefirah. 

Sort of like the objects like the mirror which Audrey had or the globe in Cattleya's possession in the novel.

Well, I can sca…I mean obtain that information from her along with general knowledge of the multiverse. Obviously, I lack the knowledge of the multiverse that an outer god like me should be having much less the strength of one. 

I am not yet adept at controlling the power I currently possessed. Imagine a scenario where a baby was given complete access and authority over nuclear weapons. Even if the baby has control over bombs, it does not have the knowledge or ability to use it. Essentially, my current situation is comparable to this scenario.

Regardless, I am not pathetically weak either. Just by observing this girl, I know that it is incredibly easy for me to crush her, if I wanted to that is. This is true even if I am not used to all the power that I currently possess. Granted she appeared to be a regular mortal human.

A preliminary inspection allowed me to know that I can basically use all the abilities that my pathway provides to me along with having control over the authorities I possess. 

Of course, I can use abilities that the original Shiraori possessed as well just as I had written down in the survey. The difference is the strength of the abilities from my pathway that I can currently exhibit.

For instance, in Klein's case, the blind stupidity effect he obtained after reaching sequence 0 could span the entire world. Now if Klein was in my position, he could have still used the blind stupidity effect, but it might span only a country instead.

 Essentially, I had all the abilities and authorities of my pathway but the scale to which I could express them was not line with my status as an outer god. They would not span the entire multiverse as they should until the debuff wears off.

I am not being corrupted by an outer deity either. This seems pretty obvious as I most likely 'became' the Cosmic Weaver directly instead of becoming a vessel for the revival of the real Cosmic Weaver. But adhering to the principle of caution, I should investigate this just in case.

Now onto the current situation, I can totally act as a mysterious god and fool her like Klein did. Technically it won't be 'acting' as my situation is still better than Klein. I am indeed an outer god with a decent amount of strength, though paling in the face of the worldview I had written down.

Let's be honest here. If any 'TRUE' LoTM fan was in my current position, they would want to do the same and follow the footsteps of dear Mr. Fool while thinking 'how cool???' internally. 

So let's get some general knowledge from her first and then I can slowly explore the rest while practicing the usage of my abilities. Firstly, I used my authority over the sefirah and willed it to obstruct higher dimensional information from her vision. 

Obviously, I did not want my first prospective link to this multiverse to turn into a clump of swirling flesh or whatever she would otherwise turn into due to my lack of control. I then said:

'Relax. You can raise your head and look around freely.' As the words resonated in her mind, I could make out a fleeting moment of hesitation that crossed her expression. She did eventually open her eyes, though not letting down her guard.

Such actions made sense on her part. She had been plucked from some corner of the universe and been dropped into this place. Moreover, she seemed to have a certain level of knowledge regarding the circumstances she found herself in. She then cautiously opened her mouth:

"Are you the owner of that spindle-like object responsible for regressing me to my younger self?" Hold on. That sentence has quite a lot of information. This kid is a regressor? So, she is likely an old grandma in a teenage girl's body. 

This is a cultivation world so it's not surprising to have a few millennia old grandma's and grandpa's that look ridiculously young. Do I also fall into that category now as I might have been asleep for who knows how many years?

That aside, the 'spindle-like' object she mentioned is likely the object connected to the Arachnidian Loom. 

Being a regressor, it is not inconceivable to have knowledge of outer gods. This girl might have been a high-level cultivator before her regression only to have been betrayed by her close family members and friends at the last second before her ascension to immortality. 

And as she seemed to have been regressed by an object connected to my Sefirah, am I the (suspected) grandma that is supposed to guide her on her path to vengeance? If cultivation cliche's from Earth's novels apply to this world, I can totally imagine such a contrived plot taking place.

Is my luck good or bad as I have already run into a suspected MC level character? As destiny is a part of authorities, I can analyze this subject later to better understand my powers. Anyway, I shouldn't keep Miss Regressor waiting for too long.

'It is customary among mortals to present oneself first before questioning others, or has this tradition devolved during my period of slumber? And to answer your previous question; yes, that object does belong to me.' In fact, such a tradition might not even have existed in this universe, but that does not matter. I am in charge here.

I had no actual control over her regression whatsoever. Being a protagonist, her otherworldly luck probably let her chance upon that object so she could continue her journey as an MC. Hearing my words, I could see her shiver before she quickly composed herself and replied:

"I sincerely apologize, my name is Li Xue. And I beg your forgiveness, but that object has already been shattered. I will face any punishment you give." The girl, Li Xue replied while bowing her head once more.

'It does not matter. That object is meant to be broken when obtained by the predestined person.' My reply was based on how things worked in LoTM. It was likely there were more such objects as well

Li Xue visibly relaxed before she questioned: "Predestined?"

'Yes, there are multiple such objects of similar nature scattered around the multiverse waiting for the predestined person to find them. You were able to obtain this object and regress to your younger self because you met the requirements for doing so.'

She seemed slightly dumbfounded about what I said before questioning once more: "May I know why I was chosen? Or rather what criteria I met for being chosen?"

'That is something for you to uncover yourself after gaining the appropriate strength necessary to obtain this information. Of course, I can choose to divulge this information to you but the consequences might be very…hazardous.' I love this random bullshit I am spouting. This is acting as a godly profound expert 101: only speak cryptic sentences.

 "No. I don't require this information." She quickly replied as if she would die the very next second if she did not. 

'Very good. It seems you do not lack wisdom. It was not wrong selecting you. In the future you can obtain any information or help you require from me, provided you pay the price of course.' 

"What price do I have to pay?" It was likely that Li Xue was stunned by what she was offered by an outer deity. Even if she did not know I was one, she might think I am an immensely powerful being at the very least.

'The gifts of fate have already been marked with a price. Since destiny has chosen and helped you, there will definitely be a corresponding price to pay. And this destiny is for you to unveil through your own efforts.'

This was not entirely a lie. After all, as a protagonist level character destiny was on her side. I continued speaking:

'One must adhere to the principle of equivalent exchange. If you provide something of value, whether it's information or otherwise, I will reciprocate with assistance of a corresponding magnitude.' 

I was wrong when I thought earlier that I can't act out a god-like persona and I wasn't interested to either. This is certainly interesting or rather entertaining. Watching expressions of horror or fascination flow past others faces was indeed intriguing. 

But I knew that such novelty would ultimately wear out. I was just caught up in this mystical phenomenon and had the chance to act out my chunni fantasies but once troubles start throwing themselves my way, which they will if this worldview is as horrible as I designed it to be, survival pressure is all that will remain.

It seemed that Li Xue had digested what I had said while my thoughts were wandering off. She looked at me and asked: "How may I address you, Your Excellency?" 

This got me thinking. If I tell her 'Shiraori' will she instantly go insane due to hearing the true name of an outer god? Isn't that how things work in these Lovecraftian worlds? What would happen if I told her my name from before my reincarnation/ transmigration?

This is another thing to conduct tests on. I should catch some young masters later and tell them my name and see if they explode. 

That will be a cool power to have. Just imagine a battlefield of peak cultivators where they all die horrendous deaths simply because I casually said my name. 

Putting away these messy thoughts, I calmly replied: 'You can address me as White.'

***

This fanfic won't entirely be a pure horror/mystery like LoTM. There will be some elements of that sprinkled over the course of the story. I want to try and make it more like a parody as I have never tried that and if it fails miserably, oh well.

Anyway, have any of you been reading LoTM 2: COI? Please tell me how it is and if Klein has woken up yet. I have not had the time to read it until now. My plan is to hopefully binge read it all at once during Christmas. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!