Professor X, the Tomb Raider

Thunder!

Thunder: No rank, law-based, infinite-type. It can affect the Divine Kingdom. When you are powerful enough, and when you are in a good mood, the sky will be bright and sunny, with clear blue skies stretching endlessly. When you are angry, dark clouds will gather, and thunder and lightning will flash.

A seemingly nonexistent streak of golden lightning flashed through the pink diamond of the wing series, leaving behind the mark of lightning. It looked as though it had always existed within it.

The few diamond rings Lake had given away all stored traces of his thunder consciousness.

Its effects were actually not as great as one might imagine. It had no real-time satellite positioning function or anything like that, and Lake did not need such a thing. This thunder consciousness had only one function.

If one of his women encountered danger, he would know immediately. He could even use the activated thunder consciousness to teleport directly to the destination.

As his Force Seed and Cosmo advanced, the thunder that had completely merged into his soul gradually grew from the size of a sesame seed.

The Force Seed was the foundation of the Divine Kingdom. Although the universe he had comprehended through his true body was still highly insubstantial, as the Force Seed flourished, once the Divine Kingdom emerged, the thunder would also merge directly into it and help him control his first divine authority.

Lightning Divine Authority!

However, such matters could not be rushed. After all, under normal circumstances, unless a god was born at the right time, becoming a god required a great deal of time.

And that time would be very long.

Just look at Mephisto. How many years had Mephisto existed? And what had happened? He had struggled for years to become the ruler of the Hell Dimension, yet he was still only the ruler of the Hell Dimension. His authority had even decreased rather than increased, and a small portion of Hell’s authority had been seized by Lake.

Although Lake could not use that small portion of the Hell Dimension’s authority to swallow the entire Hell Dimension whole, he could still vaguely sense that Mephisto’s days as its ruler were not going well.

In the month before last alone, three demons at the level of Hell Lords had challenged Mephisto’s position.

Mephisto had still won.

But…

Mephisto’s position as ruler was no longer secure. If being beaten back into the Hell Dimension by Merlin back then had caused a rift between him and the Hell Dimension itself, then this time, after losing his son Black Heart Demon, the rift between Mephisto and the Hell Dimension had widened once again.

Put simply.

If Hell were treated as a joint-stock company, Mephisto had previously held one hundred percent of the shares. But after his first failed attempt to go public, some of Mephisto’s shares had been reclaimed. Then, because of the death of his son Black Heart Demon, Black Heart Demon’s authority had fallen into Lake’s hands.

Although Mephisto still held more than fifty percent of the shares, this had already given the other demons of Hell hope that they could overthrow Mephisto and become rulers themselves.

Lake was looking forward to it.

The fiercer the infighting in Hell, the less effort it would take once he gained the ability to swallow the Hell Dimension whole and turn it into his underworld.

That was getting off topic.

Lake put away the Scales of Fate, raised the pink wing-shaped diamond ring in his hand, admired himself for a moment, and then slipped it into his pocket before heading straight out to find Mr. and Mrs. Granger.

There was no need for any roundabout approach.

He directly asked Mr. and Mrs. Granger to marry Hermione to him.

Proposing was no difficult matter for Lake.

Aside from Seifer and Hermione, Emilia, Rachel, and… Wanda had all, in one way or another, gotten on the train before buying a ticket. But even if they had not, Lake felt that his proposals would not encounter any accidents.

Lake was a man of many affections.

But he was open about it.

If it worked, it worked. If it did not, it did not. He never forced any woman, and he certainly would not say some ridiculous lie like, "I love you more than the others."

In any case, he had clones. The love he gave could be guaranteed to be one hundred percent.

So…

Obtaining Mr. and Mrs. Granger’s consent went smoothly. After all, Hermione was already twenty-eight that year, while Lake was thirty-seven. They could both be considered mature adults.

Lake then turned around and, with Sharon Carter as an additional witness, knelt before Hermione on one knee. He took out the wing-shaped diamond ring he had just exchanged for and began the proposal.

Once you had done it once, the second time was easy.

There was no drama.

If there had been anything worth mentioning, it was what happened the next day after Hermione covered her mouth and said, "I do," and they spent a wild night in the small house behind the villa.

At the dining table.

Mr. and Mrs. Granger stared at Lake and Hermione with beaming smiles, while Sharon Carter looked utterly listless.

After all…

To put it somewhat tactfully, as Mr. Granger had done, the commotion last night had been rather loud.

Although Lake and Hermione had slept separately in the small cabin behind the house, the cabin’s soundproofing seemed to have failed last night.

Lake’s expression did not change.

Hermione, on the other hand, lowered her head in embarrassment and remained silent.

After breakfast.

Lake and Hermione said goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Granger. After all, both of them had many things to attend to and had only come over by making time in their busy schedules.

In the car.

Hermione continued yesterday’s topic. "If you have designs on Himiko, I advise you to forget it."

Lake frowned. "Why?"

He had already used the Tracking Card to locate Richard Croft’s coordinates. Last night, his clone, Professor X, had already boarded London’s red-eye flight to Hong Kong Island.

Judging by the time, he should be arriving soon.

Hermione said, "Because of Himiko’s special nature. Ordinary people can see her because she needs to possess ordinary people. But supernatural beings can be sensed clearly by her. Even if you stood right in front of her, you still wouldn’t be able to see her."

Although Himiko had been betrayed and ambushed by her subordinates, she had not truly died. As long as a suitable woman appeared before her, Himiko could possess her and return to life.

The mysterious place was only mysterious to supernatural beings. Himiko was, after all, the fifth of the four great elements of Creation, and the most spiritual and highest-quality Spirit of Life. She did not reject ordinary people because she needed suitable ordinary people for possession. But she strongly rejected supernatural beings. She could sense the aura of any supernatural being about to enter her territory and hide herself.

Lake rubbed his chin. "Will she run?"

Hermione glanced at Lake. "So you really are interested in her."

Lake came back to himself. He looked at Hermione, who seemed to be implying something, and shrugged. "I’m only interested in the elements of Creation. If that’s what you mean."

In the past, with no clues, Lake had thought that instead of searching the entire world and starting from scratch to cultivate a Divine Kingdom, he might as well wait for his cheat to upgrade and directly draw a complete version.

Now that he had a lead, there was no reason not to act. He could not put all his eggs in one basket. He had to pursue both the complete Divine Kingdom from the cheat and build one himself.

What if, after the upgrade, his luck turned terrible and every draw only gave him guaranteed B-grade items?

After saying this, Lake raised his eyebrows.

Come to think of it, the movie had never seemed to show that Himiko possessed the characteristics of the Creation Spirit. But after thinking about it, before Laura went to the island, there did not seem to be any young women of a suitable age on the island.

Good grief.

This Creation Spirit was picky.

If there was no suitable woman, she simply refused to leave. Could she not use her brain a little? She could possess someone first, then leave the island and enter a major city. Would there not be as many young women as she wanted? Why stay foolishly on that island, waiting for luck to fall from the sky?

After thinking about it.

Lake rubbed his chin. "Supernatural beings can’t go to the island, but ordinary people can?"

Hermione nodded. "In theory, yes. But if you want to find Himiko’s true location, you still need an ordinary woman whom Himiko has taken a fancy to. Only then will the place where Himiko is said to be buried emerge from its drifting state."

So that was why that Trinity combat team on the island had bombarded the place for so many years. They had practically blasted the island into the surface of the moon, yet they had still never found Himiko’s true tomb.

Because they had not brought a beautiful young woman of the right age whom Himiko would take a liking to?

Hermione looked at Lake’s expression and smiled. "Still interested? Even if you can disguise yourself and get onto the island, under Himiko’s watch, the moment you use any supernatural power, she will detect it. Even that so-called Cosmo power you tinkered together yourself will be noticed."

Lake nodded. "So, to find Himiko, I need to do two things. First, find her as an ordinary person. Second, bring along an appropriately aged woman beautiful enough to make Himiko drool?"

This…

That was simple.

Listening to Lake’s summary, Hermione felt that everything she had said had not diminished his interest in the slightest. She asked curiously, "Are you planning to send an entire boatload of women to search for her, digging up every inch of the island and betting on the odds?"

Lake chuckled and looked at Hermione, the corners of his mouth curving upward. "I don’t need to gamble!"

The first requirement, an ordinary person’s identity.

That was easy.

In a certain sense, a clone was an ordinary person. If necessary, he could simply switch places with his main body and become supernatural in a second.

As for the second?

I don’t need to gamble. I have a beautiful woman who is one hundred percent guaranteed to lure Himiko out.

Laura!

No matter how different reality was from the movie, the differences would only be in the details. The core would not be likely to change. Laura had found Himiko in the movie, so in reality, Laura would certainly be someone Himiko took a liking to as well.

Hearing this, Hermione grew suspicious. "You’re not actually interested in this Himiko, are you?"

Lake came back to himself and smiled. "I was just saying. Besides, do you know where Himiko is?"

Hermione shook her head.

Lake shrugged. "Exactly. I’m interested, but if I have to spend time searching for her, I choose to give up."

Hermione: "…"

Since supernatural power could not be used, they could only send Professor X into action.