The two of them seemed to stand in the center of a magnificent hall, pure white and utterly untainted, as waves of warmth rose from the depths of their hearts. The initial surprise quickly gave way to a profound sense of peace, compelling them to close their eyes and surrender to relaxation...

During this process, streams of information flowed into Lin Luo's mind... The Holy War of the Gods... The clash of dimensions... The Heart Canon... The Groundwalkers... The World Heart as the core... Just as Liu Ziwen had said, but...

...Even with his eyes closed, Lin Luo could vaguely see a white, heart-shaped imprint shoot out from Mikoto’s body, immediately met by the Contract Book within his own body as they merged... A flash of white light erupted, and the previously black Contract Book turned white, bearing a heart-shaped mark in the upper left corner and "LV1" in the upper right.

"Heart Pact established. Contract Book upgraded to LV1."

"...Current Contractor status changed: Basic attributes enhanced, Skill 'Mind Link' acquired, Talent 'Cerebral Field Expansion' gained, Heart Seal unlocked to the second layer, Contractee Mode transformed into Symbiotic Mode..."

"...Current Contractee status changed: Alignment with the Heart of Kindness reached 100%, Heart Seal unlocked to the second layer, Basic attributes enhanced..."

"...Current Contractor and Contractee relationship changed to Sharing Life and Death; Mental Power can be shared, Life Chains are interconnected..."

...

These dense notifications continued until, after a long moment, they finally ceased. Lin Luo directed his attention to his own status panel:

Contractor: Lin Luo Race: Human Class: Groundwalker (LV1) Status: Normal Strength: 45 Constitution: 45 Intelligence: 170 (Talent Bonus) Mental Power: 600 Vitality: 400 Current Contractee: Misaka Mikoto. Current Contractor Usable Skills: Divine Healing: Consumes a portion of Vitality to repair the body. Can be used on anyone. Mind Link: Allows mental communication with all current Retainers within a maximum range of one hundred meters. Non-upgradable. Symbiotic Mode: In this state, gains 5% of the current Retainer’s combat power, consuming 10 Vitality points per minute. The Contract Book is currently Level LV1. Upon signing two Contractees, it can be upgraded to LV2. (Note: If the Contractor successfully signs a pact with the highest-priority candidate within one month, the death restriction on negative status is lifted, and future Heart Pact signings will have no order of precedence. Some functions of the Contract Book are currently unlocked; continue leveling up to access more features.)

For now, Lin Luo was quite satisfied with this status. His Strength and Constitution were roughly 1.5 times that of a normal adult, and the boost to Intelligence from his Talent allowed for much more precise calculations when using psychic abilities.

What excited Lin Luo the most was the doubling of his Mental Power and Vitality—these were the most crucial aspects! Sufficiently strong Mental Power affected not only the power of psychic abilities but also allowed his keen awareness to function at its peak, and Vitality was self-evident as the foundation of everything!

Furthermore, concerning the two skills: Mind Link seemed somewhat lackluster due to the severe range limitation, though it might occasionally prove unexpectedly useful. It could barely be considered a decent auxiliary skill.

Symbiotic Mode, the upgrade to Contractee Mode—5% of Railgun’s combat strength, which, at minimum, was equivalent to an LV3, perhaps more. Although the Vitality consumption was slightly higher, the resulting power increase was incomparable. Lin Luo gloated internally.

Next, the other side.

Contractee: Misaka Mikoto (Tier One). Race: Human. Class: Esper Ability: Electromaster Status: Normal. Strength: 100 Constitution: 95 Intelligence: 200 Mental Power: 5000 Vitality: 800 World Heart: Seventh Heart of Kindness World Heart Form: Active World Heart Alignment: One Hundred Percent (Indestructible) Heart Battle Technique: Inactive Heart Seal: First Layer Favorability: 90 Overall Strength Rating: A

Railgun’s original two status panels had now merged. While the overall enhancement wasn't drastic, the future potential for growth was certainly vast. Moreover, with Strength now breaking the hundred mark, the destructive power of that ultimate move, the 45-degree diagonal ‘Descendant-Cutting Kick,’ should also be stronger—well... though he had never experienced it himself.

Finally, there was Sharing Life and Death. This relationship was rather ambiguous; it didn't strictly mean that if one died, the other would immediately perish. Instead, it referred to the linkage of their life chains. However, if one truly died, the survivor would not die, but a massive, sweeping decline across all attributes was inevitable...

"E-eh?! What is going on here?!" Before Lin Luo could fully savor the thrill of the upgrade, Mikoto’s startled cry reached his ears.

"What is it, Railgun?"

"This contract... Contractee... What are all these things?" Mikoto looked as if she had seen a ghost.

"Hey, don't make such a fuss. You received those messages too, right? It seems we've been swept up in the Holy War of the Gods. Hmm, nothing to be surprised about," Lin Luo said, shrugging with an air of calm. In terms of acceptance capabilities, even an LV5 Railgun couldn't compare to a NEET, especially Lin Luo, the god among otaku.

"This is absolutely something worth being surprised about!" Mikoto roared emotionally. "This is a war of the Gods! How could mortals like us possibly get involved in something like that... Wait a minute, is there really such a thing as God in this world?"

As the scientific Railgun, Mikoto found the concept unbelievable.

This, indeed, warranted serious thought... Lin Luo felt a deep resonance with Mikoto's question. While he wasn't an atheist, he also found it difficult to comprehend the existence of 'Gods.'

What were Gods? Were they the deities of actual legends? Or merely beings possessing extraordinarily immense power?

The information provided by the Contract Book was not detailed; it had merely implanted a tiny fraction of data into their minds: The War of the Gods had begun, and they were selecting their representatives across various parallel worlds, bestowing upon them the Heart Canon, known as Groundwalkers. These Walkers would fight this war on behalf of the Gods. The World Hearts also held an extremely significant position in this conflict; as artifacts, they would attach themselves to certain individuals, and ultimately, the person who gathered all the World Hearts would be the sole victor of this war.

Overall, this information matched almost exactly what Liu Ziwen had stated, yet Lin Luo sensed a massive sense of incongruity... Firstly, if this was a war of the Gods, why choose mere mortals like them to fight? That seemed utterly brain-dead. Were the Gods' IQs all negative numbers!

Secondly, what exactly were this so-called Heart Canon and World Heart? How many Heart Canons were there, and how many World Hearts? The Contract Book revealed nothing about this, which was strange. If this was such an important Holy War, why was this fundamental information missing?

Thirdly, what was the objective of this war? Every conflict had a purpose, but the Contract Book failed to clearly state one.

Fourthly, how did the 'Gods' choose their representatives? And based on what criteria did the World Hearts select their hosts? Currently, both he and the master of the Beast Taming Book were people from the real world, while Mikoto and the summoned beasts by Liu Ziwen were residents of fantasy worlds. What was the connection between these elements?

There were countless other questions like these. In short, everything remained a huge mystery. For a war, the information revealed so far was far too sparse. In Lin Luo’s view, there were simply too many points worthy of complaint.

However, there was no need to explain these things to Mikoto. With the simplistic, single-track binary theory common to the 2D world, she was clearly unsuited for contemplating such complex issues. Even though Railgun's IQ was high, it was entirely dedicated to her psychic abilities; as for emotional intelligence... it was better left unmentioned.

As for this kind of intensely complex mental labor, it should be done by... Tch, it seemed he wasn't suited for that job either. Forget it, he could just sign up a high-IQ girl good at deduction later on.

"Well, don't worry too much about these things..." Seeing that Mikoto seemed ready to press the issue, Lin Luo said with a smile, "Just treat it like an illusionary game. Besides, isn't this great? If we can increase our levels, wouldn't it be easier for you to save your sisters?"

"Well, that is true," Mikoto paused, momentarily stunned, yet she couldn't help but agree with Lin Luo’s reasoning, as she could already feel the benefits this contract brought. Her physical strength was at least one-third stronger than before.

Although this small gain was negligible for an LV5 Esper, she could sense that another, more mysterious door had opened before her—a realm she had never touched before... Perhaps the legendary LV6 was no longer just a fantasy!

P: Please recommend and collect. Your support is my motivation!