Asher didn't even turn around yet, but he already felt overwhelmed by whatever was behind him. Coursing in his mind and body was the sensation of truly being in the presence of a being far above any mortal.

There wasn't any energy, power, or aura being emitted from behind him.

This presence just carried that natural ethereal feel no being, no matter how powerful they are, could ever dream of matching up to.

Before Asher even turned around, it was then he heard it.

"Asher~! For so many long and boring years, I've been nestling within you. And, finally, finally! We can meet at last!"

The voice that smoothly pooled into Asher's ears had to be one of, if not the most beautiful voice he ever had the opportunity to listen to.

No singers, even with Magical Power enhancing their voice, could compare to this proper heavenly melody.

Just from listening to this voice, Asher felt all his previous tension and worries wash out of his entire being. The chaotic traumatizing events from before were temporarily completely forgotten by Asher because of this divine voice.

Asher's mind was wrapped by this fairy-like voice, but his body began to instinctively move on its own.

There was an overwhelming desire shaking him to the very core to just see how owned this magnificent voice.

When Asher had fully turned around, he did indeed witness a beautiful sight that matched the beautiful voice. In fact, the person he saw maybe the most beautiful woman he had ever encountered in his entire life.

His eyes were first attracted to the beautiful woman's face.

Her face perfectly emitted a pure divine beauty aura. Every single aspect of her gorgeous face was like losing your gaze in a luminously twinkling shooting star.

Long blue hair coated with shimmering blue brilliance elegantly danced out from her head, flowing all the way down to her ankles like a waterfall.

Her body as well was the epitome of bewitchingly sexy.

A perfected figure-eight body that even Elsa couldn't quite match up to. Two massive, towering twin peak breasts and sweet gorgeous large ass.

The only genuinely peculiar thing about this woman's stunning image was the fact she was in a half translucent body similar to Asher.

Though, the woman still wore a long blue dress that went all the way down to her ankles, tightly fitting her body and highlighting her alluring curves.

Asher felt his breathing hitched all at once. He indeed was at a loss for words.

For all the beautiful women he had the luck of landing his eyes on in real life, he was never as speechless as he is now. No super celebrity from the internet, famous idol singer, or really anybody could genuinely compare to this half translucent beautiful woman.

Staring into her face, Asher legitimately felt like he was looking at a half translucent goddess who had so graciously decided to grace his presence with her beauty.

And it was only after a couple of seconds of blindly staring that Asher noticed a slight curve on this beautiful woman's lip.

Against all expectations, Asher never expected for her to actually smile at him!

Even as Asher believed himself to be a decently average-looking guy, he didn't have that bolstering confidence in making beauty smile so easily.

There was a strange silence that settled between Asher and the half translucent woman. Neither talked, only gazing into each other faces.

After this short moment, Asher finally noticed that the half translucent woman wasn't even trying to talk. She just kept her smiling eyes on him.

Just sitting in silence, getting stared at a goddess woman in look, Asher was beginning to feel awkwardness creeping into his mind. And the most strange thing was, Asher could swear within the woman's half translucent eyes, there was a hint of amusement dancing there.

Finally, Asher realized he couldn't just let this strange moment continue.

But right when Asher moved his mouth to speak, the half translucent woman raised her hand. Asher didn't bother trying to talk, and he finally heard the half translucent beautiful voice again.

"Come on, Asher~, don't get too tongue-tied on me today! You know what today is? It's the day of our Merger!"

After hearing the half translucent woman talk, Asher began to quickly sober up. He leaked a soft sigh, gathering his thoughts and emotions.

In just a split second, Asher calmed himself and his hormonal desires. He steeled his tension, shot his eyes directly up, and evenly stared right into the half translucent woman soul-stealing eyes.

He asked with zero hints of nervousness in her tone, "Merger….just what do you mean by that? And for that matter, just who are you and what is this?"

The half translucent girl didn't immediately respond.

She took a great liking towards how quickly Asher got over his awe and is now staring directly into her gaze.

Still, without talking, the half translucent girl got a few inches closer to Asher. Her smile only became wider as she slightly leaned over to Asher in a remarkably cutesy pose.

In this position, Asher didn't know whether it was intentional or not, but he did get a whole better view of the half translucent girl's bountiful breasts.

Even as Asher steeled his nerves, he couldn't help but take a quick gaze at such a mesmerizing sight.

'Haah….didn't know I would be dealing with a temptress this morning.' Asher quickly shook his head before entirely focusing on the half translucent woman's face, his eyes never leaving her gaze now.

The half translucent woman's smile turned into more of a proud smirk then. "Hm. I knew I would just like you even on our first meeting, boy."

For a brief second, Asher felt his entire being pause. A warm fuzzy feeling surged inside his chest from the straightforward compliment.

However, Asher still kept his gaze even, trying his absolute best to not let what he was secretly feeling show on his face.

The half translucent girl got just a bit closer to Asher as she had actually spotted the slightest twitch on his face. "Who am I? You can call me Yuki. What is this place? You can say what you humans call your soul. What is the Merger? Well, it's pretty self-explanatory. It's the time for our powers to finally combine and be unleashed!"

Yuki's voice turned towards a more hypnotically bright charm that made it nearly impossible to argue against what's she saying.

For a second, Asher almost just let himself get swept by the voice and simply agreed with her.

'But….fuuu….I need to stay focused.'

In a surprising show of willpower, Asher kept his mouth shut from what he was going to say initially. And right when he was about to say something, he quickly shut his mouth again.

On Yuki's face, her expression abruptly shifted in a whiplash of a second.

She stared right into Asher's eyes, piercing down to the depths of his being, giving him a smile that quite wasn't a smile.

Such an abrupt shift in mood was admittedly eerie to Asher.

Keeping up the same oddly chilling look, Yuki told Asher, "The only cost to all of this is juuust….your humanity."

Yuki said humanity in a slightly cold tone that made Asher feel goosebumps popping on his skin.

But, Asher didn't miss what Yuki meant at his humanity being at the cost.

His eyes went wide as he slowly stuttered out, "Hu-humanity? As in….my life? My morality? Or just my own species?"

Yuki's expression immediately shifted back to her welcoming, charming gaze. Such an abrupt shift; it was like that moment never happened.

Before Asher could even question how fast she could change her mood, Yuki began to explain to him,

"Relax, relax. You won't be dying, nor you won't become some mindless killing monster. But you are right about the species changing. You won't be a human after this. You will be something far better. A full-fledged ghost!"

"And just how is that any different from dying?" Asher had immediately deadpan.

He read the stories, he did his research, anybody knows being a ghost equals dying!

Yuki's smile only became increasingly brighter, unbothered by the sarcasm.  "The difference is, you'll be alive with all of your normal functioning human body parts, duh! Just think of it as like….an evolution."

Asher slowly reacted to Yuki's explanation. He quickly processed the new information before sighing once again.

"Haaah….dammit, mother. Dammit, father. You just never tell any of us anything. Haaah…." A rise of several frustrations chaotically swirled in Asher's mind. All of it fell on his mother and father.

But no matter what he feels now, Asher knows nothing could be done about them currently.

He raised his gaze back up to Yuki with a new lit fire burning in his eyes. "Since I'm here and the gemstone already drilled into me, I basically have no other choice, right?"

"Now, now, don't be like that, Asher." Yuki began wagging her finger as if she was going to lecture him. "You should actually be grateful, you know. I'm slowing down this whole process, so your mind didn't get overwhelmed in chaos."

Admittedly, Yuki's cute mannerism and her radiant smile majorly help towards calming Asher's frustrations.

Though anything involving his parents causes him stress to no end, Yuki's star-like smile and eyes quell a lot of that stress.

Asher honestly doesn't know what to think about Yuki yet.

She seemingly had this bright, energetic appearance, but also this snap of a finger eerily chilling side. She also apparently already knows him and everything about this event.

But the most significant moment that still stuck with Asher was the tone Yuki had when specifically saying humanity. If there's one thing he could tell he was sure of her, there was an apparent deep history about that.

"Soo? Are you ready now?" Yuki suddenly questioned Asher.

Asher closed his eyes to contemplate it and opened them back up not even a second later. "For all of my life, to the first memories I can actually recall, it all has been continuous training. Training for this very day of Ceremony. I need to, no, I have to reach my goal. And if this is a way to gain some sort of great power….then so be it!"

Yuki's gaze turned inquisitive. There was a rising surge of fiery determination trapped within Asher's tone that genuinely piqued her interest more.

She cutely tilted her head and asked Asher, "Goal, huh? So, just what is your goal?"