Chapter 392: Emerald Skies (1/2)
Reoluv was inwardly fuming, but he still had to retain a dignified expression as he received the many congratulations from the various young masters and ladies from distinguished forces as he exited the tower.
Passing the 62nd level was respectable, but not what he had aimed for. His goal had always been to completely conquer the 7th floor, just like his master did once upon a time. But a small mistake had abruptly caused the end of his trial, even before he had used up his final hidden cards. It was just the difference of one level from completing the whole 7th floor, but that 1 level was like an endless abyss.
It was the divide between a talented cultivator and a genius of an era.
The conquering the seventh floor have given him a shot at making contact with the hidden peak forces presiding over the sector, or perhaps provided him with the same sort of opportunity that presented itself for Lord Beradan a few decades after he managed to conquer the 7th floor.
Winning the favor of an undying existence passing by their remote sector would elevate his fate to a level that not even becoming an Emperor could match.
But it was all for naught.
It felt like a cosmic joke, a brief lapse in concentration made his token crack, which forcibly teleported him outside even though he still was able to keep fighting. He didn't even know that was possible, since the tokens were essentially impervious to outside forces. Or did that change at the high-tier floors?
Reoluv grit his teeth at the memory and quickly excused himself from the square full of people, citing the need to go home and ponder on a few insights he gained from conjuring the Eight Calamities Titan.
The truth was that the mental shock of falling short for such a stupid reason had even made him unable to completely immerse himself in the effect of the Apparition, but perhaps the situation was still salvageable if he hurried home to his master’s Dao Chamber. As long as he managed to push one of his fragments to Medium Mastery the tower wouldn’t be a complete wash.
Many impressed sighs and comments echoed across the square, praising such a genius that never let himself relax. But he didn’t care as he crushed the token even though he could stay here for another month if he wanted to.
At least there was one small comfort in this disappointing climb. There was at least no one in the area who would be able to beat his score in the short run, and he would have another chance in a few years.
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“My Lord, it is done,” Triv said as his miasmic body shuddered with excitement.
“Oh?” Adriel said with some surprise. “I thought it would take a few more days.”
“We managed to sneak a handful of spectral squads behind their lines to place the final flags. They will start to corrode the environment though, so it will be found out within a week that something is wrong,” the ghost attendant confirmed.
“You don’t need to explain to me,” Adriel snorted. “I was the one who modified them.”
“My apologies!” Tviv hurriedly said.
Adriel waved his hand that it didn’t matter as he thoughtfully stared at his crystal for a few seconds.
“Have we found out the source of undeath yet?” Adriel asked. “Those closed incursions teemed with miasma, but I couldn’t recognize its signature. I first thought it was Mhal who had somehow resurrected, but he was much too stupid to orchestrate something like that.”
“No, we sent a group to greet and possibly integrate the person who closed those incursions, but we were always too late,” Triv said. “We also tried to compare the residual energies to everyone here, but we couldn’t match it either.”
It shouldn’t be possible that it was one of his children. Adriel had never heard of a newly turned citizen ignoring the commands of its leader. Even those ignorant things scuttling around his domain would respond to the calling, shuffling toward him without hesitation. Had the undead warrior mutated to allow him to somehow resist it?
“There is something else,” the attendant added. “He can use the natives’ teleportation arrays. The scouts believe that the warrior is an unaffiliated wanderer since he didn’t respond to the call in the slightest.”
“So he’s not a designated invader at least,” Adriel muttered as he started to pace back and forth. “Unaffiliated wanderer at F or early E-Grade? A twist of fate? Or is a scion of the ancient clans bored enough to visit a baby planet?”
“If it’s one of those young masters who have gained an interest in this world… Should we back off?” Triv Nervously asked.
“No need. If such a personage wanted this planet they would simply visit me and claim it. That would be a pretty good outcome as well. A family that can see through the obscuration of the heavens wouldn’t be stingy with their compensation for claiming a world,” Adriel smiled.
However, Adriel's instincts told him that the mysterious warrior was not some scion of an ancient clan. He was just a Lich rather than one of the five blessed races, but he was representing the Empire in this invasion. Even one of the purebloods would have had to respond to the call since it contained the authority of the Primo.
“Of course, there’s another possibility,” the Lich pondered.
“What?” Triv asked with confusion. “If not a turned citizen, and not an unaffiliated wanderer, then what?”
“It might be related to the Mystic Realm,” Adriel muttered with a thoughtful smile. “We know it's an abandoned research facility of the heretics of the Boundless Path. Did the Technocrats perhaps create a synthetic bloodline disconnected from the Call of the Empire? But why would they do that? Immortality?”
“What do you wish us to do, my Lord?” Triv asked hesitantly, knowing the far more knowledgeable lich was simply asking rhetorically.
“Leave it be,” Adriel finally said. “We’ll ignore that man for now since he hasn’t shown any hostility against us. Perhaps activating the array might prompt him to visit me for a talk.”
“So we’re finally liberating this world?” Triv said with excitement. “We’ll finally be able to breathe again!”
“We have played passively long enough,” Adriel agreed as two green sinister lights lit up in his eyes. “Those humans and ants think our citizens are just targets to farm levels? It’s time for them to join my kingdom.”
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“Miss Marshall, it’s bad!” Trevor screamed as he almost fell on the ground in his frantic entrance of the command tent.
“What’s going on?” Thea said with a bad premonition as she immediately ran out of the tent, and one glance was all that she needed to know what scared Trevor so badly.
The sky was green.
Enormous azure lines crisscrossed a murky-green sky and the air was rife with miasma. Worse yet, she saw almost a dozen azure pillars reaching toward the sky in various directions. They looked a lot like incursion pillars, though death-attuned rather than the blue one she had encountered during the battle with the Incursion neighboring Westfort.