Chapter 1045 - The Father of All Life, the Target of Civilizations (1/2)
The life of Lifechasers were all but fated to be full of ups and downs.
Within the Nightfall Zone, which was perpetually without light, their kind had to steer massive mobile cities and chase after the trails of stars, absorbing their light and heat. However, the stars which could be used for moving cities were truly scarce across the Nine Skies—if it was not too close to the Steel Continent and risking the chance of everything being possibly reduced the dust, it would be too far from the continent to the point that there was not enough light to charge the mobile city so that it could move and maintain the energy of the ecosystems within.
Even if a suitable star cold be found by chance, the excessive and volatile gravity emanating from the Steel Continent could cause those suns to lose balance at any given moment and drop off, crashing over the land—should that happen, the mobile cities had to change directions and avoid the entire sector to escape the destruction caused by the falling star.
Be that as it may, the Steel Continent would still absorb the bursting momentum in the devastative crash of any star into the land, preventing seismic tremors that spread over light-hours or even light-days, even condensing the crumbling gas of the fallen star so that it could reassemble as a new star. Even so, it would still mean that the mobile cities would lose all sources of energy, and that they had to embark on a voyage as early as possible to reach vicinity of the next viable star.
The pursuit of light and stars could last for millennia or just mere decades—the mobile cities were huge steel shells that eternally rushed about over the continent, coming for stable stars and going for falling stars. In turn, the Lightchasers were the insects buried within the shell: for most mortal Lighchasers, the sheer gravity of the Steel Continent and the various radiation or pollution from realms beyond were all real threats to their lives. If not for the protection from the mobile city's manmade World Barriers, it would not have taken more than a few minutes for mortals without Extraordinary ability to simply die.
Therefore, there was actually no 'stability' within the Radiant Domain itself either. Even if the densely-packed cl.u.s.ters of stars would bring about boundless, powerful light and spare the headache regarding energy supplies for citizens within, the denser cl.u.s.ters would still mean that there would be more 'Starfalls'—every year, there would always be some mobile city that would run into meteor rains and be decimated as hundreds or even thousands stars dropped on them.
And what was worse, it was a regular natural disaster in the Radiant Domain.
Stars would rise or fall, just as stars would be born or perish.
Upon the Steel Continent, endless things were in constant motion, existing in cycles which had no stability to speak of. Furthermore, beyond the light, endless spawns of Chaos poured within from the edges of the world, roaming throughout Nightfall despite their fear of the light—every Lightchaser individual hence yearned for security, for eternal and peaceful illumination and not to be forever imprisoned in a cycle of migration and flight.
Though such hopes sounded rather insignificant, they were also conundrums which had never been solved by anyone over the hundred thousand years since history began. Countless individuals would invest themselves into astrology, astronomy, or exploration of distant stellar regions, intent on seeking the principle of motion which the stars obeyed, desiring the unraveling of the cause of all those turmoils.
Nevertheless, there had been none who could find the answer up until now.
Furthermore, no one could theorize how the entire world had come to be, or how it was made. According to stellar models, as well as the examination of fundamental attributes in regards to both physics and Extraordinary power, the cleverest Alliance scholars had once deduced the model in which countless worlds were born, but no particular model had really cultivated such a unique and perplexing place like the Three Worlds and Nine Skies. In return, the scholars could only helplessly admit that there might really have been a Creator in this world, a genuine divine being.
The 'god' here was not a reference to the known deities, however—those divine beings could not actually reach the Nine Skies, not to mention that they were simply champions who were unable to ascend up to the Sword and Axe realms. Like the others, they were simple beings pursuing the light.
That was why everyone could only attribute the causality behind everything to the omnipotent Father, molder of the endless Steel Continent, Creator of all Life, and declare that all their tribulations were a 'test'.
After all, they simply could not find any other existing reason aside from that.
***
But now, Alpha Falster, astrologer scholar most ordinary and former famed explorer, realized that he had presently reached the trail directed towards the 'Truth'—within the faraway Lightless Zone, he had seen the giant black star whirling at the heart of worlds, as well as how the endless other dazzling stars were sinking into it, turning into tiny sparks…just like firewood, used as fuel for the fire.
”…whatever the case may be, I no longer have anything else. They took away my Alice, my daughter, and my son.”
”I have nothing but the Truth now.”
Laughing bitterly, the silver-haired middle-aged man shook his head and turned to look behind.
It was not to glance at the advanced exploration ship that Karlis had left him. What Alpha was looking at was the foot of the hill, and the final objective of his journey here.
He was now looking at a lofty mountain.
It was over four hundred million kilometers tall, meaning that it would have actually taken light twenty-four minutes to cover a single trip upwards or downwards. Indeed, it was so colossal that the mountain itself was much more massive than most other stars.
However, even such a monumental peak was not the highest there was in the boundless continent—the Godly Summit within the Radiant Domain, a former sacred sanctuary where the gods once lived, had been two full light-hours tall. That being said, such peaks, along with the valleys that stretched on forever away from them, were no more significant than wrinkles on the human skin.
And it was within such a colossal realm that the Lightchasers live, struggling with all their might to survive with their tiny bodies.
Either way, now, at the very top of the peak which exceeded the vision field of most people, there was a rather eye-catching sharp, pointed tip poking out. It was a crystalline, fully silver and luminous and appearing to be a prism, shining just like a star while also releasing blinks of starlight.
As Alpha gazed upon that light, he could feel the blood within his body boiling as a mysterious feeling began to emanate.
What was it? What could it be that was hidden in his blood? Why would he, a man who had lived in the Radiant Domain all along, have felt such familiarity towards a pointy crystal in the distant Lightless Zone atop a mountain?
Could it be that he really was not as normal as he had thought himself to be? Had Professor Karlis chosen him to be her student simply because of that, and what did a so-called 'Child of Silver Fairies' even mean?
Countless questions filled the head of the tired middle-aged man. But even after losing his family, as well as everything he had struggled and lived for in the Radiant Domain, he had never once lost his courage and his curiosity.
He had not lost his hot-bloodedness and his impulses, as well as the resolve to journey towards the truth!
”Time to go,” he said, and as he mustered his courage, Alpha went back to his exploration vessel.
As the lights signaling that the craft's warp drive was energizing, he headed forth to the top of the 'mountain'!
***
[Alpha's Expedition Journal]
[In the dark and lifeless reaches of the Lightless Zone, I have discovered something puzzling: a pointed edge, entirely composed of crystal and shining in clear blue crystalline radiance.
It is shining brightly atop an unnamed peak, but it is cold light without warmth—meaning that the anti-thermal measures I had prepared was a complete waster. Still, it is not to say that it was a bad thing since I can leave my ship, bringing along my AI crew and equipment for a closer observation.]
[After days of detailed study, I can finally confirm, and am in turn taken aback, that the prism crystal shining on top of the mountains is in fact the tip of a gigantic crystal obelisk. Its main structure is buried beneath the mountains, while the entire valley—all of it—is composed of the corpses of Chaos aberrations! Father above…it is so difficult to even imagine the bulk of such vast mountains are endless piles of those monsters, but it appears that after a long time has passed, the aberrations have also lost their bizarre toxicity that had left people in madness. All that is now left of them is rock and soil that are just a little corrupted, while the entire obelisk is buried inside.
I am sure that there is a way to enter the obelisk. There must be a reason why Professor Karlis has led me here, and it certainly would not be to surprise me. Moreover, it would be more ridiculous for me to dig out such a massive obelisk instead of entering it… and for some reason, I sense that something within the obelisk is drawing me to it.]
[It took me a long time—actually just two hours—to find a way in. It was quite simply too: by leaving everything, even precautionary tools outside and entering the cool silver light and touching the crystal with my bare hands. Then, it drew me inside as if only natural…to tell the truth, if I had not found the heat suit too stuffy and wanted a breather, I would definitely not have done that, since meeting any accident after I have barely ascended as Gold-intermediate would mean that I would rest in pieces. Even so, when the cold light touched me, I actually felt as if I did not even need to breathe, and it would assuredly provide me all the energy I need to stay alive.
Either way, I entered since there was no other options. But in the instant when I was sucked in, I could sense an extremely profound power that far eclipsed any star sweeping through my entire body—it was a force far greater than the supernova explosion my mentor and I witnessed over decades ago, and could instantly level thousands of mobile cities. Come to think of it, those Chaos spawns must have been wiped out because they had recklessly touched this obelisk, and as they piled it over dozens of thousands of years, they eventually buried the obelisk under them too.]
[I also notice that the light from the crystal is modifying my body—eventually, I started feeling that I did not have to breath, just as I lost the sensation of hunger and thirst. There is that perception that the energy around me are growing in intimacy with myself, but at the same time, my ears are turning sharper, my skin almost a little metallic along with an exponential increase in need for energy… what should have been High Gold, or Supreme-tier abilities for elements and Psi are appearing over my form…is this good or bad? I am not sure, but one way or another, as I came to a realization from my trance, I had already arrived at a very vast crystal chamber, the walls of which were covered with small caverns.
There was a flight of stairs in the crystal chamber that would be narrow for most Lightchasers, heading towards the depths of the obelisk—it seems that the obelisk had been built by some lifeforms were smaller than most Lightchasers, and yet the structure itself was more massive than most stars. I have to say, this is a really stunning miracle in itself.
Without hesitation, I chose to venture deeper.]
Ceasing his record and continuing the good habit which he had kept up over a dozen years, Alpha took a deep breath and made his way to the stairs at the center of the crystal chamber, and headed deep beneath it.
At first, the chamber was semi-circular with a radius of almost fifteen kilometers. With his improved eyesight, Alpha could tell that winds were billowing out of the many small caverns on the walls of the chamber, with each appearing to be connected to some other place. In addition, the walls on both sides of the central stairs were inscribed with countless complex runes, as well as elegant engravings of an obscure language.
Alpha could feel as if he could almost understand some of the meaning of the engravings. Could it have been a rather rare ancient tongue? There was translation equipment back on his ship, and he could bring some pictures of the engravings back on board to check what was written.
Then, after walking down a considerable distance, the number of engravings were slowly decreasing until they were eventually replaced by sheets of murals. Alpha therefore quickly took out his photography equipment to record each one that he came across.
Unlike the engravings, Alpha simply needed a glance at the murals to understand them. It appeared to be a series of wall paintings which depicted the life of a 'clergy', a man who was born in an ordinary family of farmers. However, the clergy's parents perished when a wave of monsters struck (or at least from Alpha's perception, it was a wave of Chaos monsters, although he recognized none of those depicted in the murals), after of which he was taken in by the kind village pastor and gained training in the path of Extraordinary.
There were a total of seven gods whom the pastor served—which was very rare, because all seven divine beings had formed an alliance of gods while sharing rank and glory. Meanwhile, the young clergy poured his heart and mind into his own training, wandering the cities across the world and aiding starved peasants, but remaining unknown even until he reached middle age, with his accomplishments at most lauded amongst mortals. However, when the Pope abdicated and participated the treatise which the gods bore witness to, and triumph over every rival through knowledge and power, he was appointed as the pontiff.
It was a very stirring story—Alpha felt a little envious at that: a mortal with nothing to his name who had ascended as the pontiff and stood atop an entire world was not something anyone could have done, and would only ever be accomplished with great courage, resolve, perseverance, and wisdom.
When it came to himself, he could arguably qualify for courage, resolve, and perseverance. When it came to his wisdom, some things were best left unsaid.