Chapter 247: World Pillar
Priam relaxed a little and enjoyed another peaceful meal alongside Mirra.
Once they were both fully recovered, he stood up and walked toward the door at the back. Inside, he would finally find the ultimate reward of this divine trial.
As he approached the entrance, lights emerged once again, forming glowing characters in the air:
Congratulations on your achievement. You are the first to make it this far, and the only one worthy of all the treasures left behind by the God of Fists.
Your final score: 100/100.
As the ultimate bonus, receive the Secret Martial Art: Immortal Emperor’s Empty Mind.
A glowing rune floated in the air and sank into Priam’s forehead. He absorbed it in silence, amazed by the flow of information.
With that, he had gathered four spectacular Divine Martial Arts, perfectly designed to elevate his combat potential to insane levels. On top of that, the God of Fists’ Immortal Inheritance was incredibly dense, filled with offensive techniques that rivaled even the most devastating Magic Arts.
More importantly, he would finally get his hands on the treasures of a deity!
Priam quickly stepped forward, crossing the portal and entering a square room thirty meters wide.
However, when he looked around, his eyes widened in shock.
"WHAT?!"
The room was empty. Completely, absolutely empty! There wasn’t a single ingot of rare metal, weapon, or scroll.
"Fuck! What bastard stole my treasure?!" he roared, fury burning in his chest.
After fighting to the brink of death and being crushed by an improved version of himself, finding a completely cleaned-out room pushed him to the verge of insanity.
"Cough, cough... Young people these days really shouldn’t get angry so easily," an ethereal, resonant voice echoed from nowhere.
Priam froze in place, his guard instantly rising. "Who are you?!"
"I never expected someone to make it this far after so many eras. Boy, you’re not bad at all," the voice continued.
The sound seemed to come from every direction at once, making it impossible to identify its source or even determine whether it belonged to a man or a woman.
"It was you! You fucking Heroic Relic! Reveal yourself!" Priam ordered, gritting his teeth.
He knew there had to be a Relic here. Besides, Dandara had already explained to him that artifacts wielded by Sages possessed their own consciousness and souls. A Heroic Relic of that caliber would certainly be similar.
*CRASH!*
The wall in front of him collapsed in a cloud of dust.
The fallen structure revealed a secondary chamber. In the center, resting on a stone pedestal, was a rounded shield... or rather, part of one. The artifact was visibly shattered and worn down by time.
"Little boy, I have revealed myself. Aren’t you going to come pay your respects to this lord?" the voice echoed again, overflowing with arrogant pride.
Priam merely cast a cold, disdainful look at the broken piece of metal and let out a dry snort.
"Brat, what kind of look is that?! Are you looking down on me?!" the Heroic Relic thundered indignantly.
Priam narrowed his eyes. "Did you steal my treasures?"
"Cough... Don’t say I stole them. I merely borrowed them!" the voice justified itself, sounding a little awkward. "Yes, I absorbed them completely... Just to recover a little."
"You damn bastard..." Priam clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles cracked, struggling not to crush what remained of the shield right there.
"Cough, I admit it was a small mistake on my part. But how was I supposed to know someone would come to this place after all these millennia?"
The entity sounded slightly guilty, but quickly regained its arrogance. "Look, you were lucky that I was sent to this untouched place. My other two brothers are probably still sleeping soundly. Having me is already a treasure big enough for someone at your level, who is merely a... ?!"
Suddenly, the voice choked.
Its arrogant tone transformed into shrill, visceral terror.
"YOU... YOU’RE A FUCKING INVADER!!"
Priam let out a dry sigh, staring at the shield with complete indifference. "So what?"
"You shameless sons of bitches!" the artifact screamed, overflowing with blind hatred. "Because of you, all the universes... my entire world was destroyed! And now you have the nerve to come back and steal what little remains?!"
"Hmm... I don’t know exactly what you’re talking about," Priam said, his voice completely devoid of emotion. "As far as I know, the three wielders of the Heroic Relics fought among themselves, killed each other, and triggered the calamity that destroyed this place."
"You!" the shield’s voice rose, livid with fury. "Yes, they weren’t saints! We lived at war and constantly caused catastrophes! But you... you invaded our world at the worst possible moment! You almost stole all the celestial power of our world! Only our core remained!"
Priam listened to the outburst and let out a short snort.
He had already suspected that the Sovereigns were hiding dark intentions. Why else would they send Mages and Sages on "missions" to foreign universes? Nothing good could possibly come from that.
Now, the pieces of the puzzle were starting to fall into place.
"Steal the celestial power? Sorry, but I don’t understand any of that," Priam said, maintaining his cold demeanor. "I and many others from my world were sent here ten months before the opening of the central region. Our official objective is to destroy this world’s core."
"How dare you..." The artifact’s voice trembled, soaked in viscous hatred.
Priam waved his hand dismissively. "But... I don’t know if this will make you feel any better, but I’m not exactly an ally of the Sovereigns who rule my world. If I get the chance to fuck them over, I’ll do it with a smile on my face. The problem is that I’m still too weak to risk doing anything they could trace back to me."
Silence.
The entity suddenly fell quiet. However, Priam could feel the artifact probing his aura, heavy and calculating, evaluating the truthfulness of his words.
Priam didn’t have time to waste.
The System had given him a mission to simply collect the three Heroic Relics. Destroying the core of this fractured world wasn’t part of the special mission, but if he got the opportunity, he would do it. After all, the rewards for completing the Sovereigns’ mission were indispensable to his survival.
At that moment, however, an idea suddenly clicked in his mind.
That temple had been built by the God of Fists and seemed to be sustained by a core that generated unlimited energy. If he could locate and extract that power source, now that would be a monumental treasure.
[Synthesize?] [Yes / No]
Priam activated his synthesis ability, creating the basic Power Rune he had used during his exile: the Flow Detector. He manipulated the Qi in the environment so that the rune would resonate with large concentrations of that energy.
The millisecond the Power Rune condensed in his hand...
"WHAT?!"
The Heroic Relic’s voice thundered through the room, completely stunned.
Priam turned toward the broken shield, raising an eyebrow. "?"
"Why... why do you carry the power of the World Pillar?!"
Priam narrowed his eyes.
"That’s... that’s impossible!" the shield stammered, gripped by hysterical terror. "A World Pillar cannot be moved or altered by anything! Any interference would cause the laws of the world in question to completely collapse! If that happened, the entire world would be swallowed by an age of eternal chaos!"
Priam’s confusion deepened. He had no idea what the artifact was talking about, but he quickly deduced that the entity was referring to the Nexus Seed — or perhaps the System itself.
Realizing that the situation had turned in his favor, Priam took advantage of the opening.
"Actually, I don’t even know much about the origin of my own power," Priam began calmly. "The only thing I’m certain of is that the power I use doesn’t come from the Sovereigns’ world. Like I said... if I can destroy them, I’ll do it. But I’m still far too weak to pick that fight openly."
He took a step forward, staring at the shattered shield.
"My primary objective in this ruined world is to collect the three Heroic Relics. Once I have all of them in my hands... then we can discuss how we proceed..."
Priam felt the entity’s thoughts collapse. The artifact’s blind hatred melted into a storm of doubts. That being was no longer sure whether it was facing an enemy... or the only salvation this world had left.