Chapter 864 - 48: First Awakening? Saw a God?
"You all can become any being—can become a monarch, or rise to divinity."
"But if you don’t become either, you will be abandoned..."
"And become the sacrifice."
This phrase, often heard before, couldn’t help but surface in her thoughts now, flowing quietly within her heart. It was precisely recalling this proverb-like saying that made the Puppet Girl seem resolute, as she once again raised her head to gaze at the night sky.
First, she must confirm the situation.
So that she can plan the next steps...
The night sky was like an endless celestial curtain, deep and profound. The Golden Law bound the fate of the stars, and coupled with her brother sealing the sky, suppressing Stellaris, it was now challenging to confirm anything through Stargazing Technique. Otherwise, the Stargazers and Kalia Dynasty wouldn’t have declined.
Yet...
Lani thought that although the fate of the stars had been bound by the golden restrictions, perhaps if the moon had indeed returned, she might still have a chance to confirm it... Because under her mother’s tutelage, while she was still young, she had already mastered the symbolic magic of Queen Calia and encountered the moon.
In other words, there existed an undeniable link between her and the Moon Law.
Gently extending her hand, magic power transformed into a cool radiance gathering in her small hand, the Puppet Girl unmistakably activated the symbolic magic of Queen Calia.
This legendary magic could call upon the arrival of a full moon.
The next moment—
The magic was successfully activated!
Almost like an instinct, because its memory was already etched deep within her soul. Even without the demigod body, she would never feel unfamiliar with this spell, still wielding the technique with incredible skill, as though thinking wasn’t necessary at all.
However, experience told this Princess of the Moon that although the spell had been successfully activated and feedback was fine... the result showed that the full moon hadn’t been summoned to descend.
But indeed, the spell had been activated, the summoning was genuinely in process... The technique principles seemed like a rope pulling something from the opposite side; this process resembled a tug-of-war between magic power and spirituality. If the other side doesn’t respond to the summoning, wasting mana and spirituality is one thing.
The most terrifying thing is, instead of pulling the other side, she is drawn over instead.
In that instant, Lani encountered exactly the latter situation.
"...!!"
She sensed her consciousness seemingly being drawn by some invisible force, suddenly departing from the Puppet body, observing the external sky and Earth, flying toward the infinitely high firmament above, like entering the universe, a fish leaping out of the river, briefly glimpsing the entire current ahead.
In that fleeting moment...
The world seemed to recede, the universe appeared to move away.
Only her consciousness appeared to eternally ascend within, her heart simultaneously filled with astonishment.
Because the process was swift and urgent, she had no chance to operate, realizing and wanting to actively sever the technique’s connection, it was already too late.
Indeed! It shouldn’t be the Moon Law she was familiar with! The link established through magic was not the moon she encountered in childhood... This realization arose in Lani’s heart, yet she endeavored to calm herself, avoiding instinctive resistance.
Instead, she compliantly yielded to the invisible force, allowing her perception to ascend continuously.
This was because she wished not to disturb the other side, simultaneously harbored an adventurous curiosity to see the situation beyond.
It was a necessity; her connection to Moon Law was far too profound, no less than Valkyrie Malenia’s relationship with Crimson Corruption. The one who should have been the most sacred Divine Being, born with corruption parasitic within, could only desperately suppress and confront it, an ancient being ready to use her body to reemerge in this world.
Lani was extremely vigilant of this; if she also encountered such a situation, she wasn’t certain she would have the chance to defy such destiny but certainly hoped to remain informed.
Surpassing the mundane world, seemingly reached the end, she sensed the drawing force slowing down, her consciousness gradually coming to a halt.
Ancient and mysterious...
Serene and ethereal...
Yet simultaneously immensely vast, like merely existing, surpassing the entire world with an intense presence, as if an ant entering a giant’s palace or an ordinary person seeing monumental celestial bodies’ operation. In the face of such intense presence, even she was genuinely overwhelmed with awe and wonder.
Finally—before her eyes, cold light blossomed.
A majestic silver radiance swept a distance of thousands of meters, a mysterious and immense moon appearing before her eyes, as though unveiling sunlight behind clouds.
The celestial body quietly rotated within emptiness, seeming vast and mysterious—
The moon?!
How could it be?!
Lani realized this fact at that instant, unable to restrain her inner astonishment... She had initially thought it was another divinity remarkably similar external deity, or simply exploiting the empty Moon Law, pretense plotting ancient existence within Stellaris.
Yet she hadn’t expected the opposite would indeed be the moon.
With demigod intuition, she naturally could discern Moon Law and concept clearly. It truly was the genuine moon over there?
But... why?
She experienced confusion, instinctively looking toward the direction that should be Earth, was it truly a reappearance of the King of the Night, reclaiming dominion over Boundary Land... Wait a minute! This wasn’t Boundary Land!!
In that dark chilling space, a vast blue planet, full of verdure and vitality, lay. Amid endless darkness, everything appeared as gemstone-like splendor, too wondrous to be real... But unquestionably wasn’t the land she knew!
And beyond, in the outer dark void, a fiercely blazing sun illuminated the entire Star System, the entire world!
"Is this the stars? No, no, this can’t be the stars..."
Lani felt confused, completely different from her recognition of the stars, it was bizarre.
The next instant—
"This is the stars!"
It was as if thunderbolts, capable of rending time and space, were roaring, and like the sound emitted by celestial bodies and the cosmos itself, even the hymns of the gods could not compare.
In the microseconds that followed, the world in Lani’s eyes decomposed and reorganized; time, space, lines, everything underwent earth-shattering changes! She saw the vast universe, with its endless star sea, electromagnetic waves like storms sweeping across the great abyss between Stellaris, and gravity flowing between celestial bodies like waves.
Stars released endless light and heat through fusion, shining in the deep space...
Numerous burning stars converged into magnificent nebulae, spiraling galaxies that quietly twisted through billions of years...
In that instant, she clearly saw the grand unified model of the universe, glimpsing the sacred and harmonious symphony of creation...
......
...
Magic Academy.
In the grand library.
"What a coincidence, consider it an exchange of knowledge..."
Picking up the book at hand again, Gu Mo sighed. He was trying to study and replicate that Full Moon Magic. Rules such as "an absolute secret of the Kalia Royal Family" and "whoever masters this magic must be a queen" didn’t work here; he easily analyzed and copied them.
But while trying to recreate "Lani’s Dark Moon," it just so happened that the original owner was also trying to do something with this magic—
Two identical spells were cast simultaneously, resulting in some sort of strange resonance effect. The Dark Moon that Miss Lani wanted to summon directly locked onto the Dark Moon that he had just summoned, though her strength was far inferior to his...
So, not only was she unable to pull his Dark Moon over, but she was instead dragged over herself.
Which made things a bit awkward.
Although Gu Mo didn’t have any psychological burden while copying the technique, he still preferred not to be discovered by the original owner. He immediately transferred the demigod girl’s consciousness into his Spiritual Domain and conveniently showcased the Law of the Star Sea to her.
That represented his understanding of the starry sky, hoping that when she sought to liberate the Boundary Land, she wouldn’t be confined to the Moon Law.
Being more radical could be beneficial; if she could truly comprehend something, it could serve as capital against the supreme will, making it even more perfect.
Flipping through the book in his hands, he easily analyzed this magic book, organized and filed it, then uploaded it to his main archive, happily hearing a wonderful sound... Well, actually, it wasn’t pleasant, more disjointed and grating.
However, considering that it was a Level up notification, it was indeed very pleasant.
The Professional Level rose to LV15. This mainly relied on continuously absorbing knowledge and experience, with the knowledge system level as the growth progression, which became progressively harder to upgrade.
Gu Mo felt the dramatic improvement as his spiritual attributes increased by a point, and satisfied, he opened the system panel, examining it before raising his eyebrows slightly... He saw that after the current Professional Level, there were no more blank progress bars.
Maxed out?
How could that be possible?
After a thorough search, he found a particularly small exclamation mark at the bottom of the page. Clicking it revealed a note from the system, explaining the current situation—
"The professional template has reached its current potential limit. To unlock higher level caps, advanced occupation information in the same type is required for derivation."
"..."
"..."
Holding his chin, Gu Mo’s eyes showed some doubt, then understanding. The professional template was initially unlocked through the Alchemist role in the Inuyasha World. Although it allowed for Immortal Ascension, it also had a cap, seemingly only reaching LV15 before the path ended.
This seemed reasonable—
The concept of immortals varies greatly, with differing portrayals across various Dungeon Worlds for this concept.
—In Inuyasha World, immortals, despite possessing profound Mana, conform more to traditional supernatural stories in their portrayal...
—But in another world, the definition of an immortal might involve plucking the moon and swallowing stars, a cosmic powerhouse traversing the universe, shedding emperor’s blood on the path to Immortal Ascension...
So now, do I need to figure out how to unlock an advancement, like a "First Turn Awakening" or something?
......
...
"Lady Lani..."
"I’m fine, Blazer."
Meanwhile, on the land of the Nimgefo Continent, in the Fog Forest, the Puppet Girl came back to her senses in confusion, seeing the worried look of the loyal half-wolf.
She collected herself, her eyes dazed and looking as if from a different era, gently pressing her forehead and waving a hand.
"Are you really... okay, Lady Lani?" The half-wolf Blazer looked at her worriedly, having thought the princess fell victim to some scheme earlier, "What on earth happened? Why did you..."
"..."
"..."
Silence, stillness, the soundless atmosphere spread.
"Blazer..."
The Puppet Girl’s gaze appeared distant and bewildered. She was reflecting on everything she had seen. After a long while, she called out the half-wolf’s name, somewhat dazed and uncertain, saying, "I think... I just saw... a god."
"A god?!"
"Yes, it carried the embryo of the universe, showing me everything."
Star systems... countless stars... the universe... unfurled at its feet—
To it, they were like a child’s toys.