Chapter 391 - 314: Return and Panel Changes
No. 7 Purple Vine Lane, the third sub-basement.
Before the altar, Ian sat cross-legged, the sleeves of his dark gray robe draped on the ground.
His eyes were partly closed, his fingertips suspended in the void, slowly sketching as he reviewed yesterday’s battle.
Every detail of yesterday’s confrontation with the Level Five pollution mother replayed in his consciousness.
The dark violet vertical pupils, the dense mass of tentacle-eyes, the warnings that had popped up on the panel.
And at that final moment, the icy sensation of being watched by a high-level entity.
That feeling... It was like being stripped naked and thrown into a frozen wasteland, so cold even his Soul trembled.
At the edge of his vision, a line of text silently appeared on the panel.
[Level Five Abyssal Will Intrusion Record: Archived]
[Soul Coordinate Lock Status: Blocked]
[Recommendation: Avoid the Burning Canyon area]
Ian slowly exhaled, feeling a great weight lift from his heart.
’The Burning Canyon and the two-thousand-mile area around it... I can’t go there for now.’
’That cursed place is hiding a Radiant Moon Level Abyssal Mother. With my current strength... going there would be suicide.’
"I still have to get stronger," he muttered to himself.
Deep within his pupils, the phantoms of three Star Orbits slowly revolved.
Gravity, Purification, and Time... these three Rules were his greatest, most recently acquired pillars of support.
’But it’s not enough. Far from it.’
From a corner of the room, a soft purring sound came from Gaga.
It was curled up in the shadows, its small head tucked under its wing, sleeping soundly.
Its Dark Silver feathers rose and fell gently with its breath, twitching occasionally as if it were dreaming.
Ian glanced at it, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly.
Then he closed his eyes again, his consciousness sinking into the depths of his Sea of Spirit.
There, the Link from the Phase Anchoring was transmitting clear fluctuations—warm, scorching, and carrying the roar of burning stars.
It was like a distant lighthouse, growing brighter and brighter in the darkness.
’The projection... is almost back.’
「An unknown amount of time passed.」
The Abyssal Altar suddenly trembled—a very slight tremor that sent a ripple through space.
Ian’s eyes snapped open. Deep within his pupils, the rotation of the Star Orbits suddenly accelerated.
In the corner, Gaga woke up as well.
The little creature jerked its head up, its silver-gray pupils opening in the darkness like two small flames.
"Ian... something’s coming out."
"Don’t worry."
Ian stood up. The sleeves of his dark gray robe stirred without a wind as he looked toward the dark vortex at the center of the altar.
The vortex was spinning faster, no longer the slow, stable rotation from before.
Instead, it was accelerating with a wild, uncontrollable frenzy.
VMMMM!
A low hum resonated from the depths of the altar as all twenty-eight Void Anchor Stones lit up simultaneously.
A silvery-white light erupted from the stone platform, illuminating the entire Laboratory as if it were day.
On the walls, the ceiling, the floor...
All the shadows vanished in the light. Even the corner where Gaga had been curled up was filled with silver light.
"GAK!"
With a flutter of its wings, the little creature leaped out of the shadows and landed on Ian’s shoulder.
Its small claws gripped his collar, its feathers slightly puffed up.
"What is—"
"My other ’self’ has returned."
Ian’s voice was calm, but Gaga could hear the suppressed excitement in his heart.
"Gak? Another you? Is it as good-looking as you are?"
Gaga craned its small head forward curiously, staring at the constantly spinning vortex.
At the center of the altar, the vortex’s rotation reached its limit.
Until... the darkness was torn apart, revealing a piercing point of golden light deep within.
The golden light rapidly grew larger, drawing closer.
It was like a falling star, streaking through the endless Void, hurtling toward this world.
Ian took a deep breath.
In his Sea of Spirit, the [Two-Realm Phase Analyzer] instantly activated at maximum power.
The Dark Silver Witchcraft Tool hovered in the depths of his consciousness, the jet-black crystal at its core spinning wildly.
A Gravity Field of the Void spread out, forming a distorted barrier within a two-meter radius around him.
At the same time, Ian deployed the [Space-Time Curvature Field].
Space seemed to be kneaded by an invisible hand, and light bent into strange arcs at Ian’s sides.
He had made all preparations, ready to receive... an unprecedented boon!
WHOOSH! The golden light shot out of the vortex, condensing into a single, pure point of gold.
It was only the size of a Rice Grain, yet it was too bright to look at directly.
It hovered above the altar, trembling slightly.
The next instant... it had already vanished into the space between Ian’s eyebrows.
"Ian... are you all right?"
Gaga’s panicked cry exploded beside his ear.
But Ian could no longer hear it. His consciousness had been dragged into... a storm.
Within his Sea of Spirit.
A miniature Star Map hovered at the center of his consciousness, hundreds of points of light slowly revolving along profound trajectories.
Three Star Orbits circled its periphery.
The moment that golden point of light entered, it... silently melted within the Sea of Spirit.
Like a drop of golden ink falling into a clear lake, it instantly spread, seeped, and merged into every inch of the water.
Golden motes of light scattered to every corner of the Star Map.
The instant it touched the Gravity Orbit, the orbit trembled violently!
The silver-gray orbital band suddenly brightened threefold!
The Gravity Rule, which had originally been only a "vague understanding," now began to transform toward a "complete understanding."
Ian closed his eyes.
There was no need for deliberate Perception, no need for Spiritual Guidance.
He could feel every fold in the space around him, the network of Gravity beneath his feet on the Earth, and the gravitational pull on the minuscule dust motes in the air.
It was as if he had gained an extra pair of invisible hands that could casually toy with these "lines."
He could freely adjust the magnitude, direction, and even the very nature of Gravity.
The Purification Orbit was also changing.
Its pure silver light was now tinged with a faint golden hue.
This was not just a change in color, but a sublimation of its very essence.
The boundary between Order and Chaos became clearer than ever before in Ian’s consciousness.