Chapter 148 — The Test

As Gao You extracted the biological tissue—suspected to be the flesh of a god—from the mixed array in the Shadow Realm, the mutated aberration in the outside world finally lost its near-inexhaustible vitality.

With a heavy blow from Sir Byron, the monster let out a low howl, staggered, and collapsed to the ground, whereupon it began to rapidly evaporate and decompose into black smoke and dust scattering through the air, just like any ordinary aberration.

Gao Yang and Amber returned from the Shadow Realm as well, except that the former now held a strange crystal cube in his hand.

Though they did not know the exact sequence of events, Byron and Hedy could guess that these two had done something in the Shadow Realm to destroy the monster's resurrection mechanism. Hedy immediately stepped forward. "Ancestor, that monster is finally dead! Did you discover something in the Shadow Realm?"

"I found this," Gao Yang said, raising the crystal cube in his hand. Then he looked around at the guarding soldiers, and after a moment's thought, he spoke in a low, grave voice. "Byron, Hedy, Amber, stay here. Everyone else, guard the outside of the room for now."

The soldiers realized their lord must have discovered something extraordinary in the Shadow Realm, and without hesitation they left the hall.

Byron's expression turned serious at once. He had seen what was in Gao Yang's hand earlier, and now a vague association was forming in his mind. "My lord... what you're holding is..."

"This is the thing that was releasing energy and causing the monster outside to resurrect endlessly. And that monster was very likely influenced by it as well—that's how it survived here for a thousand years and possessed so many abilities ordinary aberrations lack," Gao Yang said quietly, then told Hedy and Byron of his discovery in the Shadow Realm. "...That's the situation. I'm afraid we really have found something extraordinary."

Clang—Hedy's staff slipped from her hand and fell to the floor.

"This... could it really be the flesh of a god?" The ever-composed and level-headed woman had finally lost her composure. She stared at the crystal cube in Gao Yang's hand with astonishment tinged with fear. "A god—how could a god possibly..."

"I know this is hard to accept, and I know you are a follower of the Goddess of Mystery and Magic. The fact that a god has fallen—that its very flesh has fallen into mortal hands—must be a great shock to you," Gao Yang said, softening his tone in the hope that it might calm his great-great-...-granddaughter a little. "But I also know there is a saying among mages: 'The path of exploration is endless, and the gods are within it.' Mages have never been an overly reverent lot—even you who worship the Goddess of Magic are no exception."

"I just can't believe it," Hedy said, taking a breath and picking up her staff with a bitter smile. "Do you know, Ancestor, in my whole life I have only been this astonished and flustered twice. The last time was when I saw you rise from your coffin."

"Legend has it that in ancient times there was a war among the gods. Some were defeated, and after their fall their remains fell to the mortal world; their power and fragments became the various supernatural forces and magical creatures of the world. And the gods who won that war are the rightful gods of today," Gao Yang said, laying out the explanation he had prepared. "Perhaps not all divine remains were 'transformed.' The Gondor Empire of that era may well have found a piece of remains that still retained its vitality and kept it intact—and then built this secret base to study it."

This explanation was relatively easy to accept, and it was not fabricated out of thin air. In fact, Gao Yang even felt that most of it probably matched the truth—at most, the part about how the gods died had been phrased a little... euphemistically.

Let's leave the gods a bit of face.jpg.

Compared to Hedy, Byron seemed calmer. A mercenary by origin, he had far less reverence for gods; when he saw that writhing, grotesque biological tissue, what he felt was mostly tension and astonishment, rarely awe or dread. So he quickly regained his composure and began to think. "It might not be as exaggerated as we think. There were plenty of powerful things in ancient times. Maybe the Gondor Empire simply found the remains of some demigod creature with a bit of leftover what-do-you-call-it... 'divinity,' and then studied it as though it were a god's corpse."

Gao Yang had to admit Byron's theory had merit. "That's possible too."

As he spoke, he looked around the hall. As for what research project had once been conducted here, he felt he had grasped the gist of it.

"The Gondor Empire of the Spark Era... that was an age when humanity was proud and looked down upon all creation. The Deep Blue Well's energy was inexhaustible, and humanity's arcane system was so attuned to Deep Blue mana that human mages of that time were almost the most destructive spellcasters in the world. Invincible under heaven—and once that happens, what people pursue changes. Resources were plentiful, power was ample, and what they still wanted... was probably only to be eternal like the gods of legend," Gao Yang said, his gaze moving to the line of text on the hall's wall. "Humanity shall endure forever, even in defiance of the gods. The use of the word 'defiance' shows that the researchers of that time knew exactly how audacious a thing they were doing—and yet they dared to do it anyway... Teetering madly on the edge of courting death, I suppose that's what this was."

At the end, he sighed and shook his head. "Unfortunately, the Empire's scholars soon discovered that the Deep Blue Well was the only super-class mana well on the continent, and its mana had a transmission limit. The incomparably mighty Gondor Empire was in truth merely favored by luck—its territory had been confined from the very beginning to the辐射 range of the mana well. So the Spark Era ended, and all those wild ambitions became nothing more than 'time to wash up and go to bed'..."

Everyone was lost in reflection at Gao Yang's words, until at last Hedy broke the silence. "Ancestor, how do you plan to deal with this... divine flesh?"

"That's just what I was coming to," Gao Yang said. He glanced at the crystal cube in his hand, then raised his eyes to Hedy and Byron. "When you look at it, do you feel any... mental discomfort? Fear, or auditory or visual hallucinations, anything like that?"

"No," Sir Byron said, shaking his head. "I was startled when I first learned what it was, but now that I've accepted it, there's nothing."

"Is that so..." Gao Yang frowned. "I want to run a test. It may put some strain on your minds. Are you willing? By the way, Amber already tried it on herself—this mental influence isn't fatal, and it's recoverable."

Amber's eyes went wide. "I didn't try it on purpose just now!"

Hedy and Byron, however, hesitated only briefly before nodding together. "Ancestor (my lord), please begin!"

Gao Yang thought for a moment, then carefully set the crystal cube on the ground and instructed the two of them, "Move back a little."

Byron and Hedy complied, puzzled, and stood several meters from the crystal cube. Then they watched as Gao Yang lifted his hand from the cube's surface and slowly backed away, asking as he retreated, "Do you feel any discomfort now?"

The two shook their heads again, while Amber, the instant she realized what Gao Yang was up to, darted off—no one knew which corner she had cravenly hidden herself in by then.

Gao Yang continued to retreat, focusing all his attention on the changes in the biological tissue within the crystal. Throughout the process, he repeatedly checked on Byron's and Hedy's conditions. It was not until he had retreated to a distance of roughly fifteen meters that the flesh sealed within the crystal suddenly changed!