Chapter 4578: I’ll Be Waiting

Roan, on the other hand, paid a visit to Tuana, the leader of the Vruve Organization. Things were considerably less lighthearted than they had been with Rean. Even though the twins’ group and Tuana had an agreement, there were never really any ’good feelings’ between the two parties.

Nonetheless, Tuana had fulfilled her side of the deal. She had worked to protect the Lisan Universe while the twins’ group was in the Celestial Plane, exactly as they had agreed all those years ago. Lisan had indeed grown considerably during the short few decades the twins’ group had been gone, and Roan couldn’t fault her for that.

"You are back way sooner than I expected," Tuana said in her usual tone of superiority. "But in any case, that means I kept my part of the deal. Now you owe me, as agreed."

Roan snorted. "I’ve never gone back on my word before, and it won’t start now. What is it that you want? Do you still want to return to your own Universe and be reintegrated into your imperial family? You also seemed interested in the idea of reaching the Celestial Plane."

Back then, the twins had found out through Soul Gem that Tuana had come to Lisan to acquire the Universe’s Chaos Origin Source. Her original intention had been to use it one day to regain her position within her own Universe. Obviously, the twins’ existence had made that plan impossible.

Even so, after obtaining control over the Echo, the twins’ group could have simply destroyed Tuana if they had wanted to. However, they intended to ascend to the Celestial Plane, which meant they needed someone they knew could protect Lisan properly while they were gone. That was how Tuana became the new Lisan Universe Owner.

She was definitely the first Universe Owner in the history of the Vinx Great Void who wasn’t truly the one in charge of everything within her own Universe.

Regardless, Tuana was ruthless, cunning, and intelligent. Above all, she was strong, especially after becoming the Universe Owner. There wasn’t really anyone better suited for the position. Of course, the twins had also left countermeasures in place in case she ever attempted something she shouldn’t. Simply put, her life was in their hands, and since she knew about the Echo, she understood that there would never be anywhere within the Vinx Great Void where she could truly hide from them.

That said, Tuana had accepted reality. She wasn’t happy about the situation, but she was intelligent enough to understand that she had no other choice. In exchange, the twins had promised that she could ask for a reward once they returned.

Their return had happened far sooner than anyone expected, and Tuana was definitely interested in collecting that reward.

Tuana smiled. That single favor was likely the most expensive, powerful, and desirable favor anyone could possibly receive in the entire Great Void. Naturally, she had spent a great deal of time thinking about what she would ask for.

"I have no need to go back to my Universe anymore," she said. "In fact, I have already contacted them, and they know I’m a Universe Owner myself now. You should have seen their faces when the envoys arrived and I showed them that I was truly the Universe Owner. I can only imagine the reaction of those back in the Imperial Family when the envoys returned and confirmed this fact."

She paused briefly before continuing with a satisfied smile. "Since then, I’ve actually received quite a few requests for a visit. A Universe with an owner is pretty much impenetrable, after all. The owner is almost invincible inside their own Universe. Because of that, they hold quite a special status in the Great Void."

Roan nodded. "That’s why we made you the owner. You did a good job here in Lisan, although any idiot can tell you also attracted a large number of the top experts in this Universe to serve you. You truly like power, don’t you? Well, it doesn’t matter. The point is that you kept your part of the agreement."

Tuana nodded. She had clearly considered her choice from every possible angle. "I’ve thought about it for a very long time. In the end, I think I’ll select the idea of a helping hand to reach the Celestial Plane. With your control over the Echo, it would be ridiculously easy to make my old family bow to me. But then, so what? I already got what I wanted from them because of you anyway."

Roan didn’t mind. "That’s not a problem. However, as I explained to you, we can’t give you anything from the Celestial Plane. We are operating under some strict rules that prevent us from doing so. We can bring items from the Celestial Plane down here, but you won’t be able to use them because of these restrictions."

"So what if you can’t give me anything you bring from the Celestial Plane?" Tuana’s smile widened. "From what I can tell, only things that you bring down here yourselves are affected by these restrictions. That means anything brought by other parties isn’t limited by the same rules, am I correct? Let’s say... a certain Werdlem Empire and their own resources."

Roan couldn’t help but feel impressed with Tuana. She had already found the loophole in the twins’ group’s problem.

Indeed, Roan knew that was the case. The restriction only applied to things brought down through the system’s passage into the Vinx Great Void. It didn’t apply to items or resources brought down through other methods. The Werdlem Empire’s own arrays, for example, could send things between the Celestial Plane and Vinx without triggering the same restriction.

Why wasn’t that restricted? Because the Werdlem Empire in the Celestial Plane had to pay an enormous price every time it sent anything—or anyone—down to the Great Void. And simply placing a large number of items inside a Pocket Dimensional Realm or Spatial Ring before sending it down wouldn’t work either. The Great Void’s Laws weren’t so easily fooled.

That was also why the Werdlem Empire possessed some items from the Celestial Plane, but not nearly as many as one might expect from a force of its status.

The Werdlem Empire wasn’t the only power with such a capability, either. There were a few other forces in the Vinx Great Void that could also accomplish something similar. Of course, none of them were truly major powers in the Celestial Plane. They simply happened to be more developed than the Besgol Region where the twins had ascended, having had far more time to establish such connections.

If the twins one day managed to build the same type of arrays capable of connecting to specific Great Voids, they would be able to send things down as well... in exchange for a much higher price, of course.

"Sigh..." Tuana shrugged. "If only you could bring me directly into the Celestial Plane..."

Roan shook his head. "Even if I tried, you would be blocked by the Celestial Plane’s own laws. One of the restrictions on our access to the Vinx Great Void is that we can’t bring anything from this place up there. But I admit that is a pity. If we had the entire Vinx Great Void at our disposal in the Celestial Plane, we would be ridiculously wealthy. Alas, nothing we obtain in this place can come with us when we ascend. And truth be told, everything that exists up there is several orders of magnitude higher quality."

"Anyway," Tuana continued, apparently not bothered by that limitation, "to advance my cultivation as quickly as possible, what I want from you is Celestial Level Cultivation Techniques that will help me advance while maintaining a perfectly stable foundation. As for the cultivation resources..." Her smile became considerably brighter. "Well, just do a simple wave of your hand, and you can definitely make all the Celestial Stones available in the Vinx Great Void appear right in front of me."

Roan closed his eyes for a moment. His mind immediately spread throughout the entire Great Void, passing through countless Universes as he searched for the Celestial Stones scattered across Vinx. It didn’t take long before he came up with a number.

"There are Celestial Stones indeed, but only a little over one thousand and two hundred. It can’t be helped. Each and every one of them probably cost many, many Godly Crystals to be sent down here from the Celestial Plane."

"A thousand and two hundred!" Tuana’s eyes lit up immediately. "That will do! That will do nicely!"

Roan didn’t waste any time. With a wave of his hand, almost all the Celestial Stones scattered throughout the Great Void that he had located appeared inside the room.

The ambient energy immediately became saturated with an astonishing amount of Celestial Energy. Never before had a single place in the Vinx Great Void contained such a concentrated amount of Celestial Energy.

"There you go."

Tuana’s eyes practically sparkled as she immediately sent all the stones into her own Pocket Dimensional Realm. "What about the owners of these stones?"

"Hmph!" Roan snorted. "Every single one of them is a top expert, or even an expert from the Celestial Plane. If they need more, they can simply send more down here. I did leave a few of them with their stones, though. That’s because their situations required them. But that isn’t relevant to our conversation right now, so I won’t comment on the reasons."

"Fine by me!" Tuana nodded without hesitation. "Alright, and the cultivation technique?"

Roan turned around, already preparing to leave. "I’ll be back tomorrow. I’ll use the techniques from the Celestial Plane to make you a new, perfectly fitted technique."

Tuana smiled as she watched him leave. "I’ll be waiting."