Chapter 1250 - 1250: A Transcendent Encounter
Evan would have liked to stay behind and help Zara mop up the remaining monsters, intending to tease her by saying he was making things easier for his new subordinate.
But his plans changed when he sensed a presence approaching Zeraxes.
It had been established earlier that the overwhelming presence of the skywhale, the Artificial Divine Messenger that Evan had killed, was immense enough to be felt on both the Alpha and Beta Continents, which were miles away from Zeraxes, located in the centre of the Divider Ocean.
There were beings on both continents with expanded senses and perception fields powerful enough to detect events occurring across oceans with ease.
The Transcendents of Aidos.
Of the current Six, only five remained on the planet’s surface, while the newest addition, Rizass, had returned to the moon, where she had been before the great battle in the Wild Lands last September.
The five on the surface had sensed the artificial divine messenger, and the closest among them had rushed to the scene.
It was because of that presence that Evan left immediately after killing the skywhale, heading straight to a cliff off the coast of Solen, the island closest to the entrance of the underwater dungeon.
He sat on the cliff and looked at the water below, his eyes peering deep beyond the blue, toward the thing beneath the underwater dungeon, the part of the World Formation whose damage had caused the dungeon break.
The special dimensional realm where the artificial divine messenger had been slumbering for thousands of years before being awakened by the weakening of the World Formation.
“A beast of the old world was reawakened, and I came to see the situation, only to find it being butchered by the human child who has been following Kolvar around recently.”
At the sound of that voice from behind, Evan, without turning, raised a hand in greeting toward the person stepping out of the trees.
“Nice to meet you too, Mr Elven Emperor.”
Standing behind Evan was the second oldest of Aidos’ current Transcendents, the sovereign ruler of the 1000-year-old Elven Empire, the largest country on the Beta Continent, Zaos Lowe.
The oval-faced man was tall, with green eyes and long blonde hair tied in a low ponytail. He wore floor-length black robes, and his flat shoes were barely visible beneath the hems of his garments.
“I killed a planet,” Evan said suddenly.
“…what?”
“You haven’t said anything, but I can tell the question you want to ask,” Evan continued, finally turning his gaze from the water to the confused elf.
“You want to know how I became powerful enough to one-shot that artificial divine messenger, right?”
“…”
Zaos didn’t respond with a word, but his silence in itself answered Evan’s question.
As far as Zaos understood, Evan was a young man who had only recently come of age. He was a Hero, of course, and he had undergone experiences that would have made him far stronger than his peers.
But the Evan sitting on the ground before him possessed transcendental levels of magic power.
Even Rathal, the second greatest anomaly Zaos had encountered in his nearly 800 years of life, did not compare to this level of absurdity.
‘He’s already Level 900. The only thing stopping him from reaching Transcendence is the qualifications.’
The qualifications to surpass mortality that one had to prove at the conclusion of the Sovereign Level before attaining Transcendence.
That was the only barrier keeping Evan from surpassing Level 900.
But even with that…
‘His magic exceeds mine!’
That was another reality Zaos could not understand.
Over the seven centuries he had been a Transcendent, he had meticulously cultivated both the quantity and quality of his magic power.
He had comprehended several universal laws to completion and obtained Pseudo-Authorities, all to increase his strength even just a little bit, since Aidos lacked existences powerful enough to provide him with enough EXP to raise his level from the current 942.
And still, Evan possessed more magic power than he did, even before factoring in the quantitative and qualitative increases that would come with attaining Transcendence.
Evan possessed two Pseudo-Authorities over universal laws that were powerful enough to tear through the divinity barrier of the Artificial Divine Messenger with a single strike.
And Evan now claimed that the reason for his immense power was that he had ‘killed a planet’.
“Kolvar hasn’t told you, has he? The truth of what happened in Kreah Trade City in Year 1054.”
Zaos knew of the incident Evan referred to, the one where it was said that Evan had even summoned the goddess Artemisia to deal with the Fallen Celestial Deities, who had sacrificed the lives of 2.5 million people to regain their power.
But he naturally had no knowledge that the true conclusion of that incident involved Evan being sent 10,000 years back in time by Beatrix manipulating the body of Sun Celestial Conroe.
“You can ask Kolvar for the details later. Bottom line is, I was off this planet for close to 8 months, and I nearly got killed by another planet. The end result is that I killed the planet, and the power I now possess came from that feat.”
Evan turned his gaze back toward the waters, looking into the distance as he continued, “Aidosians wouldn’t know the story, but your invaders from Gozon would. Ask them about the ‘Masked Rogue Hero’, and they’ll tell you everything about it.”
There was a trace of nostalgia in Evan’s eyes as he spoke of the title he had held during his time on Planet Aramis. With a soft sigh, he shook his head and continued speaking to Zaos.
“You need not be wary of my power, Elven Emperor. We’re both on Aidos’ side, after all.”
“…are we, really?”
Zaos’ gaze on Evan was filled with suspicion, which was entirely understandable given Evan’s track record, but Evan simply laughed and responded.
“Yes, yes. I am currently one of Aidos’ Seven Heroes, and I have an obligation to protect this planet. Even if I weren’t a Hero, I would still take action, since I would not want my fiancée’s world to face a planetary invasion hanging over it like the blade of Damocles.”
He didn’t bother explaining the tale of Damocles from another planet to the Elven Emperor and moved directly to his next point.
“I was planning to come meet you when I reached the Beta Continent, but since you’re already here, I might as well let you know my requests.”
Holding up two fingers, Evan spoke.
“First. I wish to meet your daughter, Abigail, who is one of my fellow Heroes. I want to assess her level of power and see how I can strengthen her to the level of the Alpha Continental Heroes.”
Evan’s words implied that Abigail was weaker than Laurene, David, and Bianca, and to Zaos, that was absurd.
He knew how powerful his daughter was and had already checked the powers of the three Heroes from the Alpha Continent. There was no way they could have surpassed Abigail in such a short time.
Evan had already anticipated Zaos’ reaction, so before the man could speak, Evan continued.
“Don’t think within the box. My current power level is absurd when compared to the standards of this world. What makes you think I wouldn’t extend my absurdity to the other Heroes who’ve spent extended periods in contact with me?”
“You did something to them?”
“I provided them a field of EXP to harvest,” Evan replied.
He said it so casually, as if he hadn’t decimated a third of the Demonic Hand’s Sixth Division, leaving thousands of demonic humans and High-Rank demons barely alive, and then told the Heroes to finish them off to gain the EXP from the final blows.
His actions had been brutal, and he knew it, yet he spoke of it so lightly that one would almost think the Heroes really went to harvest the EXP from a field like farmers harvested wheat in autumn.
“Check my fiancée’s level.”
When Evan said that, Zaos narrowed his eyes slightly, then turned his gaze toward the Zeraxes fleet still surrounding Solen. For a moment, he was silent, then his face twitched slightly as he scanned Eliza’s level from a distance.
“Legendary…?” he muttered, then turned back to Evan. “How?”
“Didn’t I tell you? Field of EXP to harvest,” Evan responded. “The other Heroes are only a few levels below her.”
Evan looked back at Zaos and continued, “There was far more planning behind what went down in Tarse than the world knows.”
He glanced toward the Alpha Continent and continued, “With your speed, you can reach Kolvar’s location in a few minutes, so you can simply go and ask him to confirm everything.”
The time from the artificial divine messenger’s appearance to its death hadn’t even reached five minutes, and in that span, Zaos had left his country in the north of the Beta Continent, crossed the continent and half of the Divider Ocean, and arrived at Zeraxes around the same time Evan was speaking with Zara.
The hypersonic movement of a Transcendent with a Pseudo-Authority over the law of wind was not to be underestimated.
Evan lowered one finger and spoke.
“Number 2 on my agenda, and the real reason I came to see you, is because I wanted to speak with the Iremith masquerading as this planet’s World Tree.”
Zaos didn’t respond to that statement, and Evan continued casually.
“Don’t bother trying to deny it. You should know that I was not only sent to another planet, but also to another time period, to the era of the Artificial Divine Messenger I just defeated.”
Now, Zaos reacted immediately. Evan was openly claiming he had travelled back thousands of years in time, and knowing he had captured the man’s attention, Evan continued.
“I’ve seen the ‘old world’ you spoke of, and because of that, I know of the Iremiths—Aidos’ Defence Mechanisms.
I’ve spoken with Hydran in Duscon, I know of Ashe who slumbers in the south of your continent, I know of the one who rules an island in the Billowy Depths, and I know of the one at the bottom of the ocean surrounding us.
Naturally, I know of the one who fused with this planet’s World Tree after its near destruction toward the end of the Great Valmone War.”
Evan turned to Zaos, his eyes dead calm as he spoke. “I witnessed the war that nearly destroyed that tree.”
Technically, it was ‘Prisma’ who did so, but Prisma was simply Evan’s past incarnation in the end.
“I want to talk to Lois about Ashe. Please inform him for me.”
Evan then looked down at the water, his magic power spreading as he expanded the range of his Detection Field.
“Aha! I found him.”
With that, Evan turned back to Zaos and said, “It was nice speaking with you, Elven Emperor, but I now have to take a dip in the ocean to talk with Lois’ brother.”
As he spoke, he opened his palm, summoning the Akashic Page, and as the grimoire appeared in his hands, he cast an underwater breathing spell through it, then unsummoned it.
“See you when I reach your capital,” he said, casually waving at Zaos before leaping off the cliff and plunging into the ocean below.
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