……..
“How did I survive?” The Chairman laughed. “Roho picked me to survive.”
Zilan was stunned, he wanted to ask why but he did not how to phrase it.
“When we were targeted by the Heavens, we knew that we were in for a tough battle for survival. However, I suspect even Roho could not believe the amount of powerful forces the Heavens sent to deal with us. In a way, I guess we should be proud.” The Chairman depreciatingly laughed. “When the end was in sight and everything was burning away, I was summoned and ordered to take Roho’s life essence with me and escape. This would greatly weaken Roho but it was a sacrifice that needed to be made just in case. Even if everything was lost Roho could not allow the Heavens to devour his power if he was to fall.”
“I know what you’re thinking, why me? The answer to that question is actually quite humorous, at least Akili laughed when I told him. In actuality, it didn’t matter who Roho picked, we were all essentially the same. We knew the same things, had similar personalities, believed in the same things, we were One. Our culture did not have the system of superior and subordinate, we were all equals thus selecting me or any other of my brethren would be the same.”
“And so with the help of Roho’s life crystal, I escaped. I was encased in a chamber that allowed me to survive for thousands of years drifting in the space. The only downside was that I was still connected to my people, I experienced every death as if I was the one breathing my last, all the senses of despair and the horrible scenes of my once Holy home crumbling never to rise again haunted me, it was horrible. Eventually Roho, the back bone of our race, was killed and with his death my power as well as the Energy I can control gradually weakened to the point that I am not even a fifth now of what I was then.” The Chairman exclaimed.
“What about Roho’s life essence?” asked Zilan.
“That is the thing you seek. It was initially supposed to be me to use it but I was badly injured during the time I was drifting in space. I unconsciously escaped to this lower realm and coincidentally one of Akili’s experiments on the void happened to go wrong and as a result I was transported to him in a half-dead state. He saved me…….. in more ways than one.”
“I offered him the crystal but he was unfit for it. It was then that he suggested it be kept for a certain unborn scorched. I told him I would reserve judgement until I tested the one who would inherit Roho’s crystal.” The Chairman smiled as he spoke.
Once again Zilan was left speechless by Akili’s thinking.
“So what can Roho’s life crystal do?”
The Chairman shook his head. “I know very little about it but you should have seen my abilities during the tests you’ve taken in the Association. I can only assume it would be many times stronger than that.”
“When can I have it?” Zilan asked directly as he could not wait any longer. This was the first step, without it, his plan could not for this world could not be realised.
“It is already yours however, the current you would perish should you approach the crystal. You need to get stronger. The [Core Compression] stage at the bare minimum.” The Chairman said.
The core compression stage comes right after the soul-compression stage and as its name implies, it refers to the combining of the soul which has already been fused with an element and one’s core. This was the second step towards shedding of all semblance of mortality as the change brought about by this stage would bring one closer to the Universe.
“I would perish?” Zilan was surprised. Considering his body that could handle even Universe energy and also the strong Dragon’s flesh and blood as well, he thought that he would at least meet the minimum requirements.
The Chairman was puzzled by Zilan’s surprise, he found it both amusing and infuriating. “When the time comes and you accept the life crystal, everything about you will change. You will essentially become a lifeform similar to me. Qualifications of the flesh do not really matter where the soul is involved. The crystal will both strengthen and change your soul therefore before we get to that point, I’ll need to teach you more about the soul and techniques you can use to harness it, manipulate it to create, attack, defend and so on. Of course, the crystal should contain a lot more information that will help you in the future.”
Zilan finally understood as he nodded towards the Chairman. He however did not believe for one second that he would become a life form like the the Chairman. He was first of all underestimating the Scorched, he too was a creature born of the Universe and his innate potential was far better than Akili’s ever was thus for him to turn into another life form was highly unlikely bordering on impossible. Second of all there was Zilan’s self-created cultivation system that was unlike anything ever made, with it he could incorporate the life crystal into his overall strength just like how he did the Spring Dragon’s blood and legacy.
…
“Wait, you said you came alone, what about those two?” Zilan would never forget the torment of the first test he took part in when he arrived at the Association.
“You’re talking about little Red and Blue? Although we were all united as One being under Roho, we still had age gaps. I was the oldest and little Red the youngest, blue was in the middle, we were closer than most others back then, you could call it friendship but not quite.”
“Little Red’s and Blue’s physical bodies died during the Energy Wars, even their souls were greatly damaged. All I could do was create Artificial bodies for them through Soul Alchemy and pray that recover. All the while I was drifting through space, I thought they had completely died, it was not until Akili found me that he helped save them as well. Most of their memories had faded and they lost all the traits that made them part of Roho thus I did not lie when I said I was the last one of my kind. After we became singular existences with our own personalities, they started referring to me as Master.”
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