Chapter 289 - Firmament Fragment
How would you feel if you suddenly decided to leave your house for the first time in half a year only to realize that the whole world changed completely? You would probably be scared, shocked, even despairing was not an impossibility along with many other emotions overwhelming your soul.
Bai Zemin's emotions were completely out of control. His heart felt as if it would burst at any moment as a torrent similar to a fierce hurricane in the middle of the sea was shaking him back and forth as if he were a small wooden boat.
While reading the same message over and over again, studying and analyzing the information as well as the details of the Firmament Fragment that contained the will of the Ice Goddess Skadi, Bai Zemin's mouth opened several times as if he wanted to say something but there was no sound coming out of it. His eyes even lost their focus for a moment at the same time as his breathing stagnated as if he was a lifeless corpse.
Lilith observed every change in his expression and did not miss the slightest detail. Her red eyes similar to two beautiful bright rubies glittered with faint amusement. This was the first time she had seen Bai Zemin act in such a manner; even when the Soul Record arrived on Earth and turned his world upside down the shock he received had not stagnated him to such an extent.
After a long time of silence, she finally spoke to snap him out of his daze, "Powerful, don't you think?"
Bai Zemin raised his head slowly and stared at her. His heart was still quivering as a thousand thoughts raced through his head..
Powerful? There was no doubt that the small rock before him was powerful.
However, for some reason, Bai Zemin felt that the word powerful did not do justice to it.
"I think the word overwhelming is more appropriate in this case, Lilith." He sighed heavily and dropped back against the back of the leather couch. His dark eyes looked at the small glowing rock and stated, "That skill called Niflheim is... Crazy to say the least. Just the boosting of stats on a percentage basis and not a specific number makes it a supreme treasure."
Bai Zemin had no idea what Lilith's stats were like. After all, the statistics were different from the records of every existence; the statistics could be translated as the very soul of a being and except for the possessor of that soul, others had no way of knowing those numbers unless the other person told them.
Basically, the statistics were the numbered Soul Power.
However, even though Bai Zemin did not know how strong Lilith's soul was or how high her stats were, her numbers were definitely in the thousands, tens of thousands, and could even be hundreds of thousands.
Since Ice Goddess Skadi's Firmament Fragment granted Lilith the ability to increase her Mana by 500% and Magic by 700% instead of a fixed number like say 2000 or 5000, the boost Lilith received depended on her own power in these two stats; the higher her Magic and Mana, the more power she would receive as a reward.
Even if she could only activate the skill once every six months, for Higher Existences like her two months meant nothing. Forget that they were not afraid of dying of old age, finding an opponent capable of threatening a person in possession of such an item was basically impossible.
Bai Zemin was certain that even if a Seventh Order existence appeared in front of Lilith, the loser of the clash would not necessarily be her even though she was Sixth Order.
"Now do you understand why in the past I told you that statistics were the only thing that really mattered?" Lilith asked calmly as she extended her hand forward.
The object called Firmament Fragment flew gently back towards her, and under Bai Zemin's surprised gaze, the small obsidian-colored rock glowed softly before piercing through her body like a rock falling into the ocean before being lost forever.
Bai Zemin looked into her eyes again and nodded without saying anything. He was still too shocked by what he had just seen.
"How can such things exist... That's basically cheating." Bai Zemin sighed and suddenly felt exhausted.
If Lilith had one of those objects then it was only natural to assume that the existences which were actually at the top of the universe must have theirs as well. Who knows, they could even have multiple of them.
Bai Zemin suddenly felt that everything had become much thornier than it already was. His overall stats were undoubtedly overwhelming for his current level and Order; the current him did not even fear a level 70 Second Order existence thanks to all the equipment he had forged for himself.
That was how powerful the current him was.
However, what was the use of having overwhelmingly higher stats if a single item could make another person who was weaker, less talented, and fought fewer battles to the death, catch up so easily.
Seeing his depressed expression, Lilith smiled mysteriously and added, "You don't need to worry about Firmament Fragments. They are things that the current you is still considerably far from coming into contact with... Besides, there are countless constellations throughout the universe and many waiting to be discovered. You just need to have strength, luck, be in the right place, and receive the approval of the Firmament Fragment to obtain one. Easy, isn't it?"
Bai Zemin rolled his eyes, "Easy? Seems incredibly hard!"
"Hehehe..." Lilith laughed sweetly and said something that surprised Bai Zemin, "In your case, you just need strength and to be in the right place at the right time. The other two are already complete basically."
"Complete?" Bai Zemin straightened his back and suddenly got livelier. "What do you mean?"
"Mmh..." Lilith thought about it for a moment before ignoring the question Bai Zemin asked and instead inquired, " Do you remember what I told you before? About the sky above our heads being a painting canvas where the figures of those existences that left their mark on the Soul Record before disappearing were painted on?"
Although he was confused by the sudden question, Bai Zemin nodded, "Yeah... You said that the sky was the canvas and the stars were the paint. The constellations conformed by diverse groups of stars are those existences, aren't they?"
"Ding Dong! That's right!" Lilith nodded with a happy smile as she saw that he understood quickly. "Then, let me ask you something. Since those stars are the paint and the constellations are the whole picture, it means that if you get close enough you should be able to feel the texture of the paint and even smell the material that was used, don't you think?"
Bai Zemin's eyes lit up and a flash of understanding suddenly went through him, "You mean... You mean that before enough time has passed for the paint to dry, as long as the right place is reached, one can receive something good?"
Lilith clicked her fingers and praised, "Little brother Zemin, you really are quick at these things. I hope that in bed you also move your waist fast but don't finish so fast hehe..."
Bai Zemin rolled his eyes for the second time and wisely decided not to reply. In his heart he was thinking that the current him could spend even three days and three nights having fun without any problems so he didn't think any woman would ever have to worry about something like that. However, he wasn't going to say that out loud anyway.
Joking aside, Lilith continued, " In any case... Little brother Zemin, think carefully. Since those existences left a remnant of their being even after disappearing from the universe, then don't you think that this place where they left their mark also has something that they left behind?"
"... You mean something similar to what happens in the novels? Like when a powerful expert leaves behind their legacy?" Bai Zemin asked with a frown.
"Something similar but not that similar..." Lilith shook her head and after taking some time to think continued, "Once in a lifetime a special rift opens that leads to a different dimension or a completely different world in a different universe than ours. But don't get it wrong, even though I said this happens once in a lifetime, it actually happens many times as well. Do you know why?"
"You sure like to play riddles..." Bai Zemin was speechless before chuckling and calmly saying, "Basically, once in a lifetime, a spatial rift near a constellation opens up. This happens with all the constellations in the universe, so the number of cracks are innumerable... But at the same time, each constellation only opens a crack once."
"Yup yup." Lilith nodded with a smile and continued, "Therefore, as long as you are in the right place at the right time, you just need to be strong enough to overcome the obstacles you must face on the other side of that rift to get the Firmament Fragment that contains part of the power of existence represented by the constellation to which the rift you entered through belongs."
Bai Zemin finally understood most of the matter regarding the Firmament Fragments. He now knew what they were, where they came from, what they represented, and how to obtain them. However, he was sure that it was not as easy as it seemed. How could it be easy to obtain such divine treasures capable of breaking the balance of the universe just by existing?
Therefore, even though Bai Zemin was overjoyed and excited, he did not let that excitement go to his head and instead kept calm.
Seeing his composed expression, Lilith praised him in her heart before continuing, "So far, the amount of existences holding a Firmament Fragment definitely does not exceed four digits, and even though that might seem like a lot, considering that there are millions of Higher Existences and tens of thousands of constellations, that number is basically nothing since at most only a few thousand were able to obtain one throughout the entire history of the universe."
Indeed, Bai Zemin for a moment thought that the number of Firmament Fragment holders were too many. But after listening to Lilith's explanation and reasoning it out for a moment, he felt that effectively the amount was not so big.
Even without knowing the age of the universe, it was definitely millions of years; the fact that only a few thousand managed to obtain one of these fragments revealed how difficult they were to obtain.
Lilith continued, "There have been hundreds of thousands of Fifth Order beings who have lost their lives never to return after passing through one of those rifts. At least a few hundred Sixth Order beings who also failed to return... And even two Seventh Order beings who perished in the darkness."
Bai Zemin was shocked when he heard this and exclaimed, "Existences on the level of the Heaven's Army Archangels have also died without managing to pass the tests of these objects?!"
Archangels were Seventh Order beings, all of whom were basically the highest authority only below God in the Army of Heaven. Such existences represented the pinnacle of the universe but they died randomly after trying to obtain a Firmament Fragment!
"Yes. Therefore, very few dare to take up the challenge despite knowing the power of holding a Firmament Fragment." Lilith nodded with an extremely serious expression before saying, "In fact, if it wasn't for the help of a person back then, I might not have obtained my first fragment."
"First fragment...?" Bai Zemin blinked as a crazy idea popped into his head and he couldn't help but gasped as he looked at Lilith in a state of utter shock.
"You... Do you have a second Firmament Fragment?"
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