Star Odyssey

Chapter 4177: Aberrant

This material was the remnants of an Immortal who had been devoured by the cosmic law that they had resonated with, and it was also the source of the surging Activeness in the megaverse.

Initially, Lu Yin had been unable to even approach the object. Even just 100 years ago, after he endured the pressure that Ku Deng was capable of producing, Lu Yin had only been able to get close to the object, but not touch it. This time, he was able to reach out and grab the lump of matter in one go. The instant it made contact with his hand, an indescribable sensation entered his perception. He could not tell if the item was hard or soft. It was as if he was holding nothing at all, yet also as if he was holding an entire megaverse.

At that moment, an even more terrifying flood of Activeness poured into his body. Lu Yin immediately released a full-powered attack and released multiple more right after that to continuously relieve the pressure and keep it within the limits of what he could endure. He also immediately teleported away, only reappearing outside of the Activeness megaverse after retreating to the Aevum Inch.

The moment he left the Activeness megaverse, the Activeness flooding his body fell by a noticeable amount.

The reduction was due to the Activeness that the object had released into the Activeness megaverse over the course of countless years. If Lu Yin had stayed in the megaverse, he would have needed to endure both the object’s energy as well as the Activeness that had accumulated in the megaverse over the ages. It would have been the same as dealing with two sources of Activeness flooding into his body.

As soon as he took the item out of the Activeness megaverse, he only needed to endure the energy being directly released by the object itself. While it was still a vast flood, it was at least within the limits of what he could endure.

He released his inner universe, and the Activeness madly rushed in.

If he wanted to use the object as his weapon, he could not keep it as it was. He could not constantly maintain Extremes Must Be Reversed. At the same time, now that he was finally capable of holding the object, he was reluctant to let it go. With no other choice, he could only attempt to form something within his inner universe that would behave similarly to the Activeness megaverse itself. There was no need for an entire megaverse, just a single star. He would create a star of Activeness.

It was something that he had considered before, and this was simply his first attempt.

The vast flood of energy poured into his inner universe, and Lu Yin deliberately took control of it and continuously gathered it all together to compress it into a single location as he tried to form a star. However, things did not go as he wished. He was unable to control the massive flood of Activeness.

He failed, but he tried again and again. Since his body could endure the continuous outpouring of Activeness that the item released, he could continue his attempts without waiting.

In theory, the Cosmic Art was able to form a star by compressing any form of power. However, the Activeness that was pouring into Lu Yin came from a cosmic law that an Immortal had resonated with. It was endless and infinite, and it was fundamentally not something that the Cosmic Art could suppress.

He continued his attempts, constantly failing.

Lu Yin stood in the Aevum Inch, his body repeatedly withering and recovering. He did not feel anxious. He would take things slowly. It was impossible to gain a new ability without struggling.

At the moment, he was simply grateful that he had obtained the innate gift of teleportation. It saved him a great deal of time.

Without that ability, just traveling to and from the Mindscape Megaverse for training and then to the Activeness megaverse would have taken him a tremendous amount of time.

Time flowed on. More than thirty years had passed since Lu Yin had taken the object out of the Activeness megaverse, yet he had not succeeded even once in all those years of attempts. He simply could not compress the Activeness.

He opened his eyes and stared at his inner universe. Is there really no way?

If he could not compress the Activeness into a star, then how was he supposed to restrain it?

Did he truly have to turn his inner universe into a second Activeness megaverse?

That was unacceptable. He refused to abandon its infinite possibilities for the sake of a single power.

He currently possessed many different powers, and they were all contained within his inner universe. Any one of those powers could potentially undergo a transformation of its very essence when he broke into the Immortal realm.

As he stared at the item, he understood that it was already outrageous for anyone to resist a cosmic law that an Immortal had resonated with before becoming an Immortal. For him to want to further suppress that law was little more than a fantasy.

No matter how many times he failed, he would keep trying. It might be that the answer isn’t in my inner universe.

Lu Yin’s eyes flashed, and he brought out the Investiture of the Gods above his head before sending the object in.

At the moment, the Investiture of the Gods also served as his Mind Manor, and it was home to many consciousnesses, including those of experts from the Tianyuan and even Ming Yan’s.

As the Activeness flooded in, the Investiture of the Gods started to shine brightly.

Ming Yan asked in surprise, “Brother Lu, what is this?”

Lu Yin replied, “This is Activeness. I want to see if the Investiture of the Gods can withstand it.”

“Activeness?” Ming Yan raised a hand and allowed the energy to flow into her.

Lu Yin immediately grew uneasy. “Yan’er, be careful.”

Ming Yan blinked. “It feels very pleasant.”

Lu Yin was startled. “Pleasant?”

“Yes. It feels like... life,” Ming Yan said with a smile.

Lu Yin’s eyes lit up with excitement. Of course. A consciousness body had no biological life, as it was nothing more than pure consciousness. However, if Activeness merged with that consciousness, it would be no different from granting that consciousness a measure of vitality. Although this was not genuine life, it was certainly possible for consciousness bodies to merge with Activeness, and in fact, they needed to.

Sending the object into the Investiture of the Gods filled it with Activeness. This same energy had been impossible to suppress within his inner universe, but in his Mind Manor, it continuously merged with the various consciousness bodies, allowing them to become more distinct and vibrant.

The stronger the consciousness body, the more Activeness it could endure. The sheer number of consciousness bodies present, combined with what the Investiture of the Gods itself could bear, actually managed to balance out the energy coming from the item.

Lu Yin’s most difficult problem had just been resolved.

He laughed out loud. A problem that had plagued him for thirty years had just been resolved.

From this moment forward, he would be able to use the item however he pleased.

Unless the number of consciousness bodies in his Mind Manor decreased, he would not need to endure the Activeness on his own. However, the number of consciousness bodies would not decrease, but always increase.

Lu Yin quickly teleported back to the Tianyuan so that he could increase the number of consciousness bodies in his Mind Manor.

The people of the Tianyuan recognized Lu Yin and were willing to split off some of their consciousness and have it enter his Investiture of the Gods. This was essentially cultivating their consciousness as well as giving them a second life. Many people in both the Nine Odysseys Megaverse and the Spirit Nidus were unwilling to separate off a portion of their consciousness, but as long as some were willing to do so, Lu Yin would be able to increase the number of consciousness bodies he hosted.

Once the total number of consciousness bodies exceeded the outpouring of Activeness, the balance could be maintained.

While it was ideal for the consciousness bodies to merge with the energy, if Lu Yin used the item as a weapon against an enemy, Activeness would be withdrawn from the Investiture of the Gods. While doing so once or twice would be fine, if he did so repeatedly, would he not affect the cultivation of those consciousness bodies?

That was another problem to address.

However, it was also a problem that did not need to be considered for the time being. The only enemies who could push him enough to use the source of the Activeness were Immortals, and the only Immortal enemies that human civilization currently had belonged to Obscura.

No one knew when Obscura might appear again.

Next was the form of the weapon.

Lu Yin held the item, which was constantly shifting. There were times when it formed a sword, other times a scythe, and it could even take on the form of a rope and more weapons.

Lu Yin formed the object into a sword. Its shape was determined by his will. He swung it once, and the slash felt incredibly smooth and natural.

The greatest trait of this active weapon was that it was continuously strengthening itself, as though it was actually alive. It would only grow more and more attuned to its wielder.

If he wanted it to continue attuning itself to him, he would need to fix this item into a single shape that would serve as his weapon.

Lu Yin considered the matter for a long time before ultimately deciding on a scythe.

The two weapons he was most adept with were the sword and the scythe.

Swords were better suited for channeling Obscura’s divine energy. Every member of Obscura possessed a sword. If he joined them, he would certainly receive one as well, and that sword would be highly compatible with divine energy.

Since that was the case, this object could be shaped into a scythe. Even if he refused to join Obscura, he could obtain a sword sometime in the future. That would give him both a sword and a scythe.

The scythe was the God of Death’s weapon. It possessed an intimidating shape and possessed a blade with unmatched sharpness. Everything about the weapon radiated an overwhelming sense of oppression.

In particular, when Lu Yin used the God of Death Transformation, the pressure that his scythe placed on his opponents was incomparable.

He had not personally used weapons very frequently simply because he had not found one that suited him. This object was perfect.

His thoughts continuing, the object started to shift and morph once again, until it finally stopped as a scythe.

With the scythe in his hand, nothing could bar Lu Yin’s path.

“Someone who has the strength to kill an Immortal before reaching that realm is considered an Aberrant. Anyone who fights you will have to withstand the Activeness that you release before we even exchange blows. That means that you are even more of an Aberrant than I am. So from now on, you will be called... Aberrant.”

There was a soft whoosh as the scythe swept to the side, the slash tearing the void open and shaking the universe.

Waves of Activeness surged out. Lu Yin could imagine how any powerful enemy that he faced would first have to endure Aberrant’s Activeness. Only after enduring that would he have a real fight. If his opponents were unable to withstand even his weapon, there would be no need for Lu Yin to fight at all.

It was no easy feat to be able to endure Aberrant’s Activeness. Previously, even Ku Deng had been forced to give up on snatching the object from the Activeness megaverse.

Using Ku Deng as the benchmark, ordinary Immortals would simply be unable to stand up to Lu Yin’s weapon.

This meant that most Immortals were incapable of surviving even a single slash of Aberrant.

This was the essence of Aberrant. An opponent needed to first be able to endure Lu Yin’s weapon before they could even consider fighting him.

Right, Activeness is one extreme, so what would happen if I use Extremes Must Be Reversed on it?

Acting as he thought, Lu Yin sat cross-legged in the void, Aberrant resting across his legs as he used Extremes Must Be Reversed.

Activeness surged outward, but with the use of Extremes Must Be Reversed, a strange power appeared, one filled with a deathly stillness.

Lu Yin’s eyes snapped open. What is this?

Activeness was the source of vitality, which meant that its opposite was the power of Stillness.

This power seemed capable of devouring life itself, and its very appearance caused Lu Yin to feel uneasy.

And yet this deathly power felt familiar to Lu Yin. That’s it! The Death Megaverse’s Bone Script!

He remembered. When he had felt bone script enter his body, he had sensed this exact same power. The two were practically identical. Was it possible that the power cultivated by the Death Megaverse was the exact opposite of the Activeness released by Lu Yin’s weapon? Was that Stillness? That would explain why the skeleton that had been released from the sourcebox had established an organization called Stillness.[1]

Stillness represented both the nature of the Death Megaverse and the power that they cultivated.

Lu Yin felt that he might have just caught a glimpse of the truth of the Death Megaverse.

The Death Megaverse had always been mysterious. Greater Sancte Green Lotus and the others had refused to make any contact at all, choosing to play dead.

Lu Yin felt that he had just gained a small bit of understanding.

But the more he understood, the more unsettled he became. That was because the Stillness he sensed was a terrifying power that devoured all life.

Even Obscura’s crimson divine energy seemed a bit lacking when compared to the deathly energy. That was not to say that Obscura was inferior to the Death Megaverse, but that, in terms of these particular powers, Stillness was more domineering and darker.

It was the complete opposite of Activeness.

Being able to use Extremes Must Be Reversed to touch upon Stillness was something that Lu Yin had never anticipated. If the Death Megaverse was truly built upon this power, could he, by relying on it, create a Death Megaverse of his own?

The moment the thought appeared, he rejected it. A Death Megaverse could not be formed with just a single type of power. Additionally, he had not actually mastered the energy itself, merely touched the pulse of Stillness through Extremes Must Be Reversed.

Besides, the Death Megaverse might not rely solely on Stillness.

Even so, with this terrifying power, Lu Yin felt that he might someday be able to clearly see the Death Megaverse by relying on his die’s six pips: Possession.

1. This name was previously "Silent Death," but these chapters and later ones made it clear that the most accurate translation is simply "stillness," in contrast to "activeness." Both of these names can be translated various ways, depending on context, and much of that context is only provided later on. ☜