As he began his long aerial journey across the world, he remained unaware that every move he made was being relayed live to the big eting hall of the Hescos Elder Council.
"Wow! That lad is even better than what I hoped for!" The Grand Elder was the first to break the heavy and suffocating silence that had gripped the hall.
When word had first spread that Hye was entering their holand, the various elders had started a betting ga. It was a tradition; they bet on how many minutes he would survive in their world before his ship was crushed or his soul was extinguished by the environnt.
Only a rare few had bet that he would survive even the initial encounter. Moth was among them, and so was the Grand Elder.
"And yet," an elder cleared his throat, trying to regain so dignity after the imnse financial and reputational loss he just suffered thanks to Hye’s performance, "do we have any clue about what thod he used to control those insects?"
The elder’s question hung in the air, and the entire council returned to a state of pensive silence. They had watched the visual feed with rapt attention, but their sensors couldn’t penetrate the interior of Hye’s small ship.
They had watched him launch frequent, desperate-looking attacks; they had watched him retreat to a safe distance, seemingly on the verge of being overwheld. Then, all of a sudden, the tide had turned in a way that defied their understanding. Then the insects had started to fight among themselves.
"I’m sure that black sphere above his ship has sothing to do with it!" one elder pointed at the screen. They saw the technique—the writhing, shadowy sphere and the thin, spectral arms that stretched out of it. However, once those arms entered the insect swarm, the Council’s technology failed to register the nature of the interaction.
"I’m also thinking the sa," the Grand Elder said, pausing to stroke his chin. "I am certain there isn’t a skill in our universe that matches that sphere. Is it possible the System has evolved in a way we haven’t catalogued? Or perhaps the universe is growing in a new direction. Any clues?"
"Ahem," from the side, Moth decided to intervene. He felt the weight of the Council’s curiosity, and he knew that keeping them entirely in the dark might lead to a premature termination of Hye’s test.
"I once saw an old recording of his start in the apocalypse. Back then, this... This technique wasn’t nearly as large or as capable as it looks now. But I know this for certain: this is a cultivation technique."
"A cultivation technique?" one elder whispered in disbelief.
"It’s from the other universe then!" another exclaid, a hint of understanding colouring his voice.
"But how is it possible he handles it with such efficiency without losing consciousness?!"
The hall erupted in a chorus of doubt and wonder. It was no secret that the top races had studied the path of cultivation, attempting to replicate the devastating strength wielded by their ancient enemies from the other universe.
To any being born under this System, attempting to use a high-level cultivation technique for a long period consud an imnse, unsustainable amount of energy.
The fundantal issue was biological; no one could easily produce spiritual energy the sa way those from the other universe did.
No matter how much the races of this universe tried, they weren’t born with the proper spiritual roots. Their cultivation bases reached a plateau very early, and their total capacity for spiritual energy simply stopped growing.
Seeing Hye execute such a scarily wide-reaching technique, and seemingly keep it running for hours without suffering from backlash or energy exhaustion, was completely bizarre. It violated their understanding.
The elders continued to argue, dissecting the visual data, while Moth maintained a stony silence. His lack of participation didn’t pass unnoticed by the Grand Elder, whose sharp eyes never left him.
[Why do I have a feeling you already know the answer?] Moth’s interface suddenly flashed with a private ssage from the Grand Elder. Moth stole a quick glance at the old man, seeing the knowing smirk hidden behind the formal robes. He quickly sent back his reply.
[You don’t expect to share the secrets I’ve worked so hard to uncover just to satisfy their curiosity, do you?]
[Na your price then!] Out of his expectations, the Grand Elder seed fixated on knowing the answer. [This information is for , so don’t worry about sharing it with anyone!]
Moth slightly hesitated. He was one of the few beings in the universe who truly understood the secrets behind Hye’s endurance—the secret that allowed him to fight for weeks without breaking a sweat.
To uncover this, Moth had spent months obsessively analysing every fra of Hye’s archived apocalypse footage, linking disparate dots until the horrifyingly simple answer revealed itself.
[I’ll ask for a big favour later on in the future!] Unlike what the Grand Elder expected, Moth didn’t reject the request. [So, what do you think?]
[Fire away!] The Grand Elder chuckled, his curiosity about the request Moth was planning to stash for the future far exceeding his amusent.
[It’s his bones!] Moth finally spilt the beans. [He can consu these bones, which gives a crazy amount of energy if anyone did that!]
[Wow! Why didn’t anyone try it before?!] The Grand Elder’s ssage flickered with scepticism. He couldn’t tell if Moth was joking or if he had finally lost his mind.
[Many tried, of course, but everyone ended up exploding from the imnse energy generated in their bodies!] Moth paused before sending several classified videos to back up his claims.
[The Toranks found a way to embed these bones into the engines of their experintal spaceships, but that ended up diffusing most of the energy stored within the bones, wasting their true potential.
Others tried to consu them after diluting the essence massively, which provided a decent amount of energy, but nothing compared to the raw and imnse amount provided by an intact bone!]
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