A few minutes later-beside the corridor gate
Zooo~
Holak grabbed the edge of the portal firmly with both hands, braced his feet, shoved his head inside, and slowly started looking around with clear curiosity. Then he carefully pulled his head back out again.
"Haaaaaah~" He took a long, deep breath, filling his lungs completely, steadying himself, then pushed his head in again as if he simply couldn't resist checking once more.
The other side was the true definition of darkness. Not ordinary darkness, but a deep, suffocating void where absolutely nothing could be seen with the naked eye. No light, no shapes, no movent-just endless blackness. But anyone strong enough could clearly feel massive clusters of energy moving around the gate-huge, predatory presences, circling slowly-like hungry sharks that had slled blood and were calmly gathering before the feast.
There were hundreds of them.
Every few seconds, one would drift extrely close to the corridor, its presence pressing against the space itself, find Holak staring straight into its "eye" with a strange, unsettling smile-as if he were looking at a floating sandwich instead of a cosmic predator-then it would slowly retreat, and another would take its place, repeating the sa silent exchange.
"Hey, what are you doing?" a voice ca from behind.
Holak didn't care. He didn't even turn around. He simply lifted one hand lazily and gestured for whoever was behind him to go away.
Unfortunately for him, the person behind him didn't leave easily.
"Holak, pull your head out of there, or I'll kick your ass and send you to swim with them."
"What?!" Holak spun around violently with an angry expression-
which instantly froze... and then turned into a dumb, sheepish grin.
"Ahehehe-sorry, boss. Your voice sounds different from the other side." He scratched his head awkwardly, still half-embarrassed.
"Heh~" Robin let out a small, amused laugh. "Don't worry. The gate will expand again to the sa size, and those things will start coming through once more, just like before. Let's just hope you've recovered enough of your strength by then!"
"Really?!" Holak jumped in surprise, his eyes lighting up. He had truly thought he was about to return to an era of boredom and empty waiting.
"Really." Robin nodded calmly. "By the way..."
He pointed at him a few tis, his expression turning thoughtful. "Have you refined a planet yet?"
"? No, why?" Holak was confused by the sudden question and tilted his head.
"The human lifespan limit is 100,000 years, and I'm still young-only about 8,000 years old. I've got a long ti before I bind myself to a weakness like
that!"
Robin smiled slightly, but he didn't mock Holak for this shocking statent. In truth, most humans would say the sa thing.
That was exactly why most planetary emperors and great warriors looked old, even though they could refine planets from a very young age. Even the youngest of them usually looked middle-aged, carrying the weight of their choices on their bodies and souls.
They delayed refining a planet for as long as possible.
They delayed creating a massive, fatal weakness that their enemies could exploit whenever they wished.
That was also precisely why most planetary emperors-or anyone who had lived for a very long ti-did not train both internal energy and soul force together, even though it was easy for them to do so and perfectly within their capability.
Simply because refining a planet after one's soul power becos large is extrely dangerous due to uncontrollable expansion. And losing that planet would collapse their soul domain by half in an instant.
The greater the size, the greater the fall.
Instead of a minor spiritual injury, the consequences could reach death itself if the owner possessed imnse soul power and lost that refined planet. Delaying refinent until advanced ages, and the deep-rooted fear of training soul force to higher and higher levels... are only a part of the many negatives that co with the dream of immortality achieved through planetary refinent-a dream that promises eternity, yet demands terrifying risks and irreversible consequences.
"It's good that you haven't bound yourself to anything yet. That ans I've co with a truly good proposal." Robin struck the ground beneath him with his foot, his presence calm and confident. "This very planet has an affinity with a minor law that follows the Resonant Waves Path, and the planet's gift itself also belongs to the Resonant Waves Path... That sa minor law is precisely what caused the earthquakes, the salinity, and the long-term instability on the planet's surface."
"...In the near future, I'll begin burying several nascent space beast cores deep within the planet's interior to reinforce it from the inside out. The planet will expand, its structure will stabilize, and the planet's soul will absorb far more energy than before. And if it has a good owner-soone capable of guiding it properly the atmosphere will regulate itself and beco suitable for long-term human habitation..."
Then he raised his hand and gently patted Holak's elbow. "Planet Donara will be perfect for you."
"..." Holak stared deeply into Robin's eyes, his expression heavy with disbelief
and shock.
"You're giving a planet that contains a corridor of this importance so I can
refine it for myself?"
"Haha, who's more suitable than my personal guard to protect a place like this?" Robin laughed calmly. "Just make sure it doesn't get destroyed. That's all I
ask."
"Done." Holak nodded firmly, his voice filled with resolve.
This planet-the leader's gift-would not be destroyed unless it was over his
dead body!!
...Wait.
If the planet were destroyed by one of the beasts' attacks, he might actually die
too.
Suddenly, his look toward Robin shifted from pure gratitude to a raised
eyebrow filled with awkward suspicion.
"There's sothing else I want to give you." Robin ignored Holak's look
completely, extended his hand to his left until it vanished into empty space, then slowly pulled sothing out-a small wooden box no bigger than the size
of a palm-and handed it to Holak.
"This is your responsibility now."
"What is this?" Holak took the box and opened it imdiately. "..."
After a few seconds of staring inside in silence, he looked back at Robin with
gratitude and shining, excited eyes.
"How did you know I needed a tal tooth-cleaning stick?"
Then he slapped his thigh with his free hand and looked away dramatically.
"All wooden ones snap, and all bone ones break-I didn't know what I was goi-"
"Hey!" Robin snapped his fingers sharply, cutting him off.
"That's planetary displacent equipnt-seventh grade."
""
Holak froze mid-sentence, his expression stiffening as his brain processed the
words. He slowly looked back at Robin.
"Th- did you say seventh grade?!"
"Yes. If you pull out the hamr and nail, they'll expand to their true size."
Robin nodded calmly.
"They can't be stored in a space ring, and of course storing them in vaults isn't
safe either, so the bearer must keep them on their body at all tis-especially
since this equipnt will be used frequently and continuously..."
Then he showed a faint, aningful smile.
"I had two choices to carry this responsibility: you or Theo. But since he's unavailable and tied up with other duties, I'm placing the full responsibility on
your shoulders."
Baf
Holak snapped the box shut instantly and stuffed it forcefully under his pants, staring straight into Robin's eyes as he did so.
"So what exactly do you want to do with this troublemaker?"
"You'll build my empire, of course." Robin showed a wide, confident smile, then
stared at Holak sharply while maintaining it-until the smile itself began to look almost aggressive and domineering.
"Oh, and by the way-don't bring that box back to until you've washed it
properly."
User Comments
0 comments from readers