Death... and me

Chapter 3940: Not The Only One

As Sister Orb checked the artifact’s energy, Roan kept his Divine Sense spread, looking for any clues that someone was after them. Still, it was pretty tricky, since various Divine Senses were watching him, which was what anyone would expect. He was that famous.

[Done!] Sister Orb finally spoke. [Go back to your room and enter the Dimensional Realm.]

Roan didn’t waste time, returning to the academy and entering his room. From there, he entered the Celestial Soul Dimensional Realm.

[Alright, let’s give it a try.]

Sister Orb looked through Roan’s body from head to toe, and finally found what she was looking for. [Wow! It’s just beside your soul! It even created a tiny space for itself.]

"Hum?" Roan was taken aback. "The same energy?"

[Yes!] Sister Orb confirmed. [No wonder I couldn’t detect it before. It hid truly, truly well. It also explains why the system didn’t catch it when it attached itself to you. It is not really touching your soul, just extremely, extremely close to it. Do you know what makes it impressive? After you started using the new cultivation technique, your souls are not inside your heads, but present all over your body.]

[Every cell of your body has some of your soul in it. So, in theory, this Golden Energy shouldn’t have been able to enter your body without touching your soul. That means the system should have caught its presence and protected you from it. However, what this Golden Energy did was to push just an almost impossibly small part of your soul away from a little corner of your body and attach itself there. By the way, it is where you have your fake Werdlem Divine Stone.]

"Where exactly?" Roan asked, finding it difficult to discern the energy.

[Alright, I’ll show you. Use your Divine Sense and follow my lead.]

Roan nodded and followed Sister Orb’s directions. Finally, he found the Golden Energy where the fake Werdlem Stone existed, just a minuscule, tiny bit of it, truly imperceptible in most cases. Not only that, but Roan noticed something else. "The Celestial Laws of the Golden Sphere... it is also present."

*Zush!*

Rean appeared in the Celestial Dimensional Realm immediately. "Here I am. Sister Orb, I need to go back outside soon, so check me as well."

[Yes.] Sister Orb already knew where to look, and it only took a second. [The same goes for you. It is there, follow my lead with your Divine Sense.]

It didn’t take long for Rean to find it as well. "So this is what that Golden Sphere Monster was using to track us down, uh? I guess it is safe to say Kentucky and Celis also have it."

[Do you want me to pull it out? Now that I know about it, I can get rid of the Golden Energy in an instant while you are inside the Celestial Soul Dimensional Realm. It will never get past undetected again.]

Roan pondered a bit. "Is it harmful?"

[Doesn’t seem to be,] Sister Orb said. [The amount of Golden Energy and the Celestial Laws inside it is truly, truly small. It simply doesn’t have the power to cause any damage whatsoever. Besides, you guys also have your own Celestial Laws stored in your souls. You can’t use it yet, but it still protects you against the Celestial Laws in that Golden Energy to a certain extent. Not to mention that if it tries anything against your souls, the system will take action and protect you too.]

"Then leave it," Roan decided to not touch it for now. "Instead, I want you to search the Werdlem Network for information regarding the Judgemental Eye. Something tells me even the academy doesn’t really know what it is. If they did, they would have known by now that Kentucky managed to survive the attack and would make a move on him themselves, but they didn’t."

[Makes sense. Also, if they knew the Judgemental Eye had this kind of power, they would never have used it to simply check the potential of a group of youngsters attempting to enter the Military Academy over the years. That Golden Sphere that attacked you... If the academy could control the Judgemental Eye’s ability to create it, they could even try to conquer other continents by making many more of those Golden Spheres. Just a single one of those is definitely as strong as a Peak Stage Divinity Realm expert, albeit quite dumb.]

Kentucky was hearing the conversation, but he was still guarding the Envoy back in Lobokian Country. So, only his voice echoed inside. ’Alright, from what we talked so far, we aren’t 100% sure it was the Judgemental Eye that made that Golden Sphere. Still, the energies are definitely the same, so at the very least, they are connected.’

’Yes,’ Roan confirmed.

’So, what do we do? Wait for another one of those Golden Spheres to appear and come after us?’ Kentucky asked the real question.

Roan thought about it. ’The best would be for someone to keep observing the Judgemental Eye, one of the four of us who got the highest Golden Radiance Level. Sister Orb can use the system to observe it closely and see if it will do anything again.’

[That is possible. But I think I know what made the Judgemental Eye take action.]

Rean knew where Sister Orb was coming from. ’We have been part of the academy for a while, but only after Kentucky stepped out of the continent did the Golden Sphere appear. While we were inside the continent, it did nothing. So... it is likely related to a certain range. If we cross that range, the Judgemental Eye will send something after us... or so the theory goes.’

[So you noticed it as well. Yes, I think that is a big possibility. The best way to test it is to have one of you leave the continent again. Well, not exactly the continent, but the range of detection of the Judgemental Eye... wait! That’s it!]

"That’s what?" Roan asked.

[If the theory that the Golden Sphere appeared after Kentucky left the range is true, then it is likely because the Judgemental Eye couldn’t track us after a certain distance is crossed. It might have considered us as fugitives or something like that. That would also explain why it never took action against us, even though we had been part of the academy for over a year.]

"Well..." Rean got ready to get out of the Dimensional Realm. "Then we will find the answer very soon. Just like Kentucky, my task will also bring me out of the Runia Continent. I just came inside the Dimensional Realm to check if I had the same tracker on me, which Sister Orb confirmed I do."

’I don’t think it will act again straight away, though,’ Kentucky mentioned. ’Did you forget? When you came to help me, you also left the continent. Yet, no extra Golden Spheres appeared to deal with you. The Judgemental Eye might be without enough energy or the means to create another one of those Golden Spheres.’

"That’s not it," Rean added. "Sister Orb, keep observing the Judgemental Eye. It might not have the energy to create another one of those Golden Sphere Monsters at the moment, but it should show some kind of reaction once I leave its detection range. If it does, then we will know your theory was right."

[Good! Roan, go out again and stay close to the Judgemental Eye. I will check it.]

Roan left straight away.

Following that, Rean also disappeared from the Dimensional Realm. He joined his group, giving an excuse that he had to enter his Pocket Dimensional Realm to prepare for a moment. The leader of his group complained a little, but since Rean was doing a great job during this mission, he didn’t insist on it.

Let’s not forget that Rean’s mission was to help resolve some troubles with the trading routes between the Runia and Kloweqi Continents. It wasn’t anything major, but it would require him to leave the continent and go quite deep into Kloweqi before he was done.

Finally, Rean’s group met with the representatives of the Kloweqi Continent, and they prepared to teleport away. The formation activated, a silver light followed, and Rean’s group disappeared.

As soon as that happened...

[Ha! Got you! Sure enough, I’m always right!] Sister Orb said, excited.

"Until you aren’t," Roan added with a snort.

Just now, the Judgemental Eye did indeed react to Rean’s exit from the continent. However, the Golden Energy that Sister Orb was tracking was pretty much nonexistent at the moment.

Sister Orb completely ignored Roan’s remark. [Alright, the Judgemental Eye’s Iris moved, although you can’t see it because the eye is closed. It looked exactly in Rean’s direction once Rean left. It tried to do something, but the Golden Energy inside seems to have some trouble circulating. Other than that, I can’t tell anything else. This thing is not a formation, so I can’t hack into it.]

Roan was satisfied. ’That’s more than enough. Rean, keep your guard up. Sister Orb said the artifact couldn’t do whatever it wanted to, but there are no guarantees that this artifact is the only thing related to that Golden Sphere. If another one of those Spheres appears, don’t fight it. Instead, come back to the Runia Continent with a Spatial Gate before that Golden Light area reaches you and blocks your Spatial Powers. Perhaps the Golden Sphere will disappear if you return to the Judgemental Eye’s detection range.’

’Hum... I think the Judgemental Eye isn’t my only trouble right now...’ Rean commented. As soon as he arrived in Kloweqi, the Red Color of Killing Intent appeared around him. ’Right... the Judgemental Eye wasn’t the only one trying to kill us, now was it?’