Chapter 81: Radiance (Seeking Collections)

Underground tomb.

The last bit of cold ice vanished into thin air.

Inside the stone coffin, Aaron opened his slightly bewildered eyes, then spoke: "Has the time of promise... arrived now?"

He felt his own Weakness, yet a trace of joy appeared on his face.

This was the feeling of an ordinary person, representing that everything was as he had expected; the Spirituality in his body was exhausted, and he had turned back into a mortal.

Accompanying the dissipation of the cold ice, the last bit of Light in the cave was also swallowed by the darkness.

But not long after, a Lamp was lit, and the dim yellow light illuminated the surroundings.

Aaron looked at the two corpses on the ground and pondered for a moment: "Grave robbers? They seemed to want to destroy the coffin, but they came into contact with the last bit of Unmelting Ice. What a tragedy; I still wanted to ask them some things..."

"However, not being imprisoned somewhere the moment I woke up, surrounded by a circle of Extraordinary, or being directly under the gaze of those existences—this should count as a success, right?"

Aaron touched his stomach, which was making a rumbling sound; he was hungry...

His gaze could not help but look toward those two corpses.

A moment later, Aaron, dressed in blue laborer's clothes, climbed out of his grave; he was still carrying a bundle in his hand, inside of which were the clothes and accessories he had changed out of.

He had checked those two corpses earlier, certainly not to eat; he had never intended to walk the path of 'Red'.

It was just that their attire let him know that the era must have undergone tremendous changes.

Going out wearing his previous clothes would be like dancing with a zombie in broad daylight—too eye-catching.

"The two worlds should have merged smoothly... then this world will definitely not lack Extraordinary, and I am just a weak and helpless ordinary person..."

"Cough, cough... even if I possessed my former power, I probably could no longer accomplish the feat of slaughtering through a country alone, so I still need to be low-key... Thinking about it this way, it really is a little regrettable..."

"The most important thing upon waking up is to first observe the environment I am in..."

Aaron looked up and saw a Moon of clear brilliance; a trace of melancholy could not help but appear on his face: "The bright Moon of yesteryear is still there... it's truly good, and I should also be glad that it is not crimson-colored..."

The surroundings were pitch black, appearing to be the wild countryside, but there were some lights in the distance.

"It seems I was a bit misguided back then; the location I chose wasn't remote enough..."

He shook his head, turned around to look at the large pit on the ground, and felt it was not a project one person could complete.

Furthermore, the sky was almost bright.

"Forget it, I'll bury it hastily; let it cover things up for as long as it can... Then the second thing, I should try to enter a dream to see how the dream world is... The current surrounding environment isn't right, so I'll postpone it..."

"I don't know how long I slept... but even if I have been away for half a lifetime, I am still a youth upon my return..."

Aaron held the Lamp and headed toward the location of the lights.

Early morning.

The orange-red morning sun rose, reflecting on the water of the Mother River, a expanse of sparkling waves.

On the steel bridge spanning the east and west districts of Green Forest City, Aaron stood in the middle section, looking at the scenery on both sides of the Mother River with a melancholy gaze.

Countless reinforced concrete buildings rose from the ground, resembling a jungle cast in steel.

Not far away, in the factory district, chimneys stood tall one after another, spewing out large amounts of smoke.

"The forest of Green Forest has long been logged to completion, turning into a Victorian-style city?"

Aaron's mouth slowly widened: "Even the flow of the Mother River has undergone huge changes; I almost couldn't recognize it... It seems the geological strata have also shifted, right? At least it experienced a few earthquakes... Otherwise, I clearly constructed the tomb deep underground; it absolutely shouldn't have appeared on the surface..."

In the distance, Aaron even saw a railway track paved with logs, and a train pulled by a Steam Engine locomotive whistled past.

"The book I gave to Jinni recorded the concept of the Steam Engine, but it seems I never mentioned the concept of a train..."

Although it was early morning, there were already many pedestrians, most of whom were hurried workers, as well as newsboys wearing suspenders and plaid shirts, with berets on their heads.

Occasionally, white-collar elites who looked like the middle class passed by, wearing gray wide-leg trousers, beige lapel shirts, a vest worn on the outside, and carrying briefcases.

Aaron even saw a beautifully decorated carriage charging recklessly in the center of the road; through the open window, one could see the gentleman sitting inside.

The other party was wearing a smooth silk vest and trousers, an outer black woolen formal suit, a top hat on his head, and there was a golden pocket watch chain and a white silk cravat on his chest...

"This evolution... is a bit fast..."

Aaron muttered to himself and picked up an ink-stained newspaper that had been blown over by the wind.

Although the inferior ink was very messy on the hands, he could barely recognize half of the characters on it; there were traces of the common language of Green Forest in it.

Fortunately, the date column was always relatively eye-catching, and the way the numbers were written had not changed much.

"New Calendar year 1026, July 4th!"

Aaron read the first sentence by guessing, his gaze melancholy.

He had no idea which year of history the New Calendar should be counted from, but it looked like a long time had passed.

Sotos Castle, family, Jinni...

He took a deep breath, feeling fortunate that he had not left behind any offspring; otherwise, the feeling of all one's relatives dying and disappearing into history might have made his mood at this moment even heavier.

Even so, a kind of melancholy lingered in Aaron's heart for a long time, unable to be dispelled.

"All things of the Mortal World have become history..."

"I should also be more focused on... pursuing the Extraordinary and the Mysterious."

Aaron said to himself, then looked toward the rising morning sun, spreading his hands as if to embrace the sun.

'Life is a beam of Light...'

'The Light flows and turns, just as water flows from high to low, and thus, the Light comes from afar...'

'To receive the formless, one must have a formed Artifact...'

'The formed Artifact is the flesh itself, and because I am empty inside, I can carry the radiance...'

'Thus... the formless sun rises from within my heart!'

Aaron recited the incantation silently in his heart.

It came from the Secret Mystery of 'Yao', and, it was not the incomplete version that Lin had sacrificed, but one Aaron had obtained directly from the body of the sun fragments.

The essence of that existence is the Mysterious, it is knowledge!

Having been frozen for such a long time, Aaron had long since naturally comprehended a profound heritage, directly engraving it into his heart.

Even though he had mastered other Secret Transmissions such as 'Red', 'Darkness', 'Shadow', and 'Pupa', after weighing his options, Aaron still chose the path of 'Yao'.

Because it came directly from that 【Scarlet Creator】 himself, and also because after a thousand years of being frozen, Aaron felt that even if he had been an ordinary person before, in terms of Occultism, he might have been secretly transformed a little, becoming more suited to the path of 'Yao'.

At this moment, what he was performing was the 'Radiance Method', the very beginning of the Secret Mystery of 'Yao', which requires bathing in the radiance of dawn, using Meditation and incantations to promote the awakening and accumulation of Spirituality.

Aaron felt his consciousness rising infinitely, coming into contact with a wisp of light that filled his heart.

That was—the Spirituality of 'Yao'!

He suddenly opened his eyes, his body trembling with excitement.

Even though this bit of Spirituality was very weak, unlike the kind obtained through sacrifice, it was the first wisp of Spirituality he had produced himself!

And... it did not dissipate!!!

"The world..."

Aaron murmured in a low voice.