Chapter 260: Possibly a True God's Creation! (13)

Zhi ya~~ zhi ya~~~

Scorching summer, cicadas screamed wildly in the trees, just a guitar away from Disco.

Splash~~ splash~~

Under a giant tree, clear spring water tinkled; in a huge spring pool, four people were cooling off.

One is Empress Zhuo Ya, one is Ze La Ya, general of the Shadow Guard's Second Legion, and another is Rosen's old acquaintance, Jia Di Ya, general of the Shadow Guard's Sixth Special Operations Unit.

And the last one is naturally Rosen.

Everyone has holidays, and the emperor naturally does too.

In the Radiant Empire's summer, if the nation has no major affairs, as long as the royal diviners confirm that tomorrow will have extreme heat, the empress will issue a furlough decree, letting the whole capital take a holiday to escape the heat.

At this moment, the three women in the spring pool wore the royal family's exclusive sheer silk swimsuits, similar to low-cut strapless mini-dresses.

They sat, floated, or swam, looking like three white lotuses blooming in the water, a sight most pleasing.

Rosen followed local custom and wore a pair of knee-length swim trunks.

In this cool pool, over 50 meters long and wide, resembling Earth's Baotu Spring, he ate chilled southern specialty melons while admiring the surrounding scenery, feeling as relaxed as an immortal.

But because many maidservants were watching by the poolside, aside from his eyes occasionally wandering, he behaved properly.

Ze La Ya and Jia Di Ya, both generals, couldn't stay idle in the pool; after chatting a bit, they went swimming one after another.

Zhuo Ya sat near Rosen, less than two meters away; after a bit of small talk, she asked, 'Have you figured out the magic of the longevity technique?'

Rosen took a sip of chilled sparkling malt beer.

'The magic book's content is incomplete, or rather, it shouldn't be called a magic book but an 'instruction manual for consuming high‑elf fruit.'

'From the details of the corpse dissection, he has already consumed the high‑elf fruit, and his body has begun to change.'

'This 'he' is naturally the Radiant Lord Messiah.'

'He had already been buried, but for the sake of magical research, he was dug up and dissected again.'

'Many discoveries were made, but because his soul had collapsed, they were of little help to the magical research.'

'In the end, they couldn't be bothered to rebury the corpse, so they burned it clean.'

'Moreover, Rosen also dissected the corpses of the high‑elf legendary mage and the dragon, gaining much data.'

'But they all ran into the same problem: lack of soul data.'

'Zhuo Ya is very curious about the longevity technique; anyone would be, after all everyone wants to live longer, and elves are especially long‑lived.'

'Do you think there is a way to let mortals gain the lifespan of high elves without becoming slaves of the Truth Lord?'

'Elves are actually just another name for the 'Truth Apostles.'

'Therefore, the fruit that can turn mortals into high elves is naturally a sweet fruit laced with poison.'

'That's why Zhuo Ya asked that.'

'Rosen slowly shook his head: 'It's extremely difficult; I have not the slightest clue.'

'Seeing Zhuo Ya somewhat doubtful, he earnestly explained: 'You know, I have three low‑elf captives in Weilan.'

'Although they are low elves, their lifespans reach one‑third of those of high elves, and because they have ascended to legendary status, their standing among elves is still high, so they know many secrets.'

'While studying the magic book, I carefully examined the souls of these low elves and also learned much about the elf fruit from them.'

'Then I discovered that within this so‑called elf fruit, there may exist a power that mortals cannot comprehend.'

'Incomprehensible?'

'Zhuo Ya didn't quite understand.'

'Rosen's face showed great solemnity.'

'A more accurate description is that there may exist knowledge that vastly surpasses the limits of human intellect.'

'It's like how beasts can never understand our mortal magic; only this time, mortals have taken the role of the animal.'

'Beasts have intellectual limits, and of course mortals do as well.'

'For example, a mortal living in three‑dimensional space cannot intuitively imagine four‑, five‑dimensional, or higher‑dimensional spaces.'

'Zhuo Ya understood, frowned, and asked: 'Is the wisdom of the Truth Lord really that terrifying?'

'Rosen slowly shook his head: 'I think this may not be the wisdom of the Truth Lord, but knowledge he accidentally obtained.'

'He only knows how to use it, not how to alter it.'

'Just like most Earth people with cell phones: everyone knows how to use one, but if you say to build a phone, that's gibberish.'

'Zhuo Ya still didn't get it: 'If that's really the case, that would naturally be great. What makes you think so?'

'Rosen laughed: 'I obtained a book from Nawate titled Encyclopedia of Void Creatures.'

'The book describes, as detailed as possible, the information of 76 void gods and demons.'

'From this information, as well as my personal experience dealing with demons, the intellectual breadth of void life far exceeds that of mortals, but its depth is essentially no different from mortals.'

'This fact has also been verified.'

'If the intellect of gods and demons reached a level that mortals could never comprehend, then mortals would have no way to oppose them at all.'

'A more likely scenario is that we are all easily toyed with by gods and demons, and even when toyed with we remain unaware.'

'In other words, if void life were truly that terrifying, the Creator would naturally match them with a stronger opponent, rather than entangle them with mortals.'

'Therefore, Rosen suspects that the Truth Lord merely stumbled upon a treasure—a artifact forged by a true 'God.'

'As for what exactly this true 'God' is, Rosen has no way to know, nor does he worry, because worrying would be useless.'

'It's like people will age and die; if you worried about that every day, you might as well not live.'

'Zhuo Ya understood, but suspected Rosen was deceiving her.'

'Rosen naturally sensed it, and said solemnly: 'Your Majesty, I would not joke with you on such a major event concerning the fate of mortals.'

'After speaking, he added: 'Furthermore, I learned much about the elf fruit from the three low‑elf legendaries and from the Heavenly Father of Divine Might; would Your Majesty like to hear it?'

'Zhuo Ya nodded repeatedly: 'Of course.'

Now the Elves live in a boundless sea of forest, very mysterious, and few people know their situation.

Luosen continued: "This so-called Elf fruit should grow from a tree called the Life Tree."

"Its appearance and taste can be made identical to ordinary fruit, and with all currently known arts, it may be impossible to detect any abnormality in the fruit."

Zhuo Ya immediately thought of a possibility and exclaimed in shock: "Then the Elves could silently infiltrate important members of the Empire!"

The fruit supply of the Radiant Empire is very abundant, from nobles to commoners, everyone can often eat various fruits.

If the Elves mixed some Elf fruit into it, they could silently turn Imperial people into apostles of the Lord of Truth.

Just thinking about it is terrifying.

Luosen also thought this move was quite formidable, but he had already come up with some countermeasures.

He carefully analyzed: "First, the production cost of Elf fruit is not low; lower-grade Elf fruit is more abundant, but the annual quantity should not exceed ten thousand."

"So the amount imported into the Empire will not be large; it will certainly be prioritized for supplying important members of the Empire."

"That makes it even more terrifying."

Whenever Zhuo Ya thought of herself mysteriously becoming an Elf apostle, she would panic.

However, this panic only lasted a moment, then improved greatly, because she immediately thought of several countermeasures.

For example, strictly controlling fruit sources, or testing fruit with animals before eating, or simply not eating raw fruit, only cooked fruit.

She didn't believe such a delicate thing would still be effective after being cooked.

But there was one point with no countermeasure, so she asked Luosen: "What if someone has already been turned into an Elf apostle—is there a way to tell?" Luosen nodded: "Yes, it only takes a minor Radiant art."

After saying that, he raised his hand and said: "Your Majesty, would you mind if I demonstrated this art to you?"

Zhuo Ya eagerly replied: "Of course I don't mind."

"Then please rise, Your Majesty."

Zhuo Ya stood up from the water as instructed.

Because of the water's drag effect, the sheer water dress almost clung to her body, making Luosen's heartbeat slightly quicken.

Of course, he showed no abnormality on the surface.

He began to cast the art, while explaining: "This is called the Radiant Insight Art; its original principle came from your Radiant knowledge, and later I made some developments to it."

As he spoke, a faint white light appeared on his palm, flashing lightly at Zhuo Ya's body, and then immediately.

A clear light-shadow appeared in the air before them, showing actually a semi-transparent human outline.

"Your Majesty, please look: the outer shadow is the dress you wear, and the inner layer is your body's skin."

Zhuo Ya had already sat back in the water, glanced at the light-shadow, her cheeks 'shu' turned red, and she softly scolded: "Luosen, you're really a bastard."

Luosen gave a hehe smile, but quickly regained a serious expression: "Your Majesty, don't rush to scold; look inside, it's the shadow of your bones and internal organs."

It is actually a magical X-ray, but much clearer than Earth's X-ray; under Luosen's fine control, its effect even approaches magnetic resonance imaging.

Zhuo Ya pursed her lips and examined closely; indeed she understood, then felt somewhat surprised: "Is this really a Radiant art? It actually ignores my mana barrier."

Luosen laughed: "I will have to share this art later, but for now please listen to me."

He certainly will not share the essence of light, only the specific art details, lest the Radiant Empire be infiltrated by Elves without knowing.

He pointed at Zhuo Ya's organs and bones: "A body altered by Elf fruit will show some subtle changes, differing slightly from that of a mortal."

For example, in the intestines here, there is something mortals have but Elves do not; also this white fine thread does not deliberately loop around in a large circle.

Also, the eye structure here has some subtle differences from mortals, and there will be no visual blind spot.

In short, there are over a dozen such subtle differences, and through these abnormalities one can very accurately distinguish Elf apostles from mortals.

Zhuo Ya understood, but observing her own bodily details together with a man still made her very uncomfortable.

She waved her hand to dispel the light-shadow: "I understand; I will promote this art, especially for use in important imperial occasions, to precisely identify infiltrated mortals."

After a pause, she asked: "But if someone is inadvertently infiltrated yet is a member hard to give up, or if it's me, having accidentally eaten Elf fruit, what should we do?"

Luosen certainly had a way: "First, Your Majesty, you are very hard to target."

Because you are a legendary mage, when you eat Elf fruit and your body changes, you will notice it immediately.

At that moment, you should immediately spit out the fruit, which should be enough to stop the change.

Zhuo Ya immediately relaxed: "Mm, that's not difficult."

"But what about others?"

Luosen spread his hands: "Time is too short; I haven't yet found an effective reversal method, so this matter will be left to the Empire's Arcane Department to figure out."

He is still researching now; even if he cannot clarify the principle of Elf fruit, he must find a way to use Elf fruit.

Seeing Zhuo Ya's puzzled expression, he explained: "Currently, the faith puppet has been completed and can simultaneously respond to the prayers of one million believers."

"As for subsequent maintenance and upgrades, just leave it to my puppet substitute—my puppet substitute has already arrived at Mei Da Xilin, and is currently waiting outside Bu Ye Gong."

"And I should also return to Weilan."

Zhuo Ya instantly showed reluctance.

This feeling is very complex; some may be reluctance between lovers, some may be reluctance toward top talent, and finally many are reluctance toward the protector.

Her ability to quickly grasp the situation and become the true Radiant Lord is greatly related to the immense deterrent power of Luosen, this mysterious assassin.

Now that he is leaving, she feels empty and somewhat apprehensive.

"Are you leaving so soon?"

Luosen smiled: "Your Majesty, I am still in Bu Ye Gong, just changed my identity. If you don't believe, you can now summon my substitute."

Zhuo Ya really wanted to have a good look, so she immediately summoned.

About a quarter of an hour later, the puppet substitute arrived.

It is still a flesh-and-blood puppet, but an older generation version.

It has no disguise of mana aura, nor any disguise of soul; in terms of mana, a legendary crystal is used instead.

Zhuo Ya evaluated: "It looks like a living person, but it is a living person without a soul."

Luosen laughed and said, "He is actually a living person; in fact, this is a technique I learned from the demons."

"Normally, he is just an ordinary puppet, diligently helping Your Majesty maintain the credit puppet."

"When needed, Your Majesty only has to speak my name to him, and I can, through the link of faith power, directly control this puppet and converse with Your Majesty in real time."

While speaking, Luosen gave a demonstration.

Indeed, the puppet that had seemed somewhat stiff and wooden a moment ago, once directly controlled by Luosen, instantly became lifelike; aside from not feeling any spiritual power, it was completely indistinguishable from the real Luosen.

Zhuo Ya instantly felt much better.

She had long been mentally prepared for Luosen's return, after all, his Natural Alliance still had a lot of business to attend to; it was impossible for him to always stay by her side.

After a few seconds of silence, she said, "Regarding our marriage, I tested the waters at the family meeting, but the result was widespread opposition."

"Even Jia Di Ya, who has always supported me, is strongly opposed. The only one who shows any support is probably Ailin, but even that support is not firm."

"Most people think that if you are a citizen of the Radiant Empire, you are fully qualified to be my husband, but since you are the emperor of the Natural Empire, that won't do."

Hearing this, Luosen thought Zhuo Ya might go back on her word, but he wasn't disappointed.

After all, Zhuo Ya must consider her supporters' opinions; otherwise, her position as emperor would be unstable.

"Your Majesty, if it really can't be done, there's no need to force it."

Zhuo Ya knew Luosen had misunderstood, and she said earnestly, "I have no intention of giving up."

"What I mean is, to make this succeed, the Natural Empire must display strong national strength—at least not be weaker than the Radiant Empire, and in some aspects even surpass it."

"That way, I wouldn't be marrying down; I'd be marrying up, and the opposition would be greatly reduced."

That makes sense.

Luosen finally confirmed, "Your Majesty, do you really intend to marry me?"

Zhuo Ya nodded, "Once I've decided on something, I won't regret it—even if it takes ten or twenty years, I will persist in pushing it forward."

"But you, don't come to dislike me halfway through."

Luosen laughed heartily, "No need for ten or twenty years—at most five years will do."

"The Natural Alliance actually has strength; its biggest problem is fragmentation—if we unite it, it won't be much weaker than the Radiant Empire."

"And he has many ways to unite the Natural Alliance."

Zhuo Ya instantly felt a competitive spirit, her face eager to try: "Luosen, I'm not so easy to defeat. Perhaps in five years, the gap between our two nations will actually grow larger."

"Then let's see how it goes."

After saying that, Luosen finally glanced at the empress, delicate and splendid like a starlight rose in the water pool; she was made to blush by his fiery gaze, but she did not retreat—instead, she lifted her trembling chest and met his eyes.

Luosen laughed heartily, rose, and left the pool.

"Well then, see you for now, Your Majesty."

(End of chapter)