Chapter 210: Now, Am I Qualified to Be Your Protagonist? (Two-in-one)
The Astral Realm.
This is a gloomy and desolate world, where darkness stretches endlessly.
Only the occasional faint starlight flickers, becoming the only light in this realm.
Suddenly, in a certain instant.
Cracks began to appear in the pitch-black background, one after another.
In the next moment, the sky shattered.
Amidst the overflowing starlight—
First, high heels made of crystal.
Then, a plain white long dress, and a crown made of dark red rare metal, encircling a snow-white neck.
A Golden Elf with disheveled hair, thus silently, floated at the end of the void.
And in her left eye.
A flame, as brilliant as mithril, yet mysterious and deep, carrying an indescribable ancient aura, was slowly flickering within her glassy pupil.
Every time that trace of silver fire flickered, the surrounding space would also fluctuate accordingly.
Ripples spread out, circle after circle.
Some fluctuations were extremely small, like a negligible ripple in a pond.
Others were extremely powerful, like monstrous tides, causing even the starlight from distant lands to warp.
The slender and frail figure of the Golden Elf drifted with the surging space tide.
Her body swayed, as if she might be swallowed by the spatial distortion caused by that trace of wild silver fire at any moment.
However, at every critical juncture, the Golden Elf managed to grit her teeth and stabilize her form.
She knew very well—
What kind of existence this flame, capable of distorting space and creating void tides, truly was.
“Silver Fire.”
Or rather, “The Secret Fire of the Goddess of Magic.”
Even Mythical Creatures could only glimpse it through subtle clues, and no creature had ever truly possessed it.
It lay hidden in the deepest, oldest, and most supreme mystery of the Astral Realm.
Just to capture a trace of the Silver Fire, Heiser had drifted aimlessly alone in the Astral Realm for five hundred years.
Although the dimensional void and the Astral Realm were vast, wandering within them still harbored countless dangers.
Star-devouring beasts that fed on small celestial bodies, dimension-crossing beasts that could traverse dimensions freely… Among so many Astral Creatures, even their adult individuals were at least Legendary Experts.
And the kings of their species were even more powerful individuals who could contend with demigods.
Furthermore— these external hardships and dangers were only secondary.
The greatest obstacle was loneliness.
Whether humans or Elves, fundamentally, they were still standard herd creatures.
Deprived of the company of others, not even someone to alleviate loneliness existed… drifiting alone in the vast and empty deep space.
Even five years would be enough to drive a sane adult to madness.
Let alone, five hundred years.
If one could self-seal or enter hibernation, it would be fine. Sealed senses and slumber would make those five hundred years feel like an instant…
However, in order to search for the trace of the Silver Fire in the Astral Realm, Heiser had forced herself to maintain mental focus for five hundred years, even dividing half of her mental energy for external vigilance while sleeping.
If she hadn’t already broken through the limit of the Throne, and her mental power had advanced further, becoming an ocean of its own, her mental power would have long since dried up… Even if her body was intact, she would be no different from a dead person.
It could be said that for these five hundred years, Heiser had persevered solely on that obsession—
That longing for Shaya.
Yet, even so, it was far from a complete success.
Finding the Secret Fire in the Astral Realm was only the first part.
The true difficulty lay in containing this masterless Silver Fire and truly transforming it into one’s own power.
Since the opening of the Prime Material Plane, over these thousands of years, there had been powerful Mythical Creatures who had found traces of the Silver Fire.
But in the end, without exception, those powerful ancient Mythical Creatures were swallowed by the colossal spatial rifts and void tides during the process of containing the Silver Fire.
Not even a trace of bone or remains was left behind, only a simple line of text, which later became evidence in Mysticism texts to record the danger of the Silver Fire.
Compared to those powerful beings who had attempted to contain the Silver Fire, the Golden Elf named Heiser had no significant advantage.
She had only just broken through the limit of Legendary, reaching the so-called Throne status.
In terms of accumulation, she was still far from those demigods, let alone pseudo-gods.
What she possessed, which supported her across five hundred years to reach the deepest part of the Astral Realm, to find the Silver Fire and attempt to contain it.
From beginning to end, it was nothing more than an unwilling heart.
Other Mythical Creatures might still have had reservations.
Even if the containment of the Silver Fire failed, they would still be high and mighty deities with ample fallback options.
However, Heiser had nothing left.
Everything that belonged to that Golden Elf maiden—her laughter, her sorrow, her lover, and even all her memories—
Had been buried on the day the Lost Island fell,
Buried in the deepest part of the Abyss.
So, from the very beginning, she had no choice.
And no option to retreat.
In the Astral Realm, any inconspicuous star was a celestial body that had existed for tens of millions of years.
Therefore, the concept of time here was naturally different from that of the Western Continent, flowing extremely slowly.
Stars faded, and new ones were born.
Tides ebbed and flowed, rising and falling.
After an unknown number of cycles.
In the next moment, the pitch-black cracks that permeated the Astral Realm, along with the surging spatial tides, suddenly stagnated at the same instant.
Then.
Crack—
With a crisp sound.
The sound of something shattering spread out.
Then, a tenth of a breath later.
Blazing silver light exploded throughout the entire Astral Realm.
Immense magic, along with profound mystery, transformed into a colossal wave.
Originating from the distant depths of the Astral Realm, it spread continuously.
Reaching every corner of the Astral Realm.
Even in the Prime Material Plane, the pseudo-gods in the Western Continent, busy vying for believers and using human kingdoms as chess pieces to divide faith, could sense it.
A few seconds later, the monstrous wave slowly subsided.
The Astral Realm returned to its original appearance.
Clear and cold, secluded and quiet, eternally unchanged.
And against the backdrop of the starlit sky—
Heiser slowly opened her eyes.
Her left eye was no longer the beautiful light golden it was before.
Instead, it was an incredibly deep, incredibly blazing silver light that distorted space wherever it looked.
“Grade one control.”
“Collection.”
Hoarse, emotionless words were spoken slowly.
The voice was pleasant, reminiscent of a maiden’s, yet it carried a sense of沧桑 (cāngsāng – vicissitudes) and wistfulness, as if it had traversed through long ages.
By now, she was no longer the Golden Elf maiden with a trace of innocence from the Lost Island.
Heiser closed her left eye.
And that blazing silver light, along with the eternal spatial fluctuations, was slowly collected and pacified.
“Teacher Shaya…”
“You once taught me that no one could defeat a wizard armed to the teeth.”
“In other words… every wizard needs their own trump card and ultimate move.”
Heiser’s left eye closed, while her remaining right eye was still the beautiful light golden of the Golden Elf race, as lovely as ever.
She gazed at the boundless pitch-black Astral Realm, lost in thought…
“And now I—”
“Can be considered to have my own trump card.”
“From now on… my left eye can never be opened again.”
“Unless, it is to take someone’s life, annihilating strong enemies with distorted void magic…”
“Heh…”
The Golden Elf let out a soft laugh.
However, there was not much joy in the laughter of having acquired her ultimate skill, her trump card.
Instead, there was an indescribable sense of wistfulness.
“I’ve been lonely for too long, after all.”
“If you were by my side, you’d probably be smiling and applauding right now, and say, ‘Shī Jiang, you’ve finally graduated from my tutelage.'”
“If that were the case, I suppose my mood would truly be much lighter.”
“But, just as you said.”
“If you open a treasure chest and find a rare golden item, but there’s no companion beside you to share the joy with.”
“Then, no matter how precious the item, it ultimately lacks some of its deserved joy.”
She gently extended her plain white finger and tapped lightly in the void.
Melodious ancient Elvish words were chanted from Heiser’s mouth, beautiful, with a hint of poetic rhythm.
In the next instant.
Light golden mana outlined the image of a simple book in the void beside Heiser.
On the book pages, lines of mysterious and ancient text flowed, carrying a torrent of complex information.
“Heiser’s Book of the Spirit World.”
It could directly use one’s own mental power as a medium to establish a communication channel with the ocean of subconsciousness in the Spirit World.
Then, in the form of a book, it could directly retrieve the answers to the information one needed to explore from the ocean of subconsciousness in the Spirit World, manifesting as an information stream on the so-called “Book of the Spirit World.”
Heiser’s eyes reflected the myriad flowing, complex characters.
This amount of information was enough to easily overload the soul of a Legendary Expert, and for ordinary demigods, it would also exceed their mental capacity, causing significant backlash and sequelae.
However, Heiser at this moment appeared to be handling it with ease, not even frowning once.
These five hundred years were not wasted.
If, when she walked out of the illusory Black Tower Grand Library created by Shaya for her, she had only just surpassed the limit of Legendary and entered the so-called Throne realm.
Then after experiencing those five hundred years of drifting, at the end of that long period of precipitation and accumulation, in Heiser’s self-perception, she had already reached the end of that Throne.
And after completing the containment of the “Silver Fire,” or rather, the “Goddess of Magic’s Secret Fire,” and taking a further step forward from the hundred-foot pole,
At this moment, upon fully releasing and unleashing the power of the Silver Fire without holding back, Heiser herself was somewhat uncertain about the status she had reached.
The only thing she was certain of was one thing—
“Teacher Shaya…”
“More than five hundred years ago, you took it all upon yourself because you were worried about me, bearing everything…”
“But from beginning to end, until you and the Lost Island fell into the abyss, you never revealed even a shred of information or a plan to me.”
“I can certainly understand your concerns…”
“Back then, I was too naive, too immature, holding unrealistic fantasies. If you had consulted me or revealed your plan, it’s highly likely that I would have been detected by that ancient Sun God due to my inability to hide my thoughts, thus arousing his suspicion.”
“Or, to put it more simply and directly.”
“Back then, I was too weak, so weak that if I were involved in your plan, I would only be harmed… That’s why you had to meticulously exclude me from your plans.”
The Golden Elf extended her plain white finger and tapped lightly in the Astral Realm.
Mana outlined a light golden silhouette in the void.
It was the appearance of a human youth, with black hair and black eyes, as if he were always smiling.
And Heiser gazed intently at the figure of the human youth.
In her opened light golden right pupil, a faint brilliance was accumulating bit by bit.
Like the tranquility before a volcanic eruption, yet ready to erupt at any moment.
“But, Teacher Shaya.”
“People grow, and elves are no exception.”
“Now, I should no longer be a burden…”
“But rather, I can help you, become your aid, and stand by your side…”
“And…”
She slightly parted her lips, uttering a silent murmur.
“During my time drifting in the Astral Realm, I’ve countless times thought of ending myself, of just falling into a deep sleep in the Astral Realm, never to wake up.”
“But every time, at the very end, your figure would appear before my eyes.”
“Because, I have never forgotten the last words you left me.”
“That was your expectation for me, and also the only motivation that supported me through this long journey in the Astral Realm.”
Heiser pursed her lips.
Then, a smile finally appeared on her clear and cold face for the first time.
“Not just a simple relationship like master and disciple…”
“But, something more?”
“Shaya…”
“Now, I am qualified to be your ‘Shī Jiang.'”
“To become the one in your story who touches people’s hearts—”
“The ‘Protagonist’?”
