Chapter 88: A mysterious island
The night air still carried the faint scent of monster blood as Alex stood on the shattered peak of a mountain and looked across the continent.
He had been killing planetary monsters this whole ti.
Forty one of them still remained.
They were scattered across distant regions of the continent, hiding in ancient mountain chains, and ruined wastelands. Alex could feel their faint life signatures through his ntal domain.
Tomorrow he would finish the hunt.
Alex bent his knees slightly.
Then he jumped.
BOOM.
The mountain peak beneath him exploded into fragnts as the ground failed to withstand the enormous force of his launch. Rock shattered and blasted outward while Alex’s figure shot into the sky like a projectile fired from a planetary cannon.
The wind roared past his helt as he ascended through the atmosphere.
Then sothing changed.
Halfway through his ascent, the space around him twisted violently.
The stars above him vanished.
The wind disappeared.
The familiar pull of planetary gravity dissolved as though soone had quietly removed the concept of weight from reality.
Alex’s eyes widened behind the visor.
The transition lasted less than a second.
Then the world reshuffled itself.
He landed on a soft ground.
His boots sank slightly into the damp ground.
He straightened imdiately.
Every instinct sharpened at once as his gaze swept across the surroundings.
He stood on a small island.
Dense ancient trees surrounded him in every direction. Their trunks were thick and twisted, as though they had grown under strange and unnatural conditions. The branches curled toward the sky in irregular shapes that did not resemble any species he had ever encountered.
A pale mist drifted between the trees, moving slowly along the ground like a living creature searching for sothing.
Above the island there were no stars.
The sky had beco a uniform gray void that stretched endlessly in every direction.
Then Alex felt s.
A cold sensation crawled slowly up his spine, as though invisible ice water had been poured down his back.
Soone was watching him.
The feeling was not rely observation.
It was analysis.
An unseen presence pressed against his mind from every direction at once. The pressure was calm and controlled, yet impossibly vast. Whoever was studying him possessed power that far exceeded anything he had previously encountered.
Alex did not hesitate.
He activated his spatial ability.
Nothing happened.
Alex frowned and tried again, this ti forcing more energy into the ability.
Space remained solid.
The surrounding environnt felt completely locked, as though an invisible barrier had sealed the island away from the rest of reality.
"Rafael," Alex said quietly.
His voice remained steady despite the faint chill spreading through his limbs.
"What is going on?"
For a mont there was no response.
Then the artificial intelligence answered.
[Soone above the Black Hole realm is blocking the space.]
Alex’s jaw tightened.
Soone stronger than that was observing him.
"You an Galactic realm?" Alex asked.
[Possibly. Or perhaps sothing higher.]
The cold sensation along his spine intensified.
Then a voice spoke.
"Do not be afraid. Co here, little one."
The voice echoed from every direction at once. It sounded ancient, calm, and completely certain of itself. There was no anger within it, yet Alex imdiately understood that resisting the command would be aningless.
He exhaled slowly.
If the voice truly belonged to a Galactic realm cultivator, then the difference between them was so vast that escape would not even be a possibility.
Soone at that level could destroy planets with casual strikes.
Alex straightened his posture.
Then he began walking toward the source of the voice.
The forest reacted to his movent.
Ancient trees slowly parted to open a narrow path through the mist. The branches shifted aside as though they had been instructed to move, and the pale fog retreated from his armored body.
After several minutes of walking, the forest opened into a clearing.
In the center of the empty space stood a simple wooden door.
It had no surrounding walls.
No visible fra.
Just a single door standing upright in the middle of the clearing.
As Alex approached, the door opened by itself.
Bright light spilled outward from the interior.
Alex paused briefly.
Then he stepped through.
The environnt on the other side was completely different.
The interior resembled a study or private archive. Bright light illuminated every corner of the room, revealing shelves that stretched from floor to ceiling. Ancient books rested beside crystalline data shards and strange tallic artifacts whose purpose Alex could not imdiately identify.
The air carried a faint scent of aged paper and unknown energies.
At the center of the room floated a soul.
The figure of a man hovered several feet above the floor.
He had once been handso. His features were sharp and refined, and his expression carried the natural authority of soone accustod to command. However his body had beco translucent, and the edges of his form flickered faintly like a candle fla struggling against a strong wind.
Only his eyes remained perfectly clear.
Alex bowed deeply.
"Sir. May I know why you have summoned
here?"
The soul smiled faintly.
"You are direct. I appreciate that."
He slowly circled Alex, studying the armor and the faint energy signatures surrounding him.
"My na is Kael Von Lindberg," the soul said. "I am a baron of the Grand Mana Cosmic Empire."
He paused briefly before continuing.
"Old habits persist even after death, so I suppose I should still say that I was a baron."
Alex frowned slightly.
"The Grand Mana Cosmic Empire?"
Kael nodded.
"I sotis forget how isolated this planet truly is."
He drifted toward one of the shelves, passing directly through it without disturbing the objects resting there.
"The Grand Mana Cosmic Empire is one of the twenty super empires ruled by humanity across the universe."
Alex remained silent for a mont.
The scale of that statent was difficult to process.
Human civilization existed across countless star systems, yet hearing about it from soone who had personally lived within that structure made the reality far more tangible.
He pushed the thought aside.
"Sir," Alex said carefully, "may I ask which cultivation realm you reached?"
Kael looked at him with mild amusent.
"I am a Galactic Overlord."
Alex nodded slowly.
The distance between them suddenly felt imasurable.
A Galactic Overlord possessed power capable of destroying galaxies and reshaping entire solar systems through sheer force.
Even the Black Hole realm stood several stages below that level.
"Then how did soone like you end up here?" Alex asked.
Kael’s expression darkened slightly.
"It is a long story."
He gestured toward a doorway leading deeper into the room.
"Co inside. We can talk more comfortably."
Alex followed him.
The inner chamber was smaller and more personal. A single table stood at the center of the room with two chairs placed on opposite sides.
As Alex stepped forward, his eyes stopped.
A corpse rested against the far wall.
The body appeared perfectly preserved despite the unimaginable passage of ti. The skin had not decayed, and the clothing still clung to the skeletal fra as though the man had died only yesterday.
A circular hole pierced directly through the corpse’s chest.
Faint energy still shimred around the wound.
Kael pointed toward the body.
"My enemy."
His voice remained calm.
"I killed him one million years ago. He killed
at the sa mont."
Alex stared at the corpse.
One million years had passed, yet the energy surrounding the wound had not completely faded.
That fact alone revealed the terrifying power involved in their battle.
"You were being hunted?" Alex asked quietly.
Kael nodded.
"I was a baron of a powerful empire. Positions like that naturally create enemies."
A bitter smile appeared on his face.
"They sent an assassin to eliminate ."
He slowly floated toward the table.
"I ran across seventeen galaxies. I crossed three massive nebula clusters and eventually reached the outer edge of explored space."
His gaze shifted toward the distant corpse.
"This insignificant little planet was where the chase finally ended."
Alex followed his line of sight.
"I killed him," Kael continued.
"And he killed ."
The room fell silent.
For a long mont neither of them spoke.
Then Kael turned back toward Alex.
This ti the expression on his face contained both sadness and faint hope.
He slowly drifted closer.
"Tell ," Kael said gently, "would you be willing to accept
as your master?"
Alex remained still.
"If you do," Kael continued, "everything I possess will beco yours. My knowledge. My cultivation thods. My experience."
He paused briefly before adding one final sentence.
"And the title of Baron within the Grand Mana Cosmic Empire."
Alex fell silent.
Such an opportunity could change the entire direction of his life.
After several seconds of careful thought, he made his decision.
He bowed deeply.
"Yes, Master. I am willing."
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