His gaze traversed millions of light-years, heavy and solemn. Before Jiang Liang could even react, his consciousness was pulled into another space.
There, he saw countless ancient stone blocks forming a center that enveloped a luminous core vaster than a galaxy. The very first glimpse brought information that melted into Jiang Liang's consciousness like ice cream under a scorching sun.
Qlippoth, the Aeon of Preservation.
The name surfaced naturally in his mind.
The moment he was glanced upon, the lance in his hand grew hotter, and a heavy aura settled upon him.
After the initial glance, His gaze slowly moved away. Just as Jiang Liang thought it was over, Qlippoth's gaze snapped back towards him.
Jiang Liang?
Wait, why the second look?
As this second gaze fell upon him, Jiang Liang instinctively closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he found himself back in the previous space.
[You have embarked upon the Path of Preservation. Current Character Card is Kevin Kaslana. Path Compatibility in progress... When acts of salvation are performed, the Compatibility Rate of this Character Card will gradually increase.
Current Compatibility Rate: 5%
When Compatibility Rate reaches 100%, the Character Card will awaken to its future-era form. Keywords for Kevin Kaslana during this period: World Serpent.
Host can collect [Number Missing] Character Cards with 100% Compatibility to manifest [Effect Missing] in reality.
Current 100% Compatibility Character Cards: 0.]
Quickly dismissing the pop-ups with his consciousness, Jiang Liang noticed he wasn't the only one holding the lance. At some point, Stelle's hand had also grasped it. She frowned tightly, opening her eyes only after a moment, looking around in confusion.
"You saw it too?"
"Yeah, yeah! I saw a giant stone person!"
Seeing Stelle's reaction, Jiang Liang more or less guessed that she too had seen the Aeon of Preservation when she touched the lance handle.
"Did the Aeon of Preservation do anything to you after appearing?"
Jiang Liang asked Stelle first, just to be safe.
What if the normal process of embarking on a Path isn't like what happened to him?
"Er..."
Stelle gathered her thoughts, then frowned. "It didn't do anything after appearing. I thought I'd at least get looked at, but who knew? It just cast its gaze far away."
Cast its gaze far away?
Jiang Liang felt vaguely uneasy.
"Then It retracted its gaze. Just when I thought It would look at me then, Its attention seemed to shift elsewhere again. It didn't look at me when It left either."
Jiang Liang...
Okay, he understood the situation now.
Still, if both of them could embark on the Path just by holding it, it doesn't seem as difficult as this Guardian Will made it out to be.
Thinking this, Jiang Liang turned his gaze towards the Guardian Will, a hint of hesitation in his eyes. "Maybe... you should try holding it too?"
"No need. The Stellaron has been dealt with. This planet's fate has been rewritten. Destiny will once again be held by the people of Belobog. Thank you."
The surrounding scene began to shatter. The Guardian Will no longer focused on the fiery lance. She turned her back. "This mental space will soon disappear. Farewell, new walkers of the Path of Preservation."
Although he couldn't see the Guardian Will's face, Stelle felt her expression probably held a touch of awkwardness right now.
"Right! How should I explain this to my friends when I get out?"
Stelle suddenly remembered this problem just before leaving.
Before coming in here, she was still being pestered by March 7th. How could she explain this? Say some passerby just possessed her body and proxy fought?
How to explain it?
Jiang Liang remembered one of the system rules: he couldn't actively reveal the existence of the proxy fighting. Nothing else was mentioned.
"Don't reveal I'm inside you. Just make up a story to deal with it."
"Got it."
Stelle gave a thumbs-up gesture. The next second, the entire space shattered.
"Stelle! Stelle! Are you okay?"
Stelle opened her eyes again to find March 7th's slender fingers waving frantically in front of her face.
"N-No, I'm fine... Just a side effect from overusing my power earlier. Feeling a bit out of it."
Hearing Stelle say she was fine, March 7th let out a long sigh of relief and patted her chest. "You scared me! My fault, I should have let you rest first."
While she was asking questions earlier, she had seen Stelle's eyes roll back, presenting a vacant, drooling appearance.
Like her soul had just departed.
The silly one was Stelle, how did she get scared by that?
"Wait, when we get back to the Express, let's have Uncle Yang check you first. Uncle Yang is knowledgeable and has seen all sorts of situations. Don't worry!"
Being patted on the shoulder by March 7th, Stelle felt a little guilty and averted her gaze, just happening to meet Jiang Liang's eyes.
The real fear is if he actually finds something.
"Bronya's side is finished too. Let's go."
Dan Heng held his spear. Although his clothes were tattered, his spirits seemed much better than before.
The group headed towards where Cocolia had been. There, Seele was softly comforting Bronya, whose eyes were slightly red, clearly having cried.
Stelle walked at the very back. It looked like no one was beside her, but she was actually walking alongside Jiang Liang.
"We're heading back to the Astral Express soon. Besides March 7th and Dan Heng, there are three other companions."
Jiang Liang nodded. He had already figured out who March 7th and Dan Heng were.
Counting Stelle, it's a classic trio.
The unhappy one and the airhead, plus a slightly more normal person as a mediator.
The unhappy one is confirmed, but who's the airhead?
Considering Stelle's earlier stunt of immediately trying to acknowledge him as her adoptive father, Jiang Liang wasn't so sure the slightly more lively and cute March 7th was the airhead.
"The other two are Uncle Yang and Himeko. Uncle Yang's full name is Welt Yang. Himeko is just Himeko. Both are very good people. Pom-Pom is the conductor of the Express; you have to be respectful to it."
Jiang Liang stopped walking, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
Those two names sound very familiar.
But he just couldn't recall who they were.
"What's wrong?"
Seeing Jiang Liang stop, Stelle stopped too.
"Nothing, just suddenly thought of some things. Let's keep going."
"There isn't much more to say. I was actually only born three days ago and just arrived on the Astral Express. I don't know much about this place yet, but everyone is really nice."
Jiang Liang...
He glanced at Stelle, then turned his head away.
Another glance. Gray hair, golden eyes, good figure, about 167 cm tall. Outwardly, a perfectly normal, beautiful young girl.
But born three days ago?!
Isn't that maturing a bit too fast?
"It's just... my situation is special."
Since Jiang Liang was no longer maintaining his cold facade, Stelle instantly guessed what he was thinking.
Perhaps due to some innate talent, she could always immediately sense when others were undergoing abstract mental activities.
Forget it. Let's not dwell on this for now.
They were already close to Belobog, even able to see the city gate. Seele supported Bronya and entered the city first.
Ding!
Someone's phone rang within the group.
After defeating Cocolia and resolving the Stellaron crisis, not only was the Star Rail track restored, allowing the Astral Express to proceed smoothly, but even their phones had signal again.
"Let me see... Uncle Yang replied in the group chat!"
March 7th swiped her phone open and turned to look at Stelle.
"He said after we finish up here, we should return to the Astral Express and explain to him in detail exactly what happened."
(Author's Note: Caught a cold today, next chapter will probably be in the morning. Sorry.)