Fortunately, the Emperor did not dwell too long on his own ignorance and quickly began answering Roya's questions one by one.
"That black slime began gathering at the pyramid as soon as I finished building it."
"Almost at the very instant of completion, it had already amassed to half its current size."
"If my guess is correct, it should be a certain essence left behind by all lifeforms that have ever died since humanity's birth."
Roya slowly drew in a breath, calming his mind.
"So, by the looks of it, this world really is just a pasture for someone else to raise living biofuel."
"And you," Roya added, "are an unexpected bonus they haven't discovered yet."
The Emperor's energy form rippled.
"Exactly! And I suspect that before I ever gained self-awareness, they had already completed more than one cycle of seeding and harvesting."
"Because I have some extremely vague but terrifying memories… and whenever I try to recall them, I am overwhelmed by such fear that I instinctively and forcibly sever the recollection."
"So regarding your questions about the sakura dragon and seastone, I truly can't give you a precise answer."
Roya nodded silently.
If the alien pyramid's arrival in this world was not the first time, then the matter became several times more complicated. This blockheaded Emperor really could not be expected to answer those two questions.
Roya pondered for a moment, thinking of a way to investigate further.
Tentatively, he asked:
"Would you let me connect to your memories? You wouldn't have to recall that terrifying memory yourself — just share it with me."
The Emperor's eyes widened in surprise.
"That's even possible?"
Without a word, Roya released his spiritual sense, plunging straight into the Emperor's energy body.
The Emperor cooperated fully, releasing all the restrictions within himself and allowing Roya's spiritual sense to explore freely.
Soon, the intricate structure of the Emperor's body was laid bare to Roya's perception.
Only then did Roya discover that this never-before-seen lifeform known as a "Star Spirit" was composed of a mass of pure energy directly linked to the planet's core.
This energy contained all possibilities — from plants and animals to minerals, from air to ocean, and so on…
Anything known to exist on this planet could be freely transformed between energy and physical form.
It could be the origin of all things, or the end of all things.
The only difference from ordinary energy accumulation was that every two tiniest particles of energy were constantly engaged in an exchange akin to electron transfer.
Through this wondrous exchange, another strange form of ionized energy — existing somewhere between nothingness and reality — was generated.
This new internal energy naturally took on the functions of recording, organizing, and analyzing all manner of external information.
Over time, what was called "self-awareness" was born — and with it, the Star Spirit itself.
Naturally, the Star Spirit's memories were stored within this strange ionized energy.
Not only the sights and thoughts formed after gaining sentience, but everything that had occurred on the planet since the very first wisp of ionized energy had formed — all of it, down to the smallest detail, was recorded here!
Fortunately, when this fellow emerged into the world, he had deliberately fashioned a fleshly body to better blend in among humans.
Because of this, all his earlier memories were still compressed and stored near the planetary core, not seized away by the Void Throne.
And the memories from his fleshly body had also, by great fortune, been converted into ionized energy at the very last moment of its collapse and rejoined his main memory store.
Otherwise, this guy really would have been reduced to a useless lump of scrap.
Having grasped the essence of this being's lifeform, Roya's thoughts suddenly cleared. With a turn of his spiritual sense, he went directly to a patch of extremely dim, lightless ionized energy.
This cluster had been instinctively pushed by the Star Spirit to the outermost edge of the energy body, no longer engaged in active exchange.
The feedback Roya received from it through spiritual sense was ancient — unimaginably so.
Without a doubt, the answers he sought lay within this section of memory.
With a thought, he began scanning the ionized energy.
In an instant, countless images surged forth, a torrent of information crashing into Roya's consciousness.
Realizing he had underestimated this fellow's information capacity — thanks to his blockheaded demeanor — Roya quickly reined in his mind, regulating the processing of spiritual-sense data while combing through for the images he needed.
Eons of planetary formation flashed by in a blink.
As the geology shifted and changed, another eon passed before the planet finally stabilized.
Primitive life began to emerge, evolving continuously — from the seas to the land, and then into the skies.
It was a scene of thriving vitality, and Roya could even feel the naive joy the Star Spirit had once felt in that era.
Then — the pyramid arrived!
From the sky, it dropped a kilometer-wide mass of black slime, which fell burning into the ocean.
The black slime began fusing with various lifeforms, tearing apart their genetic sequences from within, and savagely forcing their mutations.
Monstrous creatures emerged — in the sea, on land, and in the sky — slaughtering and devouring every living thing untouched by the slime.
In less than seven days, all life on the planet was wiped out.
The bloodied seas were drained dry by these mutated beasts. Even blood-soaked soil was torn up and devoured without mercy!
The entire planet shrank in size, becoming a barren wasteland.
The Sakura Dragon was one of the most ferocious of these mutated species.
After the slaughter was complete, the mutants gathered together. The black slime sloughed off their bodies, carrying away all their life essence, leaving behind only withered husks.
Most of these husks crumbled to dust and were scattered by the wind, but a few — such as the Sakura Dragon — managed to preserve their dried bodies, standing like monstrous statues.
The heap of black slime had now grown to seven or eight times the volume originally dropped by the pyramid.
The pyramid silently returned, reclaiming the black slime.
Then it dropped a gigantic shell, which exploded high in the atmosphere.
Rain poured down endlessly, day and night, until it filled the entire world.
At last, this section of the Star Spirit's memory aligned with the scenes depicted on the murals.
The pyramid cast down one black and one white sphere, sowing the seeds of life.
Humankind was born alongside all other creatures, gaining the fruits of ability, and quickly developing a warped civilization.
Those who possessed ability fruits seized the finest resources and became the mightiest beings.
For the sake of fruits and resources, endless wars broke out.
Until one day — the pyramid returned.
The black slime surged forth from the bodies of the fruit ability users, mutating into terrifying monsters.
The cycle began once more!
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