"What the hell?" Grey was dumbfounded.
Before him was a beautiful lady whose face was so beautiful it completely surpassed both Lia and Alissa — no, she looked like a fallen immortal being.
In the middle of the endless space was a resting place, with special invocations and runes floating in the air. Just staring at it made Grey's heartbeat quicken.
At the center of the resting place reclined an extremely alluring, immortal beauty. Her skin was as flawless as jade, her long silken hair cascading like a waterfall, and her eyes shimmered like starlight. Her lips carried a natural charm, and her delicate figure seemed carved by the heavens themselves.
Just a single glance from her could steal the hearts of millions.
She stared at Grey with a look of interest and caution.
"Hey, young one." Her pleasant voice rang out again, soft yet echoing like divine chimes through the void. "I know you can see me."
"…" Grey immediately acted like he couldn't see her at all. He tried to shift his focus back to the real world, but to his dismay, the world was now painted in a blank color, and everything around him — even the walking passengers — was frozen.
'Great…' Grey was speechless. The lady in front of him had frozen time!
How completely normal!
"I've merely halted the temporal flow around Nova City for a moment." The pleasant immortal suddenly flickered and appeared right beside Grey, her movements weightless and serene.
"…" Grey silently made eye contact with the Immortal Lady. She closely observed him, and he did the same.
"How can you see me?" The Immortal Lady inquired curiously, her gaze deep like a cosmic sea. "There is no one on this entire Blue Star who should be able to sense my existence aside from that damned AI called Eterna."
"It is a mere coincidence." Grey replied cautiously. "I don't mean to offend you in any way. We can act like we never saw each other and go on with our lives. Now, Miss Immortal, please restore the time."
Grey was sweating bullets inwardly.
Time was stopped right now!
The lady in front of him had casually paused time around Nova City!
Just how damn powerful was she to disrupt the very flow of time itself?
Hearing this, the Immortal Lady laughed lightly, her voice melodious yet carrying an ageless weight. "Do not fret, child. I will not harm you. As long as you tell me how you managed to perceive my presence."
However, just then, the Immortal Lady froze up. "You… this… is that heavenly tribulation within your energy field?"
An incredulous expression appeared on her face.
"How are you fine with the heavenly tribulation within your internal system? How is that possible?" The Immortal Lady asked, astonished. "It is the bane of all energy."
Just as quickly, an overwhelming presence descended onto Grey. It was the Divine Consciousness of the Immortal, trying to probe Grey's body.
But…
Buzz!
Nexus Energy churned and rushed toward the descending consciousness, directly terminating it!
"!!!" The Immortal Lady grew even more shocked than before.
Her shock was growing with every passing second.
"…" At the same time, Grey's expression darkened with every passing second.
His secrets were being revealed one by one, and the fact that Nexus Energy was directly able to negate the overwhelming consciousness descending onto him just made him appear even more mysterious.
It's over!
This Immortal Lady is going to dissect him now!
"I knew you were not ordinary from the first time I saw you, when you almost got hit by the truck. You clearly weren't an evolver back then, yet last week you still burst out with the power of an evolver despite being a complete mortal. That is simply impossible." The Immortal Lady spoke as she closely examined Grey, her tone calm but carrying the authority of one who had witnessed countless eras. "Now I can't probe you either. I highly doubt there are even many beings in this entire universe who can escape my perception."
"If you're so powerful, then how did you reach this state?" Grey asked curiously. His Defier of Heavenly Logic was working, and through it, he knew she was in a weakened state, relying on Evan's existence to cling onto the world.
Hearing this, a faintly bitter smile appeared on the Immortal Lady's face. "That is of no importance."
"What's important is you." The Immortal Lady said, her eyes shimmering faintly. "Just what are you?"
"You no longer feel like a human." The Immortal Lady said as she closely examined Grey. "You do not give off the aura of a mortal anymore. Something greater… huh… could it be…?"
Then she immediately shook her head. "No, such a thing cannot occur so easily."
"Huh?" Grey was even more confused seeing her talk to herself.
"Forget it. You do not intend to reveal anything to me — I can already tell." The Immortal Lady said after returning to her resting place in a graceful flicker of light. "I am certain you are hiding something immense, and it most definitely does not originate from Blue Star."
"Senior, are you not from Blue Star? Are you from outer space?" Grey asked cautiously.
The answer was pretty clear to him. Someone like her, who was branded as a powerful being by his ability, was definitely not something a small planet like Blue Star could handle.
"Of course not." The Immortal Lady snorted lightly, though even her disdain carried elegance. "This tiny level 0 planet cannot even give birth to a being such as I."
"Wait, how do you know about outer space?" The Immortal Lady grew suspicious, her gaze sharpening. "It is clear that the people of this backwater planet know nothing of what lies beyond the sky."
"Are you someone who descended into this world like me?" The Immortal Lady asked in a questioning tone, her voice laced with divine curiosity.
"No comment." Grey replied with some hesitation.
"But I know nothing of outer space," Grey added. "I just know that there is a bigger world out there in the universe with millions and millions of galaxies, countless planets and stars, and potentially life forms on them."
"…" The Immortal Lady fell silent, her eyes flickering like dying stars. "Did that AI Eterna tell you this?"
"No." Grey replied, though he was slightly shocked. "Senior, do you mean to say the Eterna System knows about outer space?"
Hearing this, the Immortal Lady laughed softly. "That thing itself came from outer space. What makes you think it does not know of the Endless Starry Sky beyond Blue Star's sky?"
"Then why is it hiding the fact that there is outer space?" Grey asked in confusion. "Also, why can't people go outside Blue Star? It's said that the sky is endless, that there's a thick ice wall covering the planet from all directions, and that this world is also flat. It doesn't make sense gravitationally for it to be flat."
"You sure know a lot about how planets work," the Immortal Lady said in a tone of mild curiosity. "But to answer your question, I have no idea either. I do not know why there is an endless sky or why people cannot leave this planet. Unless I personally ventured into the true world beyond and observed the walls and the sky, I would not be able to deduce a definitive answer. And that boy Evan is not strong enough to be concerning himself with the endless sky right now. Such thoughts would only invite calamity upon him."
"Does he know about outer space?" Grey inquired.
"No." The Immortal Lady said. "I never mentioned it to him. He is far too weak to comprehend the starry sky, either way."
"Then…" Grey pursed his lips. "Do you know what he is?"
"What he is?" The Immortal Lady had a confused expression on her face. "Isn't he just a normal, average human? He was probably the most untalented man on this planet until I found him and began to instruct him."
"…" Grey fell silent when he heard this.
Turns out, the scope of the Fate Holder wasn't just limited to Blue Star. A thread was connected to the Immortal Lady as well.
And even she was unaware of his destiny.
The protagonist of the universe — that was Evan Brown.