Caelus finally sat upon the barrier, looking more relaxed as his tail kept moving side to side, while stretching out.
"I do need a bit more resources, but it’ll take a bit of effort... Teleportation technically allows me to get one of the ingredients I need mixed with the pill-"
"You don’t need to give anything to mix with the pill, you just have to put it into it, and it’ll throw it out, so I might just point it towards you so you can catch."
"Seriously? Nothing else? Well, guess I underestimated these Artifacts."
A soft laugh from him. "Well, I wouldn’t have really underestimated something with Creation in its name. From how people act, I doubt anyone would actually name it that without actually meaning it."
"See, maybe now that’d be the case, but way before people used to use the names Godly, Divine, Heavenly, and Demonic, it’s called the Golden Age for almost everything... Except how they name things."
"...Ah, well, maybe I’m lucky I didn’t have to deal with that." He looked up a bit. "I wouldn’t last a day there without laughing at least five times from a single name... Though I think it’s time we actually, you know, upgrade the pill?"
"Oops, oh yeah, sorry about that, alright." Nyx took it out, glowing dimly, a platinum color with clouds orbiting it.
[Peak Rank Sky Grade Tribulation Transcendence Pill, Will use up 80% of the Creation Essence in the Vase due to its Rank.]
"Well, at least I save some energy."
As the pill was put inside the Vase, Caelus let go of it, letting it float ahead a bit, especially since it was an incredibly powerful pill and he didn’t want to get hurt by it.
The Vase shook as it went from a second of plain, empty space with the occasional dots for stars, to instantly, blinding light. Even with his eyes cycled through to Infrared or UV, it was still blinding. From the looks of it, Nyx was keeping up the barrier because if she wasn’t, he’d be dead already. Suddenly, the colors went beyond what normal vision could see; they went beyond violet. Sharp. It almost felt painful to his eyes, had he not been protecting them with Mana.
After a few minutes, the color faded, like a fire dying, but in reverse, from violet to blue, finally becoming red and dissipating. Once it finished, Caelus blinked rapidly, shaking his head as his tail was in distress. He held the Vase that the pill flew out of, which Nyx grabbed. Looking at Caelus, she simply stared, blinking once every few minutes. The silence was... incredibly awkward.
"I should’ve probably warned you it was bright-"
"NO SHIT, Okay, that hurt like hell, what even was that?"
"Something from two of the... I guess black holes? When they form, well, for this, it didn’t actually do that; it’s just the energy output from it as a beam, or something close to that. I’m not very sure, honestly. Not my problem unless it goes for Gaia."
"...Ah, yes, such a normal occasion. Wait, did you just say, Gaia?"
"Yeah? The planet we’re from, that one, you know, giant Star, third planet from Etasci, did you- not know that?" She blinked, confused why he was asking that. "Just giving extra details so you can remember."
"...Haven’t heard that word. Okay, well, I don’t really care much for that name, but... What does it mean?"
"Ah, it means Intelligibility, or well, the Intelligibility of the World, which, if it’s easier to understand, means the Known world."
"...Could’ve just said known world or something, but the other context is fine." He finally got up. "So... Are we going now, or are you going to eat that?"
"Eat it here, I need that Star anyways... But I guess I can take you back." Nyx looked at him as she held the pill, moving it a bit. She gave him a view of it, a bright color, beyond violet. Visible to him, he shook his head a little.
"I’m not used to seeing colors like that." Blinking, only to remember the sky from... Gaia. A permanent red-orange color, along with something he glossed over, though it was weird he did... There were three moons, with one permanently facing towards the planet.
"So... You wanna see me reach the next realm or go back to Gaia with your little Wife?" She tilted her head.
"I’ll just go back, I feel like it’d be a bad idea watching someone already powerful get more powerful. It’d probably hurt like hell just being in the crossfire." Caelus’s voice softened.
"Fair enough. Well, time to go back then." Her hand moved, grabbing Caelus’s side like a hug; in an instant, they moved through space, reaching Gaia.
Caelus put his feet upon the dirt pathway, near the Marou Dynasty, and farther from the Holy Tianyun Empire. He could see that this place was far more advanced, well, probably, seeing as they had stronger material and their roads looked like they were made of Asphalt.
The air also felt different, a little heavier, yet he didn’t want to go to this Empire, at least for right now; he could see what happens here after he’s had more time to settle in.
"...Two days till Winter. I guess I should cultivate faster then, if it slows me down. At least I’ll be able to train with Tellus and let her adapt to me a little."
As Nyx vanished, so did Caelus, reaching the Empire at top speed and suppressing the shockwave, so there was no damage. Each kilometer would’ve destroyed multiple city blocks, at least fifty.
Stopping at the place Tellus usually eats at, Caelus looked around, not seeing her. He turned towards where she lived, his Infrared Vision showing no one was inside, so somewhere else, maybe a meeting.
He remembered she was going to meet with the Princess and Emperor, probably not right then, so it could’ve been now. "Might as well be sure." His Language switched to Russian.
Disappearing Caelus swiftly reached the other side of the Empire, back to the place he saw Nyx and that Noble earlier... He couldn’t care less about the Noble, though.
Again using his Infrared Vision, he noticed ten heat signatures, one he recognized as Elysia, the other as Tellus and Adrastia, two were probably their parents, and one should be the Emperor. And he assumed the rest were Guards.
Turning away, Caelus looked up, noticing it was early in the day, when earlier it was Nighttime, so it’d been a long time. Reaching near the Entrance, Caelus looked ahead and saw Kiana standing there, blocking the Entrance. He could go ask her if Tellus was with Elysia. But he didn’t worry about it much.
Since he wasn’t going to be able to meet with Tellus, he thought of what else he could do. "...Maybe I could go to the arena area where I met Arjuna, it could be fun, but I might be a little too strong for that."
"Oh, look who’s in the wrong area." A familiar voice, faintly at least.
Caelus looked to the side, seeing Anastasia from the Auction. He had to dig up his memory a bit because he had memorized everyone he knew by name, at least. "Anastasia, is it?"
"Fun to see how she might react, some random dragon knowing her name might confuse her."
"Hm-" silence that lasted longer than usual. "How might you know that name?" A smile crept on her face.
"Not as shocked as normal, seems like she isn’t like others."
"Just from that short kid you met, I was getting information on nobles from this Empire like I did with the Marou Dynasty." His eyes focused on the lady, checking her Cultivation Realm. She was the same as him, just a single stage above.
"Might as well change how they think of dragons to be smarter. Why should anyone know what I actually do?"
"Well then, I don’t think I’ve seen you before, but I’ve heard of you, especially from the other nobles and the Church talking about you."
"I must say, you have quite a name... But the Church is incredibly wary... But I’d assume you can tell, no?"
"Why should I answer that? You should be able to figure out if I do or don’t yourself, can’t you tell from my expression or my tail?"
"She seems different from other nobles, but I shouldn’t get hasty."
"Well, I guess I’ll meet you later then, unless you wish to get something from me. It’s a Pleasure to meet you...?"
"Caelus. That’s my name."
"Well then, Caelus, a fitting name for a creature which flies, I am Duchess Anastasia. I shall see you later. I’ve got something to do, though I’d stay longer if I were able." A single moment as she vanished, faster than he could even reply.
"...Did I just- Dammit, I should’ve been a bit more careful with someone with that high of a status- No wait, I’m a lot more Casual with Elysia."
Not even a tenth of a second passed while he thought; people had barely even moved.
"...Why is everything slower?" A drop of water from a cup, hanging in the air, barely even moving, if at all. Caelus was confused. Walking over to it, he looked at the people, waving at them, but they did not react at all. Continuing on, he noticed a few people moving about much more, and some just walking by, without a care in the world.
"Hey Aphro, do you know what’s going on?"
[Your body can react and fire signals as fast as you move and react now, so everything seems slower. Of course, you can slow it down, but this is the natural speed, about fifty times faster than Sound.]
"Huh, I didn’t expect it to be that big of a gap."
Caelus paused for a moment. He stared at the merchant’s hand nearby, his hand suspended mid-movement, fingers curled around nothing.
Two kids running, one about to laugh and sneeze at the same time, her teeth showing, while the other is stumbling... A man nearby pouring tea, the liquid a frozen arc, with light that hadn’t finished arriving.
...He stopped.
It wasn’t the silence that got to him; he’d dealt with it before, during meditation for Tribulation, the silence in Tianyun Peak, the times between Tribulation as well, where everything went white. Those were the ones he chose.
This was different. The silence of being the only thing moving in a world that didn’t know he was here.
And he didn’t feel powerful for the first time... And it felt familiar, in his aunt’s apartment, where it sounded like this when he’d leave for class early, the streets before the city woke up. Too early for anyone, headphones in, watching his breath fog in the air, cold enough to crack teeth.
"...I liked it, I said I did."
Awake when everyone slept, being ahead... He’d been nineteen, he was still nineteen, stronger, faster, he could theoretically destroy the entire place he used to live in, one go, one Burning Temptation was all it would take... He had a foundation that Cultivators older than him couldn’t replicate; he could see beyond what humans could see.
And he still didn’t finish what he wanted to in his old life, still unfinished.
"Ha... Such a stupid thought, that’s nothing compared to Tribulation or the Undead Invasions, or even the Assassination Attempts... Or the Church wanting me gone."
Akemi would’ve called it avoidance, focusing on the small things so the big thing couldn’t land...
"...But it had landed, I died, a car going ridiculously high above the speed limit, basically double."
He never sat with the nothing, not once, in forty days of cultivation, of fighting, of even learning a world that ran on energy, violence, and belief. Not once had he stopped to let himself feel the gap between a crosswalk and a dirt path.
"...Between me checking the phone and now me watching a droplet of water."
Finally, the droplet landed, and people moved another inch. Time didn’t stop; obviously, he was just reacting way too fast.