Above The Sky
Chapter 403 - 403 374 Prophet Moment's Notice 13

403: Chapter 374 Prophet: Moment’s Notice (1/3) 403: Chapter 374 Prophet: Moment’s Notice (1/3) Prophets can’t foresee prophets… This is a common notion on the Terra Continent about the ‘Prophet Psychic’ that exists only in legend.

Indeed, that was the case: even the Huai Guang Church’s Book of Prophecies couldn’t foresee the future of Ian, only the potential of the Worm Nest.

But this inability to predict wasn’t absolute, just as Ian had been able by foreseeing his younger brother’s future, he could in turn, correct his own actions.

The Huai Guang Church’s Book of Prophecies could also keenly sense the anomaly of the Worm Nest; even if they didn’t know how much harm Ian combined with the Worm Nest’s ‘Dao Path of the Swarm’ would cause, they could indeed know ‘there’s a disaster here that needs to be guarded against.’

Ian once communicated with the White Mist Bishop and learned, tangentially, that after the bishop’s death in the South Sea Labyrinth, a Third Energy Level Archbishop of the Great Flame would deploy in Aether Armament.

Viscount Grant of the Second Energy Level, with a half-functional Aether Armament, could dominate the Great Redwood Forest Sea and confront the Redwood Natives, who had many Second Level Totem Spirits, and even when multiple nations’ fleets arrived later, they dared not cross the boundary and intrude into the South Sea Labyrinth.

If the First Energy Level is the threshold that elevates one into the extraordinary, then the Second Energy Level, is the ability for a Sublimator to confront an army with their own power.

What kind of power then, does the Third Energy Level hold?

The narrative of the White Mist Bishop was actually quite straightforward.

“To completely exterminate the Worm Nest, the Archbishop of the Great Flame would consider destroying all energy-power modules of the South Sea Great Labyrinth and use the residual heat of the energy group to thoroughly clean the surrounding sea area.”

To put it simply, it’s about detonating the twelve giant fusion Furnace Cores of the relic cluster, then using their energy to create a super-size storm to wash the surrounding sea area clean.

Setting aside whether the other party could achieve this, at least Ian was sure, if faced with such a level of destruction, he definitely wouldn’t survive.

The Worm Nest transformed Ian himself might have foreseen this point, which is why he didn’t kill the White Mist Bishop on that path of fate, but instead fabricated the fact that he himself had died.

Gathering his thoughts back, Ian had already arrived at the equipment in Baron Leyan’s laboratory, beginning to prepare for the examination and appraisal of the ‘Crystal Skull.’

Without the need for Foresight View, merely relying on his spirit sensing which had been upgraded a few times, Ian could detect a very solid ‘spirit frequency’ that seemed to be engraved within this Crystal Skull.

It was a specific algorithm, a structure of thought.

In other words, it could even be considered an incarnated soul.

“I can’t guarantee the accuracy of the results, it might even be just a vague premonition.”

Ian activated his Spirit Energy and the Silver Chip, a silver-cyan light flowing in his eyes as he operated the manifesting device, saying to Baron Leyan who sat waiting for the result, “It is too intricate, although its absolute power level isn’t high, it truly is a treasure bestowed by the heavens, I can only identify some of its external functionalities, the essence, even a master would find it vexing.”

“Yes, yes.”

And the young noble watched intently at the Crystal Skull with his blue-gray eyes, responding with a calm voice, “I certainly understand that, I merely want to know what it looks like in the eyes of a Spirit Energy User…”

— It’s almost like a dream-like illusory thing.

Ian neither immediately used the Silver Chip for the result, he tried as much as possible to use his real alchemy knowledge to appraise this ancient artifact of the Mountain People.

— It’s fascinating.

The Crystal Skull was without a doubt a physical existence, but in reality, it was much lighter than imagined.

It wasn’t actually crystal, but a type of ‘Aether Substance’ similar to Elemental Crystals, in other words, its physical texture might just be a kind of energy field.

A powerful prophet.

This was Ian’s assessment.

Although Foresight View couldn’t peer into the true nature of the skull, Spirit Energy in itself wouldn’t overlook it; the youth sensed an almost but not quite similar power within the skull.

If Ian’s Spirit Energy was more about peering into the directions of the future, predicting which direction a river would flow and knowing its speed and force,

Then, the former owner of this Crystal Skull, that powerful prophet, could pinpoint a specific ‘moment.’

Whether it’s the past or future, this prophet knew all the details of the ‘moment’ he/she had foreseen.

For instance, continuing with the example of the Worm Nest—Ian knew that the future of the Worm Nest was golden; the Huai Guang Book of Prophecies knew that there would be a great catastrophe at this place, and the carrier of the catastrophe was the Worm Nest; the Prophet represented by the Crystal Skull neither knew the future of the Worm Nest nor what catastrophe might occur, but he could understand the Worm Nest even better than it understood itself.

Everything presenting before his eyes was like a frozen chessboard laid out in front of him.

He could know the details of everything on this chessboard.

However, beyond this moment, he wouldn’t know anything.

It was the resonance between Prophets, something that couldn’t be mentioned to Baron Leyan, so Ian took a deep breath, placing the skull into a suspended vessel.

He observed its pure material world influence within an environment of pristine Origin Quality, and peeked once more, seeking the details behind the Aetherized Crystal Skull.

…This skull was a vessel of inheritance, or rather, the skull was just a carrier; the key was the Aetherized Origin Structure and the Spirit Substance Structure within the skull.

It could allow a Spirit Energy User, or a person with Spirit Energy, to briefly borrow the partial strength of that departed Prophet, peeking into a specific ‘scene’ of a particular moment…

exactly which moment varied from person to person, the Prophets of the past couldn’t control it, nor could those of later generations, it was a kind of Chaos Algorithm, the outcome of which Ian couldn’t determine.

The skull was like a child—and not to say that the Prophet of that time was a child—rather, it had been inherited through many generations, and the last inheritor was a child.

“Spirit Energy inheritance…”

Ian murmured softly, with a volume just enough for Baron Leyan to hear, which immediately brightened the latter’s eyes, while he continued with the appraisal.

Perhaps, the ‘Huai Guang Book of Prophecies’ of the Huai Guang Church was such a type of inheritance?

Ensuring the abilities of the Prophet could be preserved to guide the path of those who came after.

It was just more mature and reliable than the treasures of the Mountain People.

—Speaking of which, this skull related to the Prophet was a heritage treasure of the Mountain People…

wasn’t this precisely what Anfa was most interested in?

What a pity he left too soon…

no, fortunately he ran fast.

Ian shook his head slightly, retracting his thoughts that had expanded due to sensing Spirit Energy.

His thoughts were already beginning to get muddled; it was almost time to stop since the power contained within the Crystal Skull was more complex and profound than he had thought.

At his current level, if he were not a Prophet as well, this would already be his limit.

But Ian thought of those blue mists he saw in Leyan Castle, those childlike ‘Sublimators’.

If those children were not Sublimators, but Spirit Energy Users instead…

Recalling his thoughts once again, Ian focused his attention and began having the Silver Chip scan.

Then a dense array of text emerged.

[Skull of Momentary Insignificance]

[Second Energy Level·Aetherization·Foundation·Inedible]

[A Grand Prophet, leading her tribe out from the ruin of the wilderness toward the end of her life, agonized that her descendants would be destroyed by one of the thousands of terrifying natural disasters she had foreseen, hence she burned her soul and Heart Light Body before death, coalescing into an Aether Crystal Skull, a tangible ‘Echo’]

[As long as a life-form with Spirit Energy Potential uses its Spirit Energy to communicate with this skull for over an hour, attempting to resonate their own thoughts with the Prophet’s ‘Echo’, they can temporarily use their own soul to manifest the Prophet’ soul, thereby using the Prophet’s Spirit Energy ‘Moment of Insignificance’]

[Warning: The more times it is used, the higher the tendency for Echo Assimilation; there is a certain probability of being assimilated by the Prophet’s Echo and a chance of being assimilated by the prophesied target’s Echo]

[Due to multiple generations of inheritance and excessive depletion, the ability of the Skull of Momentary Insignificance has declined]

[Contains Primordial Essence: 2155.9632 Spirit State Units]

[…]

Wait…

Echo?