Above The Sky
Chapter 625 - 625 594 The First Deceased Monarch 33

625: Chapter 594: The First Deceased Monarch (3/3) 625: Chapter 594: The First Deceased Monarch (3/3) When alone, Ian moved faster than when he was leading a team.

The Unyielding Fortress, the Fae, and the Deceased Monarchs…

Who could bear the power of the triple inheritance?

At this moment, the power he exhibited far surpassed everyone’s imagination—the defensive and siege capabilities of the Rock Cast Knight, the agility and swiftness of the Fae, and the terrifying lethal power of the Deceased Monarch—all phantasms and Magical Beasts that attempted to stop him were reduced to ashes.

With every step Ian took forward, rings of icy frost nova spread in all directions, directly destroying the weaker phantasms and freezing the slightly stronger ones in place before he slew them with his sword.

The Lost Souls’ power concentrated in his eyes, allowing him to directly see the veins of Subspace, as if he had a labyrinth map, able to freely choose his own path.

And with the blessing of the Prophet, Ian was simply making a beeline for his destination.

The research center of Duke of Solin’s personnel, which is also the eventual battlefield he foresaw.

Along the way, the powerful phantasms grew more numerous, a ceaseless tide of the Phantom Legion attempting to deplete his strength and hinder his advance—Ian could see that these phantasms seemed to have a mind of their own.

They firmly stood before Ian, like Warriors attempting to stop the advance of a Demon Lord.

—You shall not be allowed to affect our Deceased Monarch’s sacred vengeance!

He could faintly hear such beliefs from the hearts of these phantasms.

He didn’t care about this.

Everyone has their own beliefs and stance, and Ian never felt that he could obtain everyone’s approval.

Regardless, he always did what he chose to do.

With his right hand, Ian swung his sword, turning the silent ice into an arc of light like a new moon, slashing through all these ‘Warriors’ phantasms, while his left hand raised, causing Origin Quality to condense into a shield, blocking countless incoming arrows.

His advance was unstoppable; like a rock standing firm amidst the tide, all the phantasms attacking him were like some sort of poor illusion, even disintegrating into ash under his mere gaze.

Ian had thought that such an upstream advance would continue for quite some time until he reached his destination.

But then, he heard an empty, lonely voice.

[Let him come.]

This voice contained power identical to Ian’s, and the original Deceased Monarch had given a command, causing all the phantasms to cease their actions.

They watched Ian and then took steps back, retreating.

A path opened up before him.

Ian looked up, towards the direction from which the voice came.

The other party, as the original and the one who had held power for the longest time, seemed to have already been able to grasp some of the power of this Subspace Labyrinth, composed of the wails of countless sacrifices—at least he could not do something like shout across the subspace in the labyrinth.

In some sense, could this also be a kind of ‘Master of the Labyrinth’?

Perhaps so, yet he wasn’t particularly concerned about the command from the Deceased Monarch telling the phantasms to stop their attacks.

By now, even the phantasms and exobeasts of the Second Energy Level were nothing more than things he could dispatch with a single sword stroke.

He believed the other party had also realized this, hence letting him pass unhindered.

And just as he was approaching the end, Ian felt it again.

A strong ’emotion’ calling out for the power of ‘Retrospective Vision’.

Another person’s lifetime.

[I am the illegitimate son of a noble, my birth was an accident, and being unable to inherit the bloodline, I was a disgrace from the start, even needing to be ‘extinguished.’ However, my father, at his core, was not purely evil.

He concealed my existence from the Elder Council of the family but never acknowledged my identity.]

[My mother ran a small jewelry store, her profits subject to the whims of fate.

Originally from a well-off family, she broke ties with my grandparents for my sake, and if it were not for the sporadic child support from my father, I might not have grown up at all.]

[So I don’t really hate him.

Even though those damned nobles think they would never have offspring with ordinary people and never use contraception, at least being born is not a bad thing.]

[My mother always believed that I could make something of myself.

She secretly saved up a lot of money, hoping I could become a bachelor, preferably in the field of alchemy.

If I could make money in the future, maybe I could become a Sublimator.

By doing so, I could be recognized by my father’s family—although not as a direct line, becoming a side branch was highly possible.]

[Many side branches of great families came into being this way…

after all, if someone could become a Sublimator, the nobles were pleased to acknowledge them as such.]

[This was the simplest and quickest method for me to change my future, to alter my fate, and I had been working toward it all along.]

It was a somewhat hoarse voice that sounded quite gentle.

His voice was very calm, exuding an inherent resilience and optimism, as he quietly recounted his life: [I am a genius, really.

I’m truly smart, especially in the field of Bio-Alchemy.

I grasp concepts immediately, learn with ease, and my tutors highly endorsed me, even recommending me to study at Saint Rock Alchemy Academy.]

[Of course, I later found out that Saint Rock Alchemy Academy was not an academy for the direct lineage of the Duke, but one jointly funded with the Imperial Capital, so entering that academy meant I would never be valued by the Duke…

It seems I must have posed a threat to his children.]

[But I am still grateful to him for laying such a solid foundation for me.]

[At the academy, I performed well but was not at the top.

I had not been studying alchemy principles from a young age and didn’t have enough money for experiments, so I lagged behind the noble students by more than just a bit…

However, for some reason, a mysterious fund supported my studies and experiments.]

[The dean told me not to inquire who had provided it and to simply study with gratitude in my heart—I had my suspicions, but I still suppressed my excitement, focusing on building my foundation in the academy instead of recklessly trying to catch up with my classmates’ progress by conducting dangerous and expensive experiments.]

[I couldn’t let people down.

Neither my mother nor ‘that person.’]

[Ultimately, I graduated among the top ten of the academy, the only commoner to do so.]

[On the day of graduation, a mysterious silver-haired man invited me for tea.]

[The dean was also in the tea room, and from his humble expression, I knew the identity of the mysterious man…

Yes, the silver-blooded Sorin, the Night Arbiter, the ruler of the night sky…

Who else could it be if not the Duke himself?]

[Saint Rock Alchemy Academy indeed was not for the Duke’s direct lineage, but how could he overlook the talents within his own domain?]

[The Duke said that he saw great potential in me; he believed that my talent should not be wasted on just learning Potion Alchemy that could earn money…

He told me that I had the potential to change the world, that I had the ability.]

[I was very touched but also very insecure.

I told the Duke that I was just a commoner, without inherited knowledge or foundation, unworthy of such praise…

I simply did not inherit my father’s Sublimator bloodline.]

[The Duke told me that the blood of Sublimators indeed makes their descendants physically superior to others, but that does not change one’s character or the spark of intelligence in their mind.

There are plenty of foolish imbeciles among the nobility.

Of course, there are plenty among ordinary people as well, with nearly two billion people in The Empire, how could there be a shortage of idiots?]

[In short, the intelligence and foolishness of Humans do not create a significant difference in this world, he said.

Don’t take yourself too seriously or too lightly just because of a little boring blood.]

[He told me that all nobles are simply the descendants of ancestors who were smarter, more tactful, or just luckier than others, grasping high positions earlier—They concocted such a rubbish system to maintain their power, allowing their own families to remain firmly entrenched generation after generation.]

[The Duke said with a smile that he really had nothing to complain about, given that he was a Duke for generations, but even though that was the reality, I should not belittle myself because of such a stupid system.]

[He invited me to join his laboratory, where my intelligence could be fully utilized.]

[From that moment, I swore an oath to dedicate my life to serving only the Duke.]