Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 377 - 23. Cultivating Talent

Chapter 377: 23. Cultivating Talent

Silence.

Time passed by the minute in the silence. Atkez felt the air gradually taking on a mysterious aura. The carpet on the ground slowly rolled up, and the once warm and cozy interior gradually turned dark and damp. Invisible vortices rose from the abyss below, permeating into this universe, bit by bit consuming everything.

Atkez kept silent, but he clearly felt a buzzing sound by his ears.

He heard the electromagnetic waves bombarding planetary atmospheres, high-energy rays erupting and destroying civilizations one by one. The surging waves of increasing entropy continuously advanced, the drumming of collisions resonated, and the ignition and melding serenaded a prelude to the rebirth.

He heard the howls and laments from the lower arm of the Leo Minor Constellation when the first ape picked up a stone. Since then, the universe echoed with the symphony of guns and magic.

He heard the majestic epic come to an end, cold explosions reverberating above the ozone layer. The vacuum did not transmit sound; it only conveyed the embers of destruction.

When all this came to an end, Atkez only heard twisted white noise.

From the Starry Abyss, the never-ending twisted murmur.

In a trance, he felt his spiritual power bending under the pressure of the stars, his entire being captured by powerful gravity. A terrifying shock resonated within every cell of his body, spreading like an infectious disease, instantly overwhelming him.

Trembling, horror, shivering, delirium.

At that moment, Balkmon suddenly spoke:

"Damn, how could it be so devoid of human touch?"

His tone was filled with confusion and helplessness. As a result, the oppressive and distorted feeling in the air disappeared, and Atkez instantly sobered up. The clothes on his back were already drenched in cold sweat, and the spell being inscribed was quickly evaporated.

"Minister Balkmon..."

"He is not human. Even if he is a synthetic robot from the Night Butterfly, he wouldn’t be so cold and ruthless."

Balkmon looked down at the document in his hand, which contained an essay of less than ten thousand words.

Very ordinary, yet very terrifying.

The entire piece used the simplest and plainest writing. Everything was concise, and every word was just right.

But the terrifying thing was, even the most stirring words, when put together, only felt hollow.

Balkmon’s mood remained unsettled for a long time. He looked at the nebula outside the window and said in a deep voice:

"Atkez, do you know where the problem lies?"

Atkez replied:

"This is not something a human could write. The words have no trace of human warmth and emotion, but it is absolutely correct. Even a robot couldn’t be this correct."

"This is divinity," Balkmon said. "He possesses divinity. Divinity is above humanity, detached from humanity. Humans cannot have such feelings and such a high level of order—humans make mistakes, but deities do not. The only reason a deity makes a mistake is due to lack of power, not subjective errors."

Atkez said:

"Do you think this young man named Leoz, could be the same as the one in the myth..."

"There are too many people named Leoz. Even those who later ascended to godhood are not few," Balkmon shook his head. "Besides, even three-year-old children know that Leoz and the Sixth Lord God he pledged to, the Sovereign Will—Morphederia, were the most thoroughly dead ones."

"No matter what, we have to be cautious, Minister," Atkez reminded. "A young man with divinity is more worth noting than the offspring of deities—could it be possible that he is a spy sent by a narrative-level faction?"

After all, throughout the entire universe, there are few civilizations that can consistently acquire divinity. Coincidentally, in the Layer Abyss, narrative-level civilizations have such qualifications.

"...There are many narrative-level deities, but what’s the point?"

Balkmon fell silent:

"Narrative-level can indeed nurture deities, just as dragons can be raised as mounts, but would you let dragons fall into enemy hands casually?"

Atkez shook his head. "Certainly not. Our Crystal Tower civilization only has one high dragon race. There are many cheaper dragon beasts—even so, we wouldn’t dare release them."

"Even you, a mere academy regulator, understand this principle. Not to mention those old foxes from the narrative level."

Balkmon shook his head and said:

"Who would send a clearly unfeeling holder of divinity into an illegal civilization to infiltrate—it’s like a firefly in the night."

"But it also doesn’t rule out the possibility of deliberately using this thought to lower the suspicion of being a spy."

"You are right. I have little fondness for the narrative level. While they are overlords, they act without principle or bottom line. This possibility is not nonexistent—but we cannot let this young man slip by either."

Balkmon picked up the document and threw it on his desk:

"First, handle this essay confidentially and conceal the divinity problem... This kid shouldn’t enter the Temple. Given the possibility of being a narrative-level spy, it would be better to place him directly at the interstellar-level academy. This would reduce the sensitivity of our intelligence."

"That’s a good idea!"

Atkez’s eyes brightened:

"The Interstellar Academy consists of students from our allied illegal civilizations and lower planetary civilizations. Although their political status is high, their sensitivity isn’t as much. There won’t be any classified Magic Workshops or important magical research projects."

Balkmon’s approach surprised Atkez quite a bit—he originally thought this man would choose to eliminate or expel Leoz—after all, Balkmon had grudges with narrative-level civilizations, and his infamously bad temper had long been known throughout their civilization.