Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 617 - 232. Glorious Warrior

Chapter 617: 232. Glorious Warrior

It was over.

Li Aozi raised the Abyssal Red Blade in his hand. This weapon was, in a sense, the last trace that Li Deweidens left in the world.

The Sword of Destiny Awakening was buried beneath the snow, sinking into a deep slumber, probably not to awaken for decades.

For Zaniya, it seemed somewhat pitiable—having just emerged from loneliness not long ago, only to fall back into a solitary silence once more.

He ascended to the summit of the snow-capped mountain, calling upon the natural elements to bring him a bouquet of flowers, which he gently placed in front of the sword blade.

"Rest well for a while, Zaniya. You’ve had a hard time recently."

Being unable to use Zaniya for the foreseeable future indeed reduced his strength significantly.

The players who had reserved their spots by logging out sporadically were all logging in now. Li Aozi took a count and realized that of the 25 players he had brought back from the Azure Star, only 11 remained at this moment—a loss of well over half.

These players were not ordinary errand runners but one-in-a-thousand professional competitors who had accumulated their accounts since the internal testing phase. Not to mention anything else but their commemorative value alone, even if converted into actual currency, could not be considered small...

It was quite a loss.

Even so, Li Aozi’s gains from this trip were also exceptionally substantial.

"The consciousness of a planet thinks very simply. Having the players don the Implant Gear, it assumed that I was the only one dealing damage throughout the entire process, so their kill count also fell upon me."

Li Aozi had this figured out from the start. As long as he succeeded in the raid, his Legendary Degree on Baizhu Star couldn’t be lower than 7.

Now that it had reached the maximum value of 10, Li Aozi guessed it had something to do with Li Deweidens recognizing him as well.

Li Deweidens represented the ancient Falysia Civilization, which had protected this planet from society’s invasion for generations. It was so in the past, it is so in the present, and it will be so in the future. In a sense, the heroes of Falysia could also be regarded as part of the planet.

This was crucial—if not for Li Deweidens, Li Aozi probably couldn’t have reached 10 points.

"Now, I have gained the whole planet... With the loss of a few players at the Alpha Stage, thanks to Baizhu Star’s developed productivity, it’s easy to mass produce and supplement several hundred million."

Li Aozi’s coffers were nearly bare. These losses were akin to getting something for nothing.

Having completed the battle, Li Aozi let out a deep sigh of relief and directed the players to freely search and cleaanp the battlefield. The corpses of the fallen citizens of the Mechanical World still carried many high-value materials or weapons that could be salvaged. If he could find a few Holy Son Cores among the spoils, then Li Aozi could fully take advantage of his role as a middleman, reselling them at the Valkyrie Fortress.

The market price for a Holy Son Core usually ranged between 3,000 to 20,000 Ammonium Gold, varying based on its completeness and grade. Unfortunately, there was no pure mechanical civilization narrative in the Layer Abyss, otherwise, those Holy Son Cores would likely be snapped up as soon as they were listed.

While the players were merrily rolling dice and looting bodies, Li Aozi sought out the Fairy of the Lake, Sofia Malin, as there were important matters he needed to inquire about.

"Fairy Sofia Malin, I’m very grateful for your assistance—"

As Li Aozi began to speak, Sofia Malin suddenly cut him off:

"Now that everything is finished."

She then extended her hand, rubbing her fingertips together in a gesture that suggested she wanted money:

"Let’s talk about compensation for the damages to the Ghost Garden."

"...Damages?"

"My garden had a total of 230,000 Ghost Flowers, cultivated over more than three thousand years, and are of great value. Even if I were to wholesale just a few of them, they wouldn’t come cheap. Your little ones burned them all with a single fire. Considering your initial intention was to protect this planet, I have treated it as if you bought them all. I’ll give you a 20% discount. If we settle in Ammonium Gold, the total comes to about 69 million, and as a Zeta Rank, I also have an appearance fee..."

The Fairy who had been cool and distant so far, had her mind racing, rapidly laying out various expenses for Li Aozi. Her keenness for money made him feel estranged.

Li Aozi first appeared bewildered before remembering something. He turned his head toward Caramel Snail, who was merrily rummaging through the rubbish heap, completely unaware of the almost murderous gaze Li Aozi cast in its direction.

"...If you can’t pay, that’s also fine."

Seeing Li Aozi caught in a bind, the Fairy of the Lake simply proceeded:

"I can feel that this planet now truly sees you as its Sovereign. So—let me lease the Heroes of Falysia’s graveyard area and that piece of hillside for the time being, just another 2000 years will do."

"If I may ask, are you a believer of Redd Gold?"

"Not really. But I’ve learned some of his techniques."

Li Aozi quickly calculated in his head. It was clearly not cost-effective for him to pay the money immediately.

After all, what the Fairy of the Lake wanted was merely a peaceful area, free from pollution. That location, being close to Newbie Village, might come in handy in case of a crisis, potentially allowing him to leverage the power of this Zeta Rank fighter for free.

In that case, he might actually come out ahead.

"Alright, let’s do as you say," Li Aozi made a show of begrudgingly agreeing. "I just hope you will treat this land and forest well, protecting the ecological environment of that area..."

Sofia Malin gave him a glance:

"Excuse my bluntness, but your little ones tearing up the land, killing birds, chopping down goblins, indiscriminately mining, and seizing underground caves — that’s what I call environmental destruction."

"How can that be called destruction? We’re bringing them civilization!" Li Aozi said with a thick face.

"Then, about you carelessly stepping into my garden and leaving your weapon there, how about you pay a storage fee in a civilized manner too..."

"I don’t think I’m quite that civilized."

After some light-hearted banter, Li Aozi got a clear sense of the Fairy of the Lake’s personality.

Even though she seemed half-awake and aloof most of the time, her mind was actually very sharp, especially when it came to calculations. Her skills were exquisite; if she were on Azure Star, she’d at least be a certified accountant.

Luckily, Li Aozi’s Charm Attribute was high enough, and the fairy had a rather good impression of him. Once they became more familiar, Li Aozi seized the opportunity to ask:

"Sofia Fairy, there’s something I’d like to ask you."

Sofia Malin spoke in a measured tone:

"If it’s to seek knowledge, I guess you, empty-headed as you are, won’t be able to learn much, so let’s save the effort."

[Fuck, sister, you’re a fairy, you’ve even become a spectre, why do you care so much about money? You didn’t die poor, did you?]

Despite his internal grumbling, Li Aozi still asked:

"I want to ask about Leoz. You’ve been around longer than Li Deweidens, so you must know quite a bit, right?"

"Leoz...?" Sofia pondered for a moment before nodding, "I do know something about that, having lived in the era of Leoz. Nevertheless, even I have only heard about Their deeds through stories and rumors. Which aspect are you interested in?"

A list of options suddenly popped up in front of Li Aozi:

A. Ask her who exactly is Leoz?

B. Ask her what Leoz has done?

C. Ask her how Leoz fell?

D. Want a pack of Soul Cards? (Click here to jump to the Mall and build your deck)

E. Mock her

[The System’s listing these options seems to indicate that’s all Sofia knows.]

Li Aozi smirked and asked:

"...Who exactly is Leoz?"

"They are one of the Outer Abyss Primordial Gods, an Executer of the Will of the Dominator Mophid, the ruler of Haines, and the founder of the Pantheon. Their Divine Right includes ’reality,’ ’existence,’ ’materialization,’ ’comprehension,’ among other mandates. Their deity name is ’Leoz,’ and they also hold the mandate of Mophid, making Them one of the deities closest to the System Main God of the Dominators, with no equal."

Sofia Malin explained in great detail. After a moment’s thought, she added:

"Like other deities, Leoz also had Their Followers, but for some reason, the number of Leoz’s Followers was very limited, almost completely overlapping with Their Favored Clan."

"Even in the Beyond the Abyss, the power of deities does not come from their Followers, but the number of Followers can serve as a reliance for deities to control reality. And Leoz, being the master of reality itself, wasn’t very concerned with Followers."

"Although They personally weren’t keen on expanding Their followers, They would distribute resources to more elite deities. For example, the Goddess of Truth Charlgarnia was one of Their most capable assistants. At the peak of her time, Charlgarnia had nearly two-thirds of Haines’s followers, unmatched in prominence. Other deities also received considerable aid from Leoz."

"However, despite Leoz’s generous distribution of resources, the Pantheon was extremely dissatisfied with Leoz. Myths often feature deities who see Leoz as autocratic, monopolizing mandates, a dominator aspiring to absolute power, leading to no small number of rebellious deities."

Li Aozi pondered and continued to inquire:

"You mentioned that Leoz’s Followers and their Favored Clan are the same; do you know anything about these individuals?"

"About that, I’m quite clear. In the legends of Haines, although Leoz rarely appeared in the world, each descent would lead to a shift in civilization and historical changes. In the war against the ’Society’ siege, aside from the Pantheon warriors, it was Leoz’s Favored Clan who contributed the most. They were Leoz’s only Favored Clan, the only God Embracers, and the only Followers, the truly loyal heroes of salvation."

Sofia Malin became animated and highly complimentary when she mentioned these, implying that she might have actually witnessed the era when Leoz’s Favored Clan saved the world.

"Do those Followers and Favored Clan members have any names?" Li Aozi asked curiously.

"Of course, they do. Although they are few and arrogant, once you understand them, you’ll see how fervent and purely powerful they are."

Praising them, Sofia Malin revealed the names of those warriors bathed in glory:

"They are called... the ’Meteor Fall Masters’."