Chapter 52: To the Limit!
The party ended in a splash of awkwardness.
No one made an effort to reach out to anyone.
Night Star Lan wanted nothing more than to snuggle up to Loti Shana, but with so many outsiders around, that would really ruin her majestic vibe. Better to wait for a no-people scenario for some quality bonding time.
The only one really trying to stir up the pot was Kuro, enthusiastically encouraging the First Generation to introduce themselves, which led to some noise—but not the fun, boisterous kind.
Kuro even managed to get a few First Generation members chatting. Of course, it was all thanks to Hilo’s snarky comments, and Loti Shana displayed her royal demeanor, appearing calm on the surface but with a tone dripping in sarcasm.
Night Star Lan was tempted to document this entertaining scene for posterity.
The other members of the First Generation were merely there to enjoy the show.
From the East, Si Ma Yi Nan, Shen Tu Xiu Ming, and Wen Ren Zuo formed a little clique—clearly, they had known each other long enough to be comfortable.
So it looked like the divisions at this gathering were surprisingly clear.
We had the snarky comeback crew: Charlize, Hilo, Oya, and Loti Shana.
The familiar faces team: Si Ma Yi Nan, Shen Tu Xiu Ming, and Wen Ren Zuo.
The gossiping squad: Lanber and William Moore.
And finally, the cozy cuddle club: Night Star Lan and Luo Xi!
As for Kuro? Just an overenthusiastic weirdo with no sense of the atmosphere.
The gathering wrapped up quickly—sticking around any longer would have risked more awkwardness.
In the end, only Night Star Lan was enjoying the feast; the others barely touched the food.
“Time to head home!” Kuro announced before bolting off to find more fun.
That left just Night Star Lan and Luo Xi.
Night Star Lan couldn’t help but voice her thoughts.
“Kuro’s ideas are really something else. Does bringing the First Generation together really make them friends?”
She seriously suspected Kuro was just stirring the pot and making Hilo and the others’ rivalries even worse.
By now, after all the self-introductions, the First Generation was a bit more familiar with each other—mystery, poof, gone!
In this situation, things were only bound to get messier.
Kuro wasn’t stopping the infighting among the First Generation; if anything, he was encouraging it.
Plus, they all had overwhelmingly powerful abilities—talk about a disaster waiting to happen.
Night Star Lan cast those thoughts aside and zoomed forward in time.
Sure enough, after Hilo and the gang returned, they immediately started plotting against each other.
Loti Shana’s kingdom kept getting targeted in trade and other aspects.
Total blockade on outside inputs.
Clearly, this was Hilo and Oya’s crafty plan.
But Loti Shana didn’t care; she embraced self-sufficiency and became completely independent of outside resources.
As tensions escalated, Charlize was silent for ages, and war was once again on the horizon.
Six months flew by.
With the passage of time, Loti Shana didn’t have it easy; she found herself stumbling against Hilo and Oya’s tactics, and the war was pretty much at a standstill.
During this time, Kuro repeatedly held parties, occasionally gathering the nine members of the First Generation, seemingly for his own amusement.
After several meetings, these folks were slowly building some “bonafide friendships.”
Night Star Lan felt like her inner self was shutting down.
These guys couldn’t stand each other during the Star Eclipses, and their human-era relationships were no better.
Only Si Ma Yi Nan, Shen Tu Xiu Ming, and Wen Ren Zuo seemed to be chatting cheerfully; the others? Not so much.
One day.
Night Star Lan leaned against Luo Xi, processing the recent events.
“Hey… Luo Xi, have you felt yourself getting stronger lately? Like going from almighty to even more almighty?”
“Sure, there’s been some improvement, but it means nothing to me.”
With Kuro and Bai being the unstoppable forces of nature, no threats loomed over them.
Even if they jumped straight into a tech advanced modern era, no biggie.
Night Star Lan pondered for a moment.
“Looks like Kuro’s actions are paying off.”
By gathering the nine First Generation members and imparting power to them, he influenced the world, and in return, they evolved. Quite the feedback loop.
But Kuro didn’t seem to mind the power boost—he was just all about the chaos, and his way of expressing enthusiasm for the world was utterly baffling.
Since it had come to this, the truth couldn’t be far, could it?
Anxiety crept into Night Star Lan.
Tick-tock, tick-tock.
Time passed again.
Who knew how long had gone?
Night Star Lan looked at the screen conjured by Luo Xi, revealing the current states of the various First Generation members.
“Just as I suspected; no matter how glorious the beginning, it always plummets to ruin.”
Charlize was now controlling the dream world, probing the depths of human nature, manually shifting people’s dreams into nightmares, leaving them wakeful in panic.
While deeply analyzing humanity, he was slowly losing his own—ironically, the more he dissected human nature, the more he disregarded its limits.
Charlize examined countless individuals’ essence but forgot his own.
Every time he delved into human nature, it was as if he placed himself in a non-human mindset.
He even frequently channeled the unstable Star Eclipses Power.
He had ceased to be human.
Hilo was no different.
His commercial empire crumbled others’ economies.
Oya’s alliance plans had flopped, with many neighboring nations being gobbled up by Loti Shana.
Loti Shana’s expansion caused many to be displaced, creating two contrasting extremes between the domestic and international scenarios.
Labeled as a warmongering tyrant, he could only spawn suffering through war.
William Moore’s tragic tales also left considerable ripples on society.
After all, ideas are a powerful tool for controlling the masses.
William Moore’s stories were thought-provoking, brimming with negative messages, easily leading people to pessimism.
By now, far too many had succumbed to the influence of his tragic tales, leading them to despair and nihilism—suicides were on the rise, igniting one real-life tragedy after another.
Lanber’s enthusiasm to traverse the world had dwindled, morality dipped, and various horrors erupted across the globe like urban legends.
Such immense power alters humanity.
Ahead-of-the-curve powers can even incite calamities.
Classic case studies right here.
The influences brought by Si Ma Yi Nan, Shen Tu Xiu Ming, and Wen Ren Zuo from the East seemed to worsen continuously.
Night Star Lan felt a change in the air.
The sky felt unusually oppressive these days; the sun hadn’t peeked out in ages.
“Is it coming?”
Night Star Lan couldn’t help but swallow, her heart racing.
Luo Xi finally spoke.
“It’s at its limit.”
Rumble!!
Thunder rolled through the heavens.
Even the secluded paradise felt dimmer.
Dark clouds loomed oppressively.
Night Star Lan was instantly smothered by an immense pressure.
She had long wondered.
Where exactly did Kuro and Bai come from?
What was the catalyst for their existence?
And what force could render them dormant and weakened?
Now, those mysteries were finally on the verge of unraveling.
