"I'm going to need to borrow that self-regeneration skill of yours; this would be quite painful without it."
I activate my buff and give him access to this mythic-grade skill. Then the imagery of Trax losing control of his body and power flashes through my mind as I watch the red gem float above Ember's hand.
"Is this really safe to do here...?"
The gem slowly spins above his palm, and I feel small portions of his true mana control vibrate out from his barrier the closer it falls toward him.
"-And what about concealing our presence? If you're about to do what I think, won't this leave us without any way of hiding our true power once we return?"
The ripples get more intense, and waves of dense mana and even Ember's soul energy start to become visible to my senses as he brings the gem even closer while responding.
"Possibly. However, possibly not. Absorbing a single stone will decay our barriers, but we can conceal our mana control with Qi from your new friends."
He points to the three sleeping teammates on the cliffside nearby, then looks up toward the sky and continues.
"Hey—this is a lot to drop on me all at once... Its creator? Whatever made this realm is still here...? And the A-Class Hunters at the Association can wield divine energy? Is that why they didn't practically explode from eating those stones?"
"Right... eating those fragments to power the rift wasn't necessary, it was just a show."
Ember's gaze wanders the sky again, then comes back down to meet mine.
"As for if the creator is still here... I don't know. The construct patterns are familiar, but they're very old. We'll have to climb higher. I can't see the top yet. If you'd like to take a glimpse into the divine realm, follow my lead. I can't answer all your questions by simply explaining them; you'll have to see the truth for yourself."
He grins and drops the red core into his mouth.
It disappears, and I feel dense waves of energy hit my barrier while the same crimson light I witnessed in the fiery bird glows in his eyes.
An aura grows around his body, just the same as the flaming scavenger bird's did.
The vitals on my Rising Emperor's Domain interface are pretty interesting to watch.
His health bar slowly trickles down, then his mana starts to fall after as the self-regeneration skill kicks in and heals him slowly.
The red aura around him continues to expand, and I watch with curiosity for a full minute before the light begins to subside and the red glow from his eyes fades.
We're left both floating in the sky just as we were before, but now his limiter is completely gone and shattered. The only thing left blocking his mana control is a new barrier of pure Qi.
Other than the usage of mana from the use of self-regeneration, he's completely fine and unaltered.
While nothing seems to be wrong with him, the thought of breaking the limiter that kept those with soul energy awakened unaware of my power isn't a very logical move. The A-Class guards aren't what I'm worried about; it's more so about those yellow-golden eyes I felt peer down on me during my match, and the unknown of what else was inside the Apex Region's black box that I wasn't able to sense.
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He'd normally want to keep our presence completely hidden as well, but for whatever reason, the reward from using this energy right now highly outweighs the risks in his mind. I'm unsure what this reward may be, but It's clear there's only one way to find out.
I let out a sigh and let one of the red gems fall from my storage into my palm, letting extremely strong rippling waves of energy disrupt my limiter on contact. Then, I toss the crystal into my open mouth, swallow, and prepare for the worst.
For a split second, nothing happens.
Then, the sound of high-pitched bells ringing gets louder and louder in my ears while a strong wave-like pressure expands from my chest.
It's like a pair of dark sunglasses are forcefully pushed over my eyes at dusk, making it impossible to see the outlines of what I hardly even managed to conceptualize before.
My normal vision returns to me, leaving my hand to press against the stone wall of the mountain, and I can't make out the difference of this cliff to a normal rock I'd find out in the desert of Sector 2.
A shiver runs through my body, and I feel cold like I'm missing a part of myself. The only thing I can think of doing right now is immediately eating another red fragment to get the warm sensation I just felt back.
Just as I reach into my item storage to pull out another, Ember's voice brings me back to my senses.