Super Gene

He seemed to remember that when Li Keer was in the Very High, she frequently traveled to the core area. But Exquisite had told him that being in Outer Sky shut off his access to the core area. He thought she might have been telling the truth, since the many times he tried to access the core area had all ended in failure.

“There is a specific place in Outer Sky that you can go to that allows you to open the core hall door. But this is a place that not even students of the Very High can go to. If you have an urgent emergency that requires you to access the core area, perhaps I can help you.” Li Keer looked at Han Sen with curiosity. She was curious why Han Sen wanted to go to the core area so badly.

“I want to go to the core area to find a friend. Perhaps he has a way that I can win the silkworm fights,” Han Sen said.

Li Keer could sense that Han Sen wasn’t lying about his general reason for going to the core area. In regards to the friend he had mentioned, she could tell that was partly true, as well. As for the identity of this mysterious friend, she had no idea.

Han Sen had done his best not to think about it, but when he mentioned finding a friend, he hadn’t controlled his thoughts perfectly. That was unavoidable. But still, Han Sen did his best to keep his thoughts away from anything incriminating. And that was enough for Li Keer to be unable to tell the identity of the person he wished to see.

“Sure. I will look for a way. I will come back to you with an answer later. Mind you, this will be very tricky. There is every chance that this won’t work, so don’t get your hopes up.” Li Keer was shocked by how well Han Sen could clamp down on his thoughts, but she knew he wasn’t lying. Therefore, she set aside the idea of asking him again.

Han Sen waited half a day, but Li Keer didn’t return. In the meantime, Exquisite came to Underworld Lake.

Han Sen didn’t speak, but Exquisite could tell what he was thinking. She was surprised and she said, “Little Sister agreed to help you enter the core area?”

“She said that it might be difficult and it might not work.” Han Sen was worried Li Keer might have been away for so long because she had some bad news to deliver.

Exquisite laughed and said, “This is a complicated matter. According to the theory, there is only one place in which Outer Sky can allow access to the core area. But this place is forbidden by our people. Not only is it a restricted zone for outsiders, but even most of the Very High are forbidden to go there. Not many people can do what she is doing. Little Sister is one of the very few. If she wants to help you and your luck isn’t too bad, it might work.”

“What is this place that you’re talking about?” Han Sen asked with curiosity.

“I once told you that Outer Sky resides between the real world and the anti-material world. This place exists between those two realms. Because it connects those two opposing powers, everything here is very… strange. Connecting to the real world and opening a door to the core hall can be complicated.” Exquisite didn’t explain much beyond that. “Because the process can be dangerous, we forbid Very High students from entering the core hall. But Little Sister’s father is the guardian, and she is much loved. It shouldn’t be difficult for her to convince her father to give you a chance.”

“I see.” Now, Han Sen understood.

After waiting for another hour, Li Keer finally returned. She came bearing good news, which made Han Sen feel relieved.

Li Keer used space teleportation to guide him to their destination. After a few jumps, they reached a desert. That desert appeared endless. It must have been as big as a solar system.

Even with Han Sen’s eyesight, he couldn’t see the end of that desert. It was difficult to imagine how large it was.

As they stood in the desert, Li Keer suddenly shouted into the endless wastes. “Dad, I’ve brought him here! Can we go now?”

A crazy wind suddenly spawned in the quiet and dead desert. The raging wind threw yellow sand into the sky, then morphed to present the face of a Very High man.

“Remember, don’t go past the three lines,” shouted the Very High man. He looked like a sand god, and his voice sounded like thunder.

“I know. It doesn’t matter how many times you say it, I won’t forget and go beyond the three lines. We only want to go to the core area. That’s all,” Li Keer said nicely.

The sand deity-looking man shook his head. He couldn’t stop Li Keer from doing this. The wind blew and then the sand collapsed back onto the ground. The sand god disappeared, and silence returned to the desert.

“Let’s go,” Li Keer said. Then, she ventured forward into the big desert.

Han Sen followed her. Li Keer kept walking and said, “The area around here is unstable. Please don’t use space teleportation powers here. And don’t exert too much strength. Otherwise, you might find yourself being dragged into the anti-material world. If that happened, not even our leader could retrieve you.”

Han Sen nodded. Now he understood why Li Keer had to walk instead of just teleporting them forward.

The two of them walked through the desert. Sometimes, Han Sen noticed old, weird buildings leering out of the sand. There were ancient stone structures and really advanced metal buildings. There were even battleships and airships scattered here and there in the yellow sand. God only knew how long they had been there. Even the platinum, which should have been impervious to time, was rotten. When the wind blew, platinum boards broke loose and scattered like dust across the sand.

There was a statue that was 100 meters high, and there were the remains of thousands of beasts. There was a dead tree in the sand that looked like a real dragon. The whole huge desert felt very weird.

But there was no consistent style to the relics in the desert. They were obviously a mish-mash of random items stemming from a variety of different points across history. They seemed to have been tossed into the desert and left there like trash. The sight was disconcerting, somehow.

After reading Han Sen’s mind, Li Keer explained, “This is a crossroads between the real world and the anti-material world. There are always items from the real world or the anti-material that get lost, twisted, and thrown in here. Every now and again, powerful items end up in here. My dad once found the xenogeneic body of a butterfly class creature. But that was just a stroke of luck. Most of the things sent here are just useless trash.”

A loud boom interrupted Li Keer as she was speaking. It shook the two of them as if the sky had been cracked open. Then, Han Sen saw something very large emerge from a crack above them.

Han Sen stared up in shock. The head of a giant beast pushed its way through a gap in the twisted, crooked sky.

The beast’s head was silver, and it looked like some artwork made of precious metal. Three horns emerged from its face. It kind of looked like a triceratops, but it was much bigger than a triceratops. The head alone was ten meters long. Blood gushed from its mouth.

Boom!

The giant beast fell from the sky and landed in the desert in front of them. The impact of its body hitting the ground shook the sand like an earthquake.