Endless Evolution: Last Star

Chapter 1526 1526: Conditions and the voice

When a Phantom first began his journey, he heard a mechanical voice as he absorbed genes, created new abilities, overcame barriers, and so on.

Gradually, each Phantom learned that the source of this voice was their Evolution Tree, which over time took on more and more human characteristics, from tone to personality.

This also happened with Adam's Evolution Tree, which had long ceased to be a mysterious force at the center of his inner space and had become his friend.

To some extent, the same was true of the Path Construct.

But when a Phantom became strong enough to travel to distant parts of the Tarnished Lands or other territories of comparable strength, he might encounter something new.

The Ancient Voice.

When Adam fought against Anelez and later against Erada, who intervened in their duel, he also heard the Ancient Voice for the first time. It acted as an invisible judge who set the rules and directed the proceedings.

On that day, the Ancient Voice intervened because Adam and Anelez used the Rule of Blood.

It was the Ancient Voice that forced Erada to fulfill Adam's wish and go to the library to read books. She would never have done this voluntarily, but her fear of punishment was much greater.

The Ancient Voice did not care who Erada was, except for the fact that she was the losing party in the deal. This meant that the Ancient Voice had to ensure that she acted according to the rules.

Sure, the Ancient Voice was not omnipotent. If a person was strong enough, they could ignore the Ancient Voice, although much depended on the original conditions.

If Adam had made a deal with a Second Rank Phantom, that Phantom could have ignored the Ancient Voice because he had enormous power over Adam. But if there had been two Second Rank Phantoms or Lords, that trick would not have worked.

Now, there was Adam's second encounter with the Ancient Voice, and it happened at the Primal Lands.

"Ancient Voice, huh..."

Adam muttered as a puzzled Alexia turned to him. She didn't know what he was talking about.

"Although, come to think of it, it's not surprising considering where we are."

"Ancient Voice? What's that?" Alexia frowned. "And why do you know about it and I don't?"

In response, Adam pointed to the blue fairy.

"Can you answer that question, or is it not within your remit?"

Strangely, the fairy trembled as the mechanical voice spoke again:

[I am the will of the ancient energy. That will be the best explanation for both of you.]

Alexia raised an eyebrow.

"First the ancient energy, then ancient flux, and now the ancient voice? What's next?"

The blue fairy said nothing, it just hovered in front of them and the gate.

"Tsk, open the gate!" Alexia said in a commanding tone.

[That is impossible until you fulfill the conditions. You are currently on the upper level of the Frost Oasis. If you want to proceed further, you must open the gate.]

Alexia frowned as she approached the blue fairy, which was actually just a cluster of energy and light, a simple shape chosen by the Ancient Voice in this territory.

When Adam fought against Anelez and Erada at the Rule of Blood, the Ancient Voice did not have any particular shape, it was just streams of wind, which was the most common case when the Ancient Voice had to intervene in events on the surface.

"What?" Alexia clenched her fist, preparing to strike the blue fairy.

Whooooosh.

She did it without hesitation, but her fist just passed through the fairy, only a slight tremor running along its edges.

"Hmm..." Adam rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I see. So, unlike the External Artifacts, which have their own will and can make decisions themselves, the Ancient Voice is just an observer that requires everyone to follow the rules."

"Agh?" Alexia turned to him. "What the hell does that mean? Speak normally!"

Adam's eyes deepened as he stared at the great gate before them.

"It means that until we fulfill the established conditions, we cannot proceed. Moreover, even the Ancient Voice can't do anything about it, right?"

The blue fairy trembled.

[Correct. Do you want to proceed?]

"Of course!" Alexia exclaimed, flames burning in her eyes. "Tell us what to do!"

[Sure. You must complete the pattern on the gate, and the first thing you will need for that is the Pale Spider Pearl.]

"Can you tell us where to go?" Adam asked.

However, there was no response. It was unknown whether this was against the rules or if this was the nature of the Ancient Voice, but at the moment, this was all they had.

"Hey, we should just go to the spiders' lair and find that pearl! Tsk, since when do spiders even have pearls? Don't they just make webs, venom, and eggs?"

"Well, that's what we're about to find out." Adam looked at the gate again.

Through a thick layer of dust, he could see a pattern carved into the stone, as there was a small palm-sized indentation on the left side of the gate.

'So this is where the pearl goes? Well, this isn't what I was prepared for, but from this point on, things are only going to get more difficult, aren't they?'

Adam shook his head and turned around, preparing to return to the pond.

"Come on, Alexia, we have to figure out where to go. Until we find this pearl, we won't get any more answers from the Ancient Voice."

Strangely enough, Adam was wrong.

Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

The blue fairy trembled before returning to the ground in a bright flash. Then, a wave of light ran across the ground, heading toward the left side of the caves.

The line of light remained on the ground, not too bright, but enough to light their way so they knew where to go.

"Hah, I see..." Adam gasped. "We're playing a game with strict rules, but no one wants to tell us all the rules. This may be harder than I thought."

The Pale Spider Pearl is the first but not the last goal from the Ancient Voice.