The Invincible Full-Moon System

Chapter 2010: Favorite of the Warden

Coming to meet the Warden was more fruitful than Rex initially thought.

He came simply to ask for a favour, using his position as the Scion of Vertex, while using the System to put on a convincing act as someone mysterious. It worked on the Custodian, so he believed it would also work on the Warden.

And he was right to assume that.

Regardless, the Warden also bestowed upon him incredible information.

Information that would cost him countless gold had he asked it through the System.

One that was crucial for his endeavour was about the Goddess of the Greater Moon.

First, I didn’t know that she was the mother of the Lunirich Gods.

Rex was surprised to learn from Nivellen that the Lunirich Gods were not the true rulers of the moon. It was never theirs to begin with. The throne they sat upon was false, built from scratch from power stolen from the true deity who once held dominion over the moon.

But he knew the situation isn’t that much different up there.

Gods still could have problems with one another, and some could only be resolved through bloodshed.

Not to mention, the desire to grow stronger is a primordial desire for these entities.

So, a God stealing power from another wasn’t that surprising.

Rex didn’t expect the Goddess of the Greater Moon to be the mother of the Lunirich Gods, though. She was betrayed by her own children, and her dominion over the moon was weakened, and her divinity was ransacked completely.

She retained a sliver of her power, but with her shattered divinity, there would be no coming back.

Considering how the Lunirich Gods are, that must be the reason.

Rex had gone against the Lunirich Gods multiple times by now.

It was odd for them, with their greedy minds, not to take the Goddess of the Greater Moon’s power fully.

Based on what he understood, the Lunirich Gods had claimed dominion over the full moon.

For some reason, they didn’t claim dominion over the moon in its entirety. Just the full moon. Some might assume that it was because they couldn’t finish off their own mother. Compassion. But Rex knew it had nothing to do with the real reason.

He was certain that the Lunirich Gods didn’t care in the slightest that they were fighting their mother.

So, the only reason for them sparing their mother was because the power of the moon was tied to her.

Nivellen suggested that he should bond with her must be because of that.

Because the Goddess of the Greater Moon still retained greater power over the moon.

Just that her realm and divinity were wrecked, so she couldn’t fight back.

Even so, there was one problem that Nivellen might’ve overlooked before recommending him to meet with the Goddess of the Greater Moon. One that he only learned from the Warden. System, her Sovereign Realm is undergoing Realm Degradation. Can I stop that?

<Does the user want to purchase the information for one hundred million gold?>

Take it.

<Affirmative.>

<No, the user cannot stop the Realm Degradation process by establishing a connection to the Goddess. Divinity points are required to stop it. However, establishing a connection between the Goddess and the user’s new Greater Lycan race would prolong the process.>

Prolong it? You mean buy some time?

<Yes.>

And then what? Is there a way I can help her avoid having her Sovereign Realm shredded?

<Yes. In order to stop the Realm Degradation process, the user must supply the God Realm with enough divinity points. And it could be done throu—>

Hold that thought. Show the method to me when I’m ready.

<Affirmative.>

Rex wanted to complete the final race evolution quest and ascend his bloodline to origin-rank. For that, he needed—the Goddess of the Greater Moon. Whatever it would cost to save her crumbling Sovereign Realm, that concern could wait. The evolution came first.

Only worry about that after he achieved what he wanted to achieve first.

As Rex and the others descended the obelisk, a sudden light stopped them dead in their tracks.

Rex and Davina looked over their shoulders and saw a surprising sight.

"R-Rex...?" Lilliana called with a shaky voice. Her body was completely enveloped in a sickly green energy that made her feel a tingling inside her body. It didn’t hurt, just uncomfortable. "Am I supposed to be worried?"

A frown crossed Rex’s face.

Since they were in the obelisk, the one responsible for this should be the Warden.

And though they barely knew each other, Rex doubted the ancient being would do anything to Lilliana with ill intent. Not when it was already made clear that Rex and the others came with good intentions—nothing bad at all.

Still, caution prickled the back of his mind.

His eyes flashed with a light only he could see as the System scanned the sickly greenish hue.

Determining whether it was anything harmful.

Once the result appeared, a smile crept to his face.

"No, it’s nothing you should worry about." Rex waved his hand. "Someone has taken a liking to you."

<Notice: Lilliana is being blessed by the Warden of Time.>

A quiet ease settled over Lilliana at Rex’s words, loosening the knot of tension that had coiled in her chest since the battle began. But then, confusion flickered through her as she didn’t know who Rex was talking about.

But then, the answer came a heartbeat later, rising from memory.

She was the one who had opened the barrier to this obelisk. And even on the top floor—where Rex had spoken with the Warden, the ancient being’s gaze had found her again and again. Stealing a few glances at her.

Not with a threat, but with recognition.

And a sliver of curiosity.

It was the Warden֫—He was the one who took a liking to her.

For one suspended moment, Lilliana let herself go. The world fell away—the long spiralling staircase, the sturdy material of the obelisk, and the distant flipping of book pages dissolved away into nothing, leaving only her heartbeats.

Her eyes shimmered, and sickly green energy bloomed within them.

Soft as grave-moss and bright as a dying star.

Something deep inside her began to elevate. It was as if a hand had reached down into the very core of her being and transformed it into something greater than it already was. Her soul artifact rang, and the green energy coiled around it like water finding a long-dry channel.

It did something. Changed something. And the sensation was alien, yet achingly familiar.

Lilliana had felt this sensation in the past.

Just that it was so long ago she couldn’t quite remember what it was.

Her forehead creased as she closed her eyes, searching for where and when she had sensed this familiar sensation before. And when her brain finally made the right neural connections, flashing a memory that she had forgotten long ago, her body shivered.

At the same time, the greenish light disappeared.

Lilliana opened her eyes and found that she was floating.

She was too fixated on the sensation that her feet had left the staircase without her realizing. Her body was suspended in the air like a leaf caught in an updraft, and when the energy faded, she descended; her feet found the stone once more with a soft, deliberate grace.

For a second, she exchanged a look with Rex, and then Davina.

A tingle spread across her arm, and she looked down only to find green energy seething there.

It coiled and writhed around the entire length of the arm, and then settled around her fingers with a life of its own. Lilliana was quite certain that it was not her power. Not at all. But it flowed through her as it had always belonged there.

Even her thoughts alone were enough to command it.

Lilliana lifted her gaze to Davina, who was already moving—climbing the staircase with sisterly worry.

But seeing the teasing smile on Lilliana’s face, she stopped abruptly.

"Don’t you dare." She pointed at Lilliana, warning her not to do what she was about to do.

"I promise it won’t hurt." Lilliana raised her hand, aiming it at Davina—as green energy coiled around her fingers. It was stronger now. Its hum rising like wind before a storm. She smirked. "You’re my sister. Helping me with these things is the least you can do."

"I swear to God, Lilliana. If you even dare..."

Knowing that Lilliana wouldn’t stop, Davina lunged at her, but the green energy was faster.

Swish—!

Before Davina could even take her second step, she froze, suspended in motion like a figure painted on glass. She couldn’t move her body as time constricted around it—but there were several parts of her that could still move.

Her eyes, for one, and also her inner energy.

Annoyed, Davina’s eyes flared a bright, silvery hue. The light of the stars, the light that had always been hers, pushed back. The green energy cracked, then shattered into hundreds of fragments. She was freed from the hold.

Davina straightened her posture again and glared at Lilliana.

"How dare you?’

"What? Don’t be so sensitive."

Lilliana trotted down the staircase, walking past her and then stood beside Rex with clear excitement in her eyes. Her face was brighter than ever. In fact, Rex had never seen her this happy until recently. "Go on. Guess what I got."

"It’s the Minor Law of Time," Rex chuckled. "Congratulations."

Frankly, he wasn’t that surprised.

Earlier, when they arrived at the Sundial Arch, it was Lilliana—who had cracked the mechanism of the realm with almost pinpoint accuracy. She was the one who understood the formation better—and more importantly, she was the one who understood the hidden trap that tied the creatures and the Time-Space Soul Prisons.

It was obvious that the Warden had been watching them from the start.

And the speed at which Lilliana cracked the mechanisms impressed him, which explained his interest.

As a result, Lilliana was bestowed with the Minor Law of Time.

Rex was certain that it was one of the strongest Laws since it originated from the Weaver of Time.

"Come on. Let’s get out of here."

Rex descended the staircase again, followed closely by Davina.

Lilliana didn’t follow them immediately. Instead—she paused where she stood, lifted her gaze upward, and dipped into a graceful curtsy—a silent offering of thanks to the Warden. Then she turned and hurried after the others. A Law was no small gift, so she was really grateful.

Along the way, Davina glanced at Rex.

"I overheard your conversation—with the Warden, and it sounded extremely risky to enter the Great Pale Court. What are we going to do to increase our chance of actually meeting the Goddess?" She asked in concern.

An unstable realm sounded really dangerous.

Even a stable realm like the Spirit Realm can be really dangerous.

She couldn’t even imagine how dangerous an unstable realm would look.

"Truthfully, my plan is to get in there and do whatever it takes to reach the Goddess. If I can get to her, then I can help stabilize the realm." Rex answered with a clear worry on his face. This was going to be a gambit. "I need to see the realm first to know what to do."

"As long as you can stabilize it, then it’s not really suicidal to enter an unstable realm." Davina shrugged.

If Rex had no way to do that, she would have been worried.

Since he has a way, then it should be fine as long as they reached the Goddess.

Once the three of them arrived outside the obelisk, Rex quickly took out the Primordial Permit—from the inventory and inserted the next coordinate. Just like earlier, the space before him cracked open and a single pathway came to be.

The Great Pale Court was on the other end, so Rex and the others headed there.

As soon as their eyes bore witness to the realm on the other side, they stopped mid-track.

"Right... I don’t think it’s going to be this bad."