Endless Evolution: Last Star

Chapter 1769: Questions for Him (Part 1)

After a long time and many events, Adam and Silvana finally met again.

But Adam had expected to find not only her at his home, but two other guests as well.

”Silvana.” Adam’s voice dropped. ”Where are Gladius and Xyrea?”

She turned around and looked toward the kitchen. On the table were three cups of coffee and a few half-eaten chocolate cookies. It was obvious that someone had been there recently.

”I see...” Silvana’s eyes widened for a moment. ”Half an hour ago, they said they wanted to go to the store. It looks like they knew you’d be here soon.”

Adam frowned. ”Do you think they decided to leave? I have a lot of questions for them, a whole lot.”

Strangely enough, Silvana shook her head.

”No, while you were gone, I realized they’re definitely not our enemies. I’m not ready to call them allies yet, but I don’t think they’d resort to such methods to avoid a conversation.”

”Agh...” Adam sighed deeply, taking a step forward. ”Well, in that case, let’s wait for them, and while we wait, I have a lot to tell you, Silvana.”

Catching his deep but weary gaze, Silvana smiled happily.

”Sure, I want to know all the details. Judging by your aura... Wherever you’ve been these past few days, you’ve gone through a series of difficult trials.”

”Hah, you have no idea how right you are.”

Silvana nodded as she headed toward the kitchen. From the look on Adam’s face, she could tell he wouldn’t say no to a cup of coffee with something sweet right now.

...

The next two hours flew by for Silvana and Adam. Adam recounted everything that had happened to him in the Hollow Lands in full detail. He had no reason to hide anything.

At first, Silvana was surprised and even angry at Gladius and Xyrea for sending Adam to such a dangerous place.

But the more she learned about the Hollow Lands and the trials he had gone through, the more she realized that it had had a positive effect on Adam.

It wasn’t just that he had grown stronger and gained a new ability, but that he had seen another part of their world.

At the end of his story, Adam described his battle at the Grim Court against Zin, as well as how, at the very last moment, Zin decided to undergo an evolution and become a Lord.

”Unbelievable...” Silvana muttered, staring at her cup of coffee. ”All of this happened in just a few days. Huh, the pillars, the unique rank system, and the mysterious Frenzied Shards. Not bad, not bad at all.”

A few moments later, Silvana’s expression froze as she realized something.

”Wait, so there’s some kind of major territory on either side of the Citadel?”

Adam nodded, folding his arms across his chest. He’d come to that conclusion when Kaerno told him about the Hollow Lands.

”Yes. The Hollow Lands to the north, though I can’t say if it’s cold or hot there, it’s neither, and there’s no ice there either.”

Silvana continued: ”The Tarnished Lands to the west, though we haven’t been to its deeper parts yet, and the Primal Lands to the south.”

Moving on to the last, perhaps most important territory, Adam’s eyes darkened.

”And the Dark Shore to the east. I wouldn’t want to go back there, but it looks like sooner or later I’ll have to.”

Apart from these four territories, there remained only the Dead Lands, at the very center of which lay the Citadel.

This was a map of the world that only K4-Phantoms and higher could know about, and even then, not always. For ordinary people, everything ended at the Dead Lands, or even at the walls of the ring where they lived.

”Adam.” Silvana touched his hand. ”We still have much to learn from Gladius and Xyrea, but they actually gave you the Blood of God. It was the real blood of Queen Elisa, wasn’t it?”

”Yes.” Adam nodded deeply. ”There’s no doubt about it. I saw it for myself when Zin decided to hear her blood flow. It was strange... but it served as further proof.”

Recalling everything they knew, Silvana bit her lip. ”Gladius has mentioned more than once that it’s a valuable resource, a real treasure, and he’s absolutely right about that. But he also said that without Aiden Henk’s approval, he wouldn’t have been able to do it.”

Adam frowned, leaning forward.

”Finding out that they’re working together was unexpected. Then again, it was to be expected. It was clear from Gladius that he wasn’t a member of any of the factions, and it’s unlikely someone like him would work for the government. If he’s working with anyone, Aiden was probably the best guess.”

”So, what are you going to do next? From what I understand, you think you’re just two steps away from the Second Circle, right?” Silvana glanced at him with a hint of concern in her eyes.

She knew they had to move on if they wanted to stop the World Wipe, but Adam’s sudden disappearance had affected her. She hoped it would never happen again.

”I might be wrong, but most likely that’s the case,” Adam confirmed, his aura becoming slightly more active. ”I already practically have three Grand Stars. For the last condition, I needed Queen Elisa’s blood as well as to defeat one of the strongest Black Threat Level monsters to activate it.”

He waved his hand, listing the options.

”I don’t know what I’ll have to do to get Bottomless Void. To be honest, it even scares me a little. So, I just don’t see how there could be one or more Grand Stars left in my Path Construct. I’ve already practically reached the limit of the First Circle.”

Silvana stared at a single point, deep in thought.

”So you need to find the Bottomless Void and break through the barrier of the First Circle. Only then will you become the next Second Rank Phantom.”

Even though this was good news, Adam smiled bitterly and tilted his head back.

”Yeah... And even that won’t be enough for our goal. Still, we have to do it. There’s no other choice.”