"Towards outer space. More specifically, towards our cherished Sun."
... That was all Bai Zemin said before Fire Sorrow's next words served to dump an Olympic pool of cold water on his head.
"Just out of curiosity but... How do you plan to withstand the temperature of the sun?"
... and that was how Bai Zemin had to toughen his skin a bit to get back in touch with the Sky Destroyer operators and tell them to relax for a few days.
One hour later, in the Collector's Pocket World.
Bai Zemin had entered the pocket world accompanied only by Lilith and Fire Sorrow, he did not notify Bai Shilin or Kali of this as otherwise it was highly likely that the two girls would ask to enter with him, and Bai Zemin did not want them to spend so much time detached from the outside world, thus losing all sense of time and distance.
"... I can't believe that a Second Order soul evolver is holding something like this in his possession."
Standing in front of the still unfinished house, Fire Sorrow surveyed the vast world that stretched as far as the eye could not see. Her eyes were wide open from the awe her fluctuating heart felt, and for almost a full minute she stood in that spot without moving after uttering the above words.
After a whole minute, Lilith chuckled and said in amusement, "Pretty impressive isn't it? Although this Demi-God grade treasure doesn't grant direct combat capabilities or a colossal amount of support to its owner as far as the immediate battlefield is concerned, I think it's perfect for someone in the midst of growth and in need of time."
Fire Sorrow turned to look at Bai Zemin and said in surprise, "How did you get that watch of yours? This is simply unprecedented!"
A Lower Existence holding a Demi-God grade treasure? Never! Unheard of in the history of the universe!
Although the Collector's Pocket Watch did not seem to be a combat-focused treasure as Lilith had just pointed out earlier, its power was simply terrifying; it was among the most powerful treasures Fire Sorrow had ever seen in her entire life!
"It was born in a dungeon of a world that was evolving into its Third Stage." Bai Zemin shrugged his shoulders. "Though I almost died to acquire it... and I was locked in an illusion that apparently lasted for ten thousand years."
He had no need to hide those things from Fire Sorrow. Not only could she not hurt him, but Bai Zemin doubted that she had even the slightest bad intention towards him... At the end of the day, Fire Sorrow had literally gambled with her life an hour ago all for the sake of helping him.
"What? A Demi-God grade treasure was born in a world that was entering its Third Stage?" Fire Sorrow opened her eyes wide and looked at Lilith in shock: "And you treat it like it's a normal thing? No matter how you look at it such a thing shouldn't happen no matter what!"
"... I stopped looking at things logically since I started spending too much time on Earth next to this little rascal." Lilith could feel the corner of her mouth quivering as she slowly said, "You get used to it. You get used to it so fast it's scary, and when you get back to 'normal' you start to feel bored."
In the past, Lilith saw the difference between levels as something very difficult to overcome and the difference between Orders as something practically absolute that few chosen ones could handle. However, what about Earth's soul evolvers? Practically all of them could jump 10-20 levels, and there were not a few who could fight enemies that were 1 Order completely above.
Fire Sorrow looked at Bai Zemin more and more astonished: "There must definitely be something more strange in you that even you don't know about. Let me tell you that in all my life I have never seen anything like a Demi-God grade treasure being born in a Lower World; even Higher Worlds VERY rarely bring one into existence, and we're talking about tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of years!"
Bai Zemin could say nothing at Fire Sorrow's words, he could only speak from his experience and what he had seen. As for tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or millions of years and Higher Worlds... he knew nothing about that.
"Besides..." Fire Sorrow frowned and said softly, "You said you were locked in an illusion for ten millennia?"
"That seems to be the case." Bai Zemin sighed. "Although I don't remember many things since the spirit of the Collector's Pocket Watch sealed those memories in my soul such that I can only get them back little by little."
Spirit of the Collector's Pocket Watch... That meant that the treasure had the possibility to evolve to God grade... Fire Sorrow didn't know how to feel about it anymore, but she realized that at this rate she would really end up numb and get used to these anomalies as if they were normal things just like Lilith told her before.
"...I guess that explains a bit of the reason why your aura seems to be from someone older than your real age." Fire Sorrow shook her head as she rubbed her temple. "You're very lucky... or maybe that's your fate, I don't know anymore."
Fate? Bai Zemin blinked and for a brief moment, he felt that he had caught a hint of something when he heard this word, but by the time he realized this and tried to focus in order to catch it, it was too late... and like a fish slipping through wet hands it slipped away from him.
"So frustrating."
"What is?" Lilith was confused to see him desperately ruffling his hair.
"It's nothing, forget it." Bai Zemin shook his head before lowering his arms helplessly. After a moment he took to regain his composure, he asked, "So, any ideas?"
There was no need for him to specify further, the two women in front of him were extremely smart and knew what his biggest problem was at the moment.
"... Although you don't need to step on the sun as such, getting close is something you won't be able to avoid if you want to find a Divine Daydream Pomegranate." Fire Sorrow said in a serious voice, "The temperature of the sun must be around 20.000.000 degrees Celsius, if you get too close with your current stats and no protection you will turn into ashes."
"Zemin has a skill that allows him to repel 50% of anything that can be considered an attack whether physical or magical. I think we should start from this base." Lilith pointed with her arms folded.
"A skill that allows you to repel half of any attack?" Fire Sorrow's voice trembled as a thought flashed in her head, bringing back very distant memories. She stared at Bai Zemin, and with some hesitation said gently, "You... You... Do you happen to have Gravity Manipulation...?"
She remembered that one of Gravity Manipulation's activations had something to do with reducing damage towards the user... That skill saved the Heavenly Wolf Sirius countless times in the past due to his eagerness to fight alone against numerous strong enemies.
"... I do." Bai Zemin nodded as he looked into her eyes and slowly said, "Ruler of All Matter, the second activation of Gravity Manipulation."
Bai Zemin and Lilith exchanged glances silently as they watched how Fire Sorrow's eyes lit up.
"I- I see." She nodded, and though she tried she couldn't help but smile brightly as she stared at Bai Zemin practically in obsession.
...No, she wasn't specifically staring at Bai Zemin.
"... Fire Sorrow, you..." Lilith decided not to continue, but from the way she sighed and shook her head it was clear what her thoughts were regarding the current situation.
But, just because Lilith was silent didn't mean that Bai Zemin would.
"Fire Sorrow, I think it's best if you remember that regardless of all coincidence I might not be the one you expect at all." Bai Zemin said with a hint of sorry in his voice. "I don't want you to be disappointed later and suffer... I suffered for what I thought was love for some years, I can't imagine how much you have suffered for millions of years. That's why... Be careful."
"Are you worried about me?" Fire Sorrow chuckled and reached out her hand gently towards his face but stopped midway. She slowly lowered her palm and said with a small smile, "It's okay, nothing to worry about. I'm not known as Fire Sorrow for nothing after all."
Bai Zemin didn't know about the Domain she was in control of, but the name Fire Sorrow didn't sound particularly encouraging to tell someone not to worry.
Fire Sorrow didn't want the point to stagnate now, and she certainly didn't want to get any bad news or buckets of cold water on her head. She was finally being happy in her own way after so long and wanted to keep it that way for as long as life would let her.
"So, with Gravity Manipulation in Bai Zemin's possession, things are simpler." Fire Sorrow nodded with a slight smile before pointing out, "Now we just have to find a way for you to withstand high temperatures for at least 20 minutes."
"...Before that, what about outer space? I can hold my breath for a long time sure, but I don't know if my body can handle surviving the cosmic radiation." Bai Zemin shrugged his shoulders.
"Oh, you don't have to worry about that." Fire Sorrow winked at him and said with a smile, "Since you have Blood Manipulation in the Fourth Order then you probably should have Blood Immortal Radiance, is that right?"
"Ah..." Bai Zemin subconsciously nodded slowly as he said in a low voice, "Right. Blood Immortal Radiance safeguards my deepest records from any damage or harmful modifications."
"That's why there is no need to worry about cosmic radiation." Lilith nodded calmly. She looked at Bai Zemin, and after a small pause said with some frustration, "It really is annoying but what that little brat said is true. She is the best partner you can hope to have right now in battle, and will stay that way until the distance of ranks between us disappears, Zemin."
Of course, Bai Zemin knew who Lilith was talking about. The one woman who for some reason she simply could not accept but strangely used her somewhat peculiar method to push her to become better.
"I think if Bing Xue and Kali join me we can do something good." He nodded.
"Kali? ...If I remember correctly, Kali is the name of the little girl in the wheelchair." Fire Sorrow's eyes darted back and forth between Bai Zemin and Lilith as she said puzzled, "That little girl has some kind of amazing talent?"
Kali was just a level 40 soul evolver, she couldn't move on her own, and she couldn't even see. However, Fire Sorrow had learned through hard knocks of surprise that it was not a good idea to underestimate any soul evolver on this planet; her home, a world she took for destroyed long ago.
"Kali can draw very high tier runes." Bai Zemin explained calmly. "It was she who helped me with the earring I forged for Lilith."
"Oh... Then I guess we can expect something good." Fire Sorrow nodded and subconsciously looked at the Rank 6 earring in Lilith's ear.
She really was curious about the earring and its full power, but she naturally wouldn't ask to see its records since after the previous two battles it became clear that the item was now one of Lilith's trump cards.
She was also curious about this girl named Kali now that she knew about her ability to draw runes.
Bai Zemin observed her silently and apologized in his heart.
He just didn't completely trust Fire Sorrow, and thus there was no way he would share Kali's ability to see souls and their colors with her. At the end of the day, Fire Sorrow was not Lilith; Fire Sorrow loved the Heavenly Wolf Sirius, not Bai Zemin.
Who knew if later in the future they would continue to be allies? 'Better safe than sorry.' Bai Zemin shook his head before getting down to business.
And just like that, 6 days passed in the outside world... but for Bai Zemin, Kali, Shangguan Bing Xue, Lilith, Fire Sorrow, and Bai Shilin, two months passed in the Collector's Pocket World.
During that time, Bai Zemin took on the task of forging a full body armor which took a total of three weeks to complete.
Kali took five weeks to finish drawing runes on the forged armor, and Shangguan Bing Xue had finally invested over 180.000 Mana points to support the upcoming operation.
After the work was finished, the three of them received the same message at the same time.
[You have successfully created full body heavy armor 'Bloodsurge Breastplate of Ice Magic'.]
* * * * * * * * * * * * We have been in the top 1 GT for 10 months in a row, and it means a lot to me to see that my effort pays off. Many thanks to you, who still donate your golden tickets and support Blood Warlock <3

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