Chapter 551 — World Core & Rank 11 Talent Gene

The statues within the Human Shrine slowly began to transform under Liora’s influence, drawing closer to her own form.

This was not solely the case for Aaron’s side of the Human Shrine.

In every unique space where a youth was at the moment, the same thing was taking place.

Despite this, none of them noticed anything amiss.

They continued trying to earn the Human Ancestor Spirits’ approval, not knowing that these spirits had unknowingly been replaced by the Otherworld Demon they so much feared.

--

Liora sat in front of a statue, her demonic energy and Cosmic Energy gradually adjusting themselves to fit its principles.

A brief moment later, the gathered pure light fired in her direction while the statue shifted toward her appearance.

Once this was done, Liora’s gaze swept across the square.

By now, her job was done.

This was the last remaining statue.

With its transformation, all the Human Ancestor Spirits within the Human Shrine had unknowingly been replaced.

The effects of this were obvious.

A vast amount of faith accumulated within her talent genes, and even the Rank 8 Laws’ manifestation found it difficult to keep up with it.

Liora could tell that she would have to spend some time in the future to refine it all.

After all, this was the faith that had been accumulated by the entire human race over the span of tens of thousands of years.

Its volume could be imagined.

However, this was only a matter for later. For the time being, Liora was fully focused on the other changes that had taken place.

For example, the fact that the suppression of the world had disappeared, and she had regained her full strength.

For another example...

Liora instinctively lifted her head and stared toward the sky.

The connection between her and this place had gotten extremely close.

So close, in fact, that she could perhaps...

At that thought, Liora’s eyes narrowed.

The next instant, she took a step forward while urging that connection.

She didn’t use any of her abilities.

Yet just before her foot touched the floor, a spatial rift formed right in front of her.

Like the mouth of a hungry demon, it opened just wide enough to swallow her whole.

Her vision darkened for a split second. When it cleared up, there were no longer any stone statues surrounding her.

She was no longer in the square, but had descended into a deeper, seemingly more fundamental location within the Human Shrine.

It was a dark void.

The only thing that existed besides her was a floating blue-and-white rhombus that constantly revolved as it refined the faith around it.

As soon as her gaze settled on it, information surfaced in Liora’s mind.

She realized that she had reached the very core of the Human Shrine.

Or more accurately, the very core of the talent gene’s "illusory" space.

"It seems that the Human Emperor’s condition is indeed far from good."

"Otherwise, nobody in their right mind would separate their own talent gene and leave it behind in the guise of an ordinary demi-plane.", Liora whispered as she took a step forward and approached the rhombus.

She didn’t rush forward. Instead, she carefully approached it, making sure that she faced no danger.

Her caution ultimately proved meaningless.

Even until she stood right before it, there was neither a sneak attack nor the appearance of a scheming mastermind.

The void remained peaceful.

The only thing that had changed, in fact, was Liora herself.

As she stopped near the rhombus, two different forces erupted from within her at exactly the same time.

One of them was her Rank 8 talents.

The talent genes that represented them cried out in unison. They seemed to wish to jump onto the rhombus and integrate themselves with it.

The other force was Liora’s actual talent—Predation.

Far more cowardly than the Rank 8 talents, it shrank back into her body as soon as it appeared.

Yet unlike the other talents, which merely wished to merge with it, Predation was far more bloodthirsty and ferocious. It wanted to devour it, only stopping because it simply lacked the strength.

Liora’s consciousness swept out. She suppressed both of these forces, restraining them and preventing them from doing as they wished.

At the same time, she took a seat before the rhombus, and demonic energy erupted from within her body.

It burst from her back in the form of blood-red tentacles and shot toward the rhombus, drilling into it and investigating its inner structure.

The demonic energy faced great resistance.

Fortunately, although the rhombus’ nature was of a very high level, it currently had no one to wield its power.

Although it took her some time, Liora finally managed to uncover its secrets.

By studying this thing, she appeared to have seen her path forward as an Awakener.

"After an Awakener has completely comprehended a Law, their talent gene will truly transform into a world, similar to my own World of Heart, but stronger."

"This rhombus is the core of that world and the manifestation of the Law that the Human Emperor comprehended."

"It serves as the world’s origin and has several functions. Among them is collecting the faith of its owner’s believers to permanently enhance their comprehension..."

At that realization, Liora instinctively looked toward her own talent genes, where the Godhead-like structures were floating in the sky.

She finally understood what they were.

Although they resembled the Godheads of the Blood Forest Realm’s deities, they were actually completely different.

They were not Godhead prototypes, as Liora had previously described them, but a prototype version of an ability only Rank 11 Awakeners possessed.

"No.", she suddenly shook her head and corrected herself:

"These Gods are more like immature versions of Rank 11 Awakeners."

"In a certain way, their existence seems like the result of someone’s experiment."

Liora had many thoughts, though she didn’t dwell on them.

Her gaze soon shifted back toward the rhombus.

By now, she understood the reason the two forces were yearning for it.

Her own talent genes could fuse with the core, though it was unknown what she would gain from this.

There was a chance she would directly obtain the Human Emperor’s strength, but there was also a chance she would receive a tiny part of his inheritance.

As for Predation, the yearning was far more intense.

"Do you want to devour the core?", Liora whispered.

She knew she didn’t have a long time to carefully weigh her options. It was only a matter of time before the Elder returned.

As such, Liora quickly made a decision.

And that decision was relatively obvious.