Chapter 629 — Failure

The final reward of the City Lord inheritance had been quite underwhelming from Liora’s point of view.

The Rank 10 Mechanical Law that other people would find precious had barely been worth her effort.

Fortunately, the inheritance had another, more secret reward—Alice.

"Kidnapping" this girl, who was both knowledgeable regarding the cultivation civilization and willing to speak about it unlike other powerhouses, had helped Liora a lot.

Compared to the actual inheritance, she was many times more useful.

Still, that didn’t mean Liora was planning to waste the Mechanical Law.

Believing that every resource should be used to strengthen herself and those under her command, Liora chose to gift it to Alpha.

Given her identity and talents, the puppet girl was extremely suitable.

Since then, Alpha had been in seclusion, absorbing the Law while constantly growing stronger.

And several days later, she finally seemed ready to undergo a qualitative transformation.

Alpha’s aura grew turbulent before rapidly advancing toward the next level.

Watching it increase at a speed visible to the naked eye, Liora’s eyes narrowed.

Her gaze pierced through the outer layer of Alpha’s instinctive defense mechanism and landed on her body.

She immediately noticed that her subordinate’s strength was rising at an incredible speed.

With every passing second, she would jump onto a higher level.

Because of the Cosmic Universe’s restraints, Alpha had never practiced the native power system.

Since their arrival in this world, her strength had remained unchanged. At most, she had refined the methods she already possessed.

Yet now, the Mechanical Law appeared to have become the key to opening the power system’s gate for her.

Her structure rapidly shifted, growing closer to the beings of the Cosmic Universe, shedding parts of her ordinary puppet body.

Then, the Cosmic Energy swirling along the Cosmic Sea tumbled. As though a black hole had suddenly formed, it began pouring into her body.

Her strength as an Awakener began to soar.

Rank 1. Rank 2. Rank 3...

In the blink of an eye, she had reached Rank 6 before advancing to Rank 7.

But the improvement did not stop there. If anything, it intensified even further.

Rank 7 was the stage where Awakeners came into closer contact with the Laws, after all.

The Mechanical Law finally started to show its true effects, transforming into a sun inside her body and pushing her toward the next level.

Rank 8. Rank 9.

The progress was continuous.

It seemed that Alpha would soon complete her transformation, becoming a true Emperor and reaching the apex of the Cosmic Universe at once.

However, at that moment, Liora’s smile vanished.

She felt something was wrong.

Her hunch told her that the transformation would not be completed as easily as it seemed.

Sure enough, her instinct was proven correct.

Only a few moments later, something suddenly changed.

Alpha’s aura fluctuated.

Unlike before, when it was constantly rising, it was now sometimes weak and sometimes strong, as though she had suffered a heavy injury.

*n reality, her body began to tremble violently as streams of blood flowed from her eyes, nose, mouth, and pores.

It looked like she had suffered a backlash, turning into a bloody figure.

Liora frowned as she hurriedly took action. Her consciousness forcefully penetrated Alpha’s body in an attempt to discover what went wrong.

At first, she found nothing. Everything looked normal, and nothing seemed out of place.

Yet as Liora’s consciousness entered Alpha’s soul space, she finally came to discover the source of the disturbance.

The Mechanical Law contained a faint will, part of the consciousness of its original owner.

Due to the passage of time, that will was extremely weak, ready to shatter at the faintest hint of touch.

Under normal circumstances, it should have posed no threat to Alpha. She should have been able to defeat it with ease.

But reality often went against common logic.

Faced with that otherwise weak consciousness, Alpha struggled heavily.

Liora frowned. She had long noticed the existence of that consciousness, but had paid it no heed.

She had already confirmed that it was neither a backup consciousness nor a means for its original owner to be reborn. It was merely a strand of power that they had unintentionally left behind.

Nothing harmful.

She had truly never expected that Alpha would struggle against it.

In Liora’s cognition, this was not the result of the difference in power between them.

Instead, it was a result of Alpha’s own problems. She appeared to have reached a mental block, leaving her unable to resist the lingering will.

Even under Liora’s repeated encouragement, Alpha’s will remained motionless, like a scared deer that was afraid to move.

Liora’s frown grew even deeper.

She had no other way to assist Alpha in a battle of consciousnesses.

Although she could forcefully enter the soul space and personally fight in her stead, doing so would surely affect the space itself.

At best, Alpha would have to spend a long time recovering from the injury.

At worst, her soul space would forever be injured, leaving behind long-lasting effects.

Liora hesitated, carefully weighing her options.

Her first thought was to interrupt Alpha’s advancement process, though doing so would result in the Mechanical Law dispersing and her strength falling back to its original level.

Of course, doing so would be better than Alpha suffering far greater harm. At most, it was a lost opportunity.

Thinking of this, Liora no longer hesitated. A phantom materialized and raised its finger, ready to take action and suppress Alpha’s rising momentum.

But just then, Liora suddenly remembered something.

"Maybe... it’s worth giving that a try.", she whispered, subconsciously raising her head to look toward the top of the Cosmic Sea.

There, an invisible river could be seen flowing, stretching from the sea’s one end to the other.

Liora focused on it. As her mind stirred, her vision rapidly shifted. Her phantom was suddenly moved beside the illusory river, standing along its banks.

Instantly, the history of the entire Cosmic Sea surfaced in her mind.

More importantly, scenes of the future.