Chapter 1451 — Chapter 1451 Contemplation

Lex was not frowning, and even had a hint of a smile on his face as he looked out the window towards the asteroid belt they were heading towards. Velma and Gerard, however, could tell that he was still extremely distracted, and possibly even concerned.

While he still gave off a nonchalant vibe, the fact that he was playing with a small treasure, similar to a pen in shape and size, was highly concerning. He may as well have been fidgeting.

Of course, Lex was not playing with a toy. What others could not recognize was that Lex had shrunk Naraka, and put it in a scabbard, making it look like a pen. He was playing with it in his fingers to the eyes of others, but in fact he was imbuing the sword with his sword intent, packing as much of it into the sword as he could.

Even though the odd feeling from earlier had gone away, Lex could not dismiss it. He did not understand what had caused that feeling, or the image of a Go board in his mind, but it did not change the fact that something had definitely triggered that reaction.

So, while Gerard picked the Azure Field Asteroid Belt, an unusual asteroid belt spanning 8000 miles (12,874 km), held close together by a strange, partially visible, azure colored field that acted similar to, but not exactly like, magnetic fields, Lex focused his mind onto his instincts.

He didn't need an answer as to what had caused that reaction, although he would not mind that either. He was just hoping for a hint of what he should do.

Unfortunately, his instincts were uncharacteristically silent on the matter. This would previously automatically make him assume that he was being targeted by a system of some kind, but by now he had experienced enough to know that there could be other reasons for this.

That additional experience also allowed him to contemplate on his own what the reasons for that unusual premonition be, one by one eliminating the highly improbable possibilities.

Several hours went by during which the ship showed them various parts of the Artica realm landscape, while occasionally volunteering random bits of information about the environment or ecosystem, and how the residents usually dealt with them.

Lex remained silent for the entire part of the journey, until near the end where he pulled out Naraka. He had narrowed down the list of possibilities, and had a few options on it that he could not discount, such as showing a reaction to the Artica realm as a result of some misadventure he had inadvertently become a part of.

He had no shortage of adventures in his life, and even he himself did not know just what the full impact of those adventures would be, so having a secret connection to this realm that even he was not aware of was definitely a possibility.

But, in the end, the possibility he thought was most probable was still being targeted by a system. In fact, he even narrowed it down to that strange race member he had locked eyes with being the one targeting him.

Unfortunately, no matter how he tried, he could not get a hint as to his location or his intentions. His instincts were silent, his faint mastery of divination provided him with no answers, and none of his other means worked either - including Glyphs.

Whoever that person was, he had clearly taken strong measures to protect himself. Or the Artica race was preventing the guests from effectively targeting or diving about others during their visit. Or, the most likely scenario, the truth was a combination of the two.

But knowing, or at least suspecting, that he was being targeted by a system did not provide him with any additional information. The best and easiest way to resolve the situation was to find that guy again and directly eliminate him.

Lex was not a guy who went around randomly killing people, but he could not underestimate the threat of a system whatsoever! Even now, he could not forget how exceedingly difficult it was to kill the guy who had the Murder System. The only reason Lex had even won that fight was because of the sheer incompetence of the system wielder himself.

A lot was determined by the kind of system targeting him, and for now it looked like a board game system of some kind, and not a direct murder one. But in the hands of a capable user, even a weak system could become exceptionally dangerous.

His next best option, in a situation where he could not directly find the system user, was to figure out the rules of the system and take advantage of them. Since the image in his head was similar to a Go board, Lex guessed that he was now locked in some kind of battle, perhaps involving some kind of strategy, and to win he needed a clear advantage.

Although standard board game rules dictated that after the first person took a turn, it was Lex's turn to make a move. But he dared not assume as such, lest he relax. He did not know the rules of the game, nor did he understand how to make a move.

Over the past hours, he had been coming up with a way in which he could learn the rules of this game, and how he could look up the identity of the one who had targeted him.

In fact, just a moment later, Mary spoke up.

"The Innworker who went to the Infinity Emporium had to use your identity token to finally get a proper response. Even then, we didn't get much. Your description matches a race called Nas.

"There's barely any information on them at all. There are no Nas native to the Origin realm, but they are considered to be a very powerful race. Their only special trait that is mentioned is their strong affinity for lightning, because of which their entire cultivation system is centered around lightning.

"There's also a small warning attached to the information. Due to their strong desire to evoke lightning tribulations, the Nas have often been known to take drastic actions to trigger lightning tribulation. That includes taking actions that provoke a lightning punishment.

"A lightning punishment, similar to a lightning tribulation, is lightning that targets a person under the laws of the universe. The only difference is that instead of a test, it is a punishment from the universe for doing something so heinous that the universe itself cannot abide by it. Suffice to say, things like mass genocide are too tame to trigger a lightning punishment, so you can imagine the kind of actions it takes to actually provoke a lightning punishment."

"Do you personally know anything about them?" Lex asked.

"A little of the basic stuff. I've never really dealt with the Nas before - there are too many races in the universe so even living for billions of years is not a guarantee that you'll encounter them all. All I can tell you is that they're decently strong as a race, and have an antagonistic relationship with the Heavens, and predictably, a very strong relationship with the Hells. At the same time, they excel in fields of divination because they like provoking lightning in any way they can."

"Well, it's good to know they're not incredibly formidable. I'm pretty sure I'm being targeted somehow by a Nas system wielder."

Mary did not respond, taking in the information Lex had just given her. Or maybe she was silent because the system did not let her speak.

"Please consider that when I say they're decently strong, I mean from the perspective of a Celestial. Compared to the human race, they are extremely powerful."

"Don't worry, there's no way I'll underestimate a system user, no matter what their race is. I just need to figure out the rules of his system now. I suddenly got a premonition in my mind similar to the board game Go. Got any advice?"

Mary shook her head. Either she had no advice, or could not give it.

What Lex didn't realize, through no fault of his own, was that even getting that premonition was abnormal. It was only due to the fact that his body contained Dao material, and that his Karma was so unexpectedly vast, that when he was connected to Axios, it triggered a reaction. Others who were targeted by that Nas never even knew that a game was being played.

"You have arrived at your selected Welcome Village," their ship said softly. "Please take note that there is no atmosphere outside, and there is a large amount of azure radiation. Typically, the human race is not well suited for such environments."

"Thanks for the warning, but we should be fine," said Gerard. Lex may be an abnormal freak, but technically speaking, he wasn't the only one. Every single Inn worker had gone through numerous star ranking increase baptisms, with Gerard and Velma having experienced the most.

They'd also undergone some training in the Temple of Fasting. Compared to a normal human Earth immortal, even they could be considered monsters.