CHAPTER 304: IT SHOULD BE FINE

Darian took a deep breath, staring at the red sea as his heart raced. He fixed his gaze on a direction further south from where he stood...

"It’s there... but how?"

He muttered in disbelief. He felt a strand of karma connected to him coming exactly from that point.

It wasn’t the first time something like this had happened, but every time it did, there was always something — or someone — tied to him.

"Could there be multiple secrets in this sea?" he whispered, but there was no way to know the answer now. Asking around for information in this place would be way too risky. Better to do everything he could on his own for now.

With no other direction or clue to follow, that connection seemed like the best bet.

The problem was... it was right in the middle of the sea. And those waters... they were definitely not normal.

He took a few steps forward, eyeing the so-called "primordial sea." Just the thought of touching it sent a subtle wave of danger through his body. He’d been through plenty of situations and developed sharp instincts for sensing threats.

He activated his rings, trying to understand the nature of those waters.

There was no life in them, otherwise he’d feel some trace of karma.

The only karmic presences he sensed came from the desert — faint and distant enough not to pose any danger. That’s why he stayed put without fear.

With no solid information, he decided to test things out.

His ring’s power and his dark power were still intact. He drew out a bit of the dark power and coated his hand with it, ready to touch the water and study it better. To be extra safe, he also triggered the power of his ring and pushed his stellar physique to its absolute limit...

"!"

Suddenly, Darian felt the environment tremble.

He spun around in alarm, but there was nothing behind him.

Focusing, he noticed a faint black mist flowing toward him... no, flowing straight into his body!

"Primordial Yin... but why?"

He was confused, but he didn’t resist. He let the mist get closer and invade him, watching carefully.

It went directly into the Yin star within his body, merging with it.

"This..." he murmured, deep in thought. A moment later, his eyes lit up.

The Yin and Yang stars inside him had been enhanced with the complete inheritances of the twin-universe Phoenixes. Remembering what he’d read in that book, Darian knew Phoenixes were born from the primordial Yin and Yang that existed at the dawn of universes.

"The Primordial Yin is being drawn to the Yin star, like they’re the same essence!"

Darian made his Yin star unleash its full absorbing capacity. The surroundings shook even harder. The black mist thickened, wrapping him in darkness.

He took a deep breath.

His body pulsed with terrifying power surging through it. But before long, it stopped. The star had reached its absolute limit, unable to take in more.

Darian turned back to the sea.

He focused and activated his stellar physique using only the Yin star’s power. This power was way beyond a simple element — it was the purest, densest form of energy, which was why it was called primordial.

All of a sudden, his skin began to darken, and the entire environment grew darker around him. In seconds, Darian looked like a completely different figure, radiating a terrifying aura.

He crouched, stretched out his hand, and touched the scarlet waters...

The pain hit instantly, sharp and brutal. He felt the rune’s energy being consumed rapidly, burning like fire. But despite the agony, he didn’t suffer any real injuries.

He breathed deep and stepped into the sea without hesitation. In just a few steps, the waters swallowed him whole.

...The pain intensified. It was like being stabbed by countless needles all over his body. Tormenting, unbearable... yet it still didn’t destroy him, thanks to his new stellar physique.

He realized the pain came from his body’s vital energy being repelled, like an instinctive reaction.

He endured for a few minutes, then quickly pulled himself out.

After reflecting, he concluded: "I can stay in these waters for about twenty minutes, until all the Yin star’s energy is drained."

Swimming all the way to that point? He didn’t even know how far it was — and on top of that, he’d have to make it back.

He looked out at the desert. There was nothing in sight he could use to improvise a canoe — and, anyway, he was sure nothing ordinary could sail across that sea.

"Hmm..."

He thought about the possibilities.

He had his Yin star absorb everything it could again. A few minutes later, he pulled out the wind runes he had recently gained.

He had to test it. He activated his physique and entered the sea again, manipulating the power of the winds for support.

Those few wind runes weren’t enough to make him fly long distances; at best, he might manage a dozen meters in a single burst.

But when he entered the sea and used them to gain speed while swimming...

By the time he had burned through half of them, only two minutes had passed. Soon enough, Darian realized he had already gone more than six hundred meters from the shore.

He quickly returned with what remained. Once safe again, he smiled slightly; he had found a way to reach his goal. Still, he didn’t know the exact distance he’d have to cross, and he’d need twice as much to guarantee the way back.

But... all he had to do was wait twenty-four hours to get two sets of wind runes.

"This sea is poisonous and almost impossible to sail. It can’t be something just ten kilometers away, or else this special mission would be impossible to complete." He muttered, thoughtful.

With two sets of wind runes, he could boost his speed and cover a little over a kilometer across the scarlet sea in one or two minutes.

He decided to prepare for ten kilometers: five out and five back. If he was unlucky and found out it wasn’t enough after five kilometers, he’d just turn back.

Darian turned toward the desert, checking if anyone was nearby. But that desert was unbelievably vast. When he floated high up, all he saw was endless sand.

Most likely everyone avoided the shores. If someone got cornered or had to fight, the enemy only needed to use the system’s power and push them toward the sea.

You didn’t need to be that strong. Caught off guard, or even in the middle of a fight, it was easy to throw someone several meters away. If they fell into the waters, a normal person would die instantly. So it was safer to stay as far away from that place as possible.

Darian hid in a sand dune close to the sea, positioned strategically against it. There he stayed, focused on sensing his Yin star and improving his control over the primordial Yin within him.

...

Ten days later, he was ready.

Without hesitation, he took a deep breath and jumped into the sea. With the power of the winds, he swam at frightening speed, heading straight in the direction where he felt the karmic connection.

1 kilometer...

3 kilometers...

5 kilometers...

At that moment, he looked ahead, disappointed. There was nothing in sight. He couldn’t push much further, or he wouldn’t have enough left to return.

But... instinctively, he felt a strong urge to keep going.

"It should be fine..."

He decided to move just a little further. He couldn’t see much ahead because of the spatial distortion, so maybe the target was right there, just invisible to his eyes.

A hundred meters later...

The entire sea suddenly started to stir. A sensation of passing through something washed over his body. When he lifted his gaze...

A strange wind blew, and the red world twisted. In an instant, a freezing chill pierced his bones. It felt like he had fallen into an ice chamber, cold hands wrapping around his soul.

Suddenly... a gigantic wooden ship appeared before him. It was colossal, almost like a floating island. Compared to it, he was just an ant.

The ship, made of wood as dark as pitch, was scarred with rust stains, while the mast and sails, full of holes, looked ready to collapse.

"A lucky ship!"

Darian didn’t think twice and swam forward.