A dumbfounded Kai continued to sit at the black table and read a book.
- What a difficult fate... How did this old man endure it all? - Kai shook his head sympathetically.
- And how long did he even live? - Kai wondered.
Reading the old man's notes, Kai realized that from the time of the Apocalypse in the outside world until the Emperor returned to the Astral City, about a hundred years had passed. And in the city itself afterward, quite a bit of time had passed as well. Even before the disaster began, it seemed that the Astral Alchemy Emperor was already one of the continent's rulers. This meant that he was more than a hundred years old.
- Just what realm of development was he on? - Kai exclaimed to himself and continued reading.
.......
"The longer I waited, the clearer I realized that fate didn't want me to find out if the world would survive. It's already useless in my lifetime. There are already such spatial storms up there now that it's dangerous even for me to go out there.
I now realize that I also have to fulfill the tradition of my own Astral Fire Sect as its Head!
The only thing I regret... It's that in my lifetime, I never found a disciple. And now, there's no one left to choose from. Now my legacy will die, along with the world.
Maybe in all this time alone, I've lost my mind and just want to believe in fairy tales. No, I need to believe in them to keep from despairing!
I hereby inform Destiny! If it pleases you and life continues to exist, people must come here at some point!
If you're reading this, don't blame me for being rude. I can't give up my heritage and my secrets for nothing!
So before I die, I'm going to make some preparations.
First, I'll make sure that only a creature with human blood can get here. Only our blood will be able to trigger the teleportation array once every few years.
Second, I'll cut off all the exits from here, leaving only one. You can use it, but only if you can earn my legacy!
Third, I will prepare my test, leaving as a reward my Astral Fire of Sacrifice and knowledge of my technique in it.
You must realize that in my many years of life, no one has been worthy of my technique. So, if you've gotten here, you have only three choices.
Try to get my legacy, and leave Astral Grad.
Try to get my legacy, and die in the process.
Or just stay here and die of old age.
There is a garden in the western part of the city, supported by arrays, it doesn't require much energy and would last for an incredibly long time. Although it couldn't quench even a fraction of the city's needs. But for one person, it would be more than enough!
And in the castle dungeon, is my legacy. You can access it by placing your hand with the ring on the fire mural. It's on the wall in the room behind the throne.
I'll also warn you. Getting my legacy will be incredibly difficult! The odds of you dying are almost certain. So think carefully about which option you choose.
I'd rather let my legacy wait hundreds of thousands of years for a worthy successor. Or let it die in time before the unworthy get it!
Don't blame me, blame your fate and your luck!
Only the strong can control their own destiny, and I hope you'll be that! And if you found this ring on the corpse of another... Know that your predecessor failed!
This is the end of my life... The life of the Astral Emperor of Alchemy ends!"
.......
- Ooooof! - Kai sucked in air deeply, staring at the book as if in a trance.
Right now, he was no longer reading, but simply frozen in deep thought. The whole story, incredibly shook him. To say that he was shocked now was to say nothing.
- Don't blame me, blame your fate and luck! Only the strong can control their own destiny, right? I've heard something like that before... - Kai said to himself while in deep thought.
"The causelessness of Luck, there is a second law. It is impossible to grasp the causes and effects of the manifestations of the universe, as if everything is solved by throwing a dice with an infinity of edges, which gives birth to the most incredible patterns." - Kai recalled in his head.
- Fuck yeah... I've got a lot of luck... What kind of dice do I have that keeps throwing me some kind of fucked up dice?! - Shouted Kai. He was now furious, shocked, and glad all at the same time.
He was deeply shocked by the story of the Astral Emperor of Alchemy and the events that had happened in the past. The only good thing he took from it was that life had survived after all! And that there was a way out of here!
- But here's a little problem! You wanna know what luck is?! - Shouting into the air, Kai.
- That fucking grandfather was at an incredible level of development! If I almost died from the array that brought me here, how am I supposed to get his legacy?! - Kai was simply furious. The situation was definitely not a good one.
He was angry now, but there was no one to pour it all out on. So, his mind latched onto the Emperor's last words. That's why he started cursing Luck....
"Okay... Okay... We need to calm down." - Inhaling deeply, Kai thought. It was very rare for him to lose control of himself to this extent.
- Okay, I understand I'm going to be here for a while..." Kai paused to think, "I'll have to at least go see what the legacy is, and how I'm going to get it. But now I'm very hungry, where is that garden the old man was talking about? - Said Kai to himself.
It seemed that so far he was still angry. In a normal situation, he would have spoken respectfully about the Astral Alchemy Emperor. What shocked him was the Emperor's fate and character. Kai respected strong and brave people.
Kai stood up and put the book back in the ring. Though it was, in fact, already useless. But still, it was an ancient historical artifact. And if Kai failed, he didn't want to ruin the legacy of such a majestic ancestor by his action and disrespect. Martial artists had their own honor, and their own respect for the powerful. Even if they were already dead...
Looking at the black mural of fire on the wall, Kai turned around and walked towards the exit of the castle. He really was hungry now. Besides, he was still angry. And in such a state, getting the old man's legacy... Which was already probably deadly nine times out of ten, if not more, would be very foolish.
Kai decided that he needed to get himself back to his optimal state. For starters, get a good meal and try to maximize his strength. Also, need to settle all the thoughts in his head. In the past few hours, he had learned too many amazing things. All of these things required time and comprehension.
Walking near the tens of thousands of graves again, Kai felt respect with a slight sense of pity.
"All these people ended their lives with pride and their heads held high! Most likely, they were all truly true warriors. They didn't let Fate subjugate them!" - Looking at all these stone pillars, Kai paused for a second, and bowed slightly. In this way, he expressed his reverence and respect for them.
Straightening his back, Kai continued heading west of the city. He walked much faster now, not looking at anything, and not fearing the hidden arrays. He knew there were definitely no dangers here.
Now he was heading towards the garden.
"Damn, I hope at least you're not dead. If I don't have food, the dry rations from the ring will only last me a week. And that's if I save up. I managed to cut my hand... Oh, man!" - Kai thought, gritting his teeth a little in annoyance.