The Message Old Bai Left Behind

After saying that, Himeko gently closed the door. Her footsteps rang out in the hallway, growing fainter and fainter.

The room fell quiet again, and the relaxed expression faded from Bai Luoming's face.

Instead of immediately picking up his terminal to contact Herta, he closed his eyes and sank his consciousness back into his body.

Soon, he touched an isolated message.

The message was wrapped in a mysterious power. Only when his consciousness actively approached it did the barrier unlock on its own, like melting ice and snow.

Heh, let's see what you're up to. With that thought, he opened the message.

The next second, Old Bai's voice, tinged with fatigue, rang out deep in his consciousness.

"By the time you see this message, you should have fused pretty well with the Stellaron. No need to thank me for the power-up I gave you this time. After all, thanking me would be thanking yourself. Never mind, that sounds kind of weird."

As Bai Luoming listened, he felt as though his body had begun to ache faintly again.

He tried to interrupt the message in his consciousness and demand why Old Bai hadn't warned him how painful the fusion would be, only to discover that it was a one-way recording. No matter how he shouted, the message kept playing.

He could only listen on patiently, while resolving to give Old Bai a good, hard hit the next time they met.

He'd be hitting his future self anyway. It had nothing to do with his present self.

"The power I drew on in advance for you earlier didn't come out of nowhere. I took one possibility from your future." Old Bai's voice continued. "Simply put, the power you gained on Everwinter Hill was, in essence, your future self. Unfortunately, a future drawn on in advance like that will disappear completely."

At this point in the message, Old Bai's tone suddenly became a little strange.

"Of course, good things shouldn't go to waste. I, Yuwen Luoming, have always hated waste more than anything, even if... ahem, I'm getting sidetracked."

"The possibility of you becoming a Lord Ravager has completely disappeared from your future, but I didn't let it go to waste either. Before it had fully dissipated, I extracted it and fused it into your greatsword, along with all the power of Destruction accumulated on that timeline."

"From now on, as long as you summon that sword and hold it in your hand, you'll possess power equal to a Lord Ravager's."

"All right, take that sword and go cut people down without holding back. I won't say any more. See you next time."

Old Bai's voice cut off abruptly, and the message ended.

Bai Luoming tried to trace the lingering signs of the message, but caught only a wisp of rapidly dissipating power before the trail vanished.

He opened his eyes. He was still alone in the room.

Bai Luoming raised his right hand, and a thought stirred in his mind.

The Stellaron in his chest trembled slightly, and the power of the Path of Destruction within him responded instantly. A wisp of golden flame appeared in his palm, carrying a terrifying aura that threatened to destroy everything.

Just as the flame began to take the rough shape of a sword, Bai Luoming deliberately dispersed the power.

This was the Goethe Hotel, after all, not the snowy expanse of Everwinter Hill.

If he really summoned it and accidentally demolished the building, he couldn't afford to pay for the damage.

Then he checked his condition again. Even setting aside the greatsword Old Bai had drawn on in advance for him, his normal strength had still made considerable progress. As for how much it had grown, he would have to test it himself.

Bai Luoming had no great complaints about that.

What surprised him was the greatsword Old Bai had left him. Against the enemies he had faced before, he'd had no weapon, so most of the time he could only cosplay as Sett. Things had been somewhat primitive.

Now he finally had a proper weapon. Whatever its power, at least he wouldn't have to cosplay as Sett the next time he fought.

Only after dealing with the mess Old Bai had left behind did Bai Luoming pick up the terminal from the cabinet beside him.

The terminal showed that Herta had called only once while he was unconscious. Asta, on the other hand, had sent an unusually large number of communication requests.

He straightened his clothes and made sure he didn't look too strange before calling Herta back.

The call was answered almost instantly.

The light screen lit up, revealing not only Herta but also Asta, standing beside her.

Behind them was a massive floating light screen displaying an energy monitoring chart of the star system near Jarilo-VI.

Herta answered Bai Luoming's call without the slightest greeting. Her gaze fell on his face, and she went straight to the point. "What happened on Jarilo?"

Asta had originally wanted to ask about his health first, but when she saw Herta's expression, she held back the words on the tip of her tongue.

Herta swept a hand through the air, bringing up an energy curve separately and enlarging it in front of Bai Luoming. At one point, the curve had abruptly shot up to a terrifying peak before quickly disappearing.

"Not long ago, the space station's remote deep-space monitoring equipment detected an energy fluctuation at the level of a Lord Ravager near Jarilo-VI."

"Although it lasted only a short time, there's no mistaking the nature of the energy. Even more unusual was that this fluctuation lasted only a very short time before rapidly disappearing."

Bai Luoming looked at the familiar energy curve and fell silent for a moment.

But he had no intention of hiding it and spoke openly.

"If no other Lord Ravager happened to be passing by Jarilo," he said evenly, "I was probably the one who caused that energy fluctuation."

A brief silence fell over the call. Through the light screen, Bai Luoming could see a rare trace of astonishment on Herta's pretty face, as though she had just heard something utterly fantastical.

Beside her, Asta also raised her head instinctively and stared straight at Bai Luoming's face, her gaze full of scrutiny.

Herta was silent for a moment before speaking again. "Kid, are you in your right mind?"

"Do you know what it takes to become a Lord Ravager? There's no need to attribute something you don't understand to yourself."

"Uh, it's a long story. Once I'm done with things here, I'll come to the space station in person and tell you everything that happened."

Bai Luoming wasn't sure where to begin. After all, his inexplicably becoming a Lord Ravager really was rather absurd.

"All right, return to the space station as soon as possible. I'll arrange a comprehensive physical examination for you."

At the words "physical examination," the memory of the extraordinary tests Herta included in hers involuntarily surfaced in Bai Luoming's mind.

He ventured a question. "Will it be a normal physical this time?"

"Hehe." Herta looked at him and curved her lips into a smile. "You can guess."

With that, she turned straight around and began pulling up equipment access permissions on the console, as though even another word would be a waste of time. She left the call to Asta for the moment.

Only then did Asta's tense expression ease slightly.

"You... weren't hurt, were you?" She finally asked the question she cared about most.

"I'm awake now. It's nothing serious." Bai Luoming smiled. "Thank you for your concern, Lead Researcher Asta."

Seeing Bai Luoming looking so full of energy, Asta finally felt relieved.

She reminded him, "Take care of yourself out there. Remember to send me a message when you come back to the space station."

"Don't worry, I won't forget," Bai Luoming promised with a smile. "I'll bring you some local specialties from Belobog when I come back."