Hearing Mia's words, Shen Yi frowned.
The difference between the two was enormous—worlds apart!
Beside him, Mia seemed pleased with his reaction. Barely had she finished speaking when she added, with an air of mystery:
"If you, as the host of the Flame of Continued Combustion, were destroyed as the price, the flame could even prolong a world's countdown to destruction long enough for simple ecological cycles to establish themselves and its paralyzed rules to begin functioning again."
"That is what makes the Flame of Continued Combustion irresistible to those beings."
"It isn't merely a powerful force for attack or purification. It may also be the key to opening a door to artificial eternity."
Shen Yi listened quietly, but his thoughts were in turmoil.
He had never considered the flame's value from this angle. This was the first he had heard of it.
Alvin and the others valued its combat strength and its ability to counter the Black Fog. Feng Qingyao had spoken of its fundamental nature and its connection to order. What Mia revealed now was the flame's nearly unique role in creating and sustaining rules.
For organizations of Authority Holders that longed to carve out stable territories in the void of Beyond the World—or even attempt to create worlds anew—the flame's significance was almost absurdly great.
Amid the barren belt of withered planets, Mia's revelation about the flame's unique value still echoed in Shen Yi's mind.
For Authority Holders hoping to establish stable territories in the void, or even create new planets, this near-fundamental power was an irresistible temptation.
Mia's words also gave Shen Yi a fuller sense of the flame's potential value.
If the worst came to pass—if his world, Blue Star, was one day completely consumed by that terrifying Black Fog and its rules stood on