Authority forged from royal blood

"Zhu Ming... Your Excellency, it's a pleasure to meet you."

You may call me Tuke Aisalamata, or simply Tuk.

As the corpse became noticeably smoother than before, a sound like a successful startup rang out, Lin Yu could confirm it.

This guy was completely oblivious to his own "disguise".

Therefore, he continued to maintain the "Zhu Ming" setting and engaged in dialogue with the other party.

"Tuk Excellency Tuk, let's skip the formalities. You only answered one of my questions—you only answered who you are, without telling me what's going on with your strange state."

As Lin Yu spoke, the corpse, which claimed to be "Tuk" and was indeed Noble and high-ranking figure from the Mu Continent, continued to speak.

"I have been dead for a long time, I died a thousand years ago from an assassination attempt, and I am currently in a state of death, that... is certain."

Tuk spoke, he answered Lin Yu's questions while also seemingly sorting out his own feelings.

Lin Yu nodded. "Yes... and then?"

Under Lin Yu's persistent questioning, Tuk thought for a moment, and then a somewhat helpless bitter smile appeared on his stiff face.

"To be honest... I don't know much more. I just suddenly regained a bit of consciousness one day while I was in eternal death."

"From this body of mine... I slowly awoke, as if struggling to awaken from a deep dream—a process that may have lasted for thousands of years... I don't know."

"In fact... this is all an unfinished process—if it weren't for your arrival accelerating everything, I might have taken even longer to regain consciousness."

At this point, Tuk slowly began, "But thinking about it, I might not even be the 'Tuke Aisalamata' I think I am... I might just be a new and special undead who inherited his Memory."

Tuk spoke, Lin Yu shook his head.

"No, firstly, there are no undead in the Nether Void Realm... at least there are no records of them."

"Secondly, I know what undead and the undead are. They're like fungi President on corpses... After Transcendents or an ordinary person dies, the remaining Supernatural Power and soul can, under the Rule of some worlds, give rise to life forms like 'undead'... But, the prerequisite is that it has to be life."

Tuk was somewhat surprised to hear Lin Yu's words.

He asked in a more fluent and natural voice, "What does this mean?"

"What I mean is... you are definitely not 'life' right now," Lin Yu said seriously, stating the reasoning behind his judgment based on his perception, "Because even 'the dead' have a soul structure... but I can't sense any soul in your body right now?"

"You seem unable to realize... that you don't have a soul—but that's probably normal; a soul is something that doesn't exist for you, and you may genuinely be unable to recognize it."

Just as the human eye cannot see colors outside the spectrum.

Upon hearing Lin Yu's words, Tuk fell into silent contemplation.

Then...

Lin Yu silently released some of his Soul Power: "It's this kind of... soul."

He explained.

Tuk snapped out of his reverie and said, "I know what a 'soul' is... but I did subconsciously ignore it."

"But after your reminder, I now realize... I seem to truly lack a soul."

Tuk said in a low voice.

"Then what am I...?"

He asked, somewhat confused.

"I don't know, maybe it's an obsession, an illusion or something," Lin Yu shrugged, "But you do seem to have 'self-awareness,' which, in a narrow sense, could be considered a life, or even Wisdom life."

Tuk paused for a moment, then said, "Thank you, thank you for your recognition."

"You're quite polite," Lin Yu said casually, then looked at the corpse on the throne. "However... since you've forgotten most things, and don't even know why you entered this state, you did say you still remember the part about being killed, right?"

"So... regarding that assassination, are there any clues? Perhaps the real reason they wanted to kill you was to put you in this 'half-dead' state," Lin Yu pondered. "It's not impossible, is it? Like... killing for 'truth'?"

"Moreover, regardless of which faction's Assassin they claim to be, given your current situation, it might all be a decoy."

Lin Yu continued his analysis.

Tuk listened to Lin Yu's words with a thoughtful expression, but in the end, he shook his head.

No... I don't think that's the case.

"Because I know very well what the people who want to kill me need, what they want... I know very well that it's not a pretense."

"I can even feel what I've lost now—I know he succeeded."

Tuk said this, Lin Yu was somewhat surprised.

"Oh? Then... why were you assassinated, and what was that person plotting back then?"

Tuk said in a low voice, "Bloodline — the Bloodline that made me king."

"Although I don't understand matters of the soul, I can sense that the royal Bloodline that I was born with in this body has disappeared."

Tuk spoke, Lin Yu became somewhat curious.

"Then what does he want your Bloodline for? To transform himself into a 'king'?"

"The Nether Void Realm... does it even have such evil methods and techniques?"

Tuk didn't reply; instead, he asked Lin Yu a question in return.

"If I'm not mistaken, the 'continent' has fallen completely silent, and even the current Human Race and Tail Race are completely unaware of the existence of the former Mu Kingdom, is that right?"

Tuk asked, and Lin Yu nodded.

"Yes, but this may not necessarily be related to your death or the person who caused all of this... After all, as far as I know, the Nether Void Realm suffered a 'doomsday' level disaster... Well, it might probably be related to some higher-level will."

"I've even heard that... the apocalypse of the sinking Mu Continent might have been a controlled performance, a necessary 'sacrifice,' to avoid a real apocalypse."

Lin Yu was talking about the news he had just received.

When these words reached Tuk's ears, he remained somewhat calm—no further expression appeared on the corpse's face.

Clearly, this news wasn't the kind of thing that would particularly shock or shock Tuk.

"Regarding the 'end of the world'... I foresaw it long ago, and I know many people are working towards it," Tuk said. "But I don't think that person killing me, or even the destruction of the Mu Kingdom and the sinking of the continent, have anything to do with the end of the world."

Lin Yu asked curiously, "Then why did you ask about whether the continent sank?"

Tuk said, "Because... he's not just taking away my Bloodline, but also the Bloodline of all the other royals and governors."

Lin Yu frowned. "Then what is the point of them doing this?"

"Authority."

Tuk uttered two words with difficulty.

He had been speaking and acting more fluently, but when he returned to the words he had just spoken, Tuk still seemed to feel that those two words carried immense weight.

After he uttered those two words...

Lin Yu was also somewhat puzzled. "Authority... why would obtaining Authority require killing you?"

Although he understood Authority better than the average "Player," he was still not particularly proficient—after all, the knowledge about "Authority" was far too profound and advanced.

As an ordinary "Player" who has not truly entered the Deity Domain, or even become Demigod, Lin Yu naturally cannot see the whole picture.

He couldn't understand why gaining Authority required killing.

"Has it been discovered that you were hoarding Authority?"

"Or... is this Authority related to 'assassination' or 'killing'?"

After thinking for a moment, Lin Yu asked.

But these two answers, which he himself didn't find particularly reliable, and which were only somewhat plausible, were certainly not the Truth.

Tuk continued, "He did it to... unite a completely new force."

"Just like what our Lord once did—extract, condense."

"A sacred ritual."

Lin Yu immediately understood what Tuk was saying.

The Deity worshipped by the high-ranking officials of the Lost Kingdom of the Mu Continent is certainly not the "God of Banquets".

They mostly worshipped the "God of Storm and Ocean".

Among the series of titles that Tuk mentioned in his self-introduction was the title of "Storm Priest," indicating that he also held some high-ranking clergy position.

Therefore, Lin Yu could almost certainly conclude that... the "Lord" that Tuk spoke of was the "God of Storm and Ocean".

So... since Tuk worships this Deity, then what he meant by "extraction" and "condensation" must be the secret that Tuk himself had only recently heard about.

The story of how the God of Storm and Ocean took away the "Ocean" from the "Barren Realm" in order to consolidate their Authority of Ocean.

But...

Although the royal family member in front of him was probably a top expert in the past, the royal Bloodline he possesses is likely a real and precious Bloodline inheritance, rather than a pseudo-concept that he casually mentions to "raise his status".

But compared to the "Ocean" of the entire world, Lin Yu always felt that the scale of the royal Bloodline seemed a bit off.

"What are their reasons for doing this...? What Authority are they consolidating? Why are they so confident that they can succeed?"

Lin Yu asked.

Tuk shook his head.

"I don't know why he's so sure this method will work; after all, even our Lord's most fervent followers wouldn't have thought of such a way of imitating him... But I do have some clues about the Authority he's extracting from our Bloodline."

The concept of 'Authority' he seeks to embody... should be close to concepts like 'imperial power' or 'inherent nobility'.

"But I... don't know the specifics either."