Chapter 1963 - 1963. Bet

King Elbas couldn't help but feel excited. He knew that the new danger shouldn't make him happy, but his existence shook in ecstasy at the sole thought to have a face-off with the inscription master that Heaven and Earth had personally recruited due to her talent.

The expert even forgot about his initial goal. The ninth rank was important, but satisfying his curiosity came first. Those two features obviously shared a deep connection, but King Elbas wasn't in the right mental state to consider that point. He only wanted to see where his expertise stood in front of the seemingly best inscription master in the Immortal Lands.

The whiteness radiated by the sky intensified after Jane's announcement. King Elbas saw how the chaotic laws fused with the light to establish a mental connection capable of linking those areas with the depths of the white layer.

A vague but heavy aura seeped out of the mental connection and spread throughout the sky and made King Elbas shake in surprise. That power belonged to the very peak of the cultivation journey. It carried the pressure that only a solid stage cultivator could wield.

"Why did you contact me, Rulers' Voice?" A deep female voice resounded in the sky.

King Elbas memorized every detail of that voice, and his study was so accurate that he even managed to sense the vague annoyance felt by the powerful expert. Divine Architect didn't like to be interrupted.

"I'm fighting the expert that Heaven and Earth had initially appointed as your replacement," Jane explained while performing a bow toward the sky. "I must admit that his power is too troublesome for my simple law."

"Laws don't need to be vast to grant you access to the inscription methods," The voice stated. "You are simply brutes looking for immediate gains. Don't blame your opponent's power when you can't defeat his techniques."

King Elbas' eyebrows arched in surprise when he heard the exact words he usually used to describe his companions. He didn't see anything about Divine Architect, but he felt already confident in the fact that the two of them were similar. That conclusion felt even noticeable when he considered that Heaven and Earth had wanted to recruit them both.

"Your disciple is ashamed," Jane exclaimed while performing another bow.

"You have never been my disciple," Divine Architect corrected. "Why should I waste time teaching others when I have yet to gaze at the full potential of my talent?"

"I would be the first in line for your teachings once you achieve the true peak," Jane responded.

"There is no true peak," Divine Architect snorted. "You follow Heaven and Earth, but your gaze stops at the peak of the ninth rank. You must strive further to reach the levels under that."

"Is it wise to talk about this with our opponent here?" Jane asked while glancing at King Elbas in the distance.

The interest in King Elbas' eyes was evident. He had even planned to make copies of everything he was hearing and seeing. Jane had given him the chance to witness a proper inscription master in the solid stage. That alone was enough to arouse his interest. The fact that the expert was a legend in his Mortal Lands was only another detail that intensified those feelings.

"You must tread on unwise paths to uncover what no one else has uncovered," Divine Architect commented. "Isn't that right, Xavier Elbas?"

"Did you just check Heaven and Earth's records to learn my name?" King Elbas asked in a vague mocking tone.

"Of course," Divine Architect revealed. "Existences like me can't bother to keep track of every promising cultivator that appears in the higher plane. Though I acknowledge your talent. I'm not surprised the rulers wanted to replace me with you."

"Doesn't that make you mad?" King Elbas questioned as real curiosity seeped into his voice.

"Why?" Divine Architect asked. "All I ever wanted was to create freely, and Heaven and Earth have given me that. They can replace me as far as I care. I will just go back to continue my experiments elsewhere."

"They won't let you go away so easily if I were to replace you," King Elbas announced.

"I'm the best inscription master that has ever stepped into the Immortal Lands," Divine Architect sneered. "I have created countermeasures that are as deep as Heaven and Earth's existence."

"How do you know that they will work?" King Elbas asked.

"Because I alone stand at the peak," Divine Architect declared, and a humming noise came out of the sky as if to confirm her statement.

"That's a lot coming from a slave who sold herself to gain resources," King Elbas tried to taunt the mighty expert.

"You founded your knowledge of the sky on hypotheses born from brutes with vague intuition," Divine Architect uttered. "Jane has told the truth. You had lost your chance to overcome my current peak when you decided to let Noah Balvan taint your existence."

"Or maybe I am striving to touch a realm that your mind can't even comprehend," King Elbas smirked.

"Are you talking about the final energy of this system?" Divine Architect asked. "That's a flawed path. I've also walked it in the past only to confirm how impossible it was."

"Your words are empty when spoken from among Heaven and Earth's light," King Elbas laughed.

"You are right," Divine Architect responded before more chaotic laws fused with the intensifying light. "I have no time for you. I would even need to break many regulations concerning fairness and my position here if I were to teleport there. Still, I have perfect opponents for you."

King Elbas showed a curious expression as he waited for the new opponents to fly past the connection. Three humanoid figures eventually materialized out of nowhere next to Jane and unfolded their unique auras.

King Elbas' eyes didn't linger on their slightly tall shapes, clawed hands, and featureless faces. Their different shades also didn't interest him. His consciousness immediately inspected the nature of their fabric, and what he discovered left him speechless.

The three puppets were mere inscribed items in the middle tier, but they carried different versions of the energy that King Elbas had used to create the hydra that had fought against the flying cockroaches. Those golems were the result of experiments that strived to reach the final energy.

"I stopped there," Divine Architect explained. "I found no point moving forward since it's not possible to create energy capable of containing every form of power. It's unreal, to say the least."

"What if I were to surpass your previous peak in the field now?" King Elbas asked. "Shall we make a bet?"

"Do you need materials so desperately?" Divine Architect asked, and King Elbas limited himself to fall silent as he tried to maintain a cold expression.

"It's not a secret for me," Divine Architect reassured King Elbas. "I've glanced at countless inscription masters, promising and non, but they all incur in the lack of materials eventually. Of course, I didn't have to go through that."

"I am desperate for materials," King Elbas admitted in a desperate attempt to bring the situation into his favor. "Let's make a bet."

"What can you even offer me?" Divine Architect asked. "A bet must be fair."

"You can have my existence if I lose," King Elbas announced. "I believe you know how valuable it can be to you."

****

Author's notes: I'll take a nap and move to Chaos.