Chapter 636 - Side Story: Tower Of Ascension (part 3/3)

Moving closer, the young man approached the elder. Just the aura that this man gave off made it hard on the youth to prevent his knees from caving in. In the end, after what he went through, just a bit of pressure like that was nowhere near enough to make him kneel.

"I finally made it here, huh?" Paraphrasing the words of the elder, the young man took three steps forward before lowering himself on his knees and placing his bottom right beside the man. Letting his legs hang free from the edge of the platform, for some reason, the young man wasn't scared by the notion of sitting above a literal abyss.

"I see…" Not bothering to make any sense, the strange elder said in a low voice, before turning silent again. His eyes directed towards the skydome as if trying to break through the barrier of the light given by a local star, in an attempt to see the rest of the greater world hidden behind it.

"Sir… If I may ask…" Given how all his answers were supposed to be answered in the tower, now that he climbed it, the young man no longer had the patience to wait.

All the pressure that pushed him forward before, all the determination that made him push through all kinds of dangers and torture to reach this place. And for all of that to be rewarded with a senile old man, refusing to answer a single question of his?

"There is no need for you to ask anything. Just wait in here for a moment with me." Putting a gentle smile on his lips, the old man smiled. "You are already sitting, so why won't you relax and await what's coming with anticipation?"

While the question was clearly directed to the youth, the old man seemingly directed it to the entire world at large. Even though the young man couldn't really figure out what it was, he could feel that everything that this old man said, had two meanings.

One, being the straightforward denotation of the words he uttered. Yet, there was a strange hint of innate wisdom, endless thoughtfulness that made it seem like if every single word of this man struck at the very crux of the universe itself.

"Okay then." Powerless to do anything about this old man's antics, the young man finally ended up following his advice. Given how the other party clearly knew what was going on, he had no choice but to be at the mercy of his whim.

"You see, even after recreating this place, after rebuilding everything that had to be done from the scratch, all on my own… Some things just had to work out in a very specific manner." After several moments of staring at the blue cape surrounding the planet, the old man finally started speaking. "Just like how it was necessary for you to wait for your savior to arrive here on her own."

As soon as the old man finished his words, the same doors that the young man crossed a few moments ago suddenly slammed open. And from the inside of the tower, an impossible beauty appeared.

Dressed only in extremely revealing ritual clothing, as soon as she placed her naked foot on the cold stone of the terrace, the runes that shone dimly before suddenly exploded in brightness. At the same time, this clearly magical glow didn't paralyze the young man's eyes, allowing him to stare at the girl who just begun an intricate dance.

Swinging her hips, to the sides, she moved her legs in a strange pattern. Two steps forward, one to the side, then three to the back. With her body swaying to some silent music, the runes on the platform only continued to glow brighter.

"Now, it's whenever you are ready. Once you will come through the altar, the ritual will be fulfilled." Smiling gently, the old man didn't stand up like a normal human would do, but floated a bit upwards before simply standing on his legs. "Your answers rest in that girl's lips."

Suddenly moving forward, the old man proved that his psychique was far removed from his appearance. Appearing right beside the young visitor, he gently patted him on his back, nearly causing several of the young man's ribs to crack open. "She waited for you longer than you could imagine." For a moment, the smile on the elder's mouth soured, as if speaking those words out loud struck a sad yet powerful chord in his soul. "Don't make her wait even longer."

Propelled by those words, the young man stood up. As soon as his eyes once again landed on the lascivious body of the dancing female, a certain string in his soul trembled. Not controlled by his mind, his legs involuntarily moved forward, pushing him on top of the altar.

As soon as the young man's hands touched the huge stone of the ritual's centerpiece, all the runes on the platform suddenly exploded in light, only to vanish in the very next moment all at once. In exchange, their light converged atop the altar, creating a roundish glow roughly the size of a human person in diameter.

"Answers rests in her lips, huh?" Recalling this single sentence, the young man lowered his eyes for a moment, before moving them back right up. Only to see the girl stopping her dance and stare at the same portal he was seeing with a clear expectation and hope in her eyes. At this point, with her dance suddenly ceased, the tattered robes she was wearing no longer offered even the illusory protection, revealing everything there was to reveal about her body right to the young man's eyes.

And ultimately it was this innate, natural lust that suddenly exploded in the young man's body, that forced his shaky legs to make this one, last step.

The portal vanished. All the light that turned this sky-residence so bring, was now gone. For some strange reason, the day turned to a night, as if everything that the young man saw so far was only an illusion.

But the girl remained. Standing rooted in the spot, she simply stared at the young man standing on top of the altar. Their eyes connected. Pulled by some strange force, the young man made his first step, getting a little bit closer to the girl. But the closer he got, the stronger this innate attraction of his was.

Before the young man could even realize it, the distance between him and the girl was no more. Dropping right into his arms, she didn't hesitate even for a second to offer her lips to him.

It all appeared in a single flash.

As soon as the wet, fleshy lips of the girl touched his own mouth, a raging storm of memories appeared in Clark's head. The day he was crushed under a boulder randomly appearing in the middle of the city. The day he transmigrated to an isekai, cultivation world, where he was destined to rule all with the help of his system.

The day when his system broke, developing its own personality as a result. The day he learned the truth about the world he was sent to. The day his head was looped off, as someone not following the gods' script could only be treated as a despicable heretic.

Those were all Clark's memories. But as Systeria's lips continued to move wildly in the deep kiss that connected them, yet another memory appeared in Clark's mind.

"I promise I will find a way to let your master return to the living. I promise I will find a suitable host for him."

A strange meeting of the Systeria in her old, mechanical form. A strange, young man with the appearance of a random cultivator from the wider world, yet with eyes that appeared to be deeper than the universe itself.

And the conviction in his eyes, that instantly made Clark believe the words of that man.

'Could it be…' So shocked by the realization, Clark suddenly pulled away from the kiss, even going as far as to push his beloved lightly away. Turning his head around, he stared in the direction where the elder previously was.

"With that, my promise is fulfilled." The voice of the elder appeared in Clark's ears, despite him being unable to locate its source. It seemed as if the wind itself was creating those words out of nowhere, obeying the commands of someone even greater than the natural forces of the entire planet.

"While it's not exactly what I meant with her lips, I guess this works as well. With that said…" A short break appeared. And in this short break, strange images, sounds, and memories filled Clark's mind. For a moment, he saw the entire past of the cultivator he saw in the previous memories. He saw his distraught, depression, and determination alike. And then, he realized that his eyes were exactly the same as the eyes of the elder he saw a moment before.

"What was that voice?!" Startled by the sound, Systeria went in full battle mode. With her muscles tensing up, Clark could see that not only was the promise to restore him to the world of living fulfilled, but Systeria's body, something that he created from the self-improved schematic of a golem, was now a body of living flesh and blood, housing the very soul that manifested as an independent system in his previous life.

"It was his voice." Still staring in the spot where the elder last appeared, Clark couldn't say the words he wanted for some reason. As if the world itself was preventing him from calling that elder a god.

"His voice? You mean…" From the girl's reaction, it was clear that she didn't experience the same return of memories as Clark did. But given her specification as a system, she was more than capable of recalling that single promise she made with a stranger in far in the past.

"Yeah. But let's not think about it." Placing his arm around the soft and warm flesh of the girl, Clark brought her a bit closer as he looked in the distance. What was a veil of heavenly blue before, turned out to be a semi-transparent barrier separating them from a lush world of plains on the other side. For some reason, Clark could tell what was the purpose of that barrier, and how to use it.

As if that barrier's rules and commands were ingrained in his mind ever since the moment he was born.

"For now, let's just enjoy ourselves." In the end, Clark smiled as he gave up on the idea of thinking about the means of a literal god. "Isn't that why he created this paradise for us, my love?"