Chapter 980: Starlight Essence
Using close to half an hour meticulously searching the foundation for any signs of the symbols he had seen in the vision of the past, Xuan Hao ended up finding nothing. Even trying to use the flame imprint between his brows to try and see if it would cause some sort of reaction didn't prove useful and, in the end, Xuan Hao could only give up trying to find out more about the foundation.
After all, it was not like he could break part of it to see what might be hidden inside with his current strength. On the other hand, doing something like this might result in the symbols seeing him as an enemy and attacking him.... And when comparing his own strength with the dragon who had almost instantly been killed by the symbols, he didn't really feel like he had the strength to try and forcefully break open the foundation and find out what might be hidden inside of it.
"Ha... I guess I will have to give up on that for now..." Shaking his head as he muttered this to himself while looking down towards the smooth surface of the foundation beneath his feet, Xuan Hao turned his attention towards the system panel showing the different quests he had been issued.
Glancing through the list of quests, Xuan Hao decided to ignore the limited time quest that seemed to never run out of time before turning his attention towards the side quest for the celestial gates that he had completed close to a day ago at this point in time.
[Side Quest: The Three Celestial Gates, Part 2 (Complete)]
[First Trial: Trial of the Eternal City (Complete)]
[Second Trial: Trial of the Emerald Serpent (Complete)]
[Third Trial: Trial of the Great Sandworm (Complete)]
[Reward: Starlight Essence]
Not bothering to read through the long description of the side quest again, Xuan Hao instead focused his attention on the Starlight Essence. Although he had an idea that it should be something precious, he honestly had no idea what it was nor what it did. In the end, this was also the reason why he had chosen not to redeem the reward while he was still inside the trial space.
After all, for all he knew, the Starlight Essence might be something that forcibly made him enter a state of enlightenment or something similar after redeeming it. Even if this might be a good thing on the surface, it was not really safe to enter such a state inside the trial space where a giant sandworm could be lurking beneath him at any moment... And that was not mentioning the fact that the desert might get more dangerous the longer he ended up spending inside of it.
Although he was no longer as sure as before that the trial space would kill him after seven days, he still had a feeling that something bad would have happened to him if he stayed in there for a period longer than seven days...
Shaking his head as he thought about this, Xuan Hao turned his attention back towards the side quest as a small panel appeared in front of him.
[Redeem Reward: Y/N]
Yes!
Only glancing over the small panel for a short moment, Xuan Hao unconsciously nodded his head as he thought this to himself-
Whoosh~
Not a second later, a delicate crystal that emitted a gentle, ethereal glow resembling the stars in a moonlit sky, appeared hovering a few centimeters in front of him as it pulsed with a soothing rhythm.
So, this is starlight essence.
Observing the strange, yet beautiful crystal that had appeared in front of him, Xuan Hao unknowingly felt a mixture of awe and reverence appearing in the depths of his soul as he looked at the delicate crystal floating in the air in front of him.
"Huh!?"
However, upon closer inspection of the delicate crystal, Xuan Hao was shocked to discover that there seemed to be several small stars hidden inside of the crystal, each one blending together in a unique constellation that seemed to contain the essence of the universe.
Even if Xuan Hao understood that this should be nothing more than an illusion created by the inherent power contained inside the starlight essence, it still made him feel an undeniable desire to learn more as he entered an all most spell bound state while starring into the seemingly large universe hidden inside the delicate crystal hovering in the air in front of him.
...
At the same time Xuan Hao entered a trance while looking at the starlight essence, the rabbit demon beast let out a lazy yawning sound before stretching its entire body on top of the thin tree branch that seemed like it was about to break at any moment under its weight.
Squeak~
Finished stretching its body, the rabbit demon beast that seemed like it had just woken up from a short nap slowly began climbing down the thin tree hanging over the edge of the terraced pool of water before jumping into the water and making its way back towards the foundation where Xuan Hao was located.
Having decided that it had punished Xuan Hao with waiting for long enough.
Squeak?
However, when it reached the foundation of the pagoda, it could not help letting a confused squeak escape from its small mouth as it saw Xuan Hao staring blankly into the air. In the eyes of the rabbit demon beast, he looked like a lost soul who had lost its purpose.
Squeak...
Feeling like it knew what had caused him to end up in this lost state, a rare apologetic expression appeared on the face of the rabbit demon beast.
Maybe I was too harsh on him...
Along with this simple line of thought going through its head, the rabbit demon beast decided to quickly make its way over to Xuan Hao. Intending to show its magnanimousness towards Xuan Hao by forgiving him for the early scare he had given it earlier.
Squeak... Squeak, Squeak, Squeak? Squeak!
Arriving in front of Xuan Hao, the rabbit demon beast lifted its head to look at him as it graciously forgave him for his earlier transgression. Knowing full well just how much its forgiveness was worth...
"Huh!?"
And just like the rabbit demon beast had been expecting, it soon saw the expression on Xuan Hao's face starting to light up again before a joyful expression appeared on his face.
Swish~
Feeling happy and a tad bit embarrassed upon seeing this reaction, the rabbit demon beast hurried up along the new a far more comfortable robe that he was wearing before finding a much large hidden pocket than before that it could hide inside of. Now that it had forgiven Xuan Hao, he should resume their journey out of this place... And hopefully also supply it with more of the delicious rocks that he had been giving i!
Squeak~
Thinking about the delicious rocks it had eaten and how there would be more of them appearing in the future, the rabbit demon beast felt itself getting drowsy as it soon drifted off into sleep once again. For some reason, the energy inside of its body had almost been completely drained after swimming back to the foundation.
As for how it was possible for a short swim to drain the energy of the Third Tribulation Soul Ascension Realm demon beast... The rabbit demon beast didn't really think about this, as its thoughts were already preoccupied with thinking about the delicious rocks that it would be eating in the future.
...
"Huh!?"
Feeling himself suddenly waking up from the strange trance that he had somehow found himself in, Xuan Hao could not help looking at the delicate crystal floating in the air in front of him with a blank expression on his face before it was soon replaced by one filled with joy.
During the short moment that he had been staring straight into the delicate crystal and observing the unique constellation hidden inside. During this process, he realized that the starlight essence was a strange form of energy stored inside of the delicate crystal. In a sense, the delicate crystal served the simple purpose of not allowing the starlight essence stored inside to leak out and disperse into the surrounding environment.
Not only that, but the small bits of starlight essence leaking out from the delicate crystal, gave him a chance to absorb the starlight essence... And doing this, he discovered that his body seemed to have a reaction after coming into contact with the starlight essence- no, it was more accurate to say that his special physique that was still in a dormant state seemed to have a reaction to the starlight essence.
Not just a reaction, the starlight essence is clearly helping in awakening it!
Feeling a joyful expression appearing on his face after this realization, Xuan Hao understood just how precious the starlight essence in front of him was. Even if he couldn't fully awaken his physique, he should at the very least be able to get close to fully awakening it...