Chapter One Hundred Forty-Two: The Sea's Transformation

At this moment, after collecting their pay, Jellos and his two companions arrived at an island known for its thriving entertainment industry and went their separate ways.

Inside a stylishly decorated tavern, a large advanced crystal screen displayed the border news.

“Near the Poloto Archipelago, a vast expanse of black seaweed is receding; this area is only a hundred kilometers from the border…”

The footage showed the sea revealing its deep blue hue. A news reporter piloted a small flying boat, hovering in the sky.

A statuesque, slender beauty wearing a sleeveless top that exposed her toned waist and part of her chest was intently watching the news while sipping her drink.

“Looks like this batch of black seaweed was cut corners on,” Jellos remarked as he sat beside her, snapping his fingers to order a drink and glancing at her with a smile.

“You seem to have some misconceptions about research mages,” the beauty said, smiling as she looked at Jellos’s attire. “Sir Brave.”

“Hm? Did I give myself away?” Jellos exaggeratedly raised both arms and laughed, glancing down at his clothes.

“This outfit is last year’s latest model, a variable mage armor, isn’t it?” she said with a smile. “It sells for two hundred gold and is restricted to mage-type braves. Anyone who can afford it is at least a B or A-class brave.”

“Never thought a beauty would be so discerning. Cheers to you,” Jellos grinned, raising his glass.

“Discerning? No, I designed this armor myself,” the beauty laughed even more joyfully than Jellos. She tapped his forehead playfully. “So, kid, go find some other playmates.”

“Hm?” Jellos was momentarily stunned but then shook his head helplessly, downing his drink and leaving.

‘Another one from the granny generation…’ Jellos sighed inwardly.

This mage’s name was Lin Nako. Though a research mage without the aptitude for the brave system, she was a super mage surpassing the tenth-level mage sequence. Skilled in developing and crafting various magical artifacts, she also mastered the rarest and most mysterious divine rank spell, “Immortality,” granting her an extraordinarily long life.

Divine rank spells were ultimate magic developed by various nations before the world began to change.

Regarding life extension, naturally, every country’s upper echelon was deeply interested, hence the birth of the Immortality spell. Yet, for some reason, very few mastered it, likely due to its extremely stringent learning and usage restrictions.

“This is troublesome… Looks like I need to stay far away from here,” Lin Nako muttered while drinking, watching the news footage where large areas of sea turned a vivid blue. “These guys are still so slow to react. Have they forgotten how terrifying those monsters are after too long a peace?”

Far away, at the edge of the Endless Sea on the mainland, a massive metal fortress stood. A burly, white-haired elder with a face full of wrinkles sat cross-legged, eyes closed, before his desk.

A group of men and women in military uniforms respectfully took turns reporting to him.

“No abnormalities found?” The elder slowly opened his amber eyes, looking at a man. “You still haven’t figured out why the black seaweed is receding?!”

“Yes. And even after deploying genetically enhanced, more resilient new breeds, there has been no effect…” the man nodded helplessly. “The mage department suspects this might be a divine-rank large-scale spell involving causality laws—a ‘wide-area decree’ spell. Such high-level magic can’t be detected or countered by us; all we can do is speculate on its mechanism and avoid it while redesigning.”

“Can’t resolve it quickly? Hmm… The closest creatures near the Poloto Archipelago shore are the dwarf mountain magic worms, right?” The elder frowned, his expression strange. “Do those worms wield such magic? Also, is the terrestrial vegetation barrier nearby intact?”

“Report: after inspection, no issues detected. The area has been placed on level one alert. No matter what the magic worms do, we can respond at top speed,” a female officer replied. “Also, Gale has been dispatched near the Poloto Archipelago to ensure nothing is left to chance.”

Gale was one of the top ten stationed at the Endless Sea, with strength only slightly inferior to the super-tier champion, King Dais.

“Caution is good, but something’s off.” The elder shook his head and closed his eyes again. “The dwarf mountain magic worms aren’t the culprits. They’ve always been interested only in land, not the ocean. And most importantly, they do not use magic! Their specialty is biochemical weapons that can produce similar effects, but viruses or bacteria would be detectable, so…”

“Keep a close watch here.” The elder opened his eyes and tapped his index finger on the map on the desk.

There, marked boldly, was the word “Huosha.”

“If it’s them, perhaps using their twisted sacrificial rituals, they can produce similar effects,” the elder said gravely, his finger tracing the markings of various remote demon domains. “I’m continuously monitoring the others. Those tribes of ‘Huosha,’ due to their unique nature, cannot be infiltrated, captured, or corrupted through charm or modification.” He frowned. “Assign Gale to keep a close watch on Huosha and urge the mage department to expedite resolving the black seaweed recession. Meeting adjourned.”

“Yes!”

“Hah… Seems like something big is brewing, old man…” The elder sighed deeply, his expression grave as he looked at the Huosha mark on the map. “If the border’s vegetation barrier fails, Gale and the military alone won’t hold it. We’ll need reinforcements. The closest ones to send are…”

He turned to a pile of newspapers under the nearby tea table, recalling a recent report.

“He should be the closest.”

In the royal capital Saint Veil, within the secret review chamber of the association, a man and a woman captured by Dais were separately confined in pitch-black cells barely five square meters in size.

“Still can’t get anything out of them?” asked Carter, head of the royal capital branch, frowning.

“Yes, their memories have been wiped clean. They’re acting as if they were just summoned here,” a staff member said, pointing to his temple with a grimace. “In this state, it’s probably impossible to put them on trial. Honestly… maybe it’s better to release them for reconditioning? Like sending them to the northern border?”

The world’s approach was practical; useful resources were not wasted casually.

“That means they aren’t the masterminds,” Carter shook his head. “Until this matter is fully resolved, we can’t let them go. Who knows if the real mastermind has a way to restore their memories?”

“But if their memories were restored, we’d have to put them on trial, so releasing them remains impossible,” Carter explained. “In any case, someone must be held responsible. Let them bear that responsibility.”

In a hotel directly affiliated with the association in the royal city, Dais jumped from the balcony into the room, drawing curtains imbued with isolation wards to block the reporters’ sudden intrusion.

“No good—once my whereabouts are exposed, I can’t get any rest,” Dais sighed, lying down and closing his eyes to recuperate.

Regarding the Rainbow Heart, Dais explained Abu Fanger’s anomaly. He claimed Abu Fanger spent centuries merging the Rainbow Heart with the True King’s body and, under duress, had no choice but to destroy both by annihilating part of the world.

Though the upper echelons knew the Rainbow Heart wouldn’t be destroyed by spatial annihilation, they were unsure if Abu Fanger’s merged version was equally resilient.

This was the first time they had heard of the Rainbow Heart’s existence being altered in such a manner.

As for the curse and anomaly Abu Fanger mentioned, Dais had also revealed those to the upper layers.

Speaking of which, the origin and purpose of the Rainbow Heart must be told.

This thing was absolutely not meant for drawing heroic spirits through cards! Zhao Tian and others had used it incorrectly!

Its true purpose was to create the brave system!

Indeed, every brave system contained a trace of the Rainbow Heart’s power, or rather, its residual energy.

After the brave system was produced, it had to be activated by the Rainbow Heart to be implanted and usable in the human body. Without this, the brave system was nothing but a useless magical formation.

Its origin was the blood of an unnamed hero from a thousand years ago!

Until death, the hero never revealed his face. After draining his blood, his body simply dissipated.

The original hero’s blood later condensed into heart-shaped crystals or luminous fleshy masses, all pulsating.

This was the Rainbow Heart.

Among them, the crystalline hearts were stronger, able to rapidly mass-produce brave systems. The fleshy hearts were weaker, requiring cooldown periods after producing certain quantities.

Abu Fanger had once participated in a plan called “Primordial Regeneration.”

They processed the fleshy heart and implanted it into Abu Fanger’s body, greatly enhancing his abilities and granting him some primordial hero power, making him an unparalleled “Savior Hero” of his era.

But this thing had a huge flaw, and the most fatal was…

Abu Fanger became a “monster”!

Yes, after implanting the Rainbow Heart, it consumed the brave system, merged with Abu Fanger’s innate system, and transformed him into a monster!

On the surface, it was manageable, but once entering dungeons or contacting otherworldly demon domains, Abu Fanger would be corroded by alien life energy, unleashing an innate murderous intent to “exterminate the old species!”

Just like the hatred harbored by monsters attacking the braves!

Yet, as the most suitable candidate selected by the upper echelon, Abu Fanger’s willpower far surpassed ordinary braves or heroic spirits, allowing him to suppress this violent killing intent and fight normally.

But during the protracted battle with the demon domain’s True King, the Immortal Sea Emperor, he succumbed.

At that time, he was already transforming into a “True King-level” demon lord, prompting the Immortal Sea Emperor to underestimate him and consider cooperation.

However, just as Abu Fanger was about to lose control to the killing intent, he separated the Rainbow Heart’s power and used divine rank magic to seal the Immortal Sea Emperor’s body!

If the Immortal Sea Emperor hadn’t quickly withdrawn his soul, he would have been completely sealed.

Forced soul separation drastically weakened his strength, forcing him to flee back to the depths of his homeland, the Endless Sea.

But he was unaware that by then, Abu Fanger was already an ordinary man.

He had sacrificed the Rainbow Heart, causing it to overload and detach, but his gifted abilities were taken away with it.

Afterward, Abu Fanger lived out his remaining days as a normal person.

His final wish was to be buried in the core cave sealing the Immortal Sea Emperor—that is, the scene of the previous magic worm incident’s mastermind—beneath the funeral parlor’s large pit.

It now seemed the Rainbow Heart was separated, but that murderous intent likely remained within Abu Fanger’s heart.

From then on, he was no longer an “ordinary person,” but an “ordinary monster.”

His last shred of reason not only sealed the Immortal Sea Emperor but also his own power, ensuring he would not stir up trouble in his remaining days.

Indeed, after that, Abu Fanger did little beyond researching spells.

If not for the terror organization’s interference causing his premature resurrection, no one would have known he was plotting to revive as a True King.

To the upper echelons, Abu Fanger was likely the masked man’s mastermind, and this resurrection was his contingency plan.

But in fact, Dais had not reported one fact: Abu Fanger was actually resurrected prematurely by Dais’s own accidental actions!

“This world is truly too dangerous,” Dais closed his eyes tightly, feeling the Rainbow Heart within him. “Monster transformation? If so, the next plan becomes much simpler… but timing is crucial…”

A faint smile curved at the corner of his mouth, as two completely different heartbeats echoed from his chest…