Waktu Lex dan Giselle mendapatkan artefak kesembilan dari kekaisaran Selpak, baru beberapa jam berlalu. Dengan tujuan jelas yang bisa dia rasakan, jarak bukan halangan bagi Lex sama sekali. Mereka hanya menghadapi satu pengepungan lagi, dan kali ini Profanite benar-benar mengepung mereka bukan berjalan dengan sombong ke arah mereka meski jumlah mereka lebih banyak.
Saati pengepungan itulah Lex menyadari semua Profanite, meski tubuhnya berbeda, pada dasarnya klon, atau lebih tepatnya boneka siapa pun yang menyuplai mereka kekuatan. Mereka tahu segala yang dialami Profanite sebelumnya dan merencanakannya.
Giselle juga sudah memberitahunya apa yang diharapkan saat menghadapi mereka. Intinya, energi Profane adalah sumber segala kekuatan mereka, dan tradisional memberi keuntungan masif atas siapa pun yang mereka hadapi, termasuk abadi.
Energi Profane adalah energi kualitas lebih tinggi, level lebih tinggi yang melampaui energi spirit umum itulah mengapa serangan, pertahanan, bahkan tubuh abadi normal lemah terhadap mereka. Hanya dan hanya dengan menggunakan hukum orang lain bisa melawannya, tapi biasanya bahkan itu pun tidak cukup, karena menggunakan hukum pun mewajibkan abadi setidaknya menggunakan sedikit energi spirit.
Tapi, alasan yang dia tidak bisa bayangkan, tidak hanya energi Profane tidak melukai dia sama sekali, bahkan saat mereka dikepung dan Profanite mencoba mengutuk dia menggunakan kekuatan masif energi Profane, itu hampir tidak bekerja.
"Cukup sederhana sebenarnya," kata Lex saat mereka teleport menjauh dari reruntuhan runtuh lain. Harus dia akui, orang Selpak benar-benar punya arsitektur berkualitas bangunan mereka masih bertahan, meski hanya sebentar.
"Bukan berarti aku tahu detail penuh soal ini, tapi aku yakin energi spiritual individu ku sendiri levelnya lebih tinggi dari energi Profane - kalau energi diberi peringkat."
Meningkatkan tubuhnya dengan bahan Dao level bukan mainan. Bahkan Lex sendiri tidak tahu sepenuhnya perubahan apa yang dialaminya karena dia harus menjaga dirinya tersegel.
"Apalagi, aku latihan mentoleransi serangan tingkat abadi Surgawi. Aku jujur tidak tahu apakah sudah capai, dan aku memang tidak terlalu mau mencobanya, tapi itu tujuannya. Aku selalu agak bangga dengan pertahananku."
"Aku ingat itu," kata Giselle saat tiba-tiba ingat Lex menahan serangan abadi Bumi di Polebitvy. Saat itu dia belum sampai realm Nascent.
"Jadi artinya tidak mudah melukai tubuhku. Jujur, aku pengen bereksperimen dan tahu batasku, tapi alasan tertentu aku tidak bisa."
Alasannya kalau kerusakan yang dia terima terlalu parah bisa memecah segelnya, jadi dia biasanya menghindar menerima serangan yang dia tidak yakin bisa ditanggung dengan mudah.
Ada alasan Lex begitu terbuka soal kemampuannya, dan bukan karena Giselle bikin wajah lucu setiap kali bingung dengan apa yang dia lakukan - meski itu memuaskan banget untuk alasan aneh. Tidak, dia ingin tahu kenapa energi Profane terasa beda saat dia gunakan.
Mata kirinya dengan mudah menangkap sejumlah energi berputar di tubuhnya, termasuk yang dia yakin adalah waktu! Bahkan afinitas waktunya sendiri tersegel untuk alasan yang dia sendiri tidak tahu, jadi dia tidak bisa bayang bagaimana dia bisa menguasainya begitu mudah. Dia punya rasio saat waktunya untuk membuka segel afinitasnya tiba dia akan tahu alami, jadi sampai saat itu dia harus hidup dengan itu.
Dia menatapnya dengan tatapan renung, lalu akhirnya menghela napas.
"Sederhana kok," kata dia, mengutip persis cara Lex memulai. "Soal Dao, tidak ada baik atau jahat. Bahkan hal yang dianggap paling keji keberadaan seperti rasa sakit, kematian, busuk, pelapukan, mereka bagian dari tatanan alami yang menjaga keseimbangan. Baik dan jahat hanya konstruksi makhluk hidup. Artinya bahkan dalam keberadaan paling keji seperti energi Profane, yang dijauhi galaksi dan realm entah berapa, ada elemen keanggunan dan kelicikan. Bukan berarti aku mempertahankan yang menyebarkan kematian dan kehancuran, tidak. Aku cuma bilang begitu masuk tanganku... begitu apapun masuk tanganku, jadi kekuatan untuk tujuan yang aku tentukan, dan tidak lain."
Dia mengangkat pedang perak licinnya, menatapnya dengan mata dalam sambil melanjutkan.
"Lagi pula... begitu banyak hal dianggap jahat oleh beberapa orang dan baik oleh yang lain. Pedang merusak nyawa sama banyaknya dengan yang diselamatkan, tapi dianggap senjata orang benar oleh sebagian besar faksi."
Lex tidak komentar, karena dia jelas terseret kenangan tertentu, tapi dia mengerti inti apa yang dia katakan. Intinya, seperti Lex fokus pada pertahanan, dia fokus pada kontrol. Dia mendapat penguasaan sempurna atas apa pun yang dipakai, sehingga mengadopsi sifat yang dia inginkan, bukan yang biasanya ditampilkan.
Mengesankan, dan tidak mudah. Meskipun teknis Lex juga punya kontrol luar biasa atas semua energinya, pemahaman alami yang meningkat peran signifikan. Meski begitu, dia tidak begitu mudah memanipulasi sifat apa yang ditampilkan energinya. Itu tidak pernah tujuannya. Setelah beberapa jam lagi, mereka selesai mengumpulkan semua urusan Selpak, saat itu Giselle menyebutkan tujuan berikutnya. Satu per satu, Lex bantu dia menuntas semuanya, membuktikan nilai dirinya soal menemukan barang paling tersembunyi sekalipun.
Meski begitu, butuh seminggu penuh untuk menyelesaikan semua tujuan Giselle, dan mulai menuju ke pusat.
Saat itulah Giselle akhirnya mengungkap kenapa pusat tampak tersembunyi.
By the time Lex and Giselle got their hands on the ninth artifact from the Selpak empire, only a few hours had passed. With a clear destination that he could sense, distance was of no consequence to Lex at all. They only faced one more ambush, and this time the Profanites genuinely ambushed them instead of walking up brazenly to them despite their greater numbers.
It was during that ambush that Lex noticed that all the Profanites, despite the different bodies, were essentially clones, or rather puppets of whoever was supplying them with power. They knew everything that the previous Profanites experienced and so planned for it.
Giselle had also let him know what to expect when facing them. Basically, Profane energy was the source of all their power, and traditionally gave them an immense advantage over everyone they faced, including immortals.
Profane energy was a higher quality, higher leveled energy that surpassed general spirit energy which is why normal immortal's attacks, defense and even their bodies were weak to them. Only and only using laws would allow others to combat them, but usually even that was not enough, for even using laws required the immortal to at least use some of the spirit energy.
But, for reasons she could just not imagine, not only did Profane energy not harm him at all, even when they were ambushed and the Profanites tried to curse him using the immense powers of Profane energy, it hardly seemed to work.
"It's quite simple actually," said Lex as they teleported away from another collapsing ruin. He had to say, the Selpak people really did have good quality architecture for their buildings to still be surviving, even if only barely.
"I'm not saying that I know the full details of these things, but I'm pretty sure my own individual spiritual energy is ranked higher than Profane energy - if energies were to be ranked."
Upgrading his body with a Dao level ingredient was no joke. Even Lex himself did not know the full extent of the changes he experienced for he had to keep himself sealed.
"Not to mention, I've been training to tolerate a Heavenly immortal level attack. I honestly don't know if I've reached it, and I'm not really keen on trying it either, but that was the goal. I've always been a little proud of my defense."
"I recall that actually," said Giselle as she suddenly remembered Lex tanking and Earth immortal's attack back on Polebitvy. Back then he hadn't even reached the Nascent realm yet.
"So that means it's not so easy to hurt my body. Honestly, I'd actually like to experiment and find out what my limits are, but for certain reasons I can't do that."
The reasons being if the damage he took was too intense it might break his seal, so he usually avoided suffering attacks he was unsure of being able to tolerate easily.
There was a reason why Lex was being so forthcoming about his own abilities, and it wasn't because Giselle made a cute face every time she was stumped by something he did - though that was extremely satisfying for some reason. No, he wanted to know why Profane energy felt so different when she used it.
His left eye had easily caught a number of energies running around her body, including what he was pretty sure was time! Even his own time affinity had been sealed for reasons he himself did not know, so he could not even imagine how she was able to easily wield it. He had a feeling that when the time came for him to unseal his affinity he'd just naturally know, so until then he just had to live with it.
She gave him a contemplative look, and then eventually sighed.
"It's simple really," she said, paraphrasing exactly how he began. "When it comes to the Dao, there is no such thing as good or evil. Even things that are perceived as the worst side of existence such as pain, death, rot, decay, they are a part of a natural order that keeps the balance. Good and evil are just constructs of the living. Which means that even in the most vile of existences, such as that of Profane energy, which is revulsed by entire galaxies and realms, there is an element of elegance and grace. "Not that I'm defending those that spread death and destruction, no. I'm just saying that once it enters my hand… once anything enters my hand, it becomes a force for the purpose I deign, and nothing else."
She held up her sleek, silver sword, looking at it with deep eyes as she continued.
"After all… there are so many things that are considered evil by some and good by others. Swords have ruined just as many lives as they have saved, yet they are considered the weapons of the righteous by most factions."
Lex did not comment, for she was clearly distracted by certain memories, but he understood the essence of what she was saying. Basically, like Lex specifically focused on defense, she specifically focused on control. She gained a perfect mastery over whatever she used, so that it adopted the traits she desired from it, and not the ones it usually exhibited.
It was impressive, and not easy at all. Although technically speaking, Lex also had excellent control of all his energies, his naturally increased comprehension played a significant role in that. Even then, he could not so easily manipulate what traits his energies showed. It had never been his purpose to begin with. After a few more hours, they finished collecting all the Selpak chores, at which point Giselle mentioned her next objective. One by one, Lex helped her go through all of them, proving his worth when it came to finding even the most hidden of items.
Even then, it took an entire week for them to complete all of Giselle's objectives, and begin making their way towards the center.
That's when Giselle finally revealed why the center seemed hidden.
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