Lex pernah mendengar istilah 'Primordial' sebelumnya. Faktanya, apalagi mayat, dia pernah bertemu Primordial yang hidup, secara teknis. Teratai di punggungnya sebenarnya disebut World Seed Lotus, dan spesiesnya disebut seri Primordial Origin Lotus.
Lex tidak tahu banyak tentang spesies ini, tapi berdasarkan namanya dia bisa dengan mudah menebak bahwa teratai di punggungnya hanyalah salah satu dari banyak Primordial Lotus. Lagi pula, teratai itu membutuhkan energi spiritual sangat khusus yang disebut Primordial Spirit energy yang akan hadir di Inn kecuali dia menaikkan level bintang Inn ke 8!
Itulah alasan asli kenapa dia harus membawa teratai di punggungnya, karena teratai itu hanya bisa menyerap energi tersebut dari alam semesta di luar Inn. Dia tidak tahu seberapa melimpah energi itu di alam semesta, tapi setidaknya melebihi yang ada di Inn.
Dia juga pernah mendengar istilah itu di tempat lain. Secara spesifik, realm yang akan didaki setelah mencapai Heavenly Immortal dari dalam Crystal realm disebut Primordial Garden. Dia tidak tahu banyak tentang itu kecuali ras Crystal mempertahankan kehadiran di sana, tapi tidak bisa dianggap ras dominan di sana.
Penyebutan istilah 'primordial' terbaru adalah oleh makhluk aneh yang bisa masuk ke pikiran Lex. Meskipun kata-katanya tidak terlalu andal, ia mengklaim bahwa apa pun yang membunuh naga itu adalah makhluk primordial yang tidur. Kemungkinan makhluk primordial yang tidur terbangun begitu dekat dengan mayat makhluk primordial sangat aneh, jadi Lex memindai permata dan mayat itu, tapi Sistem tidak mendeteksi makhluk hidup di dalam yang bisa jadi tamu. Itu menenangkannya.
Secara keseluruhan, itu bukan istilah yang belum pernah dia temui sebelumnya. Dia bisa menyimpulkan bahwa itu mewakili sesuatu yang sangat kuat, seperti yang terlihat dari level Primordial Garden serta Teratai di punggungnya, tapi seharusnya tidak begitu langka, kan? Jika begitu, dia tidak mengerti tingkat kegembiraan dalam suara Pel, atau kenapa hal seperti itu layak jadi obsesi naga.
Lex dengan nyaman melupakan bahwa Teratai itu berasal dari benih yang bisa dianggap langka tidak hanya di Origin realm, tapi di seluruh alam semesta!
'Apa yang istimewa dari mayat primordial?' Lex bertanya. Dengan Pel, meskipun dia sebagian besar menjaga kondisi seolah menguji Pel bukan bertanya padanya, dia tidak terlalu khawatir aktingnya terdeteksi. Pertama, Pel terlalu sederhana pikirannya saat ini. Kedua, dia tidak bertemu Pel dengan identitas Pengelola Inn, jadi dia tidak memiliki kebutuhan mendesak untuk menjaga reputasi apapun. Lagipula, itu wajar jika Lex, sebagai kultivator Golden Core, tidak tahu semua rahasia alam semesta.
'Ingatanku tentang primordial kabur lagi, sama seperti tentang urusan Dao. Tapi yang kuingat, Primordial adalah makhluk pertama yang lahir di alam semesta. Untuk jelasnya, aku tidak bicara tentang Mythical beings, yang pertama lahir di realm baru. Aku merujuk langsung pada makhluk pertama yang pernah lahir di seluruh alam semesta!
Soal berapa jumlahnya, seberapa kuat mereka, relevansi menemukan mayat seperti itu… aku tidak ingat. Jika aku memaksanya, aku merasakan tekanan di tubuhku meningkat, seolah akan pecah.'
Pel terdengar sangat cemas, seolah ingin membuktikan ke Lex bahwa ia berusaha sebaik mungkin, tapi terbatas oleh wadahnya yang hancur.
Ia melanjutkan, 'Soal kegunaan mayat itu, daftarnya tak ada habisnya. Apalagi mayatnya, cuma permata yang menjebaknya saja sudah tak ternilai. Menurut ingatanku, di kehidupan sebelumnya aku seharusnya berhipotesis bahwa permata ini sebenarnya amber sangat kuno yang diubah jadi bentuk ini karena terpapar primordial.
Amber ini tak ternilai, karena bahkan sebutir saja bisa sangat membantu imortal meneguhkan tenet mereka dan membantu mempelajari hukum. Bisa juga dipakai bikin obat ajaib, dipakai memanjat senjata, membantu kultivasi spiritual dan tubuh, menyembuhkan racun, dan banyak lagi. Singkatnya, cuma permata saja sudah tak ternilai. Di kehidupan sebelumnya, aku menaruh harap besar untuk terobosan ke realm selanjutnya pada permata ini, meski aku tidak ingat caranya.
Soal mayatnya, itu terlalu menakutkan untuk diurus sembarangan. Bahkan di kehidupan sebelumnya aku tidak berani tes sembarangan, hanya mempelajarinya dari jauh. Mayat itu sudah esensialnya fosil, jadi tidak ada harapan untuk merasuki它. Tapi kuingat berteori bahwa fosil itu sumber energi chaos yang sangat poten, begitu sampai di kehidupan sebelumnya aku tidak berani mengeluarkannya dari permata.
Namun, aku juga menduga fosil bisa dipakai menyempurnakan garis keturunanku sendiri, dan mungkin meningkatkan kemurnian garis keturunan ke level Mythical being. Masih banyak teori lain, tapi karena bahayanya, aku tidak sempat mengujinya. Satu-satunya yang bisa kupastikan adalah mayat, atau fosil, itu sangat berharga, tapi untuk benar-benar mendapat nilai darinya, seseorang harus cukup kuat dulu. Kalau tidak, malah jadi sumber bahaya besar.'
Mengingat naga mati dalam keadaan sangat aneh, Lex tidak menganggap enteng peringatan Pel. Meskipun punya Inn, dan semua keuntungan Sistem memberinya, dia memutuskan biarkan mayat di dalam permata untuk sekarang.
'Hei Pel, level kultivasimu di kehidupan sebelumnya apa?' Lex tanya, tidak tahan rasa penasaran.
'Aku di realm Heavenly Immortal,' Pel jawab sederhana, tanpa sedikit pun rasa bangga atau pencapaian.
'Oh,' jawab Lex, seolah mendengar hal biasa saja seperti cuaca.
Semakin lama, Lex merasa sangat beruntung mendapat Pel, karena itu mungkin keuntungan terbesarnya sejauh ini. Sejauh ini, dia कम多 atau kurang tersandung lewat dunia kultivasi, mencari jawaban di mana saja bisa. Sekarang dia akhirnya punya orang yang bisa ditanya tanpa takut dihakimi atau konsekuensi.
Lex memutuskan terus mengeluarkan barang rampasannya dan mengisi museumnya. Barang berikutnya tentu saja Peronian jade. Pohon giok hitam itu terlihat mematikan dan menakutkan sekaligus indah luar biasa. Meski penambahan ini pasti singkat, dia ingin mengakuinya. Lagi pula, dia juga penasaran soal fungsinya.
'Ini apa, Pel?'
'Peronian jade!' dia jawab dengan fanatik. 'Di kehidupan sebelumnya, ini harta paling berhargaku sampai aku nemu mayat Primordial. Jenis giok ini penuh kekuatan penghancur sangat kuat. Aku tidak ingat untuk apa aku pakai ini… tapi samar ingat berkaitan dengan kultivasi. Kekuatan penghancur di dalam giok ini unik, dan tidak bisa ditiru makhluk lain. Bisa punya berbagai kegunaan.'
Jawabannya sederhana, dan tidak diselimuti rahasia dan sejarah seperti mayat, tapi di saat bersamaan tidak bisa diremehkan. Barang apa pun yang bisa dipakai Heavenly Immortal untuk kultivasi, apalagi naga, tidak biasa saja. Apalagi Pel pernah anggap ini harta paling berharganya suatu saat.
'Di mana aku bisa nemu lebih banyak? Kamu punya ide?'
'Peronian jade sangat langka, dan hanya bisa ditemukan di planet minimal rating 5 bintang. Tapi tidak semua planet 5 bintang punya, dan bahkan kalau ketemu, tidak mudah dipanen. Giok di koleksi lamaku sudah dibersihkan dari kehidupan, tapi giok segar yang kau temui di liar paling besar punya roh sendiri. Melawannya tugas berbahaya, bahkan untuk naga. Di seluruh Origin realm, tidak ada satu pun fasilitas penambangan Peronian jade yang ada, karena semua sumber dikenal sudah habis. Kau harus cari planet 5 bintang baru belum ditemukan, atau rampas gudang orang lain untuk mendapatkannya.'
Nah, Lex sudah lakukan yang kedua, tapi dia tidak butuh itu sebentar lagi jadi urusan ini bisa ditunda.
Barang selanjutnya yang dia keluarkan adalah genangan darah yang dikumpulkan, serta sisiknya.
'Ini bagaimana? Apa ini?' dia tanya, suaranya tak terasa lebih serius dari sebelumnya.
Lex had heard the term 'Primordial' before. In fact, let alone a corpse, he had even met a living Primordial, technically. The Lotus on his back was actually called a World Seed Lotus, and its species was called the Primordial Origin Lotus series.
Lex did not know much about this species, but based on the name he could easily guess that the lotus on his back was just one of many Primordial Lotus'. Moreover, the lotus required extremely special spiritual energy called Primordial Spirit energy which would be present in the Inn unless he raised the star level of the Inn to 8!
That was the original reason why he had to carry the lotus on his back, as it could only absorb that energy from the universe at large outside the Inn. He did not know how abundant that energy was in the universe, but at least it surpassed what was present in the Inn.
He had also heard the term elsewhere as well. To be specific, the realm which one would ascend to after achieving Heavenly immortal from inside the Crystal realm was called the Primordial Garden. He did not know much about it except that the Crystal race maintained a presence there, but could not be considered as a dominant race there.
The most recent mention of the term 'primordial' was by the strange creature that could enter Lex's mind. Although its words were not too reliable, it had claimed that whatever had killed the dragon was a sleeping primordial being. The chances of a sleeping primordial being waking up so close to a primordial being's corpse were uncanny, so Lex scanned the jewel and corpse, but the system did not detect any living being inside which could be a guest. That relieved him.
All in all, it was not a term he had not come in contact with before. He was able to surmise that it represented something significantly powerful, as was evident from the level of the Primordial Garden as well as the Lotus on his back, but should not be so rare, right? If that was the case, he could not understand the level of excitement in Pel's voice, nor why such a thing would be deserving of a dragon's obsession.
Lex had conveniently forgotten that the Lotus came from a seed that could be considered rare not just in the Origin realm, but in the entire universe!
"What's so special about a primordial's corpse?" Lex asked. With Pel, even though he mostly maintained a state where it looked like he was testing Pel instead of asking him, he was not too worried about his act being detected. For one, Pel was too simple minded at the moment. Secondly, he did not meet Pel with the identity of the Innkeeper, so he did not have an overwhelming need to maintain any kind of reputation. After all, it was perfectly normal if Lex, as a Golden core cultivator, did not know all the secrets of the universe.
"My memories about primordials are blurry again, just as they were about matters of the Dao. But what I can recall is that Primordials were the first beings to be born in the universe. To be clear, I am not talking about Mythical beings, who are the first to be born in a newborn realm. I am directly referring to the first ever beings born in the entire universe!
"As for how many there are, how powerful they are, what is the relevance of finding such a corpse… I cannot recall. If I try to force it, I feel the pressure on my body increasing, as if it's about to break."
Pel sounded incredibly anxious, as if to prove to Lex that it was trying its best, but was limited by its breaking vessel.
It continued, "As for what the corpse can be used for, the list is endless. Let alone, the corpse, just the jewel it is trapped in is endlessly valuable. According to my memories, in my previous life I should have hypothesized that this jewel was actually extremely ancient amber that had been converted into this form due to its exposure to the primordial.
"This amber is endlessly valuable, as even a single grain of it can immensely help immortals solidify their tenets and help them study laws. It can also be used to create miraculous medicine, be used in forging weapons, be used to aid in spiritual and body cultivation, be used to cure poison, and many more uses. All in all, just the jewel itself is endlessly valuable. In my previous life, I attached a great deal of hope for a breakthrough to my next realm on this jewel, although I cannot remember how.
"As for the corpse, that is too terrifying a thing to easily deal with. Even in my previous life I did not dare easily conduct tests on it, and only studied it from afar. The corpse has essentially fossilized, so there is no hope to possess it. But I recall theorizing that the fossil is an incredibly potent source of chaos energy, so much so that even in my previous life I did not dare remove it from the jewel.
"However, I also suspected that the fossil can be used to further refine my own bloodline, and possibly elevate my bloodline purity to the level of a Mythical being. There were many other theories as well, but due to the associated danger, I never got around to testing them. The only thing I can confirm is that the corpse, or fossil, is extremely valuable, but to actually derive any value from it, one must first be sufficiently powerful. Otherwise, instead of being valuable, the body will be a great source of danger."
Considering that the dragon had died under the most unusual of circumstances, Lex did not take Pel's warning lightly. Despite having the Inn, and all the benefits the system afforded him, he decided to leave the corpse within the jewel for now.
"Say Pel, what was your cultivation level in your previous life?" Lex asked, unable to hold back his curiosity.
"I was in the Heavenly Immortal realm," Pel said simply, without any hint of pride or achievement.
"Oh," responded Lex, as if he had heard about something as common and mundane as the weather.
More and more, Lex was feeling incredibly lucky that he ended up getting Pel, as it might be his greatest gain yet. So far, he had been more or less stumbling his way through the cultivation world, trying to get answers where he could. Now he finally had someone he could ask questions to without fear of getting judged or any repercussions.
Lex decided to continue bringing his loot out and fill up his museum. The next thing was naturally the Peronian jade. The black jade tree looked both insidiously haunting and spectacularly beautiful at the same time.
Although this addition was destined to be short, he wanted to acknowledge it. Moreover, he was also curious about its purpose.
"What is this, Pel?"
"Peronian jade!" he replied fanatically. "In my previous life, this was my greatest treasure until I found the Primordial corpse. This kind of jade is filled with a very powerful destructive force. I can't remember what I used it for… but I vaguely recall it had something to do with cultivation. The destructive force inside this jade was unique, and cannot be replicated by any other being. It can have various uses."
The answer was simple, and not mired in secrecy and history as the corpse, but at the same time it could not be underestimated. Any item that could be used by a Heavenly immortal for cultivation, especially a dragon, was not ordinary at all. This was especially since Pel had even considered it his most valuable treasure at one point.
"Where can I find more of it? Do you have any ideas?"
"Peronian jade is very rare, and can only be found on planets that are at least 5 stars in rating. But not every 5 star planet will have some, and even if it is found, it is not easy to harvest. The jade in my old collection has already been wiped of all life, but any fresh jade you might find in the wild will most likely contain its own spirit. Fighting it off is a perilous task, even for dragons. In the entire Origin realm, there is not a single existing Peronian jade harvesting facility, as all known sources of the jade have already been exhausted. You either have to find new, undiscovered 5 star planets or loot someone's vault to get your hands on it."
Well, Lex had already done the latter, but he was not in any particular need of it any time soon so this matter could be put on hold.
The next thing he removed was the pool of blood he had collected, as well as the scale.
"What about these? What are they?" he asked, his voice imperceptibly more solemn than before.
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