Charles eyed the energy crystal greedily and his mind raced as he considered various things. He did not know Leo's character, and although he was inclined to believe in a colleague, it was best to be sure.
"What are some topics that interest you? If you provide me with some guidance, I can better choose what to reveal."
What interested him? There were truly too many things, but none of them were topics ordinary folk could come into contact with. But then again, since he was testing Charles to begin with, there was no point in mentioning something simple. He thought for a moment about what topics he had been considering lately.
"I have many random interests, so I'll just list them out. Hmm, these days I've been wondering a lot about how a realm is formed, and what happens after it is created. I've also been wondering… what is 'space' really? If space itself is torn, how can there be something behind it? Hmm, I've also been thinking about deities, and how they come to be. Why do they need worshippers? Can anyone become a deity if they're worshiped enough? Oh yes, I was also wondering where lightning tribulations come from, and why they're the same across multiple realms. Is it a coincidence? I've also…"
"Alright, alright, that's enough," Charles said, before Lex really began listing out all the random thoughts he'd had recently. To Charles, these really could only be random thoughts, for how could they be relevant to someone at Lex's cultivation level? These were extremely high-level concepts that not even immortals had the right to ponder.
Fortunately, Charles was in the unique position to answer not just some of them, but all of them! Of course, he would not so easily reveal these answers, for that would present problems of their own. After all, how could a mortal know the secrets of the heavens?
"I cannot say how a realm is formed, but as luck would have it, I coincidentally learned some information about the early years of a realms existence," Charles said, as he cleared his throat. He also looked around to ensure they were alone, and once he was satisfied, continued.
"Each realm is different, but what they have in common is that they are born with a massive burst of energy. This initial energy is the purest form of energy in the universe, chaos energy. But because of its potency, it is also too dangerous and is akin to poison to most beings. Only the strongest of immortals, as well as some unique beings, can tolerate this form of energy.
"The first phase of a realms life is converting that extremely pure and powerful energy into various more tolerable and gentle forms of energy. This period is known as the Cosmic Dark Age, as hardly any life can exist during this time. But any being and anything that is born or formed during this time are exceptionally powerful or valuable. That is because they undergo the tempering of the foremost energy in the universe, so it is only natural."
Charles knew much more, but he stopped speaking at that point. He had already revealed a lot, and surely it was already worth more than just a single energy crystal. Lex had been listening closely. Although he could not confirm if what Charles said was true, the information he had revealed was very important.
If the energy when the new realm was formed was poisonous, how could he host guests? Although he was fairly certain that the system itself would manage to keep guests from being passively harmed by the environment, as it did with cultivators' natural auras, he also had to take precautions. After all, he clearly remembered being told to 'be prepared' when he was told that the new realm would be born in two years' time.
He nodded to Charles, as if saying he accepted this little tidbit of information, and calmly handed in 10 energy crystals. Although he did not have many on hand, he had more than enough to cater to Charles' needs for the moment. After all, Pvarti wasn't the only one who had received a lot of gifts during the wedding.
"If you need more in the future, you can reach out to me. We'll have the same deal," said Lex, before he teleported away. Now that he was done with this, he was heading towards the emporium to pick up a package he had been anticipating for a while.
*****
<nullb>Cosmic Cloud
A furious battle was taking place in what was once a natural paradise. The burnt and crisp remains of some kind of orchard could still be seen here and there, though mostly all one would see were corpses.
This was a battlefield where the Henali forces had been losing badly, and for once, even the arrival of the Midnight battalion did not change that. But how could it? The battalion consisted only of Foundation level cultivators, but the enemies were the absolute elites of the Golden core realm.
On one side was a massive army that the battalion was reinforcing, and on the other side only a few dozen bipedal beasts, yet the favor of the battle seemed to be on the beasts' side.
More reinforcements were due, but they would have to survive long enough for that to happen.
Fortunately, despite the dire situation, none from the battalion had died, though this time the credit remained solely with their formidable attire.
In the midst of battle, Z made use of his space affinity to disrupt an attacking beast, but for some strange reason, instead of forming a barrier in space, space itself was torn. Though that was not his intention, it seemed to serve the purpose as the beast quickly retreated to avoid the tear.
His allies breathed a sigh of relief and continued the fight, but only Z frowned as he kept looking at the tear that was already healing.
'<nulli>That was not supposed to happen,' he kept telling himself, as he wondered what had happened.