For Lu Xuan, that guy was no longer a problem. At worst, he would just stop going to the imaginary space and let him rot there.
Their next priority is figuring out how to utilize the resources in the Valyrian ruins.
With the source of danger on the peninsula gone, Lu Xuan intended to excavate this abandoned city. For one thing, countless Valyrian steel lay buried beneath these ruins. Unearthing this buried Valyrian steel would be of immense help in the future fight against the White Walkers.
The two explored the ruins again and found some experimental devices made by Vagan. However, most of them were damaged. They could only be melted down and reforged into other weapons.
That night, the two spent the night in the ruins. Daenerys kept watch, while Lu Xuan entered a meditative state to recover his energy.
While meditating, Lu Xuan vaguely sensed someone whispering in his ear. He was startled, thinking that the thing had come out. But upon closer inspection, he realized it wasn't.
It was a very vague consciousness. It didn't even express a complete meaning. It only conveyed fragmented information to Lu Xuan intermittently.
Lu Xuan perused the information and eventually discovered that it was actually the memory of that thing. Although it was fragmented, Lu Xuan still managed to piece together the general truth.
In fact, most of what that guy said during their conversation was true. He just concealed some crucial information. For example, it was indeed the ultimate weapon developed by the Valyrians. But this didn't mean it was powerful; on the contrary, it was extremely weak at its inception. Its strength lay in the inclusiveness of its genes. It could absorb the characteristics of other creatures to compensate for its own shortcomings. And as it continuously improved itself, it would eventually overcome all its weaknesses, achieving a flawless physical body.
But all of this is just the beginning; its true rise will come after this.
Valyrian high priests are very powerful, but they cannot personally grasp the laws of nature because humanity has its limits.
The various defects inherent in the human body prevent humans from bearing greater power and advancing further. But that thing is different; it compensates for all the shortcomings of the physical body, meaning that its cultivation has no bottlenecks, or even upper limits. Just as the Valyrians envisioned, they could use this special existence to master higher levels of power, and even become gods.
By the way, the question about the male and female form was something that guy made up himself. Because it's neither male nor female; it's just the shape of that fleshy ball. And it can't possibly become human. Because becoming human would mean re-emerging the flaws of humanity.
The Valyrians were extremely cautious; they knew such an existence would never be permitted by the gods. Therefore, they built that special room and that iron cage. This double safeguard ensured the absolute secrecy of the entire experiment.
This also explains one of Lu Xuan's doubts. That is, the thing wasn't actually trapped inside; it was actively hiding there. Because as soon as it left the room, it would be discovered. The fact that it was struck by lightning less than a minute after Lu Xuan dragged it out is the best proof of this.
The Valyrians were extremely cautious throughout the process. Initially, they never allowed it to autonomously devour any living creature. Instead, they used artificial means to continuously compare and modify it, thereby compensating for its weaknesses.
Even so, what they didn't expect was that the thing had quietly developed its own will. Its innate talent granted it unparalleled learning abilities. It quickly mastered every detail of the laboratory and launched a rebellion, actively absorbing the laboratory staff, acquiring their memories, and attempting to gain its own freedom.
But freedom comes at a price. After devouring all the creatures in the laboratory, it gained immense mental power. This, in turn, made it more vulnerable.
At that moment, it absorbed those memories and realized it had done something foolish. In its final moments, it retreated to the place of its birth, the only place that could shield it from the gaze of the gods.
When the divine power descended, they found they couldn't precisely lock onto it. To ensure it didn't grow any further in the shadows, they unleashed the Great Cataclysm of Valyria!
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Chapter 328 End
The indifference and decisiveness of the gods are unimaginable to mortals. Or rather, to ensure their supremacy, they are capable of anything, including the destruction of a civilization.
Fragmented memories were passed down to Lu Xuan in fits and starts. Lu Xuan even found some interesting things in these memories, such as the feud between the Valyrians and the dragons.
Lu Xuan had long harbored doubts. Even if the Valyrians were naturally studious and all magical geniuses, it was impossible for them to suddenly turn the tables. After all, dragons' talent was at the quasi-law level, while human talent had its limits.
Now Lu Xuan has found the answer. The Valyrians had contact with the gods long ago. Or rather, they were originally pawns in the gods' scheme to destroy the dragons. It wasn't the rebellious Valyrians who truly destroyed the dragons, but the gods themselves. The Valyrians simply became scapegoats for them later.
This is also why the Valyrians were so hostile to the gods. After all, even the powerful and weak demigods, the dragons, were easily destroyed by the gods; these pawns were not to be discarded at will. It could be said that this fear of the gods spurred the Valyrians' progress.
They expanded, researched, and progressed relentlessly. They restricted all religions, all with the gods as their hypothetical enemy. But the high and mighty gods paid no heed to any of this. Until they decided to develop a weapon with limitless potential.
Lu Xuan even thought of a once-famous concept in the infinite flow genre: the Human Completion Project. Wasn't the Valyrians' ultimate weapon a similar concept? Initially weak, it could continuously correct its weaknesses, growing rapidly until it became a flawless life form.
Although Lu Xuan questioned whether that ugly ball of flesh was the closest thing to perfect life, there was no doubt that it had provoked the gods. They must have paid a considerable price, directly annihilating the Valyrians. Even the survivors were corrupted by the curse, making it impossible for the thing to absorb anything.
It took Lu Xuan most of the night to finally finish reviewing all the memories. Besides the past history, Lu Xuan had also essentially completed the entire magical system of the Valyrian archmage. Although it differed from the Taoist system, a complete and mature magical system was still of immense help to him.
However, none of these are the key points. The greatest benefit he gained from this adventure was the imaginary space. After the imaginary space actively sent him this 'data,' Lu Xuan sensed a slight sign of activity appearing in this originally cold and lifeless space. At the same time, a fixed coordinate appeared within the imaginary space.
That was 'its' flame of consciousness. But it had been completely purified by the imaginary space, becoming a pure flame of spirit. And it was fixed at a specific point, becoming a permanent coordinate.
Lu Xuan didn't know the underlying principles behind all of this. But this phenomenon was significant to him because he could now store things in the imaginary space.
You still can't just throw things away randomly. Because there's only one coordinate, once the item moves far from that coordinate, it still won't be found. So, it can only be placed near that coordinate, which looks like a little sun. But this raises another extremely troublesome problem.
That is, the entire space is like weightless space. If Lu Xuan puts something in, it may quickly drift to some unknown place.
Lu Xuan thought for a long time and finally came up with a solution. He would set an orbit for those items and use a simple spell to make them revolve around the sun in the imaginary space. However, this meant that the orbit had to be set in advance... He didn't know why it was so difficult for him to have a personal space. But at least there was something to look forward to.
Lu Xuan sensed that the imaginary space was currently undergoing some kind of transformation. However, this transformation was only at its beginning, and it would likely require a significant amount of time to accumulate gradually.
After that thing disappeared, the greatest threat to the peninsula vanished. However, Lu Xuan noticed that the storms surrounding the peninsula hadn't disappeared, only weakened considerably. It felt like they could last for at least several decades. One could only say that the methods of those gods were truly unimaginable. Sometimes he was even grateful that if it weren't for what happened on the Valyrian Peninsula, humanity in this world would have absolutely no autonomy, merely being toys for the gods.
As agreed with the old dragon soul, Lu Xuan left this peninsula to the dragon race as their place of revival. Now it seems this decision turned out to be a lucky break. If the dragon race truly revives, it will at least help humanity share some of the gods' attention. And during this time, the world made a leap forward.
The next day, the two discussed their views on the matter.
“The storm outside has weakened, and heavy transport ships can easily force their way in. Someone will discover this soon, so we need to act in advance to secure our sovereignty here.” For Daenerys, this is the land where her ancestors rose to power, and she absolutely cannot let it go.
"I have no objection. We don't need a full-blown war, just rebuild those ports and blockade the coastline. Send a garrison to clear the ruins and gather usable resources. I've already obtained the method for making Valyrian steel, but to produce it on a large scale, we'll need some time to establish a completely new smelting system. The Valyrian steel buried beneath these ruins is exactly what we need."
“Let Jon come here. He is of Targaryen blood, and it is right for him to guard this place. Let him establish a basic defensive line from the coast, and leave the inland areas to the dragons. Hopefully, they can truly recover. Standing here now, I can almost feel the pressure from those high and mighty gods.”
"Speaking of pressure from the gods, we should probably start thinking about Westeros. What are your plans?"
"What else can I do? It's already rotten to the core. I might as well burn it all down and then start farming again. I don't care about that Iron Throne anymore. I hate the so-called Seven Kingdoms even more. I will turn them all to ashes."
"If you want to integrate the resources of the seven kingdoms, this is indeed the fastest way. The relationships between those families are intricate and complex, with some families having been passed down for thousands of years. For a ruler, this is simply a nightmare. Now that you've thought it through, there's only one question left. What do you plan to do with the Academy City?"
After learning certain truths, Daenerys's feelings towards the Citadel plummeted. It could be said that the old men of the Citadel had surpassed the Lannisters and Starks in her hatred, becoming the beings she hated most.
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