"Since life has its limits, what about non-life?"
This was the hypothesis that the High Priest proposed for transcendence.
Based on this hypothesis, the so-called Death Spirit emerged.
The idea of transforming a life filled with extreme negative emotions into a different sort of existence, one that naturally ignores the limits of life and breaks through these limits to achieve transcendence, was indeed very imaginative.
But, as Danass said, the Order of the world would not allow such an existence to appear.
Can a stone become sentient and still not be considered life?
In the hypothesis posed by the High Priest, the beings transformed into Great Spirit Bodies certainly couldn't be life, otherwise they couldn't naturally transcend. But transcendence itself is based on surpassing the inherent limits of life; if non-life doesn't even have the concept of levels, how can it transcend?
Can a lifeless stone achieve transcendence?
And a stone that has gained life, that's not non-life, is it?
Thus, the hypothesis proposed by the High Priest was imaginative, yet only imaginative, inherently contradictory, and fundamentally unworkable.
The evidence lies in the fact that both Lymco and Lani, as bearers of the Death Spirit, each possessed levels.
Lani was at the Limit Level, and Lymco was at the Legendary Level, who, if he continued to grow, would eventually reach the Limit Level as well.
But their limits were just that – the Limit Level, they could never truly transcend naturally as the High Priest's hypothesis suggested.
Moreover, due to their uniqueness, they would massively absorb Spirit Essence to enhance their strength before reaching the Limit Level, without experiencing any bottlenecks or halts in progression. However, once they reached the Limit Level, they would face the true limitations, absolutely unable to transcend.
This was the result of the High Priest's wild imagination.
She wanted to create non-life that could naturally transcend, but little did she know, this approach made the Death Spirit fundamentally contradictory. Not only did they have the concept of levels like other lifeforms, but being created with the aim of being non-life meant they were inherently unable to break through life's ultimate barrier.
This was the being known as the Death Spirit, a hypothesis both contradictory and flawed.
And this was also the limit of the High Priest.
She was destined not to achieve her goal.
Yet Lani, as a bearer of the Death Spirit, found an alternative way to break through.
That was, through external help.
"The Branch of Resurgence, the world's initial material entity, is a concentration of the residual power used by the Supreme God Ominis to create the world."
"At that time, Supreme God Ominis had merely created the world and had not yet had the chance to create everything else."
"Including establishing the laws and order that allow this world to continue to exist — the Order."
In other words, the Branch of Resurgence existed before Order had taken shape.
It innately had the capability to escape the confines and shackles of Order, an anomalously remaining fragment of the world that should not have existed.
If one could obtain it, to some extent, a person could acquire the power to somewhat liberate oneself from the constraints of Order.
This was the only lifeline for Lani, who, possessing the body of a Death Spirit and constrained by Order, could not transcend.
"Only by obtaining the Branch of Resurgence, leveraging the power formed before Order, can the Death Spirit escape the shackles of Order, perfect itself, and naturally possess transcendence-level power, right?"
Danass then explained everything about Lani.
"For this purpose, Your Highness orchestrated this ten-year plan."
"Find the Blessing of the Goddess of Fate."
"Carve the sacrificial ritual's Magic Array on the land of the Empire."
"Finally, with the power of the ritual, stimulate the authority of the Goddess of Fate, manipulate the celestial phenomena, and make the premonition come true."
"Thus, the Branch of Resurgence could appear in this world, helping Your Highness transcend."
Danass applauded at this point.
"I must say, Your Highness's strategy is highly admirable to me; across the Three Realms, the only other being with such talent, besides Your Highness, is probably Moon Demon Sela."
Moon Demon Sela was famously wise, the leader and supreme of the Demon Clan, whose intellect even the Divine Race feared. Sometimes, even the powerful Fate Goddess Lidas found herself outwitted by Sela. Danass comparing Lani to that supreme being of the Demon Clan was indeed high praise.
But Lani seemed uninterested in all of this.
"Aren't you the same? A little one from the Old Demon Clan Faction." Lani said expressionlessly, "You went through great pains to find me, and even ended up with my maid, planning to cooperate with her. Isn't your goal also transcendence?"
Danass's smile slowly faded.
However, it only took a second for Danass to recover.
"Who doesn't want to transcend?" Danass said in an ethereal voice, "Throughout history, the only beings who have truly transcended themselves are Heroes; all other Transcendent Level beings are naturally strong, truly favored by the heavens."
Compared to these beings, Danass was undoubtedly unfortunate.
"I've said it before, I have no talent, no gift, not to mention Unique Skills, I can't even learn a common Skill, and my Level is pitifully low, I was even abandoned at one point."
"If I hadn't found an extraordinarily ordinary Magic Book of Life Creation Magic in the desolate lands of the Demon Realm, and after trying it out, discovered I had a talent in this area, I might have been forgotten there, turning into an insignificant dead ant."
"From that moment on, I've constantly wondered, am I not good enough?"
Danass muttered to himself.
"Can't I become a strong person?"
"Can't I be looked upon with new respect?"
"Can't I stand at the top?"
"Can't I, transcend?"
Each of these self-directed questions were ultimately met with a single word—"No."
Thus, Danass began to strategize everything for himself.
"Your Highness has planned for a thousand years, I have planned for ten, merely in terms of time, I cannot match you."
"But just as I told Miss Moro before, in order to have a place for ourselves in the future, we had to gamble everything."
"And Miss Moro has already done so ahead of us."
This statement finally stirred some ripples in Lani.
The princess of Ereiy remained silent for a while, then sighed.
"I told her that she isn't the true possessor of the Great Spirit Body, relying on 'Symbiosis' to use the power of the Great Spirit Body is already at its limit, trying to use the Branch of Resurgence to transcend and awaken the true potential of the Great Spirit Body would absolutely overstrain her body."
'Symbiosis' indeed allowed sharing of Level and Skills, even Life, but 'Symbiosis' itself was just a Skill, how could it borrow the power of Transcendence Level?
After transcending, the concepts of Level and Skill would disappear, only the Unique Skills that deviate from the norm would remain, becoming the most relied upon power of a life form.
'Symbiosis' was still an ordinary Skill, albeit very rare, hard to learn, very powerful, and of high Level, it still was a conventional Skill, incomparable to Unique Skills.
Hence, relying on 'Symbiosis' to attain the power of the 'Death Spirit' was something Moro could accomplish, but to seek the power of Transcendence Level through it was absolutely impossible.
Not to mention, Moro wasn't the true owner of a Great Spirit Body to naturally transcend, forcibly using the power of the Branch of Resurgence after acquiring it, and utilizing Transcendence Level abilities would destroy not just her physical body but her very existence.
Such a collapse, even if Lani shared her life with Moro, Moro couldn't have been restored.
In other words, once it came to that, Moro was undeniably going to die.
Still, Moro had made that choice.
"She didn't want to expose me, didn't want me to confront Evil God Lillith and the Hero, afraid that I would be targeted by the Holy Sword, so she took on this task voluntarily, using the identity of my Shadow Warrior, according to plan, to obtain the Branch of Resurgence and then transfer it to me through the ability of 'Symbiosis'."
'This Skill, beyond sharing power and life, also allowed mutual position transfer, high-speed movement, achieving an effect similar to 'Instant Movement'.
Thus, Moro had orchestrated all this.
"My intention was for her to transfer to my side immediately upon securing the Branch of Resurgence, but she ended up using it herself and, even before her own collapse, was killed by that Hero."
Observing Danass, there wasn't a hint of sorrow or distress over Moro's passing.
"Seeing the power of that Hero after, I've always believed her choice was actually quite wise."
This was Danass's thought.
Undoubtedly, the power Shane had shown this time had reached the Transcendence Level.
If Moro hadn't gone all out, risking her own life to bear everything, then the Hero and Evil God Lillith working together, even if Lani had obtained the Branch of Resurgence, would not have left the Imperial City with ease.
Now, no one noted all this, and that outcome was very good.
"I want to ask Your Highness," Danass looked at Lani and said, "Will you fulfill the alliance Miss Moro and I formed?"
This was the purpose of Danass's visit.
"Do you want me to support you?"
Lani looked at Danass.
"There is no way," Danass said blandly, "If my path to Transcendence could be supported by Your Highness, the success rate would greatly increase, a temptation I can't refuse."
"...Interesting." Lani narrowed her eyes, looked at Danass intently for a while, and glanced at the Limit Level Demon Warriors next to him. Finally, she smiled and said, "In that case, I'll help you out."
"Thank you," Danass bowed to Lani.
Then, Danass slowly started to speak.
"Then, please come with me."
"The first Princess of Mitra Kingdom, the Hero's wife."
At this speech, Lani began to laugh.
Her laughter was chillingly cold.
Lasha stared at the empty bed, saying nothing.
Laischa stood beside Lasha, seemed hesitant to speak, not knowing what to say, and finally sighed.
Both returned to their rooms.
But at this time, the person who should have been lying there had already vanished.