When the truth is laid bare, mystery begins to recede.
Kanzaki Rei felt there were countless questions he wanted to ask Pali. But she was a Level 9 Diviner. He had already encountered Lottie before—someone of the same tier. For a Level 9 class-advancer, even if he asked, could anything she said truly be trusted?
And yet…
Whether her answers were true or false, they would still carry meaning.
"Pali."
"What fate is it that you want me to change?"
"And what exactly do you want me to do?"
Pali's expression didn't shift in the slightest. She simply turned a page calmly as she replied, "I don't hope for you to deliberately change anything, nor do I intend for you to deliberately do anything."
"I've said it before—Diviners are merely spectators of fate…"
"No matter how high their level, that remains the same."
Her tone was steady, detached.
"I have no intention of harming you, nor of directly helping you."
"If you want a divination, then pay the corresponding price."
As she spoke, Kanzaki Rei once again glimpsed a fragment of distant fate. He saw an abyss spreading like ink across a sea of moons. He saw nests tearing open across the world, unleashing an overwhelming tide of monsters upon it.
At that time, there would no longer be dungeons.
No longer would humans—or any intelligent races—venture into dungeons to hunt monsters.
Instead, the monsters would hunt them.
Kanzaki Rei even saw monsters that could think like humans, conversing with one another.
Simply by standing beside Pali, he was witnessing the future.
"For a Level 9 Diviner, all things in this world are already predetermined destinies. Only a very small number of existences are variables."
"For example… the 'Forgotten' of January."
"All of these fates are both inevitable and real."
Pali said nothing more.
Yet those futures were laid bare before Kanzaki Rei.
He wasn't shaken by the visions. Instead, he asked, "Pali… how much do you actually know about me?"
Pali remained as calm as ever. "I know you're connected to the Tree of Wisdom. I know your origin is Earth."
"And I know that you're only speaking to me within a simulated spacetime."
"What would you like me to divine?"
Kanzaki Rei fell silent for a moment.
"…How does this time reset end?"
Pali replied, "You should already know, shouldn't you? By reaching the starting point of your own time—before your birth."
"…Does my talent not work on you?"
Pali shook her head slightly. "No. In fact, it works extremely well."
"But right now, we're face to face. What I'm divining isn't you—it's myself."
"With the way your talent functions, it should affect the vast majority of Level 9 class-advancers…"
"A God-tier talent is, in essence, a rule itself."
"God-tier talents originate from the Source."
"So as long as the power you're dealing with isn't on the same level as the Source, it should work."
Kanzaki Rei met her gaze in silence.
Pali…
You know far too much.
Never before had he felt his secrets so thoroughly seen through. Not with Lottie. Not even when facing Sophia.
Only Pali.
Only she made him feel as though none of his secrets had anywhere left to hide.
"Fifteen billion gold coins," Pali suddenly said.
At that price, Kanzaki Rei's lips twitched faintly.
"I don't have that kind of money right now."
"Then consider it a debt."
"You can repay it the next time we meet."
Pali… surprisingly generous.
In this timeline, his entire wealth amounted to only a few thousand gold coins. There was no way he could afford her exorbitant divination fee.
"Any other questions?"
…Right.
This was an opportunity. It would be foolish not to ask. As for whether her answers were trustworthy—he could judge that later.
To Kanzaki Rei now, money was little more than a disposable resource.
"…Do I have a chance to save Earth? And what exactly happened to it?"
Pali replied, "Whether you can save it—I don't know."
"But Earth originally existed within the Astral Realm. The Astral Realm is what you would call the universe. However, unlike what your Earth's education teaches—or what the current world believes—the planets within the Astral Realm are actually a different kind of cultivation vessel."
Kanzaki Rei frowned. "A cultivation vessel?"
"Twenty billion gold coins."
Kanzaki Rei's lips twitched again.
"…Fine."
Money could be earned. With so many nations and regions, there would always be ways to make it.
"Mm."
"You know of the Void. Then you should be able to understand the Astral Realm."
The Void… he did know of it.
Xu Zhou had been a creature of the Void. He had even invited Kanzaki Rei to visit it. But in truth, the world knew almost nothing about the Void.
Even within the White Tower, there were barely any records about it.
All that was known was that a group of Void creatures lived there.
They had only ever been seen in the Battle Arena. Aside from that, almost no one in the real world had ever witnessed their existence.
Thinking about it now…
The Battle Arena itself felt far more mysterious.
Back when he was in Rylen, he had simply thought of it as an interesting wonder. He hadn't considered the legendary figure who built it to be particularly extraordinary.
But now…
In such a vast world, every inhabited continent and island possessed a Battle Arena.
Even the Abyss, the Celestial Realm—even the Void, which no one had ever truly seen—contained Battle Arenas.
Even in remote sea regions like Rylen, they existed.
That made their grandeur feel all the more eerie.
Most strangely of all—
Whether it was an ancient city-state or a newly established nation, there were no records whatsoever of the Battle Arena's construction.
It was as if, shortly after a city was completed, the arena simply appeared out of thin air.
And when asked, no one could remember when it had first appeared.
Had it always been there? Or had it emerged after the city was built…?
"The Void was once another Astral Realm—a different world before it became what it is now."
"You should remember the Moon of August."
Kanzaki Rei nodded. "Pega, the Gem of Tranquility and Peace."
"Pega sought to create a world entirely without conflict—a perfectly ideal, flawless world."
"The Void is the predecessor of that world."
"But that world failed. It collapsed and shattered, eventually becoming the Void—a place no one can truly set foot in."
"The Void is barren. Resources are almost nonexistent, incapable of growth or regeneration."
"Every resource there is precious."
"The only beings that could survive there were the lives jointly created by Sophia and Pega… a form of life that was originally meant to be perfect."
"They are what the world now calls Void creatures."
"And the reason the Void became what it is… is simply because Sophia and Pega abandoned it."
"They concluded that such life could not be considered truly perfect."
"And at that point, Sophia's definition of perfection also changed."
"In the end, the project was discarded, and Sophia terminated her collaboration with Pega."
"As for the current Astral Realm—it is another experiment by Pega."
"He simulates worlds, simulates civilizations, attempting to find, through endless evolution, a perfect and ideal path to peace."
"The Astral Realm became a new cultivation vessel."
"A vessel for life itself."
"Compared to the present world, the Astral Realm gives rise to far more possibilities—strange, bizarre, and unique forms of life."
"Perhaps… it may even give birth to a being that lacks innate spirituality, yet is indistinguishable from humans… a being capable of containing the complete Tree of Wisdom, rather than just one or two leaves in an empty shell."