Awakening

"Seeing my memory? You can do that?!"

The man didn't even know why he was surprised. After all, he doesn't remember anything. So he should have no idea what's possible and what's not, right?

But for some reason, he felt that reading memories isn't normal.

"I can." The silver-haired woman replied nonchalantly. She kept staring at him, waiting for his reply.

Her gaze made the man even more uncomfortable. He tried to think, was it really the norm for people to read memories? Or was this woman special? Does she have a superpower like those heroes in the comics?

'Wait, what?!'

Heroes? Comics? What are those?

"Argh!" 

He clutched his head in pain. 

'If this continues, I'll go crazy. If I already didn't, that is.'

The silver-haired woman watched him silently, not one bit hurried, and with no intention to help him at all.

After a few moments, the pain stopped and the man collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily. He looked at the silver-haired weakly.

"Do it."

The woman nodded slightly. Her eyes flashed as her senses pierced through his mind. There were no flashy moves or heavenly light like the man expected. She didn't even touch him.

As expected, he didn't know why he thought of the flashy moves and the heavenly light. It just felt fitting to the situation.

A few moments passed as the man began to feel awkward. The silver-haired woman kept looking at him without saying a word. Her eyes glowed from time to time. It was really beautiful.

After 10 minutes, she shook her head with disappointment. 

"What? Did it fail?"

The man was feeling very anxious. If this didn't work, he didn't know what to do.

"It worked fine. I just didn't find what I wanted." She said lightly. Then she looked at the man who was feeling relief.

"I found basic information about you and where you came from. But in your current situation, this information is useless."

"It doesn't matter. Please tell me what you found!" The man said anxiously.

"Very well."

She raised her finger and pointed at him. White light flashed by and entered his head. He blacked out instantly.

Seeing him faint, she shook her head slightly. Then, she walked towards the glass coffin and examined it carefully. But no matter how she probed, she found nothing. She even tried to move it to take it back but to no avail.

She turned her attention to the large gate behind the coffin and tried to open it. She was hoping to find any clues inside about this place. But her dissatisfaction increased when the gate didn't budge, just like the coffin.

'What exactly is this place?'

She looked at the only thing she hadn't examined in the hall, the small doors on both sides. There were 8 doors in total, 4 on each side.

She walked to one of them and tried to open it. And surprisingly, it opened easily. Without stepping inside, she examined what's inside.

Inside was a vast room, far vaster than the main hall she was in. What catched her attention as soon as she entered was a gargantuan black vortex. Spatial fluctuations were spreading crazily, filling the whole room.

'A portal? But these spatial fluctuations… are not normal.' 

She was very familiar with spatial fluctuations and portals. She herself can make portals across stable parts of the universe. But this portal doesn't seem to connect two parts of the universe. 

'It feels like it's connecting the universe with something… higher?'

If anyone else reached this conclusion, they would be completely terrified. But she was different. For the first time in who knows how many years, her face glowed with excitement.

'Hmm?'

After looking closely at the portal, she noticed something in front of it. It was a huge throne. But compared to the portal, it was nothing.

A man was sitting on the throne, his eyes closed. His left hand was resting on the arm of the chair and his head was resting on his right hand.

The silver-haired haired woman was now contemplating whether to enter the room or not. A few moments later, she steeled her resolve and was about to step inside. No risk, no gain.

"If I were you, I'd stay outside."

A voice rang in the room, stopping her from entering. She saw the sleeping man on the throne open his eyes and looked straight at her. In front of this gaze, she felt that she had no secrets.

In front of this gaze, all her power was nothing.

In front of this gaze, all her influence was nothing.

She felt like a grain of sand in a raging storm, unable to resist or struggle.

But unexpectedly, there was no hint of fear in her heart. Instead, her excitement increased more and more.

This power… it was a proof of her conviction. Everyone on her level thought that they reached the end of cultivation. They believed that they had reached the limit of how powerful any existence could be. 

Although she had her breakthrough a few years ago, she always believed that this wasn't the end. She always had a faint feeling of something above. Something beyond her and beyond anything she knew.

"You're an interesting one."

The voice rang again, calming her down slightly.

"But you're not ready yet. If you enter now, you'll be ripped to shreds by the spatial fluctuations."

The silver-haired woman bowed slightly to the man sitting in the throne.

"Thank you for warning me. I, Arlene Lavender, will always remember your graciousness."

The man on the throne chuckled and the door closed, leaving Arlene standing outside. But his voice was still ringing.

"Then, help him leave this planet safely and settle down. If you do that, we are even."

Arlene stood in front of the door for a brief moment until her emotions calmed down. She turned around and looked at the man lying on the ground in the middle of the hall.

'It seems you are the only clue I could get out of this place for now.'

She didn't bother to check the other doors. Not now. From her exchange of words with the man on the throne just now, she already guessed the other doors had similar levels of danger as the door she opened.

A moment later, she sent a telepathic message to the stern-looking man on the ship who she left guarding the spaceship.

"Commander Vidar, I am bringing a mortal aboard. Tell the rest of the squad to restrain their auras."