The First Store System

Chapter 645: Return(End)

After around three and half hours of continuous travels and several battles, Aakesh finally stepped on the ninety-ninth step, the top of the altar.

As soon as Aakesh stepped on it, Aakesh found the sight in front of him changing as usual.

Unlike the last steps, Aakesh didn't find himself in the garden but the same place from where he had set his entry into the door. But for some reason, Aakesh couldn't sense any faith energy, which usually got more significant with increment in each step. At the same time, Aakesh didn't feel any life force from the trees around him. They looked to be in their full glory, but despite that, they were dead.

Also, unlike the past floors, Aakesh didn't find anything of value no matter how far he looked in that endless jungle full of trees.

Aakesh decided not to waste any time thinking about the change since it was a ruin related to Emperor Anu, one of the only ten Chaos grade lifeforms in Panagea, so different kinds of surprises were expected. Things would have been severe if they went as Aakesh predicted.

He raised his right foot, but before he could land that foot down, a chill passed through his spine. The sensation was such that Aakesh couldn't help but shudder.

A pair of eyes filled with cruelty and coldness welcomed Aakesh's sight soon after. As Aakesh looked into those eyes, he felt the same sensation others did when they looked in Aakesh's eyes. Aakesh thought that he was going to get devoured and needed to move his eyes away to stop the slight shaking his body was going through. Unfortunately for Aakesh, he could only think this, as his brain didn't act, and the situation continued.

The feeling of terror only grew in Aakesh's heart, but it only grew with not giving a single moment of relief to Aakesh.

Aakesh's eyes turned colder as they got serious about the fight, giving a slight window to Aakesh. Aakesh didn't miss that and moved his eyes away from those pair of cruelty-filled eyes.

When Aakesh succeeded, he felt something streaming through his cheeks. Aakesh caught the item, only to feel a surprise never felt before, as it was a drop of sweat.

Aakesh's eyes then returned to their usual expressionless since the feeling of cruelty from the pair of eyes looking at him disappeared.

Aakesh then finally sighted the entire creature as earlier he only had those pair of eyes in his eyes.

The creature in front of Aakesh was a four-legged beast with the body of a tiger and the tail of a snake. The beast had three pairs of eyes. Out of which only the lowest pair were open, while the upper two were closed.

The opened pair of eyes were different from each other as one held a black sclera with a red pupil and a white vertical iris, while the other had a red sclera with a white pupil and a black iris.

Aakesh recognized the beast and couldn't help but marvel at his fortune. Today, he not only came across a top-tier extinct creature in the Multiverse and a ruin related to one of the ten Emperors, but he also came across a creature that belonged to the top four mightiest races in the Multiverse.

The race was called #@#@, with it being only third to Asuras and Yakshas in the third dimension.

(A/N: I don't have any intention to introduce this race yet as it will play a major role in the future of the story, so it would stay like this unless we reached that point of the story.)

"So you are helping that worm gather fate related to my ancestor," The creature opened its mouth, and the next moment its voice rang in the area. It was loud enough to get heard across the Primal dimension if Aakesh were to be there. Aakesh felt the pressure just from the voice of the creature.

"But Emperor Anu was from a different race," Aakesh couldn't help but get curious as he still remembered the scene of the war. Even though he couldn't clearly see the Emperors, from the knowledge gained by him, Aakesh was confident about the race of not only Emperor Anu but other Emperors as well.

Hearing Aakesh's response, the creature's lips twitched as it didn't believe that someone who was just shaking would respond with such a statement, despite knowing that it could turn harmful for them.

"You can't harm me, or you would have already done it," Aakesh could understand what was going through the creature's mind, so Aakesh expressionlessly added.

When Aakesh moved his eyes away suddenly, the creature also had a role to play in it. The energy released from the pair of eyes suddenly dimmed down, giving Aakesh more chance to move his eyes away.

Again when the creature loudly spoke, it stopped at the range from where if its decibel increased even a little, it would have hurt Aakesh's ears. Aakesh could see that the creature disliked him, but at the same time, he understood that the beast couldn't hurt him in any way. It attempted to make Aakesh feel fear, but it always stopped at the border from where it could have started turning dangerous for Aakesh.

In such a situation, what was there to fear for Aakesh?

The creature's lips twitched once again, but this time, there was a slight hint of anger in it.

"Why are you helping that worm get the faith? Don't you know that the worm would return to its peak shape after absorbing it and would most probably harm you?" The creature added. Its voice was nowhere as loud as before.

Aakesh didn't speak since the creature wasn't aware of the quest. If it were, it would have never done so. Regardless of their level, refusing to do things as stated after the successful completion of the mission was taboo in Panagea. Anyone who did this would face punishment from Panagea's will, and only Chaos-grade lifeforms could survive that, which fortunately for Aakesh, the Anarchic Parasite was not.

Seeing Aakesh not responding to its statement, the creature's eyes turned cruel, once again.

But soon, the pair of eyes returned to normal, and there was an added hint of helplessness in it.

The creature wanted to kill Aakesh for even thinking of stepping into the altar to get the faith reserved for Emperor Anu. But unfortunately for it, killing anyone inside the ruin was prohibited by the Emperor. Especially Aakesh, who controlled his greed and won battles against creatures that had higher strength than him and reached the ninety-ninth step. It was time for him to reap the harvest of his hard work, not face a Level 999 creature.

The next moment, the other two pairs of eyes opened for the creature. It would be a lie if someone found it to be the most beautiful thing in existence. In the middle pair, there was a golden sclera adorned with silver pupils and gray irises, while in the top pair, there were seven distinct colors.

The sensation of his soul getting sucked appeared again, despite Aakesh not directly looking into those three pairs of eyes. But this time, the feeling didn't last long, and Aakesh didn't have to do anything to make it go away.

"Since you have reached this step, you are eligible to get a wisp of the faith energy reserved for the ancestor," The creature opened its mouth and told Aakesh. At the start, its tone was neutral, but at the end, it contained a mixture of anger and helplessness.

"You are only eligible to get the wisp. It doesn't mean that you will get it," The creature added before Aakesh could say anything.

Aakesh only nodded, but the next moment, he felt an invisible force attacking him. The attack never came. But instead, Aakesh found himself in darkness after getting pushed back.

The darkness had reached such an extent that Aakesh couldn't even see his fingers or feel himself existing.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a ray of light emerged and pierced the darkness engulfing the area.

The next moment, Aakesh found himself in an area filled with light while rays of white light flew all around.

From the ray of white light, Aakesh could sense a feeling of infinity. Having two infinite attributes and slightly understanding the element of infinity allowed him to do so.

The next moment, a new piece of information automatically appeared in Aakesh's head.

Since he was in Panagea and everything was in control of the system, the system didn't stop the piece of memory from entering Aakesh's consciousness.

In the memory, it only said two things. First, each ray of white light is a wisp of faith energy. Second, you can take more than one if you are capable.

Aakesh also found that each wisp had a prayer of a hundred trillion Divine grade lifeforms, so for Aakesh to take it out wasn't an easy task.

Time flew by.

Aakesh currently dragged a wisp of faith light with him as he wanted to leave the place. Every step Aakesh currently took was no less than torture. Even he didn't know how much it weighed, but if Aakesh didn't have unlimited endurance, he would have sat down, feeling tired straight away without even being able to drag it.

Despite unlimited endurance, Aakesh failed to take more than one wisp with him.

***

"Congratulations!" The creature congratulated Aakesh with its teeth grinding in anger, but since it had to follow its rules, it could only do this.

Aakesh only nodded and left since the wisp weighed a lot. He wanted to complete the quest and get his reward.