Death... and me
chapter-2728

Their group walked through the streets and soon arrived at a relatively big building. Everything was dark inside, making it hard to see the surroundings. Rean and Kentucky entered without caring about it. They could feel there was a Spatial Formation in place, and each customer would be sent to a different room where they would.

Kentucky simply used his Spatial Proficiency to ignore the separation process, allowing Rean, Sonzei, and Fafa to be teleported to the same place inside the Information Trading Center.

The cultivators inside immediately noticed how the formation failed to activate, quickly warning the expert who was protecting the building. Not long after, an Early Stage Void Tempering Realm expert appeared in the same room as Rean and the others, ready to throw the troublemakers out.

However, the moment he appeared, his Divine Sense was able to see Rean and Kentucky's cultivation. Kentucky and Rean left it open on purpose so that the other side they weren't experts they could afford to offend.

The man's expression froze for a moment. However, he was experienced, even if it was the first time he had seen such high cultivation in his life. His lips curved into a smile and he joined his hands while rubbing them. "Now, now, now. That's not something I see every day, for sure. Welcome to our humble Information Trading Center. We will do our very best to attend to all your demands without hiding anything."

Rean stopped showing his cultivation and nodded with an even brighter smile. "Hahaha! That is very nice of you, good sir. Sorry for messing up with your Spatial Formation. Don't worry, though. We did not break it."

"Please don't mind such trivial problems," the man shook his head. "Even if it broke, it wouldn't be worth the concern of such esteemed guests. Sirs have no need to worry about price either. Just the chance of receiving such great experts in our Information Trading Center is worth more than any amount of Divine Stones we could ask for."

"Well, I shall accept your hospitality then," Rean said. "We are looking for information regarding this Island. The Mirror Sea seems to avoid and interact with it somehow. Still, it seems like no one knows why the Mirror Sea is like it is now. Could it be no one tried to check this Island or move it elsewhere as some kind of experiment?"

The man understood Rean. The Mirror Sea was indeed strange, so he thought Rean was here for some kind of treasure that no one else had found yet. "That is easy to answer, sir. Yes, there were those who tried to move this Island away. In fact, this isn't the only one. There are another eight Islands, just like this one."

"However," he continued. "it is impossible."

"Impossible?" Rean and Kentucky asked at the same time.

The man nodded. "Many things were tried to remove this Island from its place. Formations, brute force, teleportation, you name it. Yet, it simply doesn't budge. Of course, I doubt we ever had an expert with sir's strength visit us before, so I can't say for certain that you also can't. Nonetheless, it is definitely impossible for the experts of our Hustis Continent."

Rean asked something else. "I see... What about excavating it or something like that? Sure there must be something on this Island that causes this phenomenon, right? Perhaps the secret to the Mirror Sea's actual state is also related to it."

"For that, sir can go up the Island and see the old excavation sights yourself," The man explained. "At first, it is possible to make your way into the center of the Island like any other excavation. However, it soon starts to become harder and harder. Finally, at around one hundred meters mark, going forward becomes impossible. Whatever treasure might exist there, no one from this continent was able to acquire it until now. In the end, everyone simply gave up."

He also added. "Just so you can have an idea. This Island wasn't this lush before. The experts who initially tried to find what was happening here completely eliminated the Island's 'shell' around the center. In the end, they simply ended up with a smaller island that couldn't be excavated any further. There were no entrances or anything like that. Just some kind of power preventing anyone from prying inside."

"As I mentioned, everyone gave up in the end. As time passed, this Island slowly changed into a settlement for those crossing the Mirror Sea. The core of the Island is not visible anymore. Even if it was, there is nothing there for you unless you can find a way to excavate further."

Rean pondered a bit. 'Nine Islands, all with the same features. Impossible to be moved away, impossible to excavate into their cores.' he then connected to Sister Orb. 'Are you thinking the same thing as me, Sister Orb?'

[Yes,] Sister Orb swiftly answered. [I'm pretty sure this thing is a Natural Formation, and the Nine Islands work as the stabilizing runes somehow.]

Rean agreed with her. 'I wonder why it became like this...'

[That's the problem with Natural Formations.] Sister Orb sighed in response. [They appear naturally and don't really need a reason to exist. The conditions just happened to be right, so it came to be. Thinking about why this Natural Formation took place is a meaningless task.]

Rean had to admit she was right. 'Well, so be it. At least, this is the kind of phenomenon you would expect from a Universe Foundation Fragment. The scale is big enough, but the results are too 'bland' for anyone to care. No wonder Hyeoumu said it was the smallest Fragment of them all.'

Finally, Rean turned his attention to the man, who was still smiling at him while waiting for the next question. Right after, he pulled Sonzei to his side and pointed at his face. "What can you tell about Sonzei's tribe? Especially their bloodline.