From the Stellar king, Alwyn learned that the Stellar Kingdom was only one of the many subsidiary Kingdoms under the DarkStar world.

Edward was a caretaker of some sort. Keeping the Stellar Kingdom safe was his only assignment.

“My rank in the Darkstar company is too low to be of use elsewhere. My insights in the element of space are way too lacking. If it were not for the treasure key, I wouldn’t have been able to leave a wound on you.” Edward explained.

The Treasure Key was the black spear. It was crafted from a small part of a lance. The lance of Udumu. Each subsidiary world under the Darkstar company had treasure keys in the form of various weapons. Those treasure keys had also come from the same lance.

The lance of Udumu was the treasure key of the Darkstar world. It was sentient with its own spirit that wielded it. No one else had a soul strong enough to tame it, but the lance had allowed the Darkstar company’s master to be its servant. It could be said that the lance itself was the true master of the Darkstar company.

The lance of Udumu had existed forever. Even the lance itself had no idea how it came to be nor how long it had existed. When it came to the space element, its insights were unmatched. Just like any treasure key that the lance bestowed upon its disciples, the space around it was its domain. As for the boundary of its domain, no one really knew how far it was.

The Darkstar company used the protection of the lance to create a base of operation and expand.

The company was safe to dabble into all kinds of trades as there was no one crazy enough to attack them on their turf.

“I guess I just found a solution to my problem. After an eternity of scouring space and time, I did not expect that the first encounter will bring me to the solution. I understand now why you can allow yourself to grow so strong. You rely on the treasure key to keep the world safe from you. It cannot allow space to shred in its domain unless you are stronger by a huge margin and if what you say about the lance is true, there is no one out there that can match its hold over the space element.” A thoughtful Alwyn said. He asked: “How did you become this strong?”

“We use origin energy to strengthen our bodies or souls. It’s a long and arduous process. It took me close to an eternity to reach this stage.” Edward said. He was confused. Did the gray human before him not use origin energy. It was impossible to assume such a thing as the possibility of reaching such strength with other means was impossible.

Origin energy was the only energy that could be found everywhere. Some schools of thought saw it as the energy that that was the origin of everything. From life to the elements or power sources.

“If it can be found everywhere, how come I’ve never seen or felt it.” Alwyn asked.

“It's the treasure key, the lance of Udumu, that harvests it and then gives away a portion of it for us to use.” Edward said. It was no secret as origin crystals were the only currency inside the Darkstar World.

“It’s that simple. Then why did you say it was arduous?” Asked Alwyn.

“For Origin warriors such as I, absorbing origin energy into our bodies might seem easy but there are thresholds that cannot be passed without sufficient insights into the workings of an element. Many in the Darkstar world, choose to study the space element as it is easy to reach a satisfactory level of comprehension under the guidance of the lance as you live in its world. I am one of those who chose the space element.” Said Edward. He elaborated: “ The body can endlessly absorb origin energy but the soul must be strong enough to be able to move it. There are cases of people who focus on the body too much and end up being too strong. They are basically out of sync with their own bodies and can be beaten by those weaker than them. Comprehending an element to a higher level strengthens your soul and allows a better control over your body.”

“I see.” Said Alwyn as he thought to how his soul was strengthened with the eternity he had spent in limbo trying to comprehend his weird power of space and time. “I was fine after the evolution. Which means that my soul was perfectly in sync with my body. Now with the time I just spent in limbo, my soul just became even stronger and I barely scratched the power of space and time.” Thought Alwyn.

“Is the lance the only object that can harvest origin energy?” Alwyn asked.

“No. Our enemies and allies have the same kind of treasure key with spirits watching over them. There are even Origin gods who have an origin body that can harvest the origin energy.” Edward said. He was asking himself where this man had come from to not know anything.

“I see. Is the dragon race your enemy?” Asked Alwyn who planned on visiting the treasure spirit of the lance and beg it for a small piece of it and go back home. He knew that if he stole the treasure key on Edward, a war would soon break out and since the Stellar King before him was one of the weakest in the Darkstar company, he was sure to lose if the more powerful hunted him down.

“Dragon race...haha...they are an exotic food and none of them are strong enough to even be worthy of being called our enemies. They are almost extinct though.” The stellar King, Edward, finally laughed. He had lost his seriousness the moment Alwyn asked the question. It was the best joke ever.

On Alwyn’s side, his bloodline was showing signs of rebellion and wanted to kill the king on the spot.

Alwyn was doing his best to control himself even though it was unrelated to him in a way. He shared the same hate but was cursed with the instrument of his hate.

The poor Alwyn forced a smile. His bloodline had to be hidden for a while. He found himself being forced to become even stronger to protect himself should his identity as a dragon be revealed. He could imagine the disastrous fate of the Divine dragon Everworld should their location be revealed.

No one wanted to find himself being cut into little pieces and served as a delicacy. There were thirteen million kilometers worth of dragon meat on him.

“I will be on my way then. Thanks for your help.” Said Alwyn as he walked away.

“If I may ask. What are you going to do in the Darkstar world?” Edward asked.

“To set up shop. You saw firsthand the effects of my powers. You soul is now stronger than ever. I am sure there are many in the Darkstar World who will pay a hefty sum to enjoy the same benefits.” Said Alwyn.

It was what Edward had guessed. He wanted to keep this miracle maker around and present him to the Darkstar company later and earn a bit of respect and fame.

There were many organizations in the Darkstar company and none of them could find a way to strengthen a soul to this degree. All the pills and elixirs were only useful to a certain extent. Nothing comparable to a casual sword strike of Alwyn.

Was the sword a treasure key bestowed by a treasure spirit?

That was what Edward was wondering and the reason why he maintained so much caution towards this weird gray man.

It had to be mentioned that each living being who possessed a treasure key was an extension of the treasure spirit as it had bestowed the treasure key to the wielder.

A treasure spirit that could enhance the soul without gaining any insights into an element but with pain.

It was unheard of.

There were five known Treasure spirit of fire, darkness, space, metal and light and one know Origin God of light. It stood to reason that the treasure spirit, Udumu, who controlled the element of space was the strongest as it was more nimble in fights, but the others did not lose out with their explosive might.

He suspected that the youth in front of him had come from another world ruled by a treasure spirit or an origin God. Creating an alliance with such a world could boost the Darkstar world’s alliance with the Light God world.

The three other treasure spirits, fire, darkness and metal were on bad terms with the Light Origin God and the Darkstar Alliance and they were vastly outnumbered. Udumu, the treasure spirit of the lance, was the only one keeping them at bay. Reeling in a new ally was sure to make the enemy even more scared of attacking.

Edward said: “If you plan on setting up shop in the Darkstar world, it would be easier if I introduced you to the company directly. The Darkstar company can ease the stringent procedures and they might even become your biggest customer.”

“Alright. Lead the way.” Alwyn said. If he had to set up a shop with such an amazing service, chances were that he would later have dealings with the Darkstar company.

Edward gave his spear to the woman leading the army and said to Alwyn as teleportation ripples appeared around them: “Let’s be on our way then.”

They appeared in front of a vast makeshift planet in the form of a cube.

Edward said: “This is our headquarters. Welcome.” he continued: “As you can see, there is a ban on teleportation around and inside the headquarters. We can only teleport at a fixed distance outside of the planet.”

Alwyn asked: “ Why do I feel like I am almost human? There is no ripple even when we teleport. ”

All this time, Alwyn was having trouble solidifying space under his feet. The fabric of space was way too perfect and he could only awkwardly follow behind.

“You mean that your physical strength is not shown through space. Well, the treasure spirit happens to be inside the headquarters this time. This place is point zero for us now. The fabric of space here is even more perfect the closer you are from him. And there are many treasure keys around here as well.” Edward said as they arrived at a checkpoint.

A spear wielding duo stopped them as Edward presented a badge. The spears were also treasure keys.

“And you? Where is you identification badge?” Said one of the guards to Alwyn.

Edward interjected: “He’s an important guest. You’d better not make it difficult for him.”

“You should know that the treasure spirit has been here for thousands of years. We do not want spies snooping around.” The other guard said as he handed the badge back to Edward.

“Sigh...Alwyn. Please wait here. I will bring someone to talk some sense into them.” A gloomy Edward said. Nerves were about to pop on his bald head. It seemed that these guards were higher ranked than him.

“No problem.” Said an amused Alwyn as he stood to the side and waited.

Edward then left.

It took a few minutes for Edward to come back with a middle aged man. They offered a bow as they seemed filled with awe and respect.

“This is him? He seems rather ordinary.” thought the middle-aged man.

As he got close to Alwyn, his eyes widened. He could feel the powerful soul undulations that Alwyn unintentionally released.

“Heavens...” He thought as he appeared shocked and surprised at the same time.

He looked once more and realized that Alwyn’s body was devoid of Origin energy. He stilled.

From his disciple’s words, Edward, Alwyn and Edward were almost evenly matched in terms of physical strength.

“Even origin beasts that are born stronger than us have some origin energy in them. There is none in him and he looks human. Is he a disguised beast?” The middle-aged man frowned.

Alwyn’s keen senses were telling him that this middle-aged man could see through him. He immediately said: “Pleased to meet you. Call me Alwyn.”

“Alistair. My disciple tells me good things about you. I would like to experience what he experienced. Just to know what we are dealing with.” The two faced Alistair said.

Alwyn spit his sword out and it regrew to its original size. He did not hesitate and made a horizontal cut through the body of Alistair.

Alistair and the guards thought it weird to see a weapon that could not even injure someone.

As Alistair contemplated the weirdness of the situation, multiple visions assailed him. Next, came a seizure.

The guards and the crowd that was nearing the checkpoint turned to attack Alwyn before Edward appeared in front of them to stop them.

He could not.

Alwyn sighed as he brandished his white sword and it endlessly grew several dozens of meters as he swung it at the whole crowd in front of him, Edward included.

Edward sighed as well and only hoped the Alwyn would show restraint in his attack. If the visions were even more violent than last time, even if he survived, the pain to endure was not to be underestimated.