The entity sighed and continued: "I saw how a single member of theirs reversed time when I struck that merchant!"
'This entity is hiding something, with experience deep beneath the cover of its immense power.' Thoughts raced through his mind before he said: "Oh, yes, I remember! That was just a few minutes before I met the princess." Xiao Ping replied, rubbing his head, and continued: "Alright, I'll be cautious."
"Stop rubbing your head! It gives me the feeling as if someone is rubbing my head too, and it's strange!" The entity spoke coldly before continuing: "Also, stay away from that princess. Her guards are strong. But you provoked them with a silly trick? After insulting one of the princesses of this kingdom? You're lucky you weren't pursued, otherwise if you were caught, your head would be rolling from under the guillotine!"
Those words caused Xiao Ping's body to tremble involuntarily. He never imagined that one day he would be executed, but today he was one step away from his own execution.
"Speaking of this: why is it that whenever I go to a specific place, there are problems, fights, or supernatural power-bearers? As if they are drawn to me... as if I am drawn to them!" Xiao Ping's words were somewhat confused.
"That's a good question! You ask: why do you seem like a magnet attracting trouble since entering this city? The answer is, you are a magnet!" The entity said indifferently.
"Huh? I don't understand!" Xiao Ping replied, puzzled.
"As I said: you are a magnet attracting trouble. A magnet consists of positive and negative poles, right?" The entity spoke this time in a mocking tone.
"I'm telling you I don't understand what you mean? Why bring magnets into this? Are you making fun of me now?" Xiao Ping replied, annoyed.
"Which is why I said a magnet has positive and negative poles. Since the poles are different, in this case there will be attraction. But if the poles are similar, that means repulsion!" The entity fell silent and said: "But that's not the case. There are artifacts that appear, feed on, and absorb the corpse of a power-bearer when they die. If a person in a certain sequence dies, the artifact carries their feelings of hatred and malice towards people in the same sequence. Also, the killer's sequence will suffer from the same hatred. But they will always remain under pursuit by that artifact which completes the hatred towards them. Don't worry, this only applies to the lower levels!"
He paused a little to let his words sink into the listener's mind, then continued: "As for the intermediate levels, the artifact that appears will be very powerful. Its effects might doom the area where the person it appeared from died to misery and ill omen. It might condemn someone to be hated or shunned by everyone, trap them in an illusion for their entire life, influence their daily decisions, or cause the death of all inhabitants of that area in the worst possible ways... Of course, this is under the assumption that the sequence type the person was in and the artifact's abilities differ in each sequence or level. As for a single artifact from the higher levels, it can activate a state of slavery on all people in the kingdom or continent, forcing them to make sacrifices for entities of its own level to descend... It also causes cosmic disasters like erasing an entire timeline, making Earth's gravity so strong it pulls meteors and stars toward Earth, or stirs volcanoes worldwide and drowns it in waves larger than mountains like tsunamis... and other things beyond the imagination of a human individual."
He paused and continued his speech to add fuel to the fire: "However... artifacts are rarely found among regions and ordinary people. Even if one appears from the death of a power-bearer, it will be sealed by official power-bearers before its effects activate on the surrounding environment... But this doesn't rule out the existence of an unsealed artifact... And for your information, these things I've told you... are not in the manuscripts you brought me... they are from my own knowledge. You lack both information and power!"
'If I hadn't seen this entity's power, I wouldn't have believed the information it just told me! Just artifacts that can carry hatred and feelings against you or about you and even kill you at the lower levels! That's somewhat acceptable. But artifacts from the intermediate and higher levels are utterly catastrophic. Wait, if my guess is correct, that Sky Flower that attacked me today... was an ordinary flower yesterday when I picked it by that rock, but this morning it possessed a will and attacked me... It hit my right shoulder and would have killed me too, but its power was very weak. Was it because it couldn't properly assimilate the will? Well, when I return, I'll examine it... I remember placing it by the door to protect me from strangers. I'll buy some fertilizer if I find some money!' Xiao Ping thought about a few things, then said: "This is really surprising regarding those artifacts. Even if I weren't the killer, I'd still face hatred and death if caught!"
"Yes, that's correct! To tell the truth, I was pursued by an artifact a very long time ago, and it was at level seven of the Path of the Miracle Master!" The entity's tone of voice changed with every word as it mentioned the Path of the Miracle Master.
'Hahaha, for an entity of this power to be pursued by an artifact at level... seve..' He was thinking about what the entity said, then suddenly screamed: "Whaaaaaat! A level seven artifact!."
"Yes, a level seven artifact, from the Path of the Miracle Master. I was a troublemaker back then! Hehehe." The entity laughed strangely before continuing: "It was ridiculously strong!"
'I don't know what's funny about being pursued by an artifact from the higher levels!..' Xiao Ping mocked internally before saying: "I have only three questions for you!"
"And what are these questions?" The entity replied coldly.
'I didn't expect it to agree. I thought it would say: "You'll know in the future!" But this development in our interaction is good!' Xiao Ping thought, then said: "What is the name of level seven of the Path of the Miracle Master? What are its abilities? And were you the killer?" Xiao Ping didn't ask something silly like: "Were you from the same Path?" because he already knew the entity was from his own Path, the Path of the Obscurity Gazer. The entity had told him that this morning, after telling him about a level that was at the peak of the intermediate levels, whose name was "Destiny Reflector".
"There's improvement in your questions! That's interesting. Also, this must be contradictory to our previous conversation! But as I said before, contradiction is what makes you a contrary human!" The entity praised before saying: "First and foremost, I was the killer! Secondly, the seventh level of the Path of the Miracle Master is known as «The Paradox». Its abilities are: it can change the collective perception around it, and also miracles that cause awe become ordinary in its presence. For example: if there was a star pulsating with heat higher than the sun, and The Paradox passed by it, the flames of that star would turn into flames weaker than an ordinary lighter's fire! Also, the impossible loses its existential meaning. That's besides the abilities that advanced as it rose through the levels!.. It was truly a nightmare."
The entity sighed and said: "But as I also told you about its powerful abilities, there is also a steep price for those abilities, which is to lose purpose, to lose goals and meaning, for everything to become possible to the point where life no longer holds value for him... And if he tries to commit suicide, his ability will resurrect him back to life."
'The price is very steep, but compared to its abilities, I think it's worth it. The abilities of The Paradox from the Path of the Miracle Master seem legendary... Also, this level has a strange advantage, which is being resurrected... With the same memories, I assume, so yes, that's more of an advantage than a side effect.' Xiao Ping analyzed the Path in his mind before saying: "But how did you manage to escape it... I mean the artifact."
"I refuse to answer that!" The entity pushed the question away.
...
End of Chapter~To be continued