"Ahhh! Hasn't it been a pleasurable little nap."

The handsome youth who had dark bandages wrapped around his eyes and covered his eyes, stretched his limbs as he enjoyed the passing breeze and the warm weather that never changes.

The hill was as peaceful as before, with nothing but the tall tree filling one's view. As he breathed some fresh air and leaned on the tree, the tree gazed at the blue-clothed empress standing a few meters in front of him.

Her lips twitched when he uttered those last words but she didn't comment on that and regained her composed look. Although a long time has passed since their last meeting, the appearance of the tall-woman barely changed, apart from the lack of the arrogance that was rooted deep into her nature, she didn't change at all.

"Mhmm time do really change people... still immature though."

With his chin resting on his hand, the youth assessed the Empress with a lazy look before he turned to look at the hanging moon in the night sky.

It illuminated this valley and made the starry sky even more beautiful, contrary to normal moons, this one was missing its right half, thus making it seem incomplete, nonetheless, it was still a breathtaking scene, worthy for the youth to pass a couple of hours staring only at the moon without doing anything else, even the Empress, who was waiting for him for who knows how long, was ignored.

"Just like that moon, a person without an origin is incomplete, however, the world moves forward and so should you. Instead of digging the past, why don't you create a proper origin for your future descendants?"

The woman remained unresponsive for some time before she replied

"I still wish to know about my origins and what happened before the Hour of Creation, I know it's just not some all-out war like most records said."

The youth softly chuckled then added with a cold tone

"At what cost?"

"No matter the cost!"

Her answer was immediate as if she prepared herself since the beginning. However, the youth wasn't satisfied, he shook his head and mocked

"You are not worthy. None of the Region leaders are, not even the one residing above."

The Empress frowned upon hearing this and said

"What about the Supreme Star Empress?"

Once the Star Empress was mentioned, the youth flinched and answered

"She... is worthy but she doesn't need to beg for the truth since she knows what happened."

Upon hearing this, the tall woman seemed genuinely startled, she thought she heard it wrong but from the look the youth was giving her, she definitely didn't hear him wrong.

"How does she know? She's isn't older than the Hour of Creation."

"I don't know and don't wanna know, you shouldn't poke your nose in the Star Region affairs too, there are eyes and ears everywhere. Just live peacefully, many people in the past yearned for what you have yet couldn't have it, not even when they became the most powerful of all. Little Empress, cherish what you have before it's gone."

Unable to find the right words to retort, the Empress remained standing there in confusion. Her stubbornness forced her to stay here and insist until he continued telling her the rest of the story, even if it was bit by bit. She already waited two thousand years for him to wake up and if she goes back with nothing, all her efforts will be for naught.

"Hmm, if you promise to get lost, I'll give you a clue."

As she was struggling with the dilemma, the Empress was more than happy to accept the youth's offer. She can't force him to talk and going back to the Elder Bone Dragon is more absurd, she isn't that idiotic to re-visit a dragon's den and anger it on purpose.

"Fine, I promise."

The youth waved his hand dismissively as he talked:

"Go to the Death Region, mayhap you find something interesting there. Now, will you get lost? I have another guest."

Although the clue was rather vague, the Empress stared at the youth for a few more seconds before she left the valley, leaving only the youth, who stood up and stared at the sky, where something appeared, illuminating this place more than the hanging moon.

"I hope you brought some good alcohol along with your damned cards."

The youth smirked as he gazed at the figure descending from the sky.

*********************

"Did you learn something useful?"

Lucy walked up to Arthur and asked him. She killed the helpless Bone Ghost by freezing his body from inside-out, she purposely kept the body intact so Arthur could possess it in the future, after all, a Sovereign is bound to have high stats.

Arthur nodded his head and answered:

"Mhmm, what I saw is satisfactory, for now. He worked mainly for the Whisperer King and acted as a double agent, 'X' hired him without knowing his origins, he only knew that the Ghost was an expert in tracking and Stealth. He probably was cautious of the System and hired an outsider so that if the plan fails, the blame will fall on someone else.

Furthermore, 'X' made a death oath with the Ghost to not divulge anything about this mission. Apparently, the copy told me this oath is used frequently when powerful factions want to hire secret organizations to do the dirty word."

Lucy pondered about what she just heard then added:

"How much time before 'X' knows about the Ghost's death?"

Arthur smirked and said

"He won't. Their method of communication is rather old as to not alert the System, which uses countless tools that can easily detect artifacts, formations, and arrays. They used a special kind of Spatial Bird called 'Rift Eagles', they can rip space and travel through tunnels they create themselves. They usually travel from party A to party B and take the least amount of time in doing so even if the distance separating the two parties is unimaginably big. From the memories I saw, the Ghost sends the Rift Eagle every month to inform 'X' about the changes on Earth. Last time the eagle was sent was three days ago."

"How does he knew that the Ghost was the sender of the Rift Eagle?"

"Pretty easy, Ghosts and Bone Ghosts do not have parents and born from an accumulation of both Yin Energy and Death Energy, with the addition of a few other factors. Thanks to this, every Ghost's body has a different kind of Blood Imprint, moreover, the Imprints can be differentiated by using a simple Blood Stone, this also applies to Bone Ghosts. Plus, these Imprints cannot be copied so as along the Blood Imprint sent by the Bone Ghost is exactly similar to the original one 'X' has, then no suspicion will grow.

In fact, it's just like the thumbprints that are used on Earth, each person has a unique one."

By possessing the Ghost, Arthur will able to use the marrow of the Bone Ghost to produce the blood. The good thing about possessing a host is that the latter's body functions resume working when possessed and halt when he leaves the body, which is why an injured body will heal immediately when possessed until recovering to its normal state.

"That's great. We should be able to fool 'X' until other things are sorted out. Moreover, we can lure him here if we ever tell him that you were sighted on Earth, I'm sure he'll personally come or send a trusted subordinate."

What Lucy said was perfectly right, if Arthur sends a letter containing the right words, he can lure 'X' here and prepare an ambush. They have plenty of time so they should prepare themselves to there is zero chance of failure when the bad guy appears.

From what he heard from his Copy, 'X' isn't a weak individual, he is well-known for being crafty and he always hides his true abilities, never showing them in the open. Although he isn't the strongest out of everyone in the Cloud Sea Universe, he's definitely at the top due to having the ability to manipulate Time, a terrifying sub-category of Void Magic.