Along the silence was the abrupt disappearance of the girl beside the man. His expression turned serious as he considered a showdown against Aleph.
'Which of the three? It's impossible for them to succeed so quickly. That guy remained stuck in Beyond Grade A for seventy years already…'
The man shifted his thoughts elsewhere.
'What if he told the truth? In another world… But then, everyone else should have failed. Only our iteration succeeded in bypassing the universe's cycle…'
If it weren't for the Sanctum's extremely special nature, the man would have already considered a fight from the get-go.
All of his doubts were turned into a single question:
"What world did you come from?"
******
Aleph felt the strong pricking sensation at the back of his neck.
'Oh… He's really similar to Terminus. The danger I felt was weaker, though.'
If Terminus gave off the feeling of utter despair and hopelessness, Aleph could still see a possibility of being able to turn the tables against this man.
At the very least, he could save his life.
"It's a world with gods. This should suffice, no?"
"..."
Aleph showed the Sanctum's mark on his right hand.
"How should I greet you, this world's first Transcendent Grade?"
The man was stunned. His words gave off several hints.
"Since when did you access the Sanctum?" He asked.
"About a year ago."
"No wonder…" He muttered. "What kind of dogshit luck was this?"
For a year and a half, Aleph did not come across anybody else. Even the man felt incredulous at that thought.
"Han Xiao. Leader of Black Star's Army. You?"
"Aleph. Just some unknown god."
Things calmed down with a handshake. On their level, however, things do not appear as they seem to be.
'The Sanctum's mark on him is real…'
'So this is a Transcendent Grade. I have to correct our assumptions.'
A round of scouting put the two at ease.
"Your world should not be anywhere in my world."
"That's correct."
The first thing Han Xiao confirmed was Aleph's words from earlier. The words "world with gods" suggested it was truly a completely different world than their universe's.
After all, Han Xiao is the sole god of his world.
"I don't know if the concept of distance exists between different worlds, but I am sure we are far off." Aleph commented. "There's no need to worry about interstellar conquests and the likes."
Thinking of his 'countless' years of mindlessly traveling as a soul—and the countless adaptations he went through—Aleph confirmed the idea of "nigh-infinite" distance between worlds.
If it wasn't for such a lengthy travel, he would not have possessed a ridiculous authority such as Infinity.
"That puts me at ease." Han Xiao shrugged. "So, how should we do things?"
"Two things. First is my unhindered access to the Sanctum. I earned this, after all."
"That's not a problem."
A hundred years after the successful emergence of the 'dark universe' into the 'real universe', Han Xiao gained a lot.
He learned more about his current capabilities as a Transcendent Grade. He placed some of them inside the Sanctum—something seen by Aleph—while the rest remained in his head.
Simply put, he is confident that the things gained in the Sanctum does not outweigh what Aleph has to offer.
"Second. Let's barter things. Be it information or materials. Of course, we have to trust each other first."
"That's fine, but you have to give concessions. The Sanctum's knowledge should still be of some help to gods."
Aleph accepted this proposal.
'He feels like a sophisticated businessman. I wonder how many people he had scammed.'
Talking about business made Han Xiao's aura change perceptibly. This made Aleph more cautious when it came to negotiating with this world's sole god.
After a round of negotiations, Aleph traded the knowledge of Aeons' nature and abilities in exchange for Han Xiao's experiences of the Five Supers System.
He looked at the floating blue orb atop his palm.
'Hm… There are four requirements to become a God.'
{Parsing complete.}
{Result. The parsed information has a degree of completeness exceeding 95%.}
'He didn't keep much to himself. He's trustworthy, huh…'
Aleph began reading the Five Supers compiled by Han Xiao. It was quite different to the previous information he had read.
He used to pass the information he gained to Mobius, Vill-V, or Mei. It resulted in this knowledge being incorporated into their own system regarding honkai energy.
For example, the Esper's progression via gene awakening was included in the latter study of MANTISes. The assimilation of ICHORs was increased by a new method derived from it.
'Hm… Alright. This is how they work. Our system is still incomplete by a mile.'
Aleph went through the millions of words inside the orb in a second. He went to the most important part that he obtained.
'There are four requirements to become a God…'
Unlike his experience on ascending to Godhood, it felt simpler. Aleph's transcendence required the use of another world's orb plus his own authority evolved as a way of survival. The other Aeons of Aleph's world also went through troublesome things before succeeding.
'God's Trait Transformation… This is the equivalent of authorities. It's divided into five in their world. Then, there's something called Beyonder's Vestige. Hm, isn't this just a collection of compressed complex information?'
The first two requirements seemed too simple in Aleph's eyes. The God's Trait Transformation is an ability gained by reaching Beyond Grade A. It boosts the performance of the so-called "Class" and "Class Skills".
As for the Beyonder's Vestige, it was a kind of remains left by Beyond Grade A who tried to transcend Godhood but failed.
'The third one needs the five classes to work together. If I can take a sample of their energy, World should be able to replicate them all.'
Aleph's World authority came from the Embryonic Power System. He did not have much time to explore its 'evolution' after becoming an Aeon, but now was a good time to do so.
Its ability to extract and replicate various energies from other power systems was a huge help prior to his Aeonhood.
'Then, the last one. A Universal Treasure that stabilizes lifeforce. I'll try to tweak the Evolution Cube once I come back.'
It didn't take long before Aleph finished digesting the information given to him. A faint smile crept up to his face.
'I can fulfill all of these requirements.' He thought. 'Fresh Transcendent Grades still have to undergo testing to see their power, but for now, Han Xiao's example is good enough.'
Looking at the mechanic who exhibited slightly lower danger levels than Terminus, Aleph appreciated the power system more.
It was the first systematic system he obtained since contacting the supernaturals. It was the power system that had the lowest requirements and high enough ceiling.
While he was preoccupied with it, Han Xiao went through a similar experience.
'Paths… Was this another use of information form anchors? No wonder I reached this level after doing nothing…'
In such a way, the first transaction between two different worlds ended.