Chapter 1730: A lead
"Hey, cut me some slack, I don’t go around learning the whole Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum," said Lex.
"You really should," said Kaemon. "About every thousand years, a list of the top 100,000 races is released by a number of organizations and news agencies. The lists are never completely accurate, but they’re close enough estimations. It’s pretty useful stuff, especially for businesses and entrepreneurs. Or basically anyone with an inter-realm clientele."
"I’ll be sure to buy a magazine when I return to the Inn," said Lex as he rolled his eyes. "What can you tell me about the Zai race? Although I defeated him, right before dying Kreel launched some kind of attack towards me. I’m not sure what it did - I can’t sense much, but there’s definitely something there."
Kaemon looked at Lex, his gaze studying the human’s body deeply, as if searching for an answer.
"I am not the expert in this matter, nor am I qualified to say what the Zai might have done to you, but I can venture a guess. According to the Cosmic Gazette, the Zai race is a master of the Spirit. Not only are they extremely adept in matters of the mind, they actually depend on their spirit to sustain their souls instead of their bodies.
"In the interesting facts section, it was noted that almost all Zai race members have many slaves who follow them around everywhere. A lot of people speculate that the Zai feed off the slave’s spirit somehow, since they don’t really need others to fight on their behalf. No one would actually write down the known weaknesses of an Elder race.
"What was written, however, was a warning. The Elder races are powerful, there’s no doubt about that. But that power comes at a cost. Despite being identified as the most powerful races in the universe, on a universal level, most of them are not dominant because of a very severe flaw.
"The birth of any of the top races requires either very specific conditions or extremely valuable and rare resources. That makes it easy to counter the top races, for all the powerful organizations of the universe need to do is block those resources. They don’t even need to actively fight against the top races. Just blocking what they need to procreate, they slow down the growth of the top races. After all, their threat is too great. They cannot be ignored.
"Predictably, to protect their own interests, most of the Elder races tend to band together. One of the ways in which they do that is by leaving a mark on any who kill them."
Kaemon did not continue to speak, but it was clear what he thought might have happened. Lex actually relaxed visibly. As long as it wasn’t some kind of curse that would actively harm him, he didn’t mind. He could take his time and figure out how to remove that mark, or maybe even assimilate it entirely.