Seeing Kongtai agree without hesitation, Fabuti was momentarily stunned, then a sincere smile appeared on his face.
He first bowed to Kongtai in thanks, then straightened up and pointed to the door at the innermost part of the temple, requesting, "I wish to ask Mr. Kongtai to go inside and see if my son Loki is still alive?"
This was the plea of a father, and also the request of a king.
For Loki's sake, and for the future of the giant nation.
After a deep look at Fabuti, Kongtai turned to face the door at the deepest part of the hall. His eyes narrowed, and within his azure pupils, nebulae swirled. A spirit, imperceptible to anyone, radiated from Kongtai's gaze towards the great door.
Just as the other shore could see through the door, so could Kongtai. He hadn't wanted to before, but now, with Fabuti's plea, he was merely responding to a father's request.
With a wave of his right hand, an image materialized out of thin air.
It was a unique space hidden by dense fog. There was no up or down, no left or right, no sun or moon. It was as if the entire world was within the clouds, and all that met the eye was white.
"What is this?" Guina and Robin looked at the image, their faces full of curiosity.
"This is what the true temple looks like." At that moment, Fabuti walked over, his face filled with astonishment, and answered their questions. He knew the silver-haired youth before him was strong, so strong that even he had little chance of winning. No, it wasn't "little chance" now, it was simply no chance at all. Such an unbelievable ability could not be achieved by Observation Haki alone. His original thought was to have Kongtai use his spatial-traveling ability to go in himself, but now it seemed Kongtai didn't even need to enter to see what was inside.
Powerful, mysterious, terrifying. This was the feeling Kongtai gave him at that moment.
Shaking his head, Fabuti's gaze fell upon the image projected in the void, a trace of nostalgia and worry appearing in his eyes. He was an Awakened, so he had entered the temple before. However, even though he had been inside, he didn't know how large the temple was, or how many things he didn't know were within it.
Following Kongtai's gaze, everyone saw towering mountains piercing the clouds amidst the white mist. As their vision drew closer, they finally realized that these were not mountains at all, but a head, the head of a warrior standing tall enough to touch the sky.
As if time had shifted, their sight instantly zoomed to the front of the statue.
"Great Elbaf." Fabuti exclaimed in surprise as he looked at the colossal statue in the image.
"You don't know?" Guina turned to Fabuti, asking in surprise.
"I don't know," Fabuti shook his head. Looking at the giant in the image, a fanatical reverence appeared in the depths of his eyes. "Although the white mist obscured my vision when I went in, I didn't see it as comprehensively as Mr. Kongtai does now, so I wasn't aware of this statue's existence."
Guina let out an "Oh~" and turned to continue watching the image.
"Found it." Just then, Kongtai's voice drew everyone's attention. Following Kongtai's gaze, they passed the giant's feet and, behind the giant, discovered a small temple built from massive stones. The temple had no door, and its interior was pitch-dark, resembling a passage to hell, slowly rotating.
"This is it, this is it." Seeing the temple, a trace of excitement appeared on Fabuti's face. "When I went in back then, I was just outside this temple. Within this vortex lies the true inheritance ground."
"Inheritance ground?" Guina once again turned to Fabuti with curiosity.
Since they had come this far, there was nothing left to hide. So, Fabuti, meeting Guina's curious gaze, slowly began to recount the power that truly placed the giant race at the apex of the world.
"You all know that the giants are the strongest race in the world, right?"
"Yes!" Guina and Robin nodded in unison.
Fabuti glanced at Kongtai, whose face was calm, and smiled, "Of course, compared to Mr. Kongtai, the giants are indeed nothing." He couldn't help but shake his head as he said this. "Perhaps only our giant race's true god, the great Elbaf, could compare to Mr. Kongtai!"
"No," seeing Fabuti say this, Kongtai waved his hand with amusement, "I cannot compare to Elbaf." "At least not yet," he added silently to himself.
Fabuti remained noncommittal to Kongtai's words. He stared at the temple in the image and said proudly, "The great Elbaf is a god who truly broke through to the peak of the world, our giant race's greatest existence. And this temple is the inheritance ground he forged for his descendants." "Anyone who can emerge from it alive will receive Elbaf's blessing and awaken the giant race's true power, 'God's Strength'." "With this power, we can easily elevate our strength to the world's peak."
"World's peak?" Fabuti's words filled Guina and Robin with surprise.
"Yes," Fabuti nodded, affirming, "the world's peak." He adjusted his armor, straightened his back, and continued, "Don't let my appearance deceive you, I am an old man nearing my twilight years, but with Elbaf's blessing, my strength even now is not inferior to the Four Emperors who rule the seas." Although he said "not inferior" and not "could defeat," it was still incredibly powerful, wasn't it?
"So strong, no wonder it's called the most powerful nation in the world." Robin pushed her glasses up her nose and then asked curiously, "Since you are so powerful, there must be many Awakened like you in the giant race now!" She thought that after so many years, with no wars, and the giants' lifespan being three times that of humans, even if they only calculated it at 300 years, it was still a long time. In such a long period, with this ready-made awakening ground, even if it was dangerous, by accumulating numbers, surely many could awaken. However, unfortunately, reality often differed greatly from imagination.
"Uh..." Fabuti cast a speechless glance at Robin, his back instantly stooping, returning to his usual old man demeanor. He looked up at the image before him and said regretfully, "Alas, it is a shame. To my embarrassment, besides myself, there are currently only two other Awakened in the clan."
"Two? Including you, that's only three. So few?" Fabuti's words brought surprise to both Guina and Robin.
"Yes! There are indeed only three." Seeing that Fabuti had no intention of elaborating further, Robin and Guina did not ask any more questions. With the inheritance ground readily available, and only three people over so many years, it seemed the issue wasn't danger, but that there were restrictions on entering. In their imagination, perhaps only royal family members like Fabuti could enter this place to seek the opportunity to awaken. Class, it was the same everywhere, present everywhere!