Once upon a time there was a greedy snake.

Chapter 414 A new storm has emerged
Just as the singing bowl had predicted, Upo Salas truly specializes in the spiritual realm.

Body, consciousness, soul—the many powers in the Star Sea can ultimately be categorized into these three main types. Therefore, to succeed in the Star Sea, one must choose one to specialize in.

Of course, many beings in the starry sea felt that they could have all three options.

However, having all three often means having no real advantage.

Surprisingly, the opposite is true: a balance of all three is not necessarily a good thing. To truly unleash one's power, one needs to specialize in one area—after all, stability means dormancy, while instability means explosion. To unleash one's power, one must even actively stimulate that instability.

However, most races cannot actually make the choice of one out of three, since excessive extremism means easier extinction. So often, they adjust the ratio and try to choose two out of three. For example, the Ignivas completely abandoned the study of the soul and instead devoted themselves to the field of the body and consciousness.

The elves, on the other hand, sacrificed some of their physical strength, thereby achieving remarkable accomplishments at the level of their soul and consciousness.

Or, to put it another way, those infamous chosen champions in the starry sea who previously pledged allegiance to the God of Courage, who claimed to be a unity of body, consciousness, and soul, actually had the latter two serving the purpose of enhancing the strength of their bodies.

As for Upo Salas himself...

He is a true master of the soul.

He doesn't know any of the spells that possess immense destructive power at the level of consciousness, since his style is to never personally engage in combat.

But on the level of the soul, the techniques for manipulating the mind, and how to influence the soul, are all things that Upo Salas is adept at.

"I don't think this counts as me personally getting involved, do I?"

In the void, another giant hand, hidden within the crack, was emitting invisible fluctuations.

The fluctuation had no destructive power; its only function was to erase Upo Salas's own presence, causing those who had ever remembered him to quickly forget his existence, thus making him disappear from the enemy's memory.

This is undoubtedly the safest method, even safer than defense or escape.

"However, it seems a bit troublesome."

It was at this moment that Upo Salas, sensing something was amiss, turned his attention to the light blue planet.

The snake remembered his name and even saw his face, which was undoubtedly the most dangerous thing for him. So, when eliminating his own presence, Upo Salas also listed the snake as a key target. Although the best way would be to kill the snake directly, he would definitely have to make the snake forget him before he could do so.

But now...

The snake's memory seems surprisingly difficult to affect.

In fact, he had succeeded several times already, and Upo Salas could sense it, but each time he succeeded, the snake would remember him again.

"Was it because of that traitor's reminder?"

Upo Salas's attention shifted to the fire-man standing to the side.

This is the second form of the Ignivas, abandoning the physical body and focusing entirely on the consciousness, thereby transforming themselves into an element and becoming true flame—this state naturally has drawbacks, not only is the entire process irreversible, but it can also be extinguished at any time.

But this state also implies immense power.

And a completely new look. Just like now, that young Ignivas man actually broke free from his brainwashing simply by becoming an elementalist—after all, his brain had already been burned away, so there was no brain left to be brainwashed.

Furthermore, the Ignivas, who are focused on consciousness, do not even have the concept of a soul, and are therefore unlikely to be influenced by the soul.

"They actually betrayed us in the face of battle, these Ignivas..."

Upo Salas's emotions were quite complex. He should have been angry, but what was truly brewing in his heart was greed.

The more capable someone is, the more worthy they are of becoming his collection.

Whether it's these Ignivas or the snake.

With these valuable collectibles, he will not only break even on this trip, but also make a fortune!
"But if I want to take them down... what do I still have left to use?"

With that in mind, Upo Salas began to take stock of his collection.

It was a subspace hidden in the crack, and also a personal treasure trove that Upo Salas had created for himself. His giant hand with ten fingers was checking the various display shelves, carefully searching for the usable exhibits.

"It doesn't seem to be very useful..."

Upo Salas sighed as he counted the various creatures on display in the showcase.

It's not that his collection is too small, but rather that few of them are suitable for the present moment. For example, the exhibit he just pointed to is a giant from the Land of Light. If it were to fight that giant serpent, it should be able to kill it.

However, there is a problem here: the giant of light may not fight the giant serpent. Given the serpent's tendency to offer its prey as meat first, the two sides may not actually fight.

If we fail to capture the snake and instead end up adding to its fighting strength, it would be a huge loss.

As for the other one, the Super Monkeyman who was captured by chance, this is said to be a famous fighting race in the Star Sea. Except for its tail, which is a weakness and will weaken it for a while after it is broken off, it can be said to be perfect.

However, these super monkey-men would likely expose another weakness when facing the snake: they have an insatiable appetite.

If that snake had offered to provide all the food one could want, these super monkey-men would probably have switched sides on the spot.

"This won't work, this won't work either... The snake method does seem very troublesome."

At this moment, Upo Salas realized that the snake's real trouble was never its own fighting strength.

The snake's real danger lies in something similar to his, except that he controls his numerous collections through techniques at the soul level.

The snake, in a similar manner, broke through his spell, causing the assassins he sent out to stop attacking and even betray him.

"It seems that only one of us, the snake or I, can survive."

At this moment, Upo Salas had already sensed that sense of crisis.

So, after a moment's thought, he took out a long-forgotten collection.

(End of this chapter)