Death... and me

On their way back to Kihin's residence, Kihin couldn't help but ask, "Are you really okay with that? That was 150000 Merit Points! That's quite a lot, even for me in the Core Sector. In the end, that information is useless since you won't be heading to Treavin Continent anytime soon."

Roan just faintly smiled, not telling him that, in fact, he would be leaving soon. "Don't bother about that. Now, let's head back and try what I have in mind. Perhaps you'll be able to find your compatible star."

Kihin narrowed his eyes but didn't say anything. He didn't believe someone at Roan's level would travel anywhere that far anyway. "Alright then."

Back at Kihin's residence, he told his subordinates and workers to leave him and Roan alone.

Roan then warned Kihin one more time. "If it really works, you understand what it means to share this method with other people, right? I won't stop you from doing so. However, if you die because of this, that'll be your problem."

Kihin nodded, assuring Roan, "Don't worry. I have no intention of revealing it to anyone. First of all, I haven't told anyone about the method to break through the barrier in the first place. No, better than that, I didn't even realize there was a barrier. If you haven't told me about the barrier, I would eventually select a star inside it."

Roan was satisfied to hear that. "Then that's good. In any case, I'm not prohibiting you from sharing it. I'm just saying that you better be certain before you do it. After all, it was thanks to you that I found out about the barrier and the compatible stars in the first place."

Roan then went straight to the point. "Anyways, when you told me that you would wait until your age didn't matter much, I had an idea. As I told you before, my star is a black dwarf. Basically, it's a remnant of a real star that died tens of billions of years ago. I believe the trick here is age!"

"Age?" Kihin was puzzled. "Stars can live for a very long time, so all of them are of large ages in general. It's very hard to find young ones. Still, I don't know how 'age' can help me find my compatible star."

Roan then explained, "Starlight Energy is different from normal Starlight. Normal Starlight can be blocked and might not reach our location. Starlight, on the other hand, can definitely make its way here. Between the countless numbers of mixed Starlight Energy that we can feel, your compatible star's Starlight Energy is definitely there."

Kihin nodded, telling Roan, "That's considering that I truly have a compatible star, of course."

Roan agreed with Kihin. "Exactly. Now, here's the deal. You will enter the sea of stars with your mind once again. This time, however, you won't just keep moving around with your mind, trying to feel that compatible star. Instead, I want you to stay still and relax. Let all the Starlight Energies pass through you. No, to be more specific, let the starlights pass through your own Starlight."

Kihin was still puzzled. "I can't see where you're getting here. I did that already and didn't feel anything."

As mentioned before, everyone was born with Starlight in their bodies. It was just a matter of feeling it when using the Starlight Body Cultivation Technique.

Roan then explained, "That's because you tried to feel it the wrong way. Here's my idea. As you know, everyone is born with their own Starlight. That's a given. However... I don't think that Starlight was ours to start with."

"This..." Kihin wasn't an idiot. To enter the Core Sector, just having a connection in the Sacred Land wasn't enough. You had to be strong and intelligent as well. "I see..." Immediately, Kihin felt like he was enlightened.

Roan could see that Kihin understood. "That's exactly what you're thinking. If the Starlight we are born with isn't really ours, but something our compatible star put there, then everything becomes clearer. First of all, why would a living being have just one type of Starlight in their bodies when they're born? That makes no sense as there are countless mixed Starlights all around us. We should have the same mix in our bodies, not just one type of Starlight. I believe that our bodies only accepted the Starlight that matched our bodies. Or, you could say that a specific star selected us at that moment. It doesn't matter, though. The important thing is that we have a specific star's Starlight in our bodies. That's why a compatible star's Starlight exists. We're just connecting with the original owner of the Starlight in our bodies."

Roan continued, "Now, I can guarantee you that no other starlight has the same age as another. Their moment of birth might have been very close, but they're definitely not the same. Your objective is very simple. You will let the mixed Starlight pass through your body's Starlight, and you will try to find that specific one that has a similar age to the Starlight in your own body."

Kihin couldn't help but ask, "But how will I determine the age of my own Starlight and the Starlights passing through it?"

Roan pointed at Kihin himself, replying, "It isn't that hard if you think about it. Starlight needs to travel way too far to reach us here. During this time, it definitely suffers through some changes." In fact, Roan was thinking about the various techniques humans used to track the stars back on Earth. Back there, humans could determine the approximate age of a star through the spectrum of the light that reached Earth, calling it redshift. He believed that Starlight Energy went through similar behavior. "The Starlight in your body has the same age changes as your compatible star's. Look for it. The key is how old the Starlight Energy is."

Kihin immediately nodded after that. "Alright, I'll give it a try."

Even though Roan gave Kihin clues, the fact was that there were many Starlights that did have similar ages, so Kihin had a wide scope of stars to go after through the sea of stars. However, compared to the actual number of stars in total, he reduced the scope to something that was at least manageable. At the very least, now he could tell which direction he should go to find that specific Starlight Similarity.

Around a week later, the experts of the Realm of Gods once again looked at the sky. A new Star Body had appeared, much to their surprise.

"Someone... or some power... has found a way to locate the right star."