Chapter 161 Guidance

What Hiroyuki held in his hand was none other than the legendary ultimate weapon of the Ultraman lore—the Ultra Key. Legend has it that it possesses the ability to alter the orbital trajectories of planets and can obliterate a minor asteroid from the star map with a single strike. It is essentially the console key for the cosmic star map, treating the universe like a canvas to be edited or erased at will.

Of course, if such an item were to fall into the hands of an ambitious madman, it would spell utter catastrophe. Even without actually using it, merely holding it would serve as a powerful intimidation tool—a strategic deterrent weapon on a cosmic scale. Fortunately, the item is currently kept in the custody of the Land of Light, safely concealed within the Tower of Ultraman at the very core of the realm, greatly minimizing the risk of this cheat-code-level strategic weapon being abused. Aside from being stolen twice from the Land of Light by dark factions due to plot convenience, it has remained well-guarded the rest of the time.

Earlier, Hiroyuki had materialized the Taiga Spark, the Beretta pistol, and a stun baton in his dreamscape. These represented idealist weapons, long-range physical weapons, and close-combat physical weapons, respectively. The Captain’s purpose was merely to let Hiroyuki get a feel for the process. After all, in the Captain’s mind, both Hiroyuki and Taiga were exceptional children, the kind of top-tier students capable of inferring three instances from a single principle.

Therefore, when the Captain asked Hiroyuki what he thought the strongest weapon was, Hiroyuki answered without a moment's hesitation: "The Ultra Key." The reason was simple. It wasn't as if the Ultraman universe lacked other famously powerful weapons. In recent years, there was Taiga's own Taiga Tri-Blade, Orb's holy sword and spear, Zero's Dual Slugger, and weapons from older generations such as the Father of Ultra's Ultimate Blade. While they were all powerful, they shared one common trait:

They all belonged to someone.

Hiroyuki summarized the key points of materializing idealist weapons: first, one must genuinely believe they are capable of using it; second, one must have a correct understanding of its effects.

The aforementioned weapons of his predecessors failed at the very first hurdle.

Hiroyuki could not "naturally" imagine himself wielding Orb's holy sword. It wasn't that they couldn't be borrowed, but one cannot bargain with their own subconscious or rationalize that the seniors wouldn't mind sharing; if you can't conjure it, you simply can't.

As for the Taiga Tri-Blade, Hiroyuki felt he might stand a chance, but in terms of sheer power, the Tri-Blade fell short. Let's not forget, Hiroyuki couldn't even transform into Taiga at the moment, so wielding the Tri-Blade wouldn't allow him to unleash much combat prowess.

The Ultra Key was entirely different. It was a "sacred vessel of the state," theoretically belonging to no single individual, nor was it anyone's private property; rather, it belonged to all citizens collectively.

As for having a correct understanding of the Ultra Key's effects, the fact that Hiroyuki successfully materialized this ultimate weapon served as retroactive proof that his perception of it was entirely accurate.

It really is a "star map editor" after all...

Uncle Oda also caught sight of the twenty-meter-wide hole blasted into that overwhelming mountain of flesh. Hearing that Hiroyuki had pierced it using the "stick" in his hand, and recalling how he had been standing dangerously close to that very aperture just moments ago, a lingering wave of fear washed over him.

At that exact moment, the metal rod in Hiroyuki's hand dissolved into specks of starlight and vanished. Deprived of the prop he had been leaning on, Hiroyuki’s body swayed. He leaned against the tree trunk behind him and slumped directly to the ground.

"Hiroyuki?!"

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Just a little dizzy. Using that weapon just now took quite a toll."

Hiroyuki gazed with a tinge of regret at the dissolving points of light.

He understood that the dizziness and fatigue he felt stemmed partly from the immense mental focus required for materialization, and partly... because he knew the Ultra Key was akin to a firearm, and its attacks required the consumption of "ammo."

The "ammo" consumed by the Ultra Key was souls.

Rumor had it that the Ultra Key in the Land of Light harbored the souls of warriors who had perished in battle.

Hiroyuki interpreted the "souls" here simply as willpower rather than ethereal spirits or ghosts. Though those people had passed away, their unfinished causes and ideals, their visions and beliefs, condensed into a tangible, substantive force—the very source of the Ultra Key's power.

Hiroyuki suspected that without this understanding, he would never have been able to materialize the weapon, as this too formed part of a "correct understanding" of the Ultra Key. It was precisely because he comprehended the source of its energy that he successfully conjured it, though this likewise limited the number of times he could use it.

Naturally, the spiritual power of a single human is finite.

In Hiroyuki's subconscious, the "Ultra Key" was originally a weapon for giants. Since it had been miniaturized to a scale that an ordinary human could hold, its combat effectiveness would certainly pale in comparison to when the Father of Ultra wielded the original version. Otherwise, the mountain of flesh before them would have long been reduced to cosmic dust by a direct hit from the Ultra Key instead of merely getting a small hole punched through it. Although miniaturization suppressed its destructive output, the energy consumption was correspondingly reduced as well. However, Hiroyuki couldn't be certain whether filling it with his own wishes and convictions to serve as fuel could allow the consumed "fuel" to restore or regenerate...

Regardless, feeling merely fatigued for now brought Hiroyuki a slight sense of relief.

...Though only a slight sense of relief regarding this particular matter.

Hiroyuki raised his head to look at the circular hole he had just punched through. Earlier, one could see the dazzling crimson sunset clouds glowing on the far side through the aperture, but now, that bright red hue had vanished from the opening.

As expected, much like ordinary Space Beasts, this creature possessed formidable self-healing capabilities. Simply punching a hole like this was utterly meaningless unless it could be entirely pulverized in a single blow.

Realizing this, Hiroyuki knew he could not linger here any longer. He quickly looked up and urged, "Uncle Oda, go find the ruins of Noa’s temple quickly. It should be somewhere within this forest..."

Hiroyuki had realized when he climbed the tree earlier that this place bore no resemblance whatsoever to the scenes from the television series.

Before setting off, Hiroyuki had roughly sketched the imagery of the Dream Ruins Noah's host had witnessed back then on a whiteboard for Uncle Oda's reference. The background featured a sunset, beneath which lay a sea of trees, and on the right side of the image stood a pyramid-like structure half-buried in the forest canopy, topped with stone sculptures of the Stone Wings.

Hiroyuki had assumed the structure would be prominent enough that Uncle Oda could spot it simply by finding a high vantage point and looking around. Who would have guessed that when Hiroyuki climbed a tree to scout for himself, he found, just as Uncle Oda had said, nothing but an endless expanse of forest without a single trace of man-made architecture. Hiroyuki could only surmise that either the ruins were visible exclusively to candidates, or that the ruins would truly manifest before a candidate only after they had passed a certain trial.

In any case, Uncle Oda had to set off immediately; only once he initiated the trial procedures would there be a turning point.

Seeing Hiroyuki struggling slightly as he pushed himself up with the help of the tree, Uncle Oda hesitated. Leaving Hiroyuki behind here was perilous, yet bringing him along would inevitably hamper his own movements.

"I'm fine. I'll go hide. Once you sort things out, Uncle Oda, we'll all be safe."

Without further ado, Hiroyuki waved his hand, turned, and dashed into the woods. After running just a few paces, he heard familiar footsteps closing in from behind—Uncle Oda must have given chase.

However, Hiroyuki did not want Uncle Oda to keep following him.

From his winding, zigzagging journey through the woods earlier, he had grasped that Noa's trial was certainly not a test of a candidate's navigation skills. In other words, if Uncle Oda met certain conditions, the ruins of Noa's temple would naturally appear before him. If Uncle Oda failed to find the ruins, it would undoubtedly be because he was rejected, not because his luck was simply too poor to locate them.

As for Hiroyuki, he didn't even possess an admission ticket; from the very beginning, Noa's ruins would never appear before him. Therefore, if Uncle Oda continued to tail him, he might end up disrupting the trial and preventing a legitimate examinee from properly taking the test.

Thus, Hiroyuki quickened his pace, bypassed a few trees while intentionally dampening the sound of his footsteps, and then scrambled up a specific tree, concealing himself within the dense foliage while holding his breath to wait for Uncle Oda to pass.

A long time passed, yet Hiroyuki saw no one walk beneath the tree, and the sound of footsteps faded away, plunging the sea of trees back into silence.

Meanwhile, Toraregia watched with mild exasperation as a small silver butterfly flew figures of eight in front of him. What on earth was the meaning of this? Was this supposed to be a message from Ultraman Noa telling him, "I am watching you"?

The little butterfly seemed to notice Toraregia pausing to observe it. It circled twice more, then fluttered deeper into the forest. However, after flying about twenty meters, noticing that Toraregia was still standing his ground and had not followed, it happily resumed its figure-eight flight pattern.

Toraregia: "..."

Was this an invitation for him to follow?