While Tacita holds Fuci so it cannot try to go back to Lily or Tess, I, Savi, and Sophie work on the encrypted stone. The entire time, Tacita looks towards Savant, whom she still clearly does not like much. Well, at least she is not trying to stab him outside of the tournaments, where it seems to be her favorite way to pass the time.
The Ruler of Cowardice, the person who, it was rumored, would turn into the Fragments of Eternal Cowardice upon death, the most cowardly person since the System Wars – yes, I still remember the time he forfeited our duel – is the same as always.
“You and Sophie have been going about it wrong. Rather than trying to get around the defenses and use the pathway of access already there, it is easier to erase the defenses. That applies even if you have to be careful so that the process does not destroy the information,” he says.
“So what? You just absorbed the defenses or the knowledge out of the stone?” I snort.
“Something like that,” he says.
“Bullshit. There is no way your [Absorption] works that weird way.”
“It is a very versatile skill.”
“The fuck it is. Tess! Come here, declare this stone deciphered or something,” I call towards the blonde.
“I am busy!” she calls back and then returns to sparring with Maya inside the temporary arena we created.
“So you have entirely extracted the knowledge?” Sophie asks.
“I did not, but I used the progress you made and did-”
“Oh come on, stop being so mysterious. You already saw what we did and, from listening around, know like half of our skills. It is not like we tried to hide it,” I groan in annoyance.
The green-eyed man returns my gaze, narrowing his eyes, and I can see thoughts spinning in his head. He looks towards Sophie too, who just shrugs.
In the end, he gives up. “I used my [Absorption] and [Severance]. I won’t be explaining exactly how, but the names of the skills should give you an idea of what I did.”
“What level are you?” I try my luck.
But there, he decides to stay quiet, so I do not even try to push it.
“What did you get out of it so far? Did you search for keywords?” I ask.
He nods, returning to look back at the mana stone with cables attached to it that lies on the table in between us, surrounded by many inscription circles and a few fields we have set up.
“I have been searching for any mentions of gods and rulers,” he says, “but I got only very little as there are multiple levels of encryption, especially for this sort of information. I think you would need a specialized Champion or an Absolute, and in a way, it makes sense for corporations to safeguard their information.”
Sophie and I wait as he pokes the stone. “Pale Titan is suspected of being a Demigod, with demigods not having an Elysian Framework, which is sometimes called a Divine Framework. Instead, he has a Divine Heart.”
“Huh, wouldn’t that make Black Mana God a demigod?” I ask.
Savant, already knowing about some of that stuff we shared with him, shakes his head. “I think it is more complicated. Pale Titan is likely a descendant of a god, while Black Mana God was not a descendant, but born from the concept, or whatever black mana is, only lacking an Elysian Frame. No one born normally can become a god, and new gods haven’t been created ever since the System War.”
“Some Empyreans did have a Divine Heart, too, so that would make them demigods. Maybe that guy who the replica of the Last Elf used to awaken Starless Sky was a demigod as well,” Sophie says.
“Very likely,” Savant nods. “There was also information that it was likely Pride and Kindness who developed a way to shatter the Elysian Frame and kill gods that were before then immortal and would, after death, return sooner or later.”
“Oh?” I lean closer. “Anything else?”
“Yes,” he says. “Some records called Pride the System’s Champion, or even its Executioner. This is just history many likely know, so it wasn’t strongly encrypted, but during the System War, the original races of the universe almost won. Led by the Black Mana God, other Godkings, the Dragon Emperor, and the Elven Queen, they were pushing the forces fighting for the system towards the First Dungeon to end it all.”
I know it is not on purpose, but he does a pause that makes it seem more dramatic. “It is rumored Pride waited until the perfect moment. To make the system detect the situation as the highest level of threat to its function, whatever it is, and to start giving the best rewards. Only then he joined in and, in the following years, killed many gods and destroyed allied forces.”
“Oh, that’s smart,” I mutter.
For some reason, Sophie looks at me like I am weird and asks, “Anything on Justice?”
“Nothing, but here are mentions that there were Rulers like that during the System War. Hate, Vengeance, Grace, Devotion, and…” he pauses, “Ruler of Oblivion too, the rest of them I was not able to pull out, but there are likely many more.”
“Ruler of fucking what?” I feel my eyes widen.
“I almost reacted the same when I read it. It just sounds-”
“Too fucking powerful?”
“Something like that,” Savant agrees. “After the System War ended, the system kept the number to the 14 Rulers that we know. While it did not or was not able to take the powers of the other Rulers, they either died out or are still somewhere in hiding, waiting for. It is possible they are the system’s safeguard against current Rulers, kept in the background and sometimes given their own system quests.”
I look towards the sky and send a prayer towards Diligence.
Dili is indeed a good ant, and I am sorry for causing him trouble, as that poor guy likely deals with more than my feeble, mana deficient self can imagine.
“So, if a Ruler outside of the current 14 we know dies, they likely are not replaced… or maybe they are. Hell, maybe the system keeps some hidden cults or families that pass the title of that ruler, and the system hides it from everyone. Who knows. But if the Rulers out of the current 14 are not replaced, that means the ones still alive are veterans of the System War and would likely smoke most of the current ones, with the exception of maybe Charity, Greed, and Wrath, and obviously Pride.” I sigh and lean back.
“Then...” I say and pause, “Wait. Dili is a good ant. I bet on his planet, he would be very dangerous. You remember how the Colony shared powers with him on the 4th floor, right? Imagine how much he could get now. But anyway, with Pride messing stuff up, Ruby messing stuff up, Lissandra messing stuff up, the one winged wyvern messing stuff up, Starless Sky messing stuff up, we might soon have System War 2: Electric Boogaloo.”
There is a quiet until Sophie says, “We are talking about beings that are very, very ancient. Soon might be in a few hundred years.”
“That is possible,” Savant lets go of a mana stone. “Obviously, there are still gods and likely a godking or two hiding somewhere, the Last Elf and multiple of his replicas, especially Prime replicas. And from the historical data, it seems that dragons and wyverns have been suspiciously quiet for a long time.”
“Before we start pitying the Rulers and stuff, we should remember that Earth is currently in a Pairing, though it, obviously, should not be,” I remind them.
“I do not think anyone here pities a Ruler, Nat.” The mind mage shows no pity at all, unlike my sensitive self, and then asks Savant, “Anything else useful?”
“Not that much, but I will try to dig deeper,” Savant says. “Just constant reminders of how impressive the Aurate Consortium is. Did you know they create battleships out of the body of the Ruler of Kindness? Weapons, armors, they were even able to purify some of the blood and adapt its properties a little to create what they call a Tissue Enhancement and Regeneration Ambrosia that heals you and provedly slowed down aging. Then there are things like warp gates, which require materials with ridiculous durability as a base.”
“That sounds like something Nat would come up with,” with a chuckle, Dennis slides nearby.
(In one or two hundred years, we will be making similar stuff out of Nathaniel’s body.) Aaron shares.
“Nat, your silence worries me,” I hear from the mind mage, and as I look at her, she frowns, “You consider it cool, do you not? You are already thinking of what you would have done with it or with your body.”
“Perhaps.”
“Imagine,” Dennis spreads his arms, catching even Savant’s gaze to himself, “A dagger made out of Nathaniel’s bone and flesh with blood flowing through it.”
(It would explode the moment it broke and evaporate you, the opponent, and the city!)
“Or, a spear made out of Nathaniel’s flesh and bone!”
(It would also explode upon-)
“Okay, we get it,” Sophie dismisses him. “Now, show me how you broke through the defenses, and I want to check the data as well,” she tells the Savant and reaches towards the stone, putting her fingers on it.
“As I said, you were looking at it the wrong way, if you…” He reaches and puts his fingers next to hers, and then they both delve into the deciphering.
Dennis looks at them and then at me, lifting both of his eyebrows multiple times with a dumb smirk on his face.
Releasing a weak burst of kinetic energy that he is, because of his carelessness, able to redirect only partially, he sends air out of him in a cough, and meanwhile, I use my defensive layer to deflect the projectiles he shoots at me.
I ignore these attacks even as I begin to walk away as they bombard my back, and I head towards where Izzy is to check her Glacial Veins a little more.
Izzy’s new trait is interesting. As I thought of it before, it is an extremely cold coolant that cools down her body so the Fragment of Eternal Fire does not burn it. It is obvious that the fragment changed or became a bigger part of her, as if it stayed as just a fragment, it would be easy to continue to control it.
Here, I blame Noodle, though blame is too strong a word. Noodle is a good snake. He continues to serve as some sort of storage for Izzy and often throws out items she needs, all while he can shrink or expand in size.
He is akin to a poor man’s version of a Spatial Cache, I would say, even as he cannot store stuff for too long. Things with too much mana or energy are also a no-go, and the same goes for living things. Doing so also restricts the size he can shrink or expand into.
But even with all of that, isn’t that kind of amazing? Is it rare? Common? Not as cool as I think it is?
Sometimes I wonder what this snake actually is. So, for now, I continue to feed him my mana orbs that he absorbs instead of storing, as food, fuel, or something. I do not know.
In exchange, I can study him a little bit. I suspect he has something akin to the stomach I got offered as my 3rd trait that even Elian was curious about.
As for Izzy’s Glacial Veins, of course, we work on a way to abuse it. Izzy has already learned to cut herself and let her blood drip out like an extremely, extremely cool liquid. We try to store it in a vial, but we have none capable of keeping up with it, and all of them freeze.
Lily joins us too, and it freezes her hand also, but of course, the Lustdozer still continues to move her fingers, breaking them, ignoring frostbite, and healing herself.
Limitations are also clear. If Izzy loses too much blood, the Fragment of Eternal Flame will damage her, and if she uses too much of the fragment, her blood will freeze her.
So. Holy fuck.
I bet her 3rd trait at level 400 will be something else.
Myrra also comes to mind, as that silly lynthari uses fire and ice to combine them together into Aurora Glass. She could be a nice inspiration or teacher for Izzy. I do not even worry about the lynthari being a bad influence, as I am sure Izzy would tame that catgirl instead, wherever she is currently.
A bit later, we also learn a bit more from the info Sophie and Savi deciphered.
Apparently, the mora Raga is the Absolute representative of the five corporations present on Xyphos. She is one of the Aurate Consortium’s strongest and someone who in the past, could've taken the title Ruler of Gluttony if she wanted, yet decided not to, and stayed with the Corporation.
All of this is fucked up.