Chapter 424: Plans [2]
"I want to visit the Abyssal Scar".
"..."
For a few seconds after that, Ren Nora didn’t say a word as he just looked from his balcony at the bustling city beyond at night.
Then he leaned forward slightly and grabbed the bottle of wine before refilling the 2 cups. He picked one of the cups for himself with his right hand, and with his left hand, he picked the other cup before pushing it towards Leon.
Leon looked at the cup filled with wine, perplexed. He looked at Ren Nora, then he shrugged and took the cup.
Gulp!
He drank.
Ren Nora took a sip, then he smacked his lips in satisfaction.
Without looking at Leon, he said. "Did you know that before Genesis, humans didn’t have access to ADE?"
"Can you imagine that? A world without ADE".
There was a look of fascination on his face. "I wonder how high technology managed to develop without ADE as a potent energy source. From what I know, there were mechanics then, not Mechanists".
"Mundane mechanics".
He smiled. "That means there were no Ascended. No NetRunners, just mundane programmers. Just mundane people spread across the planet, and there were multiple continents then. Sometimes I wonder how that kind of life would have felt like".
He smiled. "Back then, was the world peaceful and harmonious? Were everybody friends? Was violence an alien concept?"
"You know, without ADE and powers, there’s no reason to fight each other right? Like we’re currently doing". He grimaced slightly, but then another smile quickly erased it. "I mean, there would have been no racial discrimination right? Afterall, everybody was human then".
"Imagine a world with no racial discrimination, no Omnicore Federation suppressing everyone not a Synth or A.I Construct to always stay below them".
"Imagine a world with no Epsilon".
Leon blinked. ’What does this have to do with what I said?’
He looked at Ren Nora again, then he said. "Uh, are you drunk?"
The General laughed. "Do I look like someone that can get drunk from drinking wine to you?" He looked at Leon. "Can you even get drunk not to talk of me?"
"Uh, I don’t know. I never tried".
The General chuckled again, then he drank the remaining wine in the cup in one gulp before placing it down. He exhaled, then he finally said. "You already made up your mind?"
"Uh..." Leon was stunned; he chuckled. "I was thinking you were going to try and persuade me, especially after what happened 4 months ago. I mean, after all that speech you gave me about the Abyssal Scar".
"Why should I persuade you?" Ren Nora shrugged. "You’re a mature man who thinks for yourself, and you’re intelligent. If there’s one thing that I know about you it’s that you’re not the type of person to make impulsive decisions".
He finally looked at Leon. "I already told you about the Abyssal Scar and its dangers, I even emphasized it. If despite all that you intend to go there, then I believe you must have a reason that’s giving you confidence".
Leon hesitated slightly, then he forced a smile and nodded. "Yeah. Something like that".
Ren Nora looked at the sprawling districts of the Megacity below them again, then he asked. "Why do you want to go there?"
Well, that was a question that Leon have been thinking of for some time already today.
He had multiple answers and motivations for it, with part of it being because he was likely the only man who was immune to ADE corruption in all of Neo-Tokara.
His main reason though was different.
Leon wanted to visit the Abyssal Scar because of the ChronoSystem.
Without the steadfast push of its presence, he wasn’t confident about doing what he had in mind to do.
The ChronoSystem was the key to unlocking his memories. Without it, even if he became a C, B, or even an A Rank Ascended, there was no guarantee of him getting access to his memories and his past.
Without that reassurance, Leon couldn’t bring himself to boldly confront the Omnicore Federation in a civil war that was definitely going to sweep across half of the entire world.
He didn’t have the courage to do it without the reassurance of the ChronoSystem.
All the bloodshed that would follow, all the sacrifice that would follow, he needed reassurance of his ultimate goal to act as his anchor when things got tough. Because they were definitely going to get tough.
It was that reassurance that kept him going since.
It was what kept him fighting within that dreamscape when he was in harrowing pain, when death felt like the easier option.
It was what kept him sane and devious enough to stand his ground, strategize, and fight to survive against a C Rank Ascended, the literal Gods of the Ascended system in Neo-Tokara.
Before he went into a coma and even before Operation Killing Joe, after the success of his D Rank Trial and all the revelations that came with it, the most important of them being the revelation that humanity likely succeeded in creating a spaceship- he’d been searching for clues and traces of this spaceship.
Not just the spaceship, he’d been searching for clues to his past before Genesis to see if Ren Nora missed anything.
But despite all his effort, he found nothing which in itself was answers.
The answer was that the information he was looking for was either already devoured by the Endless Ocean and was in the bottom of the ocean, or it was likely hidden within the Abyssal Scar.
Afterall, that was the only unexplored part of Neo-Tokara besides the deserted islands that were scattered in the deep beyond of the treacherous ocean.
If Leon wanted had any hopes of finding anything related to his past and the ChronoSystem, it was going to be in either of these options.
And considering how treacherous the Endless Ocean is, Leon was safer attempting an exploration of the Abyssal Scar instead. At least for that, he had an actual advantage that’ll help him survive its greatest danger.
Leon looked at Ren Nora and with a serious look on his face, he finally answered. "I want to go there to look for answers".
"Answers huh?" Ren Nora repeated quietly, then he nodded. "That’s fair".
"Just to confirm, you’ve thought of how you intend to survive the radiation right? I don’t want to believe that you’re actually stupid".
Leon chuckled. "Guess".
Ren Nora smiled. He looked into the bustling night city some more, then he said. "I’m guessing you didn’t come just to inform me about this, right? What actually brought you to my house?"
Leon glared at him. "What?! Can’t I visit a friend that took care of me while I was in a coma?"
Ren Nora didn’t react.
Leon glared at him some more, then he forced a smile and said. "Well, actually, I do have a favor to ask".
Ren Nora immediately smiled. "Now you’re talking".
Leon glared at him again, then he opened his mouth. "Uh..., that your Primordial Hacker ability, I think I need some help with it".
