"Ohh…Full Appraisal."
"That is the case."
The male Automation then stepped forward and lowered his hand to the centre of the table, snapping his fingers and releasing a streak of light into the skies.
Before their very eyes, the wineglasses began to levitate, and as they expressed mild surprise at this, five stars in the sky above glowed with a bright light and indigo threads descended from the starry sky.
Each one poured itself into one of the wine glasses, filling them up halfway, before which the glasses descended back to the surface of the table.
[Wow…]
[It's pretty.]
"Indeed, it is."
Looking inside the glasses, they could see miniature starry skies, bearing resemblances to the sky above them.
Like the skies above, stars sparkled, clouds drifted past, and between those clouds floated a crescent moon.
Looking up made them feel like they were adrift in a sea of celestial bodies. Looking down made it feel like they were being sucked into their glasses.
While they were gasping at this sight, the two automations whispered something to themselves while glancing at Evan, and after coming to a decision the male one spoke up.
"Master Evan, I apologize but it seems there may be complications in you receiving the other part of your reward."
"Huh? Why?"
"Well, you may not be aware of this, but your 'Vessel' is quite full.
I believe your status is designating your Existence Realm as 'Undefined', is that not the case?"
"…"
The Automation pointed out something Evan had noticed right after the battle against Silverwing but chose not to comment on it.
"Huh? Undefined? Is that bad?"
Eliza snapped out of her daze, pushing the wine glass away upon hearing something about Evan having 'Undefined' in his status.
"If he does not ascend to the next Existence Realm, then yes, it would be bad in the long term.
There is a limit to how much power one can possess while being a Master Realm Existence after all."
Hearing this, Eliza's expression darkened instantly, and noticing this, the Automation quickly spoke up to prevent her from getting 'displeased'.
"It would be solved if he were to ascend to the next Existence Realm as quickly as possible."
"Unfortunately, I have a few circumstances that prevent me from doing that now.
But worry not, I'd be ascending within a few months at most."
"A few months, huh?
Very well. Then please take care not to absorb too much 'Experience' within that time so as to reduce the speed at which your Vessel fills up."
Evan nodded in response and the Automation bowed lightly before stepping back to converse with the other while Eliza was questioning Evan on the severity of the situation.
By the time the automations were done talking, Evan had managed to abate Eliza's worries…for now.
The Female Automation clapped her hands twice and the plates on the table took flight up into the skies just like the glasses had done earlier.
Following this, the Male Automation pulled out an artifact from 'somewhere' and with a wave of his hands, tiny flames flew into each of the plates.
Then, just like before, a quintet of stars sparkled and two five drops of pale iridescent light fell from the sky and into the plates' centres, spinning around and forming spheres in their centres.
When the plates settled back onto the table, each one had three spheres in all atop each one.
The colour combination of the spheres differed for each person; as Evan had one red, one blue and one yellow.
Kuro had one black, one white and one grey.
Kayla had one red, one yellow and one green.
Milena had one light blue, another sea blue and the last was almost transparent.
Lastly, Eliza had one a bright green colour, the second was light blue and the third was crystal blue.
"Hmm? Perhaps…our elemental affinities?"
"Indeed."
The Female Automation replied to Eliza's query and was about to continue when another female automation appeared on the platform and walked up to them.
"Hello, guests."
This one had messy bright red hair that cascaded down to her knees and a pair of striking red eyes that fit perfectly on her beautiful face.
The instant Evan and Eliza set eyes on the Automation, they narrowed their gazes and spoke at the same time.
""Who are you??""
Destructive and Life essences erupted from their bodies simultaneously, causing surprise to colour the automation's face, followed by amusement.
The Automation then chuckled lightly as it replied.
"You two are quite sharp…I expected the spirits to notice it first but you beat them to it."
The Automation kept moving closer to them as she spoke, the waitress uniform on her body shimmering lightly before being replaced by a fiery red gown as she spoke.
"I am the Phoenix Revi, the 'Master' of this realm you are in."
Her words had the group's eyes widening in surprise and a quick glance at the other two automations who were now giving ninety-degree bows gave some credibility to her statement.
"The Master?"
"Yes.
All the lightyears in this Regal Void Expanse are under my governance."
Revi spoke as she walked up to their table and made a chair appear out of nothing before taking a seat.
"Light years?"
"Yes. You didn't think this forest was all there was to this Realm, did you?"
"Certainly not."
Evan replied as he recalled his destructive essence into his body while Eliza questioned what they meant by 'Light Years'.
After giving her a short explanation, Revi moved on to the topic of how they got there.
"You came through Aidos' rift, didn't you?"
"Yes."
"Ah, Aidos.
Been a while since I went there."
Revi spoke with a faraway gaze, old memories flashing through her mind as she asked.
"How are things there now?"
"Probably a lot weaker than you remember."
"Weaker, huh?
Sad. I guess it's because of the 'Reset' the gods did."
Just as she was justifying the reason for Aidos being 'weaker' than she remembered, Revi turned an inquisitive gaze to Evan and leaned forward a bit, an expression of mild surprise colouring her face.
"I didn't notice this before, but you are one bundle of Abnormalities, boy. And isn't that Artemisia's divinity I sense from you?"
"You know Artemisia?"
Although Evan asked that, he was thinking something else.
'It makes sense she knows Artemisia.
That's probably why she could take the liberty of adding this place into the game too; because she knew whoever she sent into Aidos would definitely come here and if the Master is someone she knew, there'd be little complications.'
"Yes, I do.
An old friend of mine, we haven't spoken in some 'time' though."
"That so?"
"It is so.
Anyway, you being here…you didn't stumble upon the rift by accident, did you? And it seems you know of the benefits that you'd receive upon coming here."
"…"
Although Evan did not answer, his silence was enough of an answer for Revi who chuckled lightly as she spoke.
"Worry not, I'm not going to prevent you from gaining anything. There's no benefit for me in doing that, besides, I did give permission for a limited number of people from Aidos to come over so I wouldn't stop you.
I only possessed this automation to speak to you because I sensed Aidos' rift activate for the first time since that little snake and his band of spirits came over."
She casually called the Ouroboros Hydran a 'little snake' as she got up, gesturing to the landscape around as she spoke.
"This Garden we are in is naturally occurring, and the treasures present the same. I only placed the automations here to manage things and prevent people from going overboard.
So, do not be afraid that you may lose whatever 'benefits' you gain from here."
"Hmm? But I wasn't?"
"You weren't. But your little girlfriend was."
Pointing at the surprised Eliza who was indeed wondering if whatever Evan brought them here for could be taken away from them by Revi who called herself this place's Master.
Situations, where one lost a 'borrowed' power in the middle of a crisis, were one of the things her parents had warned her about before.
It's also part of the reason why although she liked the benefits Blessing of Destruction gave Evan, she was against him overly relying on it as one could not tell when the ETOD might decide to take it away just as easily as he gave it.
Leaving those words, Revi turned and gave Kayla a sideways glance, but the Spirit only narrowed her eyes at the Phoenix, causing a light smile to appear on her face as she walked away.
Right before their very eyes, she erupted into a pillar of flames and disappeared, leaving behind the quintet and their two automations.
After a light silence, the Automations rose their heads and then gestured to the 'meals' served on the plates in front of them and spoke.
"Please enjoy."
The thin membranes of light that covered the plates during their conversation with Revi vanished and the silverware floated up into the air, ready for them to grab.
"I wanted to ask this earlier, but, is this safe to eat?"
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