15 minutes is a brief span of time. While waiting for that to pass., Fleur and I went over to look at whatever it was they were working in this room. After finding nothing noteworthy, we sat next to each other and talked about our experiences.
I summed up my experience with just me being selected as the only Support needed by the Heroes. By hitchhiking on their portals, I got to travel the Otherworlds with them. And in each world, I experienced intensive growth until I reached this point. Becoming a Transcendent, a being powerful enough to become the last boss in a Mortal World.
And among her questions about me, she also asked me about what I told her back in the Virtual Space. The important people I met along the way.
Telling her about Yuko and the other girls, I never left out anything except the extremely private parts of our life. When she noticed that everyone I mentioned were all women I am in a relationship with and I am already married to one, Fleur fell speechless, which built an awkward atmosphere between us.
Seconds passed, and I decided to break it by passing the baton to her. Ending my turn of telling her my experiences.
Fleur's life could be described as smooth sailing compared to what Nysia has experienced during the 50 years of her life. She was born between two Elemental Monarchs or the equivalent of Elemental Fusing Realm in this world. Not only that, but they also considered her as a pinnacle genius at birth. Partner with the help of her parents, Fleur reached the Elemental Fusing Realm and became an official Elemental Monarch at the young age of 15.
That achievement was unprecedented, and it solidified the claim of her genius. Following that achievement, Fleur set her eyes on becoming a Transcendent. By doing so, she abandoned the thought of enjoying her youth.
After setting a precedent, she also aimed for setting another one which earned the support of not only her parents but also the highest authority of the Elementals at that time. They trained her and prepared everything for her to smoothly reach it without any mishaps along the way.
5 years later, Fleur successfully set that precedence. After fusing the last of her Secondary Cores, the Door of Transcendence appeared exactly a week later.
In just 20 years, Fleur became the youngest Transcendent and the 3rd Elemental Supreme throughout the history of the Elementals.
"And that happened 70 years ago. Not as amazing compared to you. Also, as you can see, I'm stuck at the early stage of my Transcendent Pathway. My potential is all but used up by now."
Fleur closed her eyes, most probably lamenting about her past.
"Eh? No. Don't talk about used up potential. It's all too clear to me you still have it in you. Look at yourself; you are still in your prime. Transcendents like the two of us have increased life spans after passing the Transcendent Trials. 70 years is not even half of it."
I refuted her claim of using up all of her potentials. There's Old Man Reol who still experienced a breakthrough despite passing the prime of his age. There's also Harlan in the World of Spirits. For me, there's no such thing as a used up potential.
"Daisuke, you don't need to comfort me. I already accepted that truth. Having you with us now is something I really am thankful for. Without your appearance, they had most likely attacked Selenia or our forest earlier this day."
That's why those Noxian Transcendents were silent, they caught wind of my appearance in this world. Well, I annihilated the chase party of them in one move. If they didn't find that strange, they wouldn't deserve becoming a Transcendent.
"What if I have a way to change your mind?"
She's a reliable ally and also… without consulting that abstract destiny, I'm interested in her. The same way as to how I am interested in the 4 women in the World of Meta. I want to help her.
"How will you change my mind?"
Though her tone fell a bit flat. She's clearly interested in what I said. The same interest she had about Virtual Space.
See, she still hasn't completely given up. If that's the case, I'll pursue this route.
"I have a way to make you way stronger than you are now, without training. If everything settles down and you still wish to live a peaceful life, it's fine. I will not hold you back. As I said, I still want to see more of you, Fleur."
I won't rely on destiny this time and go along with what I think and feel. There's a possibility that it won't work but it's better than just waiting for something even I can't explain.
"Huh? Daisuke, correct me if I am wrong. Your last sentence… are you by chance, hitting on me?"
Fleur turned her head to look at me, there's a visible confusion in her eyes. She had just heard my story and with me dropping that last sentence like that, I was expecting her confusion.
"Yes, it can only be interpreted as that."
Fleur's gaze never left my eyes as she pondered about how she should answer.
"… Uhm. Let's talk about this after we returned."
"You're right. Sorry for saying this out of the blue."
I'm sure, she felt that it was too hasty but it's better this way than let her continue downing herself like that. There's a lot more to her future. Our mindset affects us albeit it's not observable at first.
"Don't be, I get why you said it. My mind is kind of closed. I'll be considering that option thoughtfully."
"Alright. Let's go then? It's time."
I held out my hand and she took it without hesitation.
"Please lead the way."
At least we reached some sort of understanding. I expressed my thoughts on her and she will also do the same. For now, we have to focus on finishing this heist.
Before I reactivated the Orb of Concealment, Fleur cast a spell to wake up the three unconscious Dark World denizens. It was to create a situation wherein they wouldn't know what really happened. We were already on the other side of the door before they could properly think.
After we took 10 steps from that room, we heard the confused exclamation of one of the three which woke up the other two. Paying no heed with the confusion, the two of us traversed the remaining distance and arrived at the place behind that gate.
The Central Area.
Past that huge gate was another huge structure that was enough to accommodate a 10-lane road back on Earth. Even from afar, I could already see the various traps laid out randomly. Sometimes, one of the Noxians or Dark World denizens would trigger it resulting in an injury or at worst a casualty.
Those traps were naturally laid out and were probably a part of the construction of the bridge. I asked Fleur if she could also sense those traps and according to her, she could only sense the traps containing a Water Elemental node in their Formation.
Whoever planned this bridge sounds like a madman. I wonder how they prevented casualties before. This was where Hikari's group encountered an accident. A random trap was triggered and it was strong enough to seriously injure even a late-stage Grand Magus.
Before we stepped on it, I carefully observed those traps, there were fixed traps and there were also those who would suddenly pop out. Those random ones were the most fatal.
While still holding on her hand tightly, I led her to traverse the 10-kilometer long bridge. Flying here was also prohibited as there were more traps that would trigger in the air rather than down in the ground.
As we passed by the somewhat chaotic bridge where the Noxians and the Dark World denizens treated it as some kind of death game, I made sure to take my steps carefully and through my sensitivity to energy, go out of the way faster than a random trap to pop out.
5 minutes later. Grander structures appeared in our sight. It's not just residences anymore but manors and castles. This is the difference in status for the Noxians. Their normal populace could only cramp themselves in those black houses while the Aristocrats got to live in spacious manors and castles. Even when they secluded themselves for how many years that custom probably persisted till this date.
Well, that's their way of life. I couldn't comment on it totally as I didn't have any experience in leading a whole race. Either way, they lived until this day. The fact that their governance was somehow effective couldn't be denied.
"Let's find another place to hide."
I looked back to Fleur who nodded at my suggestion. By now, she's already aware of the function of the orbs. 10 minutes of active time and 10 minutes cooldown.
The Aristocrat Tower could already be seen from the distance however, the Aura of Concealment was once again about to wear off.
We looked around and picked one of the manors nearest to us. We easily jumped over the wall and crept towards one of the windows.
As we jumped inside one of the opened windows, we heard two voices conversing to each other.
"Are you sure about this? Won't our family become an example for the race?"
"Father. There's a new Transcendent from the Human Race who easily annihilated a battalion of high rank mortals. This is our time to redeem our race's true honor! Our family won't become a traitor of this world."
This…
I turned my head to Fleur and likewise, she was looking at me. Just by the content of this conversation, this can become a chance to divide them.
What a coincidence to chance upon this kind of conversation…
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