"The Crimson Goddess' Prime Tribe, huh? No wonder the garb of that lass is too familiar. But what's up with those ugly-looking towers? Why do they need to put a roof on each floor?"
Klement rudely remarked upon looking at the towering Pagodas all around the place as soon as Alwyn left our side.
She left us in the middle of the square to join up with the congregation of Transcendents to report to the Monarch overlooking the square from the elevated pavilion in front of us.
"Old rug, those are called pagoda and something the Dafirae Tribe is known for. Those are sacred for them. If they heard your words, your head might be lopped off not even a day after 200 years in the Dungeon."
Irja facepalmed at Klement and patiently explained to him.
This woman… Despite her tone, she's quite caring towards Klement, isn't she? I guess the 20 years she spent there were all with the old rug's company.
"You've been locked up for too long. If you didn't offend that Monarch you would've become a Monarch or if you're lucky, a Tribal Sovereign by now."
"I'm just stating my opinion. Stop spoiling my fun, you witch. Do you think I'm still concerned about my Transcendent Pathway? There's no point. I'm past my prime. All because of that easily-offended bloke who couldn't take a joke."
Past his prime, huh? Without my past life's memory, I can't begin to imagine being locked up in that prison for 200 years. It's not even a year since I started to get mixed up with this otherworld business. But if I was also given that much of a time, will I be able to surpass a Great One?
Irja and Klement continued their bickering while observing the other Transcendents in the square. Despite what's coming out of their mouths, these two weren't that simple. Yatapa, on the other hand, was still in his own world, lamenting how he would want to die.
I thought he wouldn't come with us but here he is. I couldn't properly gauge his character so I exercised some kind of caution around him.
After a while, the Monarch at the pavilion along with the group of Exalted, Alwyn included, gathered our attention in front to officially welcome us.
As I thought, everyone here was a prisoner of the Irreverent Dungeons that were released by the Decree who chose to repay the Great One's graciousness.
The group of Exalted then organized us by ranks which separated me from the other three.
A few minutes later, I was naturally grouped to the one with the biggest numbers. The Rank 1 Transcendents.
Irja and Yatapa were placed in Rank 2.
And lastly, Klement was among the Exalted which could be counted in two hands. There was no Monarch among us who arrived at this Dafirae Tribe.
Whether there's a freed Monarch or not who didn't choose to repay the Great One, there's no point in knowing about that anymore.
After that reorganization, we were given rooms and were told how we would be briefed tomorrow about the said repayment for the Great One's graciousness.
Before leaving that square, Irja and Klement sent me the same telepathic message saying 'Don't worry'.
Although the message is vague, I can only interpret that as them telling me 'Not to worry about them telling somebody else what they noticed about me'.
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[You entered a Dark Energy Absorbing Formation]
[Energy Control has been enhanced by 10%]
[Energy Absorption has been enhanced by 20%]
[The effects will expire upon leaving the Formation]
Upon entering a room with walls made from soil and rock and a shingled roof made from some kind of timber, I was instantly welcomed with the series of notifications about the Formation laid out, covering its interior.
When I use my senses, the Formation is located beneath the wooden floor.
Of course, I can only look at it and not touch it. It's one thing to be respectful to someone else's house, right? There will be time to study how their Formation works later.
Now that I've been given free time and without any surveillance at the moment, I finally got the time to reconnect with my Avatar. This first before anything else, I want to see the state of the World of Elements.
Concentrating on the King's Majesty skill, it instantly directed me to the disabled connection with my Avatar. As it is in another world, it needed a large amount of energy to enable it once more.
Looking at my filled-up body and Invisible Storage, I started pouring in Level 2 Flux Energy. Because I already adapted to Level 2 Energy, I don't need to convert it to Level 1 Flux Energy anymore. And because it's a higher energy, I couldn't store the same amount as Level 1 Energy. From 10,000, it became 5,000 and that was thanks to my Flux Energy State, otherwise, I will only be able to store 1/3 of 10,000.
To be extremely careful not to be detected by the absurdly stronger Transcendents in this place, I only poured a unit of Flux Energy per second. Because of that, it was around five minutes later before my system rang out with another series of notifications.
[Your connection to your Avatar has been restored]
[You can now see and talk through your Avatar once more]
[Note: Due to the current distance between you and the Avatar, you need to continue spending Flux Energy and use your full concentration to see and talk through it]
[If you choose to do it, you will lose consciousness temporarily to ensure your full concentration will hold]
[Your Avatar has 2 days, 3 hours, 45 minutes and 25 seconds worth of recorded memory since disconnection. By spending Energy, you can merge the Avatar's memory with yours]
As I was about to say yes to everything to finally see the state of them, I was stopped by a knock on the door.
Putting the system messages to the side, I hurriedly stood up and scanned towards the door to see who's knocking.
Upon recognizing the familiar energy signature, I went to the wooden door and pulled it open.
"Have you managed to settle in?"
Alwyn, in the same garb as before, asked.
"I am. Thank you."
I nodded and slightly bowed towards her.
"Great. Let's go in first and before anything else…"
After she stepped inside, Alwyn waved her hand at one part of the wall and accessed a hidden Formation on it. Just like a hologram made of energy, an interface quite similar to what I could see on a Metagen appeared in front of her.
After tapping on some buttons, multiple layers of Energy Screen were put up isolating the room from the outside world.
"I'm sorry but I needed to be discreet about this. It's a personal assignment by the Great One and must be kept as a secret."
Alwyn apologized after pushing the Formation she used back to the wall.
I see. That red-veiled woman meticulously thought about this, huh? How can I thank her?
"I understand. I am in the Great One's debt. If you can really send me back to a Mortal World then I will follow your instruction."
I acted respectfully. Although she was sent by the red-veiled woman who's most likely a Great One, Alwyn is still sufficiently stronger than me. I'm not someone who will just act arrogantly after being given special treatment.
However, when she saw me bowing to her once more, Alwyn seemingly panicked as she prevented me from bending my back towards her.
"You don't have to be polite towards me. I am also ordered to treat you with the utmost respect. I can't show it outside due to circumstances. I can only ask for your forgiveness."
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Despite their refusal to tell me about my connection to them, that red-veiled woman apparently commanded Alwyn, her trusted subordinate to educate me about the background of this world while I am here in the Dark World. And that in turn finally confirmed her identity in this world.
One of the six Great Ones, Illiana. She doesn't bear any other title like the Demon Ancestor Rhellor but she's fairly known as the Crimson Goddess to the tribes who loyally stayed under her influence. Earlier, Klement also called the Dafirae Tribe as the Crimson Goddess' Prime Tribe.
Five Tribes for every Great One. According to Alwyn, that's the original distribution a few centuries ago when the five Great Ones reached their stage. She's still not alive at that time so what she's telling me is the history that was passed from generation to generation and some things she heard from Illiana herself.
Starting off, around 3000 years ago was considered a turning point for this world. During that time, every Transcendent of the Dark World suddenly disappeared leaving the world filled with only Mortal Ranks. Because of the sudden lack of Transcendents, Worldy or the World's Will involuntarily entered hibernation.
Although the Source Energy didn't disappear, it regressed to a point that the Door of Transcendence couldn't be summoned, limiting the denizens of the world to Mortal Rank.
Those who lived from the start of the Transcencents' Disappearance mostly died of old age, never to touch upon the Transcendent Rank. The hibernation of the World's Will continued for several generations wherein the known history was already too vague to recall for every denizen.
That was a tough time. With fewer records to confirm that it happened, it became treated as a myth. Even Alwyn, the one telling me about this expressed how she couldn't believe that such a period happened.
Hearing about this for the first time... it's fairly similar to what happened to Earth. But instead of hibernating, the World's Will changed from being awakened to unawakened.
Was it really a myth?
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