A few hours had passed since Linda fell asleep but Cristal continued to analyze the information that she had gathered.
Without a question, I made sure that every word we said didn't get out of the room as I never knew when or from where someone could observe me.
Thus, with an acceptable level of certainty that I could talk freely, I began to wonder out loud while I listened to Cristal's report.
"That would mean that monsters appeared at the same time we entered the portal. But for what purpose? The last boss didn't seem to be aware of what was happening beyond the portal, but it seemed like they found Liu using the monsters. There is something odd about this," I remarked.
From the information Cristal gathered, people started to panic after seeing the huge eyeball in the sky and the disaster occurred after that. Suddenly, a lot of portals opened and monsters came out, rampaging around the cities.
The question that I was curious about was how did this phenomenon happen? I was also wondering if the last boss these monsters, and if so, how?
The answers to these questions would indeed increase my understanding of the beings known as monsters as well as how they were related to the tree fragments, in other words to the primordial gods.
Nevertheless, there were limited data and the last boss himself looked like he was confused about a lot of things.
'Was it because he has two different personalities?' I thought, and thinking back about how he acted, that seemed to be probable.
"Cristal, for me to be able to connect the dots, I need to know exactly about the person that I can't forget, or should I say, the tree fragment that developed a personality inside of me," I said.
Cristal nodded and began to talk about Pride's origin and what he did to protect me during the last fifteen years.
"That fruit? To think that my father was that kind of person. I can't still forgive him though but I can see him in a different light," I commented.
To think that Cristal was initially created by my father. I was not as shocked as I should be though because, at this point, everything was beyond insane if compared to what I thought was absurd before.
Still, there were a lot of inconsistencies in Cristal's story. For example, how did my father come into this world? How did he meet Pride? How did he convince Pride to follow his instructions? And who made it possible for that to happen?
However, Cristal seemed like she didn't have the answer to these questions. Thus, I had to use my imagination and think about various theories based on what I knew about Verte and the last boss.
First of all, Pride was a tree fragment but it seemed like he was more special. I was not yet sure about why he had the power of primordial authority, but unlike Verte, he had a distinct personality.
Consequently, if he didn't want to protect me of his own volition, he wouldn't have done it. After all, Verte also sacrificed her life to save us.
Still, Pride said, from what I could remember, that I should be the one giving him orders. Also, when I used my authority to create a new ability, my authority adjusted the final product to fit my needs based on my knowledge and my imagination.
In other words, the tree fragments could only activate their hosts' memories and knowledge to be able to activate their powers.
Still, that would mean that they would not be able to do something that their host couldn't do, couldn't think of, and couldn't imagine.
All of that led me to think that everything that Pride did was something that I was capable of doing, which reminded me of what Cristal said.
Thinking about this, a smile appeared on my face. Once again, I felt like everything was connected.
Still, there was one problem with this theory and, Pride's origin was the answer but I didn't have enough data.
After all, I didn't know if the fragment that gave birth to Pride and my authority was the only one that existed. What if these other people could control the primordial authority of Creation? Was that the answer and the existence of the monsters? And if that was the case, it would raise another question related to the nature of the primordial authorities.
Pride said that I needed to gather the other tree fragments if I wanted to ascend to the next level of my existence, unlocking my full potential and controlling my power, but he never mentioned about nature of the primordial authority that was unleashed in the nature by the God of creation.
Of course, there were not the only issues that I needed to think about but again, due to limited information, I was forced to cast them aside for the time being.
"And, did you get something from the Imperial mothership?" I asked Cristal.
"Unfortunately, I could get any significant information due to the high level defense within the system. The one who made it must be a genius. I could, of course, hack it easily, but as you instructed, I didn't take any risk," Cristal replied.
Well, I didn't expect her to do anything dangerous in the first place, and I must just observe what was happening inside of the ship.
Thus, I nodded at Cristal's report while watching the footage that she recorded while wondering stealthily inside the ship.
"I see, so they are performing various experimentation on the monsters to find their weakness," I mumbled.
Still, I expected them to be more aware of the danger that the monsters and the portal posed.
"It seems like there is certainly someone who hide some information to manipulate the mass. From the look of it, the Empire seems to think, or at least the Emperor, that they could do something about the monsters if they attacked the Empire. How can they be that confident?" I thought to myself.
Would that mean that they have various trump cards to fight against monsters that could destroy an entire planet? I knew that the Empire's capital planet should be hundreds of times bigger than our planet, but I doubt that there were only one of these gigantic octopuses.
When I tried to think about it from a different point of view, it looked like this whole preparation for the inevitable upcoming war was camouflage for another plan. Or were they just ignorant? Well, that seemed unlikely, because at least, the one who would lead to the destruction of the world was somewhere in the Empire.
In conclusion, I had a lot of things to do to find out the answer to these questions.
After that, I reflected on various things before calling it a day and slept.
*****
The next morning, I was gathered around a dining table with my parents.
"Have you slept well, Adam?" My mother asked.
"Yes, I never slept so well in the last few days. I am completely recovered," I said with a smile on my face.
"I am glad to hear that," my father said. "The test for the Holy Academy's entrance is just in a few days so if you still want to go, you need to leave tomorrow."
Saying these words my father looked worried, and it seemed like he didn't want me to go at all.
I knew why he thought that way, and not only him, but I could also see a complex expression on my mother's face despite both of them trying to be calm.
From the look of it, they discussed it all night and finally decided to not impose their choice on me. They didn't want to let me go somewhere else after what happened, but it looked like they also thought about what I would feel if I didn't go.
"Father, mother, this is necessary for me to become someone who can protect myself and everyone that I care about. The most important thing that I learned during these last few days was that I was not yet ready for the responsibility that I must carry. I am still weak and ignorant," I explained.
"I know that you are worried about me, but I am also worried about you. This is why I decided by myself to achieve the goals that I set for myself so that you would be proud of me," I added.
Hearing my words my mother began to get emotional even though she was good at handling herself most of the time.
"I knew that you would say that. I have never seen you look so determined before you came back. Your were always smart, but somehow you lacked ambition, or should I say, you just wanted to leave peacefully. I had no problem with that because you did everything expected from a Lord's son, but now... Well, your mother and I will always support you," my father said.
"Thank you," I said in a sincere tone.
They loved me and didn't want to lose me, and when they finally let me go somewhere by myself, something bad happened. Letting me go for a second time must have been tough for them.
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