The melodic voice calling out Jihoon's name from above caused both him and Karim to instinctively look skyward. Descending gracefully from the heavens, a winged figure approached with uncanny precision – Alvorna, the illustrious daughter of the Harpies' esteemed Matriarch.

The familiar winged figure descended gracefully from the heavens. Alvorna, resplendent in her celestial radiance, alighted before them with a practiced flourish of her iridescent plumage. Her arrival right now just has to be the most inopportune that it could ever been, interrupting the weighty discussion between him and Karim of the shared finding about the incomplete mural that they just only showed themselves.

Yet, as Alvorna's emerald gaze met his own, Jihoon found himself momentarily entranced as their recent profound connection still resonating palpably between them. Whatever portentous revelations had been on the threshold of unfolding now hung in suspended animation, eclipsed by the celestial presence gracing them.

"Alvorna," Jihoon breathed, equal parts elated and apprehensive at her unexpected arrival. "To what do we owe the honor of your presence?"

Alvorna's gaze fell upon Jihoon, her eyes alight with a mixture of warmth and solemnity. "Greetings, wandering virtuoso," she spoke, her melodic voice carrying undertones of import. "I hope I did not intrude upon matters of grave consequence?"

Sensing the shift in the atmosphere, Karim swiftly adopted a deferential mien, bowing his head respectfully toward the celestial heiress. "Lady Alvorna, your presence honors us. We were merely indulging in idle contemplations, nothing that should divert your attentions."

Alvorna's expression softened ever so slightly, and she turned her attention fully to Jihoon. "Jihoon, I have come bearing a formal invitation, one that I hope you will accept with all due consideration."

"In three months' time, I shall be celebrating my coming-of-age ceremony – a sacred rite of passage that marks my succession to the Matriarch status that my mother will bequeath to me within the Citadel," Alvorna proclaimed, her voice ringing with the weight of ages-old tradition. "It is my dearest wish, Jihoon, that you would grace this auspicious occasion with your presence as my most honored and esteemed guest."

A reverent hush seemed to fall over the bustling cityscape, as if the very world around them held its collective breath in anticipation of Alvorna's words. Even Karim, ever the composed merchant, found himself briefly enraptured by the celestial being's presence, his earlier conspiratorial whispers forgotten for the moment. His focus still remain sharp as he navigates the political minefield that Jihoon willingly stepped on before.

The solemnity of her request hung in the air, laden with unspoken implications and traditions that even Jihoon, for all his basic-founding knowledge of Absence, could scarcely comprehend. Yet, in Alvorna's unwavering gaze, he saw a depth of emotion that transcended mere formality – a silent plea for his companionship on this momentous shift of her journey.

"I would be honored beyond words, Alvorna," Jihoon replied, still retaining his conviction no matter what "To bear witness to such an event is a privilege I could scarcely have imagined to have during my stay here."

Alvorna's smile blossomed like the first rays of dawn, radiant and effervescent. "Then it is settled," she proclaimed, her wings unfurling in a magnificent display of celestial grandeur. Then before anyone amongst the crowd realized, she has already gone into the afternoon sky above.

Both Jihoon and Karim looked into the sky above, and then the crowd around them suddenly poured their gaze over at them in envy. So much for staying low key...

"Let us find somewhere more private to talk about the previous matter. I have a feeling that we're in for a very long 3 months here...". Karim said as he had a hunch that he just got dragged into something far too great for his capacity.

...

Another few hours passed

It was already dusk by the time they arrived in this seemingly nondescript and rundown place. This is apparently Karim's personal retreat and it doesn't seem to convince Jihoon that he was that successful of merchant after all. With some initial doubt at first as Karim fiddles with his overly large bundle of keys to open the door.

However, Karim deftly produced a key from amongst a large bundle containing dozens more, each appearing more antiquated than the last. As the door creaked open when what looks like a rusted lockpick was chosen to open, Jihoon was surprised to find the interior vastly more tidy and comfortable than the ramshackle exterior suggested.

Though the furnishings were modest, they carried an air of meticulously cultivated tastes, hinting at an appreciation for the finer things that belied Karim's unassuming facade. As Jihoon stepped across the threshold, he couldn't shake the uncanny sensation that this place was more than just a humble abode.

Despite the amenities of Absence's post-scarcity society, Karim had clearly chosen to dwell in deliberate seclusion here. The winding path they had taken, the myriad keys, the juxtaposition of disheveled neglect encasing an interior world of solitary comfort. Everything of it points toward someone who harbors a secret or something too grand or much within the societal acceptance.

Karim lets out a deep sigh, both of them knew that they were about to risk everything that they have built here. And that Karim unquestionably has a lot more at stake in this very risky ordeal they're in. His eyes glinted with guarded knowledge as he gestured for Jihoon to make himself comfortable.

"I apologize for the indirect route, but certain... precautions must be taken given the delicate nature of what we must discuss."

"I didn't expect that a merchant like you have a secret base at all". Jihoon said with a certain mixture of disbelief and relation. That this is something that he could have saw occurred but not accepting it until too late.

Both of them looked at one another, seemingly converse with just the shifting of their eyes alone. Karim's weariness reached a critical point realizing that unless either one of them do something, they would be stuck staring at one another like a mirror reflection. If Jihoon felt distrustful at him then, he would simply go first. His merchant knowledge would have spoken against this decision but... someone has to break the ice sooner or later.

Karim takes the face-down picture frame on the simple ornate desk, something that he himself didn't ever believe that he would come to miss so much after spending a majority of it bitterly envied the same. Then, a figure in the picture frame is shown to Jihoon to draw his curiosity.

Someone who looks unmistakably like Karim himself, but apparently a decade younger compared to the actual man in front of him. A vibrant air and a radiant hospitality that seemed to emanate from the very image itself. Though the similarities in facial features were apparent, this youthful doppelganger possessed an air of infectious optimism so palpable that Jihoon felt an inexplicable sense of warmth just simply by observing the brilliant smile frozen in time.

Yet when Jihoon's gaze met the weary resignation etched into the present-day Karim's expression, the stark contrast was jarring. The man before him appeared to have aged decades beyond the ephemeral image, burdened by ineffable weights that strained against his very being. When Jihoon finally voiced the obvious question, Karim's response dropped like a leaden anvil between them.

"My older brother...from roughly fifteen years ago. Dead. Impoverished and indisposed."

In that moment, Jihoon realized he had been granted a glimpse into a sorrow so profoundly shaped this man's reality that even the vivid memory had become a seemingly unreachable specter from another lifetime.

Karim looked down toward the floor. Seemingly unable to convey whether it is grief or indisposition that he is expressing toward his older brother. Perhaps, it is both.

"Mathias Erdalaten," Karim began, the name seeming to taste like ash on his tongue. "He was...a prodigy. A god amongst academics, whose brilliance outshone us all."

Karim's fingers traced the edges of the picture frame, as if seeking to recapture some ephemeral essence locked within. "From our earliest days, Mathias possessed an insatiable hunger for knowledge. A prodigal gift, that some would call it. He would devour tomes of history and lore, unraveling ancient mysteries and piecing disparate connections together with an ease that bordered on preternatural."

"While I toiled away in the study, Mathias soared without restraint. By the time I had managed to secure a modest apprenticeship, he had already shattered records, pioneering groundbreaking archaeological discoveries that reverberated through Absence." Karim said ruefully, a wry smile crept upon his stoic face.

"If I was a gifted, then he would be my god. I struggled to reach my graduation, he easily situated himself in the seat of the Headmaster in the meantime".

Bitterness seeped into Karim's tone as he continued. "Accolades and prestige rained upon him like a summer storm. He became the youngest Headmaster in the Scholars' Lineage. Everywhere he goes, people spoke of his achievement while I toil away in his shadow, like an insurmountable summit that has nothing to begin the climbing with.

"The fields of archaeology and anthropology were revolutionized by his insights. Dormant civilizations and cultures springing back to vibrant display through his exhaustive research and analysis. Published at 19, tenured at 22, showered with awards and accolades...Matthias seemed to transcend every limits of his own with every new endeavor."

A wistful smile played across Karim's lips, even as they tightened into a melancholy line.

"I spent the better part of my life utterly consumed by envy towards the very existence of my own flesh and blood. No accomplishment of mine ever felt sufficient, always obscured by the blinding radiance of Matthias' triumphs. He cast a shadow of unapproachable genius that I could never hope to escape, constantly chasing the acceptance and admiration he commanded so effortlessly."

A flicker of something like resentment passed across Karim's features, swiftly masked by a veil of stoicism. "His prowess was so immense, so unassailable, that he garnered the personal favor of the Matriarch herself - an honor that so many could scarcely fathom, much less aspire to."

As things seemingly go with the flow of Karim's older brother, Jihoon is reminded once more that fate didn't exactly end in a good note if Karim's expression is anything to indicate. Then, he remembered something. Karim said that Mathias died impoverished and indisposed which means that he knew how he died exactly.

"You said your brother died... But there is more to that, isn't there? Something you have not revealed..." Jihoon began his question carefully.

Karim's gaze grew heavy with unspoken burdens. "You are correct. Mathias did not merely fade from existence. What truly befell him..." He trailed off, troubled.

"I will now elaborate further, but first there is crucial context you must understand." After a steadying breath, Karim continued in a measured tone. "The Harpies, for all their vaunted legacy, know little of their own deeper history beyond what is depicted in the incomplete Grand Mural. It was the Matriarch of the Citadel herself who granted Mathias unprecedented access to their sealed archives to research their origins. Freedom to go anywhere within Absence and beyond just to unearth further pieces that may contribute to his research".

Leaning forward, Karim's voice took on a hushed, urgent timbre. "Mathias told me that as he delved deeper into those primordial records, he began to unearth...disturbing inconsistencies. Fragments of a past somehow at odds with the historical narrative we had accepted as sacrosanct."

A haunted look flickered across Karim's face. "He stumbled to me in this very same dilapidated place, utterly disheveled and traumatized, as if he had borne witness to something utterly unspeakable lurking behind those veiled secrets."

Before Jihoon thought that things couldn't be possibly more ominous. Karim chimed in with the last nail.

"And it seems... that the Matriarch herself aware that he had ventured too deeply into forbidden territories."

Jihoon felt a chill run down his spine at the implications.

Not even done there, Karim stood up from the desk and seat as he approached what seems like a massively veiled something that escaped his attention somehow. It blended too much within the ramshackle nature of the building's exterior that he forgot the place isn't abandoned in the first place. Then as Karim pulled the veil away with a heavy heave, revealing the entirety of the legacy left behind by Karim's brother himself.

He did say that none of this was his work but someone else after all.

Before them stood a massive pinboard that consumed an entire wall, its surface utterly consumed by a tangled lattice of files, photographs, and criss-crossing swathes of crimson thread. The sheer density of the information woven across its expanse was staggering, an intricately layered tapestry depicting...what? Jihoon could scarcely make sense of where to even begin deciphering the labyrinthine network.

"This..." Karim rasped, his voice leaden with something hovering between awe and dread. "This is the true legacy Mathias left behind. His final, desperate attempt to impart the revelations he had unearthed, the truth that ultimately proved too terrible to give full voice to."

Jihoon traced his fingertips across the pinboard's chaotic surface, wondering at the sheer obsessive attention to detail, the layers upon layers of symbolic threads and coded annotations binding disparate artifacts together into an unfathomable whole. It was the physical embodiment of a mind treading the razor's edge between brilliance and utter insanity.

"I have looked over these materials endlessly in the years since..." A haunted look flickered across Karim's face. "But I fear I have barely scratched the surface of the vast truth that Mathias inadvertently glimpsed. On the precipice of his greatest triumph, he was granted an unveiling that shattered his psyche, reducing his final days to little more than frantic scrawling and disjointed pleas."

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Karim lifted a battered journal, its pages yellowed and creased from the relentless passing of time. "He begged me to finish what he had begun - to unearth the full, primordial truth regarding the genesis of the Harpies. A truth, he was convinced, that held implications vaster than either of us could scarcely comprehend. Far greater than almost anyone else in the entirety of Absence"

The fractured foundations, the incomplete mural, Alvorna's pivotal role in his journey...all of it was inextricably interwoven with the revelation that had driven Mathias Erdalaten to the brink of madness.

"We have already ventured deeper than he could have ever imagined, far more than anyone else in Absence ever will" Karim murmured, his voice tinged with a mixture of trepidation and grim resolve. "The question remains...are we prepared to travel the full length of the path he set before us, no matter how dark and twisted the destination?"

Jihoon recalled the original reason that he set out to this world. And his remembrance of how his own indolence and willful ignorance about Jin's circumstances have led him to the killing of his own friend. That will forever be his last time that he stood still and put a blind eye and deaf ears to those he cared about.

The memory of that climatic battle still resonate, and the agony still remain sharp. A brutal and hard-learned lesson in that he should have stopped Jin right when the evidences themselves are increasingly showing and overwhelming.

"You speak of being prepared to follow the path, no matter the destination," Jihoon said, his voice hardening with resolve born from that searing experience. "For too long, I have also let my own indolence and complacency shape my reality, until those most cherished bonds in my life was severed by tragedy of my own doing."

He met Karim's gaze, unflinching. "When I forged my resonance with Alvorna, I made an unspoken vow - never again would I shy from the truth, no matter how terrifying the implications. For her sake, I will not run or hide any longer."

The merchant gave a slow nod of acknowledgment, something of a flicker of understanding and solemn commendation for his conviction.

"Then we are bound by the same drive then, the same need to shed light upon the primordial mysteries that Mathias sacrificed everything to glimpse," Karim stated. "Though the path ahead appears beset by bottomless shadows, we can only press forward. For I too made the folly of making the decision to chase the impossible revelation left in my brother's wake."

Still, Jihoon realized something. How did someone like Mathias was forgotten so early in like 15 years... And... just why is there no mention of him at all now when someone who constantly making impact throughout the academic world was essentially erased without a trace. Just like that Jihoon voiced his question and Karim can only answer with a wry smile.

"How did such a monumental figure like Mathias simply vanish into obscurity, you ask?" Karim's expression grew somber. "The answer lies in the very truths he unearthed - revelations so profoundly unsettling that those in power had to move in order to excise him from the annals of history itself."

"Within six months of his...breakdown, any mention of Mathias' name had been systematically scrubbed from official records and publications. His groundbreaking works were quietly reassigned to other scholars, his accolades rescinded. It was as if he had never existed at all."

Karim can only shake his head sadly. "The Matriarch's reach is far and absolute not just within the hallowed halls of Lengsel but the entirety of Absence's academic world. With a mere whisper, my brother's lifetime of achievements were erased, rendered a non-entity. His legacy persisted only in the physical artifacts and materials he left behind - this singular compendium of his final obsession."

"This..." Karim gestured to the sprawling pinboard, "is all that remains. An encrypted maze of secrets that the power that governing Absence are determined to keep buried at all costs."

Jihoon takes note of what Karim has spoken. It has only taken 6 months just to remove someone's trace entirely then... And much as he wished to sympathize, that's also something unfortunately real and happened in his world. But to know that something like this happened regardless of worlds is simply harrowing nonetheless.

"So... from his left behind findings. What did he find that warranted his erasure once his breakdown occured?". Jihoon asked as he had a hunch of what likely have happened if the Tower of Babel is any indication.

Heavy with dark disclosure, Karim continues his discussion as his eyes selected upon the important nodes on that massive network. "Mathias...he managed to decipher the primordial language and hieroglyphs inscribed upon the fragmented Grand Mural of the Harpies. An esoteric script that had eluded scholars of many and numerous prestige for ages. Unaware that it is a script to begin with."

"These artifacts, these coded threads...they represent Mathias' painstaking efforts to cross-reference the numerous translated texts from the Harpy mural against other relics and sites across Absence. An undertaking that surely consumed years of his life. How he even managed to figure out how and where to begin deciphering them is beyond my capacity" He said as he gestures his thumb toward the sprawling pin board that seemingly can drive ill-prepared scholars mad at its size.

"The translations he produced still remain enshrined upon the museum plaques. Especially the Harpies' Grand Mural that you read before. Though any mention of their author has been systematically omitted. But it was not merely decoding the Harpy mural that set the dominos in motion."

Jihoon continues to listen as his eyes remain transfixed at the sprawling network of crimson threads, hoping to find something related to his world before Karim would speak about it.

"As Mathias delved deeper, he recognized other fragments depicted in that same primordial tongue - pieces scattered like seeds on the wind across cultures and civilizations separated by vast expanses. He became convinced these were not disparate artifacts, but part of a massive, unified ancient work that had been painstakingly disassembled." Karim said as his finger traces the red lines that connect the concerned artefacts that bear those primordial language.

"Finally, he had a realization one day as he immediately head toward the largest museum of each region of Absence where other region governors provide for him at the Matriarch behest before his ultimate breakdown. You remembered how Avanthal's Central Culture Museum built its exhibit wings based on the geographical direction of Absence itself, right?". Karim said as his fingers now trace toward what seems like the most important nodes amongst the myriad sprawl undiscernible. 15 years of learning how they connect with one another with his limited intellectual capacity compared to his brother.

Jihoon instantly realized it too. The other remaining 4 out of the 5 separated parts of the Grand Mural. It seems that his brother has deduced out their location and what they actually displayed.

"Indeed. Each regional major museum housed another piece under the misguided assumption they depicted the origins of their own peoples - the merfolk of the Far South of Absence, the coastal sea of Calphennis, the fairfolk of the Far West of Absence, the urban forest of Alberenth, the beastfolks and ice feys of the Far North of Absence, the winter wonderland of Solros, and the yokai of the Far East of Absence, the land of spirit of Atria. All the inhabitants who reside in the vast expanses surrounding the celestial hub of Avanthal, thus making the entirety of Absence."

Yet as the regional governors had believed the fragments spoke of their own beginnings, Mathias had perceived something vastly more profound encoded within that primordial script. For just as the Harpies were oblivious to the true scope of their origins, so too were the other races utterly blind to the ancient reality woven through those dispersed shards.

"They remained convinced each piece revealed their own mythologies," Karim stated, "ignorant that together, they formed the remaining unmistakable whole my brother had pieced back together. The ancestral chronicle rekindled from the scattered ashes of something primordial."

Jihoon felt a growing sense of dread, coupled with undeniable awe at the staggering implications.

"He didn't just decrypted origins of the Harpies...Mathias had unveiled the scorched remnants of a truth spanning all the cultures and peoples dwelling throughout Absence's horizons." Karim's answering nod was weighted with solemn gravitas. "Precisely. And whatever burned, ancestral revelation he had begun to perceive...it proved too dangerous for both him and the governing powers to allow. Thus, they enacted his erasure with ruthless finality."

Jihoon looked at the noted nodes on the network and reading the contents involving what he had discerned in the other 4. Unfortunately, he didn't leave behind any translation, just the location of the murals themselves at the respective locations. It seems that if Jihoon really wanted to investigate them, he has to come to the place for himself. Any language barrier can easily be overcome with the little goddess's blessing which he now come to understand fully of just how unfairly overpowered in a different way than strength is.

"Still, the fact that Mathias didn't transcribe the translations of the other four murals at all amidst these meticulously compiled notes means he made the deliberate choice to omit that part of his legacy," Jihoon noted, surveying the pinboard's comprehensive yet conspicuously incomplete chartings. "He must have had a specific reason for withholding that final, crucial piece of the puzzle."

Jihoon turned his searching gaze back towards Karim. "When your brother came back to you in those final days, a broken shadow of his former self...what were your thoughts as you witnessed his deterioration? The man who had so long overshadowed you with his brilliance, reduced to a shambling wreck?"

Karim's expression grew distant, etched with conflicting emotions buried beneath years of resignation. "Even after all this time, that memory still haunts me with its...complexities," he admitted after a weighty pause.

"For so long, I had envied and resented Mathias' existence - the prodigal genius whose every accomplishment became another barbed lash upon my sense of self-worth." Karim shook his head slowly. "To see the one who cast such an all-consuming shadow reduced to a state of utter ruination...it should have vindicated me. Confirmed me as the last one standing while he crumbled into devastated obscurity."

Yet the muscle tightening along Karim's jaw betrayed a deeper well of disquiet. "Instead, it filled me with a sense of dread and unease I could not fully grasp at the time. This great mind, unraveled before my eyes into madness - it hinted at terrible truths that we ourselves could not withstand. My envy built for so long curdled into fear in an instant for what he had glimpsed that left him such an empty husk."

Karim's gaze grew heavy with old regrets. "I abandoned my academic pursuits to take up merchanting, if only to afford keeping Mathias sheltered away as he descended further into his obsessive last moments. For weeks and months on end, he did nothing but scrawl and ramble, channeling every fitful thought onto those materials before you." He waved a weary hand toward the pinboard's tangled morass.

"Right until his final, rattling breaths, he was seemingly driven by the need to leave behind some cyphered record of the truth burning away what little remained of his mind."

Jihoon held Karim's turbulent gaze, perceiving the maelstrom of conflicted emotions roiling just beneath the surface. Here was a man caught between unfathomable revelations and the infinitely personal specter that had long haunted the depth of his being.

"And when he finally departed..." Karim's voice lowered to a murmur, "I was left with a bitter, gaping emptiness. The shadow that had haunted me now banished, but only through a profound and terrible reckoning I could scarcely comprehend."

His eyes smoldered with rekindled conviction. "Someone, something, had done this to the genius I had so long resented. I knew then that I could not simply let this injustice lie, no matter how selfishly spiteful the root of my need for answers may have been. The Harpies held the keys to what broke Mathias, and I would uncover it. Even if only to honor the sacrifice of the brother whose triumphs I had so deeply begrudged in life."

"It doesn't matter if the answer I received is right or wrong. Just that there was justice at last for someone like him"

The words hung heavy between them, Jihoon could only nod in solemn understanding. Whatever path lay ahead, it was one they could not turn away from - if for no other reason than to shed light upon the primordial truth that had shattered two brothers fated to walk such disparate paths.

"You know... when I abandoned my academic pursuit and follow the merchant path, I find out that I actually have some natural charisma that makes people more fond of me. Of course, I would have come to know about it earlier hadn't I choose to stay in solitary study trying to chase behind an impossible goal to begin with. Life certainly has its own brand of cruel joke, isn't it?". Karim said with a wry smile and a mirthless chuckle as if he tried to lift up the mournful spirit that permeated this room. And him having said it only comes off as tragic more than humorous.

Jihoon looked at himself for a moment and decided that this is probably an appropriate moment to peel back another layer of himself too. Reaching toward the unseen inventory on him, he withdrew his battered, almost decaying halberd. The very same weapon that he deflected the final shot of Jin's Der Freischutz during their final confrontation.

"I haven't been fully forthright about the extent of my own background either," Jihoon admitted, turning the pitted weapon over in his hands. Again, he couldn't tell people that he's from another world entirely for it would be another different kind of headache.

"In my distant homeland, the emergence of the interdimensional Gates and the monsters spilling forth created a stratified society where those gifted with superhuman abilities became Hunters to combat the threat, while the rest of us were relegated to the fringes as helpless civilians."

His fingers traced the grooves worn into the halberd's haft from countless clashes. "For the longest time, I was one of those powerless souls, an erstwhile musician downtrodden by the loss of my passions and purpose in a life torn asunder by circumstances. It wasn't until a divine revelation of awakened mystic powers allowing me to weave magic into music that I found the will to become a Hunter myself."

Jihoon met Karim's gaze levelly. "This very weapon was a part of that transformation - used to deflect the final, damning shot from a former friend who had become consumed by the his pursuit of power, not unlike how your brother Mathias was undone."

Having told the personal story of himself, the metaphysical wall that supposedly exist between them slowly diminish. If they are to intend making the entirety of Absence their enemy in their pursuit of the truth then only a bond that surpass life and death itself can meet the requirement in this harrowing journey that they will undertake.

"Your path has been one of sacrifice and loss," Jihoon stated solemnly. "And it seems mine will only grow heavier with each revelation we unearth and each step I tread. But we must persist, if for no other reason than to honor those who fell into the abyss before us. To find justice...or at least... understanding."

Karim regarded him with a mixture of newfound respect and grim solidarity. The secrets they were prying into were vast and terrible - but they would confront them together, as survivors bonded by tragedy's lashings. No matter where the path ultimately led, they would follow its shadowed course till the end.

______-----{////\\\\}-----______

Chain Quest - Unsung Fable.

The Long Journey

Difficulty: A

Objective:

-Read the content of the parts of the Grand Mural at the following location:

+Calphennis Grand Mausoleum.

+Alberenth Royal Palace

+Solros Familia Council Chamber

+Atria Imperial Court

Description:

Disturbing evidence suggests the histories of Absence's great civilizations are

merely shattered fragments obscuring a much grander, primordial truth.

The famed scholar Mathias Erdalaten paid a terrible price for

unraveling the veil before being silenced. Now the pieces lie scattered across

Absence's most hallowed sites, their meanings remain misinterpreted.

Be warned - this knowledge is considered profane heresy by Absence's ruler,

and even pursuing it brands you an enemy of the state. Tread carefully.

Reward:

-10,000 EXP

-1 Active Skill.

-Permanent Stat Modifier.

------_____{\\\\////}_____------

The System has popped up again, confirming his quest and that he is on the right track. Mathias has the Matriarch backing him up thus his ease to reach those place. Jihoon however is still a nobody by comparison and even if he utilize his status as the fastest rising Maestro, they would still not just accept him in so easily if these locations are any indication.

Feelings of anxiety started to form in his gut as he considered how monumental even the attempt to obtain entry to access any of these sites might be.

Grand Mausoleum of Calphennis, the eternal resting place of the royal members of the merfolks.

Alberenth Royal Palace, the abode of the fair folk's reclusive monarch.

Solros Familia Council Chamber, the place where the ruling class of the beastfolks convene their politics.

Atria Imperial Court, at the heart of the yokai's mysterious domain.

Yet the quest stood before him, mocking in its simplicity - read the contents of those fragmented murals scattered across those realms as keepsake shrines to each race's misunderstood genesis. Somehow, someway, he would have to gain access deliberately restricted from even Absence's most celebrated scholars.

Jihoon's gaze heavied as his thoughts turned to the Matriarch - the one individual who could potentially grant him sanction with the mere flex of her influence. Yet she was also the same figure who had ruthlessly exiled Mathias into oblivion once his findings had crossed too far beyond the veil.

There was no way the Matriarch would ever grant Jihoon permission to glimpse what she had so jealously concealed once before, not after the previous catastrophe. Her taloned hand would close his quest before it had even begun if he attempted to seek her approval.

Which left only one option remaining - to proceed without the Matriarch's consent, actively defying her unbreakable authority in order to pursue the answers lingering within those forbidden spaces. An act of blatant insurrection against the governing powers of Absence itself.

As Jihoon met Karim's gaze, his eyes burned with resigned determination. If this was the path they must take, then so be it. There could be no turning back from this abyss they were willingly casting themselves into. Not after sacrificing so much and coming so far in the pursuit of truth.

And he thought that his quest of finding a member for his ensemble would be simple in this world. He dreamed too hard and now he must strive beyond the cloud toward the star. Frustration soon become pale in description to what he wanted to express in the very moment.