“Sick and twisted would be a better word for it.”
She wanted to say that was an exaggeration, but from the carnivorous tree that bewitched people to approach it to eat them. The laboratory that was filled with deadly traps and only a broken finished product and a bunch of fake failed products… What he said wasn’t wrong.
“How long has it been since you entered?”
“I don’t know, My clock broke, until we make contact with someone I won’t be able to tell. I would only be able to guess. By my estimation I would say anywhere from three weeks to a month give or take.” While it might be normal to wonder about the date, he seemed to be in a bad mood since she mentioned the silhouette.
“That silhouette you saw was probably that bastard…” When she imagined his voice, she could swear she heard the gnashing of teeth.
If she had a mirror, she swore her face would be filled with question marks. No matter how she tried, she couldn’t make sense of what he was trying to say. He had mentioned this person, but that person was from thousands of years ago, then again that also meant he was also stuck alone in that place for thousands of years…
“Don’t give me that look, it's disgusting. You seriously need to use that head more, is this world really that easy that you can coast through without using your head?”
“Hey, you’re being annoying… No, is it normal to go through life being an asshole?”
With a deep exhale he tried to calm himself down, “I talked to the guy inside for a bit of time, and he gave me a large amount of tidbits. What he said was weird from the beginning. From what I know and what he said were similar in nature. If this world has those graded beings, then that means you two at the lowest shouldn’t have been able to make it to me. Even more so when the entrance was said to have only been open very rarely. As the entrance was set to collect energy from the moon and the sun and using a changing algorithm, it would require certain amounts of both to open.”
Without pausing, “He said that you two took a while to find the entrance, as the portal only opened for a short period each day. A random and changing requirement to open, opened for around a week every single day. Since you didn’t know this, it was at best odd. I also know that the bastard said he would bring the so-called chosen one to be my master. Now look at the difficulty of the laboratory, and then look at yourself. Not only did you make it to my room, you did it through the fastest path possible.”
She could also feel something odd, however she interrupted him, “I agree, but the path forward was already explored and from the middle section to that… secret passage, was the safest route. Let alone, the secret passage itself was something that shouldn’t have been there. In all the other laboratories, the room with the failed products was always trap free. And only held the failed products, nothing else.”
“And how would… What is in your blood?”
With narrowed eyes, she couldn’t help but ask, “What do you mean by my blood?”
“You just said it was the safest route, how would you know that? The only things special about you is that you were able to see me before we were soul bound. And while odd, it could be said that the only real special thing about you is your blood. I couldn’t tell at first, but every so often I can sense something inside you. It moves, I noticed it when you two were moving around before you came to me. That man also said you were special, only he wouldn’t delve into why regardless of how I probed.”
“You mean to tell me you think something is in my blood because you felt something special, and it moves?” It kind of made sense but also sounded like bullshit. Or she could say it sounded crazy… “We have gone off-topic, I was born with a small amount of dragon blood in me, while it allows me to display the same principles of dragon premonitions. That is how I knew the safest route.”
Nodding his head slightly, he looked back at the tree behind them with a seriously pissed off expression, “If you think about it, it is odd. Laboratories might be hidden existences, but there are supposedly some that are known to exist but have no records of every being cleared. He even mentioned how the amount of loot in a laboratory might just be as much as the finished product itself. From how he explained those supreme beings at the top, if they were to take the finished product and the loot inside, who could stop them or even know they did it?”
“That isn’t much of anything but a theory. Is that all you’re going off of?” She was having trouble keeping up with him. In her head, there was currently a scale weighing if he was insane or insanely smart, and it had yet to tilt other than one way.
“In a sense yes, because the way he talked about laboratories there was one thing that was made clear. Highest graded beings are mysterious, however it is clear that they don’t have an interest in laboratories themselves. Which is odd considering that the notoriousness of laboratories show that everyone else that enters is unqualified to enter. Or do you think that just because you’re not extraordinary, everyone else is like you. Regardless of anything, numbers don’t lie.”
“The number of victims versus the number of people it takes until one reaches the finished product don’t add up.” To this point he sounded a bit convincing, only in the end it wasn’t enough.
“And if we were to think, what evidence do you have to reach this conclusion?” He said he could read the memory slip so he had information nobody else had, however how much information did it have. Other than that, all he had was the information John had shared with him. She also couldn’t be sure, as she had slept for the majority of that. Though when she did wake up for a short period of time she could see they were still talking.
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“I have very little and almost nothing to reach this conclusion. Instead, the little bits of information I have is enough to conclusively find an oddity that is in front of all of you. Tell me a bit about highest graded beings.”
She felt iffy, was he really trying to explain himself or was he trying to use this to get information. Regardless, they didn’t have much to do in the meantime. Picking up her pace a bit, “I don’t have any more food or water. We can continue this while we move. We just need to go faster.” Seeing no objection to her suggestion, the two started to move.
As they moved, “In the world, the graded beings went from Grade F at the lowest to Grade S at the top. Grade S individuals almost always belonged to a power. It isn’t uncommon for a number of them to be in a single group. The biggest example of this is the Adventurer’s Guild. There isn’t much information to support it, but it is said the truly legendary beings in this world have the Ever prefix in their name. These people are like those that you would read about in a fairy tale and are said to be above Grade S. The leader of the Adventurer’s Guild is Mercury Everblood. In all, the Adventurer Guild has twelve elders that are all Grade S beings.”
As she explained, most of the top powers in the world, including the nations or kingdoms, were very similar to the Adventurer Guild. While not every major power or nation was run by an Ever, the majority of known Grade S beings were mostly associated with major powers or nations. Because of their long lifespans, it was hard to determine the truth of the matter or who exactly belonged where. Most of the public knowledge was closer to a ranking that had a rough estimation of the number of Grade S beings in that power.
“That’s it. It is roughly the same as what I expected. While I don’t know the legitimacy of the Evers, it is clear that the majority of Grade S beings work in a power and will have people under them. So are Grade S people dumb?”
“I am sure not all of them are smart, however because of the length of their lives it is likely that most of them, even if stupid, will have enough experience to make up for their lack of intelligence. So it could be said that even a stupid Grade S was smarter than average.” She felt that their conversation was dangerous and could only speak quietly even though they were in the middle of a forest alone.
“Then explain to me how failed products and finished products aren’t being monopolized by these people? Even if we assume finished products are like, they’re believed to be cursed. It is somewhat odd but also from what you said a little understandable that Adventurer’s Guild is able to create a monopoly as they are the current strongest power. Combined with public opinion on sealing them for public order. But the failed products are said to be expensive as they’re free but at a level just below dwarf crafted weapons.”
“Grade S people can easily afford dwarf mastersmith items. While expensive, it would be in their budget. So why would they go out and get a weapon that is subpar to that?”
He was giving her a look that really pissed her off, “Who said they would use it for themselves? You yourself said they’re very rarely alone and usually belong to or run their own power. You tell me, does even the Adventurer's Guild outfit their senior members with weapons at the level of failed products?”
“No...”
With a serious expression, he turned to look her in the eye, “What if there was a reason those that are actually qualified to enter laboratories wouldn’t dare to?”
The more she thought about it the stronger the chill ran down her back, “Even still not even a Grade S could live that long… If that was true, that would make him a god.”
“John mentioned there was already a god in this world called the Will of the World.”
“Are you trying to tell me what I saw wasn’t a silhouette but a god?” Even as she said it, it filled her with a chill. She felt cold. “Yeah, no… let’s just get out of here. I need to find a town with a doctor and settle down so I can rest for a bit. Right now, I am too stressed to deal with this. No point in thinking about things we can do nothing about.”
Looking over at her, he couldn’t help but pause, “What you said makes sense. I guess I was getting ahead of myself.” Somehow he wasn’t making her feel less at ease. If Izic was really a god, it meant he would really get his wish. She was holding onto a ticking time bomb.
Staring down at her arm, she continued to feel more stressed out as this thing stuck to her soul had swore vengeance on what could possibly be a god… His submissive nature that popped out every so often just made her feel worse, like he was putting on an act. Their souls were connected, so she tried not to think about it, but the more she tried, the more into worry she fell.
That room had left a very strong impact on her, and since she could feel his soul she knew he was trying to bottle up his insanity and madness, even still while that could be a good thing. She felt like she could hear the gears ticking away on a mechanical clock that was used to make explosives for a dungeon…
No matter how she looked at it, the less assured she felt about it. His inference was a bit too accurate in that something didn’t feel right. But at the same time, she was a Grade F thinking about matters of Grade S. The gap was so large that it was such a far cry away from being able to find any semblance of rationale that could understand something not understandable.
From the corner of her eyes she noticed movement from the boy, she didn’t want to turn, only his action drew her attention. Akin to making matters worse, the boy snapped his head to the side. The abnormality drew her attention to the point she couldn’t ignore it.
“Something is approaching us from over there.” His voice was stern and she felt very nervous. Too nervous, in fact, she didn’t plan to check what it was. She felt uncomfortable but if it was something truly dangerous she as a Grade F being wouldn’t be able to escape it, the best option was to hide. Or at least that is what she felt was the best option as her limbs felt incredibly weak at this moment.
Sitting in a tree, she couldn’t do anything but look through the thick foliage and fail to see anything. She felt an increasing nervousness. The time passed very slowly as she wasn’t able to see anything. Making matters worse, the more she looked at the tree, she felt even more nervous as she was still injured and couldn’t climb a decent tree. She ended up climbing a short tree with very thick foliage that was surrounded by other trees, making it hard to see her.
Finally, the silence was broken as there was a snapping of a twig. Very quickly the entire world went silent as not even a breeze dared make itself known. Turning in the direction of the noise almost subconsciously she very quickly regretted her action. There close to the ground she saw a four-legged beast looking up at her. Their eyes met and she lost all strength.