The director of the orphanage was busy fulfilling the command of his lord. He would make sure to keep all the troublemakers away from that esteemed person's quarters lest they disturbed him. From the morning till evening he had been diligent.
However, his sacred duty was hindered when one of the staff members rushed to him with a sense of urgency. The director frowned and asked the annoying hindrance,
"What is the matter?"
After catching her breath the staff member quickly told him about what she saw in the news. The director after learning about this information abruptly stood up, startling the poor staff into almost falling over.
The director didn't even glance at her as he hurriedly made his way to the third floor. He made sure to not to be seen lingering around the corridor or when he urgently knocked on the door of his lord's room.
The door creaked open and a child with a complicated expression exited the room.
°°°°
After not finding any crucial clues that would decisively direct to the culprit of his predicament, Blue had a suspicion that the attacker had a high chance of being a hired hand. He didn't linger on those thoughts as he decided to review the last moments of his life in the Abyss.
There were rumors in aristocratic circles that someone from the Core Area had come to the Inner Area. This rumor caused an uproar among the powerhouses. When was the last time someone from the Core Area decided to grace them with their visit?
It was over a million years ago when a certain background-less individual who was known to be constantly mocked by their peers, especially by that arrogant guy who was considered an eyesore by all those who heard of him, gained the attention of someone in the Core Area. That individual was later seen to always be surrounded by a powerful entourage from the Core Area while they went around places to show off in front of their peers. After dealing with that arrogant prick, they also gracefully moved into the Core Area.
Though the real intention behind the recent core denizen's visit was unknown to them it didn't stop them from trying their every method to get into the good books of that person. Blue, or the abyss spawn Azure Limbo, of that time was also the same.
After pulling some strings and calling in a few favors, he gained some reliable intelligence about that person. It was an old man who's suspected to be near the end of his lifespan. As for his motive to visit, he seemed to be going around all the places that had high aether density on the region or near the periphery bordering the Outer Area which was prone to disasters.
That old man was even collecting intelligence about anyone who had shown strange behaviors in recent times or was noticed to have had a slight change in their personality. Naturally there were many people who lined up to provide that geezer with all sorts of information. Some even lined up saying that they had met all those conditions and insisted that he was definitely looking for them.
That old man then made his move.
After getting rid of the few troublemakers with such strength that not even the strongest of abyss spawns within Inner Area could handle a move from him, no one had the galls to be presumptuous in front of him. However that didn't dampen the enthusiasm of inner denizens but it sent them into a frenzy much higher than before. Even those top powerhouses of the Inner Area who had it all, Azure Limbo being one of them, dropped their wait and see approach and joined the frenzy.
What a joke!
If they could grab onto the coattails of such a powerful being, even if the old man was at the end of his lifespan, getting into the Core Area and safely establishing themselves under his shadow wouldn't be much difficult for them. They were already lording over the Inner Area, after all. How difficult could it possibly be?
Thus he also joined the frenzy lest he was left behind in this competition. He informed all his girls about his decision to go to the Core Area in the future by getting what that old man was searching for and then offering it up for his endorsement. Few millennia passed and one of his girls, who was hidden from the spotlight of other grand beauties, informed him about the appearance of a mysterious subworld at a certain part near the periphery bordering the Outer Area which her family had occupied recently.
Only her family knew about it and they would soon dispatch an investigation team in secret. There's a reason why she felt that this particular subworld held the thing he was looking for. She was born with a natural affinity towards fate element, a very rare case, thus able to perceive the threads of fate that were significant for her life or those she cared deeply for. This time it was related to the only person she considered her beloved.
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Her family, unaware that their only daughter had already leaked the information to her secret lover, sent the investigation team with much anticipation. This subworld had particularly high aether density indicating that they were bound to have an abundant harvest. When they entered the subworld they were dumbfounded to see that it had been thoroughly plundered.
Not even a speck of valuable resources were left for them to scoop!
After completing the plunder, he went to that girl's house in secret and spent some quality time with extra wild passion. After "properly" thanking her, he went to his private territory in the aristocratic circles to check the loot he got which he found suspicious.
There were many strange herbs, ores, fruits, trees and other valuable aether-rich resources he plundered whose variety he hadn't seen before in the Inner Area. But none of it drew his attention as much as the mysterious object painted in ink-black color floating in the air and undulating as if it was made out of liquid metal.
It was a cube.
He was puzzled at the sight of it. He tried to probe the contents inside with his bloodline ability that could sense beyond the perceptive range but it was actually… blocked?
His curiosity grew even further. He tried to open it with force but he couldn't even put a dent in it. He then smashed it with a blunt weapon but the result was the same. He then thought about borrowing a few tools from his acquaintances but he feared this might attract others attention on him, especially now that he had this cube whose identity he was certain of.
It had initially over 50% chance of being the thing that old man was looking for and coupled with the combo of that girl seeing the threads of fate for him as well as his "instinct" that has been going off ever since he tried opening it, he now confidently put that percentage at 100.
The surprising fact was that his "instinct" was screaming at him to keep the cube to himself, away from that old man or even from his girls, not to let anyone know that he had it with him. Now this was certainly odd. He could understand the part about that old man since he was just a stranger with questionable motives but even from his women… hmm. This matter wasn't simple. One of the girls was already aware of him plundering that subworld. Though she wasn't aware of what he got from it he still had to tie up the loose end.
Eliminate her? Nonsense!
He wasn't heartless. Rather he was super possessive. He always considered any girl he stuck himself in as his from that point on. No backing out from there. It was a matter of pride and sheer confidence he had on his capability. All those girls were fruits of his labor, delicious and eager to be eaten by him.
Thus he later cooked up all sorts of excuses and got that girl along with many of his well-known women to plunder many unknown subworlds, dangerous purgatories, difficult inheritance spaces, fortuitous cursed lands. At one point in time, all the girls at least had been with him once during the raids. Thus getting him a perfect alibi and dispelling any suspicion towards a certain subworld he once raided.
All of this took more than ten millennia and he still couldn't open the cube by that time.
He tried various methods such as exposing it to the light of radiant stars within the Abyss, surrounding it with precious aether-rich resources, subjecting it to his bloodline abilities, using various tools that could open seals and locks on it etc. He even submerged it with his blood but it still stood as sturdy as his manhood.
Hmm? Speaking of manhood…
All of a sudden a strange idea appeared in his head. It surely couldn't be such a ridiculous thing, right? But he was truly out of all options. So he decisively used his hand to "play a tune" and got a bottle filled with his "essence". Then he took a bowl large enough to submerge the cube with his "essence". After dropping it he put the cube inside and waited.
Nothing happened!
He was extremely embarrassed at his foolish thoughts. He hastily cleared up all the traces of his embarrassment and stored that wretched thing back in his personal subspace. After this incident he didn't even bother trying to open that cube. He spent his days as usual.
From getting the cube to giving up on it, an outsider wouldn't even be able to notice anything odd about his behavior. Except for constant raiding of all sorts of aether-rich resource spots throughout the ten millennia, he has been as usual. Even that raiding frenzy was considered natural as other top powerhouses were even more active about it.
After reviewing this point Blue still couldn't find the main culprit. Sure that cube was a major suspect but except for headaches it didn't bring anything to him. He even gave up on it and just kept in the subspace, collecting dust there.
He then decided to end this dream after reviewing the final scenes before he appeared here.
The Memory Palace showed that he was still within his territory in the aristocratic circles at that time. He was looking at an information crystal that detailed the contents of the recent activity of that old man. That guy seemed to be truly at the end of his life now. He began a frantic search throughout the Inner Area and even revealed what he was looking for and listed out the rewards that would be given to any inner denizen who could bring it to him or any accurate information about it.
The guy was looking for silver earrings that had upside down pyramid symbol on it and any one who could bring him to it will receive his endorsement to enter the Core Area, even become a part of his family by being allowed to marry one of his child, secrets to become stronger than their current state as well as resources, worlds, top-tier inheritances from Core Area etc.
The rewards were truly lavish but he didn't pay any attention to them. When he read the part about the earrings he felt a slight stir from the depths of his soul. He frowned at this weird feeling which was definitely not that "instinct".
As he began to ponder about the cause of it, his vision blurred and all he saw was darkness around him. Before he could form any coherent thoughts he found himself in that dark alleyway inside a foreign body within an instant.
Blue opened his eyes as his dream ended.