CHAPTER 126: | KEEPER OF SILENCE

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  It's been a couple of hours since we've arrived at the ancestral residence of the 'seashore clan.'

  Upon arrival, Samantha commanded the two girls to survey the area for any place to unpack their daily essentials.

  Even I, who transforms between genders to be covert in missions, finding that revealing my true form was unwise 'like what happened in the Elra Casino,' wasn't that familiar with how a woman's mind works.

  Like, what is this lotion for?

  Why are there too many creams, lotions, or even some soaps to wash different parts of their bodies?

  Or even the combs, there are a ton of variations on them.

  Even the eyeliners and such.

  It was a wonder how could anyone memorize such a complicated network of tools that synergize with each other for the sake of beauty.

  If I rate it, maybe memorizing this stuff would equate to a top-tier formation, like a 'tenth scripture,' that even geniuses would have a hard time to comprehend or even memorize due to their ever-changing and complicated networks of circuits laid in the ground, or one laid in a puppet to create powerful puppetry servants willing to serve their masters in any type of situation, be it serving like a household servant, an assassin, an alchemist, or anything that the 'Formationer' wills this creepy construct to accomplish.

  I sighed at the ladies' intrigue, then glanced at Lumicor, who showed signs of interest in the manors around us.

  He smiled softly, then lifted his hand effortlessly as he pulled a pair of eyeglasses, with their frames being gold, from his inventory.

  He then walked around the manor that looked like a shrine with a defined eastern aesthetic along with cold western intricacies laden in its structure to increase its integrity.

  Lumicor made a few rounds on the manor, then stopped completely as he pondered the discoveries he had made from the manor.

  It was truly a wonder that primates from the earliest dawn of the world had the ability to create such an intricate structure that resembled a residence, but not quite, since this manor itself felt more like a trap formation created to seal something dangerous at the center of this place.

  He frowned at this discovery, then contemplated for a while as he scanned the surroundings, only to see hundreds of manors that resembled a shrine meant for worship before his eyes fell at the largest structure erected in this place, and it was a pagoda of worship.

  He smiled, then pulled a thousand units of mana from his core and imbued it directly in his pupils as he smirked.

  "I see... so this place wasn't meant for the residence of an entire clan. Instead, this place, or this entire grounds, is made with its structure resembling a mana-circuit in the human body, mimicking that of their veins, with its heart supplying the energies needed for a human to function. But where do the energies come from, since the human body isn't a furnace that generates its own energies but is a body that gets its energies from the food they have consumed. So this means that this entire clan is nothing but fuel to achieve the means of an individual. And that person should be the founder of this place, the ancestor of this foolish clan, to break his or her limits that the dimensional record placed on his or her body to increase their potential..."

  He was satisfied at this deduction, but there was something off about this, since it felt like this was deliberately set up by someone whose theoretical knowledge was far beyond their time.

  So he couldn't rule it out as a logical answer.

  That someone's theoretical knowledge and understanding about the circuits in the human body would rival that of someone like Alister von Fai, a monster that even he couldn't dream to surpass.

  Stolen story; please report.

  So he pondered who created this entire trap formation, and the answer that reached his mind was the existence of one sole, terrifying woman, and that was Ashin Sae Acoustine.

  But it was impossible, since that very woman is the Emperor of Atlantis.

  So how could she be concluded as the ancestor of this clan when she was the first generation of their family line?

  It was nonsensical to be true, even if it was the truth, since no noble family would allow someone to carve a formation of this level in their own land.

  Ruling out Ashin Sae Acoustine was the right answer.

  So the question remains unchanged: so who had truly set this formation in this place?

  "No need to overthink this entire situation, since you wouldn't have heard of his existence, the one who had struggled to escape from this reality and resurrect their glory into the real world with nothing but their intellect. But soon all their plans began to fall apart when I had entered this place. So pay no heed, since you wouldn't be able to discover who's the man that created this precise magic formation."

  Hearing my words, Lumicor nodded in understanding, since he too knew that this insane monster 'me' would be able to do that with his mind alone.

  But he wouldn't be fully aware that something disturbing was inside of that towering pagoda of worship.

  Since Alister's senses aren't developed just like mine, Lumicor lifted his hand, then extended his index finger at the towering pagoda of worship in the center of this small city, as he muttered coldly.

  "There... I felt the presence of something ominous lying in wait."

  I nodded at his words, and Lumicor pushed his glasses as he then took his notepad and began to write his discoveries while I closed my eyes.

  I spread my senses in that direction, then smiled softly, since something was truly lying in wait in there.

  And it was nothing more than a powerful entity bound with cold iron from all four of its limbs.

  It was all normal until I saw something sickening, and it was its flesh that looked like sludge, spreading from the gaps in the tiles below it.

  Then, upon closer inspection of the circuits laid down in the entire city, I saw it, that its flesh was part of the formation.

  And this beast was probably something that Varuna planned to unleash when he was about to invade the Empire of Atlantis.

  But sadly, his preparations to unleash this demonic entity weren't enough, since he couldn't even break the limiters that the dimensional records had placed on this entity, even at the cost of his descendants used as a sacrifice to activate this formation.

  So, maybe, if I'm not wrong, perhaps this entity would be free to roam this world after it devoured one more life.

  I sighed at this hideous thing, then cracked my neck as I then took a step, and my figure turned into a blur and vanished in a streak of light before I reappeared tens of meters away.

  I took yet another step and flickered tens of meters away.

  I smiled, then took a step and trudged slowly and deliberately before I lifted my hand on the eighteenth step, then muttered coldly.

  "Let us begin the expedition."

  At my words, all of my subordinates stopped their activities, with the first being Lumicor, who sighed, then closed his notepad coldly, then pulled his eyeglasses and stored them in his inventory as he cuffed his sleeves.

  He glanced at the entrance of the pagoda, and his form glowed softly, then with brilliance, as his body disintegrated into particles of light, then rearranged itself at the entrance of the pagoda.

  He took a step, and his back was devoured by the shadows.

  I sighed at how pretentious he was, then took a step forward as I saw Solia, along with Tellus, inside of one of the residences, unpacking her things, stopped her activities at my words.

  She smiled softly, then her form crackled with a violent wave of raw thunder, then in the next second, she arrived right behind me like the faithful servant she was.

  Tellus soon followed behind, taking his steps in a more deliberate way, watching Solia's back intently as he foolishly smiled and glanced at Ishtar, who had pretty much abandoned the etiquette that she had learned from Samantha and tugged her sleeves while softly asking her to follow the group.

  I sighed at Ishtar's silliness, then ruffled Solia's hair with a smile.

  This reminded me of the old days when she, with her eccentric act, made me specially fond of her.

  Then I whispered into her ear softly, just enough for her damaged hearing to hear.

  "This is an opportunity for you to sharpen your senses, so make sure that you train in every direction, be it in your sword, your senses, your physical strength, or magical capabilities. Do your best to reach a realm that shouldn't be possible with your meager talent. Only then will I allow you to regain the things that you've lost in that battle."

  Upon hearing my words, Solia smiled softly, then nodded her head eagerly as she followed me with more vigor, since she now knows that this wasn't a punishment for her, but it was a trial designed by her master to make her stronger than ever.

  She knows of her limited talent that her clansmen called a heaven-sent talent, but upon meeting the truly talented Lumicor, only then did she know that her talent was nothing special, since it was especially mediocre compared to his.

  So she was grateful that her master didn't abandon her but merely put her into a trial for her to prove her worth, so she smiled, and followed behind him with more vigor.

  'Master, I shall not disappoint the trust you've placed upon me!'