Akhenamen’s steps felt renewed with even greater vigor, seeing this beautiful sight had made him eager to see as much of this world as he could once he recovered Cygislax and finished his World Quest, then he would travel and truly gaze upon the most beautiful panorama of this world.

  

  [They were so big, dad! Did you have some like them in your past life?]

  “Yes and no, we did have mantas but they were much smaller and lived in water.”

  

  {I still don’t understand why it's so amazing to you two. We could reveal their status, they are known to my data-base.}

  “Are they a threat to us?”

  

  {Very unlikely.}

  “Then no need to reveal anything. Do not worry Ascylla. You do not need to feel like we do. Not everyone is inspired by the same things. One day you’ll find something you will find motivated by something other than bringing back our people.”

  

  {Very well, Hierarch, but we shall wait for such a day when we have finished bringing them back.}

  Akhenamen laughed warmly, the night had passed and the group was still in a good mood from yesterday's encounter with the mantas. Sofya hadn’t even requested a movie, and neither did Syllena.

  Both talked to Akhenamen, one about what kind of other marvelous yet familiar creatures could inhabit this world and another trying to convince Akhenamen that crafting fully robotic giant mechanized manta rays was a good idea.

  Sofya had even forgotten to send a message to her mother tonight which apparently earned her a very harsh written message the next morning. She was in fact busy writing a reply and resume of yesterday right now. She was writing while walking, something Akhenamen genuinely found impressive.

  “You remind me of a lot of a sentence I heard someone say once.”

  

  {What is it, Hierarch?}

  “Only in death does duty end.”

  

  {We like this saying. Maybe we should make it an official motto of our future armies. The Cygilites could definitely unite behind such a saying.}

  “It’s better if we don’t. We could attract unwanted attention.”

  

  {If you say so, Hierarch. We would still recommend coming up with a great motto for our people. That sentence you once said to me was good : “Order. Unity. Duty. We taught the gods the true meaning of those words. And once the Betrayers will return… We will teach it again.”. You should start from here.}

  “Really all in on the “bringing back our people” aren’t you?”

  

  {Of course, that is our new purpose, to follow you and reveal the truth to our people.}

  Ascylla impressed him a lot, she was carrying on herself the weight of bringing back her entire species from soul “death”. Of course Akhenamen would help her, even more because his quests and the System very much seemed to want him to lead the Cygilites.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  But he had not decided if he should try to become their leader yet. He could become an advisor. He had no wish to stay confined in Cygislax forever, ruling over the Cygilites when there was such a massive world to explore and his real goal. Finishing his [One Last Farewell] quest.

  But was that truly a good idea? Was allowing a race like the Cygilite which was rightfully judged as too young and too rough to be brought back without a level headed ruler a good idea? Sceptus-Vector and Ascylla had made it clear.

  The sentient Cygilites remaining were old war veterans who knew how to wage war on the gods, but definitely not how to rule in a time of peace or even make allies with the other nations.

  

  [Are you alright, dad? You seem perplexed. (?? ? ??) ]

  “I’m alright, Syllena. I’m just thinking about my role as a Cygilite and the System. It’s pretty clear that he intends for the Cygilites to be part of one Project Rebirth’s expansion. I cannot allow him to turn us into enemies for a bunch of undying loot crazy players.”

  

  [But aren’t you much stronger than most already? You’re definitely in the top 1000 of a continent with billions of people! The Players won’t be able to hurt you! (????? )? ]

  “First, we do not know the limit of the power scaling available to the Players and there is one thing and one thing only you must never forget about players : no matter how impossible a task may be. They will accomplish it, through skill, luck or both. But they will do the impossible.”

  

  [Players sound scary… (ó﹏ò?) ]

  “Don’t worry Syllena, there are a few ways to make sure they are very unlikely to attack you. And I very much plan to apply all that to us.”

  

  [What is it?]

  “If you have a dungeon, like Cygislax could very well become, make it as unfair and frustrating to navigate as possible. That the sheer thought of doing the dungeon makes them immediately disinterested.”

  “But most importantly, make the players like you, have a backstory and personality that makes the players interested in knowing more about you and actually appreciate you. In a way, being a generally good but flawed leader easily leads to this result.”.

  

  [Wow! You’ve got a plan already?]

  “Of course, but no need to talk about that for now. Let’s deal with the World Quest first, then we deal with the coming players while finishing my true quest.”

  

  {Sorry to interrupt you two, Hierarch, but we are feeling a few life signatures fighting a few kilometers away from us. While this is happening all over the desert, this one seems… peculiar.}

  “Don’t worry, why is that, Ascylla?”

  

  {Because it seems to be a group of adventurers. Including one who carries a very interesting item.}

  “What is it?”

  

  {A soul ring. An artefact created by Prothean Engineers to safekeep a dead prothean’s soul. It was quickly discovered that the gods had replicated the technology to preserve their own experts, but we now know it was just the Protheans helping the gods in secrets.}

  “Ah, a sort of soul vault. I can already guess that the owner of that soul ring must be a Fate’s Chosen. Maybe even someone who was the “trash” of his family and is overnight becoming over powered.”

  Akhenamen laughed, he had read so many of those when he was younger, he remembered them with fondness despite their flaws. But Ascylla’s next words quickly brought him back to silence.

  

  {We are absolutely certain there is a Prothean soul inside this ring, Hierarch.}

  “So soon? I’d have expected a year or two at least before meeting some sort of Prothean soul, that’s how it usually goes. No matter, this should be interesting. Time to play the mysterious expert full force.”

  

  [What about Sofya? Won’t she break the “mystique”, dad?]

  

  {We can take care of that, Hierarch, just go, at your strength it shouldn’t take more than a few seconds for you to reach that place if you go at full speed. We shall stay with Sofya as we should be still connected to you at that distance. We shall watch over her and warn you if there are problems.}

  “Thank you Ascylla. I’m surprised you’d accept to baby-sit Sofya.”

  

  {Interacting with Fate’s Chosen should increase your power, and therefore the Cygilite’s power. As Syllena said, Sofya could break any of the mysterious expert persona you’re supposed to keep.}

  “Very well then, we’re doing it.”

  “Sofya. Stay here. There’s something I must take care of, one of my nodes will watch over you in the meantime. Don’t move anywhere else. And don’t worry, if you’re in trouble I’ll be there in a few seconds. Is that alright?”

  Sofya was a bit surprised by Akhenamen’s sudden request, but hearing the seriousness in his voice, she nodded and saw her protector step onto a crystal like blue floating rectangle and propel himself in the air with such speed and power a loud shockwave came from his body as it broke the sound barrier, his body turning into a blur as he ascended into the sky.

  “That’s so cool.”

  Sofya's eyes twinkled in wonder, watching this. While Akhenamen was simply thinking : “I really need to learn a flying school, for a Transcendent not being able to fly must be ridiculous.”.

  It took only five steps and five push of his legs to bring himself “flying” toward the fighting happening a few kilometers from his previous location, the blue crystalline Tri Astro-math figures he summoned acting like platforms for him to jump to and from.

  Definitely a unique style amongst the Transcendent. One that would later become one of his distinguishing traits, but for now, he just found it too impractical. He stopped on top of one of his platforms, high enough above the battle happening below him that the slam of his feet into the platform or the sound barrier breaking multiple times wasn’t heard.

  He looked down, his enhanced Sight allowing him to easily spectate on the battle happening below.

  “Now… What kind of hero are you?”