Skullius' face was still a bit pale from the revelation he had just heard, but Aurolio didn't stop for his convenience.
"I've had stagnating growth for a while now. The terrible thing about having a guidance field is that when calculating experience, it takes into account all your abilities, not just your level. And sadly, I happen to have a technique that guarantees that I will never lose, even if I can't always win. That makes things a bit hard for , even when fighting powerful monsters of the world."
Aurolio's expression brightened and he sank into his seat lazily once again.
"So, for what I propose... since you had sothing to do with those six monsters in the city – obviously – I want them. All of them and more. Each one can help get closer to eting my experience limit for my levels and then... I can finally touch the Incandescent Stage. I assu they can do the sa for you... if you don't die along the way. Hmph. I'm very interested in seeing if a concept like Direction even affects Null Life, Undeath and Voided Death... If there's sothing else beyond this race other than participating in it. For that, I need more strength."
...A pause followed.
Aurolio was considerate enough to let Skullius think.
And the Hybrid Luman needed that.
His blank eyes rapidly moved to and fro as he processed all the information he had been fed and then... he spoke.
"All this... is just to conquer worlds?" he said with a scowl.
Aurolio sighed. It seed he had gotten too far ahead of his counterpart.
"It sounds so simple when you say it like it, doesn't it? But no. It's not about worlds. It's about Rich Worlds. The number of Rich Worlds. I don't understand what that term really ans. I can't read everything in my Book of Alignnt yet. However, what I understood is that Deities, Ascended Divines, have a role. It's not about being strong and lounging around for them."
"Being a Deity ans that you have a DUTY to create a world. So Deities are so strong they can make one out of nothing, while others have to use their own bodies to accomplish the sa feat. At the end of the day, the mandate has to be fulfilled. I'm not sure what makes a world a Rich or what even demands Deities to do this, but Void, Undeath and Null Life seek sothing in these worlds. Aigas is a Rich World too apparently, and there's sothing to find here... but I've been in the dark about that for a long ti."
...
Rich Worlds.
It wasn't about conquering worlds but about finding sothing within Rich Worlds?
Skullius went from furious to confused.
He rembered the higher level undead from Deadmanland talking about going to other worlds – this was the very first ti he had heard the subject of traversing to other words – but... those seed more like casual conversations, not so serious stuff like this.
Maybe those had been different missions altogether?
Here in Aigas, there were records of undead spawning in the Sacred Forests multiple tis. The tilines, from what Skullius had heard, dated back to after the Second Grand War.
After Fulgardt died.
This seed like a tangent from the subject of what Rich Worlds were, but when the Hybrid Luman coupled that information with the piece of knowledge Serenity had dumped on him back when she had manifested physically, and so of the more casual rumours from back when he discovered all about the Deities...
'There's only one Deity on Aigas right now. That's what Serenity said. And I've often heard stories from the common folk who don't believe in the Purity, that the Deities abandoned them in the olden tis. I thought this was just so excuse from the non-believers, but... what if all this is...'
What if it all had to do with what a Rich World was?
The Deities left the world they had created, and after that undead began raiding it... and then what?
What was after... and frankly, bits of what happened before, were missing.
Skullius raised his head and focused on Aurolio.
"You have no interest in finding out what makes this world rich?"
"I'll figure it out when I get stronger. Eventually, I'll be able to read the entire Book of Alignnt. That seems to be the whole idea behind us having the books. You can only know what's important when you're strong enough to do anything about it," Aurolio replied nonchalantly.
He then gave a sharp eye to Skullius.
"That's as much sharing as I'm willing to do about this... for now. Like I said, we can make a deal. To be honest, it's in your best interest."
Skullius breathed out his built up frustration.
"Your proposal sounded more like a threat to ."
The pale man shrugged.
"Yeah, it was but there are benefits. Unless you want to push to do what I should, you can choose to see reason. I told you, I don't intend to kill you or even the Undeath user just for Void's sake. I have my own ambitions. And you can help get to them. I'll even add perks. I'll teach you things you don't know, and there's plenty of those by the looks of it. Better than that, I can find out for the both of us what the endga of all this is."
Aurolio didn't react to Skullius' words with hostility of any kind. Everything he said seed to be based on pragmatic reasoning.
He exerted the fact that he was much stronger than Skullius to appeal to his objectives, but not without giving an offer in return.
"Won't you get stronger by... you know, hunting down stronger opponents from high ranking Clusters? Or even Incandescent Stage experts?" Skullius asked.
"When I said I can't be defeated, I ant it. Ridiculously powerful opponents usually lend with a draw, and I can't have that if I want to get experience. Only by killing monsters with attributes like yours... that is the loophole I need," Aurolio explained with a smile.
Internally, he was finally giving the geezer or hag, whatever they were, the credit they deserved. Only monts ago, did he realise that the Divination he had gotten was for profit, not struggle, like he had imagined before!
It was all for this mont!
Opposite Aurolio, a gloom was suffocating Skullius in contrast.
He admitted to himself that he had forgotten amidst all the revelations in the short minutes they had begun talking to each other.
So this guy's technique was that he couldn't be defeated?
That certainly was convincing enough for the average Joe to take up Aurolio's offer imdiately but for Skullius... this only served to make him wary.
Sure, perhaps he could learn things about the guidance field that he didn't know yet. He could even learn about how to channel and use Null Life Essence with Aurolio as his teacher... and more.
But what he had to give up...
"So all I have to do is make sure you have more Null Lifeforms to kill?" he asked.
"Yes."
'That's complicated,' Skullius thought himself.
Making them wasn't hard but creating these Null Badubs...
He had sensed their presence in the city and confird what they were when the Null Devil King ntioned them but...
This was not an easy thing to think about quickly.
Suddenly, a razor sharp burst of killing intent blasted against Skullius!
He was jolted to a stand when it grazed his figure, but Aurolio at his side rely looked to its origin with amusent.
Across from them, a distance away, a man seated within the sa tent reserved for contenders was glaring at the two. His gaze made the diocre battle happening on the white platform between him and the negotiating duo seem almost non-existent.
"This guy..." Skullius said with a frown.
It was Gabel, staring with his deathly eyes directly at Skullius as if he wanted to devour him.
As always, a notebook was in his hand, the inspiration he had to endlessly scribble down a mountain of death and death-related semantics seemingly inexhaustible even now.
"Oh, you are acquainted?" Aurolio asked with genuine surprise while turning to Skullius.
"Hardly," the Hybrid Luman gave a succinct answer.
"I see. That doesn't stop him from chasing you does it? He's marked you, right?"
"Marked ?" Skullius raised a brow.
"It's this weird thing he does. He writes sothing for you... and then he kills you."
The Hybrid Luman instantly thought back to the note the scribbling bastard had left him back at the Inn where they first t.
Well... this was turning out to be most enlightening day ever.
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