Michael had always wondered when he would see his first awakener in the Land of Origin.
Would they co from his own realm?
Or from another civilization?
When he first entered the Land of Origin, he had assud it would not take long before he encountered one. Considering the vast number of participants who ca here from countless worlds, it felt inevitable.
He had been mistaken.
It had taken so long that he had even begun to suspect he might be the only awakener within several thousand miles. After all, it was said that the Land of Origin was unimaginably vast.
But now one stood directly in front of him.
Michael suppressed the thoughts running through his mind and focused again on the man in his grasp.
"How did you know ?" Michael asked.
The attendant's eyes remained slightly unfocused as he answered.
"During the last round of the entrance exam."
Michael's gaze sharpened.
"The one in the Land of Origin?"
"Yes."
The attendant continued speaking in a flat tone.
"Then there was an incident about a week or so ago. The Federation and the academy you studied at were in conflict because of you. That left an even deeper impression."
Michael frowned slightly.
"So that's how you recognized ," Michael murmured.
The attendant nodded faintly.
Michael remained silent for a mont before asking the next question.
"Does anyone else in the Land of Origin know your identity as an awakener?"
The attendant shook his head.
"No."
Michael's eyes narrowed slightly.
"No one?"
"No."
The answer ca imdiately.
Michael studied the man's expression carefully, but under Jester's influence there was no sign of deception.
"Does anyone know about at all?" Michael asked again.
The attendant answered calmly.
"No."
Michael paused.
That response made his brows knit slightly.
The attendant continued speaking.
"It was only because of the ruins that we even t you."
His breathing grew slightly uneven as the influence inside his mind continued to stir.
He swallowed before continuing.
"And I am not stupid enough to spread sothing that secretive."
Michael stared at him silently.
The answer made sense. If awakeners were in the Land of Origin,
their existence would be treated as extrely sensitive information.
No one would casually reveal it.
Michael slowly shifted his gaze toward the distant glow of the summoning circle.
The chaotic knot of spatial energy was still there.
His eyes returned to the attendant.
"Then tell sothing else," Michael said calmly.
The attendant did not resist.
Under the quiet influence of Jester's power, his mind continued to
respond.
"What is the empire planning here?"
The attendant's lips moved slowly.
"Prince Rui is opening a spatial bridge."
Michael's eyes narrowed slightly.
"A bridge?"
"Yes"
The attendant's voice remained flat.
"The realm is trying to expel everyone. The prince is using the ritual
to force open a passage before that happens."
"Why?" Michael asked.
"To bring soone from the empire here."
Michael's gaze sharpened.
That answer was the opposite of what he had expected.
Michael's grip tightened slightly around the man's throat.
"Explain. Why is soone from the empire coming?"
Rather than bother with the reality of this being possible, since it involved matters of space and the void, it was better to focus on the
most important thing.
The attendant's eyes remained unfocused.
"To kill everyone here."
Michael's pupils contracted slightly as he forced the attendant to
reveal more of what he knew. At the end of it, he could not help but
spit on the ground.
Now he rembered why he hated politics so much.
So just because the empire was scared of losing control over three kingdoms, everyone, including people from his own side, were
dood to die?
To think he would have been unknowingly implicated in this.
Imdiately Michael decided he was going to put a stop to the summoning. But before he did that, there was the issue of this fellow he had to take care of.
If there was one thing Michael did not want to reveal about himself in the Land of Origin, it was his identity as an awakener. And now in his hands was soone who could easily expose that. Michael knew so people in this world were aware of awakeners. Like Princess Priscilla, for example. It was not exactly surprising. After thousands of years of activity on this land, there had to be things awakeners from countless realms had revealed about themselves. However, Michael was not ready for that now, nor did he have any
intention of doing so in the future.
So what was he going to do?
As he was thinking, Michael's delicate control over the prince's attendant's consciousness loosened, and the attendant finally regained control over himself.
The attendant's eyes widened in sudden fear.
"What... what did you just do to ?"
His voice was hoarse and unsteady. The earlier calm was gone. For the
first ti since Michael had grabbed him, genuine panic surfaced on
his face. Michael clicked his tongue in annoyance.
He did not answer imdiately.
'I need more practice with Jester's state, he thought. Jester's abilities were far too dangerous to use carelessly. ntal interference was not like physical suppression, and it was nothing like soul suppression either. One wrong move while digging through another person's consciousness could do more than damage the mind in the Land of Origin. It could trace back through the connection and
destroy the original body in Aurora as well. That was the real danger.
And that was exactly why Michael had held back.
He had not gone all out at all. In fact, he had been deliberately cautious the entire ti, guiding the influence as lightly as he could
while still forcing answers out of the man. If his proficiency with Jester's state had been higher, he would have had far more options. He could have altered the structure of the man's mories and even erased every trace of himself from the attendant's mind.
Unfortunately, he could not do that yet.
Not safely at least.
And Michael was not actually trying to kill him.
It was then that sothing from the attendant's earlier words resurfaced in Michael's mind.
If the person being summoned from the empire was coming here to
kill everyone, and this man already knew Michael was present in the
ruins, then that ant one thing.
He was perfectly willing to let Michael's body in the Land of Origin be
destroyed.
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