At the base of the Ocean of Crystallized Truths...
"You... called for , Director?"
As he entered a room at the far end of the ocean’s base, the guard that led Valyr and Ataraxia earlier could not help but feel a hint of trepidation, his gaze fixated on a person with their back turned towards him.
After all, from the ssage that was given to him, he was only told to head to where the Director was. There was nothing in the ssage that stated whether the reason why he had been called was good or bad.
Slowly turning around to face the guard, an austere-looking woman looked at him with a calm expression. "Do you... perhaps know of the two people you’ve brought into the ocean?"
"Two people...?" Murmuring these words to himself for a bit, the guard soon realized who the Director was talking about. "Ah. Those were two of the top 128 winners from Algerie Kingdom’s Myriad Prodigies Tournant, Director."
The latter raised her eyebrow at those words. "Which ones, specifically?"
"Er..." Forcing the gears in his mind to turn, the man swiftly recalled all of the information he had collated on the two just after their arrival. "Their nas are Ylvar and Ataraxia, Director."
"The forr was the champion of that tournant, while the latter was part of the top 32."
"Ylvar and Ataraxia..." Muttering the nas the guard ntioned to herself, the Director closed her eyes for a bit, only to then nod as she looked at the man once more. "Do you perhaps know how deep they’ve gotten into the ocean?"
"...Not really, no." The guard shook his head in response. "I’ve left them to their own devices after leading them to the ocean, as well as informing them of things they should keep in mind while at the ocean."
"Perhaps you might have a guess as to how far they’ve gone?" asked the Director in return, which prompted the man to ponder over the question for a bit.
"Have they reached the deeper end of the Shallows?"
As those words left his mouth, the guard looked at the woman with a hint of uncertainty. After all, as far as he knew, the majority of people who entered the Ocean of Crystallized Truths for the first ti would only get to the middle region of the Shallows at most.
Of course, that also included those considered by the populace as prodigies, which the guard had already seen his fair share of after guarding the ocean for so long.
’Is she trying to check and see if I could assess another person’s abilities accurately?’ wondered the man after that, recalling that the Director had beco known throughout the base for her sowhat cryptic way of talking.
"According to the constructs I’ve set up, they’ve already gone past the deepest part of the Shallows." Oblivious to the thoughts that were going on in the guard’s head, the woman responded to his question with slight indifference.
"In fact, judging by how far they’ve gone, they’ve reached the True Depths by now."
"The True Depths?!" The guard looked at her with wide eyes in response, feeling imnse disbelief at the words that left the Director’s mouth. "Surely you must be joking, Director."
"If I was, I wouldn’t have called you here." The woman faintly shook her head, only to then bring up a screen in front of her.
Interacting with the screen for a bit, she then turned the screen to have it face the guard, giving the latter a rough view of the ocean’s layers, as well as where Valyr and Ataraxia currently were within the ocean.
"As you can see, they’ve already surpassed a depth of 500 ters," said the Director, ignoring the fact that the guard was still stunned speechless by the sight in front of him.
"If I rember correctly, I designated the Abyss layer of the ocean to start from 500 ters onward, no?"
"...Yes, Director." Returning from his brief stupor, the guard went silent for a bit as he took so ti to process the woman’s question. "You inford us that we should tell anyone who enters the ocean that the Depths start either at 100 or 200 ters, depending on the person we’re talking to."
"Did I tell any of you to inform them as to where the Abyss or the Core layer starts?" asked the woman in return.
"You did not." The guard shook his head. "At most, you only allowed us to give warnings and reminders to those who wished to know more about those two layers, which I indeed gave to both Ylvar and Ataraxia before I left them."
"Hmm..." Nodding in response to the man’s words, the Director went silent for a bit as the gears in her mind continued to turn.
Pondering over the reason why the two had gone that deep into the ocean even with the guard’s reminder, the woman eventually looked back at the latter with a calm expression. "So far, there are three possibilities in my head that explain why they’ve gone that deep."
"The first possibility is the most obvious one, which is where they did not feel pressured by the ocean after reaching the depths you gave them."
"On the other hand, the second possibility is more uncommon, which is that they’ve noticed the subtle difference between the Surface and the Shallows," she said, prompting the guard to give the idea a bit of thought.
"Keeping that subtle difference in mind, they’ve decided to get as deep into the ocean as possible in search for the subtle change once more."
"There have been tis where we’ve received people that have heightened senses towards these subtle changes, so it wouldn’t be surprising if one of the two sensed that." The Director shrugged.
"How about the third possibility?" asked the guard, getting the feeling that the reason why the two went down that deep was due to the first two reasons.
Though, because of his innate curiosity, he still proceeded to ask her about the third possibility, wanting to know what it entailed.
"If it’s the third possibility, then we might have a problem on our hands," the woman replied, her expression becoming more solemn.
"After all, that possibility involves the Trial of Crystallized Truths."
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