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Chapter 275: The Oracle’s Request

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“Tidings? Praises?” Siva arched a brow albeit no soul could see it behind his mask or even without it, and only stared down to the Envoy, waiting for her to finish.

SWOOSH!!!

With a mental sound as if hydraulics seething into a cylinder shaft into the minds of the onlookers, the silence of the hall invited all gazes to the four members of the brown-cloaked group as the marks on their faces retreated into their skins and revealed their beautiful appearances.

Heller, on the side, wasn’t surprised but the rest of The Company was since it was their first time seeing transcendent beauties next Scion’s, especially that one named Eleanor who could even rival hers.

In fact, if there was a prettiness-scale, then Scion and Eleanor would be first, next is Coralline, then Agatha, Niobe, Cassiopeia, FlowerLord, and Loni, and then Samara, Hawkeye, and the rest…

That was in terms of physical beauty, but in terms of overall attractiveness, aura, presence, or even their inner charms, then this rankings would change since all of them had their own personality and this was enough to say that this group of women that gathered in Apus Epirus right now were at least those of the Top 100 in terms of their overall face values in RPG: Terroa.

Such a gathering was uniquely special and yet, none of the men around dared to say or do a thing for they are all afraid that Akhenaton would snap again.

And so, no matter dejecting it may seem, they all could only enshrine this scene into their hearts.

“The Oracle had divined a message for you, My Lord, I fear that the gravity of the message may be able to help you find something that may be helpful to you in your quest…”

Siva narrowed his eyes and then turned his gaze back towards Scion who was embracing her friend before sighing.

As he faced Eleanor, Siva turned his side and gave a command to Akhenaton in a murmur.

“I will handle it.” Said Akhenaton.

FLASH!

Everyone in that palace hall was engulfed in a bright light and they were all transferred into other chambers in the floating castle, while those that’re left in the hall were only Siva’s trusted advisers… with Scion, FlowerLord, and then, surprisingly, Cassiopeia, with Akhenaton standing behind Siva.

“This is not the right place to talk.” Said Siva. With another flash of light, all of them, with Thorn and Volt, appeared in a chamber in the upper levels of the castle base, the place once used by The Legion as the Chairs and Swords Chamber.

It was a large space without the missing table, and so there were the sofas, a billiard table, Holo-TV, arcade consoles, gym equipment(s), PS-100(?!), and a few more things for recreational purposes.

Even the chairs and tables were either orange in color, or pink, or red, or green, or blue.

One look and you’d think you were on a bachelor pad than a place for formal meeting

“….”

“….”

“I think we’re in the wrong chamber.” Siva turned to Akhenaton. “Didn’t I tell you to bring us to the place where it’s suitable to have a meeting?”

“Eh?” Akhenaton blinked and hurriedly explained to Siva, “But My Lord, this is the only place where the members of your party are always having their meeting from the time you were gone.”

“….”

Siva turned his head slooowly towards Thorn and Volt who whistled and turned their heads in another direction away from him.

“You guys, where is the meeting room?”

“This is the meeting room. Mn!” Thorn said with a righteous explaining gesture and a nod after clearing his throat.

Volt added, “Th, that’s right. We thought that if we designed a boring long table and chairs kind of meeting room, the atmosphere of the base would be awkwardly stiff and overly serious so we made it look like this to promote relaxation and a sense of casual pleasure while still maintaining the feeling of having a meeting.”

“….”

Siva was speechless in these two’s ability to make up excuses on the stop.

Was this the result of sticking together for long?

“It’s alright.” Eleanor’s sweet sounding voice was like a violin in a flat G-sharp scale. It’s neither high nor low and was just right for a soothing volume.

She grabbed the cue stick and began pooling in balls one after another.

After the third ball went in, she made an expert’s pose with the stick and smiled at Siva.

“My Lord, the Circle of Magi may have been in existence since the ancient times, but we are still not savages that don’t know how to adapt and evolve with the changing times.”

“….”

Siva was speechless. He turned to look at the two smiling ministers before sighing and throwing a cue stick to the two boys before taking an offered seat by Akhenaton.

Scion and FlowerLord have already been seated and Akhenaton, despite his earlier frightening presence, still treated FlowerLord in the same manner as he treated Scion.

*****

Siva sat reversed and leaned forward on the back support of his chair, watching the boys battle the chick in a 15-ball pool challenge.

On a table not far away, the three girls along with Scion and FlowerLord shared an elegant time for a cup of tea.

“So?” asked Siva.

After an opening skirmish, it was the boys’ turn.

Eleanor answered, “The Oracle is preparing to move on. She cannot hide in the world anymore and once she tries to ascend, the demons will be coming to get her.”

Even though Siva is a “Lord” and the highest God in the entire Universe currently, Siva was still not a complete God for he still lacked his [Divinity].

Yes, he is one of the esteemed Trinity Gods, but he was a special existence since his sole purpose and the only time he actually has an [authority] is when the world is ending.

He will become the [end] of everything.

As such, even though he was actually a higher being than all the Gods combined, he is but a mortal in his current form and although it was also sort of disrespecting him by casually treating him this way, it was also a matter that The Oracle is an existence that it outside the domineering authority of the Trinity Gods.

The Oracle, in essence, is an existence much like Neth Kingsley’s [The Warden Protocol], a program with an authority working outside and not within RPG: Terroa… designed “to gather” player inputs and behavioral patterns and tendencies of current quest and mission completion rate, then ‘suggest’, ‘predict’, and ‘aid’ the [Creator] on determining necessary actions to guide the direction of Terroa as a player story-driven VRMMORPG.

Its sole function was to gather and provide info and feedback to [The Creator] —all for the sake of overall betterment of the player experience.

Outside if the (quest) Creator Program, nothing else in the entire software package of RPG: Terroa had a function to gather personal player info because it was breach of the latest privacy act, much less to actually profile them.

But [The Oracle] is such a program, and in this online world of RPG: Terroa, such a program has its own consciousness and it was planning to actually prove its path and ascend to Immortality…

….just like how Akhenaton did.

If any programmer or at least someone who had some knowledge on the development of RPG: Terroa were to hear the contents of this seemingly casual conversation in a bachelor’s pad-turned-conference room, he or she would be terrified beyond their ancestors.

The Warden Protocol…

The Oracle Protocol …

The Creator Protocol …

The Terra Protocol…

Supposed mere programs gaining sentience and even as much as ‘switching places’ to their real-world people counterparts that held control over their authorities…

A notion such as this was enough to shake and defy the very foundations of what the real world humans know of ‘computer programming’.

Or perhaps this was one of the miracles brought by the genius programmer Doctor Alfred Pegasus that was revered to as a [God] in the realm of the geeky buddies…

No matter, Alfred Pegasus was the one who made the foundation of the idea that became the now world-wide famous RPG: Terroa.

Alongside him, the genius couple of the medicine world, the Kingsley Duo, together, brought upon a new era of alternate gaming-reality that combined real world myths, movies, legends, stories… and even historical events.

These achievements were sure to be written in history of mankind as a big contribution towards humanity’s evolution, but contrary to what people know outside, the things happening in this small little room, the things ‘Siva’ knew, the things that Scion saw, and also the things that Thorn was trying to protect from the very beginning… all of it were meshing together right now and becoming a chaos information…

…shocking everyone here, aside from FlowerLord and Siva.

“…..”

Siva, with the addition of the new memories and his memories and connection to the real world, found a weird yet profoundly absurd calmness at this very moment.

FlowerLord, for some reason, was calm and it was because of a different reason.

Siva’s eyes didn’t escape this behavior from Alice that even Scion, albeit knowing some stuff, was still unable to hold in her shock from this news.

Maybe, the one with the most normal reaction of all the people in here was Volt.

He was, after all, just a normal teenager the age of Rex Kingsley whose only purpose for being here is purely and wholeheartedly for the sake of being an emotional support for Siva.

Siva, to appreciate his innocent gesture, did not exclude him from his important meetings.

Volt exclaimed, “When you say ascend…”

Eleanor, after getting the striped 10th ball, gave him a nod, smiling, “To become an Immortal, just like Emperor Akhenaton over there.”

When mentioned the ‘emperor’ everyone’s eyes were focused on Akhenaton, who, perhaps by virtue of suggestion or personal initiation, is now wearing a manservant’s (butler) black and white uniform: a tuxedo and ribbon over a white polo shirt and black slacks.

Heck, Akhenaton actually completed the brand by wearing a single eye glass on his left eye and hung a white towel on his arched left arm.

(A/N: Are you a restaurant waiter or a butler?)

His copper brown hair and tanned skin was a sort of mismatch on this image but he served the table of Scion, with the female escorts and FlowerLord, with much sincerity and elegant character.

“…..”

Akhenaton, absorbed on his character, of course did not mind them looking at him.

Siva also remained silent and Eleanor continued on her mission.

“The Oracle’s purpose became stagnant and she lost half her authority when The Teacher decided to also severe his Immortality from his authority.”

Facing Siva, Eleanor’s voice was serious when she inhaled deep and continued, “The Oracle is planning to continue The Teacher’s mission but if she cannot and fails her ascension, she plans to give her authority away as a legacy.”

Siva’s brows twitched but because of the white mask on his face, nobody noticed the change on his expression as he just maintained his position on leaning his chin on the backrest’s edge.

“….”

Volt shut his mouth. Thorn remained his focus on the game and the conversation. Scion chose to listen, the escorts didn’t dare interrupt, and then there was FlowerLord… who listened and judged things on a different perspective.

Whether she knew something or not, only she would be the one to know.

“It hasn’t been long since we arrived but before we set foot on your castle, The Oracle had also given me her last oracle… she wanted me to say to treat this as an advanced payment. The rest will be given after her ascension ceremony.”

“….”

The room became silent. Everyone was listening on her words. This time, the sound of the balls hitting each other would become offensive so Volt held on to them and waited for Siva’s reply.

Based on what these people know about the Circle of Magi, it was an organization that knows everything happening in Terroa and so dispatches the ‘Magi’ on certain missions, and even finding a few certain individuals to serve as The Oracle’s vassals when the ‘Magis’ are not around.

Thus the Archmages.

As such, in a gamer’s perspective, the leader of The Company, Siva, receiving this request, was none other than a pretext on an epic mission.

Volt, Thorn, FlowerLord, Scion, and Eleanor and her escorts… all of them waited for Siva’s reply so to conclude the purpose of this meeting.

Siva, however, only remained silent.

A while later, with the icy silence beginning to be awkward, Siva sighed and then spoke, “Based on your oracle, I will think about it.”

Eleanor bit her lips and then came in front of him.

She knelt in all fours, prostrating humbly, the three escorts all followed her and knelt behind her, and then Eleanor raised her head and pleaded with all her sincerity:

“Lord Siva… Lord Ja —the Great Teacher had perished and our world is in the brink of a chaotic ruin. If The Oracle falls, then the only force that can stand in the way of the Demons and stop the full destruction of this world will be you and no one else… I beg you please… please help The Oracle transcend her tribulation…”

“Help The Oracle transcend her tribulation…!!”

“Help The Oracle transcend her tribulation…!!”

“Help The Oracle transcend her tribulation…!!”

When Eleanor finished her speech, she kotowed deeply and the three escorts repeated her words with a begging tone.

Siva sat upright and didn’t say a word for the rest of the few moments.

When the four in front of him had finished their actions, Eleanor spoke in a pleading tone: “The Oracle had used the last strand of her authority to divine the greatest desire gnawing in your heart right now. She said that, during the time of her oracle… this is the best thing she knew would be able to help you on your quest to getting your greatest desire…”

Siva remained silent but his heart was pounding on his chest as if it was trying to escape it.

His greatest desire…?

There is only one thing, and that is to save Baron.

But in order to do that, there are so many things that he needed to do first.

Firstly, he needed to know where he is.

Secondly, he needed strength to get him back.

Thirdly, he needed to have the ability to be able to protect him in case he did get him back, especially against the threat of this world and Mefisto.

Finally, or perhaps, it may even be the first thing he needed to solve…

Siva looked at his hand and the black smoke skin curse that continued to writhe and evaporate on his palm.

It was a sight to see.

This was the thing that’s preventing him from using any kind of magic… making his accessories slots useless. It was even lucky if his Equipments have mechanical functions or mechanical abilities on them as it gives him, a magic-invalid, chance to expend Mana every now and then.

“Perhaps…”

A deep thought, or perhaps it was a wish, entered his mind and he looked at Eleanor who had tears in her eye as she knelt there in front of him.

He urged her, “Speak.”

Eleanor inhaled and then uttered, “It’s about the Dragonnaire Wizard, Zeta… he’s twenty cycles been dead, but, there is a way to find and talk to him.”

.

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Is Janus joking or was he drunk back then?

Zeta…. Is already dead?

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